Justin Hebert's Blog

In addition to working an exhausting (but enjoyable!) side-job, taking my family on various vacation adventures, and busily writing A Test of Honor’s sequel (The People’s Champion – coming fall 2014!), I have also been working on a new mailing list freebie.

I’ve written a little about how foolish I felt offering A Test of Honor for free in exchange for a mailing list sign up after I released the book for $2.99 on Amazon. I know that if I was a reader, and I bothered visiting an author’s site after enjoying one of their books and I discovered they were giving away the book I just dropped hard-earned cash purchasing, I would feel cheated. I can’t change the past (and again, if this happened to you, I am very sorry and it WILL NOT happen again!), but I can change what I give away in the future. That’s why I’m currently making a digital art companion featuring full color portraits of the major characters from A Test of Honor along with some loose sketches of these characters in action.

One more thing: this will be the first of many digital art companions which I plan to create for all three books in the Aidan’s War Trilogy. They’ll be available to the general public once the series is complete, individually and as part of a “digital deluxe edition,” but if you’re on the mailing list, you’ll get them all for free, months before they’re available anywhere else.

Just another great reason to join my mailing list, which you can do here.

Every Story Must End… Eventually

I finished the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, Catching Fire, about a year and a half ago. Last week, I finished the third and final book in the series, Mockingjay. What took me so long? Basically, I just wasn’t ready for it to end yet. I fell in love with the characters and I found the premise fascinating. Now that I’ve read book 3, though, I really can’t wait to see the movie and I hope they treat it with the same care and passion the crew and cast have brought to the previous adaptations.

Worth the wait.

It’s a funny feeling, finishing a series. My curiosity over the fates of the characters has been satisfied and I feel the bliss of catharsis washing over me, but I’m also sad because their stories have been told, their songs sung>. Regardless of the fact that they were imaginary, I had grown very fond of them and concerned for their day-to-day well-being. And I will miss them.

<>There’s another series whose final book I’ve been putting off reading: The Leviathan Trilogy. Set in an alternate universe where Charles Darwin discovered DNA and scientists began designing specialized creatures for labor and warfare (at least in the Allied nations), the Leviathan Trilogy follows the exploits of a young female airman who’s posing as a boy and the heir apparent to the Austria-Hungary Empire as the two navigate the difficult and often treacherous events of a World War I fought between Darwinist beastmasters and Steampunk engines. I love a good alternate history and the author of this series, Scott Westerfield, does a fantastic job of combining in-depth research with imagination and telling a story that still revolves around the characters and the steampunk/biopunk tech supports that story rather than distracting from it.

If you like great alternate history books, do yourself a favor and get this. Seriously, It’s awesome.

Some day I’ll finish the Leviathan Trilogy. Even now, the ebook sits in my Kindle Library daring me to open its virtual pages. But I’m just not ready. I want to keep Deryn and Alek in my head a little longer, imagine what trouble they might plunge into next, and agonize over whether either of them can be happy in the world that’s emerging from the ashes of a World War.

All that being said, I don’t think I’ll wait long to read the final book in A Song of Ice And Fire (Game of Thrones, for you HBO fans!) once it’s eventually released. In that case, I’m so terrified for the safety of each character that I want to know as soon as possible which will survive and which will snuff it. Which is exactly the way GRRM wants it.

Even when he smiles, he looks like he’s planning to kill all my favorite characters and ruin my life.

Are you reading a series and/or putting off reading its penultimate volume? Tell me all about whatever you’re currently reading in the comments!

WARNING: This post contains spoilers from A Test of Honor.

As some of you already know, the sequel to A Test of Honor is already underway. I am currently charging through chapter 12 of the rough draft, and if I can keep up my hectic writing schedule, I’m hoping to have the book finalized and available in the Kindle Store by late October. Its title will be “The People’s Champion.”

The rebellion has had impressive early successes and is beseiging Klauston.  However, they’ve suffered their share of setbacks including the untimely death of their latest Marshall.  The People’s Council, a mixture of Landborn Nobles and Common community leaders who are the official leaders of the rebellion, has been vaccilating over who will take command of their army and the egos of the more ambitious Council Members threaten to undermine the war effort.

Aidan and his friends, in an attempt to get the army to continue making progress and to fend off a new threat of invaders from the western archipelligo of Peyrola, take five thousand troops to pacify the invaders and to help an unlikely friend on a personal quest. Impressed with the results of his excursions, the Council rewards Aidan with a title not used in seven hundred years – The People’s Champion.  Granted broad authority with his newfound title, Aidan continues to walk a fine line between being a warrior and preserving his own humanity, and drifts closer to the brink of despair than he ever expected.

The People’s Champion will expand on the themes of A Test of Honor – the nature of war, pragmatism versus ideals, and pit Aidan against ruthless enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy him and his friends.  It will also reveal more about Caledonia’s history and answer some of the questions that naturally arose from A Test of Honor.

If you’re finished reading A Test of Honor and haven’t left a review yet, please let me know what you think on Amazon or Goodreads today! I really do want honest feedback because it helps me improve as an author. Thank you all, I couldn’t do this without you!

The Truth is Out There

I loved watching the X-Files in my teen and young adult years (yes, I am that old!). The long-running series featured every pseudoscience and urban legend it could find, from liver-eating coccoon mutants to the Jersey Devil. But no show about the mysteries of reality would be complete without aliens.

Aliens have long been a staple of Science Fiction, and American culture in particular seems fascinated with their existence. Some say they are here already, kidnapping people and experimenting on them, mutilating cattle, and of course manipulating historical events. And yet when it comes to producing conclusive proof, UFO believers have yet to produce anything that can’t be explained by natural phenomena, alcohol consumption, or simple human paranoia.

As far as we know, we are alone in the universe. But that may soon change.

Where there’s water…

NASA believes there may be water on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. They are currently accepting proposals for which instruments they ought to use to determine whether this is true or not. While this may sound like an over-priced inter-system well-drilling operation, it is actually the beginning of determining whether or not there is life, independently evolved from that of earth and completely alien, living beneath the ice that covers Europa’s surface.

I rather like Neil Degrasse-Tyson’s take on Europa:

But What Would it Mean?

It would mean brand new discoveries in biology and evolution, for one. It would also likely mean a boost for the space program and perhaps even an increased desire to explore our little solar system and even the galaxy.

Space, as Douglas Adams so aptly wrote in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is big. Really big. And while it is difficult to understand why Russian scientists would send a satellite into space filled with randy Geckos having sex, discovering alien life would popularize science in a way we haven’t seen in years.

This high resolution image shows the ice-rich crust of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. Seen here are crustal plates ranging up to 13 km (8 miles) across, which have been broken apart and “rafted” into new positions, superficially resembling the disruption of pack-ice on polar seas during spring thaws on Earth. The size and geometry of these features suggest that motion was enabled by ice-crusted water or soft ice close to the surface at the time of disruption. The area shown is about 34 km by 42 km (21 miles by 26 miles), centered at 9.4 degrees north latitude, 274 degrees west longitude, and the resolution is 54 m (59 yards). This picture was taken by the Solid State Imaging system on board the Galileo spacecraft on 20 February 1997, from a distance of 5,340 km (3,320 miles) during the spacecraft’s close flyby of Europa.

I can’t help but also feel like it would give a boost to the pseudoscience industry as well, paving the way for a whole new generation of hucksters and con artists to fleece desperate people by selling them alien ointments for their joint pains, ground alien powder for lactose intolerance, and perhaps even claiming that vaccines are made from alien matter that makes it easy for the government to control us.

As much as I have fond memories of watching The X-Files when I was young, when I rewatched the entire series a few years ago I couldn’t help but cringe at the combination of bad science, hokey conspiracy theories, and general distrust of the actual scientific community which the late 90′s show fostered. In short, while the show likely inspired my young mind to begin crafting scifi stories of my own, I can’t help but feel that it probably did more harm than good by presenting proven medicine and science in such a negative light. As I’ve grown older, I have come to realize that science, actual empirical science, is a force for good in the world and can make our lives better.

The discovery of even primitive microscopic alien life would answer one question and raise a thousand others. If there’s life on Europa, might there not be life on other planets as well? What forms would it take? And might some of it be as intelligent or, dare we say it, more intelligent than humans?

Luckily, science has no problem with questions because questions lead to data which lead to discovery. And just because scientists probably can’t answer every question in the universe, that won’t stop them from trying.

After reading the first three trade paperbacks, I’m not sure whether Saga is a beautiful love story with a wartime setting, a brilliant war story with a love story as a plot device, or a perfect amalgam of both. One thing is certain: Saga is brilliant.

