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William L. Stuart

author of The Gemstone Chronicles Series

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Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1) - My Review!!

November 1, 2016 by Bill Stuart 1 Comment

Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1) – My Review!!

Protector by Vanna Smythe Cover

Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1) by Vanna Smythe showed up in my Goodreads recommendations. Finding myself with an open spot on the TBR list, I followed Goodreads advice and read it. Read on for my thoughts!

Synopsis (from the author):

Kae has trained his entire life to become an elite Protector of the Realm. When he finally achieves this honor he finds himself protecting something far greater: the Veil separating two worlds. On one side of the Veil lie unlimited stores of magic. On the Realm’s side, magic is all but obliterated, and Kae is one of the few who can use it. The priests who secretly rule the Realm will do everything they can to control his growing magical abilities. Kae’s willing to pay the price, even though it separates him from Issa, the girl he loves.

But the Veil has weakened over the last thousand years and powers on both sides will stop at nothing to keep it intact. Strangers from the other side have kidnapped Issa to take her across the Veil and sacrifice her to strengthen it. Kae is the only one who can find her. Going to her rescue means forsaking his oaths and duty, and leaving behind the future he always wanted. But if he chooses duty over love, Issa will die.

What I liked about Protector:

Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1) had about everything one could ask for in a fantasy novel. Palace intrigue, conflict between the king and the priests, a love story, destiny and fate, and the looming possibility of chaos to be unleashed by the Anniversary of the Veil.

Set against this backdrop is the story of Issa and Kae. Kae is a good character and grows into his role as a Protector. Issa is a bit of a spoiled princess, but not in the stereotypical way. Vanna Smythe weaves their stories into a compelling tale. I also liked the way the other side of the Veil interjects itself into Kae and Issa’s world, with Issa aunt coming to kidnap her and take her to the other side of the Veil. Good stuff!!

What I didn’t like about Protector:

While I enjoyed the characters, they were a bit one-dimensional. I hope in the rest of the series, the characters will grow and provide us more insights into their personalities. I also would have liked fewer characters, as it was a bit difficult to keep them straight.

Overall impression of Protector:

Good story, good plot, and good pace kept my interest and attention. This is a solid start to the series and I look forward to the next installment. I recommend Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1) to fantasy fans everywhere!

My rating:

4 Stars

Connect with the author:

Want to know more about Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1) or any of Vanna Smythe’s books? Find out more on her Amazon Author page or her website. If you’ve read Protector or any of Vanna Smythe’s other books, please consider leaving a review! I know Vanna would appreciate it!

Connect with me:

Want to tell me your thoughts on my review? Leave me a comment, email me at bill@williamlstuart.com, or connect with me on the socials. I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, KDP, Kindle, Recommendations and Reviews, Reviews, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, Amazon Author, author, book, books, ebook, ebooks, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fantasy author, fiction, KDP, Kindle, magic, Protector, Protector (Anniversary of the Veil Book 1), review, reviewing, reviews, The Gemstone Chronicles, Vanna Smythe, william l stuart, young adult

Tektite – Glass Rock or Telepathy Stone? You Decide!

October 11, 2016 by Bill Stuart 6 Comments

In The Gemstone Chronicles Book Two: The Amethyst, Nana and Beebop buy a tektite necklace from an antique dealer. The necklace, as it turns out, has telepathic powers. I won’t tell you more, as it would spoil the story! Nonetheless, I’ll tell you more about tektite!

What is tektite?

Tektite, for lack of a better description, is a glass rock. Similar to obsidian, tektite is mostly silicon. However, tektites are the result of meteorite impacts. Yes, that’s right, tektites are glass rocks formed when meteorites impacted the earth, sent molten particles into the air, and which fell back to earth in the strewnfields. Since tektites formed from the impacts, they have different characteristics compared to obsidian. Additionally, tektites might just have a little bit of cosmic matter in them! How cool is that?

Where can we find tektites? Across the globe, a few locations yield the majority of tektite finds. One of those locations, called strewnfields, is in Georgia! The Georgia tektites are known as Georgiaites and, just like the stone in The Amethyst, are green. Other strewnfields are in Texas, Autraliasia, the Ivory Coast of Africa, and Europe. Tektites from the different strewnfields have different characteristics which I will discuss next.

Tektite varieties:

Georgiaites:

I’ll start with Georgiaites. Found principally in Dodge and Bleckley counties in Middle Georgia, Georgiaites are olive green and generally tear drop shaped. Below is a picture of a Georgiaite (Photo by Sean Murray, courtesy of FallingRocks.com). Beautiful and extremely rare, Georgiaites are 35 million years old!

