C. Gockel's Blog, page 52
July 31, 2015
lokisarmyorg:
Loki Tom Hiddleston Original Watercolour Painting...
raviooli:
In the Chelyabinsk region in Russia has fallen...
In the Chelyabinsk region in Russia has fallen meteorite
В суровом Челябинске идет дождь из метеоритов
Cera strikes, again!
"Anything one needs to market heavily is necessarily either an inferior product or an evil one… what..."
-
Nassim Taleb
(via airnomadhippie)
The Chinese have another saying: “A man will wait a long time for a cooked goose to fly through his door.”
I prefer to think of my books as evil, but I’m sure an illustrious man like this would just see them as inferior.
July 30, 2015
I Bring the Fire Series
Author: C. Gockel ( ibringthefireodin )Summary:
In the middle of America, on Route 44, Amy Lewis has a plan — to get to her grandma’s house in time for dinner. Galaxies away Loki is waking up in a prison cell, strangely without a hangover, and with no idea what he’s done wrong — this time anyway. But he does know Thor is hiding something, Odin is up to something wicked, and there seems to be something he’s forgotten…
Rating: 8/10Buy the first book hereThis is not your mother’s Norse mythology. C. Gockel’s “I
Bring the Fire” series is a new spin on old myths. Instead of regurgitating the
same old “ancient gods really exist” bit, Gockel creates a mythos in which
magic and science go hand in hand to create a chain of alternate worlds. Her
deities don’t look down from on high and hook up with mortals to breed half
bloods. They thrive in their own separate world, which sometimes mimics the
human culture of Midgard in its architecture and fashion. The host of Norse
gods are perfectly content to keep out of mortal affairs until the lines separating
the worlds begin to blur.The highlights of this series are the two protagonists:
Loki, God of Mischief, and Amy, veterinary science major. I found Gockel’s Loki
more enjoyable than the infamous Loki of the Marvel films (No offense to Tom
Hiddleston and his stellar performance). Gockel’s Loki is a breath of fresh air
in a genre usually dominated by brooding, dark, mysterious men. He’s suave,
charming, and irresistible in a way that makes you want to hug him one moment
and strangle him the next. This, my dears, is called character complexity. Loki
isn’t a tortured soul 24/7, but then again he’s not one hundred percent a
carefree trickster. This incarnation of the famous trickster is seen as a
ladies’ man, mischief maker, warrior, outcast, sorcerer, husband, and doting
father, painting him a lovely shade of grey instead of black and white. I found
that Gockel’s version of Loki seemed about as emotionally realistic as a
magical Norse deity can get.While Amy Lewis may seem like a cookie cutter character, she
is in fact one of the reasons this series is so enjoyable Amy Lewis is any of
us. She is a normal girl pulled into a completely, unimaginably, abnormal
situation. She goes to school, has a dog, worries about tuition, and has a desk
job, the whole shebang. On top of a normal life, she’s also juggling knowledge
that our world (Midgard) is not the only world out there. It’s just one of the
less remarkable ones. She handles this quite well, curious about these new
worlds without (here’s the shocker) completely abandoning her old life like
many modern female protagonist. She parties with elves and frets about a
scholarship almost in the same breath. Amy Lewis is the answer to the question
many readers ask when enjoying a fantasy book: What if I went through the
wardrobe/found the ring/met a Norse God?Another bit that made this series unique to modern fantasy
is the fact that not all mortals (your average everyday humans, nothing special
at all) were ignorant to the presence of magic. In fact, there is an entire
SHIELD/Men in Black-like government agency devoted to guarding World Gates
(bridges where nasty things like trolls and unicorns can invade our quiet
little world) and protecting less informed mortal populations. I really enjoyed
the lack of complete and utter secrecy that seems to be a staple in modern
fantasy stories.The writing itself is littered with pop culture references
that less comic/movie savvy readers may have to Google and can seem a little
fanfiction-ish at times. However, this kept the book fast paced and made for a
fun read that allowed you to jump right into this fantasy world, no prior
mythology knowledge required. Even if you have read the original myths, these
characters are so utterly unique that you will be hard pressed to find another
Thor or Loki exactly like Gockel’s incarnations.Due to the unthreatening length of the books and the fun,
fast paced stories, this series has become a permanent fixture on my travel
reading list. I never embark on a trip without Amy and Loki’s latest adventure
ready and waiting on my Kindle.
