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Urban Fantasy

Discarded – Book Review

January 16, 2021 by hpholo 1 Comment

Never underestimate the power of a good title, y’all. I read this entirely because its series name was Dumpstermancer – and ended up finding a surprise favorite.

In Discarded (Dumpstermancer #1) by Michael J. Allen, talented spell architect Elias Graham has just been released from a hellish magical prison, having served a sentence of 100 years. For a crime he didn’t commit. After he was framed by his closest friends.

And all he’d wanted to do was use his magic to help people.

Now, barred by law from using magic and without a friend in the world, Eli’s only option is to live on the streets. Still bitter from the betrayal, he only wants to go as unnoticed and unbothered as possible – but the magical forces around him have other plans. Thoth Corp, the magic-dealing corporation he helped build, has been secretly turning people into monsters, and the local fey – long thought extinct – need his help before those monsters wipe them out.

But Eli is the most unwilling of heroes…

Simply put, Discarded is unlike any fantasy I’ve ever read, urban or otherwise.

In a genre where most heroes are gung ho for their adventure (even if they take some convincing to start it) and are usually sent off with some kind of aid or magic weapon, Eli stands out as a character who doesn’t want to leave his alley and starts out with literally nothing of use, not even access to his own magical ability. He’s as vulnerable as any other homeless person struggling to survive on the scraps of society, and it is from this that the novel’s strength is derived.

That its protagonist is homeless already makes Discarded stand out from other fantasy novels, but the brunt of its strength is in how brutally and vividly realized Eli’s homelessness is. He isn’t the sort of character who overcomes challenges easily Because He’s The Main Character. He’s the sort of character for whom staying warm, sheltered, and fed is a struggle on top of his magical struggles. When the author describes the conditions he faces, the reader can feel the cold in his alley and fear the results of a nearby woman’s misunderstood scream, and enough of those conditions go wrong for him that the reader has no confidence that he’ll succeed, or succeed in the way he wants to. (Especially considering that the forces that worked to frame him in the first place are still actively working against him.) All this combined makes the book intensely suspenseful – and that’s even before you consider the magical plotline.

Speaking of which, the magic of this setting is fascinating. This is a modern setting parallel to our own where magic has been (mostly) tamed and franchised, where even non-magically-talented people can buy spell boards and components at the magical equivalent of the Apple Store and use them to do any number of petty miscellaneous things. It’s a setting where “mananets” convey magic with the same efficiency of electrical lines – which are still present in this world, as magic and technology coexist, if a bit awkwardly. (Eli holds that magic is just science that hasn’t been figured out yet, but many in the setting view the two as naturally separate.) Eli himself was once at the center of this magical boom, being one of the founders of magical super-franchise Thoth Corp, and this forms another huge part of his character.

Eli could be a hard character to like. He’s an intensely bitter person, and so stubborn about it that he refuses help from even well-meaning people. Some of this comes down to pride – even homeless, he holds himself to a high standard of self-sufficiency – but much of it comes down to the fact that he was so thoroughly betrayed before the story started. After all, his forays into magic began because he wanted to help people with it, until his companions decided to take his company on a more duplicitous, careless route and got rid of him in such an extreme way that it resulted in him spending the equivalent of a century in a magical prison known as The Wasteland, where his punishment was to simply suffer other prisoners in a desert with limited resources. His soul is so scarred by the horrible depth of those circumstances that he sees no point in going out of his way to do any form of good, if there’s a chance it could result in that.

And so while the reader might sometimes be frustrated by his obstinance, the reader also completely understands why it’s there, and this makes him a lot more sympathetic than he would be otherwise.

The fey characters merit a mention, too, for while they are the creatures of fairy tales, they’re not the nice Victorian ones. These fey are straight out of folklore, manipulative with their own codes of etiquette and honor, and while these characters are likable – and essential, in that they force Eli to join his own story – they pose threats to his well-being just as often as they offer boons, and are as much responsible for the story’s tension as they are its victories.

If I were to complain about anything in this book, it’s that there are enough typographical errors to notice, but they read more like the uncaught artifacts of dictation software than lack of skill, and they weren’t distracting enough to detract from the story. (And honestly the only reason I’m mentioning this is because I feel like I should have at least one negative thing to say in this review, lest it read like the unbalanced gushing of an unabashed fangirl. Plus, given the rest of the review, it’s not like the author’s skill is in question.)

In short, read this book. Urban fantasy readers will find a vividly realized world with all the magical quirks and suspense that they know and love, while non-fantasy readers will find an unexpectedly earnest look at the practical struggles of homeless life. Discarded is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year, and absolutely recommended.

***

Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Action, action adventure, adventure, discarded, dumpstermancer, fairies, Fantasy, fey, homeless, homelessness, Magic, Michael J. Allen, Urban Fantasy

The Time Reavers Blog Tour Kicks Off!