Saga is the story of war run amok, and readers are not spared from the practical horrors and visceral realities of proxy warfare. Two peoples, the techno-savvy winged warriors of Landfall and the spell-casting horned-headed mages of moon Wreath, are locked in a bitter feud with plenty of blood on everyone’s hands. Because the two worlds depend on one another to maintain a stable orbit, they fight their battles on other planets, essentially drawing the entire galaxy into their war. Horrific atrocities have been committed by both sides, and in some cases entire indigenous peoples on the proxy planets have been driven to extinction. And in the midst of this war, a baby has been born. A baby whose father bears the horns of Wreath, but whose mother has the wings of Landfall.

And the story is told from the child’s perspective years later, which makes for an ominous and yet playful narrative.

Alana of Landfall was previously a guard at a prison camp in which prisoners from Wreath are incarcerated. Marko of Wreath was one of her prisoners, one who surrendered peacefully after the grim realities of battle transformed him into a conscientious objector. The two of them developed a relationship after Alana shares a book with him, and eventually she decides to flee with him and start a life together. I appreciated the gradual development of their relationship (told in flashbacks after we’re already in the thick of the action with the characters), and I especially liked that writer Brian K. Vaughn didn’t resort to a lazy “love-at-first-sight” mechanic.

Pictured: NOT love at first sight.

When we first meet the couple, Alana is about to give birth as platoons from both of their factions are closing in. It’s an intense beginning, and the pacing throughout the series is perfect. The supporting characters add a lot of depth to the story – bounty hunters who have their own interpersonal issues (often with one another), a ghost of an exterminated race, a veteran member of royalty who struggles with PTSD and wants nothing more than to go home to his family – and give the readers breathing room from the main characters when we need to take a break from the razor’s edge upon which they lead their lives.

Fiona Staples’ art is stunningly effective and each panel exists in perfect harmony between its story and the images she presents. Her illustration style is sometimes minimalistic and other times intricately graphic. Her storytelling comes through as mature and confident, not needing to render every single character in retina-splitting detail, but utilizing detail when it matters. This gives the battle flashback scenes of the character Prince Robot IV particular punch as we are forced to witness the horrors he experienced in full, explicit detail.

Saga is everything a mature comic book reader looking for a serious and original scifi/fantasy could want – interesting story, compelling characters who don’t fit the usual archetypal molds of space opera, and a stark look at the nature of war and its destructive influence. This is a galaxy where magic and technology have both been developed to a brutal and savage extreme, where life is cheap and easily lost. But still there is hope.

Without giving anything away, this moment is by far one of the most poignant and beautiful of the entire series so far. It actually brought me to tears.

My favorite thing about Saga is how its characters know that the odds are against them, and yet still they continue to pursue the most defiant act imaginable: they live. At any moment, their entire world can come crashing down in a storm of laser fire, swords, and tribalist vengeance and yet they refuse to give in. This is a work in which the nights are dark as pitch, but they only make the daylight shine that much brighter. More than a book about war, more than a book about love, this is a book about hope. And hope is something worth spreading.

Saga on Comixology

When I decided to make my passion for writing stories into a business, I wondered how long I had before someone gave me “the look.”  If you work in a creative industry, you know the one.  The raised eyebrows, pursed lips, and head tilt all point to one unspoken message: good luck, sucker.

We often tell children to follow their dreams. It’s a common theme in popular fiction, but it seems like few actually pull it off.  Many people watch their dreams die slow deaths in the face of poisonous cynicism disguised as practicality.  The dream seems too good to be true.  There must be a catch.  All too often, we decide that the whole idea is a catch – that only peolpe who are unstable, flaky, and flighty-as-pixies think the world will cooperate with their dreams, particularly if those dreams are artistic.

As we get older, people begin asking, “When are you going to settle down and get a job?”  And job doesn’t mean a passion or a dream – a job is a terrible set of tasks which someone pays you a monthly salary in order to accomplish on their behalf.  Make no mistake, when people ask when you are going to “get a job,” they mean the kind of job you’d have if your life was Officespace.

“Yeah, if you could just accept a well-paying job that makes you miserable and give up on your dreams forever? That would be great.”

Lots of people go through life doing jobs they don’t particularly want to do, but must do because they depend on the income.  And because they don’t think they can follow a creative dream and have the house, car, and 2.5 kids we were all promised as well.  But this is a lie.  Dreams don’t simply come true – you have to build them.

When I began this writing journey, I didn’t simply write a book and then put it in the Kindle store as soon as I finished a rough draft.  I paid an artist to make an incredibly beautiful cover, I hired a freelance editor (hi, Jason!) to fix my wording and make everything consistent, and I learned best practices for writing and promoting a fiction book.  I wasn’t afraid to learn what most would consider boring business stuff if it meant I could do what I love – writing stories.

