A.J. Maguire

Tag: literature

  • Fun with Ghosts

    I really hate things that I cannot control.  I am, to an extent, a control freak.  So ghosts scare me.  Anything I can’t pick up a blunt object and defend myself against makes me nervous.  Zombies scare me too, but I’m fairly confident I can bludgeon them away from me if I have to.  That said, I still manage to use them in my fiction sometimes.

    Well, now that I think about it, there are strange apparitions in most of my novels.  Saboteur, however, had more of a “future ghost” thing going on and that was all dealing with magic.  But my favorite ghost from one of my personal novels has to be Baldemor Delgora from the Witch-Born series.

    Why?

    For starters I love his name.  Baldemor Delgora just rolls off the tongue in a pleasant manner.  It sounds old, though the ghost is of a little boy and I find that contradiction fun.  We only get to see him twice in Witch-Born, but the sequel Dead Magic has him turning up again.  (Dead Magic is nearly completed, by the way.  It should be done at the end of November.)  He’s more active in this new novel and he has lost his friendliness — inasmuch as he was ever “friendly” but he does attempt to hurt three different people this time.

    In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I might give a snippet of Baldemor in action.  This is from Dead Magic, which is under contract and will be out sometime next year.  For those unfamiliar with the novels, Witch-Born is set in the world of Magnellum, which is a steampunk/magic blend where Witches are nobility.  The Witches use their magic to hold up the barrier separating Magnellum from what is known as the Wild — a primal force bent on killing everyone inside Magnellum.

    ***

    Valeda had the disturbing sensation of something very cold sliding down her spine.  The only sound came from the waterfalls crashing into the lake just beyond, though Valeda could swear she heard a low, deep humming from the boy in front of her.  He hadn’t answered her yet and the House Witch had given no explanation, so Valeda kept quiet.  If she was being honest, she was terrified.

           There was something malicious about the boy, something intense and powerful that clung to him.

           “In truth, Miss Quinlan, I’m not sure how to introduce you,” Elsie said at last. “The form before you is that of Baldemor Delgora.  Baldemor, however, has been dead for centuries.”

           Valeda swallowed down her fear. “Centuries?”

           “Until recently he talked.  Sometimes he would warn people away from the Lake.  But he’s changed now.  He’s more Wild than anything else.” The Witch tugged at her earlobe and frowned. “The Wild is coming, Miss Quinlan.  Very soon, I’m afraid.”

     

  • Book Review – Hounded by Kevin Hearne

    So, I’m part Irish.  I’m also part Scottish, which makes for a wicked bad temper and an inability to quit even when everything is screaming that I’ve lost.  But it also makes me curious when I run into Irish or Scottish books of fiction, which is what made me pick up Hounded by Kevin Hearne.  (FYI, I’ve read like … all of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon on the main basis that it was dealing with Scots.)

    Overall I enjoyed the book.  It was funny, it had a different outlook on Druids and gods and things, and it had a dog.  (I’m a sucker for pets.)  In fact, I think Oberon the dog was my favorite character in the book.  Atticus was just too … “I’ve got control here even when it looks like I don’t” … for me.  I never really felt like he was in danger.

    In fact, I was more worried about his dog.  But then again, I sort of got the feeling that Atticus was more worried about his dog than he was about himself, too.  Until the part where the Earth was quasi-destroyed by an overambitious love-god and Atticus got all Druidic and grouchy about it.  And if he was going to get that touchy about it, I would have enjoyed watching him do some gardening or something, showing the connection he had to the Earth and all that.

    I imagine that it wouldn’t really be cool to watch a hot guy in Celtic tattoos do his gardening for several pages, but the dude was so busy killing giants or getting hit on by seductive goddesses that he really didn’t do much Druidic.  He drew his power from the Earth, true, but that just wasn’t enough for me.

    And … yes … I was slightly annoyed at the werewolves and vampires making a showcase on the pages.  Honestly, I’m happy that other people are happy reading about the undead and pack animals’ masquerading as people, but it’s just not for me.  (As horrible as this sounds I really can’t understand the appeal of the undead.  I’ve always equated it as some weird form of necrophilia.)

    Thus, as much as I enjoyed Oberon the dog and his amusing comments, I can’t give the book more than three or four stars on the meter.  But don’t let that bother any of you.  If you like vampires and werewolves and witches, or if your Scottish-Irish like me, then you should give the book a chance.

