Michael Patrick Hicks's Blog, page 36
October 17, 2016
Review: Siren of Depravity by Gary Fry
Let me get this out of the way here at the outset - the first half of this novel is about as boring as can be. The second half, once the plot starts snapping into focus, makes up for the tedium and left me pretty well satisfied.
Siren of Depravity is a book about familial secrets, abuse, torture, and Lovecraftian creatures of sex and destruction. For the most part, this is pretty good stuff, and after a rather lengthy and laborious build-up, author Gary Fry manages to inject a pretty high creep factor and plenty of disquieting grotesqueness.
My main issue comes down to one of pacing and an odd fixation on describing modern technology as if it were something new and alien to most readers. In 2016, I'd think it's pretty safe to say that the majority of readers are familiar with things like e-mail and text messaging. Rather than let readers know that central character Harry Keyes has an e-mail, our first person narrator via Fry, must always let us know that he has to open up a connection to the Internet, log into his e-mail account, and discover by way of modern technology that, lo and behold, he has an e-mail! When he receives a text, rather than simply say, "I got a text," Keyes tells us he receives a text, not an e-mail, because he would have to be logged into his e-mail account on his phone to receive an e-mail there, and since he wasn't logged in, it could not have been e-mail, and thus it was a text. I can't help but wonder if this book was written a the turn of the century when text messages were less ubiquitous than now and given a soft update for the years and character's ages. Either that, or it was an issue of Fry hitting a specific word count. This type of stuff could have been left out and quickened the pace considerably.
As far as the book's first half goes, while dull, there's actually a lot of stuff in there that pays off tremendously in the second half. Fry must have outlined the heck out of this work, and, techie issues aside, there's a thoughtfulness to the story's execution that I respect and admire. While I trudged through a lot of those early details about Keyes and his family life demanding that Fry just get on with it already, the vast majority of it feeds into what comes later with a sort of inevitability, and it's really impressive to see all the various story threads come together in the climax. Details that initially felt small and somewhat meandering take on supreme significance and a much broader scope by book's end.
Siren of Depravity is a book that starts off tiny and meek, but builds up a wonderful sense of dread as it progresses toward a big finish. Still, I would have liked a bit more impetus in the first half, which read a little too dry for my tastes.
[Note: I am a member of the DarkFuse Readers Group and received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher for review via NetGalley.]
October 14, 2016
Welcome to the Brand New MichaelPatrickHicks.com
By whatever miracle, you've managed to find your way over here, so welcome! What you're seeing before you represents what is now the third iteration of my website. In my opinion, it's never looked better and this new site is the high-watermark for me, design-wise.
I've been blogging for a number of years on Wordpress, but things were feeling a little stale over there and my needs/wants were beginning to outgrow that platform. Looking at my options for hosting, e-mail domains, and easily redefined website layouts, I settled on Squarespace for the new home of MichaelPatrickHicks.com.
I have to admit, I'm pretty darn happy with the change thus far. There's a few things that need tinkering with (like updating links in the review listings), but the new site is mostly humming along nicely.
The best part about this is that it actually feels more like a legitimate author's website. Not to knock blogs, or the authors who use them primarily, but I wanted a look that was more ambitious in scope and captured the feel of my work. The homepage, in particular, is certainly a sign of this. I'm an author living in Michigan, and I've spent my life around the outskirts of Detroit (a soon-to-be-released work even takes place in Detroit). My work typically tends toward dystopian themes and concepts to some degree or another. Ultimately, I felt the image of a damaged Renaissance Center, which comes from the cover art of my upcoming release, From The Ashes, was perhaps the most representative I could get in terms of who I am as an author. Feel free to explore the Books section and learn more about my titles.
If you've been following this particular domain for a while, then there's not much else you need to do. Just keep following along and stay tuned for updates. I've been able to keep a pretty regular schedule of two or three posts per week, usually in the form of a book review with the occasional update sprinkled in whenever I have news to announce.