The ultimate goal for me is to earn enough income from published stories that I won’t need the support of a “day job.”  But that’s a long way off.  As exciting as it was to push the ‘publish’ button on my first book, as thrilling as it was to hold the paperback in my hands and smell its pages, and as awesome as it felt when the first reviews from readers were positive, I would not say I have achieved my dream.  Not yet.  And truth be told, I don’t know if we should even think of dreams as things to be achieved, as though they are nothing more than items on a to-do list.  Dreams are paths, not destinations.

If you have a dream that doesn’t align with getting a standard 9-5, don’t just follow it: build it.  Find a way to make it profitable.  This is going to take work, and it will probably mean doing things that don’t come naturally to you.  But at the end of your life, are you really going to look back and wish you hadn’t spent so much time and money doing what you loved?

I don’t have anything to sell here, for anyone who’s expecting a sales pitch. I write and sell Fantasy and Science Fiction novels to people who are interested. I wrote this because I wish someone would have told me all of these things much sooner in life. Maybe I can be that someone for somebody else.

If you’re interested in following your passion, in building a business around something you care about, here are some resources that I use that might be able to help you, too.

The Seanwes Podcast – Sean McCabe and Ben Toulsen have down-to-earth conversations about transforming passions into businesses. They approach business from a practical, experience-based perspective while refusing to compromise their personal values. They’re currently approaching their hundredth episode and have a wealth of practical advice for business-minded creatives.
Gary Vaynerchuk – I first read “Crush It!” back in 2011, and while it took me a few years to put its principles into practice, I can’t deny that it changed my life. Gary continues to be a huge influence on social media and internet marketing, and a lot of the truths in this book are downright prescient in how applicable they still are five years after the book was initially released (most bits of internet marketing advice from five years ago have not held up near as well). He focuses on general principles in this book, which I find much more helpful than trendy tactics. Really can’t recommend it enough.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Now get out there and build your dreams! And most importantly, don’t let anyone convince you that it’s impossible.

The popular geek blog io9 published an interesting article a few months ago observing that modern Fantasy books often contain more actual science than Science Fiction. My theory regarding this phenomenon is that when something is labeled “Science Fiction” the reader is expecting things to go over their heads, so the writers have a little more room to fudge the physics and biology. In Fantasy, however, the readers are already aware that they’re reading something with magic and monsters, so adding some hard science regarding those beasties’ anatomy helps readers suspend their disbelief enough to enjoy the stories.

I’m reminded of the passage in A Game of Thrones where Tyrion was reading about Dragons. In that particular Fantasy world, those mighty fire-breathing sky lizards have bones which are blackened by a high concentration of iron. As a result, Dragonbone bows were prized far and above wooden bows because they were more durable and also had bigger range. While it was a very minor part of the book, it served both to illustrate the brainy, scholarly tendencies of Tyrion himself while also reminding us that actual Dragons live in this world – and foreshadow their influence over the events of the series.

Though I’m no master of science, it does make me cringe whenever I see a work of Science Fiction that abuses the first word of its genre, essentially explaining any strange details of a book or movie with what amounts to pseudo-science rather than doing research or even emailing a few PHD’s in relevant fields. Heck, I’d really settle for having them read “The Demon-Haunted World” so that they could at least get some idea of what science actually is.

But ultimately, stories are entertainment. It doesn’t matter that the science displayed in Star Wars is softer than butter sitting in the sunlight on an August afternoon, and it really doesn’t matter how many parts of a beastie’s anatomy gets labeled and catalogued by the writer. The story has to work – the elements, pacing, and character must work together.

Part of my goal in crafting the Aidan’s War Trilogy was creating a series that effectively fused both Fantasy and Science Fiction genres. I wanted a world where scifi elements like plasma weaponry and powered armor existed right alongside fantasy characters who were Knights and Lords. And as I continue writing the series, I plan to see just how far I can integrate the two genres.

The First Book in the Aidan’s War trilogy, “A Test of Honor,” is in bookstores now! Buy it from your favorite platform today:

Amazon (ebook or paperback)
Barnes & Noble (Nook version only)
Kobo
iBooks
Smashwords (Great option for the tech savvy – multiple file formats)

A New Thing

I’ve been away from the old blog for too long, and part of that is because last month, I launched my first book.  It’s been a wild ride, and I’ll get into the details over the next few months, but first things first: I want to start blogging more.  Here’s my new plan: new blog posts twice a week (Monday and Thursday), and the newsletter will go out twice a month.  And the next one will contain an important announcement, so make sure you read it!

