Happy New Year 🐉 🐉
Jan 05, 2021 5:33 pm
Hello my friends,
First and foremost, please accept my sincere apologies for being so ... absent lately.
For whatever it may be worth, it isn't just emails I haven't been keeping up on. I'm sure those who haunt the same social media spaces I usually do have noticed I haven't really been active.
The holidays are a really hard time of year for me at the best of times, but this year has been particularly bad. This is only my second year away from the area I grew up in (and where all my extended family is), but the first where I didn't have major life concerns keeping all my attention.
It's been all I can do just to keep up appearances for my family and try to keep my head above water at my day job.
On account of all that, I don't have much of my own to share at the moment. I haven't been writing reviews and my revision/expansion of Age of the Overlords has been going ... poorly.
However, as I'm sure many of you are aware, Revenge of the Overlords did finally release. Unfortunately, that has been a fiasco that I still have not been able to resolve with Amazon.
It seems that the version of the book that went "live" on Amazon was not the final version, but a place-holder file that I had, in rare foresight, put there just in case there was a problem with Amazon accepting the final version.
Now, here's where the fiasco comes in. After publication I re-uploaded the correct files, so anyone who bought the book after, I guess around the third week of November, will get the correct book. But anyone who pre-ordered or bought early will get what is basically the completely unedited first draft of the book, which barely resembles the final version.
And ... the best part is ... so far Amazon is refusing to make an update available to those who have already bought the book.
I'm working on getting this corrected, but if you bought early then I would just ask you to please bear with me for a while longer while I fight this out with Amazon.
Hmmmm....
It's occurring to me that pretty much this entire message has been just one big downer from the start.
So let's talk about some fun things for a minute.
The obvious one, of course, being watching my kids' eyes light up on Christmas morning. In spite of my general "blah" feeling this year, that was a lot of fun. Both my girls were super excited for their gifts.
And on that note, I hope you had a good holiday season. I'd love to hear about all your fun holiday traditions! :-D
Now, in other news, I've been getting back into my recent Lovecraft/Cthulhu obsession lately. It started with playing the "Call of Cthulhu" video game, which in spite of its poor reviews I really enjoyed. It was a bit short, and more straightforward than I was expecting, but still a fun game with a good story.
I recently discovered a Rock Opera (fantastic genre. If you're unfamiliar I highly recommend giving them a listen) album that retells one of Lovecraft's Mythos stories. It's called Dreams in the Witch House (same title as HPL's story) and was organized by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, the creators of the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, who also have made several movies and are responsible for the anthology audiobooks (which are, curiously, only available in audio) that are the most complete Lovecraft collections I'm aware of. Oh, and it's also great music that retells the story in a phenomenal way that actually expands on its concepts a bit.
Then I decided to play another Cthulhu Mythos video game called "The Sinking City." This game was much more expansive and complex, but also a significantly larger departure from what I would call a true Cthulhu experience. Where "Call" is a fairly pure Cthulhu experience, being about 90% exploration and investigation while avoiding insanity, "City" is a pretty much even split between survival horror, first person shooter, and investigation, which made it vastly less enjoyable for me as the shooter genre really doesn't appeal to me. There is also the fact that the game dishonestly purports to be open world, but that is more a matter of improper expectations than anything. It not being truly open world is actually a point in favor for me.
Since playing these two games, I've also started re-reading HPL's Cthulhu books and short stories, which has been really interesting since I know so much more about the Mythos now than I did when I read them the first time.
I also recently watched the HBO series Lovecraft country, after deciding to pass on reading the book. It isn't that it didn't sound good. It did. It's more that one of the major focuses of the story isn't something I particularly enjoy reading. It's hard enough for me to watch.
Namely, I'm talking about the rampant, violent racism of the 50's that is the backdrop of the story. I applaud the author for having the courage to take it on, especially if it's as accurate in the novel as it is in the show. But ... how can I put this? I find myself getting irrationally upset when I read stories featuring such racial hate. It's a difficult thing for me to watch in film, but reading it is worse for me.
Anyhow.
