Friday's Fiction - A Man's Perspective

I'm pretty sure this is the first review I've had done by a male peer, and I was quite pleased that Rob Appleton ventured outside his "comfort" zone and picked my book to read. We exchanged comments about the ending, because, clearly, when I wrote this book, I knew people would either love or hate a veer from the norm, so I truly understand his comments. Once I explained my reasoning, I think he agreed I had done the right thing. The other reviews I've received, to my great surprise, have supported and praised Sarah's conclusion. I'm so honored that he enjoyed my work. If you haven't read any of Rob's books, you're missing a great treat. Like Sarah's Journey, you can find them at Eternal Press

REVIEW: Sarah's Journey by Ginger Simpson

Sarah's Journey

by Ginger Simpson

Historical Western Romance
eBook
72,000 words
Eternal Press
http://www.eternalpress.ca/sarahsjourney.html

1850. Somewhere on the Santa Fe Trail...

Sarah Collins awakens to a scene of utter carnage. Everyone in her wagon train headed for California has been slaughtered during a savage Indian raid. Weak and dazed, Sarah finds one survivor, her best friend, and sets about trying to revive her. But the poor woman’s arrow wound is mortal. She dies. Sarah is now completely alone in the world—homeless, penniless and stranded. In scene after scene of arresting pragmatism, we come to know Sarah not by her misfortunes, but through the resourceful ways in which she deals with them. This is a woman of her time, an upstanding, God-fearing daughter of pioneers, and she is going to survive.

Soon after starting her journey back to civilization, Sarah happens on the body of a (seemingly) dying Indian. Irony rears its head and bites her—in the form of a rattlesnake—when she tries to take his horse and ends up in his care. He slowly nurses her back to health. Against all odds, on the road to Independence, an unspoken attraction develops between the two. His name is Grey Wolf. He is a handsome man of mixed blood—his father was white, his mother was Indian—who sees the world through eyes every bit as pragmatic as Sarah’s. Will their true feelings for each other win out? What will happen when they reach Independence?

Sarah’s Journey is a heartfelt Western romance that doesn’t merely settle for being a romance. Its themes of intolerance and defining one’s own identity are prevalent throughout. The protagonist is a sensitive yet uncompromisingly moral woman, a spinster on the verge of love. She is by turns abrasive and adorable, and particularly in the final third of the story, adorably abrasive. For Sarah, equality is not an ideal but an absolute. Woe betide anyone who suggests otherwise. Yet for all her forthrightness, the biggest obstacle she faces is in her own heart—forbidden love.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Simpson’s recreation of Western life. The word that kept coming to mind as I read this story was uncompromising. Little is omitted, whether it be gruesome wounds, the preparation of herbs and food, Sarah’s body language, or the precise terms for the different noises made by a horse. I loved seeing all this research come to life. The author’s passion for the period and particularly for her characters shone throughout. This was clearly a labour of love. The only quibble I had was with the ending. I suspect many will lap it up, but I found the concept more compelling than the execution. I was hoping for a more bittersweet denouement. Nevertheless, it took a brave writer to end her novel that way. And having never read a woman’s western before, I can say unequivocally that Ms. Simpson, like her heroine, has real gumption.

--Robert Appleton


Don't miss this superb story at Eternal Press:

http://www.eternalpress.ca/sarahsjourney.html (eBook)

and now in paperback at Amazon!

Character Interview From Deep Space...

I'd like to thank Ms. Ginger for the kind invite, and to let everyone know that Sarah's Journey has taken her into hostile territory--the top 10 at Fictionwise and Eternal Press. Yee-haw!


My name is Robert Appleton and I write sci-fi and paranormal fiction for EP. I also have a not-so-double-O alias, Arthur Everest, who is the author of the Esther May Morrow time travel series. We both live in Bolton, England, but I'm quite a bit cooler. For one thing, I've written The Eleven-Hour Fall.


This is my first year as a published writer, and I have to say it's all rather bonkers. The actual writing is a picnic with Julia Roberts in comparison to what goes on later, when the blank ink dries and the red ink scrawls and your manuscript starts to resemble Edgar Allen Poe's old doormat. But I'm enjoying every minute. For one thing, it pays well (so says the piggy bank).

I love movies, reading classical novels, kayaking, soccer, and writing poetry. If I had the money and didn't object to killing defenceless animals, I'd be an Allan Quatermain, exploring darkest Africa in my khakis. As it is, I must do the exploring in my mind. So far, my farthest journey has been to the mysterious planet Kratos, where a thrilling tale of survival and romance is brought to life in The Eleven-Hour Fall, the e-book everyone on planet Earth is talking about (hey, this is my blog).

And in the spirit of survival, let me introduce the story's protagonist, Kate Borrowdale, with whom I conducted an interview just before her departure to the surface of Kratos...

Deep space transmission #43938 received. Origin: Deep Space Explorer Fair Monique in orbit around planet Kratos. Interview by Robert Appleton of Eternal Press, Canada.

RA: Are we on? Okay, good. [aside] Miss Borrowdale, you might want to clip the mike to your t-shirt. No, there in the middle. Yeah, I know it’s low-cut but…what about…here, let me. [slap] Okay, you go ahead.

Kate: How does this damn thing…ah, finally.

RA: Right, a big hello to everyone listening in from Earth, Mars, and Europa. I’m here with highly regarded terrain scout Kate Borrowdale on board the Deep Space Explorer Fair Monique. In less than an hour, Kate will be a part of the third mission to survey the icy peaks of planet Kratos. The first two missions met with only limited success. Kate, what went wrong?

Kate: What the hell are you trying to say? That it was somehow my fault? [pause] Ah, okay. Sorry. Um, it’s a tough job. If you’ve ever been mountaineering and the weather’s closed in at high altitude, it can be hard to keep your bearings.

RA: Yes, and that would make it infinitely harder to locate Psammeticum. Can you tell us a little about this mineral, and why it’s so important?

Kate: No. I flunked chemistry, I'm afraid. It’s a new energy catalyst. If that means something to you, you probably wear glasses and singe your sideburns on a regular basis. I just go where they send me. The rest is all senses and sensors.

RA: Senses and sensors…I like that. Can I use it for my upcoming book on terrain scouting?

Kate: No.

RA: All right, Kate, can you describe for us a typical day on board the Fair Monique? What would an average day entail for Kate Borrowdale?

Kate: A dozen laps round the running track first thing, then breakfast, aerobics, an hour or so on the climbing wall, afternoon briefing, maybe some kickboxing. I like to spend time on the observation decks whenever I can. The virtual telescopes are fantastic, even when you’re alone. After that, um, maybe a movie in the evening, or have a drink with a friend. Typical day, I guess.

RA: Do you have a boyfriend? Or is there someone you’ve got your eye on?

Kate: No boyfriend at the moment, no. And no more personal questions from you, Appleface. Wait a minute! Eternal Press? Didn’t you do that series on French tarts? Yeah, I thought so. Well, you won’t get me to strip. If you want topless, you’re on the wrong deck, jerk.

RA: [clears throat] Word has it that you’re a formidable terrain scout, and that team leaders often request you for the more dangerous missions. Is that the case this time?

Kate: No. Actually, I requested this assignment.

RA: Can you tell us why?

Kate: I…well, it’s hard to explain. You see, there’s someone else I’m…he’s been selected for this one, and…um, I can’t really…oh, sod it! You do ask the most stupid questions. Who the hell are you anyway? You look like a Nutcracker. [laughs] You can put that in your book.

RA: Do you have any family on board?

Kate: Gestapo with the personal questions, again! No, I don’t have any family on board, and no…I’m not going to marry you.

RA: Not even if I had dark, unkempt hair, and had the initials ‘J…’

Kate: Hey! How did you? No, we’d best leave it at that.

RA: Okay, Kate. What are the essential attributes one needs to be a successful terrain scout?

Kate: I’d say stubbornness, a sangfroid demeanour, and a screw loose somewhere up top. Oh, and don’t underestimate the element of fear. It keeps you focused. My motto used to be ‘Hope for the best, plan for the worst.’ Now it’s just ‘Taste the sugar in the shit.’ I’m always the optimist.

RA: You certainly are. You career record is second to none. Any tips for aspiring female scouts?

Kate: You’d be better off as a French tart.

RA: Well, I see the call’s just come through for your embarkation, Kate. Thank you for talking to us, and good luck on your latest mission.

Kate: Thanks, Apples. I didn’t really mean that about the Nutcracker, by the way. You look more like an elf with something stuck up his…

RA: And this is Robert Appleton, signing off.


I'll hopefully be back later in the week, with a contest and some more info on my other sci-fi outings. Until then, here's the blurb for Kate's The Eleven-Hour Fall.

What if you fell from a great height...toward a ground you couldn’t see…and hours later, you were still falling?

For love, for survival, on a mysterious planet light years from home. With the man of her dreams unconscious in her arms, astronaut Kate Borrowdale must escape the treacherous peaks of Kratos and traverse a strange, hidden world beneath the clouds…

The Eleven-Hour Fall is available as a novella e-book from Eternal Press, priced $3.50.

www.eternalpress.ca/theeleventhhournew.html