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The Mighty Quinn by Paula Stiles
There's a milk truck on the US/Canadian border with a detonated nuclear bomb that didn't explode and a pile of mummy dust for a driver. Vermont Homeland Security Agent Nan Carreira is having quite the morning and she hasn't even met her witness yet. Quinn Bolcan just got out of Vancouver, in a hurry and under a dark cloud. The last thing he was looking for in Vermont was trouble and that's the first thing he found. Soon, he and Carreira will be neck-deep in black helicopters, low-rent necromancers, zombie suicide bombers, and vengeful were-bikers. And that's just the beginning because Quinn is a wild card in a league all his own.
- GenresFantasy
Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 24, 2012
The Mighty Quinn is a most awesome and rollicking adventure. We are introduced to Quinn, the semi-timid part-time marijuana farmer who has a strange ability to suck heat out of things. Literally, he sucks heat from anything. He gets into some trouble in his hometown in Canada and decides to lay low for awhile by crossing the border into Virgina. On the way he manages to piss off some werewolf bikers and a vampire lawyer, and ends up with a concussion in a hospital. He wakes up to find out he defused a nuclear bomb with his talent and that someone from the feds wants to speak with him. Clueless and in the wrong place at the wrong time, it turns out Quinn is the only person who can stop the magical underground that runs parallel to the Vermont/Quebec border from collapsing into complete chaos.
I found this story to be highly entertaining. The writing was good, and the paranormal characters where unique in a genre that it is so easy to fill with clichés. There is a great sense of humor about the whole scenario, bordering on absurd. The anecdotes about the local people in Vermont were highly amusing and interesting. The author was very skilled at portraying the setting vividly, and as someone who has never visited that part of the world, I found myself absorbed and fascinated with it. We learn such little tidbits like there are groups in Vermont that are trying to secede from the Federal Government after their 200 year old treaty was up, or that border patrol has little to no control over the aliens crossing through the snow covered mountains.
My only complaint would be, I had an issue with the end, it was not really wrapped up in a satisfactorily way. There were a few loose threads left hanging and not in that “ready for the sequel” way but in the “wait, what happened with so and so” way.
Definitely enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone.
I found this story to be highly entertaining. The writing was good, and the paranormal characters where unique in a genre that it is so easy to fill with clichés. There is a great sense of humor about the whole scenario, bordering on absurd. The anecdotes about the local people in Vermont were highly amusing and interesting. The author was very skilled at portraying the setting vividly, and as someone who has never visited that part of the world, I found myself absorbed and fascinated with it. We learn such little tidbits like there are groups in Vermont that are trying to secede from the Federal Government after their 200 year old treaty was up, or that border patrol has little to no control over the aliens crossing through the snow covered mountains.
My only complaint would be, I had an issue with the end, it was not really wrapped up in a satisfactorily way. There were a few loose threads left hanging and not in that “ready for the sequel” way but in the “wait, what happened with so and so” way.
Definitely enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone.
February 4, 2013
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a review. This review was first posted over at the New Podler Review of Books.
Quinn Bolcan is a small-time ex-criminal who has the ability to drain energy from things, be it physical or magical. This talent proves to be beneficial (defusing bombs) and deadly (body heat loss can lead to frostbite). When the story opens, Quinn is unaware of his ability and, over the course of the novel, learns how to control it. Needing to get out of town (Vancouver) after a pot farm raid, he takes on the role of courier. His lawyer has a package that needs to be delivered to Montreal and it "isn't the kind you want to send by Fedex."
While the story could've been about Quinn's cross-country trip (Canada is big and interesting enough), Stiles only details two stops: a bar in the Rockies where Quinn has a run-in with a supernatural biker gang and the delivery of the package in Montreal. They do factor into the novel later on though. The real action happens across the border in Vermont where Quinn accidentally defuses a nuke. The rest of the novel covers Quinn's reluctant assistance to DHS agent Nan Carreira's investigation of the terrorists who set up the bomb in the first place.