The series was good, if a little disjointed. Honestly, it felt like the first two episodes were a complete story and the rest was just "what else can we do with this premise that can tie in any way to Lovecraftian Horror." It felt almost like an anthology series for several episodes, as each felt self-contained with little reliance on what came before.
Honestly, around episodes 3-5, I was seriously wondering if the book wasn't only the first 2 episodes and the rest was new material created just for the show. I do recognize that this disjointed style mimics the structure of the book, but for me it made the show harder to get into.
And it turns out, after doing a bit of research, that while not fully even half, there is a fair bit of the series that is entirely new and not based off the book at all. So, "go me," I guess?
Of course, things do eventually come full circle and it became a really satisfying experience all the way around. Totally worth it in the end, it just takes a good long while to get there. And there are a fair number of points throughout the series that I felt were either not explained or at least not explained well enough. There are a small handful of inconsistencies/plot holes, but not so many that I couldn't overlook them.
A couple of additional content warnings for anyone considering the series though.
1, sexual content. There is quite a bit, especially later in the series. I personally consider it a bit excessive, though others may not. It also includes one scene of sexual assault.
2, language. It doesn't bother me, but if it bothers you then you'll probably want to skip this one.
In non-Lovecraftian entertainment, I recently binge-watched season two of The Mandalorian and I have to admit, I am suitably impressed. I unfortunately knew about a few of the surprises, since with a show this popular spoilers are almost impossible to avoid, but I'm happy to say there were still a few surprises that I didn't know about.
I really only have one complaint, which is the CGI for the ... character who shows up in the final episode. His face looks almost exactly the way it does in a recent video game that features him, which I found troublesome and distracting. Especially since I know such CGI technology was perfected years ago.
Okay, I think I've taken up enough of your time.
If you feel so inclined, there is a recommendation and an opportunity for free ARC (review) copies below you can check out:
A.J. Norfield is a new name for me, but between the high recommendations in reviews and the quality of the sample, this is definitely a book I want to be reading soon!
The Stone King rises and he wants his dragon!
Far away from home, under the command of his brother, Raylan and his squad must retrieve an ancient relic stolen from their kingdom’s trading partner—the Tiankong Empire.
Traveling deep into unknown enemy territory to complete their mission, Raylan learns that the ancient relic holds unexpected life; a creature buried in legends. But life is not always easy and neither is starting it, even if you are blessed with wings and claws.
Unable to fly and with their enemies closing in, the newly-hatched Galirras will have to put his trust in Raylan and his friends as they desperately search for a safe way home. Danger lurks around every corner: Warriors larger than any man, predators stalking them through the night and soldiers determined to hunt them down.
Their group has little choice, except to keep moving; strategically plotting and fighting their way back to those awaiting their return. But will they make it? After all, the Stone King is ruthless and he wants his dragon...
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"Windcatcher is action-packed and fast-paced, while set in a richly-developed world and scenery.- SFFWorld
"Windcatcher is the cross-generational book adults can devour and fantasy fans will find it a satisfying read." - Readers' Favorite ★★★★★
"This book was one action packed moment after the next and that is no lie!" - Book Savvy Reviews ★★★★
"This novel is full of action and adventure and fantasy fans will eat it right up." - Peachy Keen Book Reviews ★★★★★
Check out this list of 23 books (including one of mine) you can get for free for the tiny price of a short review :-)
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Thanks again for all your support, I'll talk to you again soon.
Kevin Potter
https://bookbub.com/kevin-potter
https://www.goodreads.com/Kevin_Potter
Books of the Val-Harra Saga
Blood of the Dragons volume 1: Dawn of the Overlords (FREE ebook)
Blood of the Dragons volume 2: Power of the Overlords
Blood of the Dragons volume 3: Age of the Overlords
Blood of the Dragons volume 4: Revenge of the Overlords
Blood of the Dragons volume 5: Descent of the Overlords (coming in 2021)
Blood of the Dragons volume 6: Fate of the Overlords (coming in late 2021/early 2022)
The Val-Harra Collections, volume 1: Blood of the Dragons Boxed Set 1, books 1-4 (coming in 2021)
