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The Converging Trilogy #1
The Converging
After laying waste to the town of Semelar, The Demon Cynara Saravic returns to her ancestral homeland of Romania with Elizabeth Simpson firmly in tow. The ancient soil howls with the screams of Cynara's past victims. In answer to those cries their descendants come together and as Cynara prepares to meet their challenge, she discovers her two greatest enemies; love and her own conflicted nature.
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First published January 1, 2006
5 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
George Straatman
20 books24 followersI presently live in Timmins, along with my wife Louise and our four-legged children. If I have come to any great epiphany it is that, collectively, we have neglected our obligation to the earth and its creatures.
My Novels can be purchased through my publisher's website www.amberdias.com.
The e-book versions of my novels can be purchased through www.smashwords.com and barnes and noble at
http://books.barnesandnoble.com/searc...
and through the Sony Reader store
http://ebookstore.sony.com/search?key...
and on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...
I invite everyone to follow me or simply be my friend on facebook @
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.ph...
My Novels can be purchased through my publisher's website www.amberdias.com.
The e-book versions of my novels can be purchased through www.smashwords.com and barnes and noble at
http://books.barnesandnoble.com/searc...
and through the Sony Reader store
http://ebookstore.sony.com/search?key...
and on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...
I invite everyone to follow me or simply be my friend on facebook @
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.ph...
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 7, 2012
Hi George Straatman: I am happy that i found your book on this site. "The Converging" is one of the best books I have ever read that in writing style is unusual and I can only think of Clive Barker and Dean Koontz that writes in a similar way. It has been a long time since I have read a book so fascinating and captivating. The sheer number of descriptive words impressed upon me the extreme knowledge of your vocabulary. The character development is fantastic and I like the way you added what each was thinking to give me a very good insight of the characters. Cynara is the ultimate villain considering her unlimited powers, brutality and love of the theatrics. The plot has many twists and turns that kept me reading at a very fast pace. Unlike most books the ending I could not guess. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror or fantasy novels. "The Converging" contains many elements of both. I wish you well in your endeavours to publish more books as after reading that novel, I am a admirer and fan of your work, Brian.
January 2, 2012
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
The author did warn that the paperback version of his book has a few issues and is not as polished as the ebook. However, since I don't have an e-reader, I thought I would take a chance on the paperback, promising myself that I would try to work through those issues and read it for the story itself.
Despite my best intentions, the many editing flaws did tend to take away from my enjoyment of the book somewhat, jarring me out of the flow of the story whenever I encountered them. Some of the flaws included missing or misplaced punctuation, capitalization where none should exist, wrong words used in the context of the sentence, multiple POV's in the same paragraph, switching from past tense to present tense, and a lot of repetition (Mr. Straatman really seems to like the word "subjugate"!).
It's a shame these editing challenges were not addressed prior to the publication of the book because the story itself was quite engaging. It was a gripping and spine-chilling tale that kept me turning the pages to see what fresh horrors awaited me. Most of the characters were very well developed and the author's style reminded me a lot of Dean Koontz and Stephen King, two horror authors who rank among my favourites. The book is definitely not for the squeamish. The violence, gore and sexual encounters were very graphic and maybe a little gratuitous sometimes, in my opinion.
All in all, the book did show a great deal of merit, and, with a good editor to polish up his manuscripts before publication, Mr. Straatman definitely has the potential to compete quite well in the horror genre.
The author did warn that the paperback version of his book has a few issues and is not as polished as the ebook. However, since I don't have an e-reader, I thought I would take a chance on the paperback, promising myself that I would try to work through those issues and read it for the story itself.
Despite my best intentions, the many editing flaws did tend to take away from my enjoyment of the book somewhat, jarring me out of the flow of the story whenever I encountered them. Some of the flaws included missing or misplaced punctuation, capitalization where none should exist, wrong words used in the context of the sentence, multiple POV's in the same paragraph, switching from past tense to present tense, and a lot of repetition (Mr. Straatman really seems to like the word "subjugate"!).
It's a shame these editing challenges were not addressed prior to the publication of the book because the story itself was quite engaging. It was a gripping and spine-chilling tale that kept me turning the pages to see what fresh horrors awaited me. Most of the characters were very well developed and the author's style reminded me a lot of Dean Koontz and Stephen King, two horror authors who rank among my favourites. The book is definitely not for the squeamish. The violence, gore and sexual encounters were very graphic and maybe a little gratuitous sometimes, in my opinion.
All in all, the book did show a great deal of merit, and, with a good editor to polish up his manuscripts before publication, Mr. Straatman definitely has the potential to compete quite well in the horror genre.
September 3, 2011
This book had it all.The main character Cynara is the queen of evil.She is charismatic,intelligent, a thing of beauty but also a vile wicked creature.She terrorizes for fun but needed the innocence and purity of Elizabeth which is the opposite to her malevolence.It keeps you guessing with memorable good guys and detestable bad guys.You feel the pain and suffering and the torture Cynara does is indisputably in my opinion by far the greatest ambience of evil that I've read in years.I recommend this novel to anyone who loves Paranormal/Horror Fantasy.It has everything men and women alike would enjoy.I could not put it down, I kept wanting to know more.Some scenes were hair-raising, nail-biting, at the edge of your seat frightening and others were "Way to go give it to him!!!" Its fast packed action is brilliantly orchestrated from the time you start til the time you finish reading the book. You won't regret it you'll want to read more.
February 26, 2011
So far this author is a very impressive descriptor. To quote a line from the book the author also "employ[s] his mind as a canvas, constructing images that were increasingly elaborate and precise."
This is my first impression of the work. I'll post a full review with a Q&A with George Strattman after I've finished the first in the trilogy. I am reading the entire trilogy.
