Category: Book Review

Book Review: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to P-Con

Erin Penn 4 Comments

Amazon Cover

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to P-Con! (Anthology)

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

A funny thing happened on the way to P-Con: What do you get when science fiction and fantasy collide with convention chaos? A collection as unpredictable—and as fun—as the P-Con convention itself. The stories in this anthology support the operation of the P-Con Science Fiction & Fantasy annual convention. Purchases of this Kindle or Paperback go directly to the operating fund.

Inside these pages you’ll find:

  • A writer isekai’d into a world built from the very tropes he pens.
  • Superheroes (registered and unregistered) braving the most dangerous gauntlet of all: Texas’ Interstate 35.
  • Prophecies delivered over breakfast at Waffle House.
  • And road trips all the way: alien invasions, bumbling investigators, and mysteries that may never be untangled.

And yes … talking squirrels. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer to the weird, wonderful spirit of P-Con, or science fiction and fantasy, these stories will make you laugh, cheer, and maybe wonder what’s really lurking behind the dealer’s table. Come for the convention. Stay for the chaos. And enjoy the ride along the way!

 

MY REVIEW

Full Disclosure – I wrote one of the stories in this anthology, so I might go a little nice, especially since I am at the con right now with all the people who wrote this charity anthology. But, well, I still loved it a lot. A fun theme, driving to the con, and handled differently by everyone. I loved the storms everyone hit; is it the same storm? (BTW – the storms were not listed as part of the theme, but if you have ever driven any time in the Texas, … yeah … storms out of nowhere.)

The best two stories are absurdist and farcical, but I think they best captured the lore and joy that is P-Con: #3 Waffle Master and #4 Tanks for the Pies. Now onward to short-one(ish) sentence reviews of the nine short stories, well seven short stories (10-20 pages) and two novelettes of over 50 pages each.

1. What a Way to GOH by Robert E. Hampson – Portal fantasy. I think it ran a little long, but villains are going to monolog. Exploration of tropes. Not my favorite story of the lot but I understand the reasons it is first. (One of the two long stories.)

2. Fear and Loathing on the Way to P-Con by Greg Radabaugh – Satire super spy alien abduction thriller.

3. Prophecy of the Waffle Master by Wally Waltner – Absurdist Urban Fantasy capturing a P-Con tradition in a single golden syrup moment. Best of the stories.

4, Tanks for the Pies by Lizz Yarbrough – First day of con fever fantasy crossed with friend shenanigans. Squirrels, pies, Lizz, and a tank – the world is not safe. Second best (and very close to the best) story.

5. The Story She Left Behind by Sandra L. Medlock – Ghost story wish-fulfillment of quiet voices getting their stories told.

6. The Scenic Route to Nuts by C.V. Walter – Light anime-touched science-fiction. Always help the strays.

7. Aliens among Us by Jesse M. Slater – Science Fiction about being out of place, sometimes the world is hostile, and sometimes you are exactly where you should be with those you love at your side.

8. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to P-Con or did it? by Stephen Patrick and David Rike – A comedic interlude of fools; a farce in the manner of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Not to my taste.

9. Teamup Road Trip by Erin Penn – Well, this one is mine. Superheroes driving from point A to point B, with some unexpected stops. I love the blurb the editor created for it “Superheroes braving the most dangerous gauntlet of all: Interstate 35.” (Second of the two long stories.)

Book Review (SERIES): Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Amazon Cover

Rick Riordan has done more than just the Percy Jackson with the Greek gods of Olympus (reviewed here in 2024). There are Kane Chronicles with the Egyptian gods (reviewed here in 2025), Magnus Chase and the Norse gods (reviewed here today in 2026), and The Heroes series featuring the Roman legion and their gods (something for 2027 maybe?). Plus a ton of support material.

Now onto the Norse, and Anabelle’s dead cousin, Magnus.

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Sword of Summer

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by an uncle he barely knows—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

MY REVIEW for The Sword of Summer

Magnus Chase is cousin to Annabeth Chase (yes, that Annabeth, daughter of Athena and mental powerhouse to Percy’s hurricane of loyalty). Seems like Greek gods aren’t the only ones to play the field on Midgard and the Chases have a much stronger link to the Norse pantheon than the Greek. The plus for Magnus is unlike the Greek clean-up squad for demigods, which usually start hunting the kids between 11 and 13, Magnus got a normal life until he turned 16. If by normal, the definition is your mother is killed by wolves with glowing eyes leaving you homeless at age 13 – sure.

