FORGE OF THE GODS by ERIC FOGLE

Forge of the Gods, by Eric Fogle is a well written and enjoyable fantasy in which the very fabric of the spiritual realm appears to be collapsing. Heaven's inhabitants and its many minor gods are sending forth their own champions, demi-gods, dragons and mortals alike, to quest for the source of the disturbance--either to nurture it for their own power or to destroy it utterly.
READ PODLINGS INTERVIEW: ERIC FOGLE

I'm asking myself, "What is it that is so attractive and engaging about this story, Forge of the Gods?" The story is not a thriller and not really what I might consider action packed, although alot is going on. No, I think it is the richness of Mr. Fogle's narrative that is so appealing here! I don't by any means say this in a bad way--Mr. Fogle is not rushing himself through this story. He carefully and lovingly crafts a world and characters that feel fully developed and interesting to follow. The prose itself flows like good poetry and the conflict is multilayered and intriguing.

"Cosmic power swirled around the olthari as he moved through a pocket of nonexistence, the space in which inter-planar travel was possible. In a fraction of a second he stepped through a thin film of divinity and into the new world. The sickening feeling of winking out of existence then back wracked his body. He tried to look around but was blinded by white tracers
that blurred his vision. When his vision finally cleared, he was greeted with a horrific sight: this
place was not a mortal probability. In a dark recess of his mind, Thurm realized that this world must be directly connected to the Divine Plane. He felt godly power exuding from everything. Though he tried to rationalize it, nothing could ever describe such an abomination of life; dark swirls of chaos tore at a shattered sky, giving off a deep purplish hue. His immortal eyes viewed a world devoid of any ordered thing; misshapen trees dotted the desolate landscape, doing their best to eke out an existence. Aside from this mockery, the scorched land was free of anything that even roughly resembled life. The sight of true chaos made his skin crawl. Here the equation of the universe did not apply, time did not flow in mortal years, and balance was not achieved. By looking at the mottled husks of the trees, he knew that the equation was trying to right itself; however, only a travesty of creation prevailed. A distant sound caught his attention. Thurm gripped the shaft of his giant hammer as the wind blew the faint scream past him. The full power of the place came rushing upon him, intensifying his soul-bond with Elissandera. He was sure that she was located less than five miles to the east. It might be too late to save this world, but he knew she still lived . . . at least for the moment. He cleared his mind and set out with resolve, shaking off his uneasiness. He told himself that he needed to be steady. His goal was in sight; he was here to find Elissandera and save her if he could or release her into eternity if he couldn’t. He had decided long ago that if she needed to die, then he did, too—that if this was his fate, he would face the thing that had eluded him for so long. His resolve demanded that he die trying; for her he could not turn back. Another faint scream swept across the desolate wasteland. Thurm’s hair rose. He felt Elissandera’s soul-bond call out to him; this place seemed to magnify the essence of his people. For a moment he thought that he wasn’t alone, an oddly satisfying feeling. An impossible thought tore through his defenses could this be a parallel plane of existence to that of the divine? A pocket plane for one of the gods, he thought sourly. If that was true then hehad been summoned here for a reason, and whatever resided in this place would be unassailable by his powers. He could not win. It is a fitting punishment that the same gods who created my race will also be the ones to end our existence, he thought sadly. It was likely that if this was a divine pocket, then there was a god toying with him, which was why his quest had lingered on so long. I shall die proud, he thought, standing straight and tall. If one of the gods has summoned me here to end my life, then I will fight to the end. Thurm shook his head and banished such thoughts; he was thinking too far ahead. Whatever he faced was beyond his limited comprehension. His mind had been used against him, reminding him of old times and things long forgotten. He rubbed his perfect features and again set off toward the sound. As Thurm prepared to take a step, his vision blurred and his skin started to crawl. The feeling was followed by a distortion of his physical features, which made him stumble forward in disorientation. He was about to succumb and fall to the ground when something called out and beckoned him, blinking him out of existence and back. The summons nearly made him retch as he came crashing through the portal and staggered to the ground. “So the destroyer has finally come!” boomed a sinister voice, its mocking tone filled with unpredictability and evil. The olthari shook away the sparkling lights of his instantaneous transportation from his vision and looked around. It took him a moment to get his bearings, but he was sure that he was standing in front of a circular structure with random spires of ebony jutting up into the sky. Furthermore, he was greeted by an angel leaning against one of the columns, its features twisted into a perfect mask of chaos. It took Thurm only a moment to realize his mistake. It had been so long . . . such a distant memory of what had been . . . that he could not have fathomed what stood before him."

The pace moves at a steady constant with enough happening to keep the reader engaged and following along happily, but Forge of the Gods is not trying to be the next "thrill ride." This title comes to us from one of the newer POD micropresses on the scene, Breakneck Books. It has a very nice cover going for it and excellent interior design. There are, however, a number of grammatical errors within the book. These all revolve around extra or missing words that were somehow missed by their editor. The publisher was even surprised to find this when I mentioned it to them...this takes me back to our previous post. A final read by a fresh pair of eyeballs before the editor submits that final PDF file would do wonders for finding these mistakes.

Forge of the Gods is very enjoyable and highly recommended. Mr. Fogle has a fine literary voice and superior writing skills. However, the abundance of errors which remain in the book (darn those pesky grammar-gremlins!) keeps this title held to four stars on our scale. Now, if you enjoy fantasy greats like Tolkien and so forth then you probably will find this title very enjoyable despite the editing mistakes, because the story is still there and solid as a multi-layered spiritual plain on a chaotic convergence with a unilateral mortal plane!

THE SCRUTINIZING EYE

THE SCRUTINY OF A GOOD EDITOR would do many books a world of good these days. Within the POD market, there is the tendency to have a few friends, at most, take a look at your manuscript and then send it along to Lightning Source for printing and distribution through the INGRAM network to Amazon.com and others.

However, what we as POD reviewers are finding and what the book buyer is finding, once they begin turning pages, is a host of sore thumbs which pop up to interrupt the flow of the story. Proper editing is extremely important friends! And there are many problems that are found...some of which you might find popping up when you go from one format to another. Let me give you some examples of the kind of mistakes I see:

Let me start with a problem which recently happened to me when posting my last interview: I cut and pasted an interview excerpt from an email into a post and without realizing it, the transfer caused some of the words to become fused together. Needless to say, the author caught it when they went to see their new interview and I'm glad they did...RULE #1: "Extra eyes can catch many things!"

I've recently been given a PDF where the editor was a professional editor and yet somehow the errors from the old PDF have come into the new PDF. The publisher was shocked to find this was the case, but evidently this can happen...my advice is RULE#2: "Proof the final edit with a new pair of eyes. Even the pros can make mistakes!" And may I also add RULE #3: "Reading your final edit ALOUD can catch things your eyes will pass over. Remember, you read with your eyes much faster than you can read with your mouth. So, you are forced to slow down and verbalize what you are seeing. You'd be surprised how many things will appear when you use this technique. "But, Podlingmaster, I have to rush my book to print so I can get my share of POD reviews and grab my .000005% of the book market!" I know, I know...but patience, little grasshopper.

Exaggerated margins or too much space between paragraphs. Now this one, it would seem to me, would be a simple matter for the author to gauge at the onset. Just looking at books in bookstores you will see the way that books are generally formatted. Yet, on a number of occassions, I've received novels that had double spaces between nearly every sentence. This creates alot of blank space on a page and looks completely unprofessional. Remember, when you format for the pdf and printing that you need to put everything into single space with generally four spaces between P.O.V. changes. And watch those margins folks. Don't try to exaggerate them to give your short story more pages to make the book appear thicker.

Indentations which either have way too many spaces or not enough. Generally, you want about five letter spaces for a paragraph indentation. Now, I'm not being dogmatic...go check the grammar manual collecting dust in your closet for the hard points, but what I see many times is up to ten spaces in a paragraph indent or as little as one space...which by the way almost looks like you can't tell where a new paragraph begins.

Watch out for the common (it's/its--there/their--then/than) stuff as well. And of course there are the missing words or extra words that crop up in a manuscript. Once again RULE #1 prevails here: "Extra eyes can catch many things!"

How heartbreaking it must be, to realize that you've got a great story that everyone enjoys, a great looking cover, but it's been edited or proofread inadequately and makes it to the reviewer or reader in this condition...because we sure will mention it, huh? Now, I realize that even the big dogs in New York have errors that creep into their books, but that should be no excuse to the struggling POD author or small press who must fight for every crumb of recognition they can get. In that sort of situation, we must all be that much more diligent to raise our standards, "be patient with going to press," and place the best product we can into the willing consumer's hands.

CHION by DARRYL SLOAN

CHION by Darryl Sloan is a short but exhilarating quest for survival by two teenagers who find themselves "stuck" in a winter horror-land, when the new snowfall halts society to a standstill in Ireland and begins to take lives.