Georgiaite Tektite

Moldavites:

Moldavites are green, too, though a different shade than Georgiaites. Typically found in Czech Republic in Bohemia (no singing of Bohemian Rhapsody, please), the stones are about 15 million years old. The museum quality pieces are gorgeous and often used in jewelry. Here is an example of a museum quality Moldavite. I particularly like the flaky appearance!

Tektite Moldavite
Moldavite

Australites and Indochinites:

Australites spread across Australia and Southeast Asia. By far the most common variety, Australites are dark, usually black. Found across most of the southern half of Australia, these tektites have a unique disk or bowl shape. NASA (according to Wikipedia) used the shape of these tektites when designing the re-entry modules for the Apollo Space Program!

Tektite Australite
Australite

Due to the size of the impact, part of the same strewnfield reaches into Southeast Asia. The tektites found here – called Indochinites – are black like the Australites. Both Australites and Indochinites are much younger than Moldavites or Georgiaites, dating to about 790,000 years old. Here is an Indochinite.

Tektite indochinite
Indochinite

Ivorites:

Lastly, we talk about Ivorite. Found along the Ivory Coast on the Western Cost of Africa, these stones are only about 1.3 million years old. Because of the unstable political climate in the area, I couldn’t find a picture of an Ivorite to include in this post. As a result of the instability, few have been excavated. The found Ivorites resemble Indochinites.

In The Amethyst, the tektite was from the Georgia strewnfield. According to HealingCrystals.com, tektite encourages telepathy and helps with lucid dreaming and astral travel. Sounds a lot like what Nana and Laura experienced, but you’ll have to read the book to find out more!

Obviously, I took some license with the properties of all the gemstones in The Gemstone Chronicles series, but I enjoyed learning about the magical and mystical properties the stones possess. And tektite was a great addition to the collection!

What is your favorite gemstone (or gemstone power) from the series? Aidan’s double-terminated quartz is my favorite. Laura’s invisibility power is the best power, too! What about your favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know! I look forward to it!

Connect with me:

If you want to connect on the socials, find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. You can drop me an email, too, at bill@williamlstuart.com or subscribe to the blog (so you don’t miss a post)!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, Cool Things, Gemstone Posts, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, Australite, author, book, ebook, ebooks, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, gems, gemstones, Georgia, georgiaite, Good Reads author, Indochinite, invisibility, KDP, Kindle, magic, middle grades, moldavite, Smashwords, tektite, telepathy, The Amethyst, The Gemstone Chronicles, william l stuart, young adult

Suwanee Fest 2016 – A Great Weekend – Even With the Rain!!

September 28, 2016 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

Sorry I’m a little bit behind on my posts. Been a crazy couple of weeks! And the crazy weeks started with Suwanee Fest 2016!

Suwanee Fest? What’s Suwanee Fest? Well, as many of you know, I live just north of Atlanta, GA in Buford, GA. Just south of Buford is Suwanee, GA, Suwanee is a small city of about 18,000 people. Every year, the city hosts Suwanee Fest. The event website refers to the festival as “Two days of family, friends, food, and fun!” I can attest to the fact it was all of that!

Saturday:

There was a ton of entertainment (including my favorite Who’s Bad – The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band), great food, almost too many amazing exhibitors to count, and The Gemstone Chronicles!

Yep, I was there with books in hand to meet and greet new friends and readers of the series. And it was a blast! Not only did I sell a few books, but I also met so many awesome people. I talked about gemstones for hours, referred a few to my favorite gem hunting spot (Gold n’ Gems Grubbin’), and got to spend a couple of hours with my brother John and my niece Aidia. Overall, not a bad way to spend a Saturday! Below is the picture of my booth before the fun began.

Suwanee Fest Booth

Book interest was at an all-time high, and my editor extraordinaire Abby (who doubles as the City of Suwanee Public Information Officer) tried to stop by a few times to say hello. Every time she tried to stop by, though, I was interacting with new friends! Like I said, not a bad way to spend a Saturday!!

Sunday:

Unfortunately, Sunday was not the best day. Despite the great entertainment, the rains came and wouldn’t go away! Nonetheless, The Gemstone Chronicles staffed the booth in hopes of meeting more new friends. Alas, it wasn’t to be as the rains kept visitors away. On the plus side, though, John came by (and helped me pack up during one of the few breaks in the rain) and I had the chance to talk with Abby for a few minutes.

Suwanee Fest 2016 was a great event and I hope to attend again next year! If I met you, sold you a book (or 4), gave you a gemstone, or simply talked about gemstones, thanks for stopping by the booth! I truly appreciate each and every person who took time out of their celebration to visit with me and buy a book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! If we did interact, and you have my contact information, give me a shout and let me know.

Connect with me:

In case you didn’t pick up a card or a bookmark, you can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. You can also email me here at bill@williamlstuart.com!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, Goodreads, Goodreads author, Kindle, Self publishing, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, Amazon Author, author, books, ebook, ebooks, elves, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, Georgia, KDP, Kindle, middle grade, middle grades, self publishing, Smashwords, Suwanee Fest, Suwanee Fest 2016, The Amethyst, The Carnelian, The Emerald, The Gemstone Chronicles, The Ruby, william l stuart, young adult

Shield of Skool by Gordon Brewer – My Review!!

September 19, 2016 by Bill Stuart 1 Comment

Shield of Skool – My Review!!

Shield of Skool Cover

Epic fantasy is one of my favorite genres. I saw the Shield of Skool by Gordon Brewer and liked the way it sounded. Read on for my review!

Synopsis (from the author):

In this epic fantasy, a modest mission from his overlord turns into a perilous trek and personal quest for Urith, known as the Clovel Destroyer. Leading his nephew Oslaf across enemy lands, the warriors find allies in the demigod Mivraa and a beautiful young prophetess named Fedelm. As told by mystic visions, one of the group is destined to discover the first piece of the lost Skool, an ancient weapon of the gods, long thought destroyed.

On their quest to recover this powerful weapon, they must battle mortal enemies, both human, and monster, who will stop at nothing to terminate them. The overlords who rule the lands of Kamin are against them, and chaos begins to creep into the mortal world. The realms of the gods start to become a battleground for control of the terrifying weapon. All sides learn they have much to fear about their future when enemies create shifting alliances. The powerful and the weak become treacherous partners in the race to find the Shield of Skool.

What I liked:

The Shield of Skool is my kind of epic fantasy! Full of battles, an honor code among warriors, gods interfering with humans, intrigue, and a cool world, the Shield of Skool has it all. I enjoyed Urith as a character, and Oslaf is a good sidekick to the more experienced warrior. The budding attraction between Oslaf and Fedelm (and between Mivraa and Urith) add an interesting flavor to the story. The underworld god and goddess are delightfully evil. All told a nice start to the Clovel Sword series!

What I didn’t like:

As much as I enjoyed the story, the Shield of Skool needs another review by an editor. I found many errors that detracted from the tale.

Overall impression:

The Shield of Skool was an enjoyable read. With a review by an editor, and some corrections, this would be an excellent start to an epic fantasy series! I rounded it to 4 stars (since Amazon doesn’t allow half-stars).

My rating: 3.5 Stars (rounded to 4)

Connect with the author:

If you read Shield of Skool by Gordon Brewer, please consider leaving a review. And check out his other books through his Amazon Author Page or his website.

Connect with me:

Did you like my review? Leave me a comment and let me know. If you prefer, you can email me at bill@williamlstuart.com, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. I look forward to meeting new friends!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, KDP, Kindle, Recommendations and Reviews, Reviews, Self publishing, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon Author, amazon book, author, book review, books, Clovel Sword, ebook, ebooks, epic fantasy, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, goddesses, gods, Gordon Brewer, KDP, Kindle, review, self publishing, Shield of Skool, sword, sword and sorcery, william l stuart, william stuart

The Du Lac Chronicles by Mary Anne Yarde – My Review!!

August 23, 2016 by Bill Stuart 1 Comment

The Du Lac Chronicles – My Review!!

The Du Lac Chronicles by Mary Anne Yarde Cover

When I read the blurb for The Du Lac Chronicles by Mary Anne Yarde, I figured I had to read the book. After all, who isn’t interested in Lancelot’s offspring!

Synopsis (from the author):

“It is dangerous to become attached to a du Lac. He will break your heart, and you will not recover.” So prophesies a wizened healer to Annis, daughter of King Cerdic of Wessex. If there is truth in the old crone’s words, they come far too late for Annis, who defies father, king, and country to save the man she loves.

Alden du Lac, once king of Cerniw, has nothing. Betrayed by Cerdic, Alden’s kingdom lies in rubble, his fort razed to the ground and his brother Merton missing, presumably dead. He has only one possession left worth saving: his heart. And to the horror of his few remaining allies, he gives that to the daughter of his enemy. They see Annis, at best, as a bargaining chip to avoid war with her powerful father. At worst, they see a Saxon whore with her claws in a broken, wounded king.

What I liked about the Du Lac Chronicles:  

My favorite part of the story was the extension of the Arthur legend and Lancelot’s descendants. In addition, weaving historical figures (like Natanleod) against the backdrop of the story lent an authentic air to the tale. Annis’ character was believable, and Alden suffered enough to engender sympathy. The story itself was an entertaining one and full of intrigue, court politics, romance, and sacrifice. If you like historical fantasy fiction, check out this one!

What I didn’t like about the Du Lac Chronicles:

About the only thing I didn’t like was Annis’ continual fear of Alden leaving. Despite his pledge not to leave her, she lapsed back into the fear. For me, it was almost whining and that was a distraction. Despite the distraction, though, I enjoyed the book.

Overall impression of the Du Lac Chronicles:

The Du Lac Chronicles  is an excellent story with good characters, intrigue, and sacrifice. Although the book had a  predictable ending, I enjoyed this book! I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit of fantasy, a lush historical backdrop, and a great story!

My rating:

5 Stars

Connect with the author:

Have you read The Du Lac Chronicles? If so, please consider leaving a review. If not, give this one a try! I know Mary Anne Yarde would appreciate it. if you want to know more about Mary Anne Yarde and her books, check out her Amazon Author page or her website.

Connect with me:

Was my review helpful? Leave me a comment and let me know! As always, you can connect with me on social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. Or, if you prefer, email me at bill@williamlstuart.com. I enjoy connecting with new friends!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, Recommendations and Reviews, Reviews, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, amazon book, Arthur, author, books, Brittany, ebook, ebooks, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, historical fiction, history, KDP, Kindle, Lancelot, legend, Mary Anne Yarde, mythology, Natanleod, The Du Lac Chronicles, The Gemstone Chronicles, william l stuart

Bentwhistle the Dragon by Paul Cude – My Review!

August 17, 2016 by Bill Stuart 1 Comment

Bentwhistle The Dragon  In A Threat from the Past – My Review!!

Bentwhistle The Dragon by Paul Cude Cover

I’ve seen buzz out there in social media for Bentwhistle the Dragon In A Threat from the Past by Paul Cude. Since I like dragons, I read the blurb, thought it sounded interesting, and gave it a read. Below are my thoughts!

Synopsis (from the author):

Ever been addicted? Most people have at some point, but it was different for these three. They’d become addicted to their respective sports: hockey, lacrosse and rugby. What’s wrong with that? Nothing, apart from the fact they’re DRAGONS, living in the present day, in a world in which dragons disguised as humans have infiltrated the human race at almost every level, to guide and protect them.

Three young dragons, a master mantra maker, and a complete dragon stranger with more than a little history attached to him, become caught up in an evil plot by a sinister newcomer to steal a precious commodity, vital to the dragon community. How will the reluctant hero and his friends fare against an enemy of his race from far in the past?

Fascinating insights into the dragon world are interspersed throughout the book. Ever wondered how dragons travel below ground at almost the speed of sound? Or how they use magical mantras to transform their giant bodies into convincing human shapes?

In an action packed adventure that features both human and dragon team sports, you’ll learn the true story of George and the Dragon, get a dragon-like perspective on human social issues and insight into what to do if you meet a giant spider grinning at you when you’re wearing nothing but your smile!

You’d be flamin’ mad to miss it. 

What I liked about Bentwhistle the Dragon:

Who doesn’t like dragons? Especially dragons who nurture and guide humans. And dragons who can change shape and pass for humans and live among us. That is what you get in Bentwhistle the Dragon! The dragon characters entertained me, the mystery of both Gee Tee and Manson intrigued me, and the laminium ball game reminded me of Quidditch! I liked the interplay among the characters, and the three major dragons in the story (Tank, Richie, and Peter) had a delightful friendship. Overall, a good read!

What I didn’t like about Bentwhistle the Dragon:

The story dragged in a few places. In particular, Peter’s indecision and Richie’s refusal to believe Manson’s evil slowed the book. In spite of those slow parts, none of them affected the read as a whole.

Overall impression of Bentwhistle the Dragon:

Good characters, an interesting take on dragons, cool games, and who knew dragons were techies? Couple those things with a good story, and you get a nice read! I recommend the book to anyone who likes dragons and anyone ages 10 and up!

My rating:

4 Stars

Connect with the author:

Have you read Bentwhistle the Dragon In A Threat from the Past? If so, please consider leaving a review! If you haven’t read it, give the dragons a chance! In addition, visit Paul Cude’s website or his Amazon Author Page to discover more Bentwhistle books!

Connect with me:

Did you like my review? Please leave me a comment and let me know. If you want to connect with me on social media, I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. Or, if you prefer, drop me and email at bill@williamlstuart.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, KDP, Kindle, Recommendations and Reviews, Reviews, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, amazon book, author, Bentwhistle The Dragon, book, books, dragons, ebook, ebooks, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, George and the Dragon, hockey, lacrosse, laminium, middle grade, Paul Cude, review, reviews, rugby, sports, The Gemstone Chronicles, william l stuart, YA, young adult

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