Tanya Lisle

Tag: indie

  • Pulp Literature Review

    Short stories are a weird spot for me. On the one hand, I’ve written a lot of them and I appreciate them as a form of narrative that’s a lot harder to write than most people give them credit for. On the other hand, my memories of short stories growing up are the ones I had to analyze for school and angsty fanfic one shots. I’ve always had a lot of trouble finding good genre shorts that I like and that don’t leave me severely wanting in the world building department.

    Enter Pulp Literature. It’s a local short story publication, a magazine that comes out with a regularity that I’ve yet to ask about.1 This is a science fiction, fantasy, and all those genres in between magazine that accepts and publishes short fiction, poetry and comics.2 Despite the diversity, or because of it, there’s a lot of high quality content in the issues. Maybe not everything for everyone, but certainly something you can latch onto in each issue that makes it well worth it.

    There’s a very distinct feel and aesthetic to the works, despite them being all very different. They all work surprisingly well together in each issue and, between the few that I’ve read so far, I’ve managed to find more than my fair share of books that I enjoyed among the collections.

    Rather than an Amazon link this time, I’ll send you right to their site and their Patreon. Go check them out!

    1. I’ve met JM Landels several times and I have yet to remember to ask how often. [↩]
    2. And they have a decent pay rate. If I could write short things that actually stand alone… [↩]

  • Urban Heroes Review

    I picked up Urban Heroes back at Creative Ink, but I heard TJ Lockwood reading from the book back at VCon. Side note, if you ever get the chance it’s worth going to see her read. I think she’s doing that more often now, and I came in knowing just as much as the first chapter reveals about the book. Which is to say not a whole lot, but I was interested.

    The story follows a woman named Cal as she navigates a world where humans and androids are not so peacefully coexisting so much as humans are distrustful of androids after an incident. Complicating the ethics of the matter is the fact that humans are often cybernetic ally enhanced to the point where the lines between the two are conceivably blurred. After rescuing a young girl, she and her partner, Axton, are on the run from the life Cal once had. You don’t really get the details of why they’re running for a while.

    The book does feel in large part like it is a middle book, which apparently it is. The girl they rescue doesn’t play a very large part in this story, but there’s hints dropped that there’s something special about her. Cal’s father is only mentioned and never shown. Her friend, Bree, mentions that she has allies but we only really see one of them. This whole story seems to be setting up Cal on a path to redemption and this book focuses largely on the narrative of  that first step.

    I particularly liked her usage of Canada, which is a weird thing to latch onto. The city names are used in the same way I’ve seen American cities used in other media, with the expectation that the names mean something and are enough to orient you. It feels natural and uses Canada in the way I wish it would be used in more media. As a Canadian, it just makes me happy.

    Overall, I really enjoyed the story. The world and the way it unfolded throughout the narrative was interesting,  and the story kept me engaged. I could sympathize with Cal’s choices1 and I liked the dilemmas that it came up. The sci fi is much more urban, and the focus stays very much on the characters, which I’m a fan of. If you like the sound of any of that, definitely check it out.

    Get it on Amazon!

    1. Though I disagree with a couple personally [↩]

  • Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond Review

    So first and foremost, Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond is not at all an Alice in Wonderland story. That’s what I was expecting, some sort of steampunk reimagining of the classic following along with maybe the Mad Hatter’s daughter. So before we get too far into it, this is not that.

    What we have instead is a murder mystery where we follow intrepid reporter and steam lord’s daughter in hiding Maddie Hatter as she tried to solve the case so that she can finally earn her byline and escape the world of fashionista reporting. A mysterious mask has been uncovered and stolen, the dead man washing up on shore and what follows is intrigue as Maddie tried to get into as many places as she’s not supposed to in order to figure out what’s happening and report the story back to London while not being recognized by the upper crust of society.

    One of the things that I had trouble adjusting to in this book was the language. There’s a certain flavour to steampunk that always takes me a little longer to adjust to. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting it, but it surprised me nonetheless and it took me a fair few chapters before I properly fell into the rhythm of the story to start trying to pick out the clues along with our heroine.

    Maddie is a lot of fun to follow through her journey. She’s witty and insightful, quick and eager to try new things. She had an interesting perspective on the world she is living in and watching her try to puzzle together the pieces of the mystery’s been great.

    I did like this story, though it wasn’t what I was expecting. I think a younger audience would likely enjoy it a lot more. There’s a lot of great stuff in here, from the touches of world building throughout to the mystery itself. You feel for the character and there’s a good story underneath it all.

    Get it on Amazon!