Magnus is 16 and then he dies. A fire giant kills him in Boston; dying in battle gets him taken to Valhalla. Then things get interesting.

Magnus’ upbringing is very different from Percy (with a loving parent) or the Kanes (again, raised by loving parents or grandparents). He is a street rat; life has been hard, and then he died. Yes, he had a loving parent for his formative years, but three years on the street means he values things differently, sees interactions between people differently. He knows everyone has an angle.

The story isn’t as funny as Percy, but has strong action and forward movement which the dual narrative of the Kane Chronicles struggled with. Middlegrade silliness still exists in some of the twists on the gods, but the great one-liners and flat-out laughs of Percy are less prevalent. Still, strong action, great interpretation of mythology into something new without ignoring the old, and amazing characters. From Sam, Samirah al-Abbas, of mid-Eastern descent, a Valkyrie; to Jack the talking sword; to Hearthstone, homeless elf and rune mage – each character is unique, has a solid backstory, and have goals that work together and against the other characters.

Not the best of the Rick Riordan series but then Percy Jackson is a very high bar to hurdle. Magnus Chase book 1 is still very good.

Read through the local library.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Hammer of Thor

Thor’s hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon–the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn’t just lost. It has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can’t retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn. Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer’s return is the gods’ worst enemy, Loki–and the price he wants is very high.

MY REVIEW for The Hammer of Thor

I enjoyed this second Magnus Chase book much more than the first. Establishing a main character where dying was a step up, dragged some of the fun feels down in The Sword of Summer. The Hammer of Thor brings the connection of friendship, the snark of teenagers, and the complications of questing back to the high levels I expect of a Rick Riordan book.

Thor’s hammer is still missing, and Sam – our friendly Muslim Valkyrie – has finally tracked down a lead. From a wright’s cursed barrow to Heimdall’s bright rainbow bridge, our hero Magnus with his close friends Hearth and Bliz trace clues and quests. In the previous book we visited the dwarf underground homeworld where everything is handcrafted. This time we meet Hearthstone’s homeworld of Alfheim, a land of perpetual sunshine and even the poorest person (at least how elves define personhood) is rich. More Asgardian gods show their faces and more giants gather near Midgard borders.

New companions join them on this journey when Sam brings another child of Loki to Valhalla. Alex is crafty and killing it from the very first field exercise. Alex is also as gender bending as his/her parent.

Seeing the sibling similarities and differences between Sam and Alex is fascinating; you don’t doubt they are both Loki’s children, but also completely different people. They are as different as Hearth and Bliz’s homeworlds held in the singular worldtree.

The lore deepens. I adore how Mr. Riordan takes existing mythology and crafts a story around it. A wonderful adventurous story.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for The Ship of the Dead

Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is a resident of the Hotel Valhalla and one of Odin’s chosen warriors. As the son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus isn’t naturally inclined to fighting. But he has strong and steadfast friends, including Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, and Samirah the Valkyrie, and together they have achieved brave deeds, such as defeating Fenris Wolf and battling giants for Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Now Magnus faces his most dangerous trial yet. His cousin, Annabeth, recruits her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, to give Magnus some pointers, but will his training be enough? Loki is free from his chains. He’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, complete with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Asgardian gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s up to Magnus and his friends to stop him, but to do so they will have to sail across the oceans of Midgard, Jotunheim, and Niflheim in a desperate race to reach Naglfar before it’s ready to sail. Along the way, they will face angry sea gods, hostile giants, and an evil fire-breathing dragon. Magnus’s biggest challenge will be facing his own inner demons. Does he have what it takes to outwit the wily trickster god?

