Category Archives: Adventure

Adventure, Reviews, Superhero

Alt Hero # 6 – a Review

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We are back in Europe for this issue. The Global Justice Initiative is trying to track down the French nationalist superhumans.

The nationalists use the catacombs under Paris to escape, initially, and their invisible benefactor (invisible in this issue, anyway) has some tricks up the sleeve to help them along. Writer Vox Day has inserted some in-jokes for his blog followers, but not in a way that harms the flow of the story.

Arkhaven’s production quality continues to improve from issue to issue. Aside from an acquired personal affinity for the legacy superheroes that the Hive Mind drones at Marvel and DC are hell-bent  on perverting, there’s absolutely no reason to read any of the cultural Marxist comic books anymore.

Captain Europa does provide an excuse for losing the fight in Issue 4: he was taken by surprise. Not sure how you can consider it a surprise when you’ve already been fighting with the guy for a while, but this could just be an insight into the character’s self-rationalization mechanism.

All the Arkhaven comics have been worth the time and money so far, but I’ll write about my favorite one next.

Adventure, Reviews

Sheik of Mars by Ben Wheeler – a Review

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This pulpy sci-fi novel from Superversive Press is the kind of  old-fashioned adventure I’ve been missing for a long time.

The protagonist is a lovestruck romantic whose soon-to-be bride is snatched off his pedestal just before they are to be married. That triggers the main plot and we are off to the races.

I’m tempted to call this space opera, but I’m not sure if the requirements of that genre include intergalactic travel and space battles. This story takes place on a colonized Mars. In any case, it reminded me of the sci-fi pulp treasures of yesteryear (featuring characters the likes of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and even John Carter) hidden in the yellowed pages of threadbare paperbacks from a world where authors weren’t obligated to walk on PC eggshells.

All that is not to say this is purely escapist fare, either. Mars has both Christian and Muslim enclaves, you see, making the backdrop far more relevant to our life and times than John Carter’s ever was.

This is rollicking fun adventure. Kudos to the author and Superversive for making this available to readers.

Adventure, Crime

Web of Doom – All-New Len Levinson Novel

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WEB OF DOOM, Len Levinson’s first all-new novel since 1997, has just been published by Rough Edges Press, it was announced today by Scarlett Johansson, president of the Len Levinson Fan Club, on the veranda of her Beverly Hills palace.

In attendance were eminent literary critics, celebrity journalists representing major and minor outlets, distinguished porn stars, and delegates from the National Book Awards and Nobel Prize for Literature.

According to a press release distributed by members of the Len Levinson Fan Club, WEB OF DOOM is a hard-boiled crime melodrama set in New York City during the 1990s, about a tough ex-NYPD cop accused of the brutal murder of a beautiful socialite in a Times Square hotel. He’d never even met the victim but circumstantial evidence points directly to him, and he must solve the crime or do the time (lethal injection is not out of the question). Needless to say, he is highly motivated to identify the perp, and not averse to busting a few heads of those impeding his investigation.

During Ms. Johansson’s exciting announcement, protestors gathered on the street outside her palace and chanted anti-Len Levinson slogans. Many represented the anti-gun lobby who expressed dismay about gun violence depicted in the novel. They were joined by numerous anti-sex activists enraged by several steamy romantic scenes which the activists considered far beneath standards established by decent snobs everywhere. Also protesting was a small but extremely noisy contingent of pacifists opposed to the novel’s random brawling and one stabbing described in lurid detail.

Len now is author of 84 published novels. He has been acclaimed a “Trash Genius” by THE PAPERBACK FANATIC magazine, was subject of an extensive interview in PAPERBACK PARADE magazine, has been described as “the gold standard” and “the king” of pulp fiction on various Facebook posts, and was introduced as “a legend” at a panel during the 2017 Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention.

WEB OF DOOM is available as an ebook for only $2.99 and trade paperback for only $12.99 on Amazon.

“This is a major international literary event,” declared Ms. Johansson. “Len Levinson obviously is the future of quality literature on this planet and possibly even our solar system in general. I urge everyone everywhere to purchase his novel, so that Len can afford the mansion next door and be close to me always, for he is my mentor, my inspiration, and yes, my very reason for living.”

It is rumored but not yet confirmed that a film version of WEB OF DOOM starring Len and Scarlett is in development at MGM.

Action, Adventure, Crime, Reviews

Avalon #2 – a Review

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In Issue #1, Chuck Dixon introduced us to the city of Avalon, via two of the heroes working to keep it safe: Fazer and King Ace.

The moral dillema introduced in the first issue was not spread out…as I first suspected it would be…a la Iron Man’s battle with alcoholism back in the day. It was wrapped up pretty quick.

I think I might know where this is going: Fazer is going to become a supervillain with a grudge against King Ace. He knows King Ace’s identity, as well as his weaknesses…could prove to be a formidable adversary.

I can’t completely blame Fazer for holding a grudge, either. Having him thrown in the can for not donating the ill-gotten drug money to some random charity was excessively Boy Scout IMO. In any event, Chuck Dixon has effortlessly sucked me into the Avalon he is building. And there’s a good chance he may prove my theory wrong, too.

I didn’t like a lot of the art–not ready for Prime Time. But the story makes up for it, and there’s a general trend of improvement across the Arkhaven titles, so I’m sure the art will improve with it.

Meanwhile, Arkhaven is working on their first of a five-part series based on the Q phenomenon. Fun times…in some respects.

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews

Alt Hero #4 – A Review

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Meanwhile, back in Europe…

Captain Europa meets with his E.U. overlords to observe a Paris riot-in-the-making between French nationalists and Antifa. The Captain’s team is scattered around, but the U.N. has their own superteam held in reserve just in case the police can’t handle it.

There’s no confusion about which side Captain Europa wants to prevail; but unlike real-life situations in places like Berkeley, the police actually try to restrain both sides. It turns out, though, the cops can’t handle it.

To make matters a whole lot more interesting, there are some super-powered folks on the nationalist side.

I’ve still got some nits to pick about the art. Sometimes it’s hard to tell exactly what I’m seeing–especially in the details of the big splash panels. It’s too bad, because from what I could make out, it looks like those details would have been quite interesting if discernible.

I’m still really fuzzy on who has what powers, which works to the writers’ favor, I guess. Two super-strong dudes duked it out at one point, and one seemed to have the other outclassed by an order of magnitude. …Or maybe not? The outclassed guy, after playing punching bag for most of the fight, ended it (?) with a comic book haymaker–and I’m not sure how. Because he got really, really, really mad, I suppose. This is far from the first time that a comic book hero surpassed the limits of their own defined abilities, so it’s not that big a deal. I’d just like to know more about those abilities, that’s all.

This is turning out to be a humdinger of a series. I haven’t been this engaged by a comic storyline for a couple decades. When all these are combined into a print graphic novel, I will probably buy a copy for my son.

Action, Adventure, Reviews, Superhero

Alt Hero #3 – A Review

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Arkhaven is turning up the heat, and steering us toward a big showdown. They’re also still improving on all fronts in Alt Hero 3. The Rebel character is growing on me, too, though the sperg in me wants to inform her that foreigners are not Yankees. In fact, foreigners refer to all Americans, North and South, as Yankees.

Anyway…the SPC is aware there’s a rogue team of superheroes out there–nothing less could have liberated Rebel from their holding tank. So they do what the Federal government has done before: go after the family when their target proves too elusive. They set a trap for the rogues.

But the true heroes are a little too streetwise to fall for it. I won’t give any more away. Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to the next issue (and 26 ad-free pages  just don’t seem like nearly enough for each comic. Sigh.)

Action, Adventure, Military, Reviews

“Military Fiction Done Right”

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We interrupt the regularly scheduled political screed for some spontaneous horn-tooting.

For some reason, my debut novel remains the most popular book I’ve written. At least it’s accumulated the most “social proof” of all my books. Here’s the latest review of Hell and Gone:

I hadn’t planned on writing a review but the end of Hell & Gone had a comment by the author, Henry Brown, that struck me. Military fiction is a genre that’s has been dearly underserved by mainstream publishing. While there may be a financial justification for this, and it is a niche genre, the real reason is that publishers simply don’t like it. It’s difficult to market, requires a knowledge base few editors possess and, yes, it’s considered “icky” by an industry that leans so far to the left that some publishers have trouble getting through doorways. It also happens to be MY industry, and I know all this from experience.

That being said, the genre suffers from another problem: A lot of the material written for it just isn’t that good. Creating a story is hard work, and doubly so when it’s easy to slide into stereotypes and cliches instead of crafting realistic characters with original and interesting motivations. Combat action, while essential to a story, can cease to be what moves a story along and instead threaten to overwhelm the plot. And lastly, God save us all from the author that simply doesn’t bother to do research and spits out jarring technical mistakes.

This book has none of those problems. The characters are interesting and as a reader you are motivated to care about them. The action is fast-paced, with colorful description, and it serves the purpose of the story instead of the other way around.

In short, this is a damn fine book. Read it and enjoy a real treat.

It’s available in Audible, too.

Of course, now I’m wondering what I said that inspired this person to post a review. Whatever it is, I need to duplicate it in my other work. In a business where some books are getting thousands of reviews on Amazon, this book just barely reached 84…and it’s been a bestseller in a few different categories.

Anyway, the reviewer claims to work in the industry. Perhaps that’s why he’s keeping his identity anonymous–probably a wise move in today’s climate. In any case, I’m very grateful he posted.

Adventure, Fantasy

The World of Gods & Proxies

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In the reality we inhabit, it’s difficult to imagine a world where Darwinism hasn’t been pushed by academia until it undergirds nearly every creative work, dominates every alleged discussion of science, and permeates the thinking of so many people (even those  considered religious). But in the ancient world, it’s unlikely anyone promoted an idea that life originated, then evolved, by random accident–either according to the Big Bang process as conceptualized by atheists (“first there was nothing, then it exploded”); or via pan-spermia (“life originated in some far-away solar system according to Darwin’s model–therefore you can’t examine any evidence–then Earth was seeded by the resulting advanced life forms as an experiment”).

Whether or not humanity was entirely composed of superstitious simpletons, what evidence has survived suggests that supernatural creation was a mainstream concept and supernatural intervention was often expected.

Supernatural intervention is commonplace in the many surviving variations of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths. Other mythologies are more difficult to research, but share most of the same themes. And, though it was rare for the Israelites to witness a physical manifestation of their God, they frequently begged His intervention, and often got it.

Initially (when Gods & Proxies was the first draft of a screenplay), I had characters with a 20th/21st Century attitude (agnostic, leaning toward atheist). It was an easy mistake to make, because you can’t go anywhere in the present day without encountering Darwinist worldviews, and assumptions based on the work of his zealous disciples. It’s only natural for a writer wanting to include life-like characters to craft them so that they wouldn’t seem out-of-place in the real world.

Which takes me back to my point: the real world now is perceived much differently than the real world was thousands of years ago.

It’s a major blunder to transpose modern values and attitudes into a period piece with no consideration for credibility. We see it in movies, TV shows, and books all the time. It’s a lazy and rather arrogant blunder. That’s why, when adapting the story into prose form, that anachronistic worldview had to go.

That said, human nature hasn’t changed, at all. Certainly the sophistication of deception has advanced considerably from ancient times, but not what deception is perpetrated to accomplish (abandonment of the Creator God, a hate for the truth and what is right, debauchery, and a love affair with lies).

There is no political correlation between what happens in our time and what happens in Gods & Proxies. Any flavor of social conflict you may find in the book is not inspired by current controversy, but by the clues from the ancient historical records, influenced by what the author understands about human nature.

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Reviews

Alt★Hero # 2 – a Review

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Alt★Hero #1 was set in Europe, and concentrated on an EU-sanctioned supergroup. This one is set in the states, focusing on a subversive superteam organized to pursue American interests. Obviously this puts them at odds with the Deep State and gives them a lot tougher “row to hoe” than their European counterparts.

The pivotal character in both issues is an aesthetically appealing, nubile heroine–a shrewd marketing decision, if nothing else.

Arkhaven/Alt Hero is improving rapidly on all fronts. The artwork and composition is better in this issue, and we’ve got a clearer picture of where the story is taking us, now: (a superteam showdown, eventually, I hope. But not too soon…)

Hammer is my favorite character so far, while Ryu no Seishin is my favorite to look at. The writer(s) teased us with just enough of Martel’s backstory to make us want to know more. I’m also curious about this subplot the bureaucrats mention regarding the President and Singapore.

I’m not sure exactly what Rebel’s metahuman abilities are. Invulnerable skin is one. Super-strength, too? I’m guessing Hammer already has that, but it’s hard to tell in comics, because even “normal” human heroes are drawn as if they have superhuman strength. Physique is no indication, because non-powered heroes look just as sculpted as superpowered characters. And regardless of whether a human or superhuman hero throws a punch, the recipient of the punch usually goes flying backwards out of the panel.

So far, we’ve been introduced to SoulSight, who can read other people’s memories; Quantum Kitty, who can phase through solid objects; Ryu, who is kinda’ like the Human Torch, I guess, though her whole body doesn’t turn to flame; Rebel; Hammer; and the dude in the black tee-shirt. No idea what he does, yet. There’s a couple more team members mentioned but not seen. Guess we’ll meet them in forthcoming issues.

It’s really a shame this issue was only 28 pages. It was over too soon. I hope they compile the first 12 issues or so into a graphic novel one day. In any case, I look forward to Alt Hero #3.

BTW, I’ve seen Issue #1 of Avanon now, and will review it soon, hopefully.