Review, Emerald by M.L. Hamilton

Review, Emerald by M.L. Hamilton

The premise:

In one terrible instant, Kai is thrown from his privileged life and plunged into a conflict that began before he was born. Worse yet, he learns that the one man who can help him is his enemy.
Kiameron is the crown prince of DiNolfol. He is torn between two destinies - assuming the crown upon his father's death or answering the call of his non-Human traits, abilities associated with the mysterious Stravad.

The decision is made for him with the destruction of everything he holds dear. Armed with his burgeoning powers and a mysterious talisman that he does not know how to use, Kai strikes back at Gava, the despot who destroyed his life.

Crippled by self-doubt and fear, he falters in his quest, until he meets a man who forces him to take action. However, his new ally is hiding secrets, secrets that will rob Kai of everything he holds sacred.


Reaction:

Prince Kai has inexplicable dreams that disturb and compel him to seek answers. He’s at odds with his father, the King, on how the kingdom of DiNolfol should best handle the encroaching threat of a powerful enemy. Kai has powers that set him apart from other humans ...

And that’s only the start of the conflicts that set in motion this well-crafted and detailed epic fantasy. The settings and world building are fashioned with great attention, counter-balanced by the all-important interplay between characters. To prevent these characters from appearing one-dimensional, the reader is provided insights to their emotions. We experience Kai’s desires and limitations and his quest for vengeance ... always a compelling motive in the fantasy genre. Also, Kai’s princess sister provides another vantage in which to experience Hamilton’s world, as do the villains.

Hamilton then takes more steps to add complexity and intrigue to this saga. Characters that seem one way reveal other facets, and some are not altogether expected by Kai or the reader. There’s plenty of tragedy and devastation to go around, entertaining action sequences, and automatons that seem all but insurmountable. In the end, Emerald proves itself an engrossing fantasy saga.

Zombie tale, Death Clause, available at Amazon Kindle

Now available on Amazon Kindle: Death Clause is the 2011 resurrection of Dark Resurrection.

Surgeon Victor Galloway kept death at bay in the operating room. Now death has claimed him. Resurrected against his will, forced to sign a Death Clause, he must fight for his family and his soul.

Victor Galloway is a prominent surgeon and family man. When he suffers a heart attack, he claws his way to the phone and dials 911. The paramedics arrive, smile down at him and quickly administer a lethal injection. Victors life is ending, but his nightmare has just begun.Close to death and strapped to a gurney, hes offered an unholy deal by Tobias, H.E.L.L.s CEO: Use his surgical skills to harvest the living to feed the undead in exchange for immortality. Refused but not to be denied, Tobias presses his unwilling recruit into the ranks of the undead.

Whether by chance or divine intervention, Victor is different from the others.He is a monster with a conscience, a force for good ensnared by evil, and the only one willing to stand against Tobias and his burgeoning nest of zombies.He must destroy them, but doing so risks the lives of his family and the last hospital employee with a pulse.

New cover art below.

WSJ video on Kepler Project: Another Earth in Outer Space?

WSJ video on Kepler Project: Another Earth in Space?

Very cool, both the Video and the Keplar Project for continuing to explore the galaxy, and by extension, the universe, for Earth-like planets. Just ten years ago other astronomers scoffed at the idea. Now Kepler, led by Dr. Geoff Marcy, is trailblazing through Space and pushing back the naysayers.

The Wall Street Journal's Michael Kofsky and his team have done an outstanding job with the video. Informative and entertaining.

Robert E. Howard, the fantasy world marked his 105th Birthday

Robert Ervin Howard (January 23, 1906 - June 11, 1936).

Happy birthday, REH. And while some may deem it strange to wish birthday tidings to a man long dead, his works live on and, as he wrote in a Conan story, we "drink to his shade."

Having read no one's works who could surpass the action writing of Robert E. Howard, to me he is the best sword and sorcery writer to ever live. Karl Edward Wagner runs at second place, and Edgar Rice Burroughs at third, but no one takes Howard for clean, bold imagery and action in the span of a short story, a novella or two, and one novel.