If this is your first time here, bookmark the homepage and keep an eye out for news soon. I've got a few announcements coming up over the last couple weeks of October that I'm excited to share. You'll also want to sign-up for my newsletter, memFeed, for some special goodies (such as my short story, Let Go, which you'll get right away for free).
October 12, 2016
Review: Everything Belongs To The Future by Laurie Penny
Review: 
For me, science fiction is at its best when it tells an allegorical story reflecting on issues of the present day, and this is what makes Laurie Penny's Everything Belongs To The Future such a strong work.
In 2098, scientists have created a Fountain of Youth in a little blue pill. This creates a gerotocracy that only further divides the haves from the have-nots, as the pill is marketed to the rich, and priced so only the wealthy have access. A small group of idealistic youths with aspirations of political revolution attempt to undermine this disparity and create a modified version of the drug, appropriately named a Time Bomb, to undermine the quest for longevity.
A writer on social justice, feminism, and gender issues, journalist Laurie Penny brings all of these topics to bear in her science fiction debut (Penny has written several non-fiction titles, including 2014's Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies, and Revolution). Her vision of England at the turn of the next century is highly recognizable, but subtly shaded with the repercussions of present-day issues (certain segments of England, for instance, are underwater thanks to many of our Old White Man politicians ignoring climate change and its now-unstoppable effects on future generations). There's plenty of justifiable anger simmering in this book's plot, as well, and while the character's motives are nicely gray their final solution is anything but.
Everything Belongs To The Future is richly political and frighteningly dark, but there's also a certain honesty to it's 'what if' nature that I appreciate. It's better to have a bitter truth than a comforting lie, in my opinion, and this title certainly hits on several unsavory truths about mankind, ambition, and greed.
[I received an advanced copy of this title for review from the publisher via NetGalley.]
Buy Everything Belongs To The Future At Amazon
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1481612/review-everything-belongs-to-the-future-by-laurie-penny
October 11, 2016
Review: The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
My original The Dispatcher audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
John Scalzi is an author that’s been in my to-read pile for a while, but I somehow have been unable to get around to reading his work. Thankfully, he and Audible teamed up to produceThe Dispatcher, an audiobook that runs a bit shy of two and a half hours, and which fit nicely into my daily commute.
Scalzi presents a world much like our own in The Dispatcher, with one crucial difference – people who are murdered or who die of unnatural causes automatically come back to life. Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher. His job is to intervene in a moment of crisis. Say somebody gets hit by a car or is about to die on the operating table. Tony’s job is to kill them in a humane fashion so they can come back to life and get another chance. There are loopholes, of course, because aren’t there always? And some of these loopholes are what drags Tony into a police investigation of another Dispatcher who has gone missing.
This premise of a world where murder is largely impossible is certainly an intriguing one, and it makes for a highly effective, attention-grabbing MacGuffin. While the mystical or theological elements undergirding the premise are inexplicable and unexplained, the effect this odd, new state of being has on the world and daily life is well rendered.
The investigation into the missing Dispatcher is well written, and poses plenty of questions, most of which the author approaches directly and satisfactorily. The real star, though, is Zachary Quinto’s narration. Although he’s best known for his roles in Star Trek and Heroes, this dude can truly and utterly perform a book reading in spectacular fashion. He inhabits the role of Valdez nicely, and demonstrates a wide range of voice talent in tackling the other characters, as well. While the story alone is great, Quinto elevates the material to the next level with his narration. As expected from Audible Studios, the sound quality and production values are top-notch.
The Dispatcher is free through Audible until Nov. 2, 2016, making this a very low-risk investment if you act fast, and one that presents wonderful returns for the price. On his blog, Scalzi noted this freebie is a thank you to his and Audible’s audience, as well as a nice enticement to draw in new readers and listeners. As someone who falls into this latter category, The Dispatcher is certainly a terrific incentive to lure me deeper into Scalzi’s backlist. I may even have to reshuffle a few commitments so I can get one or two more of his titles in before year’s end.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1480594/review-the-dispatcher-by-john-scalzi
October 10, 2016
CLONES: The Anthology sale
CLONES: The Anthology is currently on sale for only 99c! This price is good for only a few days, so be sure to act fast! You can purchase your copy at Amazon.
