Showing posts with label DavidLitwack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DavidLitwack. Show all posts

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

#bookreview: Seekers Trilogy

The Seekers Trilogy starts with Children of Darkness (reviewed here) followed by The Stuff of Stars and The Light of Reason.

The Stuff of Stars (Seekers #2)The Stuff of Stars by David Litwack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Orah and Nathaniel have set off from Little Pond, attempting to cross the ocean in search of the keepmasters' kin. What they discover isn't exactly what they were hoping to find.

The technos, those who still cling to knowledge and wonder, are struggling to survive. A cataclysm has claimed their best and brightest - locking them in the Dream - leaving only the very old and the very young who struggle to keep the city alive.
On the other hand, the greenies who have rejected technology, and those who have been cast out of the city, struggle to survive, barely being able to feed and clothe themselves.

Yet what the city has is still more advanced that anything in the Keep and Orah and Nathaniel must walk that thin line between the warring parties if they hope to return home - with or without their hoped-for tech.

The Stuff of Stars is a delicate web of desires and hatred, each party pulling for their own goals to the detriment of all else. It's told in Orah's voice, giving you the insight and folly of a young woman consumed with the goal of making her world a better place.

As with The Children of Darkness, Litwack pushes the narrative to balance the quest for truth and knowledge against the desire to be right, because in this dystopian world, to seek knowledge is synonymous with seeking the dark and destruction.
The Light of Reason (Seekers #3)The Light of Reason by David Litwack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Orah and Nathaniel are home - but everything they've worked for before they left is gone. The new grand vicar, one they have personal history with, has taken over and is pushing the people back into fear, back into the old ways. Worse - he's taken over the keep and is jealously guarding the knowledge only for his own use.

Nathaniel is slipping down the slippery slope into darkness and Orah can only watch in horror. But she does not know what else to do either. Is violence the only way to win? What if they only thing they can do to counter the brutality of the grand vicar and his men is to be equally violent in return? When will the bloodshed end? Can the light of reason bring about peace when there is so much anger and hurt?

The Seekers' original quest from The Children of Darkness finally comes to a close, laying bare the confusing maze between darkness masquerading as light and light appearing as darkness. What is the truth? Is knowledge and the pursuit of it evil? Or does evil reside in our own hearts, awakened by our insatiable lust for power?

The Light of Reason is a thoughtful book, one that pursues peace through the ravages of war, attempting to grasp the true essence of light amidst the darkness.

Note: I received a free e-copy of this book for review from the author (sometime in Nov 2016 and which should really have been reviewed earlier. Sorry!)

View all my reviews

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

#bookreview: The Children of Darkness by David Litwack

The Children of Darkness (Book #1)The Children of Darkness by David Litwack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What if all that you have ever been taught as good and right, the light that you've been taught to appreciate turns out to be the hand of darkness that has been holding you down?

When Nathaniel Rush of Little Pond discovers that the vicars of the Light have things to hide - things that may change his understanding of the world - he has to decide if he should run away from this knowledge, fitting back into the normalcy of life he has always known, or if he should pursue it, like in his dreams of being a knight and hero.
Along for the adventure is Orah Weber, the girl he would give up his freedom for, and Thomas Bradford, the doubter, the one already broken by the Light. They must find the hidden keep, preserved for centuries by the keepers, so that the truth and knowledge of the past ages and civilizations won't be lost to the world.

Litwack's writing is fresh, and Nathaniel, Orah and Thomas come to life in your imagination as you flip (or click) the pages of this book. That's not to say that the other characters are not well fleshed out as well - they are. You feel for the painful history between Nathaniel's father and Orah's mother, and at times you are even drawn to understand the arch vicar, who seeks the keep for reasons of his own.

The Children of Darkness was originally published as There Comes a Prophet, and has been re-edited, expanded, and re-released with a new publisher in line with its rebranding as book one of the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers. Because I'm not exactly one who remembers minute details of a book I read 2 years ago, I can't tell you exactly what has changed during my re-read - but I would say that the pace has slowed a little, with snippets of Orah's thoughts coming to the fore, pushing her forward as a stronger driver of the story than before.

I received this ebook copy for review as part of a Novel Publicity tour.

View all my reviews

“A fresh perspective on our own society...[an]  enjoyable read that will make you wonder just how society will judge us in the future.”  Lexie

2

About the Author:

David Front PageThe urge to write first struck when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter's editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.

Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned.

After publishing two award winning novels, Along the Watchtower and The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky, he’s hard at work on the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers.

David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.

