Guest Post + Giveaway: Robert Browne and The Paradise Prophecy

Today I have author Robert Browne joining me on the blog to talk a little bit about daydreaming and his new paranormal thriller The Paradise Prophecy. Take it away Robert!

THE IDLE SEASHORE OF THE MIND

There's a box in my garage that contains several mementos from my childhood. A literary magazine I wrote for in high school. Snippets of songs I wrote when I thought I was destined to be a rock star. Copies of two Playboy magazines that contain a serialized novel by Donald Westlake (yes, I actually read the articles). And an elementary school report card with a note from a teacher, "Robby is an intelligent young man, but spends far too much time daydreaming."

I really did spend a lot of time daydreaming. Still do. The only difference now is that I write those daydreams down and fashion them into full-fledged stories, the kind of stories that I loved to read as a child, a young adult, a man.

I think it's sad that a teacher would make such a notation. Yes, I understand that she had a job to do and wanted her students to pay attention—and that's as it should be. But to treat daydreaming as if it's something wrong or inappropriate is a shame. Because, let's face it, where would we be without men and women who daydream too much? Who get lost in their private thoughts and hopes and aspirations, or in worlds they've imagined and my someday share?

Fortunately, I had parents who understood this and ignored the note, and allowed my imagination to nurture and grow.

I've had daydreams about a man who has lost his daughter to a kidnapper and races desperately to save her, about a young doctor whose latest patient is a dead ringer for his murdered wife, about an FBI agent whose nightmares and visions of a little girl in danger become all too real, about a disgraced reporter whose only chance at salvation lies in a house of death in Juarez, Mexico.

And now there's the biggest daydream of all: The Paradise Prophecy. A big, bold thriller about angels and demons and two seriously screwed-up mortals—a government agent and a tortured survivor of the other side—who race around the globe trying to stop the destruction of mankind.

I can't tell you how much it means to me to be able to write these daydreams down and share them. To take readers on the roller coaster ride inside my head and hope that they have as much fun as I do.

And when our days get too crazy, it's a good idea to remember the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."

I can't think of better advice.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by Mr. Browne! For more information on Robert and The Paradise Prophecy, you can find him here:

Website
Watch the Trailer
Listen to an Excerpt

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Robert and the lovely people at AuthorsOnTheWeb I have one copy of The Paradise Prophecy to give away on the blog today! To enter, please just leave a comment with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through midnight EST Friday, August 5th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

THE PARADISE PROPHECY

A spectacular thriller inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost in which the final chapter of the War in Heaven is about to play out on Earth, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

The Myth

When God cast the archangel Satan into Hell, ending the War in Heaven, peace prevailed on Earth. Until the fallen angels took revenge in the Garden of Eden. Ever since, mankind has been in a struggle between good and evil, paradise and apocalypse: the fall of Rome, The Crusades, World Wars, nuclear proliferation, the Middle East Crisis... The War in Heaven never really ended-it just changed venues. For millennia, God's angels have been fighting Satan's demons on Earth, all in hopes of bringing about Satan's greatest ambition, the Apocalypse.

The Reality

Satan has never been closer to his goal than right now.

Agent Bernadette Callahan is a talented investigator at a shadowy government organization known only as Section, on the trail of a serial killer with nearly supernatural abilities. Sebastian "Batty" LaLaurie is a religious historian who knows far too much about the other side- and that hard-earned knowledge is exactly what Callahan needs. This unlikely duo pair up for a race across the globe, decoding clues left in ancient texts from the Bible to Paradise Lost and beyond. In the process they stumble upon a vast conspiracy-one beyond the scope of mankind's darkest imagination.

Review: Those Who Fight Monsters

THOSE WHO FIGHT MONSTERS:
Tales of Occult Detectives
Various authors
Urban Fantasy
240 pages
EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy
Available Now
Received from editor for review

THE STORY
This anthology includes 14 individual stories from some of the most well known authors in the urban fantasy genre. Each tale features a character or characters from popular book series working cases where the paranormal is just another normal day at the office.

Authors featured:
Laura Anne Gilman, Julie Kenner, Simon R. Green, Lilith Saintcrow, Carrie Vaughn, Justin Gustainis, T.A. Pratt, Tanya Huff, Chris Marie Green, Caitlin Kittredge, C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp, Jackie Kessler, C.J. Henderson, and Rachel Caine.