September 21, 2017 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Time Reavers Audiobook Cover
Time Reavers is on its first audiobook blog tour, and thus far, the praise is flowing!
Dab of Darkness calls Time Reavers “a hell of a fun ride” with “great narration!” Meanwhile, The Literary Apothecary gives it 4.2 of 5 stars, and Macarons & Paperbacks is “impressed with [reader Tess Irondale]’s narrating skills.” (We agree. Her voices are magnificent!)
Links to all tour stops are posted below if you’d like to get in on the adventure – and even if you already know you love Time Reavers, there are plenty of reasons to follow. Many stops feature audio excerpts and interviews with Jacob, as well as a giveaway in which you could win a signed copy of the print edition, so go check them out!
Finally, a big thanks to Audiobookworm Promotions for arranging this tour. They’ve done a fantastic job putting everything together for us, and we couldn’t have asked for a better tour partner. 🙂
Read on for more reavery goodness!
Time-Reavers-Tour-Banner

Time Reavers Blog Tour Stops

September 20th
Dab of Darkness Audiobook Reviews (Review, Giveaway)
Lomeraniel (Review, Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)
The Literary Apothecary (Review)

September 21st
Jazzy Book Reviews (Audio Excerpt, Interview, Giveaway)
Macarons & Paperbacks (Review, Interview, Giveaway)

September 22nd
It’s Novel to Me (Review, Author Interview)
Notes From ‘Round the Bend (Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)

September 23rd
Lynn’s Romance Enthusiasm (Audio Excerpt, Interview)
Blogger Nicole Reviews (Audio Excerpt, Giveaway)
Twisted Book Junkie (Review, Giveaway)

September 24th
Adventures Thru Wonderland (Review, Giveaway)

September 25th
Buried Under Books (Review)*

September 26th
The Book Addict’s Reviews (Review, Audio Excerpt, Interview)*
Pregnant, Barefoot, in the Kitchen (Review)*

*Specific links will be updated as posted by the individual blogs. Links last updated on September 24th, 2017.
***
Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: aliens, audiobook, blog tour, bugs, cyborgs, insects, robots, Superpowers, teens, tess irondale, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, ya, Young Adult

Baker’s Dozen – Book Review

October 10, 2015 by hpholo Leave a Comment

Jacob and I went to LibertyCon in Chattanooga, TN this June!  (This article is WAY LATE because life.) Anyway, LibertyCon is notable for being more reader- and author-oriented than other conventions in the area…which means that I ended up coming home with approximately 90,000 books to read and likely review.
libertyconbooks
I am already exhausted just thinking about that. (Since this article is late: still exhausted.)
First on my pile was Baker’s Dozen: 13 Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories by Scott W. Baker.
bakersdozenFirst off, the cover does this book a real disservice. I love its visual pun, but nothing about a carton of a dozen plus one eggs screams sci-fi, and had I not encountered the author at a signing, I’m pretty sure I might never have picked it up.
I’m glad I did, though, because it’s a fun sampler platter of short stories. Baker divides the anthology into Space Opera, Urban Fantasy, Near Future SF, and Zombies. The best stories are found later in the book, but overall it was worth the $8 print cost.
Admittedly, I was a little underwhelmed by several of the early stories. While the point of a short story is, of course, to be short, a lot of the early entries in this anthology feel too short. Either they end just when they feel like they’re getting started, or the end brings a dark, abrupt twist that makes the story feel abbreviated.
Really, though, this complaint stems from the fact that I wanted to see more of each featured world. “Chasers,” a space opera about pilots who race to refuel spaceships, had the potential to be one of my favorites and could have expanded into a great action drama, but succumbed to one of the aforementioned dark, abrupt endings. “Ten Seconds,” a contemporary fantasy about a bullied child who can see ten seconds into the future, was another that, while ending happily, also ended just as I was getting excited to continue it.
When your main complaint about an author’s writing is that you want more of it, though, it’s not a bad thing.
In this anthology, Baker is at his best when he’s writing quirky humor or putting fantastic spins on modern settings. “Faerie Belches,” about a child who, well, hears fairies belch, is a fun read with some interesting twists. (Given the stories’ similarities, I pictured the characters from “Ten Seconds” and “Faerie Belches” belonging to the same universe and kind of hope that the author will turn this into a complete children’s novel.) “Excuse Me,” about a man who travels back in time every time he farts, is amusing for its concept alone, while “ZFL” is a hilarious look at a zombie football game from the perspective of its commentators.
There’s intriguing drama in many of the late stories, too, though, and I think a lot of these could support complete novels as well. “Secondhand Rush” was a particular favorite; it follows a man who performs daring, even foolish stunts, all for the purpose of selling the digitized memory of performing them to disembodied human minds stored in computers, which is straight up cool even before you consider that the man suffers Multiple Sclerosis (and all the conflicts that implies). “Thinking Out Loud” is an intriguing multi-point-of-view look at a psychic experiment being performed on prisoners; “How Quickly We Forget” is a haunting look at the actions of a memory-removal technology company; and “Call Me Z,” while humorous in places, is largely a look at what happens when a zombie fanboy (in a world where zombies can be domesticated) encounters his first zombies.
The contents of Baker’s Dozen may be too short for my taste, but the volume’s best stories and the sheer variety of material included make it worth a try. Recommended!