Human cloning.
Technology evolves faster than we do.
The law shields us from our worst temptations.
But the opportunity is there, dangling just out of reach—perfection and ascension… or delusion and destruction.
In this collection of clone-themed stories, ten of today’s top speculative fiction writers explore our morality, our built-in societal restraints, and reflect upon our state of grace.
Similar is not necessarily the same.
“CLONES: The Anthology” features stories from Amazon bestselling authors Rysa Walker (the Chronos series), R.D. Brady (the Belial series), Susan Kaye Quinn (the Singularity saga), Best American Science Fiction notable Samuel Peralta (Faith), and USA Today Bestselling and Multi-Award Winner P.K. Tyler, plus five more of today’s top authors in speculative and science fiction.
“The Replacement Husband” Nathan M. Beauchamp
“Like No Other” Daniel Arthur Smith
“Awakening” Susan Kaye Quinn
“Eve’s Children” Hank Garner
“Black Site” Michael Patrick Hicks
“Fahrenheit 1451” Samuel Peralta
“All These Bodies” PK Tyler
“B.E.G.I.N.” R.d. Brady
“Splinter” Rysa Walker
“The Vandal” Joshua Ingle
Review: Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw
Review: 
With Hammers on Bone, Cassandra Khaw gives an old-school PI story a cool Lovecraftian update. There’s plenty of old-school gumshoe narration (although the story is firmly present-day), along with a heaping dose of ancient gods and gritty mysticism. If this turns out to be the first in a series it is one I’ll happily return to.
PI Joe Persons takes on what should be a simple job from an eleven-year-old client: kill the boy’s abusive step-father, McKinsey. The appropriately-named Persons (you’ll find out why!), naturally, gets more than he bargains for. McKinsey is a meat-suit for something ancient, see, and Persons is being warned off the case by some dame, but he’s a dog with a bone now and serious things are afoot, see?
Mostly, I dug the heck out of Hammers on Bone and the way Khaw played with classic private eye tropes in a way that felt fresh with its sleek infusion of horror. Khaw has a terrific voice and can turn a phrase rather nicely, and her writing and cool style have me eager to check out her other stories, notably Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef, but also whatever else she publishes along the way. Joe Person’s is a neatly complicated sort, for multiple reasons that I should not actually discuss, and the climax was solidly creepy, gross, and violent. And, jeez, check out that cover illustration by Jeffrey Alan Love – it’s beautiful and speaks wonderfully toward the story within.
My only real complaint concerns the novella’s brevity. There’s a lot of story brewing under the surface of Persons narration that, since this is first person point of view, neither he nor readers are privy to. Khaw nails the sense of epic scope surrounding Persons’ case, and I wanted more. By book’s end, the plot grew a bit muddied and obscured with some last-minute dangling threads – but, again, if this turns out to not be a standalone title, this niggling detail could resolve itself. Given the nature of Persons and Khaw’s impressive writing, I’m certainly game for more and she’s definitely an author to watch out for.
[I received an advanced copy of this title for review from the publisher via NetGalley.]
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1480108/review-hammers-on-bone-by-cassandra-khaw
Review: Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw
Review: 
With Hammers on Bone, Cassandra Khaw gives an old-school PI story a cool Lovecraftian update. There's plenty of old-school gumshoe narration (although the story is firmly present-day), along with a heaping dose of ancient gods and gritty mysticism. If this turns out to be the first in a series it is one I'll happily return to.
PI Joe Persons takes on what should be a simple job from an eleven-year-old client: kill the boy's abusive step-father, McKinsey. The appropriately-named Persons (you'll find out why!), naturally, gets more than he bargains for. McKinsey is a meat-suit for something ancient, see, and Persons is being warned off the case by some dame, but he's a dog with a bone now and serious things are afoot, see?
