I was beyond happy dancing when I got my hands on Wendigo Rising.
.
I love Yancy Lazarus.
For today, I’m sharing reviews for all three books in the series.
Come on in and stay for a while.
Wendigo Rising:
A Yancy Lazarus Novel
Episode Three
James A. Hunter
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Shadow Alley Press
Date of Publication: November 3rd, 2015
ASIN: B0163REPD6
Number of pages: 400
Word Count: 110,000
Cover Artist: Dane EbookLaunch.com
My Review
A Sasquatch! Yancy Lazarus meets Big Foot. How could I not love this book.
Yancy has charmed me from the very beginning. Not by his looks, he’s okay. Not by his smoking and drinking, does way too much of that. And definitely not because of his behavior. But, in spite of it.
Now, he’s teamed up with a sasquatch who needs his help. Seems one of his kind has gone off the rails, munching on flesh, cannibalizing his own species, and liking it too much.
Now, these beings like their privacy. They’ve managed to stay secluded, with everyone believing they don’t exist. One rogue sasquatch could put them on the front page and here comes the hunters. Not good at all.
In comes the big bad Wendigo. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another, and the state of Montana may be one big ghost town if Yancy doesn’t take care of it.
If that isn’t enough, Yancy’s still trying to stop the supernatural beings and their plans for armageddon.
When I wasn’t snortin with laughter, I was talking out loud. Cheering Yancy on. The poor guy just wants a break. Some time off to smoke, drink, and jam some blues. Not today, Yancy
As with the first two books, I ate this up. The author kept the suspense ramped up, threw in some new supernatural beings, put Yancy through the wringer, and continued to make me laugh.
I’ve been thinking about who should play the part of Yancy if there were a movie. I’m going with Russell Crow or Gerard Butler. Picture them in Gladiator and The 300.
Still lovin Yancy Lazarus, and still wanting more.
5 Stars
***
Synopsis
Bigfoot is real. Yancy Lazarus—mage, bluesman, and rambler—knows because there happens to be a nine-foot-tall, walking myth standing in the road, flagging him down.
Yancy just can’t escape his reputation as a supernatural Fix-it man even when cruising through the forgotten backwoods of Montana. Turns out Bigfoot has a serious problem on his hands: one of his own has gone rogue, developing a taste for the flesh of humans and Sasquatch alike. A greater Wendigo has risen for the first time in thousands of years and if Yancy can’t stop the creature it could be a slaughter for the residents of a rural Montana town.
But even with the monstrous threat looming on the horizon, Yancy has bigger fish to fry. He’s working as an agent of Fate, attempting to put the kibosh on a nefarious scheme, aimed at upsetting the tenuous balance between the supernatural nations. When your boss is Lady Luck, however, nothing is ever left to chance, and his two cases may have more in common than it appears. If he can’t figure out the missing link it could usher in a new world order: an age of inhuman creatures and walking nightmares … one where Yancy Lazarus doesn’t exist.
Available at Amazon
Enjoy The Excerpt:
Bigfoot is real. I know the existence of this nigh-mythical figure is pretty controversial in a lot of circles; tons of drunken bar brawls and fistfights have started over this very topic. Money, religion, politics, and Bigfoot: these are the things best avoided in polite conversation. Unless, of course, you want someone to punch you in the nose or call the men in white jackets. Don’t believe me? Next Thanksgiving, ask your assorted family members their thoughts on Bigfoot and see where the conversation goes. It’ll be entertaining, that much I can promise.
Me, though? I’ve never been one for polite conversation, and I’d love to see the crazy-police try to haul my ass in.
Plus, this isn’t some delusional, government-conspiracy, paranoia thing. I know Bigfoot is real. There was one standing in the road, flagging me down.
Jeez, my life.
I’d glimpsed one years ago and at a distance. A rare encounter. The creatures—Chiye-tanka, for those in the know—are elusive as hell and covet their privacy like paparazzi-weary celebs, evidenced by the fact that no one has ever managed to get much on ’em despite what basically amounts to a nationwide ape hunt. They’re monstrously big and about as inconspicuous as a pro wrestler sporting a neon pink tutu, but they’re also faster than the Road Runner high on speed, uncannily quiet, and boast some crazy-impressive skills with illusion and glamour constructs.
Apparently, the creature standing in the road was the slow kid in the class, the one sitting in the corner with the dunce cap, because this big, hairy roadblock was taking approximately zero percent of the usual Bigfoot evasive precautions. Might as well have been wearing a road guard vest and waving a friggin’ hand flare.