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Urban Fantasy, Zombies

Time Reavers – The Tau Guard

January 18, 2014 by holojacob Leave a Comment

time reavers back cover small

CHAPTER 1 of Time Reavers

Everything stopped.
Or rather, everything stopped but her.
Nicole stared at the subway station in wide-eyed terror. The train rumbling into the stop had frozen in front of her. The people hurrying up along the platform stood like statues, some of them suspended in mid-stride. Some of them not touching the ground as they ran to catch the train.
Nicole looked around, heart pounding in her chest. She tried to find Mrs. Woytowich or someone from her class, but no one was there. She was alone.
A middle-aged man in a peaked cap caught her eye. He wore a black sweater over his white shirt and tie. The sweater had a crest on the sleeve that looked a lot like an American police shield. Maybe he was a policeman. It wasn’t her teacher or a classmate, but he was better than nothing.
Nicole weaved her way through the crowd of motionless Russians, trying her best not to touch any of them. When she did, they felt like solid rock. The sensation sent chills down her spine. All of this was so wrong!
Nicole ducked under an elderly man’s pointing arm, and walked over. The policeman was looking down and smiling at a little girl in an obnoxious pink dress. He wore a fake look of concern, as if humoring the girl and her equally pink mother.
But they weren’t moving. No one was moving!
“Excuse me, sir?” Nicole asked. Her voice echoed in the station, the only sound besides the squeaks of her shoes on the polished floor.
Nicole grabbed hold of the policeman and tried shaking him, but he wouldn’t budge. She backed away and brushed against the girl in pink. Her hair was a rigid as steel.
Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound.
No, wait …
Nicole stood perfectly still and listened. She heard something else, a distant but recognizable sound. It was a man’s voice. Someone else was here and he wasn’t frozen! She wasn’t alone!
Tentative relief welled up within Nicole. Someone else was down here with her! She listened hard, barely breathing. The man’s voice sounded close, but with an oddly hollow, almost metallic echo for the cavernous Saint Petersburg subway station. Slowly Nicole walked towards the source, slipping through unmoving pedestrians and rounding a tall column to the subway’s central thoroughfare.
Columns twice as tall as the trains rose up in two rows on either side, supporting a lavishly ornate marble ceiling. Huge wrought-iron chandeliers hung from the roof. It was easily the fanciest subway station she’d ever seen.
Except for this mess, she thought.
Nicole could hardly believe how quickly her mood had changed. She’d been so close to outright panic, but now she was filled with a giddy sense of relief. She wasn’t alone! No matter what kind of strange mess she was in, she didn’t have to face it alone!
Looking around, Nicole again tried to find Amy, her classmates, or Mrs. Woytowich. Amy had clearly said they weren’t leaving until everyone was out of the restrooms.
But now that she thought about it, no one else from class had been in the restroom with her. She hadn’t heard Mrs. Woytowich mention anything about waiting at this stop. It had all been Amy …
Nicole grimaced. She chewed on the inside of her lip.
Again. Amy had tricked her again. The one school trip to a foreign country this year, and Amy was playing her stupid games. Normally, Nicole would be furious, but she just shook her head and kept moving.
She walked down the thoroughfare and maneuvered through the frozen throngs of Russian pedestrians. The man’s voice became louder and more distinct. Whoever he was, he was mumbling under his breath, but most importantly, he was mumbling in English.
Nicole stepped around a column, squeezed sideways through the press of people, and finally caught sight of him.
The man looked a few years older than her, probably just starting college. He wore a beat-up black trench coat, thick oval glasses and had a crop of black, untidy hair. He stared intensely at his open notepad with a pencil stuck behind an ear.
The man grabbed the pencil, and jotted down a few notes.
“Hey!” Nicole shouted, smiling and waving her arms. She ran towards him. “Hey!”
The man looked up.
Nicole stopped in front of him with a huge smile. She couldn’t help it. She was so relieved to find someone else.
“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I was starting to get worried. There’s got to be at least one reaver in here with us. I certainly didn’t trigger the tau freeze. It’s probably a big one too. Maybe up to class six if my math is right. Umm, are you okay?”
Nicole stared blankly. He lowered the notepad and Nicole got a good look at it. His scribbles reminded her of algebra class, only a lot more complicated.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” He flipped his notepad closed and placed it in his trench coat. Nicole caught a glimpse of the coat’s interior. It was all pockets and pouches, some holding what looked like knives. She took a step back. Her chest tightened with renewed anxiety.
The man reached into another pocket and retrieved a small dog-eared paperback, its cover creased from storage in the coat. Dozens of pages had little colored sticky tabs attached with tiny notes scribbled in pencil. The title read: Basic Russian Phrases for Idiots.
The man flipped the book open to the front and cleared his throat.
“Izvinite. Menja zovut Daniel. Umm, let me see here … Kak vas zovut?”
He looked up expectantly.
Nicole shook her head. She wanted to say something, but the words caught in her throat.
“Huh … I’m pretty sure I’m pronouncing it right.” He flipped to the back of the book and cleared his throat again.
“Opasnost! Reaver blizko!”
He looked up.
“What the hell are you saying?” Nicole asked.
“Oh, you speak English!”
“Yes!”