So far the book is doing very well in the Amazon store, having sold over 500 copies!  This probably doesn’t sound like much (it’s not exactly a bestseller candidate!), but what it means for me is that the book turned a profit within its first month of release, which is something many books can’t claim.  It has been selling much better than I was expecting, especially because at this stage, sales aren’t important to me.

What do you mean sales aren’t important?

I’m glad you asked – sales are obviously important to any author, indie or traditional, but I’m building my writing business in stages.  Right now, the biggest enemy is obscurity, which is why I am giving away free copies of the book to mailing list subscribers.  In short, I need readers!

And on that note, with a humble hat in my hand and a palm against my face, I have to admit something: I made a huge mistake.

Maybe not this huge of a mistake, but still

My Huge Mistake

I had everything all figured out – my author bio, book description, awesome cover, professionally edited content – except I forgot one thing.  People who have already purchased my book have no use for a free copy of the book they just purchased.  I feel like a complete moron for keeping my mailing list freebie exactly the same after the launch.  How many people probably came to my site thinking they’d like to join the mailing list only to see that they could have gotten the book they just bought for free?  If anyone reading this post is in that boat, I apologize.  You deserve better, and I should have been more thoughtful.  Join the list anyway, though, because I have an even better bonus freebie on the way, a piece of exclusive content you won’t be able to buy anywhere.

The New Mailing List Bonus

You’re probably wondering what that new free gift is that I just teased.  Suffice to say, it is related to “A Test of Honor” but isn’t part of the book.  It’s something that’s a bit above and beyond what most people would expect from an indie author like myself, but you subscribers are worth it.  If you’re already on the mailing list, then don’t worry – you’ll get access to this new free gift as well, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Progress Report

In the meantime, here’s what’s happening in my world right now.  I’m ten chapters into the rough draft for Aidan’s War Book 2, which will be called “The People’s Champion.”  It begins about a year after the beginning of “A Test of Honor.”  I hope to have it finished completely by the end of October, and that’s really all I feel comfortable revealing about it at this point.

Hope everyone is enjoying the book, and that you’re getting excited about where this series will go next.

If you’d like exclusive serials and other freebiees, join the mailing list now!

My Fifth First Book

A Test of Honor is not the first book I’ve ever tried to write. In fact, it’s at least the fifth. Usually when I write a book, I get to about the third chapter and then it all falls apart. Suddenly I hate the characters, the story seems stupid, the dialogue nonsensical, and the point strangely missing. I freak out, tell myself I’ll come back to it later, and then leave it forever in my Documents folder to gather digital dust for all eternity.

So why is this book different? What did I do differently?

1. I Chose a Familiar Premise – I have a tendency to get ahead of myself. I’ll think of a story concept that seems pretty fresh and original, and I’ll start dreaming of how someday it will change Science Fiction forever. But then I start feeling this pressure as I write. The insecurities begin their assault – am I good enough for this? Who do I think I am?

This time, I decided to start with a story setup that was familiar – Robin Hood. A Knight returns from a big war only to find that his home has changed for the worse. He takes it upon himself to correct the injustice, partnering with people who’ve been abandoned by society along the way. Starting with something familiar helped with the rest of the planning.

I’m not talking about copying a story – that’s plagiarism. This is no linear retelling, and the Merry Men certainly never had access to destructive Plasma weaponry. Starting in familiar, mythological territory gave me the security of knowing that the premise is at least attractive enough to have lasted for at least 700 years. And changing the location gave me the freedom to shape the story however I wanted.

2. I Planned Ahead – Being a fan of the Self Publishing Podcast, I took a page from their playbook and wrote story beats. I’ve tried outlining before, but story beats allowed me to get the general story ideas for each chapter out of my head in a “dump” format and then craft details and nuance into the rough draft as I wrote it.

I basically outlined chapters at least three at a time, having an overall outline to guide me. While neater than my usual technique of bullet points and panicked typing, it was still a bit messy. But it was the right kind of messy – the kind that allowed me the freedom I needed to change details in the story as I crafted it. If I didn’t follow the beats perfectly, I didn’t stress because I probably had a good reason. I might rewrite the beats if I changed something in the middle of a chapter, but usually I would just rewrite the beats for the subsequent chapters.