Wow. Thank you so much for this wonderful review.
yalegirl03:
cgockel:
readingisloving:
Complete +
Whenever...
Complete +
Whenever Loki shows up it means that Darcy’s life is in flux. That doesn’t mean she’s unhappy to see him.
Awwww … yes! Blue is on fanfiction.net and AO3.
So good
Thank you! (I wrote Blue under my fanfic alias startrekfanwriter. It’s the fanfiction I’m most proud of. If you enjoy my books, but want a little more romance, I think you’ll really like it.)
"I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you."
-
Thor during Þrymskviða, probably. (via incorrectedda)
Happy Thorsday
July 29, 2015
REVIEW TEAM WANTED
Hey y’all … I’m putting together a review team. Review team members will get advance copies of new books and stories I write, plus any box sets I’m in gratis.
Basically, the requirements are that you’ve reviewed my ebooks before–positively, obviously. If you’re interested send an email to cgockel.publishing@gmail.com.
"Sure, when Aphrodite lies around naked in a giant clam shell she’s a “goddess” but when I do it I’m..."
- Njörðr, probably. (via incorrectedda)
July 28, 2015
The Curse of Chalion isn’t my normal fantasy fare. It’s high...
The Curse of Chalion isn’t my normal fantasy fare. It’s high fantasy for one (i.e., completely imaginary world. Also, it’s a medieval world.) It’s long! And it isn’t action packed, nor gut bustingly funny. But I was completely sucked into it, and lost sleep over it, so that is more than enough reason to review it.
One of the huge strengths of the book lie in its world building. Although vast swathes of the world are based on medieval Europe, the “Five Gods” of Chalion are wonderfully unique. What actually drew me in, is a more recent release of Ms. Bujold called Penric’s Demon which features a devotee of a god called The Bastard, “master of all disasters out of season.” I think anyone who reads I Bring the Fire can probably understand why a theology with such a god would be of interest to me. Anyway, I wound up picking up Curse because I wanted to go back and start at the beginning of the series.
Where the book really shines is in the characters. Although I love the Five Gods system, the characters in the book could have been thrown into medieval Europe and it would still be a lovely story for the personalities the author paints.
One of my fans recently commented that she was disappointed that so many protagonists are so young. (The only reason Amy was so young in I Bring the Fire was because an older woman would have kicked Loki to the curb.)
One of the nice things about The Curse of Chalion and it’s follow up, The Paladin of Souls is that both books feature a protagonist who is an adult. That means plot lines can’t fall back on a teenager making teenageresque mistakes. Cazaril, the main protagonist of Curse is a 35 year old man. He isn’t a prince, and has played the part of slave due to a “misplaced” ransom. His reaction to the experience is quite believable. His heartbreak, insecurities, and later courage due to this event are really moving. I admit it, I cried.
What really holds the world building, and the amazing characterization together are Ms. Bujold’s prose. She is a wordsmith. As I mentioned above, the story doesn’t “move quickly”, but it didn’t need to in order to hold my attention. The prose was just so lovely and evocative it kept the reading from being dull. As evocative as it was, it never once became overwrought. It wasn’t one of those stories where you feel like the author just combed their way through a thesaurus in order to make their language more varied.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the story, and highly recommend it. The Curse is an older book and traditionally published. It’s $7.99 for the Kindle Version on Amazon or the $11.87 for the Paperback.
If those are too steep you can find it at your local library. I actually wound up borrowing the Audio version from the library and greatly enjoyed it. Curse is available on Scribd and Oyster as well.
The author is more famous for her Sci-Fi series, The Vorkosigan Saga. I have put it on my to be read list. But if I read it right now, I’ll never get any work done!