Mostly, I dug the heck out of Hammers on Bone and the way Khaw played with classic private eye tropes in a way that felt fresh with its sleek infusion of horror. Khaw has a terrific voice and can turn a phrase rather nicely, and her writing and cool style have me eager to check out her other stories, notably Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef, but also whatever else she publishes along the way. Joe Person's is a neatly complicated sort, for multiple reasons that I should not actually discuss, and the climax was solidly creepy, gross, and violent. And, jeez, check out that cover illustration by Jeffrey Alan Love - it's beautiful and speaks wonderfully toward the story within.
My only real complaint concerns the novella's brevity. There's a lot of story brewing under the surface of Persons narration that, since this is first person point of view, neither he nor readers are privy to. Khaw nails the sense of epic scope surrounding Persons' case, and I wanted more. By book's end, the plot grew a bit muddied and obscured with some last-minute dangling threads - but, again, if this turns out to not be a standalone title, this niggling detail could resolve itself. Given the nature of Persons and Khaw's impressive writing, I'm certainly game for more and she's definitely an author to watch out for.
[I received an advanced copy of this title for review from the publisher via NetGalley.]
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1480108/review-hammers-on-bone-by-cassandra-khaw
October 8, 2016
Review: Extinction Aftermath (Extinction Cycle Book 6) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Review:
Odds are, if you’re reading a review of this sixth installment in Nick Smith’s popular Extinction Cycle series, you’re already a fan and I won’t be able to tell you much you don’t already know. If you’ve not yet picked up any of these books, and provided that military horror thriller creature features are your bag, then you’ll want to stop here and proceed directly to the first book in this series, Extinction Horizon.
Extinction Aftermath picks up in the months following Extinction End, and Team Ghost, now under the leadership of Master Sergeant Joe “Fitz” Fitzsimmons, is preparing to invade Europe in an effort to quell the Variant threat overseas. Back at home, Reed Beckham is settling into civilian life with the very pregnant Dr. Kate Lovato, and President Ringgold is trying to stitch America back together through a series of Safe Zone Territories. Needless to say, everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and pretty darn quickly, too.
For my money, Aftermath just might be the best EC book yet, which says quite a bit about Smith’s growth as an author and thriller writer. This title hits a few sweet spots that I’ve been waiting for the series to tackle, particularly taking the war to Europe (we get plenty of well-staged action scenes in France) and the introduction of some quite interesting mutations on the Variant side of things. The cover gives you a good hint of what one such mutation Smith’s introduces is, but there’s a few others that are pretty spiffy.
More intriguing, though, is the sense of scope Aftermath possesses. Now that the war against the Variants has gone global, there’s a great sense of sprawling epicness to the story, with the action taking us from the shores of France, back home to Plum Island, Florida, and a few other locales. And the new threat facing America serves to heighten and propel the threats abroad to dangerous levels, while also raising the stakes for our series heroes considerably.
My only real complaint with Aftermath is the lack of resolution. Nearly every plot thread ends on a cliff-hanger, some bigger than others, making this book merely a prelude to the next novel, Extinction War. On the other hand, it’s not like I wasn’t going to continue on with this series regardless. Even if everything had been neatly wrapped up, I’d still be plunking down the cash for whatever Smith has lined up next. From the looks of it, Book 7 should certainly be a doozy.
Buy Extinction Aftermath At Amazon
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1479622/review-extinction-aftermath-extinction-cycle-book-6-by-nicholas-sansbury-smith
Review: Extinction Aftermath (Extinction Cycle Book 6) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Review: 
Odds are, if you're reading a review of this sixth installment in Nick Smith's popular Extinction Cycle series, you're already a fan and I won't be able to tell you much you don't already know. If you've not yet picked up any of these books, and provided that military horror thriller creature features are your bag, then you'll want to stop here and proceed directly to the first book in this series, Extinction Horizon.
