If you’re like me, you barely notice when Father’s Day comes around. A good wife will remind you, and maybe do something nice for you on that day, otherwise, we’d probably never know.
So many men today grew up without fathers—sometimes literally. For those of us who were fortunate enough to know ours, quite often we saw our fathers only sporadically as part of a custody arrangement. Even before our parents’ divorces, our fathers were physically absent often, and emotionally absent otherwise. They weren’t all that interested in us once we were no longer cute little toddlers—if they even were then.
Then we felt guilty if they ever made an effort to take an interest in us for a little while, because by then we knew they had a lot to do that was far more important than us.
Beyond that, some fathers were abusive, in one way or another.
There’s a whole generation of us out here now, trying to behave differently than our own fathers did, and giving our kids the advantages we never had. If you’re like me, even though all that is behind you and you’re doing the best you can with the cards you were dealt, you often reflect on your younger years and wonder if you might have made better decisions had you enjoyed the benefit of a dad who tried to prepare you for what life had in store.
Before I first began writing Paradox, I wanted to tell a fun men’s adventure tale that involved time travel. Then, while the idea germinated, I couldn’t help speculating on some “what if”s:
When I was a young man, what if I knew what I know now? What if I had a role model to clue me in on life, so I didn’t have to learn everything the hard way? What could I have accomplished if even a few of my ignorant decisions were never made?
In Book One of the Paradox Series, our hero is just about to enter puberty, going through life like many of us did at that age, with no dad, assuming that our single mothers and the culture at large were guiding us competently on the path to manhood. And doomed to a series of failures, defeats, bewilderment and disillusionment over how nothing works the way we were told it would.
Our hero encounters a mysterious uncle who begins to turn his life onto a new path right away. Out of all the advantages this new role model provides, perhaps the most valuable is the wisdom of how to deal with other people in general, and females in particular.
Paradox follows the hero from his pre-teen years into his late 20s. There are four books in the series published so far. The fifth one releases on Father’s Day (Sunday 6/16/24). Of the reviews these books have received so far, the consensus is that they’re full of wisdom that boys and men need, but mostly, they’re fun.
A British pursuit squadron suffers the attrition of air combat in WWI. Major Brand is in command, driven to drink and relentless stress by the young pilots he loses every day to enemy action. His “A Flight” Leader is Captain Courtney, who is a survivor and a skilled veteran pilot whose perspective will be forced to change before the movie is over.
Vintage:
This film was made in 1930. To put that in perspective, The Jazz Singer had been released just three years before. Audiences were no longer content with silent movies, and the Hollywood studios had been scrambling to adopt the new technology. This meant a new equipment needed to be installed in theaters, new recording equipment (capable of synching with cameras) needed to be acquired and used by every film crew, and a whole lot of expensive sound stages needed building on the studio lots.
“Talkies” were still in their infancy, but this one has got a better soundtrack than most.
Even though the entire industry now realized synchronized sound was the wave of the future, it still took a while for film makers to ditch certain practices that were no longer necessary.
Exhibit A: Intertitles. Dawn Patrol doesn’t have as many as a typical silent film–and none for dialog–but it’s got a few. The writers/directors evidently hadn’t figured out a way to give exposition without inserting text in between shots. Or they never even wondered about doing it some other way.
Exhibit B: Subtitles. They put one at the bottom of the frame whenever we see the villain in his cockpit.
Exhibit C: Acting. Some of the actors strike overly-dramatic poses, wear exaggerated expressions, and use jerky, exaggerated gestures. Many of them were veteran actors of the silent era and directors had conditioned them to emote that way. It must have been a tough habit to kick. It kind of grates, now. The film was remade in 1938 and I bet that one doesn’t suffer the same issues.
Exhibit D: Patience. This might not be directly related to silent movies or talkies. This film is just too methodical for the modern audience, in places. Folks back then were more easily entertained (not spoiled rotten with omnipresent entertainment) and had the attention span of a human being–not a gnat or a smartphone zombie.
