Declan Finn's Blog, page 30

Spider-Man: Far from Home trailer

Just when I was wondering what I would post about today, they came out with a new Marvel Trailer.









This is literally the first trailer, and surprisingly, it looks good. Someone should tell it to the people who made the first Captain Marvel trailer. Me? Cynical? Naw.



Anyway, this looks like fun. More importantly, it looks like Sony is treating Peter Parker's friends as disposable as they should be. Tranquilizing Ned is a good start. Though I still refuse to credit ... that as MJ. Though at least someone taught Miss Resting Bitch Face how to smile. Though I'd still like to hit her with a 2x4. As I understand it, tormenting someone you have a crush on is something that happens in grammar school, not high school.



Let's break this down a bit.



Opening: Aunt May seems to have gotten used to her nephew being a superhero. She's gotten even more used to Tony Stark's Happy Hogan. I guess it's good to be a producer.



:30 -- Peter Parker's European vacation. I'm not sure how you work that into bringing along a collection of high schoolers on a vacation that's worth tens of thousands of dollars.... unless of course it's a Tony Stark endowment. Given what happens next, it wouldn't surprise me.



1:12 -- Sam muthaf***ing Jackson as Nick muthaf***ing Fury. Yee haw. Given everything that has happened to Tony Stark, it's good to retire him from this franchise. Also, Peter Parker needs adult supervision, and Tony doesn't really qualify.



1:24 -- And Fury is already stealing this movie. Please, let Ned swallow his tongue. He's annoying as hell.



1:29 -- whoever is doing the music for this trailer is turning the classic 60s Spider Man theme into something that almost sounds epic. Who knew? Props to this fellow.



1:36 -- Spider Man becomes London Has Fallen. I approve.



1:38 -- the bad guys for this film are "elementals." Sorry, all I can think is "So, someone re-purposed Sandman and Hydroman?"



1:53 -- The Spiderman Noir suit? Interesting choice. Though considering how dark the back story on that costume design is, I'm not expecting they'll call it that.



2:03 -- Mysterio? Why's he in this film? As a ... hero? Considering the background on Mysterio, I'm going to wonder if he's the bad guy, and all of the other villains are simply one mass illusion on his part. It would explain why a character whose biggest abilities were splashy special effects is fighting elemental Kaiju.



2:25 -- oh, look, they've decided to make the character called Flash Thompson a fan of Spider Man and a dick to Peter Parker. Now if they just made him a six-foot blond athlete dickhead instead of a preppy Indian midget, they might come close to recognizable to readers of the comic books.



Until the reviews for Far From Home comes out, (proving it's safe to watch) here, have some action packed novels that aren't made for the PC crowd.




Hell Spawn  Death Cult

Comic Book Fatigue

This is sort of depressing. Because I think I found the true source of this "comic book media fatigue" everyone keeps predicting. Because it's not Marvel films.



It's Television.



The projects coming out in 2019 are uninspiring.



"Deadly Class".... who? 

Huh? What? What's a Rick Remender? And if we're doing Assassin training, why isn't is a Terry Pratchett novel? (never heard of the founding comic)



"The Boys" by .... Garth Ennis.

Because that'll end well. "We're going to be edgy and undermine corrupt superheroes." Yeah, sure. (never heard of the founding comic)



Umbrella Academic.

It's about dysfunctional superheroes. Because that works every time they do the Fantastic Four. (Again, I've never heard of the founding comic)



Doom Patrol, starring Cyborg.

Finally, something I'm very vaguely aware of. A spinoff of the streaming Titans project.... which turned me off with every commercial.



Young Justice: Outsiders. 

I know this one! It's a cartoon! It was even fun at times.... aaaannnndddd it's also on streaming, so screw you, WB.



Watchmen on HBO

.... using an "alternate timeline from the comic." So, I'm guessing MORE sex, nudity and rape. Produced by Damon Lindelof, meaning it will be even MORE unsatisfying and suicide inducing than the comic or the movie.