Extinction Aftermath picks up in the months following Extinction End, and Team Ghost, now under the leadership of Master Sergeant Joe "Fitz" Fitzsimmons, is preparing to invade Europe in an effort to quell the Variant threat overseas. Back at home, Reed Beckham is settling into civilian life with the very pregnant Dr. Kate Lovato, and President Ringgold is trying to stitch America back together through a series of Safe Zone Territories. Needless to say, everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and pretty darn quickly, too.
For my money, Aftermath just might be the best EC book yet, which says quite a bit about Smith's growth as an author and thriller writer. This title hits a few sweet spots that I've been waiting for the series to tackle, particularly taking the war to Europe (we get plenty of well-staged action scenes in France) and the introduction of some quite interesting mutations on the Variant side of things. The cover gives you a good hint of what one such mutation Smith's introduces is, but there's a few others that are pretty spiffy.
More intriguing, though, is the sense of scope Aftermath possesses. Now that the war against the Variants has gone global, there's a great sense of sprawling epicness to the story, with the action taking us from the shores of France, back home to Plum Island, Florida, and a few other locales. And the new threat facing America serves to heighten and propel the threats abroad to dangerous levels, while also raising the stakes for our series heroes considerably.
My only real complaint with Aftermath is the lack of resolution. Nearly every plot thread ends on a cliff-hanger, some bigger than others, making this book merely a prelude to the next novel, Extinction War. On the other hand, it's not like I wasn't going to continue on with this series regardless. Even if everything had been neatly wrapped up, I'd still be plunking down the cash for whatever Smith has lined up next. From the looks of it, Book 7 should certainly be a doozy.
Buy Extinction Aftermath At Amazon
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1479622/review-extinction-aftermath-extinction-cycle-book-6-by-nicholas-sansbury-smith
October 6, 2016
Review: Pressure by Jeff Strand (audiobook)
Review:
My original Pressure audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Pressure can be defined as the exertion of force upon something by something else, as well mental or physical distress. Either definition is appropriate for Jeff Strand’s aptly titled suspense thriller, Pressure. At its core, this a story of two forces impacting one another, forcefully and violently, and the result is a hefty dose of distress.
Alex and Darren are two boarding school brats, their friendship cemented by a late-night excursion into the woods behind a strip club, where they hide out and hope to catch sight of the action inside. Darren, though, has a secret, and once Alex and their schoolmates discover Darren’s morbid fascinations nothing is the same. What follows is a decades-long story of friendship, adversarial rivalry, and gruesome deeds that can only leave one of them alive.
Strand does a terrific job building his characters, giving them enough dimension and subtle shadings to make them relateable, even if you don’t particularly want to relate to them. And although Darren’s actions are often outside the din of understanding, you at least get what motivates him, even if the results are terribly aberrant. Alex is a solid every-man character caught up in a situation beyond his control and struggling to cope, struggling to make sense, and, mostly, struggling to find a solution to the problem that is Darren. The first-person viewpoint Strand uses allows us to see the world from Alex’s point of view, and while the story itself is pretty pitch-black, Strand, via Alex, is able to interject enough levity and enduring positivity to keep Pressure from collapsing under its own misery.
Pressure is narrated by Scott Thomas, whose voice talents I greatly enjoyed in a prior Strand title, Wolf Hunt. Here, Thomas exhibits a nice a range and listeners are unlikely to confuse characters during stretches of dialogue. While the story belongs to Alex, Thomas injects plenty of different voices and speech styles to mark the other characters that inhabit Pressure. Soundwise, this is a cleanly narrated book, with terrific production quality and no technical issues to speak of.
Clocking in at seven hours, Pressure is a solid psychological suspense thriller with dashes of Strand’s typical wry humor, and packed with plenty of history between the central antagonist and his nemesis. It’s entertaining, occasionally bleak, but highly worthy of attention. Between the two works I’ve listened to that Strand and Thomas have collaborated on, I think it’s fair to say they make quite a good team. As long as Strand keeps writing, and Thomas keeps giving a voice to those words, I’ll be listening.
[Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com.]
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1478636/review-pressure-by-jeff-strand-audiobook