Ok, so it's not the best cover. I've seen far worse since I came on board here at the New Podler. I believe that it's meant to convey the swarm of foes that Quinn faces, though a better cover might've been one of him draining the magic out of a zombie or holding a bomb in his hands as he's about to drain it. But I digress.
The story is told in multiple POV's, which enable Stiles to develop her characters. Stiles starts with Quinn's story, told in first person, and then switches to third person to relate Agent Carreira's encounters, along with those of the villains. Considering that a large chunk of the action takes place away from Quinn, this is essential as we'd miss the scheming of the villains, who would otherwise be two-dimensional. Quinn is the strongest, and most likable. We're privy to his thoughts and his wry sense of humor. It's through him that Stiles conveys her mastery of imagery (smells too!).
Stiles could be accused of going overboard with the supernatural stuff. There are lycanthropes, vampires, ghouls, sorcerers, zombies, demons, fairies, and more. There are some naturally occurring events too which, for me, were a bit over the top. These are explained as being a side effect of Quinn's energy draining powers, but I felt this avenue was left unresolved, particularly how he deals with these events.
As for the technicals, the manuscript is fairly well-edited, but it definitely could've used an extra pair of eyes as a few passages fell through the cracks. For example, refer back to the first paragraph of this review. I quoted a passage from the story where Quinn is talking to his lawyer about the package. It says "Fedex" but the proper name for the company is "FedEx".
The Mighty Quinn is an entertaining read. Its titular character carries the story through a gauntlet of supernatural entities and is almost as surprised as we are that he came out the other side. While Stiles is adept at her use of imagery and developing her protagonist, some unresolved elements lead me to think she may have bit off more than she could chew by cramming too much into one novel.
Quinn Bolcan is a small-time ex-criminal who has the ability to drain energy from things, be it physical or magical. This talent proves to be beneficial (defusing bombs) and deadly (body heat loss can lead to frostbite). When the story opens, Quinn is unaware of his ability and, over the course of the novel, learns how to control it. Needing to get out of town (Vancouver) after a pot farm raid, he takes on the role of courier. His lawyer has a package that needs to be delivered to Montreal and it "isn't the kind you want to send by Fedex."
While the story could've been about Quinn's cross-country trip (Canada is big and interesting enough), Stiles only details two stops: a bar in the Rockies where Quinn has a run-in with a supernatural biker gang and the delivery of the package in Montreal. They do factor into the novel later on though. The real action happens across the border in Vermont where Quinn accidentally defuses a nuke. The rest of the novel covers Quinn's reluctant assistance to DHS agent Nan Carreira's investigation of the terrorists who set up the bomb in the first place.
Ok, so it's not the best cover. I've seen far worse since I came on board here at the New Podler. I believe that it's meant to convey the swarm of foes that Quinn faces, though a better cover might've been one of him draining the magic out of a zombie or holding a bomb in his hands as he's about to drain it. But I digress.
The story is told in multiple POV's, which enable Stiles to develop her characters. Stiles starts with Quinn's story, told in first person, and then switches to third person to relate Agent Carreira's encounters, along with those of the villains. Considering that a large chunk of the action takes place away from Quinn, this is essential as we'd miss the scheming of the villains, who would otherwise be two-dimensional. Quinn is the strongest, and most likable. We're privy to his thoughts and his wry sense of humor. It's through him that Stiles conveys her mastery of imagery (smells too!).
Stiles could be accused of going overboard with the supernatural stuff. There are lycanthropes, vampires, ghouls, sorcerers, zombies, demons, fairies, and more. There are some naturally occurring events too which, for me, were a bit over the top. These are explained as being a side effect of Quinn's energy draining powers, but I felt this avenue was left unresolved, particularly how he deals with these events.
