Somehow missed this.

Congratulations, Joe! Well deserved.

I would totally buy your book full price if I find this in a bookstore. Let us know if you get that release in stores and I'll be on it.

 

I hear his beard is insured for one thousand pounds.

 

I now have the paperback! I'll read it once I'm done with college-related shit. It looks nice, though.

 

So I finished your book, Joe. All in all, I have to give Distant Wastelands of Star-Time a 5/5.

Spoiler

It's portrayal of Declan Potter, the Scotchless Arbiter, was riveting from start to finish. In particular the ruminations of the book wizard over his lost love, Tess Levy, drew me in startlingly with their life-like realness, as well as his relationships with Clare Delacour and Sophiedora Tonks.

Additionally, the three-way conflict between Chronos Chronogade and his queen Saturnily (the Immortal Bitch), Jon Fastaroth and our chosen one, Harry Hale was done very well. I particularly liked the fight between MorpheChronos ReneChronosChronosChronos and Declan James Hale, and the insidious future threat that Lord Oblivionmort represents.

Other than that? I liked how you managed to bring in Aloybus Dumblehale to fill the wise old man role. Also, it makes perfect sense that Ivy would get a gig like the Historian of Future's Prospect - she's got the resume.

I keed, I keed. I read it keeping a fresh reader's perspective in mind. Anyone who hasn't read your fanfiction will be in for a tremendous treat.

That said, I had some quibbles. You were clear in trying to distance your magic system from the traditional portrayal, repeatedly trying to separate yours from that of wizards, and then you had Declan doing things like shooting fire. A little more connection between his magic buggery and the fact that he and the other Knights are

Spoiler

summoning things out of Will-written stories, if I understand correctly. The leprechauns and the tentacled horror and such in the battle were good touches.

would be nice. Don't say he was just shooting fire. Say he was evoking Chaucer's Flame, from the unwritten version of the Canterbury Tales which included a dark wizard. Oh, you haven't heard of Chaucer's Flame? You have to be an awesome badass exile like me, because it's banned from the listings.

Anything like that. Keep looping back how cool your magic system is, because mate, it's wicked fucking cool. It would make total sense for Declan to wreck with it, too, considering his gramps is basically a combination of Madam Pince and Tony Stark and can totally hook Declan up.

Great work, holding a definite special place on my dead tree shelf.

If we ever meet in person, I fully expect to come out of it with a signed copy. And a hangover.

 

Hah. That's an awesome review. Cheers, Lamora.

You've actually gone and stumbled upon one of the main threads in book two, with that 'Chaucer's Flame' thing. Not quite what I'm going for, but you've got the right idea.

If we ever meet in person, I owe you a beer.

Thanks again.

 

read it all, now I can't wait for the next...or a movie....maybe that will be my next project. Fan Trailer.

 

Hmm. I found it rather... underwhelming, haha. I suppose I was expecting too much from the lavished praise in this thread. It felt short, and the twists felt rather predictable, and the Knights/Renegades conflict stemming from an organizational schism felt indescribably stale.
Still, the prose was good. My two favorite lines both came early: the one about holstering a book, and the one about having 20,000 km of coast left before they cam back around. The latter made me actually laugh, something books rarely do.
Your writing is very reminiscent of Sergei Lukyanenko, which I mean as a high compliment.

 

I need to give this a bit of a second read before I can properly review, but I loved it, despite it being a love child of Wastelands and a less-piratey Wastelands. Some of the reveals were blunted by their similarities to an already awesome story, but I'm trying to convince people I know to read this book, so I can gauge their reaction to these things.

I'm disappointed no one mentioned how similar it is to Doctor Who, especially with the end. I for one get a lot of vibes from that library, about a certain library lost to time and space, taken by shadow monsters.

A few questions, though;

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I may have misread, but didn't Declan wake up 48 hours after his death? If that were the case, wouldn't there be about five days of hiding to get down with, before Marcus has come back for book and clothes and then he can go and sip some scotch? Won't this mean that there will be two Declans, the one who survived and then the one who survived a week later?

On a different note, why isn't Fenton King Shit of Forever? I could understand not being ambitious enough, if that were reasonable; but in a world where you can murder someone with a well-laid thought, why not test your metal against every challenger, knowing you have higher-calibur bullets than anyone else? Why settle for the job of executioner/prisoner guard? I feel like this would've been better answered if we had a clearer idea of the limitations of Will.

Honestly, out of Declan's whole crew of people, the only ones who stood out to me were Ethan (who I replaced with Daniel Carpenter in my mind) and Marcus (who became Ron Carmicheal). I'd completely forgotten who Aaron was until the middle of the fight, and all of the women blended in together for a bit in my head.

However, what I can say is that despite a lot of the ending already being familiar, it all still came together better than damn near any book I've ever read, and that's great.

Tomorrow I'll re-read the chunks of the book that I read while half-asleep, but I don't think I missed anything during that haze.

And I don't mean to insult you, but leprechauns feel sort of underwhelming. Out of all the cool fantastical animals ever invented (or not invented, since those could've been picked too), you decided to pick tiny men dressed like fruits who bounce around drunkenly? I was expecting, like, four-headed rhinogulls, or at least a Pokemon or something.

 

Thanks for an awesome review. Here's some answers:

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Declan was dead a touch longer than 48 hours. He was regenerating in Jade's apartment for a few days, which brings him up to date.

The 48 hours bit was referring to when he actually died, time-wise, after he comes back to life. He was dead longer than 48 hours because he travelled back in time six or so days. Does that make sense?

So when he woke up after being dead, it had been 48 hours or so since he died in Atlantis, but because he was thrown back in time a week he was actually dead longer.

As for Fenton, he has his part to play--Faraday has Fenton, and a few others of considerable strength like him--under his control for some very good reasons that will become evident, probably in the third story (next one focuses away from Ascension City, for the most part).

There were plans to expand the Will and the world in the second volume - given the reviews I've received so far, those expansion plans have themselves been expanded.

I think the second volume, Broken Quill, is going to complement Distant Star quite well and set the pace for future volumes.

Oh, and I'm totally stealing rhinogull.

 

-Sitting for English Exams like a boss.
-Is asked to write an essay about a book.
-Write about Distant Star, about 3 pages more than necessary, thinking "fuck yeah" all the while.

 

Get Joe to sign your essay before you hand it in for extra credit.

 

I finished Distant Star yesterday and loved it. I have some complaints, though they've all been mentioned already - things like its similarities to Wastelands (particularly the villa scene) and how Will could have been expanded on a bit more (I'm assuming that that'll happen over the next few stories just like with DF). In all a nice start to what promises to be an interesting series.

I'll leave an Amazon review when I get the time.

I should say that you've got a couple of things - like the saying 'broken quill' - that I think might fit quite well in a HP story. Is it a problem if I use them?

 

Oh good gravy - was the essay about literary fuck ups?

Go for it.

 

I'm serious. I wanna make a fan film. Is that cool?

 

Knock it out of the park, my friend.

T'is very cool.

 

Silens and Zennith just got hard, for completely different reasons.

Or should I say, "pole-er" opposite?

 

-___- horrible pun is horrible

Also...how the hell are the used paperback copies going for 43 dollars?

 

They were used by Declan.

 

Just bought this for my Nook, now that I finally have a bit of money to blow and happen to need some new reading material.

I better not be disappointed, Joe.

(I also see you're making a second one...How's that coming along?)

 

Just a little note: Work has begun on a script. I am slowly re-reading to get a feel for the story as a script as I go through it. I have a cast already set up I think. I'll let you guys know when the shooting begins.

Also, how in the hell is your book selling for $154. Does it come with a special night with you or something, I mean jesus christ Joe.