MY THOUGHTS
Those Who Fight Monsters is an entertaining collection of short stories featuring a strong combination of both male and female protagonists with a proclivity for fighting supernatural crime. As with any anthology, some stories are more intriguing than others with certain authors managing to create a complex and layered tale in just a few pages while others struggle a bit with the short length, leaving us wishing for an extra twenty pages to give us that added depth we're seeking. All of the fourteen individual tales feature characters from already-established paranormal series, and most do a beautiful job of quickly introducing us to the world should we be unfamiliar with it, giving us just enough information to be able to connect easily as we jump right into the action with little prelude.

This collection would be perfect for those on the hunt for some new urban fantasy series to try, each tale giving us a brief taste of the author's style and their characters. Some delight us with humor and wit, some shock us with paranormal twists to standard detective work, and some hint at a darkness and pain we know will affect us more profoundly should we pick up the full length novels. The only complaint would be the length of each story, on average about 15 pages–a challenge that forces us to absorb a lot of details and individuals in rapid succession and never allows us time to fully settle in. Reading this book is akin to ordering a sampler platter–a great variety of tasty morsels are presented but ultimately we find our favorites and try to savor them before moving on to nibble on the next.

MY PERSONAL FAVORITES:
Little Better Than a Beast by T.A. Pratt
Marla is a fun, take-no-nonsense chief sorcerer who approaches her monster of a problem with humor and isn't afraid to dispense some much-deserved violence on a man suffering rather impressively from sexism. Mr. Pratt gives us a complete tale that leaves us wanting numerous additional pages and much, much more time with Marla and her smart mouth.

Under the Hill and Far Away by Caitlin Kittredge
Ms. Kittredge is another on who does a spectacular job of illuminating the world from her Black London novels just enough to provide us a proper welcome and introduction to Pete Caldecott while spinning a mystery that, though easily solved, is enough of a taste of her style to spark a potential addiction.

Defining Shadows by Carrie Vaughn
Jessi Hardin is a detective in the world of Vaughn's Kitty Norville series, and she headlines perhaps the most unusual an fascinating story in the book. Focusing on an incredibly bizarre and exceedingly memorable supernatural being, Ms. Vaughn ensures her tale stands out as unique even amidst a plethora of talented writers. The case Hardin is called in to solve is grotesque but undeniably captivating, and Ms. Vaughn makes a spectacular use of every single one of her pages, making us feel like we've read a full novella instead of a short story.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Review: Reunion

REUNION
Jeff Bennington
Supernatural Thriller
336 Pages
nexGate Press
Available Now
Received from author for review

THE STORY
Twenty years ago David Ray walked into the cafeteria of his high school with a variety of guns and proceeded to dispense his own version of vengeance against those who made his life miserable. Taking out eight of his classmates, he then turned the gun on himself.

Now, those who survived the trauma are dealing with the lasting effects in various ways. A small group of them ultimately decide to get back together at the scene of the crime to face their fears and celebrate the lives they've managed to create for themselves in the aftermath of tragedy.

Though their focus is on moving forward and not looking back, there's a entity at their school intent on making them remember. And not just remember, but live through everything again. It seems David Ray is as evil in death as he was in life, and he's ready to show those who have returned that he will never be forgotten.

MY THOUGHTS
Reunion catapults us into a world that is both disturbingly realistic in its focus on the horrifying trend of school violence and also frighteningly fictional as the terror of the paranormal is added to human cruelty. We are exposed to the permanent emotional, mental, and physical scars of a school shooting, our senses kicked into overdrive as we realize the trauma for the survivors is not over, but rather just beginning. The premise of Reunion is solid, the combination of real and concrete events with supernatural intangibility one that is certainly intriguing enough to have us speed-reading to see what nightmares await those who deserve nothing but peace.

While the foundation of Reunion is strong and its characters varied and likeable, there are a few drawbacks in the execution. The dialogue is often forced and lacking in emotional resonance, the words delivered with little intonation and missing the quality that brings flat black letters to life as they flow from the pages into our hearts and take root. The conversations are a bit soap-opera like in nature, sometimes crossing the line of believability to remind us we are dealing with a piece of fiction as opposed to being able to lose ourselves in interactions that feel as though they're taking place in front of and around us. Mr. Bennington provides us with the skeletons of some characters with true potential, they could just use a few additional layers to shift them from shades of gray to vibrant color.

Though the characters suffer from a small substance deficiency, Mr. Bennington does surprise us with an unexpected chain of events toward the end, ratcheting up the paranormal aspect and twisting and molding it in his own unique way. The final pages, as events and characters are wrapped up neatly and tidily (something we are grateful for after all they've survived), do dissolve into a mild case of religious preaching, however it's nothing so extensive as to be overwhelming. Despite my issues with this particular story, Mr. Bennington is an author I would read again, his imagination and ability to push a story in an unforeseen direction enough to earn my continued curiosity.

Rating: 2.5/5