The Grace of Kings – There But For The Grace of The Gods, Kings Go

A little while ago I heard about a short story called The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (click here) that was going around and impressing a lot of people that I take seriously. I am not a huge short fiction person myself, but I thought what the hell, it isn’t that long I will just…

Standalone Novels: Small Books With Big Stories

I am a sucker for huge sweeping stories. Two of my all time favorite series are The Black Company and Malazan. At about 10 books each, they are masterpieces of world building, plot intricacies, and character development. But they are not good because they are long; they are good despite being overly long. One of…

Monsters of Elsewhere – Giving You Respect For The Monster Under Your Bed

I am on a bit of a self publishing kick for no particular reason. This choice has led me to read some really great unknown gems, and some books that have not made it into posts as they are not worth mentioning. Today I want to talk to you about a new self published book…

Knight’s Shadow – A Thick Second Chapter in a Heartfelt Story

I like to think of myself as a fairly harsh critic. I think I have an eye for good world building, character development, plot, etc. and I think I am very fair in how I assess different books perform at these various metrics. That being said, I have noticed an interesting effect when I read…