C Gockel Writes

Book Review: His Majesty’s Dragon

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His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

$1.99 as of July 12, 2025
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Well, this was delightful. Recently I read a Regency Romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. The culture of Regency era Europe is so foreign, that it might as well be fantasy. There are gazillions of Regency Romances out there and I thought I might find another I liked as much quite easily. Ha, ha, ha…No.

And then I discovered His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik. I am a huge fan of her reimagined fairy tales Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and decided to give this a shot. His Majesty’s Dragon is NOT a Romance; it is better. It has the cultural voyeurism that I so enjoy with DRAGONS! Talking dragons that take the place of airplanes and join the Napoleonic Wars. The lead human character is a good guy, but a bit on the stiff side. The author writes this stiffness in a way that makes it endearing, and shows the positive attributes of that sort of character. Too often the upright individual winds up the minor antagonist in fiction. The hero always has to be the maverick.

It is a super fun book. It is the perfect thing to take your mind off things that we shall not mention it by name here, but it rhymes with “Come on Eileen.”

UPDATE: I finished the whole series, adored it, and went into a state of withdrawal afterwards. It is traditionally published and very popular…and therefore available at libraries, though the first two ebooks are reasonably priced.

Available at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia

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Featured Fantasy: Hedgewitch for Hire by Christine Pope

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Featured Fantasy: Hedgewitch for Hire by Christine Pope

START THE SERIES FREE — Book 2 Only 99¢ & Book 3 Only $2.99
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When you pull up stakes, make sure you don’t get stabbed in the back.

Self-taught in the arcane arts, hedgewitch Selena Marx is comfortable doing divination for West Los Angeles’ anxiety-ridden housewives, lawyers, and aspiring actresses. Her biggest challenge? Avoiding Lucien Dumond, leader of the Greater Los Angeles Necromancers’ Guild, who views her as fresh meat to add to his harem of slavishly devoted groupies.

Selena’s not interested in the slimy, celebrity-schmoozing sorcerer, but nobody turns Lucien down without consequences. When he threatens to fit her with magical cement shoes and drop her off the Santa Monica Pier, Selena’s Tarot cards point her to Globe, Arizona, for a new home, a new shop, and a cursed pet cat.

Just as she’s settling in and meeting the locals — including Calvin Standingbear, hunky chief of the San Ramon Apache tribal police — Lucien tracks her down…and promptly disappears. When his body turns up on tribal lands, it’s up to Calvin to investigate. Starting with Selena.

And when one of Lucien’s acolytes is killed, traces of dark magic and cryptic warnings from the spirits send Selena and Calvin in a race against time — before a too-close-for-comfort evil cuts her own life short.

The Hedgewitch for Hire series will continue with book 2, Social Medium, releasing on March 31, 2021. The romance subplot will stretch over the entire series, while each novel will be a self-contained mystery without a cliffhanger.

Featured Sci-fi: Max and the Multiverse by Zachry Wheeler

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FREE as of July 12, 2025
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An award-winning sci-fi comedy about a nerdy teen who tumbles through the multiverse.

It’s spring break and Max is stuck at home all by himself. Just the way he likes it. He games online, feasts on junk, and wonders why his cat can suddenly talk.

Thanks to a bizarre mishap, Max has started shifting between parallel universes whenever he falls asleep. A curious affliction, and one that steadily erodes his sanity. Day after day, he awakes to a strange new reality and struggles to make sense of his surroundings.

But then one day he awakes to a hyper-advanced version of Earth where humans have colonized space. Determined to fulfill a lifelong dream, Max and his cyborg cat venture into the black, only to entangle themselves in an intergalactic conflict.


Max and the Multiverse is a Readers’ Favorite® 5-Star Selection and a Global Ebook Awards Gold Medal Winner

“One of the finest pieces of sci-fi satire I have ever read.” —Eric Michael Craig, Rivenstone Press

“In my opinion, Zachry Wheeler is the heir apparent to Douglas Adams.” —Ben Ragunton, TG Geeks

“A roller-coaster of a trip, fast-paced and filled with excitement.” —Geoff Habiger, Readers’ Favorite

“A delightful tour de farce! Brilliantly absurd and absurdly brilliant.” —Victor Acquista, Podfobler Productions

“Holy smokes! Wheeler is the funniest living author I’ve read.” —S. Shane Thomas, Science Fantasy Hub

Featured Sci-fi: The Weapon Books 1 – 3 by Richard Fox

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Featured Sci-fi: The Weapon Books 1 - 3 by Richard Fox

99¢ as of July 9, 2025
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1000+ Pages of explosive military sci-fi action await in the complete The Weapon Series from Richard Fox.

On the battlefields of the future, death is not the end for a soldier.

The Revenant Program collects badly wounded soldiers broken by war and converts them into unthinking, unfeeling cyborg weapons. Their bodies are immune to pain, their minds impervious to fear and doubt. All controlled by a neural implant called the Imperative.

They are the ideal force for any mission too deadly or too difficult for normal men. A force that answers to the darkest corners of the military.

But when one of the Revenants awakens, he can only remember two things: that he must fight, and a code name…Dead Man.

Who was he before he became a Revenant? What are the officers and scientists controlling the program to do with a soldier that can question the horrific orders he’s given?

The more those controlling the Dead Man learn of who he was, they realize they may have turned a monster into something truly unstoppable. And with every memory recovered, the Imperative drives the Dead Man closer to insanity.

The Weapon is a new series by best-selling military science fiction author Richard Fox, author of the Ember War Saga and Governor: Ascent to Empire.

Featured Sci-fi: On Impact (Reliance Sinclair Space Opera Book 2) by Heather Texle

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Featured Sci-fi: On Impact (Reliance Sinclair Space Opera Book 2) by Heather Texle

New Release—Sequel to On Impulse
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They turned me into a weapon. Now I’m the only one who can stop them.

When an assassin kills a Ritruvian official using an illegal bionic weapon, the galaxy teeters on the edge of war. My team must locate the remaining weapons and shut down Tazza Industries, the company that developed them.

I have history with Tazza. Six months ago, they used me as a test subject, implanting a cutting-edge chip into my brain designed for espionage and covert operations. Instead of killing me, it gave me a deadly advantage—and a purpose.

To take them down and avoid an interplanetary war, I’ll need to confront my darkest fears—and trust the lethal skills I never wanted.

Featured Sci-fi: Starship Found (Alien Ship for Sale Books 1 – 4) by Miles Rozak

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Featured Sci-fi: Starship Found (Alien Ship for Sale Books 1 - 4) by Miles Rozak

99¢ as of July 9, 2025
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1,500+ pages kick off with the #1 Space Marine bestseller and #1 new release in Space Opera… now expanded with all-new scenes and available for one low price!

What would you do if the night you discovered a starship, your four-year-old son went missing?

Tyson Gage has no choice but one—which even for the Marine Corps vet—seems impossible: leave life on Earth behind to mount a rescue among the stars…

Eight hundred years from our time.

Destiny awaits where the war over artifacts connects to our past and future. Surrounded by factions and tech more deadly and awesome than he can imagine, he’ll have to prove himself to be selected for special ops…

Where he’ll ascend—reloaded, reborn—as one of the galaxy’s greats.

This box set contains Books 1-4 in the Alien Ship for Sale series (Starship Found, Child Missing; Star Centurion; The Son Returns; and Code Red Bounty).

If you like action-packed military scifi with discovery, humor, and strong characters, join those who’ve already discovered this #1 Amazon Scifi bestseller. Join Gage’s quest to recover his son while learning how to lead in his first command.

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