"Pennyworth."

On Epix (a channel I never heard of), as the people who brought you Gotham bring you the origin story of Batman's Alfred. His sidekick will be Thomas Wayne.

.... Are you flipping kidding me?



"Swamp Thing" ...

This will be taken largely from the "Anatomy Lesson" issue of Alan Moore's run. Again, streaming service.



"Star Girl" ....

They're doing Star Girl, because screw James Robinson and his run on Starman, that's why. At least this one is co-created with Geoff Johns. Which may mean it MIGHT not suck



Batwoman

Sigh. Yeah, they've green lit a pilot. Which, given what little I've seen of Gotham in Elseworlds, means that they're going do to Batwoman what they did to Supergirl -- ie: reskin all of the male counterpart's villains as either female, or "patriarchy." (Seriously, they had Nora Fries running around using Victor's freeze ray. How does this make any sense?) Also, I'm still on the fence about Ruby Rose's ability to act. I've seen her in three different roles, and I want a "learn to emote" switch somewhere.



Here, have some interesting superhero works.




Hell Spawn  Death Cult.

Jim McCoy Reviews Death Cult

I will not deprive you of the fun that is the review of Death Cult by Jim McCoy over on his blog.



I will however, give you a few samples if you don't want to start on his blog.

Ladies and Gentleman (and you in the back) I present to you a plot synopsis of Declan Finn's Latest Book, Death Cult.

Hi
OOF!
OUCH!
Dude, don't
He did?
Really?
That sounds like it hurt.
That had to have hurt
Them again
I'm not sure that's physically possible
I KNOW that's NOT physically possible
COOL!
HOT!
The End!

I don't know about you, but I found that funny as heck. Jim pretty much as the most entertaining reviews on a blog, so you read them for fun as much as you would the book.



For example

In Hell Spawn Saint Tommy fought a demon. It was ugly. There was lots of fighting and many people died to death. It was quite horrifying. I loved the book, but I was a bit worried. Don't get me wrong. Finn is a good author. But when you're writing Christian fiction and you go up against a demon, what comes next? 

.... I'm going to have to skip down the line of the review, otherwise I'm just going to be copying and pasting the whole review.

Finn has built his world very well. We're treated to some old friends and some new acquaintances and they all fit together nicely. I really like it when a book stays true to the universe it is written in. Death Cult does so nicely. The internal logic is consistent, the characters stay true to their own motivations. I don't mean that the book is predictable because it's not. There is, however, a difference between logical and predictable and Finn has found his groove here.

Yeah. This paragraph made me happy on a number of levels.



Trust me, I'm always worried about book two... don't even ask me why. I have no problem writing it, though I always look at it and say, "I didn't make this predictable, did I? This went fast enough, didn't it?"



I'm going to stop citing the review, and just tell you to go and read it. It's highly entertaining.



And of course, once you do that, you can buy Hell Spawn and Death Cult.  And if you have already done that, well then, you can go leave a review. Wouldn't that be fun?






Hell Spawn  Death Cult.

Catholic Reads declares Honor at Stake one of the best books of 2018

The headline pretty much says it all.

Declan Finn is proving himself to be the go-to guy for the campy fun adventure book that is just smart enough to completely subvert your expectations in ways that never fail to delight.

One of the strongest features of the novel and one of the most Catholic is how it establishes a sense of reality by a great balance of sincerity and dramatic irony. Finn has a way of making things look one way, and then revealing things to be exactly the opposite. It reminds me of Jesus saying he came to turn the world upside-down, and in a way, Finn seeks to do just that for Brooklyn via the lenses of vampire romance action horror (with light sci-fi and espionage elements). I loved its masterful use of dramatic irony and it’s a great portrayal of a young masculine perspective.

This book was also a nominee for the Dragon Award, a feat in and of itself for Indie & Catholic book

Just wait until they read Hell Spawn.



If you haven't read Honor at Stake yet, now would be a good time.

