Monday, January 26, 2015

Great New Classic Fantasy Author Presents: Maiden of Destiny and Maiden of Death

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

January 26, 2015

Great  New  Fantasy  Author  Presents:

Maiden  of  Destiny  &  Maiden  of  Death


Note  From  Forrest  Schultz:

I reviewed both of these books already under the auspices of Southside Book Reviews, which are reviews of books recently published by authors living in the counties on the Southside (sometimes called the Southern Arc) of Atlanta, GA.  They are presented here as written there:
September 28, 2011

The Forming of a Champion
A review of

Lenny Fulz Maiden of Destiny, Book One of the Forgotten Gods Trilogy
                   (Write Knight Pubs., 2011)
                   184 pp      ISBN: 978-0-9836922-0-1

Reviewed by: Forrest W. Schultz

     The Coweta writing scene recently suffered a great loss in the passing of Vickie Kennedy. Among her contributions was her Writers Block workshop in which she trained some of Coweta's best authors. One of these was Lenny Fulz, who recently had his first book published, the fantasy novel under review here.
This book, the first of a trilogy, focuses on the forming of a Champion whose title is "Maiden Of Destiny". Actually, as noted in one of the dialogues, Indigo's training program began in her childhood in the formation of her character by her parents, which is in the backstory. The story itself begins when she is fourteen when she learns of her prophesied vocation from the emissaries who take her away from her home to the Temple, where she meets the High Priestess, passes the ordeal by the gods, and officially begins her training, which at first is mostly educational because she cannot begin the training per se until she gains possession of the Sword of Destiny, which is shown on the front cover, but which does not happen until near the end of the book.

     This is a classical fantasy story but is not a copy of any previously written fantasy, and some of the characters posssess atypical qualities. A good example of this is seen in the Captain of the ship which transports Indigo and her company across the Mystic Ocean to the land of the elves, where the Sword is hidden among a group of arcane druids. The Captain is a dwarf, who is typical in not liking elves but is atypical in hating underground mining and loving sailing the sea!

     He and Indigo and most of the other characters are well developed and remarkable and they all, except for the gods, have verisimiltude. These gods are sometimes depicted as fallible and finite, like the ancienct Greek and Roman gods, and other times are regarded as infinite and omnipotent, like Jehovah. This inconsistency is the only serious criticism I have of this story. In fact if the other two books are as good as this one, we will have here what could be one of the major fantasy works of our time.

     The scenes in the story are varied and the action is well-paced so as to hold the reader's attention and keep him wanting to read on. While not UNputdownable, the book is definitely NOTWANNAputdownable!
Fulz is now at work on the second and third volumes of the trilogy. I look forward to reading them. Mainly because I want to see the characters again, which is an indication of a good writer. He has joined the Coweta Writers Group and is continuing his involvement in the Coweta writing scene.

     Infomation on the writer is available on his website www.lennyfulz.com.



January 26, 2015

The Champion Revealed

A Review of

Lenny Fultz Maiden of Death [Book Two of The Forgotten           Gods Trilogy] (Write Knight Pub., 2014)
      $10.48   314pp  ISBN: 9780983692249

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz

     "The Forming of a Champion" is the title of my review of Lenny Fultz's first book Maiden of Destiny. It is not until the second book, Maiden of Death, that the identity and the powers of this champion are revealed -- quite dramatically! -- at the opening of the war council for the kingdom's campaign to battle the demonic forces headed by the super-sorceror Murquee, a super-evil super-villain you will love to hate. And this battle is super-important: if it is lost humans and gods (not to mention dwarves, elves, etc.) will perish.

     This story is classic fantasy at its best: lots of magic spells, all sorts of exotic creatures, great dialogue and great adventure, and even some romance. And a very moving, very poignant and sudden appearance of two striking Valkyries who come to take a hero to a far better place than Valhalla. And concluding with the promise of another great tale in the sequel and final book of this trilogy.

     Fultz, who lives in Coweta County, learned the craft of writing from the late Vickie Kennedy in her Newnan-based The Writers Block; he now belongs to the Coweta Writers Group, which has several other fantasy authors, including his critique partner, Denise Tompkins, who writes dark urban fantasy. Information on Fultz is available at www.lennyfultz.com.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Max Discovers His Ren; And Thereby Hangs A Tale -- Review of Jennifer Eifrig's "Shadow King"

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258
January 16, 2015
Max Discovers His Ren; And Thereby Hangs A Tale
Review of
Jennifer Eifrig Shadow King (Create Space, 2014)
400pp $14.20 ISBN: 978-1503133921
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz
      At the opening of this story Max Ambrosine (aka Osiris) is languishing in paralytic inactivity until his lifeless spirit is rejuvenated by a dramatic encounter with Christ! Yes, Christ Himself is a character in this tale, not a Christ-figure, but Christ Himself !! (AND Christ is rightly depicted as a virile and interesting person, which is often not the case in literature written by Christians!) AND it is the spiritual rejuvenation Christ produces which causes Max to discover his "Ren", which is his "true name", i.e. his nature and his vocation. AND it is this discovery which prepares Max for the series of heroic tasks which comprise the bulk of the tale in this, the second book in Jennifer Eifrig's Discovering Ren series.
      Eifrig is not only a good story teller, but also has a scholarly background and museum experience which has provided her with the Egyptological knowledge needed for the world building in the story. And her boldness in having Christ come into this world produces quite a thought-provoking theological experience! Information on the author is available on her website www.jennifereifrigauthor.com

Monday, January 5, 2015

A Sherry Thompson Potpourri: Stories, Bio Snicppets, and Writing Plans: Review of her "Tree House Tales"

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258
January 5, 2015
A Sherry Thompson Potpourri:
Stories, Bio Snippets, and Writing Plans
A Review of
Sherry Thompson Tree House Tales (Scroll Chamber Press, 2014)
228pp $9.95 ISBN: 978-0692348444
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz
      An anthology consisting of (or including) short stories is almost always impossible to review because of the variety. Let me just say that I loved the Indian tale ("The Luckiest Hunter -- Ever") and that I have no space for comment on the others or on the bio snippets. As a reviewer, and great admirer, of Thompson's Narenta tales, I will restrict the rest of my remarks to them.
      Those who are interested in Narenta can read (1) her plans on page 2, which involve revisions of the books covering the first two tumults plus the long awaited book on the third tumult plus a prequel to the tumults plus an interpolated tale betwixt the first and second tumults; and (2). the third section of the anthology titled "Extracts From Five Narentan novels". I look forward to the revision of Seabird so I can read again about Cara Marshall (one of my favorite characters in all of literature) and the revision of Earthbow to read again about how his memory of Cara inspired Harone-The-Awaited. Sherry's Cara has inspired me to create my character Cara Coer, who has appeared in two of my Cyano short stories (Cyanorod-2 and Cyanoring-5).
      For information on Sherry Thompson, your can visit her blog http://scrollchamber.blogspot.com.