MY REVIEW for The Ship of the Dead

Magnus Chase book 3: The Ship of the Dead delivers the ending of this middle grade trilogy.
While never as humorous as Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase builds onto a universe already as deep and wide as an ocean, creating ships (banana yellow), gods (with beautiful feet), and icebergs melting along the edge of Ragnarök. Loki does Loki; Odin does motivational speaking, and Alex brings the chaos (s/he was a great addition to the series).
Great action, great mythology, great characters.
(checked out for the local library – remember to support your local library system)

Book Review: Nightfall

Erin Penn 1 Comment

Amazon Cover

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov (original short story) and Robert Silverberg (expanded into novel)

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

An expanded version of Asimov’s short story, “Nightfall,” reveals a world on the brink of chaos, torn between religious fanaticism and scientific denial and faced with the end of civilization

 

MY REVIEW

When I first read this (mumble) years ago, it was groundbreaking and amazing. The original short story was published in 1941, written by Isaac Asimov when he was a grad student. The novel was published in 1990, with an extended beginning and an extended ending written by Robert Silverberg, but approved by Asimov.

The conceit of a world without night (because at least one of the six suns in the vicinity of the planet is always shining down, one sun is the primary which the planet orbits), reacting to an astrological phenomena – a once in two-thousand year eclipse, bringing Darkness and something more. Stars. All the wonder and fear, awe and insignificance we normal Earthlings are exposed to each night (when city lights don’t hide the night sky) in one painful twelve-hour period with no preparation.

I always think about how quickly and decisively humans jumped off planet because we had our sister planet, the Moon, just hanging up there, taunting us, tantalizingly close. If all we had to see were the stars, it would have taken much longer to dare space. I wonder about other worlds with intelligent life without Moon to tease them to “come play”. About worlds with perpetual cloud cover, like Venus or Jupiter, never even seeing the stars, and maybe not even their own sun clearly. Would they even leave their planet? Our relatively thin atmosphere (compared to gas worlds), is “only” six thousand miles. Our tallest mountain is 5.5 miles; if everything above that distance is hazy nothingness, why would you ever go further?

Nightfall asks the question of what happens to a people who have never seen further, whose furthest sight line is maybe two light-years, who – with far more reason than our Earthling predecessors – think they are the center of this small scape, suddenly see so much more.

I love the question. I love the development. The science Asimov used to create this world is still believable; the archeological support and psychological support and governmental maneuverings added by Silverberg make it that much better. It is perhaps one of the best short stories and novel adaptations ever in the science fiction genre.

That said, I hate how the social aspects have aged over the 35 and 80 plus years since the novel and short story have been written.

First comment is just a writing style change. The book is set in omnipresent third person, as well as second person, and also has first person POV switches, with some head hopping. Not something we do now, but was an acceptable writing technique in the past. Styles change over time. I am already seeing how fanfic, video game storytelling, and electronic delivery systems are changing writing styles now; not good or bad, just different.

Second comment is “Wow, the toxic masculinity.” Even though the characters have witnessed, have experienced, the danger of Darkness, each of the men think “I am stronger than this.” Over and over again. “I cannot be a coward; I would not be able to live with myself.” But it is like asking a normal man without training to lift a thousand pounds, it is going to break him. … But, you know, can’t be a coward.

Third comment is “Smurfette Syndrome.” No, the archeologist isn’t the only female of the book but I do think the ratio of male to female is one in four or one in five, and among the scientists and people of power more like one in ten. There is an ingenue sex partner, but she is more an obstacle than a person and only one person actual talks to her. Siferra is the only female with agency and initially she starts with absolutely no interest in sex; but eventually she falls for the one man with the persistence (stalking) to continue to pressure her until there was a yes rewarding the action-hero non-scientist with a beautiful, physically fit, amazingly intelligent, supportive woman who he proceeds to overtalk, ignore, and actively manipulate to get his way. Chapter 38 onward is a study in the many of the ways science fiction writers have mistreated women characters over the years. So much potential, but using a 2025 lens, completely unacceptable. (Also the female-needs-to-be-threatened-with-rape trope, but at least she gets herself out of it, even if she is completely insane when she did it, because, of course, a real woman wouldn’t have overreacted that way … oh, but we do imagine it.)

In conclusion, great concept. A worthy ready, especially the beginning and middle (Asimov’s original story), for the history of science fiction. Don’t give to the book to your female children to read; the teenagers and twenty-somethings won’t see Siferra as a strong-woman character. They have been deprogramed from this level of toxicity and will see it for what it is: a male chosen-one reward-in-female-shape. (She started out Ace; a modern writer would have let her stay that way, but times were different.)

When I originally read this in the nineties, the story would be a five-star. Now, toxic tropes would take it down to a two and history pulls it up to a three-star.

Book Review (SERIES): The Biogenesis War / R is for Richman

Erin Penn 2 Comments

Welcome A-to-Z crowd. Once a month, I review a series. I guess I could have cheated and just said “R is for Review”, but instead I want to push R is for L.L. Richman. The author is an amazing hard science fiction author, specializing in military techno spy thrillers in space with special forces. This is the second of their series I have reviewed. See also Book Review (SERIES): Vision Rising (6/18/2024).

Now back to our normally scheduled blog.

Amazon Cover

This is a bundle of the first three books of the Biogenesis War includes The Chiral Agent, The Chiral Protocol, and Chiral Justice following the life of mirror clones Micah and Jonathan as they deal with the Alliance and Akkadia fighting a spy and science cold war, mirroring actions with opposite spins of democracy and authoritarianism.

Where space opera mixes with hard science with a sprinkling of medical thriller and political spy drama mixed in, this multi-POV series will keep you turning the pages.

I have reviewed the books separately below. Considered as a series, I enjoyed these good military science fiction books individually and as a unit. It is best read in order.

The Biogenesis War by L.L. Richman
Book 1: The Chiral Agent
Book 2: The Chiral Protocol
Book 3: Chiral Justice

Related – The Biogenesis War Files: Ambush in the Sargon Straits

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE CHIRAL AGENT

WINNER OF THE 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Award for Science Fiction

First, they stole his identity. Now, they want him dead.

Shadow Recon pilot Micah Case awakens above an alien world, with no memory of his past and a mysterious voice inside his head. Worse, his own military is hunting him… and he has no idea why.

His genetic code could destroy all life.

The voice leads to a discovery so unbelievable, enemy nations would kill to control it — to control him. Now, Micah must use every skill in his arsenal to secure the stolen research.

The stakes are impossibly high, but failure is not an option. The alternative could mean the extinction of a people Micah can no longer call his own. Humanity.

THE CHIRAL AGENT is a fast-paced, cerebral thriller that’s part hard science fiction, part spy novel, and one hundred percent adrenaline. It’s sure to keep you guessing every step of the way.

MY REVIEW for THE CHIRAL AGENT

The science behind Chiral has always interested me. While the author, L.L. Richman, concentrates on the fiction and military part of the science-fiction military genre, the base for the science-fiction element has a solid reality.

But first and foremost, this is a science-fiction spy thriller – we wake up in a morgue about to be incinerated with our hero and keep moving from there. I really enjoyed the ride.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE CHIRAL PROTOCOL

Countdown to Annihilation

An Alliance asset is found brutally murdered, a deadly biomaterial stolen, and their top scientist kidnapped.

Shadow Recon pilot Micah Case is the only human in existence immune to the viral weapon the Akkadian Empire would unleash on the settled worlds.

It’s up to him to stop them — before millions die.

MY REVIEW for THE CHIRAL PROTOCOL

Chiral Protocol starts by leaping into the fire, then enters a whirlwind when stellar politics and intrigue take over. The Biogenesis War includes bioweapons and all the devastation that entails. The story can be hard to follow as there are three theatres of action: the kidnapped scientist, the political summit, and a cruise ship. But each of far flung location is entangled with the others at a quantum level, needing to be resolved by our heroic Chiral pairing: Jonathan and Micah – plus a ferret and a large dark cat.

Where secrets meet, the microscopic spins everything around. This science-fiction techno thriller delivers on the science, the fiction, and the thriller.

Content Warning: Plague Ship.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for CHIRAL JUSTICE

* 2023 International Book Award Finalist for Science Fiction *

Old enemies never die.

The unthinkable has happened: an Akkadian assassin has helped broker peace between her star nation and the Alliance. Micah Case and Task Force Blue watch the peace talks with guarded optimism—but they know one thing the rest of the settled worlds don’t.

Clint Janus has vanished with the Alliance’s most closely-held secret.

And Micah Case holds the key.

Janus is now allied with Akkadia’s new premier, Asher Dent, and the man is not as peace-loving as he might seem.

It’s going to be up to Micah Case and Task Force Blue to prevent Dent from achieving that which he wants most: total space supremacy over all the settled worlds.

MY REVIEW for CHIRAL JUSTICE

The action-packed conclusion of the Biogenesis War delivers on everything which has gone before. Asher Dent now controls Akkadia, and plans to keep it that way. Pascal now has access to steaks and plans to keep it that way. Micah now has a date with Sam and plans to keep it.

But Clint Janus has disappeared, interfering with some of those plans and helping others. By the end of the mission, politicians will race in the sky, cats will walk on water, and a Chiral will die. Nanotechnology, political intrigue, desert prisons, cloaked spaceships – this exciting series is where hard science meets military space opera. Be prepared to have your molecules spin in a different direction.

While Chiral Justice could be read as a stand-alone, don’t cheat yourself out of maximum enjoyment of this sci-fi goodness. Start with The Chiral Agent and work your way through the whole series.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for AMBUSH IN THE SARGON STRAITS

It should have been a simple extraction.

Rumors of unrest have caused the Alliance to recall its consulate stationed on the Khufu torus. Elodie Cyr and SRU Team Five are there to ensure it happens smoothly.

But the intelligence geeks’ estimates were wrong — way wrong — and Ell and the team are in for the fight of their lives.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a 13,000-word, 75 page novelette in the Biogenesis War Files series.

MY REVIEW for AMBUSH IN THE SARGON STRAITS

A novella/short story from a series of three novels and four short stories/novella – I picked this one while free and it delivered enough I found the series in a package deal and picked it up.

Standard military science-fiction faire, at least to start. War is brewing on the horizon and an air-force/land-force special-forces mix is sent to extract the consulate from the disputed territory before the war comes over the horizon. In this case, the “air-force” crew a very small space ship and the extraction team has to exfiltrate the consulate from a colony-sized space station. Their sovereign planet, while allied with one side, is not actively part of the coming hostilities nor wants to precipitate the conflict. Problems start when the brewing aggression reaches boiling during the operation. All your favorite tropes delivered in a small package.

80% of the kindle edition is devoted to the short story and 20% is a teaser from the first novel of the Biogenesis War.

(F is for Farrady) Book Review: Resolution: Good Text

Erin Penn 5 Comments

The first Tuesday of the month is my Book Review day. Here is a “F” author.

Amazon Cover

Resolution: Good Text by Deana Farrady

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

He’s Rafail Slutsky, Olympic medalist. Women drool over his ripped body. He helps charities. He’s a god in a man suit.

I’m Cecily Spangler, geek. I snark. I draw. I huddle in my shell like a turtle. Nobody has ever heard of me.

Do I need to spell out how wrong we are for each other?

Luckily, I’m done with fantasies of celebrities I have no hope of ever meeting. On New Year’s Eve, I resolve to flirt with the nerdy guy I’ve been crushing on over on my favorite forum. I know nothing about him, but I just have this feeling we have a lot in common.

And then, joy of joys, he messages me back.

Before I know it, I’m in deeper than I ever expected. The connection between us SIZZLES. I only hope that if we ever meet in person, I’ll live up to his imaginings.

One small problem: he just sent me a text. He wants to meet me. Now.

I figure the worst that can happen is that we have no chemistry, right?

Wrong…because there’s a lot more to this nerd than I ever dreamed…
—————
It’s the New Year! Time to ring your bell with some hot and hunky resolutions! Join fifteen of your favorite romance authors as their stories get off… on the right foot this year. Champagne corks aren’t the only things popping!

 

MY REVIEW

One from a group of short stories where a sorority president sends out a challenge to members to make real new year’s resolutions. Not the typical “going to lose weight” or “exercise more”. Cecily, an art nerd through and through – to the point of setting up a social media site to draw art, decides to take her up on that and actually INITIATE (gasp!) contact with a person on the social media site. Someone she thinks is male, hopes is male, well, might be male – hoping. Also hoping around her age.

Messaging changes to texting and then to selfie photo trades – of their … well, you need to read the rest.

I think Ms. Farrady captured the challenge and courage it takes when a nerd steps outside their comfort zone. And how hard it is for ANYONE to take a risk, even a hot, hot, hot celebrity. Funny and a little inspiring, while also erotic.

(Read through Kindle Unlimited)