CHION has to be one of the most unique thrillers I've ever read. I mean, how many thrillers will there be that rehash, dinosaurs, sharks, killer viruses, aliens or rampaging beasts? Well, never fear, because Mr. Sloan has made a monster out of pristine white snow, of all things and this story will grab you and hold you just as fast as the fluffy flakes themselves!

READ PODLINGS INTERVIEW: DARRYL SLOAN

The cover is professional in quality and notice that it has everything to do with what the story is actually about. It draws you in, curiously wondering why the snow is blood tinged. The title of the book makes me curious...what in the world is CHION and what does it have to do with snow? You see folks...how everything is meant to draw you in and get you reading? Now, a good book is more than its cover and when we delve beneath the surface we find an engaging and unique situation. Snow has fallen, but this snow is unlike anything we've ever seen before. Anyone or anything which comes into contact with even a single flake is held fast in an iron grip. And be it clothing or skin, you'll be giving it up before the snow releases you. So we have an isolated doomsday scenario with people struggling to survive and our heroes have the unique vantage point of lovestruck teenagers who must figure out a way to survive among hordes of people, even their own teachers, who are willing to do anything they can to remain alive.

The interior is pure quality. I have nothing bad to say about this book at all. On every level, it delivers right up to the end. Whether or not that is a happy ending, I'll leave you to discover. I won't bother to put up any textual snippets because I'd recommend you do something a little different this time. You see, Mr. Sloan has given us a very professionally done podcast file that you can download and listen to and this is exactly why I'm reviewing this book now. I'm in the middle of another good book, but with the MP3 file listened to and a mere 145 pages, part of which is covered in the audiofile, I couldn't help but want to find out what happens. This podcasting thing is something very few authors are making use of at the moment, but having experienced it from the listeners perspective, let me just say, "I like it, I love it, I want more of it."

This novel may be short, but it's well worth what little effort you have to make. It scores big on every level of quality for production and with an engaging well voiced narrative. And let me say again...visit the website and get the podcast file first (see Darryl's sidebar for the link)...it's free and it will have you wanting the rest, which is also available for a lower than amazon price at Mr. Sloan's site. Now, how can you beat that?!

MORE TALENTED COVER ARTISTS!

JEREMY ROBINSON is not only one of our favorite authors here at PODLINGS, but he is also the cover artist for all of Breakneck Books titles. There are about ten different covers for you to view and all of them are his work. On Mr. Robinson's personal site (click his name above) or on our "Artist list" in the sidebar, you can find several nice pricing packages for cover work and interior design. Bonus! Mr. Robinson also does book trailers for Breakneck Books and maybe you could persuade him to do one for you. Money still talks, as they say.

LAURA DIEHL is also an illustrator of high quality and great imagination. Her work has been featured on several book covers I know of...three of which I reviewed unfavorably because of the writing--NOT the covers. In fact the covers were initially why I invited the author to submit at all. Anyway, here are just a few choice gems from a vast gallery located on her site, check them out.

DISGRUNTLED AUTHORS

Well, it was bound to happen, I suppose.... An author did not like the criticism leveled at their work and complained--also asking that the review be removed. Well...I'll just post my response to this author without naming them.

-----------------------------------------

"I'm sorry you take offense to criticisms about your writing--in fact I did read the premise for your series and as I said, I don't believe there's any problem with the premise at all...sounds quite good. The problems lay with what was mentioned in the review...these are problems you will find any honest reviewer will make note of. When you compare, for example, the interior design of your book with other books in the market, even POD books you will find a big difference as noted in the review. When you compare your execution of the narrative with other books on the market, you will find big differences there as well...all these are noted in the review.

I'm sorry you feel stabbed in the back? I never promise anyone a glowing review, only an honest one...as for the invitation to submit...it was an invitation, not a promise of a glowing review. You could just have easily read the reviews on my site before submitting and decided that you weren't willing to take a chance on having an honest review of your work on the PODLINGS site. No one forced you to submit your work...it was an invitation based on the interesting premise of your fantasy trilogy and based on another review seen by another author on squiddo.

By inviting you to submit, I in no way whatsoever promised a glowing review of your work and therefore could not have "stabbed you in the back." To have given you something your work doesn't yet merit would be dishonest and that is exactly what authors do NOT need from POD BOOK reviewers.

This is a brutal industry and as a small press published author myself, I can sympathize with your situation. However, I've paid for plenty of copies of my own work to send to reviewers and I've taken the review given with the understanding that it was there honest opinion of my work...in many cases I agreed with their criticisms and seek to improve myself as a writer based on those criticisms. It is sad to see you don't feel this way, however my intent to provide constructive criticism for POD authors remains the same. Blowing sunshine in the faces of authors who need to improve their work in order to stand a real chance of success in our brutal book market is a far worse crime than an honest but critical review that is meant to raise the standards we publish by."

PODLINGS

DELON CITY by R.W. RIDLEY

Delon City: Book Two of the Oz Chronicles by R.W. Ridley turns up the heat on the young hero we got to know in book one of the Oz Chronicles, The Takers.

READ PODLINGS INTERVIEW WITH R.W. RIDELY

Young Oz Griffin has awoke, seemingly in the future, to find himself an adult in the office of a criminal psychologist. Oz has apparently murdered two people dear to him on the basis of the delusions he's been having. Oz believes he is still fourteen years old and has just defeated the Takers by killing their queen, only to see the more terrifying Delons take over in their place. Nothing is as it seems for Oz and he realizes he can trust noone, but hypnosis allows him to go back to his perceived past to take on the Delons and hopefully solve the mystery of 'when' he really is.

Whereas The Takers was a fairly straight forward monster-fest, and a good one to boot, Delon City is a multilayered masterpiece that takes us on a journey into what may be real or simply the machinations of a lunatic. By the end of the book, but by no means the end of the story, we have several clues to help us understand what the true reality is. And Mr. Ridley uses these clues deftly to hook the reader for book three.

Still, along the way in Delon City we find a more organized and brutal enemy in the purple, dead-eyed Delons. Oz is up against something far more sinister than ravenous beasts like the Takers, who make their own appearance in this installment. The Delons haven't simply removed every human on Earth, they've begun to assimilate them, turning them into Delons! A caste system of sorts is in play upon the Earth now, with some remaining human cows for Delon food, others as mutated outcasts called 'halfers' and the Delons themselves. Mr. Ridley is a master storyteller and continues to deliver thrills and chills abundantly as he describes a darker dimension the world has been plunged into; complete with even more twisted baddies than ever before.

• 
  
  "After nightfall, I crawled out of my window and silently guided Chubby through the yard into our neighbor's, the Drucker's, backyard. There was a time that they would have immediately stormed out of their house and ran to my mother and father, demanding that my parents punish me for trespassing on their perfect lawn of Bermuda grass. Instead, Mr. Drucker, a round little man with thinning blonde hair and thick black rimmed glasses, smiled a phony smile from his living room window as I passed. Mrs. Drucker, purple complexion, grayish hair mixed with spider legs, eyes not quite dead, stood beside him holding a live mouse by the tail. Dinner."

Mr. Ridley has the ability to build the tension in a scene to a fever-pitch, like a guitar string wound to the point of breaking at any moment.

• 
  
  "I stopped. It was a trap. My mind knew it. But is was Gordy's sister. If there was the smallest chance she could be helped, then I had to help her. I walked back up the stairs as if I were climbing the final peak on Everest. Every step was carefully calculated, and every prayer I had ever heard in my life came spewing out of my mouth uncontrollably. I stood in the upstairs hallway, eyes focused on the room above the garage. I flipped the light switch, but nothing came on. "No lights. No eyelids. No lights. No eyelids." The voice screeched throughout the house. I moved down the hallway as silently as I could, but still she heard me. She counted each step I took. "Three steps closer. Four steps closer. Here he comes. here he comes!" -- "Allie," I said. -- "He calls me Allie!" Her voice was shrill with excitement. -- "Allie Flynn." -- "Ten steps closer. Eleven steps closer. Twelve steps and at the door. He's at the door! He's at the door!" -- "Allie," I said. "Your not making this easy. I want to help you." -- "Help me, Oz Griffin. Please, help me." -- I turned the knob and let the door open slowly on its own. The room was a guest bedroom. The mattress from the bed was stacked against the window to keep out the light. 'No lights. No eyelids.' she had said. In the darkest corner of the room, directly opposite the door, I saw a silhouette of a little girl. She stood motionless. She was taller than I remember. -- "We're so hungry, Oz Griffin." -- I forced myself to move forward. The hammer was raised, cocked back, and ready to crash down on her head at any time. "Take it easy, Allie. I'm here to help." Two thirds of the way to Allie, I realized it wasn't her at all. It was a coat rack. I stood in the middle of the room, completely vulnerable. I scanned the room in every direction. My heart went from a nervous flutter to a brutal pounding. "Allie?" -- "We're so hungry." -- The voice came from above me. I jerked my head up. There, crawling on the ceiling like an insect, was Gordy's little sister. Her skinless body was fire red with patches of black. She wore a lipless grin."

Delon City is darker than its predecessor and honestly would get a PG-13 rating for intense imagery and mild language. However it never ceases to pull the reader relentlessly through its short 210 pages. The book has been well designed inside and out and if I'm not mistaken, Mr. Ridley has done all of the cover work on both books himself. I was curious about Delon City's cover, but once you get into the story details it seems the perfect choice. There are maybe ten grammatical errors in the entire novel; mostly words in place of the correct word or a few missing words. Honestly this suspenseful young adult horror story had me saying "who cares?" it's so good. This is one of those stories that perplexes me; how it didn't get published with a large publisher. My only true regret with Delon City is that it left me hanging hungrily on the last words, wishing Book Three was already available!

WHEN AN ANGEL FALLS by STEPHANIE JARRETT

When an Angel Falls, by Stephanie Jarrett is an exciting fantasy based in the realm beyond our natural sight.

READ PODLINGS INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE JARRETT

Laura is a semi-mortal; an Angel who lives in a mortal body in order to assist other spirits during their mortal trials while on Earth. When she is sought out by mortals who know her indentity, her past transgressions and their repercussions explode upon a spiritual world immersed in the turmoil of war.
Despite the fact this title was published with a bad homemade cover and proofreaders for editing, the story really saves the book. This is one of those sad cases where a gifted storyteller has published with a subsidy publisher (iuniverse) without the funds necessary to get the best product possible.

Jarrett begins in a subtle manner, escalating steadily into a full blown Angelic war. The protagonist and the conflict are multilayered and interesting to follow. Jarrett uses suspense techniques well, giving carefully placed hints at the ends of the chapters to pull the reader on to new revelations in the story. This Angel has a dark past and the path to her redemption is paved through a gauntlet of fellow spirits whose trust is next to impossible to reclaim after all she has done to abuse her power.
Jarrett deftly takes the reader below the surface to watch Laura's inner struggle with obtaining forgiveness from others as well as herself.

• Example: "Laura stared at the paper and saw before her something that she would never have, a clean slate. Each white umblemished parchment that Scott produced would soon be filled with her darkest secrets. Far from erasing anything from her past, her deeds would be forever recorded in the books of history for all to see. These writings would serve as a testament of her wickedness, her imperfection, and her unworthiness. The pen could narrate strengths to cancel evidence of weakness in character, and record reparations to absolve guilt, but with a few strokes, her shame would become immortalized."


• "Prior to Laura speaking out during Beacon assignments, it was a world that he (Michael) thought he understood well. Yet so much had gone so wrong in such a short amount of time, and he sensed that it was going to get much worse. he tried to imagine when it was that he lost his focus. At some point in time, his own will became more important than the will of God. The war was no longer fought to defend an ideology that embraced The Lord; it was now fought with indifference to Him. The battles were personal. It was revenge."

When an Angel Falls is an engaging story of redemption, but isn't a place to find accurate theology. Jarrett's realm of spirits bares little resemblance to the Bible. But she has created a fantasy realm all her own and has taken the time to flesh it out; spiritual technologies and all. This book could definitely use a facelift--a little nip and tuck to the editing and the cover that would make it as interesting as the story contained within, but taking the time to look beneath the cover will reward you with a richly told story from a writer we hope to read more from.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Well, visitors are up and submissions are up in the wake of POD-DY MOUTHS demise by her own hand. And we've got no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. Heck, this is fun!

Submissions will not be closing anytime soon...I only mention that because my friend POD CRITIC is closing down submissions when the IRS does.

We've got more book reviews coming soon and a few interviews are on the docket with some of our favorite authors. Who knows, you and your book might be the next one we ask. We are ever on the search for well done novels and great stories. If you find your book doesn't receive a great review, then by all means take it constructively. This is the manner in which all reviews on our site are meant to be received. We want you the author to become better at your craft, not discouraged.

Writing a novel is a tremendous undertaking which requires patience, talent and endurance. To become a great writer takes these elements and more...a bit of being in the right place at the right time never hurt anyone in this industry!

So, do the best you possibly can. Invest time and any necessary expense to produce the best book you can; particularly I'm addressing self publishers and small press editor/owners. You must give you or your contracted authors the best possible chances for success. It's a jungle out there...so, welcome to the jungle!