This review is not unbiased.
I didn't know Dan Franklin is a Cemetery Dance employee, and that he's the guy who makes sure all those great books get packed up and shipped safely.
Dan contacted me a few weeks ago, and he was kind enough to tell me how much he loved my book, He Who Types Between the Rows. He also informed me he had written a novel, and it is going to be published by Cemetery Dance Publications. In hardcover, no less. He generously provided me with an advance reading copy.
Cemetery Dance is the only publisher I will automatically buy books from by untested writers. I know their editorial tastes, and very rarely do I disagree with their choices of books and stories to publish. I would have bought The Eater of Souls anyway.
I could still write a review free of bias based on the above criteria, but there's more. Dan not only loved my book, he was inspired by a piece in He Who Types Between the Rows called "A Little Love for The Mummy". I praised the classic monster and lamented that there are so few stories based on them. Yeah, there's the old Arthur Conan Doyle story, "Lot 249". It was adapted into a pretty nifty episode in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie. Randall Boyll used the mummy with spectacular results in his underrated novel, Mongster. There's the wretched Anne Rice novel, The Mummy, which inspired me to swear off her works for life. Charles L. Grant did a wonderful Mummy novel called The Long Night of the Grave.
Franklin accepted the challenge. His debut publication is called The Eater of Gods, and the story deals with a mummy. Oh, if that isn't enough, there's a character named "Sieber" in the book.
So, yeah, objectivity is out the window. Yet I cannot help but recommend The Eater of Gods to you.
Right off I was impressed by the confident prose Franklin employs in The Eater of Gods. It feels like the work of a veteran author. The narrative is written in the sure, easy prose of a born writer.
The bare bones plot of The Eater of Gods is your standard plotline of a group of archeologists investigating an Egyptian tomb. There's the obligatory curse hanging over it. For the first half of the book I felt that it was a good story. Maybe not great; certainly not bad. Then as the story progressed, I was lured deeper and deeper into the soul of the main protagonist.
This is a monster story, but it's also more. The weight of time hangs heavily over the entire novel. Tragedy and grief, pain and suffering, are the threads that weave the fabric of this mummy saga. The conclusion goes places I was not expecting Franklin to go. It's a devastating emotional gut-punch. Anyone who has ever been in a loving relationship will be profoundly affected.
The Eater of Gods is the most accomplished debut I've read in some time. Daniel Franklin definitely has the goods to be one of the biggest names in the field.
Sure, I'm biased by the flattery of a character named after me, and Dan's praise of my own work, but I am positive I'd have loved the The Eater of Gods had I read it with no prior entanglement.
Preorder The Eater of Gods from Cemetery Dance: https://www.cemeterydance.com/the-eater-of-gods.html
Written by Mark Sieber
I didn't know Dan Franklin is a Cemetery Dance employee, and that he's the guy who makes sure all those great books get packed up and shipped safely.
Dan contacted me a few weeks ago, and he was kind enough to tell me how much he loved my book, He Who Types Between the Rows. He also informed me he had written a novel, and it is going to be published by Cemetery Dance Publications. In hardcover, no less. He generously provided me with an advance reading copy.
Cemetery Dance is the only publisher I will automatically buy books from by untested writers. I know their editorial tastes, and very rarely do I disagree with their choices of books and stories to publish. I would have bought The Eater of Souls anyway.
I could still write a review free of bias based on the above criteria, but there's more. Dan not only loved my book, he was inspired by a piece in He Who Types Between the Rows called "A Little Love for The Mummy". I praised the classic monster and lamented that there are so few stories based on them. Yeah, there's the old Arthur Conan Doyle story, "Lot 249". It was adapted into a pretty nifty episode in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie. Randall Boyll used the mummy with spectacular results in his underrated novel, Mongster. There's the wretched Anne Rice novel, The Mummy, which inspired me to swear off her works for life. Charles L. Grant did a wonderful Mummy novel called The Long Night of the Grave.Franklin accepted the challenge. His debut publication is called The Eater of Gods, and the story deals with a mummy. Oh, if that isn't enough, there's a character named "Sieber" in the book.
So, yeah, objectivity is out the window. Yet I cannot help but recommend The Eater of Gods to you.
Right off I was impressed by the confident prose Franklin employs in The Eater of Gods. It feels like the work of a veteran author. The narrative is written in the sure, easy prose of a born writer.
The bare bones plot of The Eater of Gods is your standard plotline of a group of archeologists investigating an Egyptian tomb. There's the obligatory curse hanging over it. For the first half of the book I felt that it was a good story. Maybe not great; certainly not bad. Then as the story progressed, I was lured deeper and deeper into the soul of the main protagonist.
This is a monster story, but it's also more. The weight of time hangs heavily over the entire novel. Tragedy and grief, pain and suffering, are the threads that weave the fabric of this mummy saga. The conclusion goes places I was not expecting Franklin to go. It's a devastating emotional gut-punch. Anyone who has ever been in a loving relationship will be profoundly affected.
The Eater of Gods is the most accomplished debut I've read in some time. Daniel Franklin definitely has the goods to be one of the biggest names in the field.
Sure, I'm biased by the flattery of a character named after me, and Dan's praise of my own work, but I am positive I'd have loved the The Eater of Gods had I read it with no prior entanglement.
Preorder The Eater of Gods from Cemetery Dance: https://www.cemeterydance.com/the-eater-of-gods.html
Written by Mark Sieber
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