Michael Patrick Hicks's Blog, page 44
April 17, 2016
LET GO: Now With The Hunter Shea Seal of Approval
Late this past week, I uploaded a short horror story to Amazon. I’ve written about Let Go previously (here, for instance) – it’s a pretty straight forward zombie story, but my beta readers enjoyed it and early reviews have been kind.
One such beta reader, fellow author Tommy Muncie, posted his thoughts on his personal blog (here), writing that Let Go “stands out because it’s more about the human emotion than it is about the violence and the conflict…” and has “a feeling that’s slightly more Stephen King.”
Tommy is not the first reader to tell me it has a Stephen King vibe and, well, they’re right I suppose. King was a definite influence on me, and I’ve credited the man with being almost personally responsible for making me a serious reader-slash-book hoarder back when high school lit classes were destroying my eagerness to seek out books for entertainment. That’s maybe another discussion for another time, though. But, yes, King is a definitely influence.
Strangely enough, Tommy is also the second reader to draw a comparison to Breaking Bad. Now that is a purely unintentional happenstance, and I don’t really see it, but will happily be lumped in with such a fine series!
The real big news, for me, was finding out that horror author Hunter Shea grabbed a copy. And what’s more, that he enjoyed it. And that he enjoyed it enough to leave a 5-star review on Goodreads. I’ve pulled some quotes from it, as shown above, but you can check out the full review here.
When Shea tweeted me about this over the weekend, I was initially panicked, nervous, start struck, and hugely relieved! He’s a great guy, and I’ve been a reader of his for a very short while but have certainly liked what he’s put out. It’s incredibly gracious of him to have taken the time to write about my story, and I’m both flattered and incredibly grateful. So, yeah, Let Go now has some serious bona fides to go with it!
This week, I’ll be running some promos in a couple newsletters in the hopes that I can draw a few more eyes to Let Go. If you’ve read the story already, I could really use your help in the form of more honest reviews. If you haven’t read Let Go but would like to, you can pick it up for .99c at Amazon.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1385018/let-go-now-with-the-hunter-shea-seal-of-approval
April 15, 2016
Review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Review: 
As a new parent, it’s rare that I’ll trade anything, let alone some extra time at night, for some precious, much coveted sleep. Yet, as I closed in on the last handful of chapters of Blake Crouch’s latest, I found myself laying in bed, eyes barely open, promising myself, “Just a few more pages. I’ll finish this chapter and then go to bed.” And then ultimately deciding last night, no, I will finish this tonight. I must finish this tonight – not because I had other books to read (there’s lots and lots of those!), but because I had to freaking know how this damn thing ended!
Earlier this month, I gave up on a book less than halfway through. I had been bored and struggling with that previous title, and was finding myself in a bit of a reading slump. A few cyber book buddies who knew I had an ARC of Dark Matter, and who had already read and raved about this one, suggested-slash-demanded that I read this book immediately. I took their advice and…
Holy. Crap.
This book kept me on my toes nearly the whole way through. Every time I thought I had a grip on things and thought I knew where Crouch was going with the story, he veered off into a whole other thrilling direction. This book is tense and has a number of shocks throughout. Right when you start to feel safe, Crouch lobs another crazy curve ball to bean you upside the head.
I found myself consistently awed at how Crouch is able to constantly raise the stakes without making the story feel bloated and bogged down, or, even worse, tiresome. The only thing this book is thick with is suspense! There were a number of times that I was caught off guard, and Crouch makes some bold decisions in his storytelling here that I flat out loved.
I don’t want to give out any spoilers, and Crouch puts so many twists and turns into his narrative that even talking about the basic premise seems like a risky gambit that would reveal too much about this book’s Big Ideas. Dark Matter is one of those books that I want to talk about, but can’t. So just do me a favor and go pre-order the damn thing. It comes out in July. You can thank me later.
[Note: I received an advanced review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1383782/review-dark-matter-by-blake-crouch
April 14, 2016
Let Go
Earlier this year, I wrote a hard science fiction cosmic horror story called “Black Site,” which will be appearing in the upcoming Clones: The Anthology this spring/summer (and holy crap, wait until you see the cover for that book! WOW!). This story was a bit of a challenge for me on several levels and required a lot of rewriting before I was comfortable enough to submit it for edits and feedback for future revisions. It’s a story I am damn proud of, and there’s a lot of layers to it, but once it was finished I needed something a bit more straight-forward to focus on, something that was driven a bit more deeply by character rather than concept.