Website: www.davidlitwack.com
Facebook: David Litwack - Author 
Twitter: @DavidLitwack

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More Reviews!
“Litwack’s storytelling painted a world of both light and darkness–and the truth that would mix the two.” Fiction Fervor

The Children of Darkness is a dystopian novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.” C.P. Bialois 

“This is a satisfying exploration of three teens' journey into the unknown, and the struggles faced by all who seek true emancipation - both for themselves, and for the people they love.” Suzy Wilson

“Litwack's writing is fresh, and Nathaniel, Orah and Thomas come to life in your imagination as you frantically flip (or click) the pages of this book.” Anna Tan

“...many profound themes, lovely characterizations and relationships” R. Campbell

“I was enthralled and intrigued by the authors creation of this society... David Litwack has an enjoyable and captivating writing style.” Jill Marie

“...a perfect story for young adult readers, but its underlying theme and character development will keep any adult engaged.” Kathleen Sullivan

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Speculative Literary Fiction - a #guestpost by @DavidLitwack

It's finally here! Children of Darkness - Book One in The Seekers Series is available NOW. Check it out on Amazon.com. FREE for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. GET YOUR COPY
“A must-read page turner.” Kirkus Review

About the Book:

The Children of Darkness - CoverThe Children of Darkness
The Children of Darkness is about a society devoid of technology, the result of an overreaction to a distant past where progress had overtaken humanity and led to social collapse. The solution—an enforced return to a simpler time. But Children is also a coming of age story, a tale of three friends and their loyalty to each other as they struggle to confront a world gone awry. Each searches for the courage to fight the limits imposed by their leaders, along the way discovering their unique talents and purpose in life.
"If the whole world falls into a Dark Age, which it could plausibly do, who could bring us out of it? According to David Litwack in The Children of Darkness, the only answer is us, now, somehow reaching into the future." - Kaben Nanlohy for On Starships And Dragonwings
Publication Date: June 22, 2015 from Evolved Publishing 

Purchase Link: http://smarturl.it/Seekers1 FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23485495-the-children-of-darkness

Speculative Literary Fiction



Someone recently asked me why I use the term “speculative literary fiction” to describe the genre of my novels. While both terms are used frequently on their own, they are not often paired together.

Speculative fiction is a term coined by Margaret Atwood in an effort to avoid the hard-core sci-fi label (she said she needed a category that meant sci-fi without Martians). It has been used to describe a number of sub genres—space opera, techno-thrillers, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, even fantasy—basically anything that is not “real world.” The key to speculative fiction is the what-if aspect. What if the world as we know it was different in one or more ways? While this what-if, alternate history/alternate world approach can be used to explore future technology or just spin a good yarn, it also enables an author to focus on some theme by altering an aspect of the world as we know it.

Literary fiction is usually understood to mean quality writing, deeper characters and an exploration of universal themes.

So why combine the two? The primary purpose of declaring a genre is to set the expectation of the prospective reader. Using the term speculative fiction by itself can misrepresent a book. Readers might expect Star Wars or the Zombie Apocalypse, or an emphasis on some hypothetical technology such as faster than light spaceships or time travel. Literary fiction tends to imply real world, such as The Help or The Secret Life of Bees.

Many great books have speculative premises, but are literary in nature. Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a good example, or the works of Ursula LeGuin. Even a novel like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road might fit. While it’s certainly post-apocalyptic–we find out little about the cataclysm that brought about the current state–the author dwells on the relationship between the man and the boy, and the power of love. Another example might be Never Let Me go by Kazuo Ishiguro. While the what-if of this world is the use of cloning to grow organs, it’s told from the viewpoint of the clones, and shows much more about relationships and the human condition than about technology.

I use speculative literary fiction as a term to distinguish alternate history or alternate worlds, where the emphasis is not on whiz-bang technology, aliens, space travel or the like, but more on deeper characters and universal themes, brought to the fore by the unique difference in the imagined society or world.

About the Author:

David Front Page
The urge to write first struck when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter's editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.
Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned.
After publishing two award winning novels, Along the Watchtower and The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky, he’s hard at work on the dystopian trilogy, The Seekers.
David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.

Website: www.davidlitwack.com 
Facebook: David Litwack - Author 
Twitter: @DavidLitwack

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More Reviews!

“Litwack’s storytelling painted a world of both light and darkness–and the truth that would mix the two.” Fiction Fervor
 “The Children of Darkness is a dystopian novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.” C.P. Bialois 
“This is a satisfying exploration of three teens' journey into the unknown, and the struggles faced by all who seek true emancipation - both for themselves, and for the people they love.” Suzy Wilson
“Litwack's writing is fresh, and Nathaniel, Orah and Thomas come to life in your imagination as you frantically flip (or click) the pages of this book.” Anna Tan
 “...many profound themes, lovely characterizations and relationships” R. Campbell
 “I was enthralled and intrigued by the authors creation of this society... David Litwack has an enjoyable and captivating writing style.” Jill Marie
 “...a perfect story for young adult readers, but its underlying theme and character development will keep any adult engaged.” Kathleen Sullivan

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

#bookreview: The Daughter of the Sea and Sky

Daughter3DThe Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack has launched! This fabulous title is available now on all online retailers and in your local book stores. You aren't going to want to miss this new literary journey exploring the clash between reason and faith, and the power of hope and love.

