The Curse of the Fourth

The Phantom Menace. Halloween 4. Alien: Resurrection. Jaws 4: The Revenge.

Why do we make fourths in a series? As the titles above prove, they rarely measure up to the first, or the first three. Is the fourth in a series cursed?

Money is behind a lot of fourths in Hollywood, surely, but authors continue to pump out a fourth book in a series. My fourth novel in a series, Will Be Done, comes out on July 4. What motivated me to write another?

It certainly wasn’t money.

The way I look at my Kingdom series is different from most. I have published three, but I don’t consider them a trilogy. Instead, the novels depict the major events in the lives of my fairytale characters. They are standalone adventures set in the kingdom of Kingdom. The prior three aren’t “leading up to this” as in some series, and you don’t need to read the others to enjoy the fourth. The fourth is its own adventure.

Fourths may be repeats of the prior three (Friday the Thirteenth, Jaws) or a slight twist (Alien 4). Another common theme is to mine the past (Phantom Menace). One of the largest sins is to try to make it bigger in scope. You know the drill. “The last time the galaxy was threatened, now it’s the entire universe!” I think that’s a mistake. The stakes are far smaller in my fourth from my third, yet the stakes are real. In fact, they are more personal than ever.

In my opinion, if you care about the characters and allow them to grow, it doesn’t matter if it’s the fourth, tenth, or hundredth in the series. It has to stand on its own and deliver an emotional punch. You care about the outcome because you care about the characters.

And I like the modern point-of-view that major characters can die. I always promise a significant kiss and a significant death in each novel. It exists in my fourth novel as well. Without a death, the stakes seem lower. Perhaps one of the central characters doesn’t die, but the death has to reverberate through the characters and have long-lasting impacts.

In the examples above, you see a movie rehashing old elements. Star Wars must explain what came before. The mystery of the past, how Darth Vader became this horrific villain, was better in my imagination than how the prequels explained them. The creators felt you must explain the past (no, you don’t). Halloween 4 must be gory and kill people in unique ways (no, it doesn’t). Indiana Jones 4 must have a family reference now that Last Crusade was a hit (no, it doesn’t).

Yes, fourths in the series can be done successfully. The key is the writing, the work you put into the characters, plot, and themes. And the risk to change the status quo up a bit (but not too much). There are successful fourths. For example, Toy Story 4. 

Enough said.

Interview with Felicia Change

A husband demands his wife uses a special meat to cook their dinners, but what animal does it come from? A couple go on an illegal night safari to view unique creatures. A bizarre candy shop offers sweet-yet-morbid-themed delicacies to the general public…just don’t visit it after dark. A woman experiences the ride of her life in a bell tower in Ghent.

All of these stories above were written by Felicia Change. Felicia Change is a published prose and poetry author in Divinations Magazine, Run Rabbit Run (A drabble anthology), and Havok Online (https://gohavok). Writing everything from humor to horror, Felicia writes stories that readers cannot put down. On May 1st, she published a poem called “You Should Have Stayed Home” featured in Divinations Magazine. Here’s the link: https://www.divinationsmagazine.co.uk/issue-one-intuition.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I don’t think there was a time I didn’t want to be a writer. So, I wouldn’t say it was an active decision. Writing and storytelling has always been an important part of my life. I knew even if I went down a different career path, I would still be writing in my spare time and making it work.

Was there a particular book or author that inspired you to write? What was special about the book or author?

Growing up my mother read to me a lot and I think that’s where my love for stories started. A lot of the stories were fairytales and I liked that some had magic and others life lessons. It’s inspired a lot of my work, even when it’s not in plain sight.   

Your stories run the gamut from grim to wondrous. The difference between Deadly Delights (a creepy candy store short story) and The Dragon of Ghent (a whimsical flash fiction piece) are two such examples. How do you determine the tone of your story?

It usually depends on the story itself and what kind of atmosphere I want to create. I knew “Deadly Delights” was going to be of the darker kind due to the premise. A shop assistant decides to break the one rule she’s given: no staying after dark. The premise and setting helped create a darker tone. The Dragon of Ghent is about a girl who helps a dragon in return for a wish. I knew it had to be family friendly, so I decided to focus on the magical aspect. It’s easier to set the tone when I know what type of story it is going to be and if there are any limits I should keep in mind.   

Do you have a favorite story you’ve written, published, or haven’t published yet?

Yes, a few years ago I wrote a witchy urban fantasy novel which I would love to revisit and revise one day. My favorite published piece is probably my poem, “You Should Have Stayed Home.” It was inspired by my love for haunted houses.

Is there a genre that you struggle to write in?

Probably contemporary fiction. I love having the possibility of magic and mystics. Writing realistic stories is difficult because I don’t feel as invested and able to add creativity. I’m hoping that somewhere in the future it will come more naturally.

What comes easier for you: prose or poetry?

Prose. I feel like it’s easier to delve into creativity than delving into emotions. At least for me. I can write prose at any time, but not always poetry. There is usually more of a buildup of ideas and feelings before writing poetry. With prose I just jump straight in.

What do you like most about writing poetry?

Experimenting. For me poetry is all about experimentation. I get to express ideas and feelings using different formats.

If someone said to you, they were going to write their first novel, what advice would you give them?

Read. Not the most unique advice, but some of the most important. Reading opens one’s perspective on writing, especially if you read different formats and genres. The best way to see what works and what doesn’t is to read. Writing without reading is like going on a picnic without packing a basket. You’ll still be having a picnic but there won’t be food or beverages to enhance the experience. Reading enhances your writing, even when it’s not noticeable at first.

What is your main goal as a writer? Or put another way, what would you consider the achievement of your dream for writing?

My main goal is to finish my novel and publish it. My ultimate goal is to be a full-time writer. I’d love to travel the world while writing.

Where can readers find you and your books online?

Readers can find me on Instagram @feliciachange, my story links are available on my Linktree and my newsletter is available on Substack.

Here are Felicia’s full links from above:

https://feliciachange.substack.com/

https://linktr.ee/feliciachange

https://www.instagram.com/feliciachange/

Review of The First Time I Knocked

The First Time I Knocked, fourth in the Garnett McGee series, is a suspense/mystery about a psychologist with extra-sensory abilities who investigates crimes with her chief of police boyfriend. In this offering, Garnett and her boyfriend Ryan fly down from Vermont to New Orleans to help out her boyfriend’s ex-wife solve what appears to be an open-and-shut case. But nothing is as it seems.

A short time prior, a restaurant employee had tried to rob his place of work, and in the process, shot and killed the owner. The restaurant owner, Terry Broussard, his wife and daughter all perished with only the son Scott surviving.

The first three entries in the First Time I series were all set in Vermont, so the change of setting is welcome. Garnett is also in a more settled place in her life than the prior three novels. The first part of the novel establishes Garnett’s experiences in The Big Easy, bringing to life the culture, sights, sounds, and activities of the town. Effective humor drives the pace. The investigation at first uncovers exactly what the newspapers and police have reported—a robbery resulting in homicide. Garnett uses her abilities—by touching an object she can view a scene in the past—to gain more insight into the crime. Her first few visions confirm the events the news reported about the homicides.

Running in parallel with the investigation are questions Garnett has about herself. Consulting a woman steeped in magic, Garnett has to wonder if other encounters with (perhaps) the supernatural are real or a byproduct of her overactive imagination. Author Jo Macgregor does a wonderful job of giving enough credence to the unexplained phenomena. The climax of this conflict is truly a highlight of the novel.

The description of New Orleans, the fully realized characters, and the suspenseful scenes work in harmony to Knocked’s benefit. Using the setting effectively, the novel really shines in a scene in an archaic hotel room. This novel effectively skirts a line into another genre, in this case horror. This novel is much more than an amateur sleuth story.

The mystery is effective and plays fair. Modern novels tend to rely on one small detail that twists the ending, but Knocked’s clues all add up to one solution. While I had figured out most of the mystery, the tense climax unfolds in a gripping manner. The execution of the reveal is action packed and superb.

The First Time I… series continues its streak of mixing the supernatural with a mystery to great effect. Knocked is a worthy entry as a fourth whether you’ve read the prior three books or not. Step into both the mystery and the magic of New Orleans for this exciting read.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHTHHMHY

Review of Idriel’s Children

Idriel’s Children by Hayley Reese Chow is the second in a series of novels set in the fantasy world of Okarria. I don’t remember the events that led to picking up the first in the series, Odriel’s Heirs, but I was glad that I had. A richly visualized fantasy world, complex characters, and vivid writing made that book a winner. I immediately bought Idriel’s Children, hoping it was as good as the first.

It is.

From there, the heirs set off on a quest to find out who is raising an army of mesmerized people to do their bidding. The first book had an army of the undead. This time, the adversaries are worse. The “army” are regular people—alive, but under someone else’s control. Aza feels sure the key to this mystery exists in a place called the Shadow Plane, and she’s determined to get answers. A trek toward the Maldibor’s home, a diversion to see a magician, and other quests make up the majority of the novel.

Idriel’s Children continues the story with the children of the two main characters of the first book as the stars of this novel. In particular, the narrative follows daughter Aza, one of the three heirs of special abilities who exist to protect the world. Aza’s ability is to step into the darkness and disappear. She is a magic ninja with all the mastery of weapons of an assassin.

When Aza’s parents are called away for an important mission, it’s up to Aza and her brother Zephyr to run the school the heirs have built. Naturally, a group of cursed friends called Maldibors come looking for the elder heirs. When they find out the parents have left, the Maldibors settle for Zephyr and Aza.

The encounters and descriptions of people using their sword skills and magic move the novel along at a good pace. The description of the settings (e.g. chapter 13 has a fantastic description of a magical swamp) is far and away better than most fantasy novels. And Aza herself is as complex a fantasy character as any reader could hope for.

Idriel’s Children is an entertaining read and it has a few scenes that stand out. It also has two major reveals at the end, one about a friend and the other, a villain, that really pays off. The friend revelation is especially well done, and to me, a highlight of the book.

The first act has action and exciting scenes interspersed with character-building and plot-developing chapters. The second act is noticeably slower-paced. But the last third is exciting and really pays off.

Idriel’s Children is book two of (at least) three novels set in this world. I’m excited to read the third and find out where Hayley Reese Chow will take us next.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XLBJJKZ

First book in series: Odriel’s Heirs

Review of The Uncanny and the Dead

The Uncanny and the Dead is a horror anthology of bizarre and oftentimes lethal transformations. Many of the stories the collection presents have a Lovecraftian vibe with regular people encountering the weird or cosmic. Each eerie entry unfolds in a startling yet creative way.

Eight stories comprise the anthology of varying lengths. One of the longer offerings is “The Reluctant Husband” by C. M. Rosens. A collector of rare books is approached by a wealthy man interested in the arcane, and the wealthy man invites the collector back to his estate. A rare story where the narrative takes a sharp U-turn in the middle and changes from “Should I trust my employer?” to a tale of the macabre. I enjoyed the Lovecraftian tone, channeling said author closely. That’s praise, as this offering seems like a lost gem included in a Weird Tale magazine of yesteryear.

Another effective story was by L. J. Thomas’ “Gunslingers and Garlic.” This one stands out as different from the rest in the anthology. A reluctant librarian teams up with western sheriff to hunt down the vampire who turned him. More grounded in traditional creature horror than eldritch beings, this thriller is a small mystery, too.

“Hitchhiking” by Hester Steel is a fantastic use of second-person point-of-view. The reader is placed in the literal shoes of the main character hitchhiking up a hill when a vehicle arrives and picks “you” up. The twist is the character the reader is identifying with is the weird one. Effective and creepy, I’ll remember this one for a long time.

At the top of the list is the first story, “On Reflection” by Michelle Tang. Again, an effective use of point-of-view as a passenger on a cruise ship embarks on a pleasant holiday. But then why is everyone acting so oddly? And is it possible that the ship, and possibly his cabin, is haunted? This narrative unfolds masterfully with a truly gripping ending.

The anthology is worth a read. I preferred the first half of the book to the second, especially with respect to the variety. I appreciate the pains all the authors went through to make their particular story unusual and disturbing, inline with the theme. But “On Reflection” and “Hitchhiking,” in my opinion, really elevated the entire anthology.

URL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QP22ZCT

The Cement City

I enjoy story prompts. Havok, a flash fiction site, provides just the sort of prompts to inspire me. Every six months, they present a theme to authors with sub-themes each month. The subjects may be color, music, or vices/virtues. For January through June of 2023, the theme was the continents of the world.

I primarily write novels, but I also enjoy different challenges so I also construct short stories. Flash fiction (one thousand words or less, usually a five-minute read) is an even larger challenge. I love prompts because they constrain, and I enjoy pushing the boundaries of those constraints while still staying within its borders.

I decided with this theme, World Tour, I would write a few connected stories. I’ve tried this before, and while some of the stories were published, the thread running through them was lost. This time, I vowed to do better.

I think I succeeded.

My story “The Cement City” was published March 20, 2023 (https://gohavok.com). Note: If you’re reading this after that date, it will take you to a different story. After the date of publication, Havok puts their stories behind a paywall.

My short tale establishes the pattern of my series. A secret agent who travels the world looking for supernatural creatures to bring them “home” struck a chord with me.