Castalia House reviews Hell Spawn

Over at Castalia House, Jon Mollison reviewed Hell Spawn.

Played entirely straight, the result is an urban fantasy for people who don’t like urban fantasy. Instead of the usual kitchen sink approach as seen in the “Iron Druid” series and countless magic-girl of the week series, Finn steeps the universe of Saint Tommy entirely in a Catholic worldview where Earth represents a battleground between heaven and hell. Though the dual nature of the conflict – good versus evil – lacks the political complexity of the kitchen sink approach, it also grounds the novel with a unified system that carries with it the weight of two thousand years of refining, evolution, and tradition. There are real rules to what can be done and how things operate, and that grounding in a single understanding of the rules of the game allows the action to proceed at a faster clip, and with considerably higher stakes than most examples of the genre.

Considering how popular Iron Druid is, I'll take that review.

Which is not to say that this is a book for Catholics only. The matter of fact presentation of the faith that lies at the core of this work never veers into preachiness or ham fisted apologia. Hand wave away the protagonist’s explanations for his powers – most of the supporting characters do – and you’re still left with a gritty tale of a serial killer targeting a cop. Head-canon the supernatural abilities into a secular expression of natural law, and you’re left with a dark superhero tale that makes the nineties grimdark culture seem tame by comparison.

I ...  yeah. I cop to it. This went dark. But it's nice to see that Mollison finds I did it well.

One word of warning on that note – and Declan Finn’s unflinching willingness to show the nature and effects of evil, this novel goes into some ark places where even the most bloody-minded Hollywood producers fear to tread. The setting being New York City, the usual political theater enters the investigation

I don't know why, this part just pleases me.

Declan writes with an economy of words that packs a lot of impact into this relatively short novel. Never quite dipping down into the close-mouthed unwillingness to describe even the most recurring characters or locales, he nonetheless manages to present just enough information to keep things visually stimulating without dragging the action down.

The rest of the review is here, enjoy.




Hell Spawn can be found here.




Be well.

What's going on with my writing?

So, I'm sure that people are wondering what the heck has been going on with my writing lately.



Lord knows, some of my reviews have questioned it.



Why are my books suddenly getting such a strong political thread?



The Saint Tommy series has been a horror story since book one, ever since the demon claimed his first victim ... assuming that it wasn't during the fight in the precinct.



Can anyone think of something horrible and terrifying doesn't have a connection to a political movement? Hell, I can do a laundry list of human atrocities that are all connected to politics. At the end of the day, if anyone actually put together a list of all wars on the planet, you'll find that some variation on politics is like the top 5 to 10 reasons. (The Irrational Atheist, and I may be stretching the term "politics" to it's broadest, but nowhere near the breaking point).



Then again, we've entered into a strange political climate in which using MS-13 as a source of disposable thugs is considered a "political" choice. So I'm not sure if there's anything left that isn't political.



"Your hero uses guns? You must be a gun nut." .... Thomas Nolan is a cop.



And what did John Wick use? Hair dryers? Is Keanu Reeves an NRA spokesman now?



How about Liam Neeson in the Taken series?



How about every 80s action hero who casually used machine guns in everything?



Strangely enough, some of the reviews are treating this like my most political novel.



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.



All I can think is "Wow. never read the Pius books."



Though on the other hand, politics really is getting to be a real horror show.



Riots seem to be a viable form of "free speech."



Trash a city, you're "protesting."



Murder over a dozen people? It's racist to discuss it.



Apparently, it's even political and ranting to even MENTION some topics.



Sigh. Pardon me while I bang my head against a wall.



So, yes, while my writing has become slightly more political .... that's because it's been horror, and the most horrid thing I've seen lately is political news. Why? Because I'm a philosopher and a historian by training. And the crap in the news sets my Aquinas senses tingling as well as my Herodotus senses. Imagine That Hideous Strength only applied to real life. If you don't know that novel, you should.



But don't worry, after Death Cult , the politics dies down by a ton. Mainly because everyone is too busy getting shot at.

Help, I'm a writer and I can't stop

Welcome back and happy New Year to everyone.

You may have noticed lately that the blog has gone strange. What used to be a wall-to-wall, daily blog has become a "whenever I feel like it" blog. I didn't plan it that way, and I apologize. Had I known I was going to fall into some ... interesting habits, I would have planned ahead and solicited additional help from the pool of authors I know for guest posts.



But I couldn't think of it that much. I was a little busy pumping out a book that's due in February. A book that I should have started in November, but I dropped the ball.



As you know from a previous post, Russell at Silver Empire likes to have me write up and send in outlines of my books before I start writing them.



This time, I thought I sent book 4, City of Shadows, in with book 3, Infernal Affairs. Instead, I put it off to do finishing touches on it, and completely forgot to send it in as one package.



And, as noted, City of Shadows is due out in February. Which means that once I do the remaining 20,000 words, it has to go to Silver Empire, through the editor (Jagi) and then to formatting and pre-order.



So, once I plow through books 4 and 5, I can relax a little for 6. After #6, there is a new series coming out, a space opera I've been working on for years, so all that's needed is editing on the first three, and some rewrites on most of the others. Thus, I may actually be able to relax and do a few blogs here and there that have NOTHING TO DO WITH MY BOOKS.



Yeah, I'm looking forward to the time when my posts stop looking like marketing.



But, as the title implies, I've been working so much, there's little room in my brain for anything other than work. So if you're getting sick of my "here's my book, here's how I wrote the book, these are my thought processes as I write the book, and here are some chapters, and oh wait look there's another book coming out in four weeks I should probably talk about that a minute-and-I-should-probably-slow-down-but-I-can'-t-because-my-brain-is-geared-to-work-all-the-time-and-I-suffer-from-depression-if-I-don't..."



If you ever wonder what my advice is for people who WANT to write novels for fun and profit, it's simple. DON'T. Because you don't want to rewire your brain like this. If you HAVE TO write novels ... it's too late for you, embrace the suck / fun / joy.



Maybe I should start posting screen shots from my video game du jour. You know, that stuff I do in order to turn off my brain.



Either way, I intend to do better .... sometime soon.



Good God I miss my mind.



Anyway, so you could see what I'm dumping most of my brain power on... here:




Hell Spawn  Death Cult.

The Complete Books of Declan Finn 2018

In July, it occurred to me that I published my first book in 2012. And I had come out with quite a few things since then.



And since then, I've come out with even more.



Yikes.



It's gotten to the point where I need a chart for me to keep track of.



And we start with...




It Was Only On Stun! 

(Convention Killings Book 1)[image error]






If this looks strangely unfamiliar to you, it's because Dawn Witzke redid the cover....



Because she really wanted the last one to go.



If you don't recall, It was Only on Stun!  introduces the professional security specialist Sean A.P. Ryan being dumped head first into an SFF convention, and he is hip deep in nerds, genocidal madmen, terrorists, IRA gunmen, and a cartel that has a grudge with him.



So it acts as a nice prologue to ....




A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller 

(The Pius Trilogy Volume 1)[image error]






Then I did  A Pius Legacy , then A Pius Stand.





Because nothing says "epic" like kidnapping the Pope, leading a jail break, and declaring war on the Vatican.








 




Then there was Pius History  and Pius Tales  -- basically, the footnotes and the short stories. These were also pulled from the shelves in order to be rereleased by a publisher. But I ended up with 5 books of The Pius Trilogy. Because I'm apparently doing the Dune "trilogy" of a dozen novels.





 


If you're new here, The Pius Trilogy is my answer to every Smrt Story who thinks they can jam history into a thriller so they can spread whatever Orwellian rewrite of history they like among the populous. In this case, there's a secret about the Catholic church that people are willing to kill to cover up. The only question is: who do you trust?



Then, in a post-Pius universe...



