J.B. Garner's Blog

Quick update!

You can also get the new release of all three volumes of The Push Chronicles in e-book format through Smashwords now (for those who don’t like Amazon) as well as print editions through CreateSpace. Just slide over to my Released Books page for links!

It’s coming down to the end of 2017 but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a last few conventions with which to blow out the year with a bang!

This Friday, I’ll be headed to Mobile, AL for Quest-Con 2017 alongside the always amazing Bard’s Tower crew. I’ll have plenty of Push Chronicle books for sale and I’m always open for a chat. If you’re in the area or headed to the convention anyway, we’d love to see you at the booth.

Not to be beat, November will bring us to the last show of the year (at least for me), Kansas City Comic Con 2017. I had a great time there last year and I’m looking forward to my return trip! This one will be a solo outing so I’ll have my full library of titles for sale so come on by if you’re there.

Thanks for all the support! Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

So it’s time to make the more proper big announcement I’ve been waiting to do all week. I am honored to say that all three books of the Push Chronicles are now being published through WordFire Press!

You can get them now through Amazon and Baen Books‘ e-book store! The covers have had a little touch-up but still show the amazing art from my good friend, Felipe De Barros, and the excellent editing and proofing team from Wordfire have done their magic. If you‘re looking for some excellent superhero literature that goes a little deeper than your everyday smash-bam-pow, give these a read!

You can get the updated links from my Released Books page, right at the top!

For our first big announcement of the week, we’ll start with the most time-sensitive-that-is-not-limited-in-some-fashion: I’ll be at Quest-Con 2017 in Mobile, AL!

So, if you want to meet me in person, chew the fat, get an autograph (I’ll sign, like, anything for free), or actually buy a book or three, I will be there all three days (October 20th through the 22nd) for your meeting pleasure. It’ll be a ton of fun so if you’re in the area, make sure to clear the schedule and attend the con!

There’s plenty more to come this week, so stay tuned! Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

I just updated ye olde Released Book page and the astute among you may notice that there are no more included links to purchase any of the Push Chronicle books. Now, before you panic, let me assure you that while you cannot currently purchase them, there’s a really, awfully good reason why not.

Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to say why that is or when that will change. All I can assure you is that it’s actually a really good thing and that they will be available again sometime Soon (TM).

Uhm, that’s all I can say about that. For now. Again, Soon (TM). Until then, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

Wow, it’s been a while.

First, let me start off by making the usual excuses. I was very busy, I had so much writing to do, I had a ton of editing jobs, and a lot of personal appearances (at least for me).

Now that I have that out of the way, let me knock all those excuses down.

While none of them are lies (I put out a book, did a ton of editing jobs, outlined another book, am in the process of writing two more books, and did two conventions and a library appearance), they aren’t the real reason I didn’t post on the blog. I could have and honestly should have found the time to do so.

No, the reason I didn’t was simple. Despite how it may seem to those of you that have seen me in person, I am quite an introvert. Not to some crippling level, no, and I am a bit more extroverted than many of my friends, but at the end of the day, to be social, to put on the smile and make those personal appearances, to even interact actively through social media and (dare I say?) blogs, that all takes energy. A lot of energy, to be honest.

So, those conventions, all the prep for them, and all the time expended working with those amazing people in the writing and publishing business on the various projects I have in the oven, they all ate at my energy and patience to do more. It was easier to let the social media and the blogs lay fallow, focus what I could muster into the direct interactions. It seemed smart at the time and maybe it was.

In the end, though, it’s untenable. The point is that this is my main contact point with you, my fellow readers, writers, and generally interesting people, when I am not talking to you directly, say, at a convention. That conversation is worth having and for all the energy it takes, it bears far more fruit than it does weeds.

So, to put it in the immortal words of one Bender Bending Rodriguez:

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As promised, if late in the day, let’s take a moment to look at what’s coming in the next couple of months. Today, we’ll specifically highlight books that I am in writing that should start cropping up over the rest of Summer 2017!

First up, I am elbow-deep in the second Elements of Wrath Online litRPG book with J. A. Cipriano. This next one is titled The Vale of the Three Wolves and will focus on Shale and Kayla’s mutual quest to find the Ring of Promise and all the soul-searching, questing, and learning about each other that journey will entail. We’re aiming to be done by the end of June, so keep alert for updates as they come along!
After that, it’s time to start on the next Dwarf for Hire book! Rune Service has been doing fantastic and it was probably the most fun book for me to write so far. All that means that I am eager to go back to Mary Stone’s misadventures. The next book is tentatively titled Once in a Blue Rune and hopefully will be written by the end of July, then released in August after editing and all that good grid.
During that entire two-month spread, I’ll also be working in the off hours on a special collaboration with Suppapong Studios, the source of the great cover art for the print edition of Rune Service. We’re delving into the world of Japanese-style light novels and so far it’s been an amazing experience working on a project that is more of a collaboration with an artist and designer beyond the cover work. As we’re working on this project in between our other contracts and projects, this one may take a little more time to get out but it will definitely be released before year’s end.

