For the second time in two years, Jason Offutt’s horror novel, “The Girl in the Corn,” received an Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Gold Award. The 2022 award celebrated the audiobook version of the novel; the 2023 award honors Offutt for writing the best independently-published horror novel of 2022.
The IBPA awards ceremony took place May 5 in San Diego. Publisher of “The Girl in the Corn,”(and of Offutt’s 2020 sci-fi comedy “So You Had to Build a Time Machine”), CamCat Books, earned four gold awards and three silver. This marks the second year in a row CamCat Books was the biggest winner in the awards contest for the best independently published books.
Telep is a cliff climber, higher in the caste system of the land of Eveloce than one of his trade should be, other than his mentor Caleb, who has served the upper tier of the secluded mountain country faithfully. When Caleb suffers an injury no climber can return from, he is forced to leave Eveloce, and take with him his daughter, Ell, the woman who holds Telep’s heart.
Unbeknownst to Caleb or Ell, Telep follows them outside their beloved homeland into exile, determined to be with his love again. When Telep enters parts of the world he’s only heard stories of, he finds Caleb and Ell working for a people whose drive to expand their land’s boundaries is equalled only by their desire for vengeance on the mysterious people who live beyond.
In TEMPLE OF CONQUEST, author Mark Broe creates a rich fantasy world different than any I’ve dipped my nose into. It’s a world of distinct kingdoms with distinct people, distinct traditions, and distinct goals. From the erudite people of the mountain kingdom Eveloce, to the ship and bridge builders of the West Isles, to the miners and refiners of the southernmost South Nexus, and beyond, each culture is unique and believable, the people Broe populates them with doubly so.
I felt for Telep, as the woman he planned to marry, and her father, were taken from him and cast into a less civilized part of the world (at least that’s what residents of Eveloce are led to believe). I felt for Caleb as the better life he’d struggled to earn for his daughter is destroyed by the pop of a safety strap. And I felt for characters I met deeper into the book (no spoilers, man). Broe not only fleshed these characters into people I could see and hear, he created an emotional attachment from the character to the reader.
Detail of the expansion from South Nexus into the wilds beyond kept me flipping pages to see how these people were going to accomplish the loftiest goal their world had ever seen. Broe’s world building made sense, the different motivations of Telep, of Caleb, and project leader Ep Brody and his brother, the angry, bitter Ep Salo, made sense. And the essential profession of Telep and Caleb made sense. Broe is a rock climber, and used his expertise to make me feel I was alone on a cold, hard cliffside. I also enjoyed the battle scenes. I’m not sure Broe’s battled mythical beasts, but he gave a good picture of it.
Telep’s motivations after a pivotal moment in the story could have gone a few different ways, but I believed it when Telep was too strong to quit. As I finished the last bits of TEMPLE OF CONQUEST I understood the temple, the people of the temple, and how much I wanted to see more of them. Not that the book needed to continue, because that story was over. There seems to be more stories in this world to tell.
TEMPLE OF CONQUEST is a fun, fast read, filled with danger, politics, and good old-fashioned human feelings. I recommend this for fans of fantasy and adventure.
Mark Broe is a rock climber, writer (yeah, those two were obvious), and sound recordist from Michigan. He wrote the first draft of TEMPLE OF CONQUEST during a two-month trip to Guyana. You can find TEMPLE OF CONQUEST at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Camcatbooks.com, and the book website, www.templeofconquest.com.
Constance Haltwhistle, a headstrong young woman of unruly hair and suspicious tendencies, has a problem. More than one, really, such as the law demanding she marry someone respectable or lose the family estate, an error with a sausage delivery to the king of Sweden he’s not happy about, and the damn cowboy. Yes, the cowboy was definitely a problem.
Haltwhistle is the Brass Queen, an arms manufacturer in a steampunk Victorian England. She has been in control of Haltwhistle Estate since her scientist father, the Baron Haltwhistle, disappeared. Whether he be treasure hunting in Africa, or China or on another world is anyone’s guess.
Author Elizabeth Chatsworth Photo credit: Sam Chinigo
The night of her coming-out party is a disaster, complete with an airship, a kidnapping, and the appearance of the cowboy J.F. Trusdale. Is all of this connected? Does Constance find a husband? And what happens when royalty comes to town?
THE BRASS QUEEN is the debut novel of author Elizabeth Chatsworth, and is a dizzyingly fun romp through a world where modern conveniences are run by steam, and all our characters are run by hijinks and shenanigans. Palace intrigue, spies, and Prussian polo, THE BRASS QUEEN has a lot to offer, usually through a veil of cheeky humor.
“I’m sure you’re familiar with the rules of Prussian polo,” author Chatsworth writes, “there are only seven hundred and thirty-seven, so it’s much easier to understand than cricket.”
Constance is irresistibly flawed. Brilliant, beautiful, self-centered, and endowed with serious trust issues. The man she butts heads with, J.F. Trusdale, is a mysterious, rustic American who’s a bit of an embarrassment to Victorian British society. These characters gel, even when they try not to. The twists in the plot kept me eagerly flipping pages to see just how the Brass Queen handles herself in this world of royal backstabbing.
Much like its namesake, THE BRASS QUEENis funny, smart and smooth. Chatsworth’s writing style is tight, light, and easy to read. Even the secondary and tertiary characters are fleshed out, the villains believable and truly, truly unlikeable.
The book, however, isn’t without a weakness or two. Chatsworth shows the reader a picture we’d like to see painted into a little more clarity. For one example, Chatsworth makes a point—more than once—that a character in Haltwhistle’s employ is an accomplished boxer, but we never see him box. This is in no way Chekhov’s gun, but the mentions made me expect he and the cowboy Trusdale (no small man himself) to square off.
No matter, I thoroughly enjoyed the fast-moving, humor-filled THE BRASS QUEEN, and I’m sure fans of steampunk will love it as much as I have.
The Brass Queen is a 448-page steampunk novel available at CamCatbooks.com and all major online outlets.
Jason Offutt is the author of sixteen books, including the novel So You Had to Build a Time Machine from CamCat Books. He teaches journalism at Northwest Missouri State University.