Art by Dan Johnson

I have entitled the series “DEED,” short for “The Department of Extraordinary Emmigration Delivery,” and the stories will chronicle an agent’s, Rebecca’s, attempts to “bring them home alive.” The variance occurs in the settings and the quarry. Some of the fantasy beings are caught in “human” trafficking, but others are happy to remain where Rebecca finds them. Rebecca’s mission is always different, and she must leverage a variety of skills to rescue, convince, or educate her targets to accompany her to a safe haven.

“The Cement City” is set in Greece and Rebecca has her hands full with this mission. The target is highly dangerous to everyone around her, including Rebecca herself. Worse, this creature has run away on her own. Why did she leave the safety of her sanctuary? That’s a mystery that the DEED agent must unravel.

Enjoy!

Spoiler alert. If you want to know the identity of the supernatural creature in the story, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Review of Secrets in the Mist

Secrets in the Mist, the first novel in the Skyworld series, is part adventure, part mystery, and all steampunk—a fascinating genre. Award-winning author Morgan L. Busse’s latest combines lighter-than-air transports with class inequalities and a strong undercurrent of Christianity into an unforgettable novel.

Young Cass lives on the streets and survives by thinking on her feet. She comes across the airship Daedalus where she’s offered a job. Upper-caste Theodore (Theo) Winchester is a scientist who cares more about people and science than politics and privilege. He’s concerned about the mist that shrouds the surface and the lower parts of the mountains. And in that Mist? The infected, known as the Turned, seek their next victims.

For the first quarter of the book, Cass and Theo go about their own business until they cross paths. When they meet, the novel kicks into high gear. Close encounters with deadly adversaries, both living and unliving, make for some tense sequences.

Cass’s growth from street urchin to one of the leaders of the ship, and her longing for a home and how she’ll fight for it, makes her a delightful main character. Theo’s righteousness and steady resolve hardly changes despite the revelations he encounters. A third “character” is the setting. All people live on mountains or islands floating in the sky as in a Roger Dean painting. All the elements of steampunk are here, and for once, a real use for goggles than just for show!

While the novel never gets downright horrific or gruesome, the scenes are plenty tense. And the descriptions of the surface world are captivating. As this is the first part of a duology, no one should be surprised that the novel ends on a cliffhanger. Fortunately, the second novel is available.

The style of the novel is fairly simple and straightforward. It serves the purpose of the narrative and never shortchanges the descriptions or the dialog. Overall, the story pulls you in and doesn’t let go for a moment.

Secrets in the Mist builds a unique and riveting world with characters you care about and stakes that are as high as the mountains people live on. The first book kept me turning pages. I’ll be sure to pick up the second one soon.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093MLRFYW

Tell A Fairy Tale Day 2023

For Tell a Fairy Tale Day, I’m making available new content.

Read my free short story, The Third Time is not a Charm, about a rogue cat person who kidnaps Snow White.

My new page detailing my fourth upcoming novel, Will Be Done, is now live.

And read my review of author C. Rae D’Arc’s Fairest and the Frog.

Purchase my fairytale-based novels on Amazon: Kingdom Come or On Earth, As It Is or Kingdom’s Advent or Deliver Us or Kingdom’s Ascension

Anthologies. I’m also published in the anthologies Moonlight and Claws, Havok Casting Call , and Who’s the Monster. All available on Amazon.

I’ve published over ten short stories in various online publications, including Havok and Every Day Fiction

Review Fairest and the Frog

Cover Fairest and the Frog

C. Rae D’Arc’s first entry in her Dreaming Princesses, Dreaming Beauty, focused entirely on Emer, a combination Sleeping Beauty and one of the Twelve Dancing Princesses characters. With her newfound ability to control plants, Emer has recently awakened in her kingdom Somnus and found it in ruins. The awakened princess is determined to find her other sisters (i.e. the other Dancing Princesses). That quest is taken up in this follow-up novel, Fairest and the Frog.

The second novel of the series follows Emer along with two of her sisters: Marin and Pearl. Both were put into a deep sleep after being poisoned. The “dream” they have transports them to Earth in modern times, allowing the reader to view our world through a fairytale character’s eyes. For example, Marin’s examination of a kitchen and Pearl’s dinner of spicy food make for great segments. Each dreaming princess must accomplish a goal to return to Somnus. The two narrative threads follow their fairytale origins closely, I won’t spoil it to tell you which ones. Marin’s sequence follows her original plot more closely than Pearl’s. Pearl’s segment is more of a side adventure within her fairytale. Both have action, romance, and humor.

Marin’s segment is at the start of the novel. She was married before entering the dream so her tale continues with her husband, Ranae, joining her on Earth. But Ranae, in particular, comes over transformed. This setup opens the door for humor and mystery which allows the narrative to glide along as the characters do on a boat on the ocean. I enjoyed having a main character in a fairy tale who was already married as it shook up the traditional boy-meets-girl plot. This narrative also is more like a quest with a puzzle at the end Marin has to solve. That said, this character’s part feels short, and because of the setting, the enjoyable segments of a fairytale princess discovering our modern way of life isn’t as prominent as it was in the first novel.

My complaints are addressed in Pearl’s half of the book. With Pearl, author D’Arc nails the voice of an innocent royal-born-yet-still-teenage girl. In Pearl’s section, she adopts an identity with a guardian and a job at Warwick Castle. Her adventures are a bit more engaging because she interacts far more in our world with characters from the first novel. The scenes with the other characters come off charming (pardon the pun), and her plight by the end of the novel makes the reader feel for her.

The two parts are interlaced with Emer and her band of heroes searching for her sisters while avoiding villainous ogres. Emer is afraid that her beau, Caden, may be more interested in one of her more beautiful sisters. It’s a bit of a stretch as the first novel cements Emer and Caden’s relationship, but Emer’s fears offer an interesting reflection on how our society views women, in particular, what we value as “beauty.”. Her concern about Caden’s affection is a clever bit to add to a fairytale narrative.

Filled with great love for fairytales, the twist of having them interact in our world, and a series arc that progresses, I found Fairest and the Frog hard to put down. If you are a fan of fairy tale princesses and what “comes after,” you’ll love this series.

First novel in series

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BT4KCZ6H

First in the series: Dreaming Princess.

Review of Animal Kingdom

Cover of Animal Kingdom

For this anthology, Havok asked writers to create stories about animals. Whether they galloped, slithered, or swam, the stories had to have some animal kingdom element in its plot. The variety of what the authors produced is amazing.

I read the stories and rated them based on the entertainment value, the writing itself, and how well the animal was incorporated. High marks if the animal’s characteristics were central to the story (i.e. the writer couldn’t have swapped in any generic animal). I was also drawn to stories where it shed our multi-legged friends in a new light.

Since the anthology is about animals, this review will focus more on the stories with solid “animal” ratings, but I wanted to point out what scored high in the first two categories. The story with the highest entertainment rating, regardless of the animal, was “Theirs” by Pamela Love. This unique take on a familiar theme was satisfying to the last sentence. I went back and read it again immediately.

The story whose prose swept me along was “Change of Heart” by Beka Gremikova. It’s a rare case of second-person point-of-view that works (they often don’t). “Change of Heart”, strictly with its writing, allows the reader to personally feel what the main character is going through.

And now the animal ratings. Both “Theirs” and “Change of Heart” scored high enough to be mentioned here as well. Both used their animals—and to mention what they are is a bit of a spoiler—to great effect. 

It’s rare when I rank a humorous story high on my list but “Negotiations of an Igneous Nature” by Michael Dolan had me chuckling with both the first and second sentence. The story has comedy and creativity in its depiction of how salamanders and dragons are interconnected. 

Speaking of dragons, the imaginative tale of “Taming the Volcano” blends tension, adventure, and heart. Author Cassandra Hamm has taken the tired idea of a dragon as a winged reptile flying around and breathed some new fire into it.

Another highly rated story has pigeons as its focal point. In “Preserving Peace” by S. E. M. Ishida, a lone pigeon becomes a McGuffin in a future society where nothing is as it seems.

Dragons, flying manta rays, and other creative creatures are standard fare in Animal Kingdom, so a simple story of normal birds in cages wouldn’t seem as exciting. Yet “The Queen’s Aviary” by Mia Rumi demonstrates how a well-told story without magic or technology may captivate a reader. The same holds for Andrew Winch’s “Duty.” This fictitious piece depicts a familiar situation, but the point-of-view changes to the dog. In particular, how a dog thinks and reacts.

Finally, I thought “My Friend Pher” detailed the best combination of story and animal. Ronnell Kay Gibson’s short story about a photographer and a Barbados threadsnake exemplifies the bond we have with the creatures of the earth. Humor, danger, and a narrative that could only work with a snake all combined to show why we love to read animal tales.

This anthology contains so many good stories I didn’t mention. I hope you pick it up, cuddle with your favorite furry (or scaly) companion, and read it.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKX3JPR2