No one should ever come between a man's family and his guns. Not if they want to live. Not even a demon. Or a demonic horde. Especially when those guns belong to a spellslinger. The demons who killed his father had a death wish, for Koren D'uene is a ja'lel, a gun knight, and his is the job of granting wishes. His guns spoke, and demons fell.
Infernal Fire is a weird Wild West-inspired fantasy adventure.
Through such simple questions as, "What if we lived in a world where our beliefs were real, tangible, and actualizable?" Joe explores the possible through thought, fantasy, wit, and character.
Including influences such as Shunryu Suzuki, Tolkien, Krishnamurti, Iain M. Banks, Laozi, Stephen R. Donaldson, Philip Kapleau, Raymond E. Feist, Edward O. Wilson, Dan Simmons, and David Bohm, Joe creates existential fantasy filled with rich worlds, concepts, stories, and ideas.
Joe holds an advanced degree in environmental management from Duke University where he also studied religion with a focus on meditative, experiential, and transformative traditions.
When not at play with his family, he enjoys reading, writing, and relaxation. When he can, Joe also practices various martial traditions in which he has attained the victim level of proficiency.
This was a nice adventure. Do not expect heavy world building or character development as the pace of the story is very quick. I never really got attached to any of the characters but since the pace of the story is so quick, I didn't mind it. The introduction of Smokey and its interactions with the main characters were like...meh. I would have liked more information on the magic system (it revolves around magic guns) but maybe the follow up entries will provide that. Putting the negatives I just mentioned aside, I enjoyed the reading enough to potentially continue reading the next installments.