Fiction Vortex - August 2014 Read online

  On their journey to the north they reach a village where the king has been murdered, and Talus uses his skills of observation and deduction to try and reveal the killer. The king left six sons, and they all seem to have reasons to be glad that the king is gone, as well as the shaman of their village and people from other villages.

  Suspicion moves from one to the other, and Mr. Edwards does a fair job of integrating a who-done-it mystery into a Stone Age/fantasy scenario. The reasoning is logical, there is an air of suspense, and he writes the story well enough to be a pleasure to read.

  Those who like mystery or fantasy or even historical novels of the age should enjoy Talus and the Frozen King. There are many details of life in a pre-historic culture that are skillfully woven into the story to give a nice feel of authenticity. The main characters are likeable and unique.

  I have only one complaint about the book, and that is Mr. Edwards has a tendency to shift the point of view of the characters constantly. There were times I wasn’t sure who was thinking what about whom. Some parts I had to re-read to be sure. But other than that, I enjoyed it.

  While this novel would never be a replacement for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes or Conan by Robert E. Howard, if you are looking for an entertaining read that contains elements of both those ends of the spectrum, you may enjoy Mr. Edwards Talus and the Frozen King.

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  About Fiction Vortex

  Fiction Vortex, let’s see …

  A fiction vortex is a tornado of stories that pick you up and hurl you through a barn to find enlightenment on the other side. It’s a whirlpool of fascinating tales so compelling that they suck you in, drag you down to the bottom of your mind, and drown you with incessant waves of glorious imagery and believable characters.

  Nope.

  A fiction vortex is an online speculative fiction magazine focused on publishing great science fiction and fantasy, and is run by incredibly attractive and intelligent people with great taste in literature and formidable writing prowess.

  Not that either. But we’re getting closer.

  Founded in the 277th year of the Takolatchni Dynasty, Fiction Vortex set out to encourage people to write and publish great speculative fiction. It sprang fully formed from the elbow of TWOS, retaining none of TWOS’s form but most of its spirit. And the patron god of writers, the insecure, the depressed, and the mentally ill regarded Fiction Vortex in his magic mirror of self-loathing and declared it good, insofar as something that gives writer’s undue hope can be declared good. Thereafter, he charged the Rear Admiral of the Galactic 5th Fleet to defend Fiction Vortex down to the last robot warrior.

  Now we’re talking.

  Take your pick. We don’t care how you characterize us or the site.

  Fiction Vortex focuses on publishing speculative fiction. That means science fiction and fantasy (with a light smattering of horror and a few other subgenres), be it light, heavy, deep, flighty, spaceflighty, cerebral, visceral, epic, or mundane. But mundane in a my-local-gas-station-has-elf-mechanics-but-it’s-not-really-a-big-deal-around-here kind of way. Got it?

  Basically, we want imaginative stories that are well written, but not full of supercilious floridity.

  There’s a long-standing belief that science fiction and fantasy stories aren’t as good as purely literary fare. We want you to prove that mindset wrong (not just wrong, but a steaming pile of griffin dung wrong) with every story we publish. It’s almost like we’re saying, "I do not bite my thumb at you, literary snobs, but I do bite my thumb," but in a completely polite and non-confrontational way.

  We've got more great stories online, with a new story twice a week. Visit our website FictionVortex.com, follow us on Twitter: @FictionVortex, and like us on Facebook: FictionVortex.

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