Sci fi fantasy from Karl Krueger

 

Gates of Avalon

Karl Krueger

Sci-fi/fantasy, time travel

Kindle $7.99

Also available in hardcover

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Barnes and Noble

About the Book

It had been more than a thousand centuries since the Old Ones disappeared. Who they were and where they went was a matter of heated debate amongst the scholars of Avalon. The old ones had left behind five great artifacts. Gates that opened pathways to the many worlds spread across all the plains of existence.

For many centuries the ageless gates stood as monuments to the Old Ones. No one guessed or understood the danger until it was to late. The mighty warriors of Asgaard fell in a single night of blood and flames, Shangri La only lasted an hour. Even the Empire of the Four Realms could not stand against this new enemy.

Now the darkness that enveloped Avalon was coming here and it was up to Theodore Schmidt, an old man, crippled and weary to stop it. This is the chronicle of that struggle.

My review:

Krueger’s fantastical novel, Gates of Avalon, is a sort of campfire-ghost-story, cowboys and Indians-v.-aliens type of story for the “mature” set.

The stories of Teddy Schmidt’s boy scout days, told by his father, really do come true some fifty years later when Wyoming is attacked by unearthly aliens. A legacy left by Ted and his brother Michael’s father in the form of a special book and dairies hold the clue to the horrifying events unfolding on planet Earth. The race is on for Teddy, Michael, and the specialists from the University of Wyoming to decipher the novel and reach out to the mysterious friend Buck, the mysterious ageless man the Schmidt boys’ father knew way back when. When they learn the plan has been in the works for millennia, and the world of the Kron is in danger, they decide whether or not to travel to the hidden realm Avalon to resume their father’s mission.

Self-published by the author through Palmetto Publishing Group, 2018/2020. Reviewed for Strategic Vision Group. Minor grammatical errors in the narrative, lengthy past and present-day scenes of war and the 1860s western US. Graphic language, but not continual. Told from alternating viewpoints; the “I” character of Teddy. and omniscient voice narrative in other parts of the story Part time travel, part current events, including some pretty graphic violence, the Gates of Avalon is an intriguing adventure for those who love historical ghost stories, cowboys and Indians, and aliens come to life. Beautifully designed and illustrated.

 

About the Author

Karl L. Kruger grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. Graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he worked in Agri-Business and eventually became a Deputy Sheriff. His long career in law enforcement included training in accident reconstruction and a lengthy stint in TRT-EOD (Tactical Response Team - Explosive Ordinance Disposal). After retiring from police work, Karl began to manufacture historical gaming figures (toys). He has also written rule sets for historical gaming. The author still lives in rural Wisconsin, with his wife, a grandson and a few dozen chickens. 

New from Frank Dravis a Dianis book

The Matriarch, book 2 in the Dianis, a World in Turmoil Chronicles

Frank Dravis

Epic Sci-fi/fantasy

Six Factors Publishing, LLC, March 2020

386 pp

$3.89 ebook

Buy on Amazon

About the Book

The second book in the Dianis, A World In Turmoil chronicles, The Matriarch, a sci-fi fantasy, centers on the protected planet of Dianis. In a sudden shift of federation policy the planet is stripped of its cultural observers and colonization control agents, but a single team circumvents the withdrawal and stays behind. Love, friendship, and career aspirations drive the members of the last remaining Interspecies Development Branch team.  In many ways The Matriarch can be compared to Dune. Both are on primitive backwater worlds with precious resources coveted by the galaxy. Both are protected by a caretaker organization, and both succumb to galactic intrigue and betrayal.

The IDB team has disappeared, and the Matrincy, the governing council of adepts has intervened seeking clues as to their whereabouts. In the absence of the IDB, Nordarken Mining has intruded in the planet in its quest for new sources of aquamarine, a strategic resource needed in the Turboii War. Before his disappearance, Chief Inspector Achelous of the IDB predicted Nordarken Mining, in the form of extrasolars, would invade the planet and they do.

The effort to defend Dianis from extrasolar incursions has attracted the attention of the powerful Paleowrights a major religious sect on Dianis. The Paleowrights covet the technologies that Achelous brought to Dianis and have begun to raid any suspected sites where Achelous and his team may be. The free peoples of Dianis are thus faced with two enemies: galactic conglomerates intent on stealing their resources and the provincial Paleowrights intent on suppressing their free will.

Becoming aware of the cosmic turmoil that surrounds her lover Achelous, Marisa, a trader princess and force of nature, learns more and more of Achelous's secrets: he is not the simple Dianis trader he pretended to be but an undercover agent for a secret monitoring organization of a galactic federation hundreds of years in advance of her own. Marisa loves Achelous, her son, and her country, but can she unravel the mystery of Achelous' disappearance in time to save him from Paleowright retribution?

My review

The world of Dianis holds more precious secrets than the desperately needed and highly sought aquamarine taken for granted by the planet’s inhabitants.