Set to Kill: 

A Sean A.P. Ryan novel 

(Convention Killings) (Volume 2)[image error]








This is the return of Sean AP Ryan, after he appears in Pius, and it's more of a postscript to Pius than it is a sequel to Stun! This time, Sean ends up in the political end of the SFF spectrum, hip deep in lunatics, armed authors, all set in the city of Atlanta for WyvernCon.



No relation to DragonCon, which takes place in Atlanta.



And this is the companion piece. Sort of.




Sad Puppies Bite Back: A Parody[image error]




[image error]






Long long story. It's insane comedy. If you don't know what the title references, you're probably better off without trying this one.



And with mustn't forget my solution to dystopias ... with gun fire.




The Last Survivors






[image error]


This one is particularly interesting, because it's nothing like anything I've ever written. In fact, it's unlike anything I've ever read. I don't like dystopia. I think they're boring, filled with the exact same cliche.



Winterborn and UnSub -- the Dragon Award nominated work -- are set in a San Francisco that ... sadly, looks much like San Francisco of today, only a little worse. Add a spy of unstable temperament, a flaky assassin, and an unstoppable serial killer, and a collection of mercenaries who are increasingly enamored of the almighty dollar.



And, of course, the series everyone likes....




Love at First Bite



Take everything from Dracula about vampires.



Add philosophy and microbiology to explain how vampires work.





Add faith, redemption, a love story, Vatican ninjas, and lots of gunfire.



Shake well.



This was both yanked and rereleased in 2018.






Honor at Stake







My first Dragon Award nominated work. For best horror, as it says on the cover.



Kick ass vampire.



A romance that works.



Three-dimensional characters, even among the side characters.



And then there's Vatican ninjas.

One is a heartless, bloodthirsty killer. The other is a vampire.
College freshman, Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus.
Then she finds tall, intense Marco Catalano in her fencing class. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people - but not Amanda. They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.
As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. But they must come to grips with their personal drama soon because a darkness rises around them. Bodies keep turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires closes in on all sides.
They have only one hope - each other.

Demons are Forever






Obviously, the sequel to Honor at Stake.



Take everything from book one... add in a demon that just won't die.

After saving Brooklyn from a nest of vampires, Amanda Colt and Marco Catalano are a little banged up. He's been given a job offer to deal with vampires in San Francisco, and it's a tempting offer - it would get him away from Amanda, his feelings for her, and get her away from the darkness inside him. When a death in the family compels Marco to move to the West Coast, they're both left to fend for themselves.

Then the creature known only as Mister Day leaves their world in tatters, and they must once more join forces against the darkness. Only Day is no vampire, but a creature beyond their experience. It will take the combined might of Marco, Amanda, and all of their allies just to slow it down. They have no weapons that can kill him. They have no way to imprison him. To even fight him is death.

But they have to try - or face the end of everything they love.

Live and Let Bite






Book three of the vampire series.



And the 2017 Dragon Award Nominee for best horror.

A 2017 Dragon Award Nominee for Best Horror Novel!
Marco is spiraling out of control.
He knows it. His team knows it. Everyone around him can see that he’s just a bomb waiting to explode.
The only woman who can bring him back from the edge is also the woman who lit his fuse. Ever since the demon Asmodeus tried to murder Marco, Amanda Colt has been hunting down every lead to find the true evil behind the attack. Her investigation uncovers a vampire assassin that Amanda has faced once before - and she lost. Stronger than anything they’ve face before, the assassin isn’t alone. As Marco flirts with self-destruction and the armies of Hell prepare to descend, they must come together to stop a thousand-year-old assassin that has never failed.
Even worse, they must finally face up to their feelings for each other!

Then there's book 4.




Good to the Last Drop







And there are some shorts....

The epic conclusion to the Dragon Award nominated series!

The final war begins.