One night, while emptying the dishwasher, a man named Everett Hart told me his story. His was a simple story, but one filled with loss and uncertainty. Everett was unmoored by the tragedies life so often brings us, and he’s closer to the end of his life than the start of it. He told me these things while sitting in a restaurant known for its fried fish, during what must have been the start of a zombie apocalypse.
Everett’s story can be found in the short horror story Let Go, and it’s available now at Amazon.
While Everett struggles with letting go of his particular baggage, writing Let Go was a way for me to, ahem, let go of the haunting complexity I encountered while writing “Black Site.” It was a way for me to let go of that previous story with a bit of a palette cleanser.
Unlike “Black Site” the focus is not on any particular high concept idea(s), but on a character and his emotional challenges. I wasn’t looking to reinvent any particular wheels with this one. I just wanted to tell a straight-forward, character-first kind of zombie story, and I think I did OK in that mission.
Mostly, though, I just wanted to tell Everett’s story as he told it to me one evening after work while I was occupied with household chores. I think his story is one worth telling. It’s a story of loss and grief and trying to cope with those unexpected moments when life completely flips the script and upends your expectations. It’s also about coping with the unknown, in all the various guises the unknown can appear in. This is a story of life, and life after death.
April 7, 2016
Hey Authors – Don’t Be An Asshole
I’ve gone back and forth for a little while about writing this post because, let’s face it, blog posts these days about authors behaving badly are a dime a dozen. It’s a small wonder that in this age of social media we still have to remind writer’s not to treat their potential readers like shit, and yet here we are.
A few months back, I made a post on my private Facebook account that was very anti-Trump in nature (probably around the time Trump bragged about being able to shoot somebody in the middle of Times Square and face zero repercussions, and I’m fairly certain there was probably yet another school shooting that day…). I’m an author and I have allowed a number of other authors to be, in Facebook parlance, friends with me on there. One of those authors decided to take time out of his day to insult me for not being on the Trump bandwagon and for buying into the liberal media reports about how black protestors were being beaten and forcibly evicted from his rallies (something that is still occurring, and common enough that Slate began keeping a running tally of violence at Trump rallies), at a time when Trump was promising to ban Muslims from the US.
Today that author is running a promo on his books, so his name popped up a number of times in my feed. His books sound cool, and they have a premise that is right up my alley. And they’re currently free! Normally, I would have been one-clicking away over on Amazon to gather up the series.
But, as an author, I’m also a reader. A reader that usually goes through half a dozen books per month, on a fairly typical basis. A reader that this particular author decided to demean because of political differences. A reader who that author, apparently, felt was beneath him. So, no, I’m not in any particular rush to support this man’s work by helping boost his Amazon rankings for the day, because this is an author that decided he did not want me as a customer.
I know this is a bitter political campaign and tempers are skewed. There’s a particular segment in America that feels embittered and who are upset “their” America is being altered. They’re afraid, and Trump plays well at being the fear-monger. More recently, another author reminded me of this by tweeting at me in response to a post I had shared about yet more protestors being beaten at a Trump rally (there is at least a pretty common theme among the many Trump rallies). This author posited that was the way the left likes it. Because, what, “the left” actively enjoys seeing minorities harassed and beaten by the KKK and Neo-Nazi members that support Trump? Seriously? That strikes me as more than a little bit intellectually lazy, with a dash of ridiculous conspiracy theory thrown in on the side.
And in yet another instance, I shared this blog post from Stant Litore, What You Can Do If You’re A White Guy Like Me. Litore gives a few helpful pointers about how guys like us can help combat the harassment of women online and at conventions. To me, this seems highly reasonable. I’ve known women who have been harassed, and as somebody who was bullied fairly frequently early in life, I’m not a real big fan of harassers, bullies, molesters, and creeps in general. Be Cool may be an Elmore Leonard title, but it’s also a pretty good motto to live by. Who could object to this?
Apparently the author that tweeted me, for the very first time ever, in response to an article about stopping the harassment of women, stating, “As a white male, how about I do whatever the fuck I want.”
Wow. There’s a conversation starter that doesn’t at all reek of bitter entitlement. But, at least I have yet another name I can add to the list of writer’s I won’t be supporting.