Hardcore REH fans often point to his boxing or western stories as the best of the best, forgoing the more popular stories of the king of all barbarians, Conan. Not for me. Kull and Solomon Kane and his horror stories are very cool, but don't rise to the level of his Conan stories. I wish he'd typed up more novels, but that's a long medium and back in the day he was shooting stories to more than just Weird Tales for his living. If I recall my readings correctly, Weird Tales didn't pay REH his due for a Conan story, so he abandoned the character. Not cool, Weird Tales. You essentially killed Conan.

"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."
— Robert E. Howard, The Phoenix on the Sword, 1932.

The folks at Black Gate have a cool post of favorite Howard writings.

As I commented there, all the while I read REH in my younger days, I always pictured him a wizened old timer, perhaps an ex-soldier or historian, and here he only made it to 30 years old.

Genius writing. The power …!

Absolutely.

Below is Howard's photo. It's probably his most popular picture, but he rarely dressed that way out in West Texas. Also below, a favorite clip from the movie, Whole Wide World, about Howard and his love interest, Novalyne Price.

Gauguin's tribute to Van Gogh auctioning big

Eleven years after Vincent van Gogh's death, the fellow artist who basically drove Vincent over the edge painted sunflowers on Vincent's behalf, supposedly. Maybe he honestly missed him, more likely he wanted to capture some of Vincent's intensity and drive, at least that's my admittedly limited impression of the man.

I don't care much for Gauguin, and even less of his art. To me he was a villain who took advantage of Theo's money and Vincent's naivete and desire for artistic fellowship. And no good man does that.

Anita Singh has an article in The Telegraph on Gauguin's Sunflowers, and the pretty penny they'll be fetching at auction.

Singh states that Vincent's drinking and instability led to the end of their friendship. Surely they were factors ... ones that Gauguin took advantage of. To boot, Gauguin had sizeable mental issues of his own after he left for the tropics. Difficult to believe they hadn't manifested earlier.


Below is Gauguin's painting, which is flat and lifeless compared to Vincent's, imo. See link and example below.

Van Gogh masterpieces in chocolate, or, The Edible Van Gogh

The UK Daily Mail UK has a story about a confectioner, Jean Zaun, who creates chocolate versions of masterpieces, including Vincent Van Gogh's portrait and sunflowers.

The edible Van Gogh.

But her larger reproductions are more for display, as it turns out.

According to Mrs Zaun, each picture can last for up to nine years if properly stored at a temperature of 68 degrees or less.

She added: 'They must also not be exposed to sunlight, heat, hungry dogs or humans.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342779/Vincent-Van-Choc-Confectioner-creates-chocolate-versions-art-masterpieces.html#ixzz19thSg46P

Grace Krispy of MotherLode, Book Reviews and Original Photography, reviews Van Gogh, Encore

Grace Krispy of MotherLode, Book Reviews and Original Photography has kindly posted a review of Van Gogh, Encore

Excerpts from Grace Krispy's review of Van Gogh, Encore:

What if... what if Vincent Van Gogh were alive today, in modern times? What if his life took a different turn, if he met someone he could love? What might be in store for him? Van Gogh is famous for his powerful works of art, and infamous for his mental health issues and resulting bizarre behavior. How would that play out in the context of today?

In this work of speculative fiction, John A. Karr portrays the last 18 months of Van Gogh's life in the United States, and presents possibilities of a different future for the troubled, but gifted, artist. Given a different setting and nationality (Van Gogh is Canadian in this book), and a blossoming love with a vivacious woman, Van Gogh gets another chance at life.

...

At nearly twice the size of the average ebook, this was a page-turner. Descriptive and eloquent, this book really allows you to feel what it might be like to be Van Gogh, to live inside his tormented mind as he attempts to make sense of contradictory stimuli. The author uses carefully selected words and phrasing to portray Van Gogh's thoughts in a way that really highlights his inner turmoil, as well as his artistic passion. The characters were nicely drawn, but the star of this story is really Vincent, whose character is well-established.