Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Armchair Interviews Reviews Jaunt!

Online book review site Armchair Interviews has provided the second review of Jaunt!

"Special Agent James Gilmour is on a mission unlike any other. He must travel through space and time to prevent the enemy from creating a super weapon and destroying all of humanity following the discovery of three caches of jewels with mystical powers. The jewels, discovered in Asia in an area where an extraterrestrial crash occurred during a previous world war, have the unusual ability to alter time.

Gilmour, the main character, is a courageous and dedicated agent who overcomes his distrust of his assignment to travel through time in an effort to save the world. His brave and stoic nature is portrayed through his words and actions throughout the storyline.

Although the idea behind the story is intriguing, I found this book very difficult to get involved in. Although I am an avid sci-fi fan, the fact that this story’s plot revolves around different nations here on earth, rather than different planets throughout the universe, made it somewhat difficult to believe as science fiction. The story is placed a meager 200 years in the future, at which time humanity has many advanced technologies and even the newly discovered capability of time travel, yet Russia is leading a confederation against the rest of the world.

With the exception of Agent Gilmore, I struggled with character believability in this novel. The characters seemed to have similar traits, and I did not feel that they stood out with their own distinguishing personalities. There were many different characters throughout the story and at times it became difficult to remember which individual played which role.

The author, Erik Kreffel, lives in Indiana. His website has interesting information about Ether, the upcoming sequel to Jaunt, and link to order the e-book.

Armchair Interviews says: Perhaps as much drama/fiction as sci-fi."

Check out armchairinterviews.com!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

JauntWorld, Year 2

JauntWorld begins year 2 in 2009! With all the turmoil in my personal life, I'm looking forward to finishing the first draft of Ether and finally releasing the first two Agent Maya books after much delay (not due to writing, mind, just scheduling time to fit them in). The crucial last act of Ether is still to be committed to paper (or hard drive) but the impetus is there!

A further project I have begun is the gathering and editing of a book honoring my father's artwork and illustrations, tentatively titled Kreffel: A Life in Gags, that I will be self-publishing through Lulu.com in the future, with all proceeds benefitting charity. This volume (one of a projected work of volumes, more likely) will be all his black and white comic strips, panels, magazine and editorial work created in the nearly four decades of his career, starting from late high school, his years in the US Army, Indiana Bell Yellow Pages advertising and his final decades in freelancing. This is a monumental task, as he was extremely prolific, and scanning all this linework in is a job unto itself! It's a labor of love, though, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy 2009!