Once secluded and sheltered from a galaxy at war, matriarch herself, the leading adept, or a type of mind-reader, of the ruling federation council has taken an interest in the turmoil surrounding this planet. The federation's leading expert on Dianis, cultural anthropologist Archelus, chief inspector of Interspecies Development, has not only been found, but has committed a grievous misstep on the planet he's supposed to be observing. He's uncovered the surface secret that makes Dianis a prize to mining companies eager to profit from war, but also the darker secret that would destroy the balance of power in the federation.

Dianis is a complicated hierarchy of various species with several different moralities and faith values at odds--sound like another world we know? The mysterious but despised Paleowrights know something's amiss due to strange phenomena occurring on their world and will use any means to control the source of these powerful abilities. At war with the Life Believers and everyone else, they wreak havoc. The Matriarch goes undercover to the planet to determine the real interest in exploiting this little world. Who will win the battle over Dianis’s true treasure trove?

Told in multiple viewpoints in epic format from a boundless cast, it’s troglodytes, Timberkeeps, Paleowrights and various tribal peoples fight to defend their way of living and coping on Dianis, a small planet in the Margel Damansk Asteroid Cloud. At stake? The culture of Dianis. At greater stake? A battle for control of the galaxy. Fans of epic sci fi serials will enjoy this second episode in the World in Turmoil series.

About the Author

Living along the Mississippi River, Frank Dravis has leveraged his many life experiences to write The Foundry, the first book in the Dianis, A World In Turmoil series. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan where he and his father cruised the Great Lakes. His father often chose to go out on the lake when it was empty, on the roughest days. Frank spent six years in the US Navy chasing Soviet submarines during the Cold War. His love of the sea is reflected in The Foundry, a love he has shared with his wife and two girls.

A hunter, Frank has taken game with a variety of weapons, including the bow, rifle, shotgun, and muzzleloader, the weapon modeled in The Foundry and used as the tool of choice in the fight against corsairs in The Citadel.

He assists his wife in her passion for horses as stable hand and the sole rider of Shaboom their willful appaloosa. Equines appear regularly in the Dianis series, not as horses, but as eenus.

Frank's care for Earth and the stewardship of their land in Wisconsin are reflected in the culture and ethos of the Timberkeeps.

He has two degrees, a Bachelor of Computer Science and a Master of Business Administration. Those degrees have been integral to his professional life where he has worked in a variety of roles from software engineer, to marketing executive, to chief information officer, at such prominent firms as SAP and Organic Valley. The technical and scientific acumen he gained through those endeavors is demonstrated in the series in the effort to make the Dianis brand of science practically possible somewhere in the galaxy today.

WISCON Memorial Day weekend

Not sure how I missed this little gem, WisCon, holding its 43rd convention.

WisCon is a feminist science fiction & fantasy convention held annually in Madison, Wisconsin.

this year's date is May 24-27, and features G Willow Wilson and Charlie Jane Anders. Workshops, panel discussions, and events for teens are scheduled.

Check the blog for current updates. Unfortunately, the deadlines to apply to participate have passed, but you can still register--seems like a great price, and there are volunteer ops. Held at the very cool Madison Concourse Hotel, and you can still get a special room rate through May 3. Registration for the convention goes through May 15. Click here.

According to the history on the website:"The first WisCon in 1977 honored author Katherine MacLean and Amanda Bankier (editor of the first feminist fanzine, “The Witch and the Chameleon”)"... It was held on the UW campus in February, with an attendance of approximately 200.

"The feminist focus of WisCon has waned and sharpened over the years. WisCon’s engagement with feminism was re-energized at WisCon 15 in 1991 when Guest of Honor Pat Murphy announced the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. WisCon became the Tiptree Award’s greatest ally and supporter. In 1996, WisCon 20 celebrated the convention’s 20th birthday by inviting Ursula K. Le Guin and Judith Merril, as well as all its past guests of honor. Nearly 750 people attended.

"WisCon has grown from a small regional convention to a large, truly international convention, with attendees traveling from all over the world in order to meet other fans and professionals with similar interests. Our convention has grown up to become the annual gathering for the feminist SF community. It also functions as a vibrant meeting place for fans and professionals interested in broader themes of gender, race, and class in Science Fiction and Fantasy."

epic new sci fi series from Frank Dravis

The Foundry

Frank Dravis

c. Jan 2018

$3.49 ebook

$12.89 print

Buy on Amazon

About the Book

A storm of greed and lust for global domination is rolling through the forests of Mount Mars, on the planet Dianis. The assault crashes against the walls of an idyllic town called Wedgewood. Over the walls Paleowright soldiers and their troglodyte allies climb and meet the human defenders sword against teeth, and shield against claws. In a staggering retreat, the defenders fight the first battle to save their planet from tyranny and galactic exploitation. Outnumbered, the citizens and mercenaries of Wedgewood stand shoulder to shoulder and send the rally call to their brethren. 

For IDB Chief Inspector Achelous, if Wedgewood falls the plans to protect the planet from Nordarken Mining fail as well. Those plans rest on the forge in Wedgewood's foundry. Ruthless in its insatiable demand for a rare mineral, Nordarken ignores the federation law – ULUP -- that protects the isolated, primitive planet. Destroying whole cultures to satisfy their avarice is just the cost of doing business, but for Achelous, a ULUP enforcer, it's his job to protect the defenseless. 

The politics authorizing ULUP are complex, and Nordarken is a master of manipulation. Ordered to leave Dianis, Achelous and his team face an excruciating dilemma. In a surprise, as the story of Dianis unfolds, Achelous learns he is not alone against both the global and galactic powers. Marisa, a trader princess, and Christina, an Ascalon Defender, respond to Wedgewood's rally call, but as provincials, they are unaccustomed to stellar intrigue. 

The defense of liberty for Dianis starts here, in The Foundry. 

My Review

Epic in length and subject, Dravis’s sci-fi fantasy far distant future world is at heart a passionate treatise on environmental protection.

When a valuable mineral is found on a distant planet that also features beings with untapped powers that could affect the tide of galactic war, the race is on to plunder Dianis’s resources no matter the law.

The Foundry features Archelous, a man living a mysterious double life as an embedded native on an undeveloped world while also trying to defend that world from intergalactic turmoil. Dravis’s world-building skills are finely developed, as are his very real complex characters. While I love sci-fi fantasy, I occasionally found the details overblown and admit to skipping through some parts to pick up the threads of what, at first, was a story within a story. But unlike other lengthy books I had to put down for a time due to other projects, I found I was able to pick up the story again within a page of reading.

My caveat to readers is that you will want to set aside goodly chunks of time to immerse yourself in this complicated and challenging story. Characters from a number of different environments and philosophies unite to protect not only one world, but ethics in general. Told in numerous points of view throughout, readers may occasionally need to backtrack to determine the new speaker as there is little attempt to separate these viewpoints and introspection can be muddled. The characters are unique and fresh, however, and quite engaging as they battle for justice against their own kind as well as all manner of sentient beings. Archelous is heroic, but I found myself rooting for Outish. And to learn who those folks are, you’ll just have to read.

About the Author

Living along the Mississippi River, Frank Dravis has leveraged his many life experiences to write The Foundry, the first book in the Dianis, A World In Turmoil series. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan where he and his father cruised the Great Lakes. His father often chose to go out on the lake when it was empty, on the roughest days. Frank spent six years in the US Navy chasing Soviet submarines during the Cold War. His love of the sea is reflected in The Foundry, a love he has shared with his wife and two girls. Frank's care for Earth and the stewardship of their land in Wisconsin are reflected in the culture and ethos of the Timberkeeps. 

He has two degrees, a Bachelor of Computer Science and a Master of Business Administration. Those degrees have been integral to his professional life where he has worked in a variety of roles from software engineer, to marketing executive, to chief information officer, at such prominent firms as SAP and Organic Valley. The technical and scientific acumen he gained through those endeavors is demonstrated in the series in the effort to make the Dianis brand of science practically possible somewhere in the galaxy today. Follow the Turmoil series on Facebook. 

Review of The Seven by Sean Patrick Little

The Seven by Sean Patrick Little

ISBN 13: 978-1608440665

Dog Ear Publishing, LLC (August 19, 2009)

Buy on Amazon:

Kindle $1

Paperback, 14.36

About the book:

Chosen for their unique DNA profiles and taken from their homes as children, seven teenagers have endured a decade of experimentation, surgeries, and gene-splicing as part of the world-changing project of a geneticist bent on creating the next evolution of man. As a result of the experiments, each of the seven is imbued with the potential for a different superhuman ability. As they near adulthood, the experiment finally begins to show results, but the effects are worse than any of them could have predicted. When an attempt to escape the lab goes horribly awry, the seven are forced to face down the paramilitary army of the syndicate that founded the experiment that created them, or lose the only family they have left: Each other.

My review:

I sat next to Sean at a book fair and purchased The Seven. I finally got around to reading it over the last few days and honestly looked forward to the time I spent in his world. The characters were well-rounded, heroic, and full of wonderful teenaged angst despite the things they were going through.

Each character gradually comes into his or her own as the genetic manipulation of scientists and the government attempt to reprogram humans (or subjects/experiments) in weaponized creatures in a mad plot to...

For those who love all the fantasy and sci-fi YA stuff of genetic manipulation (and even more scary-real every day), X-men, and all that funky stuff--you'll love these kids and how they put their brave on. I agree, could have used another proof-read, but hopefully you'll go ahead and do that soon, and put up another revised edition.

About the Author: 

Sean Patrick Little lives in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, although he considers Mount Horeb, Wisconsin his home. He likes progressive rock music and comic books. If you buy him a diet Cherry Coke, he'll thank you for it.