Merle Kraft, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt have battled against the mythical Council, a supernatural conspiracy that monsters fear. This war has brought them up against vampires, minions, and demons from Hell.. Along the way, they have accumulated allies among the police, the military, the mafia, college students, lowly street gangs, and even other vampires. Marco and Amanda have overcome their biggest terror - their passion for each other.

But now, they face the final threat, one that is the culmination of every threat before them. This creature from Hell has powers beyond anything they’ve ever seen before, and has allies of his own: including SpecOps minions, an army of vampires, and packs of werewolves.

And that was before Marco got bitten.

Bad Date: 

A Love at First Bite story[image error]











One is a bloodthirsty monster. The other's a serial killer. 




This is going to get messy.



Blood Stained Cliffs of Dover: 

a Love at First Bite short story[image error]









In World War II, the allied invasion of the continent hinges on keeping one secret absolutely secure. No one must find out, or all hope is lost.



Tonight, German spy Konrad Achterberg is about to discover what that secret is.



He's also about to find out that the Nazis aren't the scariest predators in the night. 




Because something in the dark is colder than the dark. 




And it is hungry.



And, of course, my nonfiction.



For All Their Wars are Merry: 

An Examination of Irish Rebel Songs[image error]




[image error]







And, then, of course, there's





Hell Spawn

My name is Officer Thomas Nolan, and I am a saint.

I can smell evil. I show mercy to the lesser criminals - the desperate. Even those I've put behind bars seem to like me. But now there's a serial killer bringing darkness beyond imagination to my city. I can smell his stench a mile away. But how can I prove it?

How do you do forensics on a killer possessed by a demon?

And I don't think the reviews get much better than this one.




Death Cult

All saints are dead.
Detective Tommy Nolan is no stranger to bizarre events. After all, he's a New York cop. And after the demon, he thought he'd seen it all.

When home invaders threaten his family, he was prepared to take it as a risk of the job. When it turns out the intruders were covered in the mark of the demon, he knew the trouble was just beginning.

Now, it's a race against time as the cult who raised the demon take their revenge. They know that Tommy is not yet a saint. Because all saints are dead.

And, of course, we can't forget the short that appeared here.




Astounding Frontiers #1: 

Give us 10 minutes and we will give you a world[image error]






[image error]


And we can't forget the other anthologies




Tales of the Once and Future King






Or




Lyonesse, Volume 1







MAGA 2020 and Beyond






Don't let the title or cover fool you. This is straight up strange. It's not propaganda, since we have essays, and some stories with a simple moral of "Let's calm down here, shall we?"



And then...





Paragons:




An Anthology of Superheroes.















Then there's all the Superversive stuff.






Mercury










Venus








Mars






And then, coming up in 2019, the fun continues.




January: Infernal Affairs (Saint Tommy, NYPD, book 3)
February: City of Shadows (Saint Tommy, NYPD, book 4)
March: TBA (Saint Tommy, NYPD, book 5)
April: TBD (Saint Tommy, NYPD, book 6)
May: White Ops
June: Death and Politics (A White Ops novel #2)
July: Deadliest Place in the Universe (A White Ops novel #3)
August: TBA (A White Ops novel #4)
September: (A White Ops novel#5)
October: (A White Ops novel#6)
November: (A White Ops novel #7)
December: (A White Ops novel #8)



Somewhere along the way, The Moon Anthology will happen sooner or later.



Also, there's a trilogy of murder mysteries that I may up self publishing, if I have the whim.

Cover Reveal: Infernal Affairs

I was originally going to post this in my mailing list.... but it was already posted on the Kickstarter page.



So, here is the cover for Saint Tommy, NYPD, book 3, Infernal Affairs.










Yes, he does have a Tommy gun. Why do you ask?




Please remember to pick up a copy of Hell Spawn and Death Cult , so you'll be finished by the time Infernal Affairs comes out.




It'll be one Hell of a good time.

War Demons

The Devil went down to Georgia. He was looking for a soul to steal.



And this time, he isn't coming with a violin.



