I recently took a short vacation, so of course I had to take a couple of my guilty pleasure books along. Pony Soldiers by the ubiquitous Deathlands author James Axler was one.

Never disappointed by a Deathlands title. This go 'round we find the companions in the nuke-restructured Southwest. They encounter a traditional band of Mescalero Apache living/existing in a hidden canyon. Their nemesis? A group of Pony Soldiers led by who appears to be none-other than George Armstrong Custer himself. That is all the spoiler I'm going to give you. You'll have to read the book for how this came to be.

As usual ultra-violent, graphic content. The companions do what they do so well; kicking butt and not taking names. No one left to take a name from.

This is the sixth entry in the Deathlands series, early enough that the final troupe of warrior survivalists is not quite set. It is interesting to witness the evolution of the main character cast. The adventure and action was wild and wooly. A good mix of humor, rage, terror and humanity.

As always, violent escapist reading for the not so squeamish reader. Enjoy!

Mike

 

I had a difficult time with From Elsewhere by Sarah Baethge. The premise is good, although not particularly original; aliens "stranded" on Earth. Sadly, for me it did not live up to the possibilities.

The biggest improvement to this story would be an independent editor. It appears to me that any editing was done by the author, or at the very least someone too close to the writing to view it with a critical eye. The promise of the story is never truly realized. 

The writing does not engage and draw in the reader. Characters are not developed leaving the reader no way of sympathizing with anyone. The alien characters are completely isolated from culture contact, which would be a rich storyline to mine. 

It reads more like a report of the incident rather than an adventure the reader participates in. The narration was redundant and repetitive, retelling earlier details over and over to the point of irritation on my part.

The story was so bland and static that it took longer to complete the read because it was easily put down.

This said, the story is not without some charm , levity and intrigue. It is not without value and promise. I feel it could be saved by a good strong edit. I guess I have been harsher than usual with this review because I do see the promise and possibility of From Elsewhere. I found the final 10% of the story much more satisfying. I just had to work too hard to get there. 

So, the same advice I give to every independent author I connect with; get fresh unbiased eyes to edit your work, you are too close to be objective.

The biggest plus is that I did stay with it for the duration, I didn't walk away and put it in the dreaded DNF file. With the proper editing From Elsewhere by Sarah Baethge can be a fun read. Enjoy!

Mike