The Book

After centuries of religiously motivated war, the world has been split in two. Now the Blessed Lands are ruled by pure faith, while in the Republic, reason is the guiding light—two different realms, kept apart and at peace by a treaty and an ocean.




Summary: A mysterious nine-year-old from the Blessed Lands sails into the lives of a couple in the Republic, claiming to be the Daughter of the Sea and the Sky. Is she a troubled child longing to return home, or a powerful prophet sent to unravel the fabric of the Republic? The answer will change the lives of all she meets… and perhaps their world as well.
Author: David Litwack
Genre: Fantasy/Speculative Literary Fiction
Publisher: Evolved Publishing

Amazon B&N

My Review


The Daughter of the Sea and the SkyThe Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Helena and Jason pull a refugee from the Blessed Lands out of her sinking boat, they didn’t expect that she would turn their lives upside down. Nine-year-old Kailani, who calls herself the “Daughter of the Sea and Sky”, cannot assimilate herself into the lifestyle of reason and logic in the Republic, but neither can she return to the Blessed Lands until her penance is over. In an attempt to rescue her from being sent to a correctional facility, Helena applies to be her temporary legal guardian until her tribunal date and brings her to the Glen Eagle Farm – the artist colony where her estranged mother lives.

On a general scale of things, I’d rate Litwack’s latest offering with 4 stars – the story is not so fast-paced that it makes you lose your breath and yet it’s not so slow that you get bored with it. It’s a beautifully written story, a little vague and dreamy at times, that touches on the divide between faith and reason, love and duty, and how an innocent child can somehow throw your life off-course.

Carlson and Benjamin offer counterpoints to each other – one man trying his best to protect a young girl even though it may cost him his job and his pension, the other with fanatical fire in his heart, doing all he can to use her for his own gain. Litwack’s characters are well-fleshed out, and because of that, easy to identify with – their hopes are sometimes your own, their foibles are often things we are guilty of but try to deny.

And that is also the reason why I would rate this 3-stars for personal enjoyment – because the battles fought felt a little too close for comfort, the questions raised leaving uncomfortable feelings in my chest. With these stirred emotions, the ending, while providing closure to the story, left me with a feeling that there should have been something more. There should have been a deeper meaning to this seemingly simple story. And maybe there is. I just have to discover it for myself.

I received this e-book for review from the author via Novel Publicity.

View all my reviews

Other books by David Litwack:
There Comes a Prophet
Along the Watchtower

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Monday, 19 May 2014

Guest post: David Litwack on backpacking and new beginnings

Daughter3D
The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack has launched! This fabulous title is available now on all online retailers and in your local book stores. You aren't going to want to miss this new literary journey exploring the clash between reason and faith, and the power of hope and love.

The Book

After centuries of religiously motivated war, the world has been split in two. Now the Blessed Lands are ruled by pure faith, while in the Republic, reason is the guiding light—two different realms, kept apart and at peace by a treaty and an ocean.

Summary: A mysterious nine-year-old from the Blessed Lands sails into the lives of a couple in the Republic, claiming to be the Daughter of the Sea and the Sky. Is she a troubled child longing to return home, or a powerful prophet sent to unravel the fabric of the Republic? The answer will change the lives of all she meets… and perhaps their world as well.
Author: David Litwack
Genre: Fantasy/Speculative Literary Fiction
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
Amazon B&N

Guest Post - On backpacking and new beginnings

In my earlier days, when I had younger knees, I loved to go backpacking in the mountains of northern New England. My favorite place to hike was the Lafayette ridge in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. The exposed ridge goes on for a mile and half along a knife edge, from the summit of Mt. Lafeyette across Mt. Lincoln to Little Haystack. For the entire way, there are magnificent views in all directions, that is, if the weather cooperates. And there’s the rub. The mountains of northern New England host some of the most violent and unpredictable weather on earth.
I made six attempts to climb the ridge, succeeding in only four. In the two others I was forced to turn back due to high winds that took my breath way. Each time, I’d park at the trail head, stare up at the craggy summit, and steel myself for the ascent. I was both exhilarated and scared, knowing how hard it would be, how far I had to go, and how the possibility always existed that I’d make a wrong choice and have to turn back. But always there was the upside of that magnificent view if I succeeded.
I’m reminded of that experience this week as I begin work on my fourth novel, the sequel to There Comes a Prophet. While writing a novel is easier on the knees, it’s a lot more work, a commitment of a year or more. It’s also fraught with risk, where one bad decision can lead down a thorny path that leads to nowhere or worse to a cliff you don’t see until it’s too late.
But worst of all, there’s always the possibility that you won’t find your way to the end, that some obdurate character will rebel or some miscreant plot element will rear its ugly head and shout: “No! You’re wrong! There’s no story to be found here.” But as I once again venture into the literary woods and take my first tentative steps along the path of blank pages, I’m reminded that, like with backpacking, there’s the hope of reaching that glorious summit. And that, after all, is why we writers write.

David Litwack, author of There Comes a Prophet, Along the Watchtower, and The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky
www.davidlitwack.com

The Giveaway

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The Tour

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