A Wrong Turn Over on Threads That Bind

Some of you may already know I write a periodic post on the Threads That Bind blog. It’s a forum for lovers of the dark in literature, film, and what have you.

The other day my friend Jack Tyler posted a top-drawer short tale about what ifs. Read it here.

I very much like Jack’s writing. The storytelling is straight forward, the dialogue is realistic, the characters are lifelike, and the description is just right.

In this story, you can see how much we learn about the characters from just the dialogue. The sign of a master craftsman.

“Wrong Turn” is the kind of story that draws you in and gets you thinking about the turns in your own life — both good and bad. A trip down What If Lane.

So treat yourself to a shorty about taking the wrong turn. It’s a bit sad, a touch philosophical, packs a hidden punch, and is very simply a whole lot of very good.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

The Stone Seekers

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of - Part 4

A couple, three years ago I ran into Jack Tyler on a now defunct steampunk forum. We’ve kept in touch over the years. He’s a very interesting fellow and you can read his thoughts about books and life on his blog.

I read and reviewed Beyond the Rails a couple years ago. It’s a good book. I have the other two in the series and look forward to reading them.

However, I think the book that is truly the winner in Jack’s oeuvre is The Stone Seekers.

Over the years, I’ve drifted away from fantasy because, for the most part, the corporate publishers gave us nothing but Tolkien pastiches that weren’t anywhere near as good as the original. Or magic that just didn’t make sense because it was inconsistent.

If I see the words elf, or dwarf, that’s it. The book goes back on the virtual shelf. Or if I see pointy ears, the same — back on the shelf it goes. With very rare exception. The same goes for magic.

As a result, I was very surprised — pleasantly surprised — not to find even a smidgen of Tolkien in The Stone Seekers. There is magic, but it is well done.

Tyler has given us a new world of quests and high adventure. He’s given us new beings that are unique and mythic. Along with his straightforward and good storytelling.

In fact, I think The Stone Seekers could be turned into at least a trilogy, if not a series. And I think we readers would like that. But first, we need to get Mr Tyler some sales and reviews. The book is currently only 99¢. You can spend a buck on far worse than Jack Tyler’s book and not get the lasting satisfaction and enjoyment provided by The Stone Seekers. The book would also make for a fabulous movie.

The story line is a standard quest plot. Nothing new there. Where The Stone Seekers shines is in the well-drawn characters and the world that Tyler has created. The characters are complex, but not overly so. The world is richly drawn, but description doesn’t bog down the story.

As I stated above, Tyler is a good storyteller. He gives us enough so we keep on reading, right to the end. Where I, at least, was filled with sadness that there was no more.

The Stone Seekers is very much worth your time and money. The book is good old-fashioned fun and very satisfying entertainment.

Comments are always welcome, and, until next time — happy reading!

Book Review: Beyond The Rails by Jack Tyler

One of the defining features of the punk genres is a protagonist on the edge of society, which allows the author plenty of room to critique said society. This aspect is particularly true in cyberpunk, the original punk genre, and perhaps less so in others.

Jack Tyler, in his short story collection, Beyond The Rails, has given us not one, but five societal misfits and placed them in the colonial frontier of an alternative history 1880s Kenya. The social critique aspect of the punk genre comes in how the white and black Kenyans get along, drawing a contrast with actual history and our own contemporary society. The critique, though, is very understated. Mr Tyler just sort of slips it in. Only the adventure is heavy handed here and that’s a good thing.

Beyond The Rails has all the trappings of steampunk, airships, high adventure, fantastical inventions, and, of course, steam power. Mr Tyler has managed to capture the essence of Firefly and at the same time given us the field of an H Rider Haggard African adventure. And who doesn’t love She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and Allen Quatermain?

There are six stories in the collection. The first three are independent and the last three actually form a novella in three parts. The first story, “The Botanist”, introduces us to the crew of the airship Kestrel and one Dr Nicholas Ellsworth. As with Firefly, the Kestrel takes on cargo and passengers for delivery beyond the end of the railroad line. And as with Firefly, the passenger we meet… Well, I won’t spoil things. If you know Firefly, you have an idea what happens. And if you don’t, you’ll just have to read the story.

I found the stories to be fun and engaging reads. They are unabashedly in the action/adventure realm, evoking the spirit of the stories I read as a kid. The focus is on the exciting story line and not so much on the characters. Which isn’t to say the crew of the Kestrel aren’t an interesting bunch of misfits — for they are. The focus, though, is on the story and not on changes or the lack thereof in the characters of the story.

As writers, we are told stories are either plot-driven or character-driven. As readers, we tend to prefer exciting and suspenseful stories (like, say, the Indiana Jones or Lara Croft yarns) or we tend to prefer stories that get into a character’s head and where the action tends to be not quite so exciting and perhaps not exciting at all (such as a Yasujiro Ozu movie or a Kazuo Ishiguro novel).

For me, from both a reading and writing perspective, it is character that matters. One of my favorite movies, Late Spring, directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1949), is very understated. There is only a minimalist story. However, the intense emotion that builds up between father and daughter is phenomenal.

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good action/adventure story where the characters lean towards being stock, because I do—as long as the characters are interesting and colorful. Indiana Jones is certainly colorful, but he doesn’t change all that much even throughout the series of movies.

What Jack Tyler has given us in Beyond The Rails, is action and adventure with characters who are interesting enough to appeal to the most diehard character-driven story reader.

If you like steampunk, the stories of H Rider Haggard, Firefly, I think you’ll want to curl up with Beyond The Rails. I know I did and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!