“Blue Spirit” By E. Chris Garrison

This is a book that grabs the reader right off the bat and doesn’t let go. From the very start, when the world of fantasy bleeds into our own world, the book is suffused with a sense of wonder and a lingering malevolence as it seems our heroine is constantly just a bit over her head. However, with her own sense of ingenuity and the powerful sense of camaraderie between her and her close friends, somehow, she manages to persevere.

The most compelling thing about the book, in my opinion, is just how real the characters feel. We see the world from the point of view of the main character who has the same problems as many of use as she balances her extraordinary gift with the travails of real life such as finding the right relationship, paying her rent and holding down a job while engaging in adventures across worlds.

It puts one in the mind of “Lost Girl” in that the characters are real people with real problems who also have to deal with extraordinary circumstances at every turn. The main character, Skye,  is insightful, funny, a gamer, a cosplayer and she likes to drink. She sounds like any one of my close circle of friends!

I had no idea what to expect I opened the book, but once I started reading, I could not put it down. I wanted to know what was going on, what would happen next, and above all, I wanted these characters, who felt like people I knew and cared for, to be ok.

So this book is a quick read, a great ride and if there is any weakness, it is in the brevity of the work..fortunately, there is a another book to read!

Look for my review of “Sinking Down” coming soon!

Pick up "Blue Spirit" here!

Here's the synopsis of the book

Book Synopsis for Blue Spirit:   Gamer girl Skye MacLeod can see fairies, but only when she’s tipsy. More Grimm than enchanting, some of these fairies are out to ruin her life, wreaking havoc with her job, her home, and her relationships.

With the help of her tiny fairy friend Minnie, Skye has to protect her vampire wannabe gamer friends from all-too-real supernatural threats only she can see. Can she keep it together and hold fast against a wicked fairy Queen’s plot?

Blue Spirit is the first book of A Tipsy Fairy Tale series!

Stranger Things, I'm sorry, I judged you too early and I was wrong.

(Cue Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You" as accompaniment for this apology)

Okay, I owe a big apology to "Stranger Things". I said some not-so-positive things about it the other day, and I kinda wish I had not. I didn't really say anything negative, because I rarely go negative, but I wasn't exactly positive either. I'm not giving myself an excuse here, and that's what I want to talk about today.
So, I will say what I do like about the show. It's a fabulous homage to the 80's, Steven Spielberg, a little John Carpenter and Wes Craven and even some John Hughes (as pointed out by my astute fiance).
So it's a really good send up of a lot of those films and it does feel very familiar. I felt, initially that it was too predictable. There was a bit of a flame war that I was mistaking familiarity for predictability, and in the end, I concede. It was a bit predictable, but kind of in the ways you want it to be.
So I rarely poop on another artist's work, and The Duffer Brothers are even from right here in NC. So I am correcting myself. Just because I saw a couple of twists coming, doesn't mean I didn't like it. One doesn't watch a Star Wars movie without kind of knowing where it's going to go (the bad guys where black, for goodness sake). So I gave myself a stern talking to, looked at the show with fresh eyes and allowed myself to be swept away for the ride.
It was like visiting an old friend, or going back to your favorite amusement park from when you were a kid. The production value was high, the ending was exceptional and there will be more to come.

I will be right there watching it when Stranger Things returns for Season 2 in 2017.

Getting back up

Chilling at my favorite pub (Saints and Scholars, Raleigh, NC) and reflecting on how I got here (not to the pub, to this place in life). There were some turmoil years just after "The Battle of Caerlon" was released. Unfortunately, I let it kill my Big Mo (momentum). I never stopped writing but progress slowed to a crawl and publishing, interacting with folks, all that disappeared.
But I'm finally at a place where I have slowed down the race a bit, took stock of where I am, and begun the recovery.
What better way than to release a new book (The Warchitect), but it won't stop there. The next book in the Pendragon Chronicles is complete and being edited. The Forsaken is being polished up and Return To Glory (my first love) is about to get a complete reboot (since reboots seem to be the rage these days). I'm moving on the the third book in The Pendragon Chronicles (working title: White Ghost), a sequel to Warchitect and a couple of other new projects that are in their infancy.
It feels good to be back in the game some. I have a partner who supports it and more time to work on my art than ever before.
So I guess the moral, or at least what I have learned, is that it's okay to get knocked down. Just get back up. Keep getting back up.
How does the Japanese proverb go? Get knocked down seven times and get up eight.
Close enough for me :)

Hey! We released another book! It's called the Warchitect and it's available on Amazon Kindle. Check it out right here!

And here is the awesome cover image by Danny Kelly: