Today, I’m going to be reviewing three works by self-published author Marlene Sowder. The first, described as stories to tickle your frontal lobe, Candy Dish is a collection of short stories – each 500 words or less. There were some interesting ideas and the author clearly respects the power of language and knows how to leverage the same in creating sound plot structures and narratives. The thing is, and this is a matter of personal preference that reflects more on me than the writer, I […]

Tor.com linked together three of the Laundry Files short stories.  The stories are in a strange order, but still demonstrate what an awesome possibility there is for these adventures.  Down on the Farm is kind of The Prisoner/Cuckoo’s Nest meets Doctor Who.  Overtime deals with the ritual of Saint Nick.  And Equoid mauls both H.P. Lovecraft and the myth of unicorns.

The second Laundry Files tale.  Bob Howard finds himself embroiled in a plot to raise one of the chthonic beasts from the ocean, and he’s forced to take on the role of James Bond to a mad billionaire.  It cleverly carves the whole Bond mythos.  There’s also a nice short included in the digital version, PIMPF, which involves MMORPG’s and human resources.

Stockholm Syndrome set in with this, and I almost enjoyed this.  But Goodkind botched this royally as per usual.  Kahlan has magically been erased from history, but only Richard remembers her.  A mysterious beast that can change form and is indestructable hunts Richard.  But with Kahlan missing, this just leads to Richard arguing constantly through the entire book, and formerly strong female characters suddenly reduced to mooning schoolgirls flinging themselves at Lord Rahl.  BOOOOOOOO.