Planning was critical to my success because my writing time was limited. I needed to maximize my output when I would get an hour or two here or there, and story beats helped me accomplish that.

3. I Built The World “On The Fly” – My habit in years past has been to try and completely craft a world and then write a story within it. This method was no good for me because I would inevitably encounter something in the story outside of what I knew about the world and it would freak me out. This time, I started simple and made the necessary changes as I went.

First, I knew the planet would be heavily forested. A lot of the story’s imagery revolves around the forest and the animals who live there. However, eventually (right around chapter 5, if memory serves) I asked myself some questions: How would living on a world that was mostly forest affect the planet’s residents? What kind of customs would they have, what kind of language and idioms? What kind of names? So I took a break from the story itself for a few writing sessions and just thought about the answers. I’ve always believed that a story’s setting should matter, and I hope that came through in the final draft.

4. I Held Back – I’m not saying I was lazy in crafting the story, quite the opposite. What I mean is that by the time I thought of the tree problem above, I had pages and pages of notes about the world – how it works, which House is allied with which, and even the history of how the world was colonized and how the different ethnic groups interact. However, the reader doesn’t need to know all of this – it would bog down the story. A Test of Honor probably has about 10% of all the information I created about the planet Caledonia and the wider universe in which it sits.

Fear not – if you’re reading the book and wondering why this or why that, your answers are coming in books 2 and 3. But I knew as an author that I had to leave some element of mystery or else risk boring my readers. And boring my readers is something I try to always avoid.

Have you read my latest book, A Test of Honor? If so, make sure you leave a review on Amazon to let people know what you thought! Reviews help independent authors like me gain new readers and build our communities, so please let me know what you thought!

It is rare that a season finale makes me truly emotional, but Arrow’s second season packed a brass-knuckled punch that I wasn’t expecting. This entire season has exceeded my every expectation for this show and its potential, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next. Spoilers ahead, ye be warned.

Not bad for a guy covered in equipment he apparently picked up at the local Big 5.

The big showdown between Oliver and Slade finally came to a head, with Slade’s Mirakuru-infused followers who are practically unstoppable rioting in the streets. Thea first tries to escape from her biodad Malcolm Merlyn, refusing to believe that everyone in her life constantly lies to her. When she puts Roy to the test, he fails.

Meanwhile, Oliver professes his undying love to Felicity in a moment I have been waiting for all season, Diggle confronts Amanda Waller in an attempt to halt the air strike targeting Starling City, and Sarah has enlisted the help of the League of Shadows. Everybody’s everywhere, and everything is jumping off – it’s everything a season finale should be.

My favorite aspect of this episode is that everyone has their own task. Too often, shows get so caught up in Main Character drama that they come off over-dramatic, especially when the MC is as annoying as Oliver can be sometimes. The time and effort that the show invested in giving each character their own thread paid off in spades because while they were all working toward the same goal, I never got the sense that everyone was just revolving around Oliver.

When we get to the climax and discover that Oliver was confessing his love to Felicity only to lay a trap for Slade, I’ll admit I was pissed off. Felicity is my favorite character, and I just want her to have a happy moment. And I think she would be good for Oliver. But the more I think about it, the more I’m not equally certain that Oliver would be good for her. And I appreciate that she wasn’t just bait, but a Trojan Horse. The victory was hers in the end because she did the one thing that Oliver had repeatedly failed to do: inject Slade with the Mirakuru cure. Besides, she can do better than Oliver.

The episode ended with another flashback, this time revealing that Amanda Waller and Oliver have more of a history than we thought – that she knew he was on the island. I worry sometimes that the time the show devotes to island flashbacks is ill-spent, that it threatens to become so big that it bogs the entire show down in nonsensical conspiracies that make no sense (I’m looking at you, Castle and NCIS!). But honestly, if there’s any show that can make it work, it’s Arrow. So far, it had yet to disappoint.

Their season 3 promo pic will probably look completely different than this. That’s how different season 3 will be.

It just keeps getting better and better. I’ll admit that when it was first announced, I was surprised. When I explained the character to my wife, she said, “So he’s basically Batman with a bow-and-arrow?” And to be honest, I was surprised that they were making a show about such a little-known comic book character (compared to Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman/etc.). It seems to me that the CW took a chance on this show, and that chance has paid off in spades.

Can’t wait for season 3!







Hey you! If you enjoy science fiction/fantasy, join my email list and you’ll get a free ebook edition of my upcoming medieval scifi novel A Test of Honor Read more about it here!