Category: Reviews


Arabian Nights

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April 15, 2014

Next week is the final regular session for my workshop at Christendom College this semester. (There’s one more session, which amounts to a pizza party the day before finals start.) I gave my students a choice of topics for the last two lectures, and they chose “Writing the Opposite Gender” and “Hooking the Reader.” The first was last week, and the second is next week.

Shocking even myself, I started doodling up my lecture notes today, and a familiar phrase went through my head. It’s a line from an old TV movie from 2000 that’s stuck with me as I gradually taught myself to write. “You’re starting your story again,” said the Master Storyteller. “You need to hook your audience again.”

The movie in question is a two-part Hallmark miniseries, Arabian Nights. It’s my second-favorite Hallmark Entertainment TV movie (the top spot going to Leprechauns, which is completely different from the horror movie with a similar title), but I’d only ever seen it once. That’s how strong it was and how much it resonated with me.  Continue reading →

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Agents Gets New Life From Captain America

Filed under: Reviews, Superhero — 2 Comments
April 14, 2014

If two highly-educated men are able to spend the time from midnight to 2am on a chat program dissecting a TV show, you know one of three things.

  1. It’s one of the best shows ever.
  2. It’s one of the worst shows ever.
  3. It’s a show with so much misused potential that those currently in charge should shut up and let someone else fix it.

Considering the show we were talking about is Agents of SHIELD, it should be obvious we’re talking about Option Three.

WARNING. Spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and “Turn, Turn, Turn” from here on out. Continue reading →

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Captain’s Orders

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April 5, 2014

This is my spoiler-free review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If you’ve seen the movie, you know why I picked that title. (The packed theater erupted into cheers at that particular Moment of Awesome.)

Captain America 2 sets out to raise the stakes for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a tall order, and easily screwed up. The movie doesn’t screw it up. It succeeds, and it does so beautifully. Continue reading →

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Agents of Boredom Picks Up . . . Maybe

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Agents of SHIELD has been very disappointing. My high hopes for the show haven’t crashed so much as just petered out due to boredom. I nearly dropped out of it before Elizabeth said it was getting better, and I caught up on Hulu only to find myself meh’d again.  However, there might be a little hope for the show. (Spoilers follow.) Continue reading →

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A Radiant Read

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March 20, 2014

Tonight, multiple-time New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson (who has won and been nominated for far too many awards than I care to list so I’ll just provide a link) will be signing books in my area as part of his book tour for Words of Radiance. If you’ve read his books, he needs no introduction. If not, you should really fix that. His Mistborn series is what he’s truly known for, though Elantris is near and dear to me personally due to the way he writes about chronic pain (and the book deserves a dedicated review). He’s also famous for finishing the acclaimed Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan died. Now he’s come out with the second book of The Stormlight Archive, and it is incredible.

Pictured: a famous author, and a guy in a Schlock Mercenary shirt who now runs a blog called Novel Ninja. This was taken several years ago, on the book tour for The Way of Kings.

Pictured: a famous author, and a guy in a Schlock Mercenary shirt who now runs a blog called Novel Ninja. This was taken several years ago, on the book tour for The Way of Kings.

I am not, however, going to be at the signing. I’ll be running a writing workshop at Christendom College instead. While I’m disappointed that there’s a conflict, and that Sanderson is coming through today rather than some other day, I’m fine with my priorities. I’m doing my part to get more great authors out there, and I consider that more important than getting yet another scrawled book or tantalizing hints about future publications. Still, it made me remember that I haven’t reviewed this book yet, so I thought I’d introduce you all to an epic series.

Continue reading →

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1635: The Papal Stakes

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March 19, 2014

Oh, and this cover scene is actually in the book.

Several months ago, I met author Charles Gannon at Capclave, and he asked me to review his 1632 series book, 1635: The Papal Stakes. It picks up the Spain/Italy/Church thread that I detailed in another post, but I hadn’t read it when I met him so I didn’t really know what it was about.

Now, the reason he requested me to review his book is because of some credentials I have in regards to both the Catholic Church and the historical period. I have a very in-depth formal education in Catholic theology, philosophy, and history, and at least half of the work I do is with Catholic authors. Gannon was hoping that I could give a favorable review that would interest the Catholic audience I deal with, due to the subject matter of the book.

Note: This review was not commissioned or supported in any way by either Charles Gannon or his publisher, Baen Books, including through review or gift copies, or discounts of any kind. My conclusions are my own. Continue reading →

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1632: Not Your Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandaddy’s History

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Note: I was asked to write a review of 1635: The Papal Stakes. I decided to do a separate post to provide context for those who don’t know what the series is about.

My friend and sometime employer Regina Doman, who owns the small publisher Chesterton Press, is extremely picky about the covers of the books she publishes. I’m not quite as picky, but there’s good reason to pay attention because it’s often the first thing that a potential reader will see. It gives a sense of the adventure you’ll find inside; or perhaps it’ll make you curious about the symbols or people shown there; or, sometimes, there will be something so incredibly grabbing about it that you’ll pick the book up and say “That had better be in here!”

Many years ago, I was browsing the Baen Books catalog of upcoming releases when I spotted the latter kind. Rather than describing anything else first, let me just show it to you:

To quote my friend Andy after seeing this for the first time: “Wh-wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?”

This is 1632, by Eric Flint, first book in the Ring of Fire series (originally The Assiti Shards, and now more commonly known as just the 1632 series). This impossible scene doesn’t quite happen in the book, but it comes close. Yes, those are modern Americans with modern guns. Yes, those are 17th-century soldiers with 17th-century guns and armor. No, those 17th-century guys don’t know what they’re getting into.  Continue reading →

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The “Harmione” Controversy

Filed under: News and Updates, Reviews — 1 Comment
February 10, 2014

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you know what happened last week. I was asked what my opinion was. Well, I didn’t wind up feeling like it was worth a blog post because while I jumped into the discussion early (on my personal Facebook, though), others were quicker with the articles and went into more depth than I would have. Continue reading →

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Is The LEGO Movie “Special”?

Filed under: Personal, Plugs and Promotions, Reviews — 3 Comments
February 7, 2014

Readers of the blog know I like Lego. It’s a great toy, arguably the best single toy investment you can make for a child. Unlike a video game, its operating system doesn’t go obsolete in three years; every Lego brick you buy today is compatible with the same company’s products going back decades — and they’re not going to change that in the future. It rewards creativity, teaches spacial and structural awareness, and can be combined in so many different ways that you can never say you’ve beat the game.

And then, as an adult, you can stick with it and turn it into a genuine art form. Years of experience, an adult’s funding and patience, and that little kid inside of you that still shouts “THIS IS SO COOL!” — all joining together to show kids that art can be fun, and their fun can be true art.

Well, there’s a movie out this weekend that’s based on the toy. I got to see the press screening last weekend with Wamalug (the Washington Metropolitan Area LEGO Users Group), so I’m here to give you my review. Continue reading →

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So Ninjas DO Show Up on TV!

Filed under: Just For Fun, Personal, Reviews — 1 Comment
February 5, 2014

In a rare public appearance, I appeared for a TV interview this last Monday.

And I managed not to break the camera!

And I managed to not break the camera!

Having attended a press screening of The LEGO Movie on Saturday, I and fellow brick enthusiast Bret Harris were invited on Let’s Talk Live for a quick appearance to give our impressions of the film as well as show off the sort of thing you can do with Lego bricks.

As you can see in the interview, I went in expecting to be underwhelmed and wound up impressed. (That’s right, I expected a movie based on one of my hobbies to suck.) It deserves its own review, but I figured I should at least put up the interview so you can see what your friendly neighborhood novel ninja looks like and sounds like.

Yeah, I’m sorry, I should be kinder to my fans rather than subject them to me in living color. But hey . . . Lego!

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