“Oh, wonderful!” he said, putting the phrase book away. “A fellow American by the sound of your accent.”
“Yes!”
“I’m sorry about that,” the man said, extending a hand that Nicole shook limply. “I wasn’t expecting another tau guard, and certainly not another American. My name’s Daniel, by the way. Daniel Cadinsky.”
“Nicole.”
“Nice to meet you, Nicole,” Daniel said. “I certainly wasn’t expecting anyone else in this part of the city. None of Viktor’s tau guards are covering this area, and I just happened to be here when the freeze hit. Lousy luck, having to deal with a freeze in a foreign country. I’d rather be back in New York.”
“Umm, Daniel?” Nicole asked, tugging on his sleeve.
“Yeah?”
“Could you please tell me what’s going on?”
Daniel stared at her for a few seconds. He tilted his head to one side.
“You mean you don’t …”
She shook her head.
“You’ve never …”
She shook her head again.
“So this is the first time that you’ve …”
She nodded emphatically.
“Wow! You mean, you’ve never had any training and—”
“Please-just-tell-me-what’s-going-on!”
“Umm, sure. Oh gee, where to start?” Daniel said, scratching the back of his head. “Well, we’re in the middle of a tau freeze.”
“A what?”
“Err … tau, you know? Tau being the symbol for time? It’s just a fancy way of saying time has stopped.”
“Yes, I noticed that part!”
“What we’re stuck in right now is called tau prime,” Daniel said. “It’s tau, but it’s got a little apostrophe next to it. Are you sure you’ve never had any training?”
“Very sure!”
“Never been to Chronopolis?”
“Where?”
“Not even once?”
“No!”
“Or the Pandemonium College?”
“I don’t go to college yet, but I want to be a veterinarian someday.”
“Umm, that’s nice.”
“Can you please tell me how to get out of this?”
“Well, you can start by not shouting at me,” Daniel said.
“Oh … s-sorry …”
Nicole backed away from him, suddenly embarrassed.
“Look, just take a few deep breaths and calm down, okay?”
“Okay. Sorry.”
“Don’t mention it. Everyone gets freaked out their first time. I was personally hysterical for weeks afterwards. I couldn’t look at a clock without having a panic attack. Compared to me, you’re doing great.”
“Th-thanks.”
Daniel put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and for some reason, that made her feel a lot better. No matter what kind of mess she was in or how incomprehensible the situation was, she’d found someone who knew what he was doing.
“Hey, you hungry?” he asked.
“What?”
“Freezes can last a while,” Daniel said, looking around. “It’s easy to lose track of how long, so eat whenever you’re hungry, you know? Ah! Here we are!”
Nicole followed Daniel through the unmoving crowd queuing for the next train.
“So, how long do freezes last?” she asked.
“Oh, it varies. I’m not really sure most of the time. I could never get my watch to work during a freeze, you know? Most sparkies can get simple stuff like a watch to work, but what’s the point when you have reavers to worry about?”
“What?”
“Personally, the longest freeze I was stuck in lasted about five days, give or take a day. I spent the whole freeze over the Atlantic in a plane, and man, it was horrible! The reaver was actually hiding in one of the engines and I had to climb out onto the wing to get it! Second worst experience of my life.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ah! Lunch!” Daniel said, stopping next to a fat, bald man with a greasy McDonald’s bag. Daniel struggled to peel the man’s finger’s back and open the bag. It took a lot of effort. His face reddened with exertion, and he triumphantly said: “Yes! A Big Mac.”
“You’re going to take this man’s food?”
“There’s a cherry pie in here too. You want it?”
“No thanks.”
“Your loss,” Daniel said. He reached in and pulled out the Big Mac. The bag snapped shut as soon as he let go, almost catching his fingers. He smiled, opened the carton, and took a hungry bite out of the Big Mac, which was weird because it wasn’t stone hard anymore.
“That’s theft,” Nicole said.
Daniel frowned at her as he chewed.
“You stole his Big Mac,” she said.
He swallowed. “Umm … it’s better if you think of it as a tax. For performing a public service.”
“Which is?”
“Killing reavers, of course.”
“What’s a reaver?”
“Which reminds me,” Daniel said, pulling his notepad out and flipping it open one-handed. “Yeah, it’s a big one. Five point eight on the Novikov scale, you see?”
Nicole shook her head. The scribbles on the notepad were just so much gibberish. Even if she knew what the symbols meant, his handwriting was barely legible.
“At least, I think I figured it out right,” Daniel said. “Wish I could use a calculator during a tau freeze, but oh well. Say, do you have a watch?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it still working?”
Nicole pulled back her jacket sleeve. “Umm, no.”
“Hmm. You’re probably not a sparky then,” Daniel said. “Hey, here’s an idea.” He switched the Big Mac and pad to one hand, and held the burger carton up in the other.
“Try setting this on fire,” he said.
“But I don’t smoke,” Nicole said. For emphasis, she patted her pockets for the absent lighter. Amy would probably have one, trying to seem cooler than she really was.
“No, not like that,” Daniel said. “With your mind.”
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Not sure really. I’m not a pyro. I think a lot of them can’t control it at first and end up setting themselves on fire. It can get messy.”
“Well, I haven’t set myself on fire yet.”
“Yeah, good point,” Daniel said, dropping the carton. It stopped a foot off the ground, shuddered in mid air, and launched itself across the train station like a guided missile.
“Did it just …?”
“Go back into the man’s carryout bag? Yeah. Temporal reset.”
“But isn’t he going to think it’s weird that his Big Mac isn’t there?”
“Nah. He’ll just think they botched his order.”
“If you say so.”
“So you’re not a sparky and you’re probably not a pyro,” Daniel said, walking down the station’s main thoroughfare.