This is my first impression of the work. I'll post a full review with a Q&A with George Strattman after I've finished the first in the trilogy. I am reading the entire trilogy.
February 1, 2019
4 solid stars!
Kept me entertained through four flights, and several waits in airports last week. In fact, there were many hours that I completely forgot where I was, I was that into the book.
Kept me entertained through four flights, and several waits in airports last week. In fact, there were many hours that I completely forgot where I was, I was that into the book.
February 18, 2012
A demon disguised as a female psychologist who ivades a town in which resides a soul she wants to claim as her companion. She settles in the town and brutal murders of its inhabitants begin. An israeli soldier is enlisted by the church to assassinate the demon and becomes the accused. He along with a writer and child try to confront the demon and destroy her.
There are alot of characters in this story some extremely important others not so much. There are also alot of details occasionally making it difficult to recall what is important later in the story. But in this story the details are important. If you are thinking of reading this story you should know that it is full of extremely macabre details. Are they necessary? I think so, the story is about satan's most feared and brutal demon who takes delight in murdering everyone especially children. The author paints a good picture of the murderous details. This is the first book of a trilogy and it is free for the nook. The second and third are as of now $1.99 each. The writing is good with just a few grammatical mistakes but nothing that interrupts the flow. I began the book not realizing it was a trilogy and that i am disappointed in because i'd like to read a book and not have sequels. But with this book you can accept the ending or read on and hope for good to triumph. And thats one thing that was absent in this book, the presence of "good." Throughout evil is present which constantly had me wondering where the opposing side was. Evil had an invincible player throughout with only a small handful of people to fight a battle with no other ending but a certain brutal death. Interesting story, and for those of you worried that its a religious story, its not. Not in a preaching church kind of way. Its the typical good vs evil.
There are alot of characters in this story some extremely important others not so much. There are also alot of details occasionally making it difficult to recall what is important later in the story. But in this story the details are important. If you are thinking of reading this story you should know that it is full of extremely macabre details. Are they necessary? I think so, the story is about satan's most feared and brutal demon who takes delight in murdering everyone especially children. The author paints a good picture of the murderous details. This is the first book of a trilogy and it is free for the nook. The second and third are as of now $1.99 each. The writing is good with just a few grammatical mistakes but nothing that interrupts the flow. I began the book not realizing it was a trilogy and that i am disappointed in because i'd like to read a book and not have sequels. But with this book you can accept the ending or read on and hope for good to triumph. And thats one thing that was absent in this book, the presence of "good." Throughout evil is present which constantly had me wondering where the opposing side was. Evil had an invincible player throughout with only a small handful of people to fight a battle with no other ending but a certain brutal death. Interesting story, and for those of you worried that its a religious story, its not. Not in a preaching church kind of way. Its the typical good vs evil.
August 30, 2009
Boy, where do I start. Mr. Straatman has his own writing style, and it wasn’t bad. The story was good, but it was long. A lot of different characters, but they all play a part, and each had their own individuality. I wasn’t too thrilled about the ending, especially David. I couldn’t understand that, after all he’d been through, he chose to live out of the rest of his life the way he had; goddamn coward. The ending is obviously a set up for Book #2, and I think I just may pick it up. It was different from what I’m used to reading, but it wasn’t bad … for his first book.
I will tell you what upset me, however. His editor should have hired someone to do the proofreading. OMG!!! It wasn’t so much as mispelled words, there wre only a few, but the rest… Periods misplaced or not there at all, the same with allt he punctuations. Also, when two different people are talking, they shouldn’t be in the same paragraph. It wasn’t a difficult read, and I think I was having a hard time reading it due to utter irritation because of this. I think I may just drop him a line. I mean, I use a word processor that helps with spelling, punctuation, and the like. Doesn’t he do the same? I hope he learns for the next time. I think I would hav enjoyed the story more if the punctuations where in their proper placed. For me, that’s a huge distraction. All in all, good story, likable/dislikable characters, a pretty good imagination… Not bad for a local author!
Book #2 – The Converging: Mark of the Demon available July 2008
I will tell you what upset me, however. His editor should have hired someone to do the proofreading. OMG!!! It wasn’t so much as mispelled words, there wre only a few, but the rest… Periods misplaced or not there at all, the same with allt he punctuations. Also, when two different people are talking, they shouldn’t be in the same paragraph. It wasn’t a difficult read, and I think I was having a hard time reading it due to utter irritation because of this. I think I may just drop him a line. I mean, I use a word processor that helps with spelling, punctuation, and the like. Doesn’t he do the same? I hope he learns for the next time. I think I would hav enjoyed the story more if the punctuations where in their proper placed. For me, that’s a huge distraction. All in all, good story, likable/dislikable characters, a pretty good imagination… Not bad for a local author!
Book #2 – The Converging: Mark of the Demon available July 2008
March 16, 2011
In "The Converging", George Straatman demonstrates a command of story, plot, characterization, and description that is rare. From the onset, Mr. Straatman carefully spins a tale, one strand at a time, until his web is complete and the reader is fully ensnared. Once entrapped, he leads us into our greatest fears. These run the gambit from lost children to unseen things that stalk us in the night and from confrontation with our own deepest selves to an invulnerable evil that relishes pain and knows no pity. This is a novel that can stand toe to toe with the masters of horror. It is a must read for all dark horror fans.
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December 1, 2009I certainly can't review this book as it is my own...If anyone is considering reading this book, I would suggest they get the e-version (published by Smashwords) which is far more polished than its paper sister
May 19, 2013
Was surprised by hOw good this book was. Guess shouldn't judge a book by its cover, because this one I did, but luckily read anyways. I actually really enjoyed it.
May 10, 2015
This book was well written and was compelling reading.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews