Humor – The Warbler Books

Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi

April 21, 2017 No Comments

John Scalzi is a somewhat enormous figure in genre fiction, having published some 20+ novels, eight non-fiction books, and a generous handful of short fiction and essays. Not only that, but his role as “influencer” is further cemented by the popularity of his “Whatever” blog and his more-than 110,000 followers on Twitter. But we’re not here to talk about Scalzi’s reach as an author, prodigious though it may be. We’re here to talk about the audiobook of Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi I listened to, courtesy of Audible. The eighteen stories in Miniatures are, as the title suggests, very short. In the introduction, Scalzi says that the longest piece in the collection is only 2,300 words long. The audiobook for the collection is teeny-tiny, clocking in at just under three hours. The stories are funny, and all hover around the central of subverting “conventional” science fiction tropes

Spell/Sword – G. Derek Adams

July 30, 2016 No Comments

Asteroid Made of Dragons was G. Derek Adams’s first (semi-)traditionally published work, but the man was no stranger to releasing books. As you may (or may not) recall from my review of AMoD, Adams had self-published two prequels prior to winning the Sword and Laser contest on Inkshares. The first of those books is Spell/Sword, wherein we meet the protagonist duo of Rime and Jonas and go careening through glowing canyons and flying on wyverns with them on their first adventure. Adams was kind enough to provide me with a copy of Spell/Sword in audiobook form, which is currently available on Audible, and is wonderfully narrated by Rachel Ahrens, who brings a voice and character to Rime so close to what my mind created when I read AMoD that I was a bit surprised, to be honest. She really did a fantastic job. The thing about Adams’s writing is that,

Monkey Business – Landon Crutcher

July 10, 2016 No Comments

I enjoy a good laugh as much as the next person, but I rarely find myself seeking out books in the humor category, opting instead for more “serious fare.” I don’t know why. I loved Lamb, had an exceedingly good time with Asteroid Made of Dragons, and have a leather bound and much loved collection of Douglas Adams’s famous Hitchhiker’s Guide series. And those are off the top of my head. Point is, I probably ought to laugh more. So when I spoke to Landon Crutcher about his debut novel— the first to be published by Inkshares’s Quill imprint — I decided it was past time for me to read a book that’d make me laugh. And laugh I did. Monkey Business is just like Landon described it in our chat: a zany, shenanigans-filled Will Ferrell-style comedy on paper. I was of two minds when I initially heard that description, as

Author Interview: Landon Crutcher

June 11, 2016 1 Comment

We’ve cooked up something really special for you this time, friend. Landon Crutcher, author of Monkey Business, the first book published under Inkshares’s Quill imprint, chatted with me about his book, the Quill experience, and more in our very first audio interview. Give it a listen below, then check out Monkey Business on Inkshares or Amazon. You’ll have to pardon our several mentions of things you can’t see, dear reader. We tried to make this one a video interview, but technology got in the way. Enjoy!

Draftshares: Humor, Nonfiction, Other

May 31, 2016 No Comments

For the next batch of noteworthy drafts, we turn to the humor and nonfiction genres. Take a look, and offer feedback if you can! So You Might Be a Vampire: (Humor) Nobody told Bob when he became a vampire he’d have to keep his shitty job. He’s average looking, not rich, not pale and blood is a drug, not a food. There are over 101 ways to suck at being a vampire, and Bob is living proof. Presenting Complaints: (Humor) A disastrously run NHS hospital is threatened with takeover by an amoral private health concern. Dr Tom Rysarian – shallow, selfish, and monumentally lazy – becomes embroiled in a last-ditch effort to save his place of work from privatization. Try not to fall off the Long Gray Line: An autobiography by David Howard on “[his]” progression from Plebe to graduate at West Point.” Holding Their Ground: (Romance) When no one is watching, history repeats

Asteroid Made of Dragons – G. Derek Adams

April 20, 2016 3 Comments

It is obvious that G. Derek Adams, author of Asteroid Made of Dragons, understands the trappings and tropes of fantasy backwards and forwards. It is also obvious that he has tremendous love for the genre because (and in spite) of its cheesier clichés and frequent absurdities. I’m not getting down on fantasy here. Long time readers of the Warbler know that I, too, love fantasy well, even if my interest waned of late. Adams’s book was the perfect supplement to A Crucible of Souls—a book that took itself very seriously—in reinvigorating my love of fantasy. Asteroid Made of Dragons is a self-aware, funny, and action-packed novel that is basically a Dungeons and Dragons adventure in delicious prose. It is absurd and delightful, with a great cast of characters, fun set pieces, and suffused with a larger-than-fantasy-life essence that punctuates every page of the book. It also happens to be the third book

An Unattractive Vampire – Jim McDoniel

March 29, 2016 No Comments

Now that the past few (very busy) weeks are behind me, I can focus on reviewing Jim McDoniel’s An Unattractive Vampire, which I finished a few weeks ago. It’s the second of three winners from Inkshares’s Sword and Laser contest—the first being The Life Engineered—and is a pleasure to read. An Unattractive Vampire is a humorous swing of the pendulum, a witty response to a zeitgeist flooded with angsty teenage vampires who are no longer monstrous, no longer the stuff of horror. It is a guffaw in the face of the “sexy vampire” that boldly states, “you think that’s a vampire?! THIS is a vampire!” And yet, there is angst, and kitsch, and a healthy number overly-sexualized teenage vampires in An Unattractive Vampire. And it all serves to move along an active, interesting, quickly-paced plot that rewards the reader greatly. It follows an unlikely trio, orphaned siblings, the older sister—a

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