Book Review - The Samaritan by Fred Venturini

I recently had the pleasure of reading an advanced copy of The Samaritan by Fred Venturini, the debut title from St. Louis-based Blank Slate Press.

The Samaritan is the story of Dale Sampson, an awkward, lonely, and loveless young man dealing with a life of tragedy while coming to terms with an unexplained power he discovers within himself.  One part coming of age tale, one part twisted super hero-esque revenge drama, two parts Catcher in the Rye, The Samaritan does what too few novels these days are able – combine character and story into a thought provoking and highly entertaining read. Venturini has created a world that envelops, suspends disbelief, and most importantly rivets an emotional connection between character and reader. It’s a gripping read.

The writing itself is great – concise and compact where it needs to be while still vividly descriptive when necessary. The voice of the main character is unique and heartbreaking, almost scary, and best of all, real. Oh so real.

The Samaritan is darkly tragic, hilariously engrossing, and remarkably spellbinding. It’s available now for Pre-Order from The Blank Slate Press website.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Super Powers I’d Like to Have - #3 Time Travel

Yeah I know. I’ve been gone a while. Sorry. But hey, if it makes a difference, I’ve got an excuse. See, I just moved to a huge new house and with that moving has come rooms to paint, furniture to buy, and obscene amounts of grass to cut. That along with the HD TV I bought to go along with it have taken up way more time than I expected. As it turns out, I’ll watch almost anything if it’s in HD. I took in Wheel of Fortune just the other day. It was hypnotizing. Anyway, spare me the lecture. I promise I’ll try and do better and stick to rule #17. Okay?

And so with that awkwardness out of the way, let’s continue on with my top 5 list of superpowers I’d love to have, #3…

Time Travel!

Imagine you’re having a really, really bad day. You were late for school, your principal called you a slacker, you realized your entire family was a worthless bunch of losers, and  then you watched your crazy inventor friend get gunned down by seriously pissed off Libyan terrorists while you videotaped the whole thing. I’m talking a really bad day. How can you fix things?

By jumping back in time. Possibly to, oh say, 1955.

It’s a wild thought. And an intriguing one for sure but not without its drawbacks. Let’s take a look at them:

Disadvantages

How can the ability to travel through time be anything but awesome? Well, inevitably I’d somehow get stuck in the Past/Future at some point, because that’s always seems to be what happens to time travelers for some reason. That would be a major downer. And like Super Speed, there’s the inherent risk that I’d inadvertently destroy the universe and/or Space Time Continuum through some cataclysmic Butterfly Effect. But hey, a guy’s gotta live, right? 

Advantages

Almost too many to count.  I’d maybe even be able to finally defeat Skynet.

What I’d do

Buy a sports almanac in 2015, then turn Hill Valley into a seething, sinful playground with the gambling winnings, be the first on my new block with a hover car, stop Indiana Jones IV from ever being made.

Just a few hours left!

As my giveaway to win the first ever Special Edition copy of In Search of Monsters winds down, I thought I'd post the commentary I've written for the intro story to the collection, "Looking Through You" just to give everyone a taste what makes this edition so special. Each and every story will be preceded by commentary just like this, detailing that's story's journey from idea to publication. Hope you enjoy it.

If you haven't already read "Looking Through You," you should. It's excellent if I do say so myself. Download it for free here.

"Looking Through You" Commentary

Stephen King says that the seeds of all stories exist in the ethos in some way or another and that it’s our job as writers to dig them up, give them life, and let them unfurl for the reader. With Looking Through You, that’s exactly what happened for me.  

It began with just that single opening line—I wake up screaming—and took off from there, flowing relatively easily, as if the story were already a part of me and all I was doing was writing it down. The voice of the narrator felt very natural to write and every section (with the exception of the end) came very quickly to me. This sort of writing was unlike what I was used to, but very refreshing.

The premise itself pulls from my life and my first house. Lying in bed, I could see the door of my spare bedroom just across the hall. As I drifted to sleep, my crazy brain would begin to wonder if maybe, just maybe, that rarely used room might be haunted. And if it was, what would I do? Who would believe me? And from that kernel of a premise, this story blossomed.

