This blog tracks the epic of kick-starting a whole writing career, with spies and thrillers, now saints and vampires. I cover the creative process, stuff that blows up, history, philosophy, and theology. If you like any or all of the above, you'll like this one. We talk about comic books, movies, music, and writing. Usually, all at the same time. [Note: All Amazon links here are associate links. Which means nothing to you, but it means Declan Finn gets a few pennies for the sale. Thank you.]
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Music blog: Street Fighter - Sonya Belousova
Ah, nostalgic video game music.
Enjoy.
Yes, I know it's a little lazy, but I've done six other blogs this week already. I may not even do something for the rest of the week. We'll see.
Have fun.
Enjoy.
Yes, I know it's a little lazy, but I've done six other blogs this week already. I may not even do something for the rest of the week. We'll see.
Have fun.
Latest Reviews of Live and Let Bite, et al
To start with JD Cowan has an awesome review for Bite over on his website, that I think is a great review for the entire series, to heck with just one nove. You can check out his review right here.
My April 2nd guest, Jim McCoy, recently reviewed Murphy's Law of Vampire, and he really likes Mister Day. You can check out his review here.
Oh, and the publisher of the reprint for The Pius Trilogy has launched their short story streaming service, Lyonesse. One of mine is called "Zombie Jamboree."
Anyway, you can pick up any of the books mentioned above by clicking here. And please, while you're reading, remember the Dragon.
Be well all. And good night.
After a surprising first entry and a rousing second, author Declan Finn's Love At First Bite series performed the task I had been certain wasn't ever going to happen: He wrote a vampire series I actually enjoy.
How did he perform this feat? Well, he did a remarkable thing. It's as crazy as it is impossible. What he did was write a story where vampires were actually vampires, the characters aren't mopey millennials or pious boomers, and the plot progresses from point A to B. Basically he wrote a story that happens to have vampires in it.
I still can't believe it.
My April 2nd guest, Jim McCoy, recently reviewed Murphy's Law of Vampire, and he really likes Mister Day. You can check out his review here.
The book sizzles. The action sequences are impressive. Finn obviously spent hours mapping out the best way to do violence to vampires and other things before writing this. He has very carefully choreographed the fighting in this book. It's impressive. Marco and company are smart and dangerous. Catalano knows that he has to out-plan his enemies and he does so well. The action is so well described that I found myself moving in my seat along with the movements in the fighting. It was exciting. I had my adrenaline going. I wanted to kick ass along with him. It's probably better that I didn't though. I'm a three hundred pound man. I would have gotten in the way.
Something I've often commented on is the need for an epic villain. Finn delivers. Given the fact that the characters in the book can't figure out what Mr. Day is, I won't spoil the fun. But he is pure, unadulterated evil for a reason. He is deadly and vicious. He has a very interesting back story. He's the kind of guy that REALLY REALLY REALLY deserves every terrible thing that happens to him. He's tough as hell and smart. This is no Cobra Commander making stupid mistakes. Day is smart and savvy. He makes chaos because that is his nature. He is cocky but he's damn near indestructible so he should be. But Day does what he does in a logical manner. I wouldn't want to take this guy on.
These are both fun. I'm happy whenever I see a review like these.
If you'd like more news-based articles, I'm not really up to it. But if you follow my Twitter feed you've noticed Brian Niemeier and Jon Del Arroz have some interesting articles.
Brian: Tor apparently put a hit out on a novel from Castalia House. Nice going, dudes.
Jon covers Marvel's Diversity problem, then he has a follow up dissecting how his first article was reported, and he has yet ANOTHER one about the blowback from the reporting.
Anyway, you can pick up any of the books mentioned above by clicking here. And please, while you're reading, remember the Dragon.
Be well all. And good night.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Another Year Shot to Hell
Yes, today's my Birthday.
Another year shot to Hell.
No, really, it's been an interesting 12 months.
I don't really wonder who I am, though. I'm Declan Finn. I'm quite happy being Declan Finn.
But looking at my life? No, I don't want "money" -- I want my books to bring in a modest salary, enough to move me out of New York, and perhaps drop me somewhere off in the Midwest. I want just enough fame to get me to that point -- but I'd rather have no one be able to ID me on the street if I can avoid it. Preferably not even people I know. I don't even care who knows my name ... but that's another joke.
What really matters? Who have I touched? More than a few. I'm responsible for at least one married couple. I've encouraged someone to start a business that they're perfectly happy with. And a few people have been given joy by my novels. I'm good with that.
Who do I want to be before I die? Just me. Everyone else is taken.
Though if you'd like to give me a birthday present that's free .... vote for me in the Dragon Awards? Or CLFA BOTY? Leave a review on a book? Buy one you haven't read yet? Any or all of the above? I'm not picky. I'm also easy to shop for. Heh.
If you haven't already, check out some of the books below.
And if you have, please leave a review.
And if you have, please leave a review.
Chasing the Dragon (Award)
For Tinara.
Mostly for the title.
Heh.
A quick recap.....
DragonCon is one of the largest SFF conventions on the planet Earth. They now have an award.
