Wade Garret's Blog

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From mpmcvey.com I want to preface this review with the admission that I’ve never read any Flintlock Fantasy before now, a subgenre to which Ghosts of the Scattered Kingdoms belongs. It’s the first book in Wade Garret’s Where Shadows Reign Series, and I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of the book for the sole purpose of writing this honest review. Epic Publishing is set to release the book on November 23rd, and the blurb for the novel on Amazon starts by stating that the story would be “perfect for fans of Steven Erikson and Brian McClellan.” I’m not familiar with either author, but having read Ghosts of the Scattered Kingdoms, I’d have to say that this comparison only serves them greatly. They should be proud to be connected to such a strong piece of work. The novel opens with the gruesome view of a broken land, scarred and tattered–like broken, bleached bones left out in the sun. A man in black rides on an injured horse, heading to a safe haven in a land surrounded by many dark, and dangerous secrets. He is Arium Black, a rebel, an assassin, and in some ways a soldier of fortune. He is a cold and calculating man, armed to the teeth and seemingly ready for all dangers he might meet. A dangerous man in a tricorn hat and duster, he has dedicated his life to hunting down the Enemy, the Father of Lies, and his network of minions that make up the Sabbat. A mission that serves more then his own hunger for vengeance, the fragile balance of peace in the Scattered Kingdoms hangs in the balance. Arriving at the Two Sisters, a tavern and inn at the heart of Pehats Berg, he learns that the Enemy’s reach had grown further than he once previously believed. The well deserved rest that he sought in the safety of the Two Sisters would have to wait as he learns that members of the Sabbat might very well be in the vicinity, cooking up a plan of treachery and betrayal. What follows is a fast and intricate tale both fascinating and enthralling, filled with diverse and unique characters. These include two young sisters that act as spies for him, a Gangster Queen, a priest, and numerous others that help to paint this colorful world. Each character, no matter how big or small, are stretched out and examined, each of their fears and hopes put on display for all readers to see. More impressive, however, is the unique world in which the story is placed. The landscape of the Scattered Kingdoms is lush with rich history and cultures that mingle with one another. Garret has little difficulty with describing the breadth of his world in a casual fashion, avoiding the treacherous boobytrap one typically finds in similar fantasy–the info dump. The passion that Garret has for his world is apparent, as is the hard work he put into crafting a world as dark and fascinating as this. The world, past an age of technology and on to magic, filled with political intrigue and the struggle of those in power to hold onto that power at all cost. Technology remains, though it seems it’s a broken art in a land torn between faith and science. And Arium Black walks through it to deliver the world out of the clasping talons of the Sabbat. Garret navigates the story with well placed narrative and action that’s as sharp as the knives that so many people slash out with throughout the book. Clashes with members of the Sabbat and even more gruesome battles against monsters of all types litter the pages, keeping this a page turner. The pace of the action isn’t too fast, but a perfect pace that allows the reader to savor each slash of a sword and each flashing blast of a Flintlock pistol. Between the world building–which Garret obviously handled with delicate and careful hands–and the rich landscape of characters, the Scattered Kingdom is primed to host many future stories for Wade Garret. I look forward to reading the further adventures of Arium Black and those of all his friends and foes. Certainly, for fans of Flintlock Fantasy, Ghosts of the Scattered Kingdoms would be an excellent addition to your library. For readers that simply enjoy a well-crafted fantasy, I would say this is a book that should not be missed. Ghosts of the Scattered Kingdoms is set to be released on November 23rd, and is available here for pre-order now!

Ebook and PRINT preorders are LIVE!

Ebook and PRINT preorders are LIVE!

Ebook preorders are LIVE! *Print coming soon.

Epic Publishing: One of our authors, Wade Garret, is celebrating his birthday this week. 🎂🎈 So, we thought this would be the perfect time to share a snippet of the cover for his upcoming novel, Ghosts of the Scattered Kingdoms. In the coming weeks, we'll give you the first look at the full illustrated cover by the uber talented Alejandro Colucci (https://www.alejandrocolucci.com/gallery). You won't want to miss the reveal, so if you're not following our page already, be sure to hit the Like button and enable notifications for new posts from this page.