Nicole spotted a young woman in black waiting on the platform. She had conspicuously dyed black hair, black makeup and numerous ear, eyebrow, and nose piercings.
“Hey, Daniel?”
“Yeah?”
“This freeze thing. It’s not dangerous, is it? My friends will be okay, right?”
“Friends? Where?”
“I was expecting our class to be waiting by the platform.”
Daniel spun so fast he blurred. His trench coat whipped around him. Nicole wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
“They’re not there,” Nicole said. “I already looked.”
“What do they look like?”
“I don’t know. Like a mob of thirty teenagers following a woman around who dresses ten years younger than she is and tries really hard to be our friend.”
“Is she cute?”
“What?”
“Your teacher. Is she cute?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know. It might be important.”
“Well, I have no idea. Some of the boys in class seem to think so, but they’re a bunch of idiots.”
“Hmm. No, I can’t say I’ve seen her.”
Nicole pointed at the Russian goth. “What about her? My …” Nicole sighed. “Friend is dressed like this.”
Daniel walked over to the goth. He looked her up and down.
“This is what your friend looks like?”
“Sort of.”
Daniel did a double-take of the Russian goth and Nicole. “How did you end up friends with someone like this?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. Nothing. I just thought … We are talking about the same person, right?”
Nicole sighed.
In truth, she was used to the reaction given the contrast between Amy and her. Compared to Amy’s aggressively gothic styles, Nicole wore her black Mass Effect hoodie, a well-worn Aperture Science tank top, blue jeans, and her favorite pair of running shoes. She kept her brunette hair short, almost boyish, and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing make-up or jewelry.
“She’s not even my friend, really,” Nicole said. “She’s my sister. Sort of.”
“Oh, well that does make a little more sense,” Daniel said. “You can’t choose your family. What did you mean by ‘sort of’?”
“None of your business.”
Daniel shrugged. He looked like he didn’t care about the answer at all, which somehow annoyed Nicole more than if he’d pressed for an answer.
“So my classmates are okay, right?” Nicole asked. She hesitated before adding: “And my sister?”
“Oh, yeah. They’re fine. In fact they’re safer than us right now. You can slap them or punch them or hit them in the head with a crowbar and they won’t feel a thing.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“I don’t know. You did say they were your classmates.”
“Yes, I did say that. So let me ask you again, why the hell would I want to hit them with a crowbar? Just what kind of school did you attend?”
Daniel snapped his fingers. He turned around, smiling at her.
“What?” Nicole asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I bet you’re an acrobat!” he said, putting the half-eaten Big Mac and his notepad into separate coat pockets.
“A what?”
“It’s what I am,” Daniel said, puffing out his chest. “My strength and reflexes improve when I’m in a tau freeze. Here, watch.”
He leaped into the air, back-flipped, and landed on the Russian goth’s head, balancing easily on one leg.
“And that doesn’t hurt her?” Nicole asked.
“She can’t feel a thing,” Daniel said. He jumped from head to head, hands in his pockets, making it look so easy.
“So, why don’t you try it?” he asked.
“No thanks.”
Nicole followed him, forcing her way through the crowd like a normal pedestrian. She had no desire to start hopping up and down while making a fool of herself.
“You sure you don’t feel especially nimble today?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Why don’t you try jumping? Just see if you’ve got some extra lift today.”
“No, thank you.”
Nicole tried following Daniel, but got caught in between a throng of six elderly women with canes and had to back track.
Daniel danced from head to head around her.
“Come on. Give it a try.”
“Now listen here, mister!” she said. “Would you please stop that? All I want is out, okay? I don’t want to set things on fire or hunt reavers or jump around like an idiot! I just want out of this mess!”
Daniel landed in front of her. He looked like a whipped puppy.
“Err … I mean …” Nicole muttered.
“Mister?” Daniel said. He made it sound like a vile curse word. “I mean … yeah I’m a little older than you, but I’m not that old.”
“I didn’t mean …”
“Look, no premature grays, see?” Daniel ran fingers through his uncombed hair. “And in my line of work, that’s saying something. Plus it’s not like I have a gut or anything. I keep myself in good shape and exercise regularly.”
“Umm …”
“I mean, ‘mister’? Really,” Daniel said. He turned and walked away. “I’ve barely started college and people are already calling me ‘mister’.”
“Sorry?”
“It’s like …”
Daniel turned to the platform. He cupped an ear.
“What is it?” Nicole asked.
Daniel held a single finger to his mouth. They were close to where Nicole had been when time stopped, next to the frozen subway train just emerging from the tunnel.
Nicole hardly breathed. She strained her ears. Every little sound they made was like thunder in the silence, but on the very edge of hearing …
It was a most peculiar sound. Like someone furiously typing on an old-fashioned typewriter: distant, but heavy and metallic. The sound grew louder and seemed to come from the closest train tunnel.
Nicole looked at Daniel, who was suddenly all business.
“Reaver,” he whispered.
“What’s a reaver?” she whispered.
“You’ll see. Don’t worry. I’m a professional.”
“For some reason, I’m still worried,” she whispered, following him closer to the subway car.
Daniel reached into his trench coat. There was a brief metallic whisper, and suddenly he had a long, elegantly-curved sword in his hand.
“How did you ever get on a plane?” she whispered.
“Oh, I have my ways,” Daniel said, watching the dark patch of tunnel just above the subway car.
The rapid metallic clicking grew louder. Daniel had to speak up so she’d hear him.
“Stand back,” he said, grasping his sword two-handed and lowering his stance. “No need to panic. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Nicole shuffled back from the subway car, but bumped into a frozen pedestrian and almost tripped.
The sound continued to crescendo.
“Is it supposed to be this loud?” she shouted.
“Must be a big one!” Daniel shouted back. Nicole thought she heard an uneasy waver in his voice.
The metallic chattering grew louder and louder as the reaver came closer.
“How big do they get?” Nicole shouted, putting hands over her ears.
But Daniel didn’t respond. He lowered his sword slightly and turned around. What Nicole saw then scared her more than anything so far. Deathly fear covered every inch of his face.
A sound pierced the air like a cross between a lion’s roar and a jet engine.
BRAAAUGH!!!
“What the hell is that?”
Daniel watched the dark tunnel, every muscle in his body tense, sword held high and ready. Its razor edge gleamed in the chandelier light.
The reaver emerged, clambering over the subway car and almost as large. Nicole’s first thought was it looked like a giant metal centipede. Her second was to scream.
Its body was flattened and long, disappearing into the depths of the subway tunnel. Its skin gleamed like polished silver and its hundreds of long spindly legs ended in bladed points. A horrible, many-eyed face turned towards them, its dozens of mandibles twittering hungrily. Eight glowing, ruby-like eyes swiveled independently, some locking onto Daniel, others onto Nicole.
The reaver flung its mandibles wide and roared, revealing a fathomless white-hot furnace within its metal body.
BRAAAAAAAAUGH!!!
Intense heat washed over Nicole, scorching the exposed skin on her face and hands. She clenched her watering eyes.
“Run!” Daniel shouted, holding his ground.
The reaver reared up, surprisingly nimble for such a huge creature. With a sudden burst of speed, it stabbed down with its blade-tipped legs. Daniel rolled deftly out of the way. Three legs barely missed him.
A reaver leg pierced through the little girl in pink standing near the policeman. She exploded into gory shrapnel. Nicole screamed again. Daniel rose to his feet and sprinted towards Nicole.
“Don’t worry about them!” he shouted. “Run for it!”
As soon as the reaver removed its leg, the horrible fragments drifted inward like a crimson jigsaw puzzle. The pieces accelerated, and the little girl snapped together, whole once again.
“Head for the escalator!” Daniel shouted.
Nicole sprinted towards the escalator, but Daniel caught up quickly. He grabbed her wrist and urged her on.
The reaver climbed off the subway car and smashed through two stone columns. Nicole glanced over her shoulder, still running, and watched the reaver’s head turn towards them. Its long body twisted back into the subway tunnel, and its hundreds of legs pierced elaborate stonework and unmoving people with ease. The reaver charged after them, shattering the chandeliers into thousands of tinkling fragments.
“Come on!” Daniel shouted. “Move!”
They passed through an archway, turned right, and began racing up the escalator. The Saint Petersburg subway was so deep they couldn’t see the escalator’s top. They raced up steps with dozens of frozen people blocking their path. Daniel jumped onto the escalator’s railing and ran up it, but Nicole struggled through one human impediment after another.
“Come on!”
Stonework exploded behind them. The reaver clambered through and turned, fiery eyes catching sight of its prey. It spread its mandibles and roared.
BRAAAUGH!!!
Terrible heat scorched the back of Nicole’s neck, even though she was two stories up the escalator.
“You need to move faster!” Daniel shouted.
Nicole squeezed desperately between a mother and two little girls.
“I’m trying!” she shouted.
“Try harder!”
Nicole heard dozens of stabbing clicks. She turned around, blood pounding in her ears. The reaver sank its legs into the escalator and rushed towards her, seconds away.
“Ah, damn it!” Daniel shouted. He leaped over her and charged down the escalator. The reaver turned all eight eyes to him. It rose up, dozens of sword-legs spread wide.
The reaver struck with speed that would make a cobra jealous, but Daniel dodged swiftly to his right. A single reaver leg caught the ratty edge of his trench coat, tearing it.
Daniel hit the ground, rolled, and came up with his sword ready. The reaver stabbed two legs towards him, but with quick strokes of his sword, he cut both of them off at the first joint. Thick yellow fluid burst out of them as if under pressure. The reaver growled angrily.
The yellow fluid and chunky bits of goo drained out of its injured legs. It was like something from a burst pustule. An eye-watering mixture of sewage stench and sulfurous fumes hit Nicole.
“Keep running!” Daniel shouted. He hopped from pedestrian head to railing to head, dodging constant reaver attacks.
Nicole ran as best she could, but she kept turning back, watching Daniel fight the reaver. He’d severed five of its legs, but the creature had hundreds, and could crush him with its body if it had to. There was no way he could win. It was insane for him to keep fighting!
Finally, after all his skillful dodges and rolls and leaps, Daniel made a mistake. The reaver feigned an attack to Daniel’s right, only to strike from his left when he dodged that way.
Daniel swung his sword in a silver arc. Two more bladed limbs went flying, but this was a small sacrifice for the reaver. It lunged at him with its head, dozens of mandibles reaching for his sword arm. Daniel pulled his arm away just in time, but the reaver bit down on the sword.
The reaver crushed the sword with its jaws, shattering it into metal splinters. Daniel was left holding a hilt and a few inches of jagged blade.
Undaunted, Daniel charged screaming at the reaver’s lowered head. He thrust the broken sword into one of its jewel-like eyes. The eye burst and darkened. The reaver reared back, bellowing—
Everything went dark.