As for the technicals, the manuscript is fairly well-edited, but it definitely could've used an extra pair of eyes as a few passages fell through the cracks. For example, refer back to the first paragraph of this review. I quoted a passage from the story where Quinn is talking to his lawyer about the package. It says "Fedex" but the proper name for the company is "FedEx".
The Mighty Quinn is an entertaining read. Its titular character carries the story through a gauntlet of supernatural entities and is almost as surprised as we are that he came out the other side. While Stiles is adept at her use of imagery and developing her protagonist, some unresolved elements lead me to think she may have bit off more than she could chew by cramming too much into one novel.
August 22, 2025
Vermont. If you can’t lose a body here, you can’t lose it anywhere.
Well, I'll be damned (yes, probably, but let's hope that's still a few years away)! Another really fun read where I really had no idea what to expect! But this was a thoroughly enjoyable albeit somewhat light read that included not only a full bevy of some of my favorite characters and/or beings but a lot of wacky and even humorous circumstances. Although I must say that I find the lack of reviews and ratings for Paula Stiles "The Mighty Quinn" to be almost criminal in its, well, lackitude. Wake up and smell the pentacle people (no, not the people OF the pentacle, I mean you out there, smell that there pentacle on the floor! Like copper and dirt, amirite?), you need to be reading this, even if that cover is more than just a wee bit … odd.
I’m going to cut to the chase—you should be dead.
In fact, I would put this on the same shelf where I keep a lot of my "it's kind of horror but not really though it is entertaining and has a great plot with many ha-ha's!" books. That includes then such classics as: Jack Townsend's immortal "Tales from the Gas Station" series, D.M.Guay's always hilarious "24/7 Demon Mart" tales, Douglas Lumsden's noirish fantasy tales from his "Alexander Southerland" tough-guy stories (and subsequent following series), Chris Tullbane's "John Smith" volumes (or John Smith's "Chris Tullbane" books, your call) and the "all of the above" goodness of Scott Burtness' imaginations put to paper! So yeah, that's my (in)direct way of saying I really enjoyed this book!
Happy demons are safer demons.
Though most of our action takes place in Vermont, we in fact start north of the border in Vancouver which is, um, somewhere in Canada. But our protagonist, Quinn Bolcan, has run into a little legal trouble (I honestly thought marijuana was legal there now?) and needs to get out of Dodge pronto. You see, 40-something-year-old Quinn possesses "an unfortunate ability to spread chaos and mayhem around (himself) like a dark, bloody cloud and suck everyone else into it." Remember that word "suck" as it paints a poignant picture (not easy to say that!) in terms of what Quinn himself describes happens along the way, that is, his "powers". And I'm not talking about how his days get steadily worse what with all the attempted killings, the successful kidnappings, and other fun holiday activities that follow.
People swallowed only as much truth as they could stand and spit out the rest.
So taking the chance to run a package to some contacts in Montreal (bad idea) Quinn continues on his way (really bad idea) and decides that hanging out somewhere on the East Coast of the United States (whoa nelly, worst idea ever) would be the best call. Unfortunately for him, along the way he runs into some angry were-bikers - um, no they're not humans that turn into bikers, they're werewolves that ride motorcycles and beat up people that drink in "their" bar! - and also has a run-in with a nuclear bomb(s). And as I've already hinted at, things goes downhill from there. He becomes quickly as the author says, "the nexus of a very strange case", which is, to be fair, quite an understatement. And that's without fully knowing what the word nexus means (it's a type of blister, right?) …
We are not monsters. We are simply not human.
So yeah, like I said there are all kinds of critters that Quinn has to deal with directly or indirectly … including himself which I'll get to shortly. There's the werewolves, there's also vampires (even worse: they're lawyers!) and ghouls-slash-djinns, tons of zombie suicide bombers (which is the name of my future heavy metal band), carnivorous border fairies (which is the back-up name of my future heavy metal band if ZSB is already taken), spellcasters and/or wizards, demons, lake spirits, ghosts and even America's version of the Loch Ness monster, namely, Champ. I don't know about you, but I'm checking ol' Champ'a'roo off on my "cryptids I have read about" list because he does play an important role which I won't tell you any more about at all. And I'm serious about the heavy metal stuff, so, you know, call me!
