The Lay of Paul Twister
Author: Anthony Peers
Rated: Teen
Genre: Adventure/Mystery
Chapters: 29
Words: 102,019
Updated: Nov 23, 2013
Published: Mar 28, 2013
Status: Complete
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3112491/1/The-Lay-of-Paul-Twister
When a young man from modern-day Earth finds himself somehow trapped in a fantasy world, he finds that making the best of it using 21st century knowledge is not nearly as simple as the stories he's read led him to believe. All he has going for him are his mind, quick wits, and the Twist, a mysterious and difficult-to-control ability that allows him to break magical spells...

Found this on my first run through Fiction press. Basically it's Army of Darkness meets Wizard of Oz meets D&D. Paul Twister (real name unknown) is almost an antihero that more or less wanders around the new world he's in taking jobs and is caught in a chess game much bigger than him and wants none of it.
The main character has a certain charm about him and chooses cheesy alias for himself in hopes someone else from his world is around. It's quite refreshing for an adventure fantasy piece as it follows the Hero's journey while putting in small jokes here and there without skimping on action or attention to detail.
While the mystery is quiet simple it's done in a well constructed manner that doesn't just come out and say "I'm obviously the bad guy." The cast of characters is slowly fleshed out with bits of world building that leaves you wanting more stories from this universe.
5/5


Checked by Minion, January 26, 2014

 

Finished this today and I found it very entertaining. I really liked the way the author maintains a lighthearted mood without letting the story deteriorate into something farcical. 5/5

 

Solid read, though I feel it lost a lot of its steam towards the end. I'd be curious to see if the author releases a follow up like he said he would in the afterword.

 

The overall story pacing is a bit off, but I think the author already knows it. The intermediate build up adventure with the dragon skull was so big that it was surprising to have the end of the story not long after. It wasn't as smooth a transition as it could have it been either.

One small problem that was bugging me the whole way through was the "identifiable names" that were used. They were largely geek names that anyone who doesn't have a background in westernised geek lore wouldn't recognise. Ask my parents who Tony Stark is. Or April O'Neil. That last one especially threw me for a loop, because even I didn't know it. You have to be born in the right era to recognise that one. What was the likelihood that all fellow Earthers would be English speakers, from your same time period, and know your geeky cartoon and comic book references?

In their position I'd have gone for big names that have recognition across more age groups, cultures, and time periods. Albert Einstein, George Washington, Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin, Jesus, Merlin, Isaac Newton, Mohammed. Even naming yourself after Earth-side geography such as Rome London would work.

Using niche names when you seek widespread recognition is a minor thing but still niggled whenever I read it.

 

Quoted for complete agreement, I thought she was a reference to Stargate until I bothered to look it up.

 

I liked the story, and managed to finish it in a night. I would rather like to see some of his early adventures and stories before reading the sequel.

 

I assume FictionPress will take this down eventually, so I'll reproduce it here:

http://www.paultwister.com/
http://www.paultwister.com/fpt01/

Book 2 is titled, The Fate of Paul Twister.

 

Author here. I've been seeing a bunch of incoming traffic from this thread, so thanks for the link!

With regards to the "identifiable names," Paul chose names that he thought would be highly identifiable and convey a specific message: "there is a special person behind this ordinary-sounding name." And most of the names he chose were from works that have been made into some of the biggest movies of the last decade. You don't have to be much of a geek anymore to know who Tony Stark is; you just have to have seen The Avengers, along with pretty much everyone else in the world. (Being a geek, Paul would definitely see it that way--it's human nature to think that you're basically normal except for the ways in which you know you're different, and this can lead to blind spots in one's worldview.)

It was similar for April: she chose a name that she thought would be highly recognizable: a major character from one of the most popular cartoons in existence back when she was taken. It's not her fault that things have changed since the 90s. (I meant for this one to be a bit obscure; when you figure it out it's a bit of a hint as to how long April's been gone from Earth, which then helps to explain Paul's lack of aging, long before it gets discussed in the book...)

And yes, I'm aware that the pacing was a bit off. It kind of disappointed me too. This is the first story I've ever gotten beyond about the 20% mark without getting frustrated and giving up due to massive writer's block. I always have a good start, and a clear idea of how a story should end right from the beginning, but I tend to get lost in the middle. Seeing my way through that wasn't as smooth as it should have been. I'll try and do it better for the second one.

Anyway, thanks again for the traffic, and if you like the story--or if you think that there are things that could be done better--feel free to leave a comment over on the site.