Book Review: MJ-12: Endgame by Mike Martinez
The MJ-12 series (MJ-12 Inception, MJ-12: Shadows) comes to a successful conclusion in Mike Martinez’s MJ-12 Endgame, where a plot by Lavrentiy Beria to take control of the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death will help decide the fate of Variants across the world. MJ-12: Endgame does not waste any time in dropping us into the world of Mike Martinez’s MJ-12 ‘verse, an alternate world where people given superpowers by two mysterious vortexes at the end of the second World War are recruited into the intelligence agencies of the USA and the USSR to covertly thwart the plots and plans of the other side.
Book Review: The Realms of God by Michael Livingston
Drawing together strands, plots, and conflicts from the first two novels, The Realms of God winningly completes Michael Livingston’s Shards of Heaven trilogy. In the Shards of Heaven series, Michael Livingston has been weaving the real-life history of the early Roman Empire with magic and myth in a potent combination. Starting with The Shards of Heaven and through The Gates of Hell, the author has been telling the story of the Shards, pieces of Divine power on Earth, and those trying to win control of them, mastery of them, and mastery of the world as a result. The series features both historical characters as well as (especially in The Gates of Hell) supernatural ones, telling stories that sit within the known history but do not contradict it or change it. They are good examples of Secret historical fantasy, eschewing any changes from our own world, but also grounding the novels in real events and real history.
Signal Boost #18: Michael J. Martinez (MJ-12: Shadows) and Patrick Hester (Samantha Kane: Into the Fire)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost18MikePatrick/Sandf–SignalBoost18–MikePatrick.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn today’s episode of Signal Boost, Michael J. Martinez, author of The Daedaelus Trilogy, joins Paul to talk about the second book of his Majestic-12 trilogy, MJ-12: Shadows. They discuss how truth is crazier than fiction and how that led to Mike writing a secret history instead of an alternate history. Then Patrick Hester, a Hugo award winning podcaster and Skiffy and Fanty Arch-Nemesis, joins Jen to talk about his urban fantasy novel, Samantha Kane: Into the Fire. They talk about how Patrick found the voice of Samantha Kane and how Into the Fire sets itself apart from most urban fantasy with its focus on family relationships. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below):