So, lets talk about this verions of the JL.I'll start about by saying it was WAY better than the first one, however, being honest, I'm still not sure I can give Z.S all the creidt since he basically got the greatest redo in movie history. I mean, he got an extra, what, 70m+ to make it, and more time and it ended up being 4hrs+ long. Where else as this happnened? Never. Also, I have no doubt that THIS isn't in any way the movie we would've gotten had it been him from start to finnish, but that's just me. I feel this movie is a collective work, from the fans to those actually making the movie, which is why people like me who really really hated the original, have come around to like this movie and yet, well, we're still kinda raw about it.No reason to go into great detail since this movie fixes alot of issues from the original. I will say a few things though.1) Ben is way better as Batman in this version. No stupid jokes yet the humor flows around him, instead of coming from him, which is better. 2) Still hate the sewer crawler toy thing that Batman had. Just clucnky and slow and well, CIG bs. Wish they would've scapped it. 3) Still not a fan of the suit. Ditch the damn pads and foam. 4) Yeah, stil an Owl Man vibe but ya know, w/e....Wonder Woman is better, and her being so departed from the rest of the Amazons makes way more sense now and the fact the magical arrow flew so far, well, makes sense since it's now an actual weapon of a godess. The Amazons were great.Aquaman is better too, though his dialogue still wasn't the greatest.And Atlantis mattered more now, which is good for over all world building.Flash and Cyborg really got upgrades in the plot and action department, which was very much needed and Flash certainly had one of the best scenes in the movie and no, not the hotdog one, which was odd despite w/e you think about it. Cyborg being more central to the story since he's OF the Mother/Father Box tec, was made that more important in this version. Superman, well, his death was much more respected in this verison. The shout heard round the world was a great way to tie everything and everyone together with what exactly what happend and I mean, yeah, the black suit was great. Someone green showing up twice in the movie, a bigger moment at the end, well, didn't really make senes but was still fun. The nightmare bit, yeah, still not really sold on it, but it still works....kinda....Leto did better and so the terrible version of that character before, for me, is no more. I knew Darkseid wasn't going to really flex his muscles in this and w/e we saw would be a teaser, so I wasn't upset by what happend and at least this time the fight between all the species of the world vs Darkseid didn't come off as a shitty LOTR knockoff this time, which was good. For me, honestly, the best thing about this moive is that it totally deletes the need for BvS, which is still a terrible movie. If you go MoS, WW and THIS ZSJL, you no longer need BvS and I'll tell you why. 1) MoS intros you to Superman2) WW reveals Batman is looking for supers/meta huamns, though we don't know why till this JL when he tells us it's because Lex was already looking for them (for Darkseid no doubt, plot we later piece together ourselves) 3) The Trinity is formed (we as the audience should just GET THIS since they're the oldest comic heroes known the world over and therefore, we also assumed that the World's Finest of Batman/Superman was already a thing before that and w/e exact way it happned is kinda unneccesary) to defeat Doom/Zodsday and that's all we need to know.4) There's no more terrible version of Lex since we're shown in this version of JL that he's cleary working with/for Darkseid and when we see him later, he's way more as we all know him to be and should be.5) The Martha Line no longer needs to exist.6) The terrible plot of Batman wanting to kill Superman no longer needs to exist. 7) The outcome, Superman's death, still happens via this new JL. How does WW84 work in this timeline? Aquaman's stand alone? Yeah, no answers for you.But no more need for BvS though. Which I'm so happy about. Watch the movie. If you hated the first one, I bet you'll like this one, even if it's a crazy 4h+ movie you never would've otherwise seen without the first failure. The DCU is a mess. We should all admit that, but there's hope yet.

So, lets talk about this verions of the JL. I'll start about by saying it was WAY better than the first one, however, being honest, I'm still not sure I can give Z.S all the creidt since he basically got the greatest redo in movie history. I mean, he got an extra, what, 70m+ to make it, and more time and it ended up being 4hrs+ long. Where else as this happnened? Never. Also, I have no doubt that THIS isn't in any way the movie we would've gotten had it been him from start to finnish, but that's just me. I feel this movie is a collective work, from the fans to those actually making the movie, which is why people like me who really really hated the original, have come around to like this movie and yet, well, we're still kinda raw about it. No reason to go into great detail since this movie fixes alot of issues from the original. I will say a few things though. 1) Ben is way better as Batman in this version. No stupid jokes yet the humor flows around him, instead of coming from him, which is better. 2) Still hate the sewer crawler toy thing that Batman had. Just clucnky and slow and well, CIG bs. Wish they would've scapped it. 3) Still not a fan of the suit. Ditch the damn pads and foam. 4) Yeah, stil an Owl Man vibe but ya know, w/e.... Wonder Woman is better, and her being so departed from the rest of the Amazons makes way more sense now and the fact the magical arrow flew so far, well, makes sense since it's now an actual weapon of a godess. The Amazons were great. Aquaman is better too, though his dialogue still wasn't the greatest. And Atlantis mattered more now, which is good for over all world building. Flash and Cyborg really got upgrades in the plot and action department, which was very much needed and Flash certainly had one of the best scenes in the movie and no, not the hotdog one, which was odd despite w/e you think about it. Cyborg being more central to the story since he's OF the Mother/Father Box tec, was made that more important in this version. Superman, well, his death was much more respected in this verison. The shout heard round the world was a great way to tie everything and everyone together with what exactly what happend and I mean, yeah, the black suit was great. Someone green showing up twice in the movie, a bigger moment at the end, well, didn't really make senes but was still fun. The nightmare bit, yeah, still not really sold on it, but it still works....kinda.... Leto did better and so the terrible version of that character before, for me, is no more. I knew Darkseid wasn't going to really flex his muscles in this and w/e we saw would be a teaser, so I wasn't upset by what happend and at least this time the fight between all the species of the world vs Darkseid didn't come off as a shitty LOTR knockoff this time, which was good. For me, honestly, the best thing about this moive is that it totally deletes the need for BvS, which is still a terrible movie. If you go MoS, WW and THIS ZSJL, you no longer need BvS and I'll tell you why. 1) MoS intros you to Superman 2) WW reveals Batman is looking for supers/meta huamns, though we don't know why till this JL when he tells us it's because Lex was already looking for them (for Darkseid no doubt, plot we later piece together ourselves) 3) The Trinity is formed (we as the audience should just GET THIS since they're the oldest comic heroes known the world over and therefore, we also assumed that the World's Finest of Batman/Superman was already a thing before that and w/e exact way it happned is kinda unneccesary) to defeat Doom/Zodsday and that's all we need to know. 4) There's no more terrible version of Lex since we're shown in this version of JL that he's cleary working with/for Darkseid and when we see him later, he's way more as we all know him to be and should be. 5) The Martha Line no longer needs to exist. 6) The terrible plot of Batman wanting to kill Superman no longer needs to exist. 7) The outcome, Superman's death, still happens via this new JL. How does WW84 work in this timeline? Aquaman's stand alone? Yeah, no answers for you. But no more need for BvS though. Which I'm so happy about. Watch the movie. If you hated the first one, I bet you'll like this one, even if it's a crazy 4h+ movie you never would've otherwise seen without the first failure. The DCU is a mess. We should all admit that, but there's hope yet.