This isn’t a matter of having a difference in opinion. You have your beliefs, I have mine. Fine, whatever. And keep in mind I am not calling for any type of censorship (because, unfortunately this has to be stated and freaking bolded, now that we live in an era where anytime somebody disagrees with somebody else, there’s a knee-jerk reaction about how they’re “being banned” or “censored” because it’s the cool new buzz word floating ’round these echo chambers). You’re free to tweet and post about whatever you want. I do. I post opinions all the time, and I’m fine if we disagree on fundamental issues.
My point is that these differences of opinion shouldn’t be staging areas for battlegrounds, particularly not between an author and his potential readers. You’re not doing your cause any favors in attacking me or others, and you’re definitely not earning yourself a new reader. What you’re tell me is that you don’t have any respect for the opinions of others, and that if we don’t agree with you then we’re beneath you. If that’s how you want to run your business, then fine. I’m OK with that. But keep in mind that I could have been a fan, a champion of your work, a guy that enthusiastically promotes your work and tells all my friends about it because I loved it. Instead, you went out of your way to be an asshole. And that tells me something. It tells me a lot, really.
I’m a reader. I’m a buyer of books. Hell, I’m a freaking book hoarder. The money I spend on books each week, hell sometimes each day, is fundamentally ridiculous. So, you know what, maybe I have a better idea. If you’re an author, and you’re an asshole who holds their readers in contempt unless they meet whatever murky ideological paths you follow and you can’t handle conducting yourself like an adult, let me know. I could really save some serious money this way!
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1375469/hey-authors-don-t-be-an-asshole
April 6, 2016
Review: Pieces of Hate by Tim Lebbon
Review: 
Pieces of Hate collects two Tim Lebbon stories revolving around the assassin Gabriel – “Dead Man’s Hand” and “Pieces of Hate.” Gabriel is on the hunt for Temple, who slaughtered his family, and it provides the basis for two equally interesting settings with one serving as a de facto western (albeit a weird western) and the other a good old-fashioned pirate story, respectively.
I won’t say more about Gabriel, his mission, or Temple because, really, why spoil the fun of those discoveries? There’s some interesting history between these two figures, and if you’ve read the book description you already know the gist of it.
Frankly, I’m a bit torn on this book. It’s filled with good ideas and interesting locales, which I liked a lot, but the execution just didn’t jibe with me.
In “Dead Man’s Hand,” we join Gabriel in the infamous Wild West town of Deadwood. This one’s a first-person POV narrated by a man named Doug who discovers a bloodied-up Gabriel in his shop. Doug’s personal history isn’t exactly one that would mark him as an adventurer, and he’s about as interesting as the timber walkways lining the fledgling community’s horseshit covered streets. Gabriel and Temple are, of course, the most interesting aspects of this story, but with Doug serving as a filter most of that gets watered down. Doug, you see, doesn’t know what the hell is going on and can’t really tell us anything meaning. Lebbon teases us with hints of a much better story than what is actually delivered by hapless Doug. We get all kinds of mystery and intrigue, but zilch in the way of answers and resolution. Thanks for nothing, Doug.
“Pieces of Hate” is the more interesting of the two, because PIRATES! This story is a close third-person account with a much stronger focus on Gabriel than the introductory story, and contains a bulk of the meat missing from “Dead Man’s Hand.” Unfortunately, it’s equally frustrating in its resolution, and those hoping for an epic showdown between these sworn enemies will be disappointed. While there’s some nice swashbuckling elements, I would have preferred a stronger finale for my time investment.
As a collection, Pieces of Hate provides two stories that are well written, but which lack a satisfying resolution. I guess the end of the second story offers a slim glimmer of hope that maybe a third story will come out to put a pin in all this with a decent finale. I might even be swayed to read it. Lebbon has some great ideas here, but none that are fully realized.
[Note: I received a copy of this title from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.]
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1374794/review-pieces-of-hate-by-tim-lebbon
April 5, 2016
March 2016 Read & Reviewed Round-Up
The Complex by Brian Keene
Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire
The Winter Box by Tim Waggoner
Savage Species by Jonathan Janz
The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey
I Kill In Peace by Hunter Shea
Hit (Audiobook) by Delilah S. Dawson
Husk by Rachel Autumn Deering
Family Business (Audiobook) by Brett Williams
April 4, 2016
Review: Javelin Rain by Myke Cole
Review:
Myke Cole’s Gemini Cell was one of my favorite reads last year, so I was looking forward to Javelin Rain with a lot of excitement.
These two books comprise the opening gambit of a new trilogy that serves as a prequel to Cole’s Shadow Ops series (which I haven’t read, but since these are prequels they’re as good as place as any to start, I think), and like a number of middle entries, Javelin Rain struggles as its own entity. It has to continue the story began in Gemini Cell of Jim Schweitzer, an undead SEAL who has been resurrected by a secret cabal within the US military, and picks up literally seconds after the last page of the prior book. It also has to tell a story that progresses the overarching narrative without providing too much in the way of resolution (because that’s what book three in a trilogy is for!) while also serving as a satisfying entry in its own right.
Cole adheres to these points fairly solidly, but Javelin Rain gets a bogged down in its own elements. As a middle entry, it lacks the freshness of discovery the prior book possessed, and as a reader I’m no longer thrust into exciting, unfamiliar territory but instead get a lot of the same elements I was already familiar with. This book is basically Schwietzer On The Run In The Forest, and its a scenario that occupies a lot of pages. A side plot introduces Dadou, a new sorcerer inducted into the Gemini squad to kick up their capabilities a notch, and she’s a pretty cool character tasked with working alongside Jawid, resident Binder of souls to corpses. There relationship helps make Jawid a more interesting character here as Cole explores the depth of his religious fervor and the mental brainwashing of his faith.
Mostly, though, this book just lacked the excitement and freshness I found in last year’s novel. The action wasn’t quite as exciting, although Cole delivers a few welcome surprises here and there and lays out enough details to inch us toward the big finish in book three. If Gemini Cell was great (and I thought it was), then Javelin Rain is merely good. It’s readable, and leaves the characters in an interesting place, but it lacks energy. Still, I’m on-board for the long haul, even with slightly dampened enthusiasm.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1371415/review-javelin-rain-by-myke-cole
March 29, 2016
Review: Husk by Rachel Autumn Deering
Review:
Rachel Autumn Deering has worn various hats in the comic book side of literature, and makes her prose debut with Husk. Based on the strength of this novella, I’d say that’s a pretty smart move and I’m hoping to see more works in this vein from her soon.
Husk is a psychological horror story with some well-sketched characters. Kevin is a war veteran, recently home from Afghanistan and undergoing treatment for PTSD until the VA cuts off his disability checks. They claim he is addicted to the pills they have prescribed him to treat his clinical depression. Kevin doesn’t truck well with being told he’s a drug addict and goes cold turkey on the meds. Maybe not the best idea ever.
Deering gives us a terrific look at how Kevin copes with PTSD, or doesn’t in some cases. He’s still plenty shell-shocked, and the tension is only heightened further when something strange begins lurking around his farmhouse, stalking him in the night and threatening his new-found love interest.
This is a work of horror where the people come first and foremost, and Deering takes her time making Kevin and Samantha real, devoting plenty of time to developing their burgeoning relationship.
If I have to pick nits, it’s going to be with some of the dialogue and a few technical issues on the writing side. Some it feels a bit too much on the nose, particularly Kevin’s rant early in the book when he rails against the VA and his doctor. There’s also some wicked POV shifts that took me off guard, where we’re with Kevin and then suddenly being told about what’s happening inside the neighbor’s home, which he could have no knowledge of. These are certainly issues that can be ironed out over time, and aren’t exactly surprising to see in a first-time prose author. None of these issues break the story though, nor did they detract from my enjoyment of the work.
And besides, that ending…oomph. Nicely done, that.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1366058/review-husk-by-rachel-autumn-deering
March 28, 2016
Review: Family Business by Brett Williams (Audiobook)
Review:
[My original Family Business audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.]
Family Business by Brett Williams may be one of the meanest, most joyless horror novels I’ve ever happened upon. This sucker is pitch-black bleak, filled with a cast of abusers and the abused, and rife with hopelessness. The few times we get meager glimpses of light, Williams revels in prolonging our agony and draws the shutters back down into place to blot out the light. This is a cruel and savage work, one that left me feeling dirty and in desperate need of a shower at the end of its ordeal.
Erika is hoping to surprise her husband with a puppy and ventures off to visit a backwoods puppy mill. Obviously this is the best idea in the world, and after cluelessly ignoring all the warning signs horror-hounds will be well versed in, she finds herself abducted and locked in a cage. Following her abduction, Williams presents a number of despairing sequences of brutal and graphically written rape scenarios, hardcore animal cruelty, vivid abuse, shallow adultery as we get to know Erika’s shady husband, and Erika’s own attempt at transformation from rape victim to manipulative seductress. And just when you think things cannot become more depraved, Williams somehow still manages to up the ante in an on-going pursuit of nihilistic redneck horror.
OK, so this is a story that did not appeal to me. While I enjoy dark, broody horror, this book was just too unrelentingly grim for me. The narrative is violent and savage, and completely stripped of any sort of enjoyment, or even empathy for the character’s plights. If Williams wanted to strip his readers bare emotionally and, like one certain poor puppy early on, viciously crush them beneath his boot heel, he is certainly successful in that regard.
As narrator, Joe Hempel handles the material well, and his reading possesses the necessary gravitas. His accents and character voices fit in nicely with the rural Missouri setting, and the production is smooth. I’ve listened to a few titles with Hempel as narrator, and this is easily his strongest performance. Occasionally in audiobooks, you can notice a narrator’s voice change as he warms up during the reading, but Hempel keeps things consistent for the nearly nine-hour run-time.
With its focus on sheer unrelenting misery for both the book’s characters and its listeners, Family Business could easily take home the Feel Bad Listen of the Year Award if there were such a thing. Potential listeners may want to get an iron gut before braving the dark depths of this particular title.
[Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com]
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1365593/review-family-business-by-brett-williams-audiobook
March 24, 2016
Review: The Complex by Brian Keene
Review:
If Brian Keene is not exactly a household name, then he is at the very least quite well known within the horror community. Admittedly, I’ve not read many of his works (an error I hope to, as Keene would put it, “unfuck immediately”), but I consider myself a fan by way of his podcast, The Horror Show with Brian Keene, and social media presence. I respect and value him as an author, even if reader-me is still playing catch up. Frankly, the only prior works of his that I read were The Rising (which, frankly, I wasn’t completely crazy about) and his short story “The Last Supper” from the Seize the Night vampire anthology (which I absolutely was crazy for). While The Rising was his first book and didn’t quite do it for me, I saw immediately a huge growth in talent that the intervening years brought to bear in “The Last Supper.”
The Complex, then, is only the second book of Keene’s that I’ve read. Since starting it Sunday night and over the course of the last four days, I’ve bought a handful more of Keene’s other titles and hit him up on Twitter to find out where I can score more stories about The Exit (and if you come across this review, Brian, thank you again. I’ve secured the appropriate anthologies and then some!), a recurring character I’m discovering only now thanks to this book. So, does that answer the question on whether or not I liked this book?
Written with a tight, cinematic pacing, Keene introduces us to his characters – a handful of apartment dwellers – through various POV chapters, wasting no time getting right into the action and dumping us into a full-bore violent romper-room of chaos and bloodshed by the end of chapter two. Things go awry just as new tenants Terri, and her son, Caleb, are moving in and confronted by a pack of naked crazies bearing an assortment of weapons, and soon enough the entirety of Pine Village Apartment’s is under siege.
From there, it’s action, action, action. The violence is quick and no-nonsense, and Keene writes the various scenarios very well, in quick and dirty fashion, careful not to overly prolong any given sequence while keeping things punchy.
Right from the outset, I could tell this would be a book I’d appreciate as Keene name-dropped a few of my favorite writers, like Chuck Wendig and Kelly Sue DeConnick, and colored the cast and settings with personal touches that I recalled Keene talking about on his podcast. I always like these little bits of personal experiences and flashes of an author’s life bleeding onto the page (something that’s never really avoidable, mind you, but recognizing these instances from Keene’s discussions gave me a smile and a little bit of a welcome ‘oh, hey! I remember that!’ feeling).
Bottom line – this book is fun. Damn fun. I liked it a lot, from it’s wonderfully diverse cast right down to the obese and nasty Tick Tock man, and an ending that (fondly, actually) echoed The Rising in some ways. It also compelled me to buy more of Keene’s work, and that, perhaps more than anything, is the best mark of quality I can think of.
Original post:
MichaelPatrickHicks.booklikes.com/post/1363962/review-the-complex-by-brian-keene