Welcome to War Demons, by Russell Newquist.**

When he came home, so did they...

Driven by vengeance, Michael Alexander enlisted in the Army the day after 9/11. Five years later, disillusioned and broken by the horrors he witnessed in Afghanistan, Michael returns home to Georgia seeking to begin a new life. But he didn't come alone. Something evil followed him, and it's leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

The police are powerless. The Army has written Michael off. Left to face down a malevolent creature first encountered in the mountains of Afghanistan, he'll rely on his training, a homeless prophet, and estranged family members from a love lost...

But none of them expected the dragon.

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden collides with Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International in this supernatural thriller that goes straight to Hell!

That tag at the end isn't bluster. It's fairly accurate. Personally, I think War Demons leans more on the MHI than the Harry Dresden. So much so that I'm willing to say up front that I would not be surprised if Russell ends up authoring an MHI spinoff novel. No, I'm not exaggerating. This is a story that could have been mistaken for a Monster Hunter International novel if Larry Correia used prayer as a weapon more often. But I will admit, there is a TON of Dresden-level action.



Let's back up a step.



Chapter one opens up with a swordfight with a demon, and ends with dropping a daisy cutter on it.



That irritated the sucker a little.



Fast forward a few years to our hero, Michael Alexander, who Jack Ryaned out of the military when his helicopter crashed. He and his buddy hid in a cave .... only do discover something in the cave that was colder than the dark and hungry.



When Michael returns to Georgia, the thing that haunted him in the sandbox follows...



Ahem, "The Devil went down to Georgia...."



But when Michael starts to see his dead friend stalking him in the shadows, well, it's just some PTSD demons. Nothing to worry about, right?



Yeesh. When this guy is haunted by his past, he takes it literally.



The fun continues as the circle of crazy threatens to suck in the entire state. Black Ops commandos, Vatican operatives, a billionaire prepper (seriously, don't mess with the billionaire prepper), a moment of "I wanna bring the flamethrower" that I really believe (Down to "We got it from the Bureau of Land Management"). He gathers the magnificent seven, mounts up, and "We're gonna save the damsel from the dragon"....



Aaaaannnnnddddd it's only the halfway mark. Which made me wonder how the bloody blue Hell the rest of the book was going to go.



That was pretty much the point where things got worse, complete with a villain you really just want to run through with a stake, cut its head off and burn the body ... maybe in that order. It was such a deliciously evil sucker.



And then he had a couple of blackhawks and Apache attack helicopters fight a dragon.



And, it being Georgia, it ends at a football stadium.



Because of course it does. It's Georgia.



Honestly, War Demons was solidly authored and put together. 11% into the book, he's established most of the characters we're going to see throughout the novel, including the villains. Yes, all of them. What? You thought just a demon was going to be enough? Nah. We're going to have golems and vampires and zombies and warlocks and Jihadis, oh my. (Or, as I thought of it as I read it, "terrorists and demons? Challenge accepted.")  Newquist also does a great job of sprinkling the back story throughout the novel.



It's got a nice sense of humor. Up to and including a spook who picks his aliases out of a liquor cabinet.



But as I said at the start, the tag line for this novel is no boast. The action is MHI at its most gonzo (otherwise known as Harry Dresden on a day that ends in Y). The atomospherics top even F. Paul Wilson's The Keep (book, not movie).



Here's the short version: get War Demons. If you like Urban Fantasy, or books with a Soutern atmosphere, or military UF, Larry Correia or Jim Butcher novels, you're going to enjoy War Demons.



And, while you're at it, you might want to pick up Hell Spawn and Death Cult from Amazon, which are all in the same vein.









**For those people who are wondering, yes, Russell is my publisher at Silver Empire. Don't think that influenced my review. Mainly because if I thought it sucked, I wouldn't mention it here, or ever again. I'm actually worried that since it took so damn long for me to review this one, someone is going to think I didn't like it. In this case, no, I got a free copy of this book for review on e-ARC, and then my Kindle died.