The Waste Lands by Stephen King, book #3 of The Dark Tower series.
Introduction
In The Waste Lands by Stephen King book #3 of the Dark Tower series, Roland and his group search for the way to the Dark Tower. They find a beam that travels through the ancient city of Lud pointing toward the Dark Tower. They must fight the degenerate citizens of Lud and find a sentient monorail train to take them farther. Will Roland and his gunslingers continue their path to the Dark Tower, or will they fail before they even get started?
Summary
The Gunslinger, book #1 of the Dark Tower Series, establishes the constants for the series. Roland is the gunslinger travels a desert looking for the Man in Black who did terrible things to him in the past that he does not remember. This world was damaged by a nuclear event and, in Roland’s words, hasn’t moved on yet. He meets Jake Chambers, a young boy.
The Drawing of the Three, book #2 of the Dark Tower Series continues Roland’s search for the Dark Tower. Roland finds himself on the shore of the Western Sea. He finds a portal to New York City in 1987 where he retrieves Eddie Dean, a heroin addict. The second portal brings Odetta Holmes from 1964 New York City. The third portal goes to New York City in 1977 where Jack Chambers was from. This sets up the third novel.
The Waste Lands, book #3 of the Dark Tower series has Roland teaching Eddie Dean and Susannah Dean (an alternate personality of Odetta Holmes) to become gunslingers. They go into the woods east of the beach and find a portal and a Guardian. Roland remembers that there are twelve guardians arranged in a circle. Each set of two guardians have a beam between each other. Where the six beams intersect, they can find the Dark Tower. They follow the beam to the ancient city of Lud which is an alternate version of New York City. Roland knows he needs Jake Chambers to complete their group and continue their journey to the Dark Tower.
Recommendation
The Waste Lands by Stephen King was an interesting book. There was some action and movement. In the first two novels the reader doesn’t know how Roland will find the Dark Tower. This novel gives us a plan. They must follow the beam to the center and find the Dark Tower, The Man in Black, and answers.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Waste Lands by Stephen King, book #3 of The Dark Tower series.
In Thinner by Stephen King, Billy accidentally kills an old gypsy woman. Her father curses him to lose weight until he dies. Can Billy reverse the curse, or will he wither and die?
In The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer’s mother is dying. The only way for him to save her is to find the mythical Talisman which is in a parallel world called the Territories. He must pass many challenges to obtain his goal. Will Jack find the Talisman in time to save his mother from death?
It is by Stephen King and has seven kids who face horror. As adults, they face It again. Will the Losers Club defeat the hidden evil in the Derry sewers, or will they perish?
Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, Book #1 of The Devils Series
Introduction
In The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, the adolescent girl Pope assigns the task of installing Alex the long-lost heir to the Empire of Troy to the Throne in this alternate history fantasy. Alex was an orphaned thief in the Holy City of the Pope until Alex’s Uncle Michael discovers her. The Pope sends a group of her vilest criminals nicknamed the Devils to help Alex gain the Throne and unite the Western and Eastern Churches to face the threat of the elves together. Will The Devils overcome their despicable nature to help Alex in her quest, or will they fail?
Summary
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie is an alternate history fantasy. Two important events change the history of Europe. In the novel Troy defeats the Greeks and Carthage defeats the Romans which makes Troy and the Holy City the two most powerful cities in the Mediterranean. Magic exists in this story. Magicians and magical beasts are real. The elves have taken the Far East and have tried to take Troy many times but have failed so far. The Savior was a woman, the daughter of God. The Church of the savior is split with the Pope leading the Western Church and the Patriarch leading the Eastern Church. Crusades were waged against the elves and the Churches fear another elf attack. The Pope wants her group of Devils to deliver Alex to Troy so Alex can take the Throne and unite the two Churches to defeat the elves.
The Devils are presented in groups of two.
Vigga, the werewolf from Norway, and Brother Diaz, the reluctant monk. One is faithless and one is faithful, but they are attracted to each other like magnets.
Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi, the necromancer, and Baptiste, the jack of all trades pirate. Both are fighting a mutual attraction and hatred for each other.
Jakob of Thorn, the ancient crusader cursed to never die, and Baron Rikard, the undead vampire cursed to requiring the blood of others. Both are searching for the end.
Sunny, the elf, and Alex the thief, the heir to the throne of Troy. Both outsiders and attracted to each other.
Recommendation
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie is a fun bloody humorous quest. Every Devil has an inner turmoil to conquer, and they are greater together than apart. Every Devil has their own point of view sections, so the reader sees their unique circumstances. The end of this novel sets up the next adventure of the Devils. I’m looking forward to reading the next two volumes of this proposed trilogy.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, Book #1 of The Devils Series.
This is the link to my Book Review of Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie, an anthology. Will the protagonists in these thirteen fantasy action stories prevail or fail in their efforts?
This is the link to my Book Review of the Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie, Age of Madness Series Book #3. They defeated the rebellion, but all is not well in the Union. Will the wisdom of crowds start a revolution and bring down the Union once and for all?
On May 28, we went to the AC/DC concert at Huntington Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Everyone was wearing light-up devil horns in honor of Angus Young. Great concert.
Writing Progress from May 2025.
I wrote four blog posts for my website, garydavidgillen.com. Including my writing progress report for May 2025, which I linked below.
In May 2025, I presented the short story named The Case of the Reluctant Pawnbroker to the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call.
I made five posts on my Goodreads account in May 2025.
In the past, I sent the stories, Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to magazines.
The seven Flash Fiction Stories I sent out in 2020 and 2021 were Space-Dog Confession, Sleeping Sickness, Caliburnus, Popular Mechanics Re-brewed, Wormhole Generator, Runs with Scissors, and Principled Rogue.
Magazine submissions for 2021 were 4 unique stories submitted 4 times, with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 4 rejections. No submissions for 2022. None for 2023. None for 2024.
Events from May 2025.
No events in May.
Writing Goals for June 2025.
In June 2025, I plan to write four blog posts for garydavidgillen.com, including my Writing Progress Report for June 2025.
I plan to work on a story for the Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop on a Zoom call in June 2025.
Eventually, I plan to work on the third draft edits for Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Novel Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio. I plan to split Chapter 1 into two chapters and add a scene to the new Chapter 1.
Submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, LARP Film noir, Sleeping Sickness, Popular Mechanics Re-brewed, and Caliburnus to other short fiction magazines.
Polish and send the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.
In June 2025, I plan to make five posts on my Goodreads account.
Planned Events for June 2025.
The next conference I plan to attend is the Confluence Conference, held near Pittsburgh, PA, from July 25, 2025, to July 27, 2025. They will have the conference at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel in Coraopolis, PA. I attended the Confluence in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, (2021 was cancelled due to COVID), 2022, 2023, and 2024.
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction, at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio, at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 17 to 19, 2023. I attended Cleveland Concoction in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2025. (2020, 2021, and 2022 were canceled due to COVID-19).I attended the opening ceremony, seven panels, three concerts, one performance, the state of the convention meeting, and the closing ceremonies.
Marie Vibbert read “Things from our kitchen junk drawer that could save this spaceship.” It was first published in Daily Science Fiction, but is also on her website linked below.
They held the panel in the Hayes C & D Room with 7 attendees.
Saturday, March 18 at 3:30 PM
A Concert by The Harp Twins
This was the second of three concerts they performed this weekend.
They played nine selections.
A song by the Proclaimers
The Twins and the Troll (an original Harp Twins song)
Highway to Hell by AC/DC
Death Vault (an original Harp Twins song)
Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden
Viking Song featuring the Volk Twins (drummers)
Nordic Solstice
The Game of Thrones Theme
Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones
They held the concert in the Pegasus Room with 110 attendees. (A Full House)
Saturday, March 18 at 7 PM
Quitting Your Day Job, a panel with J. D. Blackrose, Joelle Presby, Olivia Berrier, and Linda Robertson Reinhardt.
They talked about their background leading to writing for a living.
You have some power in knowing your followers by putting out newsletters, but not on Facebook and Twitter.
Remember that anything that works today will not work in the future, it changes constantly.
Word of mouth is the best advertisement ever.
Doing conventions generates 90 % of her sales.
They held the panel in Hayes A Room with 7 attendees.
Sunday, March 19 at 11 AM
A Concert by The Harp Twins
This was the third of three concerts they performed this weekend.
The first five songs were audience choice songs. The song in brackets is the one not chosen.
They played nine selections.
1. Dr, Who Theme [Theme of Fairy Tale]
2. Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac [House of the Rising sun by The Animals]
Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics [Sweet Child of Mine by Guns ‘n Roses]
Secret of the Sirens [Wolf Lullaby]
Dream On by Aerosmith [Clocks by Coldplay]
Viking Song featuring the Volk Twins (drummers)
Legend of the Shaders (an original Harp Twins song)
The Game of Thrones Theme
Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones
They held the concert in the Pegasus Room with 65 attendees.
Sunday, March 19 at 1 PM
The State of the Convention
Almost every convention head was there for the talk.
Many open volunteer positions.
There were about 250 people who attended the con this year.
They held the discussion in the Pegasus Room with 12 attendees.
Sunday, March 19 at 2 PM
Closing Ceremonies
Eric Hogg, the con chair, Stan Paulson from Security, and the person from Ops did a post-con talk.
They said they were working on planning for next year, with dates coming soon.
The Cosplay Guests of Honor and the Harp Twins were in the first row watching the talk.
The bottom line is that Concoction has risen from the dead following three years with no con due to COVID complications.
Looking forward to next year.
They held the ceremonies in the Hayes C&D room with 37 attendees.
Recommendation – Conclusion
Conference Recap Cleveland Concoction 2023
Cleveland Concoction 2023 was wonderful. The Bertram Conference center is nice. My stars of the con were the Harp Twins. I watched each of their three concerts at the con and each performance was great. It was interesting to see that the first half of each performance was different, and the second half was the same. My other highlights were the Confused Greenies performance and State of the Con panel. I attended the con in 2024 and 2025, and I plan on attending next year.
Links
I attended the SF conference, Cleveland Concoction, at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio, at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 7 to 9, 2025. I attended 11 activities. My star of the con was Marie Vibbert. The con returns in March 2026.
I attended the SF conference called Cleveland Concoction at 600 North Aurora Road Aurora, Ohio at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 8 to 10, 2024. I attended the opening ceremony, eight panels, two author showcases, and the closing ceremony. This year’s theme was the Neverending dungeon. My star of the con was Becca Lynn Mathis. The con returns from March 7 to March 9, 2025.
I attended the SF conference Cleveland Concoction 2019, at 600 North Aurora Road, Aurora, Ohio, at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 1 to 3, 2019. I attended the opening ceremony, four panels, and the closing ceremony. This is a link to my conference recap. I also volunteered in the Programming Department for four hours and in the ConSuite for four hours.
I attended the SF conference Cleveland Concoction at 600 North Aurora Road Aurora, Ohio at the Bertram Inn and Conference Center from March 9, 2018, to March 11, 2018. The 2019 convention was from March 1 to 3, 2019 and I realized as I was writing a recap for that conference, I had not posted a recap for the 2018 conference. This is a recap for the conference from last year. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, two author showcases, a performance, and the closing ceremony. I also volunteered in the ConSuite for eight hours.
This is my recap for the SF conference Cleveland Concoction from 2017. They held it from March 10, 2017, to March 12, 2017. I attended nine activities and volunteered in the ConSuite for twelve hours.
