Book Review: The Reader of Acheron, by Walter Rhein

In the process of creating my newly released novel, Uprooted, I've been reading fantasy fiction by alot of other authors, so I'll occasionally highlight some of these novels in reviews.


I saw a bumper sticker today. It read, “I think, therefore I am dangerous.”

Walter Rhein’s The Reader of Acheron is a compelling tale about “dangerous” men in a culture where reading and thinking among the lower classes is actively discouraged by the ruling class.

Part way through you realize this isn’t a typical fantasy setting. The old civilization has fallen, to be replaced by a tyrannical class of elites who rule over a frightened population of illiterates and drug-addled slaves. It’s a society whose stability rests upon a foundation of ignorance. Those who won’t remain in the dark become threats.

And yet, it’s not that simple – a secret twist lurks in the background.

There are four or five major characters. Each is tantalizingly fleshed out. Two main heroes – one a slave, one a soldier – each suffer under their own burdens of servitude, and each fights back by seeking both freedom and awareness.

I most enjoyed the main character named Quillion. He’s a clever, crafty, “chaotic good” figure whose methods are unorthodox and inscrutable (he reminds me of Mel Gibson’s character in the “Lethal Weapon” movies). I laughed when I got to the line, “This wasn’t the first time in his life of questionable acts that he wondered if he’d made a fatal error.” That’s the essence of what makes Quillion an entertaining, catalytic element who keeps the reader flipping pages to find out how he’s going to get out of his latest fix.

I could not identify so well with Kikkan, the slave. This is partly because his motivation and drives are so relatively simple. Yet he also exhibits a high degree of sophistication in his thinking and actions at other times. By the end of the book it feels natural, but the dissonance was a bit jarring early on.

This is a professionally done work that compares favorably with books you’d find on the shelves of your local bookstore. I had remarkably few editing niggles, and they didn’t detract from the story at all.

Rhein’s craft draws you in. His writing is atmospheric, portentous, descriptive, ironic, emotive. He gives clever attention to human nature and the nature of authoritarian government, and even bureaucracy. It’s a thoughtful book with a lot to say about philosophy and politics.

And by the end you know the adventure has only begun, which perfectly builds the reader’s anticipation for the next volume in the series.

To purchase The Reader of Acheron, visit Amazon.com.

Sample: First Scene of "Uprooted" (my upcoming fantasy novella)

Sorry I haven't been posting much, here.  One of my last posts was at the end of July, which was partially entitled "Close to Publishing..." (somewhat amusing in retrospect).

I've been adding brief updates on a more frequent basis on my Edwin Hanks, Author Facebook page, which is now up to 199 likes/subscribers (want to be #200?).

The long and short of those various updates is that, after more or less completing the story, I've been adding layer upon layer of depth, receiving comments from a number of deeply-valued beta-readers, and making changes according to what they or I feel isn't working quite right.  It's a refining process I intend to discuss shortly in a blog post about croissants.

Previously, I've shared with you samples of my historical fiction writing.  I've meant to supply some writing from other genres, but I haven't found a good sample.  Now, it's time.

What I have for you today is a sample from the upcoming novella, "Uprooted."  It hasn't changed much, at all, in the last two months, and I surprised myself yesterday by making some minor improvements, but I don't anticipate I'll change it again except in response to comments which you can leave here.

As a special bonus, you'll get to see one of the illustrations from the book!  Thanks to Nicole Charpentier for doing some of the interior illustrations.

Chapter 1

The odor of damp earth and warm forest penetrated Caran’s nostrils.  He lay on his side, rocks and twigs uncomfortably prickling through his tunic. 

A youth in his mid-teens, dressed in simple woolen earthtones, his tousled brown hair eclipsed his searching green eyes ever so slightly.  He peered out from a concealing copse of trees and brush, hoping to catch sight of his prey. 

Caran glimpsed nothing of interest.  Just the gray-whiteness of a thousand aspen trees.  The clustered red of the tappery bushes.  No movement but the flutter of small green leaves.  No sound but the call of a hawk circling high overhead, its piercing cry sharp like its talons. 

A wise hunter is patient.  Still.  Silent.  Eyes scanning. 

The mountains of the Burgundy Range loomed large against the distant horizon – a startling contrast of brilliant green vegetation and bright red rock, with a hint of snow dusting the very tops.

Nearer, to front and left of the woods where Caran concealed himself, ran a crescent of bluffs overlooking an oxbow of the Jerat River, whose smoothly flowing waters bit softly into their base.

A wisp of breeze ruffled Caran’s hair.  A trio of birds flashed past, winging through the branches in chase.

He continued to watch.  His mind drifted to thoughts of Kiya, the tall, beautiful, brunette a year his senior who occupied his thoughts often.  He imagined he might now be hunting for food for her table.  Their table – the one he hoped they would share someday. 

Occasionally he convinced himself Kiya shared his interest.  Sometimes it seemed...  Some times, that was, when she wasn’t acting as if he was utterly beneath her notice.  He tamped down a surge of irritation.  Why would she…

There!  A small child in drab brown clothing stirred from a thicket.  The boy’s gaze darted furtively.  Excitedly.  He began to move.  Wrestling with entangling branches, he blundered through his first steps, making enough rustling, crackling noises to rouse a bear from slumber. 

Caran shook his head with a wry smirk.  Slowly, he shifted, leaves crackling quietly under his form.  He raised his bow to match his gaze.  Pulling the bowstring back, he took careful aim.  “Pfft….  Thut!” he shouted, sound effects pitched to carry.

The boy stopped abruptly.  His eyes goggled, and he stared in stunned silence at Caran’s location for a full two heartbeats.  Then he dropped to the ground.

“You missed me!” he yelled back.

 

Grumbling, Caran called back, “I had a perfect shot!  There’s no chance I missed you.  You’re a corpse!”

“I was running!”  After a second’s thought, the argumentative youngster added, “And I ducked!”

That simply evoked a mocking laugh.  “Yeah… After your head got split open!”

Unexpectedly, the youth stood up again.  His body and throwing arm arched back and flung forward to propel some object.  It landed a full twenty paces from Caran’s location.  But the range wasn’t bad, he noted.

“Kawhumpf!” the boy shouted.  “A naptha bottle!  You’re dead!” 

As Caran considered whether to dignify that with a response, he heard a shout of alarm from across the clearing.  Real alarm.  Or so it seemed from the tone.

“Tev?!” he called back.  “You okay?”  A beat or two of silence… 

Caran leapt to his feet and dashed intently toward where he had last seen his little brother.  As he ran, he reached back and pulled a real arrow from his quiver, notching it for ready use.

He hadn’t crossed half the clearing before the younger child squeaked, “Caran!  Come quick.  You won’t believe this!”

Close to Publishing - The World of Orinthia

It's been an exciting week for my fiction writing!

I am about to introduce you to the World of Orinthia!  More on that later.

The main story I'm working on is up to 8 scenes, and I'm going to add one more at the end which I felt was important.  My characters must do what is necessary, because they're smart, unless there's some reason why they're not picking up on what the best action would be.  So, coming to the end, it occurred to me that they would leave themselves and their friends vulnerable if they didn't undertake one last action.  So I'm writing it.

I've already engaged an artist for the cover art, and another artist for some interior illustrations.  I have at least one published author who has offered to read the draft and provide suggestions.  Once all this comes to a head, which I expect it will in a couple of weeks, I'll place the manuscript into Amazon's Createspace, and within a few days it should be available for you to read!

It's amazing how the story changes and grows in depth as it develops.  The story, as it is now, is nothing like I envisioned at first.  As the characters went from caricatures to people, and as their intellects, motivations, personalities, etc. developed, they have changed the story.  The story has wrapped itself to conform to them.  And it's a much more interesting story, now.

The Plan Going Forward

I've finally decided exactly what steps I will take to launch into the fiction writing world.

My first "book" won't be a novel, nor a short story, but rather a hybrid.  I will be publishing this first story on Amazon Kindle as an "Introductory Novella" -- this will hopefully whet your appetite, and get you salivating for the next elements of the series, of which there will be many, all set in the fictional, fantasy world of Orinthia.

I've seen this done before.  Many years ago, in college, probably, I located a book at a bookstore that had a very interesting cover -- it drew me in.  It was advertised as "the first part of book one of The Wheel of Time."  Now, Robert Jordan fans know that his first book was The Eye of the World.  But this half-book was only to get people interested.  It worked!  Many years later, I've read at least 9 of the books, and intend to catch up on the final volumes once I can find time.

But that first book -- The Wheel of Time -- introduced me to Robert Jordan's "world."  A good fantasy fiction author (and many sci-fi authors use this also) has a relatively full picture of the geography, cultures, traditions, history and peoples of the fictional world they're writing about.  The more details you "know" about your world, the more enveloping the stories are for the reader.

I started developing a fantasy world for a self-produced role-playing-game (RPG) about 12 years ago, and now that I'm writing fantasy novels I picked that world up, dusted it off, and I'm modifying it to fit my new needs.  I'll be producing maps, "encyclopedia" articles (for my own use, so I know what I'm writing about), and other aids to how the elements of this world fit together.  You won't see those materials -- they're mainly for my benefit, as an author -- but you'll sense them, as the stories develop and provide glimpses of the world and its history.

My First Story

To give you an idea, my first story about the world of Orinthia will be a murder mystery which later turns into a Lord of the Rings style chase for dear life.  It will be available as an e-book on Kindle and other electronic platforms, and will probably be a perfectly affordable 99 cents.  For those who still want a hard copy, I may also offer a 50 or 60 page print-on-demand "chapbook" for 2 or 3 dollars.

After that, I have plans for many more fantasy stories set in Orinthia, which will help flesh out the people and history of this richly detailed planet.  You'll see kings and queens, as well as powerful magicians (mages) and seemingly helpless mere peasants, all thrown into an interactive cauldron of turmoil.  Achieving survival, or even success, in such situations as these may seem daunting.  But these stories show that the human spirit can persevere against just about anything.

At the Same Time

I'm also not limiting myself to the fantasy fiction realm.

Actually, most of what I've written online (not "published," per se) has been in the "alternative historical fiction" genre.  I take a time in history, and subtly (or drastically) change things, so that history develops differently from the history we're familiar with.  This always provides interesting stories, and the side benefit is you'll get to see many historical people -- personalities you may know from our history -- set into these alternative worlds, where they will use their own talents and predilections on a set of problems they never faced in our world.

Furthermore, I'm also writing various science fiction stories -- one series in particular about space pirates -- and a set of fiction stories based on my experiences in Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue in the 1980s.

I'm really looking forward to this.  I hope you are too!

Thanks for your support!

Edwin Hanks