  • Book Review : Redshirts by John Scalzi

    As already admitted on this blog, I am a nerd.  I love Star Trek.  I enjoy Star Wars.  I read science fiction, fantasy, romance, and just about anything that crosses my desk.  I have an active Audible account thanks to the people at Writing Excuses (a podcast that every single writer in the world should listen to) because they introduced me to it.  I’m also on Goodreads, where I can share my love of the written word to anyone who wants to listen.

    If that wasn’t nerdy enough, I also play Star Trek Online.  Granted, my time is limited with work, son, writing, but I have managed to reach the level of Captain — *insert squeal of pleasure here* — and sometimes allow my son to help “fly” the ship.  He’s four, so I don’t feel too bad when the Borg constantly destroy us.

    With that in mind, Redshirts by John Scalzi was right up my alley for reading material.  Quasi-trekkie, playing off the known joke about how red-shirted individuals on the original show would inevitably die a horrible death, I walked into this book ready to laugh.  And when I discovered that none other than Wil Wheaton was performing the book, I positively beamed with delight.

    I loved this book.  I listened to it while at work and was laughing so hard in some places that my coworkers were concerned for my mental health.  (I work in an upstairs area from them so they couldn’t see the headphones, they could only hear my laugh.  Which, now that I think about it, might have seemed a little creepy. )

    I won’t give any spoilers, but I will admit that about a quarter of the way into the book I was concerned because I was getting attached to these Redshirts.  I didn’t want to see any of them get their faces eaten by exotic alien creatures.  But they had the dreaded red shirts on, so one part of my brain was always waiting for the curtain to come down on them.

    There was one portion of the plot that was a hiccup for me — the discussion of back-stories, which I won’t explain because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone.  Suffice to say, my rational brain was trying to make sense of a purely irrational thought-process.  But in the end, I chose to ignore this hiccup because … well … I was enjoying the book so much that I just didn’t care.  And … I mean, come on, it’s science fiction.  Fiction being the operative word.

    If you’re on Goodreads, then you can see I gave it 5 stars.  If you’re on Audible — I don’t think you can find me because that’s got a different name on it — but I gave it 5 stars all around there.

    Thank you, John Scalzi, for the wonderful book.  Thank you Wil Wheaton for the wonderful performance.  It was truly a blast.

  • Moral Compasses

    One of the joys of writing a character whose moral compass goes askew is that you never know exactly what is going to happen.  For instance, blackmailing a woman into a marriage would be completely wrong in my book, but to my sordid character Faxon Mylonas it is business as usual.  (For those familiar with the Sedition universe, you might recognize that name from the first book as the pipe-smoking shady character who gave Prince Brenson a hand when it was needed.)

    Writing Faxon has been a challenge and a blessing.  I’m not one to say that my own moral compass has always pointed true North, but there are certain boundaries that I’ve stayed away from.  When exploring Faxon’s character, his thought process opens up a whole slew of possibilities that I would never consider.  A prime example is in the scene I just wrote for him this week, where he “stretched the truth” in order to get an extra few vials of blood from someone.  (Don’t ask, it’s a complicated mess of Blood Magic.)

    But he got me to thinking about all those characters who I love whose moral compasses go a little wonky from time to time.  They aren’t necessarily villains, because they are mostly-kinda-sorta on the right side of the story line to be considered a good guy.

    The first one that comes to mind is Dexter from … yeah … that creepy serial killer TV show called Dexter.  If there ever was a character who made my sense of morality sit back and cry, it is Dexter.  (For those unaware, Dexter is a serial killer who hunts serial killers.)  By the end of each episode I was in a bizarre state of moral shock, condemning myself for rooting for this guy.

    The second shady character I can think of is Jack Sparrow.  I mean, we all know he will eventually lean on the right side of things, but there are moments where you just don’t know.  I also have to note with good old Jack that his moment of redemption at the end of each of the movies is just plain wonderful.  (Thank you, Mr. Depp, for always keeping me guessing as to which way this character was going to fly at any given moment.)

    The third character on my list is John Cleaver from Dan Wells’ I Am Not A Serial Killer.

    And after reading my list again, I’ve decided that there are too many titles in my life with “serial killer” in them.  I’m going to go read The Chronicles of Narnia or something.