James Reasoner's Gabriel Hunt at the Well of Eternity is hands down the most fun I've had with a book in a long, long time, probably since last year's The Dawn Patrol. There are so many twofers I could choose--including a brilliant inside joke that I am *not* going to excerpt here because I don't want to ruin the surprise; you'll know it when you get to it--but I'm going to highlight a couplet that exemplifies the type of humor that spices up this fun work.
His [the guy driving the air boat] moved with assurance on the controls. The airboat wheeled to the left--to port, Gabriel corrected himself; this was a boat, after all--and kept turning until it was headed straight back at the airboat that had been pursuing them.You'll just have to read the book to find out how--or if--Gabriel makes it out of this dire predicament. And come back here tomorrow for a full review of this fun, fun book.
My crime/pulp sentences today are inspired by a word choice Jay Stringer gave to me as a writing exercise. He said it would be a fun challenge to take a certain word and each of us write a story around it. Kind of like the new Flash Fiction challenge Patti Abbott's started. The word Jay suggested was "lullaby."
"Brilliant," White said as she dropped her binoculars and rubbed her eyes, "We got a baby in there." Without another word, all four women reached into their vests, pulled out silencers, and attached them onto their pistols.BTW, Jay Stringer's story, The Hard Sell, is the featured story over at Beat to a Pulp. I've read it, folks, and it's a fun story. It had me laughing and entertained all the way through.
For more Two Sentence Tuesday goodies, head on over to Women of Mystery.
That inside joke was great. Worth the price of the book all by itself. James is one of the best at that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteYour Lullaby-inspired fiction snip was freaky, and I snuck over for the steampunk, too. Looking forward to the GH review, you overachiever!
ReplyDeleteBill - I laughed very hard when I read the inside joke. Even shared it with my wife, though she just smiled.
ReplyDeleteClare2e - I'm sure the final result might be different but, as soon as Jay wrote "lullaby," I got the image of four armed (that's armed with guns, not four-armed) women having to pull a job and not wake the baby. Haven't written it all yet. Guess we'll find out. The steampunk lines are less clear since I think of that particular scene as chapter 2. It's all a journey...
Now "lullaby" plays in my brain. Darn...
ReplyDeleteI love the image of four women trying not to wake the baby. It's great!
ReplyDeleteYour pick for Two Sentence is a goodie. I enjoyed J.R.'s book very much and know we've seen the launch of a pulp hero on par with the best of Doc Savage.
ReplyDeleteGreat visual with four women pulling guns with silencers. My kind of story.
ReplyDeletePatti - For me and my son, it was Frere jacqua (so horribly misspelled) but you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteCrystal - Thanks for dropping by. I plan to use the new few sentences to flesh out the scene. The more I think about this little story, the funnier it becomes. Hope it ends up being funny.
David - Having just read the first Doc Savage book late last year, I can easily see all the little nuances and nods J.R. threw in. It's such a rush, that book, and I'm dying for the next one!
Barbara - The interesting thing about the job they're about to pull, the didn't have the silencers on already. Guess they figured four women packing heat would've been enough to still their target in his tracks.
ooooh i'm intruiged by your snippet of Lullaby. Hoping to get mine somehwere near done by this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI like that we're going in two very different directions from the same word, this is going to be fun.
Anyone else interested should feel welcome to join in.