REVIEW OF FIRST FRONTIER
FORGING HIS OWN ‘FRONTIER’
After a decade-plus in the making, a debut thriller from a moonlight writer.
BY LARRY JOHNSON
THE ISSAQUAH PRESS, Arts and Entertainment Section
NOVEMBER 3, 2004
Paul Heisel carried his first novel around in his head for 15 years. Like a child, the 39-year-old says, “First Frontier” grew over time.
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“Yeah, it took me 15 years to write,” the Sammamish man says, smiling. “But it’s finally done, and it’s really very satisfying to do all this research and writing and have an end product to hold in your hand and say, “Wow, I created this.”
What Heisel created is a sweeping combination of science fiction and mystery with a heavy dose of archaeology mixed in.
His book, which he self-published and is available online at www.lulu.com, may never be a big seller, he says, but it was definitely a labor of love.
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“I think it’s a really good story,” he said of the 332-page novel set in Washington, D.C., and Micronesia.
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The story starts in 2015, when a previously unexamined piece of computer tape from the Viking space missions indicates the presence of an undiscovered metal on the surface of Mars.
What follows is wholesale mayhem, including murder, kidnappings, wild religious fanaticism, the presence of aliens, corporate greed and an archaeological dig on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, where ancient basalt monoliths hold a series of stunning secrets that have huge impacts on the American space program and world history.
“The idea originally came from talking to my co-workers in 1989 about all the NASA data that just, simply because there was so much of it, never sees the light of day, and what would happen if something extremely significant was hidden, then discovered,” he said.
Pohnpei’s exoticism and relative inaccessibility add to the mystery.
The island, halfway between Hawaii and the Philippines, has its own language. During his research, Heisel go in touch with Ken Rehg, a linguistics professor at the University of Hawaii who wrote a dictionary of the island’s language.
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Along with getting help with the island’s dialect, Heisel – who has never visited Pohnpei – got tips about the island’s culture and topography from Rehg.
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“I sent him a copy of the book, and he reviewed it for language and cultural accuracy, and he said he would have sworn I’d been there. I loved doing the research, and I really learned a lot.”
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Writing, Heisel says, allows him to explore worlds he otherwise wouldn’t.
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He works for an insurance company and has a degree in chemical and petroleum engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
“So a lot of my life has been math and science, and writing gives me a creative outlet,” he said. “I write for myself, actually. It’s pretty self-indulgent, but I really enjoy the creative process. I get up early in the morning and write, and after I do, I feel great.”
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Next up for Heisel is a fantasy novel, he said. He’s also working on a movie script based on “First Frontier.”
“Fantasy is my first love,” he said. “But I promised myself I’d finish this one first, and I finally got it done.”
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First Frontier is available for purchase online at lulu.com, and on the Web sites of both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
REVIEW OF TALE OF THE CATSTAFF
LITERARY DIAMOND
A terrific story from a terrific writer.
BY GEORGE SOTIRHOS
George Sotirhos is the editor of Universe Pathways Magazine. Universe Pathways is a modern magazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror literature. The magazine is published every three months and it will present the best short stories from science fiction, fantasy, horror, scientific articles, fantasy comics, books and movies reviews and anything related with fantasy.
“Tale of the Catstaff”, is another one of those published, yet hidden, literary diamonds which due to the lack of a distribution net do not get the recognition they deserve. Paul is a terrific writer and this book will definitely fascinate the friends of heroic fantasy. It is written with uncontested professionalism and despite its big size, 537 pages, there is not even one page that can be considered redundant. The text and the plot flow in a unique way and trap you in a dream world, a magical universe created for us by the writer’s imagination.
Melkoff the Traveller, is a junior messenger of Coven, the city of warlocks. Many years ago in the “Countries”, as is the name of their world, a fierce and merciless war had taken place, known as Perilous war. After the end of it Coven was created so that its members, the witches and the warlocks, would not allow something like that to happen ever again.
But all these incidents derived from an even older era. Once in the “Countries” there lived only one human race which was governed by the Mages. But because of their arrogance, they started experimenting with people and so a variety of races was created. The Gnomes, the Rock Elves, the Dwarves, the Wood Elves and a number of others. At the same time there were also created super animal races with magical powers and human intelligence, such as the Willowcats.
And then, from the depths of the abyss, the Wraiths appeared in the “Countries”, dark demonic creatures, which threatened all the races with annihilation. In the final battle they were defeated, expelled from the “Countries” and imprisoned in another level of the time – space continuum by the Mages.
But time passed. The Wraiths were forgotten and the people of Coven forgot most of the things they knew. And thus when the Wraiths appeared again Coven did not have the power to confront them. The most demonic of those dark Wraiths, Kinlock Kinslayer, with his notorious sword – named Dark Blade, the Soulseeker – butchered the whole population of Coven, all by himself.
So the responsibility for the salvation of the “Countries” fell on Melkoff. With the guidance of Kett, the last Willowcat, he has only a very limited time left in which to learn the dark secrets of his world, gather a team of faithful companions and begin the search for Catstaff – a magical instrument which is the only thing left that has the power to stand against the beastly force and the magic of the Wraiths. And then he must try to reunite all the races for one final battle, a battle that will stop the oncoming slaughter the Wraiths plan to commit.
Elves, daemons, living dead, warlocks trapped in eternal prisons, parade in the pages of the book in a world of fantasy and magic. This is a book all the friends of fantasy will undoubtedly love. Its world is meticulously structured, up to the last detail. It must be noted here that the three-page map in the beginning of the book, is not only interesting but also carefully designed.
The “Tale of the Catstaff” is the first part of a series of books that will be completed with “Siblings of the Catstaff”. His next project is the “An Emperor's Fury.”
REVIEW OF SANTA'S LAST DAY
PRAISE FOR SANTA'S LAST DAY
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Not A Christmas Carol but this is a lot darker...
What I saw with this writer's work is something that I haven't really seen in years except for in the author Gary Morton, is that one can create horror from Christmas. A Holiday so innocent but when one sees the other aspects of the holiday it is even more Gothic than Halloween was. Dickens created a really Gothic masterpiece that was the early cautionary tale of sorts. This takes what Dickens created with the holiday story and made something even more sinister behind it. The other writer I can see doing this in a strong way is Terry Lloyd Vinson with the holiday of Halloween. Some of you might be thinking this is too damned early for Christmas but this story is one that is perfect to read on Halloween.
-N. Pacione