C Gockel Writes

Book Review: Athena’s Champion (Olympus Trilogy Book 1) by David Hair and Cath Mayo

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Featured Fantasy: Athena's Champion by David Hair and Cath Mayo


Click for current price: Amazon US, Canada, Australia

Available at higher price Amazon UK, Germany

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

I am currently reading the last book of this trilogy, which I think is an endorsement in itself. This is a much softer version of Odysseus, but he is crafty, pragmatic, and has no time for trying to do things the “honorable way.” I recommend it, even if my most favorite version of Odysseus is probably in Ilium, by Dan Simmons. (How have I not written a review for Ilium? A wicked, scheming Odysseus who has much the same aims as this one in a far future, sci-fi universe.)

Gods and mortals collide in this spellbinding retelling of a legend from classic Greek mythology, the first in the epic Olympus Trilogy.
 
A prophecy condemns him, a goddess binds him, but wisdom can set Odysseus free . . .
 
Young Prince Odysseus is about to have his world torn apart. He has travelled to the oracle at Pytho to be anointed as heir to his island kingdom, but instead a terrible secret is revealed, one that tears down every pillar of his life and marks him out for death.
 
Outcast by his family and on the run, Odysseus is offered sanctuary by Athena, goddess of wisdom, and thrust headfirst into the secret war between the gods. But can his wits, and his skill as a warrior, keep him ahead of their power games—and alive?

Book Review: Thunder Below!: The USS *Barb* Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II by Eugene B. Fluckey

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Book Review: Thunder Below!: The USS *Barb* Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II by Eugene B. Fluckey

This was loads of fun! This is the autobiography of the famous (then) Captain Fluckey, who revolutionized submarine warfare in WWII. (He later became an Admiral.)

This is a great insight into the mind and heart of man born for the military. He also is generous with his depictions of his fellow servicemen.

As a 50 year old woman, whose death defying adventures are a long time ago the insight into someone whose “fear” emotion seems to be turned off when it came to anything physical, it was very interesting. (Depth charges meters away? No problem! Lose a gift his wife had given him? Bawling in his bunk–and not ashamed to put it in print.)

It’s also a great insight into the times before rapid communications, when people wrote letters on actual paper with pencils and pens. It shows how little people have changed.

It’s also a reminder that people who read widely are unlikely to be duped. I keep seeing how heart attacks are a “modern” phenomena brought on by trans fats, grain fed beef, and vaccines. (Which isn’t to say that the mRNA vaccine doesn’t cause serious complications in young, athletic males.) But I think people died of heart attacks back in the 40s without being diagnosed. At one point one of his officers has a heart attack, despite being in his twenties, and it is almost immediately recognized by the ship’s medic who had seen “plenty” of them before.

Great book, with lots of hair raising escapades and plenty of humor, too. I highly recommend it.

Traditionally published, and available at your local library or Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia also GooglePlay, Nook, and Apple

Book Review: Linda Nagata’s The Red Sci-fi Thriller Trilogy

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Hero and secondary characters that you actually care about. Check.

Cool tech? Check.

Dilemmas that necessitate a sci-fi setting (as opposed to a story that could be told anywhere, but is sci-fi just because)? Check.

The series takes place on a near future Earth a little further along on drones and cybernetics than we are now. They’ve notably not done too much in the way of space exploration. Humanity seems to be stuck, stewing in its own corruption, the USA still in the clutches of a military industrial complex run amok. Humanity is still very much alone in the universe … or is it?

The Red is traditionally published, and the first book was a Nebula Finalist, which means you can pick it up at your local library. The trilogy is also available on Amazon of course. Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia also GooglePlay, Kobo, and Nook.

Book Review: Antimatter Blues a Mickey 7 Novel by Edward Ashton

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Antimatter Blues is the follow up to Mickey 7. If anything, it was funnier and more poignant than the first–I laughed and cried in this one. It points out a danger of cloning that I rarely see articulated: people thinking that a clone is essentially the same person as a previous clone, making the clone “expendable” in the minds of the people around him or her.

Highly recommended, just like the first. You can purchase it at Amazon US, Canada, Australia, GooglePlay

Book Review: Dual Memory by Sue Burke

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A couple of months ago I was attacked on the street. If you’re not from Chicago, you probably think that has happened to me a lot in my twenty-five years of living here. No. First time. Had more trouble in San Francisco back in the 90s. I posted about my experience on Facebook and asserted something that I thought was obvious: some people have to be locked up. It doesn’t matter what the reasons for their violence is, even if the reason is “poverty” or “mental illness” they can’t be allowed to roam free. I was told I was “brave” for saying this. (For the record, I know lots of people who are poor and mentally ill and don’t violently attack random people on the street. It’s pretty f*K!ng demeaning to use that to excuse bad behavior.)

Ms. Burke is also from Chicago. She makes the same “brave” assertion in this book. She also has a hero who can’t read or write, but isn’t portrayed as an idiot–except by antagonists in this book. She’s taking on “credentialism,” which I also try to do in my writing. I hope that there might be a “Chicago School” of sci-fi emerging that doesn’t have time for elitism or making excuses for violent behavior.

This book is funny and touching, and it features AI that is just figuring itself out. If you liked the little AI ‘bots who fell in love with 6T9 in my books, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

It’s traditionally published, so you can find it at your public library. You can also get it at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia and GooglePlay

Book Review: Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway

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I loved this. It has a (few) love story(ies) that feels/feel true, and a rough around the edges protagonist. It also has a reason why this book has to be sci-fi: a treatment that offers near immortality, but only to those who can afford it. It’s introspective and exciting–and delivers some fighting moves I never knew about.

It’s traditionally published, so you can find it at your public library. You can also get it at Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia and GooglePlay