You just ate a whole Tenth-level lava demon for breakfast.
But just think: so much of this is the result of Quinn getting zapped in the buttocks by a broke and drunk wizard-type dude at a poker game where all he really wanted was to make enough dough to pay his rent for the month. But it seems that in order to clear his debts, said magic man gave Quinn the power to absorb energy. No, Quinn doesn't suddenly turn into Iceman or any of the ice-powered persons of good or bad repute that show up regularly in the comics universes. He's just a guy that takes the energy out of things - which includes the air around him (things get cold), magic (zombies go bye-bye), pentacles (demon deterrent at its best!) and even… hang on, let me check my notes … massive hurricanes, lightning strikes, and/or volcanoes, too. Aren't we lucky he's so mild-mannered then, huh?
I soaked (energy) up like an overworked actor in a porno flick.
Now the fact that Quinn must obey the first law of thermodynamics means that for every action (or reaction) he takes, there's an equal opposite reaction … which ultimately means every time he saves the day he dooms the day, too. Oh what wacky fun, am I right? But if you take away the energy from a nuclear bomb, that energy has to be expressed elsewhere, correct? And what things in nature have that kind of power. Well, if I have to write it again, you've obviously not been paying attention. Now having spent my entire life either much further south than Vermont, that is, right smack dab in the landing zone for many of the most powerful hurricanes over the past 5 decades or so and then later moving to a tectonically active region complete with regular volcanic activity, I know just how … unpleasant any activity with these can be. Still, in the latter case, we do get some awesome sunsets whenever the big ones in Iceland or down in Italy go off!
Hey, if Vermont could get hit, Idaho might actually be vulnerable to an invasion by crazed weasels.
All of this is especially true when any of these nefarious or even natural events involve trying to "patriotically" seal off the border with our northern neighbors. Now I'm not as up-to-date as the locals must be on what that entails (I am definitely pro-Canada, so suck it DJT and your neanderthallic minions), but apparently this is a thing in the areas in which this book takes place. Personally, I think it's more of an issue in this case of literary convenience that anything else, but hey, if you learn something along the way with a book like this, it's just another added bonus in my book. Or her book, whatever.
Nothing against you guys up north … but everybody knows you’re a bunch of socialist goofballs.
Overall then this book is wacky and wonderful, witty and another w-word that fails me for the moment… oh, right: well-executed! Quinn is a fun character to get to know even if he spends far too much of the time suffering from or getting new concussions as a result of his inadvertent involvement in the whole affair. And lest we forget (we won't), Carreira is more than a passable cop-type person who knew the law of the jungle, what with her having been to Catholic high school. Just note that if you're looking for sex or buckets of blood or whatever, it ain't here. But I still think you can have a good time even if you need to bathe in some sort of hemofluidic substances to meet your daily quota. Now if you'll excuse me, it has suddenly gotten dramatically colder outside and I think I see a mysterious storm approaching. I wonder…
Well, I'll be damned (yes, probably, but let's hope that's still a few years away)! Another really fun read where I really had no idea what to expect! But this was a thoroughly enjoyable albeit somewhat light read that included not only a full bevy of some of my favorite characters and/or beings but a lot of wacky and even humorous circumstances. Although I must say that I find the lack of reviews and ratings for Paula Stiles "The Mighty Quinn" to be almost criminal in its, well, lackitude. Wake up and smell the pentacle people (no, not the people OF the pentacle, I mean you out there, smell that there pentacle on the floor! Like copper and dirt, amirite?), you need to be reading this, even if that cover is more than just a wee bit … odd.
I’m going to cut to the chase—you should be dead.
In fact, I would put this on the same shelf where I keep a lot of my "it's kind of horror but not really though it is entertaining and has a great plot with many ha-ha's!" books. That includes then such classics as: Jack Townsend's immortal "Tales from the Gas Station" series, D.M.Guay's always hilarious "24/7 Demon Mart" tales, Douglas Lumsden's noirish fantasy tales from his "Alexander Southerland" tough-guy stories (and subsequent following series), Chris Tullbane's "John Smith" volumes (or John Smith's "Chris Tullbane" books, your call) and the "all of the above" goodness of Scott Burtness' imaginations put to paper! So yeah, that's my (in)direct way of saying I really enjoyed this book!
Happy demons are safer demons.
Though most of our action takes place in Vermont, we in fact start north of the border in Vancouver which is, um, somewhere in Canada. But our protagonist, Quinn Bolcan, has run into a little legal trouble (I honestly thought marijuana was legal there now?) and needs to get out of Dodge pronto. You see, 40-something-year-old Quinn possesses "an unfortunate ability to spread chaos and mayhem around (himself) like a dark, bloody cloud and suck everyone else into it." Remember that word "suck" as it paints a poignant picture (not easy to say that!) in terms of what Quinn himself describes happens along the way, that is, his "powers". And I'm not talking about how his days get steadily worse what with all the attempted killings, the successful kidnappings, and other fun holiday activities that follow.
People swallowed only as much truth as they could stand and spit out the rest.
So taking the chance to run a package to some contacts in Montreal (bad idea) Quinn continues on his way (really bad idea) and decides that hanging out somewhere on the East Coast of the United States (whoa nelly, worst idea ever) would be the best call. Unfortunately for him, along the way he runs into some angry were-bikers - um, no they're not humans that turn into bikers, they're werewolves that ride motorcycles and beat up people that drink in "their" bar! - and also has a run-in with a nuclear bomb(s). And as I've already hinted at, things goes downhill from there. He becomes quickly as the author says, "the nexus of a very strange case", which is, to be fair, quite an understatement. And that's without fully knowing what the word nexus means (it's a type of blister, right?) …
We are not monsters. We are simply not human.
So yeah, like I said there are all kinds of critters that Quinn has to deal with directly or indirectly … including himself which I'll get to shortly. There's the werewolves, there's also vampires (even worse: they're lawyers!) and ghouls-slash-djinns, tons of zombie suicide bombers (which is the name of my future heavy metal band), carnivorous border fairies (which is the back-up name of my future heavy metal band if ZSB is already taken), spellcasters and/or wizards, demons, lake spirits, ghosts and even America's version of the Loch Ness monster, namely, Champ. I don't know about you, but I'm checking ol' Champ'a'roo off on my "cryptids I have read about" list because he does play an important role which I won't tell you any more about at all. And I'm serious about the heavy metal stuff, so, you know, call me!
You just ate a whole Tenth-level lava demon for breakfast.
But just think: so much of this is the result of Quinn getting zapped in the buttocks by a broke and drunk wizard-type dude at a poker game where all he really wanted was to make enough dough to pay his rent for the month. But it seems that in order to clear his debts, said magic man gave Quinn the power to absorb energy. No, Quinn doesn't suddenly turn into Iceman or any of the ice-powered persons of good or bad repute that show up regularly in the comics universes. He's just a guy that takes the energy out of things - which includes the air around him (things get cold), magic (zombies go bye-bye), pentacles (demon deterrent at its best!) and even… hang on, let me check my notes … massive hurricanes, lightning strikes, and/or volcanoes, too. Aren't we lucky he's so mild-mannered then, huh?
I soaked (energy) up like an overworked actor in a porno flick.
Now the fact that Quinn must obey the first law of thermodynamics means that for every action (or reaction) he takes, there's an equal opposite reaction … which ultimately means every time he saves the day he dooms the day, too. Oh what wacky fun, am I right? But if you take away the energy from a nuclear bomb, that energy has to be expressed elsewhere, correct? And what things in nature have that kind of power. Well, if I have to write it again, you've obviously not been paying attention. Now having spent my entire life either much further south than Vermont, that is, right smack dab in the landing zone for many of the most powerful hurricanes over the past 5 decades or so and then later moving to a tectonically active region complete with regular volcanic activity, I know just how … unpleasant any activity with these can be. Still, in the latter case, we do get some awesome sunsets whenever the big ones in Iceland or down in Italy go off!
Hey, if Vermont could get hit, Idaho might actually be vulnerable to an invasion by crazed weasels.
All of this is especially true when any of these nefarious or even natural events involve trying to "patriotically" seal off the border with our northern neighbors. Now I'm not as up-to-date as the locals must be on what that entails (I am definitely pro-Canada, so suck it DJT and your neanderthallic minions), but apparently this is a thing in the areas in which this book takes place. Personally, I think it's more of an issue in this case of literary convenience that anything else, but hey, if you learn something along the way with a book like this, it's just another added bonus in my book. Or her book, whatever.
Nothing against you guys up north … but everybody knows you’re a bunch of socialist goofballs.
Overall then this book is wacky and wonderful, witty and another w-word that fails me for the moment… oh, right: well-executed! Quinn is a fun character to get to know even if he spends far too much of the time suffering from or getting new concussions as a result of his inadvertent involvement in the whole affair. And lest we forget (we won't), Carreira is more than a passable cop-type person who knew the law of the jungle, what with her having been to Catholic high school. Just note that if you're looking for sex or buckets of blood or whatever, it ain't here. But I still think you can have a good time even if you need to bathe in some sort of hemofluidic substances to meet your daily quota. Now if you'll excuse me, it has suddenly gotten dramatically colder outside and I think I see a mysterious storm approaching. I wonder…
January 21, 2013
The Might Quinn Review
Paula R. Stiles
This is the type of paranormal story that grabs you by the throat and forces you to come along for the ride. You can kick, you can scream, but you can’t put it down.
The “mighty Quinn” of the title is an unwitting lynchpin In the far-flung and intersecting gears of power, evil, stupidity, bad luck, good luck, vampires, werebikers, fumbling FBI agents, zombies and outright unbelievable shenanigans that he simply couldn’t avoid.
This is written in a style that is conversational, sarcastic, witty and entertaining. But you’ll find that out when you read it.
You, like Quinn, feel like you’re dumped in the middle of stuff you don’t understand, and have to fight your way out.
It’s a helluva ride, and I highly recommend it. I would tell you more about the plot, but honestly, there are so many backtwists and zaparounds that it would take me a while.
Suffice it to say, Quinn is ultimately likeable and you find yourself rooting for him in all sorts of situations.
Paula R. Stiles
This is the type of paranormal story that grabs you by the throat and forces you to come along for the ride. You can kick, you can scream, but you can’t put it down.
The “mighty Quinn” of the title is an unwitting lynchpin In the far-flung and intersecting gears of power, evil, stupidity, bad luck, good luck, vampires, werebikers, fumbling FBI agents, zombies and outright unbelievable shenanigans that he simply couldn’t avoid.
This is written in a style that is conversational, sarcastic, witty and entertaining. But you’ll find that out when you read it.
You, like Quinn, feel like you’re dumped in the middle of stuff you don’t understand, and have to fight your way out.
It’s a helluva ride, and I highly recommend it. I would tell you more about the plot, but honestly, there are so many backtwists and zaparounds that it would take me a while.
Suffice it to say, Quinn is ultimately likeable and you find yourself rooting for him in all sorts of situations.
July 21, 2020
This book was really delightful and I'm sorry I took so long to pick it up. It's a deeply refreshing take on the presence of the supernatural, the characters are fun to read, the worldbuilding is cleanly drawn in with just enough details to feel grounded and enough space to still surprise you. I would love to read more about either Quinn Bolcan or Nan Carreira, but even if I don't get the chance, I'm very glad for this book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews