PALO DURO

By MAX L. KNIGHT

  Genre: Historical Fiction / Western

Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.

Date of Publication: September 2, 2017

Number of Pages: 226

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Westward expansion following the civil war ushered in an era of increased conflict between the Southern Plains Indians and white settlers. Peace treaties offered temporary suspension of hostilities, but more often than not resulted in broken promises as the two cultures clashed over land. The construction of frontier forts and towns, the decimation of the buffalo herds, the movement of cattle through Indian lands to burgeoning western markets, – all of these forces threatened a way of life that had existed for centuries.

The Comanche, the Southern Cheyenne, the Kiowa, the Apache all fought to protect their customs and homelands. The clashes were characterized by savagery on both sides – Indian and white. However, finite numbers and options would ensure the tribes’ defeat; they faced certain death or forced relocation and their days were numbered.

Though the Indian wars are the focus of Palo Duro, the novel also captures the spirit of the “Old West” with its depiction of the great cattle drives from Texas into Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado and Montana, the cattle barons and the trail blazers, the outlaws and gunslingers, the lawmen and Texas Rangers, and the settlers and entrepreneurs who built this country. It chronicles an era characterized by heroism, brutality, and bold ventures while paying tribute to a genre that is fading from public consciousness – the western. It is the story of the Southwest United States towards the end of the nineteenth century and the rugged individualism that forged a nation.

5 STAR PRAISE FOR PALO DURO:

This book captured Central Texas in the post-Civil War era better than any other book I’ve read. It was well researched, well written, and easy to read. I enjoyed this book more than Empire of the Summer Moon, the standard setter. I recommend this to readers of any level, even if you dislike history, as this book is that good. – Jeffrey R. Murray, Amazon review

Max Knight brought to life the saga of how Texas tamed their frontier. He presents a colorful experience with characters effectively placed throughout his story. If you have any interest in Texas history this book is a must read. – AmazonJacki, Amazon review

Palo Duro is an exceptional novel, well researched; a must read. – Chuck B., Amazon review

Reading this book is a great way to deepen and appreciate one’s Texas roots – or if you are not a Texan to understand and enjoy what makes Texas, well, Texas! I found this novel to be especially entertaining as well as informative. Made me want to go back and read Lonesome Dove again! – Michael P., Amazon review

In the spirit of the old Western genre of Zane Grey and L’amour, Max Knight pays homage to our national heritage with this fictional but historically accurate labor of love that warms the heart with his vivid imagery and authentic tone of America’s illustrious and sometimes brutal past. – Chester Sosinski, Amazon review

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Excerpt from Palo Duro

By Max Knight

Quanah Parker was surprised to find his sworn foe standing in front of him. Charles Goodnight had been one of the Texas Rangers that had “rescued” Cynthia Ann Parker and her daughter from the Comanche and returned them to her white “family.” Cynthia Ann had been living with the Comanche since her abduction at the age of eleven. She’d married and bore several children (Quanah amongst them) during her time amongst the Indians, and her rescue had separated her from the only life she really knew. She had been unable to re-assimilate into white society and, after her little girl died from an illness, Cynthia Ann succumbed to inconsolable grief, dying from “a broken heart.”

Quanah Parker blamed the man that now stood in front of him waiting for his response.

“You know I’ve sworn to kill you,” replied Quanah.

“You can do that. But in spite of our pasts, I think you might want to hear me out.”

Quanah gestured to the entrance to his teepee and preceded Charles Goodnight inside. The smell of smoke permeated the air and, as Goodnight surveyed the interior, the scalps on the war lances lying against the hide walls caught his attention. Both men took a seat opposite one another.

“What is it that makes you think you’ll leave here alive?” asked Quanah.

“Well, your own sense of honor won’t let you kill me, at least not here anyway. And, I’ve come to believe you’re an honorable man that only fights for his people’s survival. If that ain’t true and you’re just the savage that others believe you to be, then I guess I’m a dead man.”

“Speak what’s on your mind.”

“I’ve a proposition for you,” Goodnight began. “The buffalo are vanishing and along with them your people’s food source. No matter how hard you resist, the white hunters aren’t going to stop killing them for their hides, and the Army will continue not only to protect those hunters from your warriors but they will pursue you to the ends of the earth. Your numbers are dwindling. However, there is no need for anyone to starve. I can offer you a way to feed the people without conflict.”

“Continue.”

“Let me graze cattle within the walls of this canyon and I’ll provide you with enough meat so your people won’t starve. I only ask that you leave the herd and me alone.”

“The white man has promised food to us before on the reservations. Those promises were lies,” said Quanah.

“I’m not negotiating for the government nor am I making promises on their behalf. I want to live here with my wife and raise cattle. In exchange for peace between us, I promise you meat. I’d rather find some accommodation between us than fight, but I’ll do the latter if I have to.”

“I know you can fight, Goodnight,” reflected Quanah Parker. “The Comanche can also fight, but time is not on our side.”

“War is coming to Palo Duro Canyon eventually,” Charles Goodnight continued. “But I’m not a party to what the military does or don’t do to the Comanche people. I can only speak for myself. I’ve seen enough killing on both sides. I lost my partner to these Indian Wars and I’m prepared to let that go, just as I hope you’ll see that seeking revenge for your mom and little sister won’t bring them back. Many Comanche may yet die holding onto your way of life, but the old ones, the women and the children should not starve to death because the buffalo are gone.”

Quanah sat silently for a time. The winter of 1873 had been brutal. There had been too few buffalo chips to heat the lodges and not enough food for everyone. The “swirling whiteness” had included sleet, snow and ice. The fierce winds had blown away shelters killing people within minutes; livestock had fared even worse. With no shelter the horses so important to the Comanche had frozen to death. Additionally, just as Charles Goodnight had pointed out, the U.S. Army was now relentless in its pursuit of the Quahadi and all the Comanche. Quanah Parker knew Goodnight was right in his assessment that war was coming to Palo Duro Canyon.

Finally raising his gaze to look Goodnight in the eyes, Quanah nodded his head in agreement. Both men stood. Charles Goodnight offered his hand and Quanah Parker accepted the gesture and shook it to seal the deal.

Max L. Knight was born in Panama in 1949, and was raised both in the Canal Zone and in San Antonio, Texas where he now resides with his wife, Janet “Gray.” A proud member of the Corps of Cadets and graduate of Texas A&M University (Class of ’73), he received a bachelor’s degree in English and a Regular Army commission and served the next twenty-four years as an Air Defense and Foreign Area Officer before retiring in 1997 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After leaving the Army, Max spent the next five years working for RCI Technologies of San Antonio, becoming its Director of Internal Operations.

Separating from the company in 2002, he volunteered to be the first docent at the Alamo working within its Education Department before once again serving his country as a Counterintelligence Specialist in Europe, Central America, Asia and the Middle East through 2013. Max speaks several languages including Greek and Spanish. He also holds a Master of Science degree in government from Campbell University. He has written and published two books to date: Silver Taps, a personal memoir of his relationship with his father and a tribute to his alma mater, and Palo Duro, a novel focusing on the Indian wars in the southwestern United States at the end of the nineteenth century.

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HOLDING THE FORT

The Fort Reno Series, Book 1

By REGINA JENNINGS

Genre: Historical Western Christian Romance

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

Date of Publication: December 5, 2017

Number of Pages: 353

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With Miss Bell as the Teacher, Everyone’s Bound to Learn an Interesting Lesson

Dance hall singer Louisa Bell has always lived one step from destitution. When she loses her job at the Cat-Eye Saloon, she has nowhere else to go but to her brother, a cavalry soldier stationed in Indian Territory. But he’s run afoul of his commanding officer. Unsure what she can do to help him and desperate for a job, she doesn’t protest when she’s mistaken for a governess at the fort. How hard can teaching really be?

Major Daniel Adams has his hands full at Fort Reno, especially raising two adolescent daughters alone. If this new governess doesn’t work out, his mother-in-law insists she’ll raise the girls herself–far away from the fort. Miss Bell bears little resemblance to Daniel’s notion of a governess–they’re not supposed to be so blamed pretty–but he finds himself turning a blind eye to her unconventional methods. Louisa has never faced so important a performance. Can she keep her act together long enough to help her brother and to secure the respectable future she’s sought for so long?

PRAISE FOR HOLDING THE FORT & THE FORT RENO SERIES:

“The first book in Jennings’ new Fort Reno series is a delightful read that helps solidify what a wonderful and imaginative writer Jennings is. She manages to create unique stories with interesting and well-developed characters while combining humor, mystery and a sprinkle of faith.”

–RT Book Reviews

“In this character-driven series launch, Jennings offers a powerful lesson on the freedom of truth and forgiveness wrapped in a delightful story of love against the odds.”

—Publishers Weekly

“This series launch is a charming historical romance set in 1880s Fort Reno, OK. . . . Jennings kicks off a new series with a light and enjoyable tale that will delight her fans as well as lovers of historical romance.”

—Library Journal

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My 10 Favorite Things to Smell at Christmas

By Author Regina Jennings

I’ll admit it, I like smelling things. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time around things that don’t smell good – stockyards, baby diapers, missing sippy cups with curdled milk – that I really appreciate the opposite. I always linger in the candle section of stores and if a friend pulls out an essential oil I haven’t heard of, I’ve got to take a sniff.

Luckily, Christmas is the season for good smells and nothing revives sweet memories like a whiff of the holidays.  So, here’s a list of things I hope you get to enjoy before the season is over:

1. Peppermint – Nothing signals Christmas like the sight of the red and white candy, but the flavor is even more cheery. My favorite method of enjoying peppermint is Braum’s peppermint ice cream. A bit chilly, but so worth it.
2. Cinnamon – Whether it’s cinnamon sticks simmering on the stove, or a pie in the oven, cinnamon means take off your coat and sit a spell.
3. Fireplace – Smoke-filled rooms? If it’s a wood-burning fireplace, count me in! Let it burn so hot that we have to move the stockings to a safe place.
4. Sugar Cookies – I love the smell of sugar cookies, but do you know what I hate? I hate candles or scenty things that try to replicate it. False friends, how dare you deceive me! Nothing is worse than walking into the kitchen and thinking there’s a plate of sugar cookies waiting for you. For real, people. Don’t do it.
5. Burberry London – Because a few years ago my sweet husband got me some of this perfume. Whenever I wear it now, I think of opening nicely wrapped little packages.
6. Snow – Snow has a smell. It’s a clean, earthy smell that lingers after you’ve been making snowballs. Not to be confused with the smell of wet wool mittens.
7. Pine – Here’s a smell that I don’t mind counterfeiting. Yes, it’d be nice if our Hanging of the Green involved real pine boughs, but it’s just not practical. All the same, pine makes me think that someone just mopped my floor, and there’s no better feeling than that.
8. Apple Cider – My favorite hot drink! I love holding a steaming cup under my nose until it fogs up my reading glasses.
9. Pomander (Cloved Oranges) – Have you ever made these? They are easy and rewarding. Just poke some holes in an orange and push cloves into the holes. Viola, you have a sweet-smelling, natural air freshener. This is a great holiday activity to keep the kids busy while you wrap presents. Or at least I assume that’s why my mom always needed us to make them.
10. Grandma’s House – Whenever I got a package from one of my grandmas, I could bury my nose into it (I’ve already admitted I like smelling stuff), and smell her house. And at Christmas, Grandma’s house was a magical mixture of most of the scents I listed above. Maybe your house is, too. Ask your family and see what they think.

So those are some of the things I’m looking forward to over the next few weeks. Here’s hoping that you will be surrounded by the scents of Christmas, but also by people who love you.

Sincerely,

Regina

P.S. What’s your favorite Christmas scent?

Regina Jennings is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University with a degree in English and a minor in history. She’s the winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award, a two-time Golden Quill finalist and a finalist for the Oklahoma Book of the Year Award. Regina has worked at the Mustang News and at First Baptist Church of Mustang, along with time at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and various livestock shows.

She lives outside of Oklahoma City with her husband and four children.

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BONNIE AND CLYDE:

Resurrection Road

Book One in a New Trilogy

By CLARK HAYS AND KATHLEEN McFALL  

Genre:  Alternative Historical Fiction / Thriller

Date of Publication: April 22, 2017

Pages: 308

Publisher: Pumpjack Press

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In an alternate timeline, legendary lovers Bonnie and Clyde are given one last shot at redemption.

The story begins in 1984 when a reporter gets a tip to meet an old woman at a Texas cemetery. Cradling an antique rifle and standing over a freshly dug grave, the old woman claims to be Bonnie Parker. Turns out, she says, it wasn’t Bonnie and Clyde who were ambushed fifty years earlier. Instead, the outlaws were kidnapped, forced into a covert life and given a deadly mission—save President Roosevelt from an assassination plot financed by industrialists determined to sink the New Deal.

Thrust into a fight against greed they didn’t ask for, but now must win in order to save themselves and their families, will the notorious duo overcome their criminal pasts and put their “skills” to use fighting for justice for the working class?

Cutting back and forth between the modern era where the shocked reporter investigates the potential scoop-of-the-century, and the desperate undercover exploits of Bonnie and Clyde in 1934, Resurrection Road is a page-turning sleep-wrecker.

Bonnie and Clyde. Saving democracy, one bank robbery at a time. 

PRAISE FOR BONNIE AND CLYDE: RESURRECTION ROAD:

“Sex, danger and intrigue, coupled with just the right dose of cheeky humor,” — East Oregonian 

“A Depression-era tale timely with reflections on fat cats and a rigged economic system that still ring true. More than that, the story is an exciting ride, with tight corners, narrow escapes, and real romantic heat between Bonnie and Clyde. Outlaws become patriots in this imaginative, suspenseful what-if story,” — Kirkus Reviews 

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EXCERPT from Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road

By Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall

This scene is from early in the book when the young Bonnie and Clyde regain consciousness after being kidnapped by the shadowy government organization. The year is 1934.

“Have you heard the news?” the woman asked. “The infamous Bonnie and Clyde are dead. Gunned down in an ambush. Cut to pieces by four Texas Rangers with Tommy guns.”

She tossed a thick, folded newspaper—a copy of the Dallas Morning News—onto the plain metal table in front of two shackled prisoners, a man and a woman.

“Can you both read?” she asked. “Allow me: ‘Posse kills Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow,’” she said, reading the headlines upside down. “‘Elusive Dallas desperadoes shot to death in Louisiana.’ The pictures really do you justice. You look—I don’t know—taller,” she said to Clyde. “And prettier,” she said to Bonnie.

Clyde bristled and tugged at the handcuffs. His eyes were heavy, his thoughts slow to form. He looked over at Bonnie, and she shrugged helplessly. He’d never seen her look anything less than certain before, even when things were going to hell.

“With so many bullets, your bodies are barely recognizable,” the woman said.

The photographs showed two bloodied corpses. A man and a woman. The bodies were spread carelessly across a greasy wooden floor. An army of excited gawkers looked through a storefront, palms pressed against the glass.

“They may be dead ringers for us, be we obviously ain’t dead,” Clyde said.

“I am the only person in the world right now who knows that to be true,” the woman said. “Take a moment and let the implications of that fact sink in.”

“Is this some kind of joke? Like one of them gag papers or something?” Clyde asked, his voice rising.

“I assure you it’s no joke,” the woman said. “In fact, this may be the most important few minutes of your sorry lives. You get to decide whether you’re really dead, like the papers say, or if you live.”

“Why are we even talking?” Clyde asked. “We killed people. Cops and regular people. We’re guilty as sin and you got us dead to rights.”

Clyde tried to make out where they were. The room was nearly dark. There were no windows, so maybe it was night. It felt damp and smelled like old dirt, used-up engine oil, and onions—a cellar maybe.

“If we didn’t think you were useful, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” the woman said.

“What do you mean, useful?” Bonnie asked, the fire returning to her eyes. The last thing she remembered was being pulled out of the car.

“Ah, so the notorious Bonnie Parker has a voice,” the woman said. “I was starting to worry that maybe your vocal chords were broken.”

“I wish my ears were broken so I didn’t have to listen to you yammering on,” Bonnie said.

The woman pulled up a splintered wooden chair and sat down facing them.“You were a big slap in the face to the bullies trying to take over the whole damn country and ruin it for everyone except them and their cronies. We always knew it was going to end in a violent death—yours, I mean—but until then, you provided a level of excitement that made the fat cats nervous. But when you started killing cops, the story got away from us.”

“Who exactly is the ‘we’ in your story?” Bonnie asked, struggling to make sense of the rapid-fire words coming from this woman’s mouth.

“That’s not your concern. What is your concern is what we could possibly see in a couple of incorrigible lowlifes that would cause us to go to such great lengths to pluck you out of the very mouth of hell and put you in this room.”

“That was gonna be my next question,” Clyde said. “Maybe not in them exact words.”

“You probably wouldn’t have said ‘incorrigible,’ for one,” Bonnie said, amplifying Clyde’s bravado out of instinct. And habit.

“Turns out you’re pretty good at staying alive and getting out of tight spots,” she said. “Or maybe it’s dumb luck. Guess we’re about to find out. Your little crime spree ended two days ago. Now it’s time to give back and help this country of ours stay on track.”

“Fat chance, lady,” Clyde said. “We ain’t never gonna help the law.”

“Oh, I think you will,” she said, leaning back in the chair. “You’re about to earn your lives back.”

“Yeah, what makes you think that?” Bonnie asked, her head finally clearing.

A native of Texas, Clark Hays spent his early childhood there and then moved for a decade with his family around the world following the job of his father, a legendary wildcat petroleum drilling engineer, before finally landing on a Montana ranch. Kathleen McFall was born and raised in Washington, D.C.

Between the two of them, the authors have worked in writing jobs ranging from cowboy-poet to energy journalist to restaurant reviewer to university press officer. After they met in the early 1990s, their writing career took center stage when they wrote the first book in The Cowboy and the Vampire Collection as a test for marriage. They passed. Their debut novel was picked up by Llewellyn (St. Paul, MN) with a first edition published in 1999, making it among the earliest stories in the resurgence and reimagining of the undead myth for modern audiences.

Since then, Clark and Kathleen have published five novels together—the latest reimagines the life of the legendary outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.

Clark and Kathleen have won several writing awards, including a Pushcart Prize nomination (Clark) and a fiction fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts (Kathleen). Their books have been honored with a Best Books of 2014 by Kirkus Reviews, Best Books of 2016 by IndieReader, and a 2017 Silver IPPY Medalist. 

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BAUGH TO BRADY

The Evolution of the Forward Pass

By LEW FREEDMAN

  Genre: Sports History / Football

Publisher: Texas Tech University Press

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Date of Publication: December 15, 2017

Number of Pages: 296

There are three things that can happen when you throw a pass, and two of them are bad.   –Woody Hayes

 The quarterback pass is one of the leading offensive components of today’s National Football League and college football’s top level of play. This was not always the case. In early American football, the strategy focused entirely on advancing the ball one running play at a time, with the player tucking the then-roundish ball on his hip and sprinting ahead until tackled by a swarm of defenders. The revolution that transformed the sport began in 1906, when passing was first legalized. The passing weapon made the game safer, altered strategy, turned the quarterback into a key offensive player, and made possible the high-scoring games of today.

Lew Freedman traces football’s passing game from its inception to the present, telling the tale through the stories of the quarterbacks whose arms carried (and threw) the changes forward. Freedman relies especially on the biography of “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh–who hailed from Sweetwater, Texas–as a framework. Baugh, perhaps the greatest all-around football player in history, came along at just the right time to elevate the passing game to unprecedented importance in the eyes of the sports world.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: LEW FREEDMAN

Why did you choose to write about sports history?

I am a very big sports fan who has long been fascinated by sports history and how the games we follow today were shaped by the past. From my reading I also became a very big fan of Sammy Baugh, the one-time Texas Christian University star and NFL quarterback. I came to believe that he is probably the greatest football player of all time because he was an all-star in the pros as a quarterback, defensive player and a punter, demonstrating a remarkable versatility. This volume traces the history of the forward pass from the time it was first permitted to the way it gradually gained in importance in the sport to the present day when its offensive value has eclipsed the running game.

Much of the story focuses on the life of Sammy Baugh and the pivotal role he played in this evolution.

Where did you love of books, writing, reading and storytelling come from?

I grew up in a family where everyone read, my mother and especially my father, who was a public relations man whose job involved writing. By the time I was in the sixth grade I began writing fictional short stories with my friends as characters and I always believed I would write novels.

In eighth grade I had an English teacher who heavily emphasized reading. She wanted us to read as much as possible on any topic. We were asked to write a book comment (it could be as short as a few paragraphs or a page), basically to prove we actually read the book. This turned me into a voracious reader of everything from popular novels to mysteries to sports books. I read – and turned in more book comments – than anyone in the class. Reading stuck and I do not go out the door any day without a book with me.

By my sophomore year in high school I was writing for my high school newspaper and before that year was out I obtained a job writing about sports for my hometown weekly newspaper. I then majored in journalism in college. Over the 50-plus years since I have almost always written for a newspaper, though briefly only for the Internet. In 1988 I wrote my first non-fiction book and since then I have written 100 of them, virtually all about Alaska or sports. Alas, I never have had the chance to write those novels, though short stories and novels remain goals to fulfill.

What are some day jobs that you have held? Have any of them impacted your writing?

My regular jobs over the decades have included writing for the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Anchorage Daily News and currently for the Cody Enterprise in Wyoming. When I was a kid I was such a big sports fan I kept all types of statistical lists about sports such as baseball, football and basketball.

When I became a sportswriter, it was a treat just to go to the games and write about them. Over time, as I matured and my writing matured, I realized the real stories were about the people behind the scores, not so much those statistics. The appeal of telling unique, individual stories expanded and I still get excited to tell someone’s unusual tale. The stories about what makes people tick or what obstacles they must overcome are the most satisfying to write.

I have worked long hours and long weeks for many years to keep improving and do believe even at this point in my life I can still get better. I believe I wrote some of the best in-depth stories of my life this very year, even after all of this time. When you work for a newspaper there are some basic stories that must be written, but the challenge is to find the juicy ones no one else is doing to tell.

The opportunities that came my way to write longer, in-depth features for a newspaper (space tougher to come by these days depending on where one works) helped me develop style and an eye for what works in a longer piece. Writing many, many of those stories helped me write better books and writing the books helped me write better long newspaper stories.

It seems to be working since I have won nearly 300 journalism awards.

What do you like to read in your free time?

I enjoy mystery/suspense novels by a select group of authors whom I follow at all times when they write new ones, novels that take you back in time sometimes simultaneously taking a fictional look at real-life events, biographies, and sports books about the sports I like best and which I also write about.

I read collections of Best American Sports Writing, Best Travel Writing and a few others for the opportunity to learn what somebody considers to be the best non-fiction newspaper or magazine tales out there – and to find out what I missed by not subscribing to a publication.

If you could time travel, what time period would you first visit?

I can think of two time periods that I would prefer for different reasons, both of them allowing me to explore different aspects of the United States. The first would be the 1870s-1880s as the American Frontier was closing, Buffalo Bill Cody was starting his Wild West show, Sitting Bull was still around, and the bison had not yet disappeared completely from the West.

The second would be the 1920s, the Roaring Twenties in the U.S. after World War I and before the Great Depression, when Babe Ruth was the king of baseball and several other of the greatest Hall of Famers were still playing, and when a glimpse of the huge cities of today like New York and Chicago could be compared.

What’s your funniest flaw?

My complete lack of electronic gadget mastery (I don’t even text) and this dovetailing with my total lack of ability as a handyman. Whatever it is, I would probably buy a new one rather than try to fix it. Luckily, my wife is a bit sharper on these fronts.

Secondarily, despite an enthusiasm for singing along with the radio in the car, a total ability to sing on key without making others laugh would be another weak point.

What projects are you working on at the present?

First thing that needs finishing is an encyclopedia of professional wrestling that I hope contains every weird, silly and off-beat side story about that half-sport/half-entertainment industry.

This will be followed by a biography of the late Hall of Fame baseball star Ernie Banks, a biography of Buffalo Bill Cody, and hopefully a personal memoir based on my 50 years of sports writing.

Lew Freedman is a veteran newspaper sportswriter and experienced author of more than seventy-five books about sports as well as about Alaska.

He spent seventeen years at the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska and has also worked for the Chicago Tribune and  Philadelphia Inquirer. Freedman is recipient of more than 250 journalism awards.

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SEA OF RUST

By C. ROBERT CARGILL

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Robot Western
Publisher: Harper Voyager, an imprint of Harper Collins
Date of Publication: September 5, 2017
Number of Pages: 384

It’s been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI—but not all robots are willing to cede their individuality—their personality—for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world.

One resister is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning. Although unable to experience emotions like a human, Brittle is haunted by the terrible crimes the robot population perpetrated on humanity. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw memories—and nearly unbearable guilt.

SEA OF RUST is both a harsh story of survival and an optimistic adventure. A powerfully imagined portrayal of ultimate destruction and desperate tenacity, it boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, yet where a human-like AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.

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Praise for Sea of Rust:

“Sea of Rust is a forty-megaton cruise missile of a novel – it’ll blow you away and lay waste to your heart. It is the most visceral, relentless, breathtaking work of SF in any medium since Mad Max: Fury Road.”  

— #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill 

“Cargill…effectively takes a grim look at a war-torn future where our nonhuman successors face complex moral dilemmas, exploring what it means to be alive and aware [….]This action-packed adventure raises thought-provoking and philosophical questions.”

   — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Innovative worldbuilding, a tight plot, and cinematic action sequences make for an exciting ride through a blasted landscape full of dying robots.”  — Kirkus Reviews

This book is science fiction at it’s finest. Extremely compelling from the very beginning, I was absolutely hooked by the time it was over. Humans gone and the world a victim of it’s past, there is now only the ruling intelligence of collective memories. Individuality from the One World Intelligence is now an act of rebellion.

We know from the start that Brittle is one of these rebels in her own way. As she goes through the sea of rust, we learn more about the history that led to this world. More dominantly, the history of Brittle and what it takes to survive. Despite humans being gone, this does not stop the constant struggle and conflict as other robots struggle to exist and simply have freedom to be. I found it interesting that Brittle identified as a she or that any of the robots followed gender roles. Though I suspect it fit Brittle’s character to adapt to more human characteristics, especially considering their roots and desire to live. Brittle’s memories of the humans she once knew takes part in this identity as well. As once a caregiver, the question of evolution and adaptability is always present. When their own creators are gone and they have an empty space of existence, what can they become?

This book could be as brutal as the summary suggests. Though that didn’t stop the odd humor and unpredictable moments that seemed to fit a chaotic world. It stays true to pure apocalyptic and rough world. Brittle is flawed, powerful, remorseful, and very likable. Cargill does an excellent job with the details into the characters and world building that are so precise and inspiring.

C. Robert Cargill is the author of Dreams and Shadows and Queen of the Dark Things. He has written for “Ain’t it Cool News” for nearly a decade under the pseudonym Massawyrm, served as a staff writer for Film.com and Hollywood.com, and appeared as the animated character Carlyle on spill.com. He is a co-writer of the horror films “Sinister” (2012) and “Sinister 2” (2015), and the new Benedict Cumberbatch superhero movie, “Dr. Strange” (2016). He lives with his wife in Austin, Texas.

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