You can see the process right here.
And this isn't a calendar year eligibility process, nor are these categories by length, but by genre.
Please remember, you can wait until the end of June to nominate various and sundry novels for the Dragons. You can vote at the end of June if you like.
I don't recommend waiting quite that long, since the Dragon award website encourages early voters.
So, vote early, vote often?
.... Nah, only if you're in Chicago.
Once more, this list will show what is eligible. It will be, in part, what's best retained in my brain, and that isn't exactly what you'd call 100% reliable.
But we're going to give it our best shot, shall we?
If there is something you see that is missing from this list, I ask that you post it in the comments.
What's eligible, exactly?
Works released between 7/1/2016 and 6/30/2017 are eligible for this year’s awards.
Once again, there's nothing about nominating whole series. Sorry.Now, keep in mind, everyone -- THE RULES SAY YOU CAN ONLY NOMINATE ONE ITEM ONCE. That's it.
What does that mean?
For example:
- You CAN NOT nominate Murphy's Law of Vampires or The Nest in best fantasy and best horror.
- You can't vote for Codename: UnSub in best scifi and best dystopia.
- You can't put JCW's Swan Knight series (Swan Knight's Son / Feast of the Elfs / Swan Knight's Sword) in both best YA and best fantasy.
Note that there will be some places that are filler. mostly because I can't remember things very well. There will be no list to guide me. I'm not using Vox Day's list, as his Rabid list is using the calendar year of 2016 for his eligibility. There are no other lists that I know of .... I don't even know if the Locus list is out there yet. (Locus? Locust? Lotus?)
Once more, I'm going to ask people to comment and make suggestions, because I honestly can't do better than this list. I'm not very happy about it. Right now, I'll take suggestions from anyone who wants to help right now.
If you want to vote right this minute, you can. I'm putting together this post so you can vote as you follow along. Click here to vote.
Best Science Fiction
Escaping Infinity: Richard Paolinelli. I reviewed this book, and it was awesome. This is in all likelihood, my candidate.
Timothy Zahn: Thrawn -- It will come out in April, and thus eligible. I suspect this to be the Godzilla that bigfoots the entire proceedings. Any other author on this list, if you're reading this, talk all of your readers into voting NOW, before this comes out.
God, Robot, by the Wrights, et al: Missionary robots. I interviewed the authors of this anthology last year.
Torchship Pilot, Karl Gallagher. You might recall him. I interviewed him on the show a few times. He's an awesome guy, and he should probably win on the hard SF aspect alone.
Blood of Invidia, by Tom Tinney. Vampires from space. Hemophagic aliens. Yes. Interesting, ain't it. Haven't read it yet, but I've had Tom on the show twice before.
The Secret Kings, Brian Niemeier: Book #2 won best horror in 2016, so I suppose this is also eligible there as well, but the description looks very Space Opera. Read it and you tell me below. When I asked Brian on my radio show, he didn't have an opinion. It reads like David Weber versus Cthulhu.
Discovery, Karina Fabian.
Best fantasy
Murphy's Law of Vampires: Why am I putting this here if I've been jumping up and down, screaming that you can't nominate the same book in two different categories? Well, it helps that I've got several books that have come out since 2016's Dragon Awards. If you don't have anything else here, pick this one. But you probably do. Stiffest it in the comments. I'll take all the help I can get.
Let's also consider Jon Van Stry and his Hammer Commission, book 3, Loose Ends. I haven't read it, but it's eligible. I would have put him in horror, even he doesn't think it works.
I was going to put JCW's, Iron Chamber of Memory ...but then I remembered, the Kindle edition came out in MARCH. So it's not actually eligible. Nuts.
But if you feel obligated to vote for me in SOMETHING, and horror won't cut it, this will do.
Young Adult
Path of Angels, Dawn Witzke. Yup, my cover artist has a book out. It's Christian dystopia road trip.
Yes, it is another long story. How'd you guess?
Best military science fiction
or fantasy novel
Ringo, Monster Hunter Memiors: Sinners and / or Ringo, Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge are both eligible. And they are both awesome. Also, I needed something for this section.
I don't know which one I'm going to vote for. I really don't.
There's also Cartwright's Cavaliers, which was mentioned in my circles lately.
Anyway, there's my suggestion. I've since read Shadow of Victory by David Weber .... I don't recommend it. It's eligible, though, if you think Weber should have at least one Dragon Award.
And Timothy Zahn's last Manticore book is before the cut off date, but we'll see what he has coming out in the next five months. He might have another COBRA novel coming.
Best alternate history novel
Harry Turtledove is the king of this genre. I'd guess that Armistice: The Hot War book 3, would take it.
However, Eric Fint has a LARGE 1632 fanbase.
They're eligible. I have yet to start the series yet, so no advice from me.
Best Apocalyptic
Codename: UnSub, by me and my coauthor, turns San Francisco into a wasteland that's being haunted by a serial killer. I can say that The Injustice Gamer really liked this one.
Cadain's Watch, the sequel to Daniella Bova's Tears of paradox, is coming out ... in March. No idea if I'll be able to read it before voting.
I suppose I should take it as a sign of improvement that I actually had candidates last year. This year? Nada.
To steal from the CLFA list, however?
People's Republic.
Liberty Lost.
Best Horror
Live and Let Bite ... As I've said before, this is the book. This is where I'm putting my money.
Yes, I have made my case for it to win a Dragon already. As I said before, this is everything from Honor at Stake and does more. Romance? Action? The stakes? Pressed down and overflowing.
Also, as I said before, it's just logical.
Yes, I would love for this book to be registered under "Urban Fantasy," and then thank God that there isn't a Harry Dresden book out thus far this year, but aside from that ... I have demons and vampires and minions with machine guns. This is probably where I will make my stand, whether I like it or not.
Murphy's Law of Vampires ... no, this I'm not recommending, again, since there's Live and Let Bite. Murphy's is merely eligible, and that's about the extent of it.
Then again, given my luck, everyone will vote for Murphy's and ignore Bite. Which will confuse me no end.
And .... that's it. Sorry, I'm not a big fan of horror -- too much nihilism, depression, and "let's kill people who are too stupid to live."
For the record, I would like someone to tell the Dragon Awards to start an Urban Fantasy genre (also known as the "Jim Butcher award"). Perhaps a paranormal romance category?
I'm going to start skipping at this point, for reasons that will become clear. Please forgive me on this.
Best science fiction or fantasy series, TV or internet:
Grimm is in its last season. I'll guess this would get it, just so it can get one before disappearing.
Arrow ...? Maybe.
iZombie is coming back, and it is the best Zombie show ever.
Luke Cage ... was boring. Don't do it.
Yes, Lucifer is eligible, but I wouldn't suggest it this season. Too much time spent with his mother. Yes, really.
Best science fiction or fantasy movie
Doctor Strange.
Yeah. That's about it. And I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Fantastic Beasts etc .... shouldn't get an award.
I'd rather Dr Strange than Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Kong: Skull Island ... maybe this weekend.
Wonder Woman ... I'm hopeful.
The Mummy? God, I hope not.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter .... no, no no and HELL NO.
Spider-man: Homecoming. .. Oh, I so want to like this one, but some of the forced "diversity" for the casting makes me nervous. So does anything in the ads that doesn't focus on superheroics.
It's a coin flip until further notice.
I'm sure there will be people who toss up between
- Final Fantasy XV (Not holding my breath)
- Titanfall 2? Perhaps. I've heard good things about it.
- Total War: Warhammer. I've seen some good reviews on this one.
However, there are people out there who have some thoughts on the matter. The Injustice gamer can help you fill these in, if you're interested.
- Best comic book
- Best graphic novel -- The Injustice Gamer has thoughts on these
- Best science fiction or fantasy mobile game
- Best science fiction or fantasy board game
- Best science fiction or fantasy miniatures / collectible card / role-playing game
Feel free to post some reminders and thoughts.
No, really. Please post your thoughts and suggestions below. I need all the help I can get.
If you haven't already, check out some of the books below.
And if you have, please leave a review.
And if you have, please leave a review.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Housekeeping
There are some details I've neglected for a while. Time to correct that.
To begin with, Bad Date is now a Kindle Release. See? You should have joined the mailing list while it was available....
.... Though if enough people insist in the next day or two, I'll do one final release in the mailing list. Though I'm going to want to see reviews on the Amazon page if I do that.
Second .... join the mailing list? It might be a good idea.
Third .... could anyone who has read, liked, but has not yet reviewed my novels please report to the Amazon page for Declan Finn and fill out a review? Preferably five stars and a few pages on why you loved it? I'll settle for four stars and a sentence saying it's awesome. Heh. I don't care if it's for Live and Let Bite, book 1 or book 2, or Winterborn or UnSub, or Kill, or SPBB. Reviews help, more than you know. So, please, drop by, type up a review, it doesn't take very long.
And, of course, you HAVE voted in CLFA BOTY, right?
And you've at least looked at doing a Dragon award nomination?
Saturday I was part of the Superversive Round Table podcast discussing books.
To begin with, Bad Date is now a Kindle Release. See? You should have joined the mailing list while it was available....
.... Though if enough people insist in the next day or two, I'll do one final release in the mailing list. Though I'm going to want to see reviews on the Amazon page if I do that.
Second .... join the mailing list? It might be a good idea.
Third .... could anyone who has read, liked, but has not yet reviewed my novels please report to the Amazon page for Declan Finn and fill out a review? Preferably five stars and a few pages on why you loved it? I'll settle for four stars and a sentence saying it's awesome. Heh. I don't care if it's for Live and Let Bite, book 1 or book 2, or Winterborn or UnSub, or Kill, or SPBB. Reviews help, more than you know. So, please, drop by, type up a review, it doesn't take very long.
And, of course, you HAVE voted in CLFA BOTY, right?
And you've at least looked at doing a Dragon award nomination?
Saturday I was part of the Superversive Round Table podcast discussing books.
Enjoy.
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