From there the magic eight-ball starts to look hazy. Obviously, expect the last Elements of Wrath Online book to be finished by year’s end as well. Whether a third Dwarf for Hire book will hit depends entirely on how things go convention and travel wise by year’s end but we can certainly hope!

Speaking of conventions, expect an update specifically regarding those sometime next week, as well as a return to our Starving Review schedule! Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

Short and sweet today!

Mobicon 2017 is just around the corner and I hope to see you there! I’ll be setting up shop at Booth #35 (check out the map below) and I’ll have a full slate of my solo books for sale. Grab The Push Chronicles, Three Seconds to Legend, The Songstress Murders, and my latest, Rune Service! Get them signed! Chat, get a picture, whatever you like!

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The fun starts at 12:00 pm in Mobile!

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Procythian Reign (Proceena Trilogy Book 1) by T. Allen Diaz (Amazon, Goodreads)

Good morning, literary foodies! It’s time to open up the pantry and pull out a new recipe to sample. Today’s narrative treat is a military space opera from local Florida chef, T. Allen Diaz. Promising thrills, action, intrigue, and sci fi drama, Procythian Reign sounds like the perfect treat for a connoisseur of science fiction and fantasy as yours truly is … but will it fill me up or leave me wanting?

Before we find out, let’s speak the oaths of the Starving Reviewer:

I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible

The best way to find out is the usual way, targeting the usual trifecta of characters, plot, and theme. First off, Reign does a pretty great job fleshing out and giving that certain spice of life to its wide cast of characters. Much of this future alien world makes sense and is fairly well grounded in our own world and that makes our major players relatable, transferring much of the class tension of 21st century Earth to this distant world.However, this does dovetail into my one big criticism of

However, this does dovetail into my one big criticism of Reign: there are too many characters given too much time to the point that it makes it a bit hard to truly bond with anyone. It’s an ensemble piece, which can work, but there was a very disturbing tendency that every character I started to really connect with died. It’s not that I mind a character I love dying (I’ve even killed my fair share of those I love the most in my own books) but if they ALL die, it leads me to check out. This is a very subjective criticism, though, and others may very much enjoy that aspect of the tale.

The plot is a deeply tangled one, living up to the promises of political intrigue. Alliances, betrayals, spycraft, deal making and breaking, pretty much every aspect of the political thriller is alive and well here. Most importantly, it all works. Everything weaves together and you can work out the threads of each move and countermove. One of the biggest sins that a plot so full of this style of intrigue is to not have it hold together so the chef really gets it together on this aspect.

Thematically, Reign paints a dark picture of a space opera, definitely more Empire Strikes Back than Return of the Jedi, regardless of how the plot winds up. There are few truly ‘good’ people with most painted in varying shades of gray, even the ‘bad guys’. Death is common, the galaxy is a pretty crappy place, idealism outside of a few centers of faith seems pretty dead, and the military engagements are played straight for deadly seriousness. The theme is steady consistent and for fans of dark sci-fi, it should be a treat.

A side-note, a minor critique that isn’t critical, is that while the majority of the world building is solid, there are elements that are vague, especially in terms of the actual technology level of the galaxy. While this isn’t a hard sci-fi book, there was enough vagueness and a lack of explanation of several major bits that I had to do some rereads to get the proper inference of things (I really thought that indigos were actually, you know, indigo for a large portion of the book). I don’t think it’s anything that readers won’t be able to figure out but still worth a note.

To sum everything up, Procythian Reign is a solid military space opera cake, run through with dark flavors, with only a few flaws to muddle the mix! If you love dark themes, political intrigue, and military elements mixed with your space opera, you should pick this one up. If you prefer brighter themes or more straight forward plots, you might want to go for a more ‘pure’ space opera.

FINAL VERDICT: **** (A solid military space opera cake, run through with dark flavors, with only a few flaws to muddle the mix!)

So, you may have noticed that yesterday Rune Service got a re-release on Amazon! Or maybe you didn’t. My initial release was done at a time when there were a million other things on my plate and because of that, one of my favorite books to write didn’t receive the attention, focus, or care that it should have. This time, I gathered the proper help from a very marketing-capable friend and so we did it right this time. Just take a look at how things are going near the end of day 1:

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Along with a great first day, there’s also a growing number of reviews to take a look at. Check it out on the Amazon page! Don’t forget that Rune Service will be on sale through Amazon ending Tuesday for only $.99 USD!

Oh, and speaking of reviews, Indomitable got a fresh new take from none other than an author I truly admire, D. J. Butler. You can take a look at the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3FRQ272KMFHKG/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00N75SP70