THE STORY IS JUST BEGINNING …

Time Reavers Cover - blog

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Filed Under: Holo Stories Tagged With: Chapter 1, Fantasy, Short Story, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Time Reavers: Cover Preview!

September 13, 2013 by holojacob 1 Comment

Time Reavers front cover preview
Daniel held a single finger to his mouth. They were close to where Nicole had been when time stopped, next to the frozen subway train just emerging from the tunnel.
Nicole hardly breathed. She strained her ears. Every little sound they made was like thunder in the silence, but on the very edge of hearing …
It was a most peculiar sound. Like someone furiously typing on an old-fashioned typewriter: distant, but heavy and metallic. The sound grew louder and seemed to come from the closest train tunnel.
Nicole looked at Daniel, who was suddenly all business.
“Reaver,” he whispered.
“What’s a reaver?” she whispered.
“You’ll see. Don’t worry. I’m a professional.”
“For some reason, I’m still worried!” she whispered, following him closer to the subway car.
Daniel reached into his trench coat. There was a brief metallic whisper and suddenly he had a long, elegantly-curved sword in his hand.
The rapid metallic clicking grew louder. Daniel had to speak up so she’d hear him.
“Stand back,” he said, grasping his sword two-handed and lowering his stance. “No need to panic. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Nicole shuffled back from the subway car, but bumped into a frozen pedestrian and almost tripped.
The sound continued to crescendo.
“Is it supposed to be this loud?” she shouted.
“Must be a big one!” Daniel shouted back. Nicole thought she heard an uneasy waver in his voice.
The metallic chattering grew louder and louder as the reaver came closer.
“How big do they get?” Nicole shouted, putting hands over her ears.
But Daniel didn’t respond. He lowered his sword slightly and turned around. What Nicole saw then scared her more than anything so far. Deathly fear covered every inch of his face.

Excerpt from Time Reavers, by Jacob Holo

Oh yeah! Here we go again! The cover art is almost complete. Robert Chew, a.k.a CrazyAsian1, brings his impressive talents forward once more. Please enjoy this small preview of the awesome artwork that is to come. 🙂
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Time Reavers back cover preview
The reavers lurk outside our reality, watching the Earth with hunger and malice.
The boundaries between our worlds are falling. The guardians at the gate are dead.
The reavers are almost here.

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Cover, Fantasy, Novel, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, Writing, Young Adult

Time Reavers: Cover Color Studies!

August 3, 2013 by holojacob 5 Comments

Time Reavers cover color study 1

Time Reavers – The monsters are real, and time is their weapon.

Fed up with bad teachers and daily fights with her sister, sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor yearns for something better. Sadly, she’s in for a letdown, because the world ends next week.
Nicole discovers she has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely. With her powers awakening, she must face the Reavers: horrific killing machines that exist outside our time. The Reavers know about her now and have unleashed their cruelest hunters.
Plagued by nightmarish visions and ambushed by terrifying monsters at every turn, Nicole has one chance to stop their genocidal invasion. With help from a chain-smoking pyrokinetic, a neurotic sword-wielding assassin, and an icy Goth chick with a crossbow, she may stand a chance. But the Reavers are tireless foes, and Time is on their side.
Oh, man! This is so exciting!
Robert Chew (a.k.a. CrazyAsian1) has been hard at work rendering the front and back covers of Time Reavers, a young adult urban fantasy novel. Above, you can see the first color study of the front cover. Seriously, how cool is this?
The color studies look great. Robert and I are going to play around with the colors a little bit, and then he will begin the detailed painting. The reavers look absolutely fantastic. I’m so happy with how they are taking shape. These creatures, implacable combinations of metal and flesh, have been swimming around in my head for years, and it’s so gratifying to see their artwork take form.
When designing the titular villains of the novel, I made a very conscious decision to make them intelligent. These are not brutish monsters. They’re an army. They engage the heroes with coordination and purpose. They will lay ambushes. They will fake an attack to throw defenders off balance. Not only can they outfight the heroes, they can outthink them as well. It is their intelligence that makes them a truly formidable foe.
Here’s the back cover color study featuring the Mantis: general of the reaver invasion.
Time Reavers back cover color study 1
Just look at that face! This is not a guy you want to meet in a dark alley!
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Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Color Studies, Fantasy, Novel, Sketches, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, Writing, Young Adult

Time Reavers: Back Cover Rough Sketches!

July 30, 2013 by holojacob 3 Comments

Time Reavers Mantis rough sketch 1

Time Reavers – The monsters are real, and time is their weapon.

Fed up with bad teachers and daily fights with her sister, sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor yearns for something better. Sadly, she’s in for a letdown, because the world ends next week.
Nicole discovers she has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely. With her powers awakening, she must face the Reavers: horrific killing machines that exist outside our time. Nicole may be the only one who can stop their genocidal plan, but the Reavers know about her now and have unleashed their cruelest hunters.
Plagued by nightmarish visions and ambushed by terrifying monsters at every turn, Nicole has one chance to halt their invasion. With help from a chain-smoking pyrokinetic, a neurotic sword-wielding assassin, and a Goth chick with a crossbow, she may stand a chance. But the Reavers are tireless foes, and Time is on their side.
I am really enjoying this part of the project. It’s fun getting to see my characters for the first time.
Robert Chew (a.k.a. CrazyAsian1) continues his exceptional work on the cover art for Time Reavers, a young adult urban fantasy novel. This time, he’s provided some rough sketches of the back cover. Unlike The Dragons of Jupiter, Time Reavers will feature separate art for the front and the back.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce the Mantis: general of the Reaver army and main antagonist of the novel. He’s about a friendly as he looks, and wow, does he look cool or what?
As always, Robert has provided multiple sketches to help us zero in the final design. Here’s another version. It’s really hard to choose my favorite!
Time Reavers Mantis rough sketch 2
Wickedly cool, huh?
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Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Fantasy, Novel, Sketches, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, Writing, Young Adult

Time Reavers: Front Cover Rough Sketches!

July 28, 2013 by holojacob 3 Comments

Time Reavers cover rough sketch 4

Time Reavers – The monsters are real, and time is their weapon.

Fed up with bad teachers and daily fights with her sister, sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor yearns for something better. Sadly, she’s in for a letdown, because the world ends next week.
Nicole discovers she has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely. With her powers awakening, she must face the Reavers: horrific killing machines that exist outside our time. Nicole may be the only one who can stop their genocidal plan, but the Reavers know about her now and have unleashed their cruelest hunters.
Plagued by nightmarish visions and ambushed by terrifying monsters at every turn, Nicole has one chance to halt their invasion. With help from a chain-smoking pyrokinetic, a neurotic sword-wielding assassin, and a Goth chick with a crossbow, she may stand a chance. But the Reavers are tireless foes, and Time is on their side.
Oh, yeah! Here we go!
Once again, the extremely talented Robert Chew (a.k.a. CrazyAsian1) is hard at work on some amazing cover art. Up next is Time Reavers, a young adult urban fantasy novel. The cover features the heroine, Nicole Taylor, facing off against the awesome physical might of a Reaver. As you can see from these rough sketches, we’re off to a great start. Already, even in this early stage, the reaver exudes menace. I can hardly wait to see it detailed in.
The rough sketch above will form the basis for the next step, but it was tough picking out my favorite. Here’s another rough sketch of the cover for your viewing pleasure.
Time Reavers cover rough sketch 1
And another.
Time Reavers cover rough sketch 3
And one more.
Time Reavers cover rough sketch 2
Pretty cool stuff, huh? This is going to be one fantastic cover!
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Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Fantasy, Novel, Sketches, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, Writing, Young Adult

Dungeon Master Writes Novel that Writes Campaign that Writes Novel

March 23, 2013 by holojacob 4 Comments

Dungeon Master Writes Novel that Writes Campaign that Writes Novel
Last year, I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time. My wife got me started on the hobby. I played a character I affectionately remember as the “Burninator”, a wizard whose first response to any problem was to set it on fire.
It was loads of fun, but I wanted more. I wanted to drive the campaign, create the mood, and tell the story. I wanted to be the Dungeon Master.
I told our group about my writing hobby and how I thought one of my books would be a great setting for a campaign. It was an urban fantasy novel called Time Reavers, and it had plenty of formidable monsters to fight and interested powers for the characters to use. They basically said, “Sure, why not? We’ll give that a try.”
I went to work, feverishly converting the creatures and abilities from my novel into a coherent rule set, using Pathfinder as a template. The result was Time Reavers: A D&D Campaign, and it was a surprising success.
The players really enjoyed the unique setting. These weren’t skeletons and kobolds anymore. They had to contend with a whole new bestiary. Every encounter was a mystery, every new creature feared for its unknown strengths and weaknesses. Even their own abilities were revealed piece by piece.
The group enjoyed it so much that I am now running my second campaign with them. That’s great just by itself, but the biggest benefit came as a complete surprise.
You see, Time Reavers was a dead novel to me. I’d written it years ago and tried to get it published. That failed, so I tossed it away and moved on to another story. I’ve done this repeatedly over the years. It’s just the way I handle my hobby. I always try to look forward and not dwell on a failed experiment.
But running the campaign sparked my creative juices. I crafted new scenarios that didn’t exist in the book, and I even designed totally new creatures. The players came up with solutions I hadn’t thought about, indirectly adding their own creative spark. When the campaign finished, I looked at my notes and realized I had the blueprints to totally revitalize my novel.
And so I did just that. It was strange revisiting a dead project, but also a lot of fun. I revamped the main character, added a secondary protagonist and some old-fashioned conflict between the two. I wrote two brand new action scenes, spiced them up with one of the new creature types, and cut the fat out of the third act.
It took months. The 58,000 word urban fantasy novel I started with became a 70,000 YA urban fantasy novel, and it’s a much stronger story than its predecessor.
So what’s the next step? Well, I’m going to try to get the thing published. And if that fails, I’m going to do what I’m doing with The Dragons of Jupiter. I’m going to self-publish.
Wish me luck!
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Filed Under: Games, Holo Books, Roleplaying Tagged With: Dungeon Master, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Pathfinder, Roleplay, Tabletop Games, The Dragons of Jupiter, Time Reavers, Urban Fantasy, Writing, Young Adult

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