The rest of the story also grabs pieces and parts from my life – the old woman across the street is very blatantly based on a very sweet lady in my old neighborhood, the dreary cellar in my grandmother’s house, the game my girlfriend and I play at Maymont Park here in Richmond, dreams I’ve had. These elements give to the story what I hope is a feeling of realness, almost a familiarity that allows the reader to relate to the two main characters as much as possible. This is important in most stories, but absolutely elemental to the success of this one.

Because ultimately, this is much more than just a simple ghost story. It’s a story about life and about living, about the struggle we all go through to understand the world and our place in it. 

Win the first copy of the In Search of Monsters: Special Edition

From now until the end of the month, I’m holding a contest on this very blog to give away one free signed copy of the Special Edition of my book, In Search of Monsters.

Excited? Me too!

But wait, what’s in this Special Edition you ask? Well, allow me to elaborate. In Search of Monsters: Special Edition is a never before released version of my book with an intro to each story detailing its inspiration, evolution from idea to finished product, bumps I hit along the way in writing it, and its previous places of publication. It’s perfect for die-hard fans, fellow writers, and any lover of fiction that’s always wanted a behind the curtain look into the sausage-making process that is writing.  The best part, the only way to get one is by WINNING IT HERE FIRST.

Now, on to the important stuff. The ways to enter are these:

1. Post a comment here in this post. It can be literally anything, from how much you enjoy this blog to how your cat’s breath smells like cat food. Just be sure that you use a valid email address when commenting so I can track you down. This will earn you one entry.
2. Tweet about this post, including a link. Make sure you mention me (@JoshCov) so I know what you’re up to. This gets you two entries.
3. Post a link in your Facebook status to this entry and email a screenshot to joshuacovington [at] yahoo.com. This also gets you two entries.
4. Write a post of at least 100 words on your personal blog about me, my book, or this contest. It doesn’t have to be much but must include a link back here. When your post is up, shoot me an email at joshuacovington [at] yahoo.com to let me know. This will get you five whole entries.

At the end of the month, I’ll pick a random winner from this batch of entries. Contest ends Feb. 28^th.

It’s as simple as that. And guess what? You can do all of these if you’d like (and believe me, I’d love for you to) and earn a grand total of ten entries. So go forth, spread the word, and good luck.

Super Powers I’d Like to Have - #4 Super Speed

Last week, I began a series of posts on the top super powers I’d like to have. Today, we continue. Why? Well I think that may be the difference between you and me. You think of a silly blog post and ask why, I think of a silly blog post and ask why not. And now, onward to #4…

Super Speed!

Imagine being really fast. And I don’t mean the fastest guy in school or even so fast you’ve allegedly never lost a race. I mean fast enough to travel back in time or vibrate through walls. Fast enough to take physics, bend it over, and make it your woman. That kind of fast.

Advantages

If you could run at super speeds, would you ever get on an airplane ever again? As much as I would miss airport security, the smell of recycled air, and the fat guy with the sinus infection that ALWAYS buys the seat next to me, neither would I.

And even the more practical, every day benefits are nearly endless. Yardwork? Done before the lawn mower gets warmed up. Snowy sidewalk? Shoveled and back inside watching Wonder Years reruns in no time. Silly blog post? Typed and published in seconds.

Disadvantages

First of all, being super might actually break every law of the universe that we know of, therefore creating a rift in space time and destroying everything as we know it. That would, of course, be bad. More research would have to be done to prevent that. I can’t have that on my conscience.

Then there’s the pesky issue of finding clothes that won’t disintegrate at super speeds. Apparently, The Flash had some type of invisible aura around him that protected his clothes. But come on, that was in the comic books. We’re talking for real here. What’s the point of being able to forgo commercial air travel if you arrive at that big business conference totally naked?

Things I would do with this power

Win a gold medal in every Olympic event including women’s softball and rhythmic gymnastics, reap the rewards of endorsement deals from every major athletic shoe manufacturer in the world, retire to someplace where snow doesn’t ruin my every weekend.

Next time, the countdown continues!