Plot and Themes:
If you watch a lot of WWII movies, you’ll probably lose count of how many of them are built around certain tropes like individualists learning to do their part as a member of a team. This one thrums on “the loneliness of command” nine years before the invasion of Poland and 20-30 years before the trope became such a cliche` in war movies. For all I know, Dawn Patrol might be what set the precedent for several war movie tropes which are overly familiar today.
The audience is left to assume that the Germans don’t face the same problems as our heroes. The Allies have manpower problems and material shortages, whereas the Germans don’t. In reality, it was almost exactly the opposite.
In fact, this type of story would better represent the German side. The best German aces were given such a workload that they were completely used up by 1917 or so. The constant stress, exhaustion, and requirement to accomplish much with little dulled their abilities and wracked them with sickness. Even the legendary Red Baron could barely keep his eyes open on his last few missions. (His stand-in in this movie is “Von Richter.” What movie about WWI air combat does NOT feature a portrayal of Manfred Von Richtoffen and his Flying Circus, I wonder.)
But, I mean, they’re bloody barbaric Hun savages with no appreciation for the value of human life. So who cares what problems they faced, eh wott?
Production Values:
Howard Hawks directed this. He was a prolific director who made some very memorable films from the silent era right up until 1970. But this (his first talkie) feels like he’s just getting his sea legs.
(As a side note for the red pill and manosphere communities, his serious films depicted very masculine men and feminine women. However, in his comedies, he conformed to the mild gender confusion so popular in the postwar era that helped push our culture onto the slippery slope that led to the institutional gender insanity of today.)
The film probably had a pretty good budget. There are about three aerial combat sequences, including one in the opening scene. Aside from just a couple rear-screen projection shots, this was all real pilots in real planes doing this stuff. Considering that, some of the stunt flying is truly spectacular. I’ve watched my share of dogfight scenes in war movies, and this movie’s are better than most, and still hold up somewhat today.
But even big budgets have their limits. I wonder if that’s why most of the film involves the lonely commander and other personnel at the airfield simply worrying while waiting for the squadron to return, to find out who survived and who didn’t. That’s another popular trope in the genre. No doubt some screenwriters used it because they wanted an intense drama. But, like the stark lighting in Film Noire, budget constraints might have necessitated it in the beginning–so directors took that lemon and made lemonade.
My Take:
Considering everything I’ve mentioned, overall, Dawn Patrol doesn’t hold up that well today. I appreciate the limitations it was made under, and that it was a pioneer film that established precedents for the genre. Few others will. And the crude sound, outdated conventions, hammy acting, etc., are not justified by the story, which seems hackneyed and formulaic despite the fact that it wasn’t back in 1930.
If you have an interest in WWI air combat, you might want to also read my review of The Red Baron.
Seems like just yesterday I was agonizing over turning my monstrous doorstop-sized Great American Novel into a series. Now there are four regular-sized novels in the series published out of a probable six.
Pardon me while I flex:
Though they haven’t done as well yet as my Retreads Series, the Paradox books have all become bestsellers–and within a month of release, respectively. But wait…there’s more! Book Four: Provoking Fate made bestseller for two weeks without me lowering the price or running a promotion!
I am disappointed that I’m not getting reviews–those mercurial manifestations of “social proof” with an inordinate impact on visibility. But with all the strings Amazon has attached to posting reviews, that’s probably just how the ball bounces. The Paradox Series has been collecting ratings at a…ahem…rate that’s not bad considering how new it is, and that the author is a relatively unknown indie with no Youtube following. Or social media “influencer” status. Or marketing acumen. I dusted off my old Twatter account late last year, but my tweets are de-boosted to the point that out of 700 followers, only two see them on a regular basis.
Whatever. I’ve got plenty to be thankful for.
Pleasant surprises:
I discounted all my novel-length books for the most recent Big Based Book Sale, and scheduled a coincident promotion of Book One: Escaping Fate on Book Barbarian. The Based Book Sale began, and all my titles started selling. But for some reason, Book Two: Rebooting Fate outsold everything else. It had been a #1 Hot New Release back in December, but now shot up into the Bestseller chart again.
What’s more, Book Three: Defying Fate, which made the Bestseller chart back in February, was back on the chart, a few paces behind Book Two. I shared a partial spoiler about Provoking Fate at the top of this post. What I didn’t share was that it hadn’t even been released yet. It wasn’t scheduled to be published until after the Based Book Sale was over, so it climbed up there behind Book Two and Three from pre-orders…and at full price.
Bingo! Get it?
Rebooting and Defying remained in Bestseller territory for about a week.
Most authors who manage to crack the Bestseller list see their books remain toward the top for a while afterwards, propped up by their momentum. The visibility that comes with that attracts more readers. Hence more reviews. And reviews lead to better visibility. It’s a sort of feedback loop which wins the author thousands of reviews and gazillions of sales. My books, on the other hand…Amazon normally hides them immediately after the spike, and sales drop off a cliff. Reviews don’t roll in, and I’m left with little but a memory of the book’s 15 minutes of fame. Word of mouth really ain’t a thing anymore, so when Amazon hides it, it is swallowed by obscurity.
That’s why what happened next with Book Four was remarkable: after it went live, I went to the product page to proof-check the sample and saw that it was on the Bestseller list again–still at full price, with no promotion! If only I had checked for that earlier!
OK, I know: rah-rah me.
Your next chance to pick ’em up cheap:
Well, I have finally scheduled a promotion for Provoking Fate, for Friday 4/19/24. Price will drop to $2.99 (not just on Amazon, but everywhere) through the weekend. I’m interested to see how well it does with a little boost.
Also, I have advance notice of when the next BBBS and I’m gonna try to schedule the publication of Book Five: Resisting Fate to coincide with that. So at that time, both books will be discounted to 99 cents and we’ll see what happens.
About the books themselves:
The biggest challenge with Paradox was making it episodic. Taking one story arc, chopping it into six pieces, then tweaking each piece into its own separate arc with beginning, middle and end. I’ve got enough distance from where I sit now, that it appears the individual arcs are getting stronger as the series rolls along. Provoking Fate may just have the strongest opening act yet. Maybe that is evident in the sample Amazon provides, and accounts for it exceeding expectations.
In my opinion, the opening act in Resisting Fate is even stronger. I have no idea if readers will agree with me.
It would be great to get feedback on stuff like that. If not in a review, then even here in the blog comments.
~She could not stand, no matter how desperate her desire to do so. “Please,” she shrieked in distress, “I cannot.” “Nor do you have to,” soothed the warrior, quite gentle. And he caught her up, handling her as if her frame were a feather.~
The Beast Beneath Druihmkirk is the final tale we find in R.V. Mills’ Man of Swords, and I’m happy to say it is yet another memorable read! Mills never ceases to delight us with these legends in the making!
What It’s About:
Our hero Rohye is wanted by the evil city Provost (think of it as a city Mayor) on the charges of freeing a defenseless woman from the cruel shackles unjustly put on her for basically rejecting the advances of the city Provost himself. He and the girl need to find a way out of town, but it seems like the only way to escape is by taking the sewage route where no man dares roam due to the legend of a mighty beast that has been inhabiting the underground for years.
What I like about this story is that-similarly to The Isle of the Shrine of the Sick’ning Scarab– some of the most deciding and crucial scenes take place with Rohye not being in them. This is a fresh take and makes the plot development more organic in a sense, and not as predictable.
Once again, chivalry, loyalty, courage, perseverance are all displayed and highlighted throughout this ordeal. There is GOOD and there is BAD, no gray areas. Modern narrative today is leaning more towards the concept of the ‘misunderstood’ or ‘alienated’ character, but in actuality all that does is blur the lines of morality. Not in Mills’ book! He is pretty firm on the values he puts forth and THAT is what makes Man of Swords a true classic of our current fiction literature.
Not to mention the superb prose, the attention given to secondary/supporting characters, and the plain realization that this is not just your next book on your TBR list.
To conclude, I want to encourage my man Robert to keep writing and never feel discouraged or swayed by the winds of modernism and progressive trends. This series was a true blessing for me personally, and I hope that more folks will pick this up and come to appreciate these amazing stories. True legends in the making!
INFAMOUS 🦀
This concludes this 6-part series. Hope you enjoyed it and that you will leave us your feedback. Virtual Pulp and Robert V. Mills will be back soon with another 6-part series, this time to cover Robert’s latest work The Girl With Fire In Her Hair! Stay tuned and thank you!
I walked into Ashes of Necropolis while already being familiar with Book 1 of the Hollow Realms Series. And although not a perfect work, Book 1 overall was pretty good in my opinion.
Book 2 left me with more mixed feelings and overall I thought it to be a step down from the previous story.
What I’m referring to is mainly the overall dialogue, some of the plot lines, and characters we find along the way.
Characters:
Our main character is mercenary Erde who travels to the city of Furcht where his friends have last been seen, to rescue them. Right there I found issue with the fact that Erde shows on several occasions that he is willing to give his own life for his three friends but we never get to see what made his relationship with them so special. We just have to accept the fact that Erde is a very altruistic man.
Speaking of the main character, I noticed that although Erde is a fearless warrior, he sounds like he must not be the ‘brightest bulb on the Christmas tree’ if you catch my drift. He kinda’ reminds me of the ‘clueless’ Keanu Reeves performances on the big screen, if you know what I’m referring to.
Example: he gets a brand new magic sword branded by a powerful spider/woman hybrid and all he can say is:
“It looks pretty and shiny,” said Erde, twirling the blade effortlessly, “but what does it do?”
Another thing that I found odd plot-wise is when Erde finds his first friend Troye trapped in a cell, and Troye tells him that the key to the lock of the cell is none other than one of the fingernails belonging to the big Pig Warden outside. How does Troye even know that? No clue.
Cohesion/Craft:
Alrich is another character that has been stuck in this extra-dimensional town for years and he has healing powers. We learn that he was just another knight who wandered into this town so how does he have healing powers? Did he already possess them or somehow gained them in Furcht? No clue.
Lastly, and worth mentioning, I noticed the use of modern terminology that just doesn’t vibe well within the context of the story. Example: Erde needs a great Master Smith in Furcht to forge him a mighty and magical armor to defeat the enemy. But when he shows impatience, the Master Smith’s response is:
“My time does not revolve around your schedule, human.”
Schedule is not exactly a word an immortal demigod would use…but that’s just me!
To conclude, I still enjoyed some of the elements this book shares with book 1. I like the atmospheric vibes the author builds and surrounds the reader with. At times you really feel like you’re walking in the thick fog with the MC, and the sense of mystery and adventure still makes this a fun read, if you can just turn away in indifference to the points I mentioned above.
If you’ve missed my review of Islands of Loar: Book 1, I strongly recommend you go back and read that before venturing into my review of the second establishment of this ambitious world building.
Though Book 2 picks up right where Book 1 left off, it’s nice to see Mr. Laurence Jr. opening with a thorough summary of the events to bring us up to speed. It helps tremendously due to the gigantic proportions of this universe and all of the characters involved in it! You cannot read this and be distracted or take too long a break in between reading sessions because there is a lot to dig into.
How does Book 2 differ from Book 1, if at all?
1) We see all the different groups of characters we’ve been following from the beginning finally coming together: old friends reunited and new acquaintances forming new friendships.
2) We finally get introduced to that group of humanoids who embraced technology and thus we get to witness the ‘golem’ (basically a remote controlled super robot) and a bona fide spaceship! Yes, boys and girls, elves in spaceships!
Speaking of ‘technology’, one of the main themes in this story is the constant attempt of the authorities of Loar to ban the use and embrace of technology, which sets in motion violent persecutions of the bards. Against these persecutions, we find one of our heroes-Doogan-who decides to fight against them, even befriending some of the bards themselves.
Once again, I’m impressed by what the author is accomplishing here, constantly building new paths in the plot line, constantly introducing new characters, but without letting the whole thing collapse under its own weight!
Islands of Loar is exactly what the fantasy genre needs right now. We all loved Lord of The Rings, The Legend of Drizzt, and Dragonlance, but it is time to take it to new grounds while remaining truthful to the essence of the genre.
We are heading for Book 3: Rebellion, and hope you’ll join us!
“There is no need for you to accompany us any further, young man,” protested Eridiathe. “Aye, there is no need,” admitted Rhoye, “but there is HONOUR, and WORD GIVEN. I will come, see you both safe to your bourne.”
The Queen of Scorpions is pure, grade A ‘Robert V. Mills’ finest. And by that I’m referring to the pure, unadulterated, fantasy adventure where honor, chivalry, and a WORD GIVEN still mean something!
Once again, our hero finds himself in a ‘situation’, this time involving high priestesses, inquisitors, and a holy book that ignites a fierce hunt of those who try to spread its content throughout the Wandered Lands!
Rohye finds work on a merchant ship which cargo includes two ‘holy women’: Eridiathe and her young apprentice Giustinia. Little does he know that the content of their belongings includes a holy book for which they are being persecuted by Inquisitress Bethaina, a powerful and evil sorceress who will stop at nothing to see the alleged manuscript destroyed.
Of course Rohye cannot let two defenseless women be victims of this pure evil, and despite the opportunity to go his merry way he decides to stick around for the ‘fireworks’.
The Scorpion Queen is beautiful in its simplicity. You don’t always need a Machiavellian plot to have a good story. But it’s got to be well written, with memorable characters, and a plot that is solid and compelling. This story checks all those boxes!
So far, I would put The Scorpion Queen as the second best tale out of the four we’ve read from Man of Swords. I’m comfortable saying that this is another little gem of new fantasy fiction that is rare to find these days.
Part 3 of a 6-part review series by THE INFAMOUS REVIEWER
In the third tale of Man of Swords, we find our hero crucified to a tree and barely alive, before being rescued and restored back to health by a family of fauns. How did Rhoye ever get in this predicament? And why would this local family want to aid a total stranger?
Well you’ll have to read to find out, but my job here really is to analyze the writing from a PCP (prose/characters/plot) standpoint. Objectively and fairly.
The ‘highlight reel’ definitely belongs to the Faun family: father Olnbirch, mother Khirra, and young daughter Zairre. What distinguishes them is their altruism and devotion to live a quiet and peaceful life, never to compromise their beliefs and code of ethics. Zairre particularly has some very special moments. With her innocence, she can melt the most hardened of hearts ( well, almost any). The way these three characters are written is so delightful that we can’t help but feel emotionally invested in their whereabouts.
Trouble starts when a group of greedy miners start harassing our beloved family in order to take their land which supposedly is rich in gold. The family is not willing to leave their land and that’s when things get ‘complicated’ since Rhoye is by now back in almost full health and strength.
This reminded me of a Spaghetti Western film adaptation in a sense. Only that instead of taking place in the Wild West it takes place in the Wandered Lands. It is gripping, exciting…But it could have been executed even better in my opinion and here is why:
Pace: from the time the miners give the family their ultimatum to leave the farm there is a long chunk of time when not much really happens. It’s just Rhoye living with the Faun family and helping them around the farm. This, I felt, was too drawn out: they work the fields, go visit other faun neighbors, go dance at some local harvest festival…
Dialogue: some of the dialogues were redundant and unnecessary. If we witness a particular action scene take place first hand, we don’t need one of the characters to give a thorough account of those events in the first person later, because we already know all about it. This creates unnecessary bloating.
Overall, The Devil out of Wych Elm remains a solid tale worth reading. Again, the Faun family, their reaction to adversities, their meekness, their willingness to not live by the ‘eye for an eye’ rule, all of that is what makes this so special.
Not the best we’ve seen from Mills, yet highly recommended!
I truly wanted to like this story, and the author is a standout human being, but unfortunately I have to be objective and report that I could find very little to praise about here.
The story suffers from several issues; from character development, to pacing, to some prosaic choices, and even too frequent and unnecessary line breaks.
Basically the story is about two individuals, Stojan and Anastazja, who (after losing their beloved ones, respectively) find one another and build a father/daughter relationship, while traveling across a dystopian world somewhere in a post-apocalyptic future.
On the surface, the premises sound good and intriguing. However a further look will reveal several weaknesses in how this was executed.
We meet Stojan, a former captain turned assassin who lost his will to live since the death of his daughter 3 years prior. When he takes on a ‘job’ by a so-called Bishop to assassinate a particular individual whom the prophecy has indicated to be a future threat to the Bishop himself, Stojan embarks on a journey that takes a strange turn: he falls in love with Anastazja and can no longer fulfill his task.
Now, I get that Stojan has lost his daughter and he’s still mourning, but every time we introduce a character that has the power and influence of healing the pain of a loss, the new relationship has to feel organic and it has to build up in steps, gradually, to feel believable. This doesn’t happen here. From the moment Stojan sets his eyes on Ana he’s already fallen in love with her as a father with a daughter. It all feels rushed and kind of weird in a way.
Another weird plot choice is the way Ana’s biological father dies in the story. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I encourage you to read that particular scene for yourself.
The other problem I found was the pace: after the two main characters come together and embark on their trip across these lands, everything feels very slow and tedious. They cross the ocean from a region called Poliska (Poland? Europe?) to another region called Amira (America?), and the most exciting thing that happens is ending up in a Native American colony where they spend a whole year just enjoying the lifestyle of their host. Nothing significant happens, except for perhaps having two of the Indian tribal chiefs arguing over what new tribal name to assign to Ana (I’m totally serious).
When the two protagonists decide to leave the Indian community there’s more hiking, more riding horses across vast lands, and more NOTHING….
Some of the prosaic choices I also found not ideal given this world: in this futuristic world most people are illiterate or barely know how to read, yet their spoken language is very articulate and even more sophisticated than ours is today. It’s almost as if these people somehow went back to speaking Shakespearean English though not even having any books around anymore.
To conclude, it is with sadness that I must admit that the only true highlight of this book and most uplifting moment was when I finally turned to the last page.
If you think I must be exaggerating or being too harsh, by all means buy a copy and read it for yourself. I would love your comments.
Paradox Book 3 is ready for download–and discounted to $2.99 for a limited time.
Ike has ventured out on his own, now. He’s got a great head start, but still a lot to learn. A good deal of his college years are spent helping Coach Stauchel transform the Pumas into a winning team, but he still finds time to juggle love interests (“spinning plates”), begin designing a small warp generator, and prepare to fight in WWII. Unfortunately, some of those preparations will propel him into a future conflict on American soil.
This promotion is not without its hiccups already. Some folks I was hoping would help spread the word have ghosted me. There is a mix-up with one of the promoters. And, despite the early success of the first two books in the series, getting reviews has been like getting RSVPs for a Joe Biden rally.
Nevertheless, I expect good things. The hero is an adult, now, as are my loyal readers. And there’s a nubile blonde on the cover (which I’m revealing for the first time here…I think). If Defying Fate does really well, I’ll save screenshots and share the news once the numbers are in.
Thanks to everybody who buys my books, and extra-special thanks to those who rate and/or review.