He was colossal, nine feet easy, all mud-colored hair and muscle. Lots and lots of muscle—heck, his muscles had muscles with their own gym membership. He was built on the same scale as a gorilla, only bigger. Much bigger. His face was leathery black and flat, surrounded by flecks of silvered hair. He had deep recessed eyes of brilliant green, which regarded me with a strangely thoughtful expression.
He didn’t look particularly pissed off, which was good since I was sure he could throw me into orbit with those big ol’ monkey arms. Either that or put an asteroid-sized dent in the hood of my ’86 El Camino—part car, part mobile home, and one hundred percent badass—the worse of the two options in my book. I braked since there was no point in trying to run the walking carpet over. With my luck, a collision would level my car without putting so much as a dent in Kong. I slowed to a crawl, the engine rumbling beneath me as I tried to decide what in the hell to do. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel.
Dammit.
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Strange Magic
A Yancy Lazarus Novel
Episode One
My Review
Yancy’s having one of those days, weeks…. Starts out innocently enough and then goes to s!#t.
It all started with a simple phone call from a friend in need. Now Yancy’s in a world of hurt and it ain’t gonna be getting better any time soon..
“I’d been pumped full of tranquilizers,busted a hole in the back wall of The Full House, got shot in the ass, and had, eventually, passed out in a dog pee under a car. Right?”
“So, how’d I end up Saran-wrapped to a table in white-picker suburbia?”
Yancy Lazarus (AKA The Fixer) He drinks too much. Smokes too much. And gambles too much. Or so they say. He just likes to live large.
He can do magic, using the VIS – Latin word meaning force or energy. Yancy’s neat trick is he can manipulate energy, using things like water and fire. But a big gun comes in handy too when he comes face to face with the Rakshasa, their face kind of like a hyena, with a mouth full of shark teeth, beady eyes, over long arms and gray flesh. Nasty things.
He’s 65 and looks 45 due to the longevity the Vis gives him. The FBI has his mug on a Most Wanted poster for domestic terrorism and murder, among other things. Sure, he’s killed, but most were of the non-human type.
Ya gotta love Yancy. He’s a shit-kickin, blues lovin, rambler and gambler, playing piano for drinks, gambling to feed himself, and living out of the back of his precious El Camino. A true nomad and bad ass.
From the first paragraph –
“The piano keys bobbed and danced under the pressure of my fingers. Music – low, slow, and soulful – drifted through the club, merging and twirling with wandering clouds of blue-gray smoke. So many places have no-smoking laws these days, it seems like there’s nowhere in the country where a guy can take a drag from a cigarette in peace. Everyone is so worries about their health, they make damn sure you stay healthy by proxy.”
to the last I had a rip snortin time and can’t wait to see what kind of Hell Yancy winds up in next.
Strange Magic is Author James A. Hunter’s debut novel. They say a writer gets better with each books he writes. If this is true, I can’t imagine what he has in store for this series.
5 Stars
***
Synopsis
Yancy Lazarus is having a bad day: there’s a bullet lodged in his butt cheek, his face looks like the site of a demolition derby, and he’s been saran-wrapped to a banquet table. He never should have answered the phone. Stupid bleeding heart—helping others in his circles is a good way to get dead.
Just ask the gang members ripped to pieces by some kind of demonic nightmare in LA. As a favor to a friend, Yancy agrees to take a little looksee into the massacre and boom, he’s stuck in a turf war between two rival gangs, which both think he’s pinch-hitting for the other side. Oh, and there’s also a secretive ass-hat with some mean ol’ magical chops and a small army of hyena-faced, body- snatching baddies. It might be time to seriously reconsider some of his life choices.
Yancy is a bluesman, a rambler, a gambler, but not much more. Sure, he can do a little magic—maybe even more than just a little magic—but he knows enough to keep his head down and stay clear of freaky-deaky hoodoo like this business in LA. Somehow though, he’s been set up to take a real bad fall—the kind of very permanent fall that leaves a guy with a toe tag. Unless, of course, he can find out who is responsible for the gangland murders, make peace in the midst of the gang feud, and take out said magical ass-hat before he hexes Yancy into an early retirement. Easy right? Stupid. Bleeding. Heart.
Available at Amazon
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A Yancy Lazarus Novel
Episode Two
My Review
Once again, Yancy Lazarus is on the job.
He’d like nothing better than to enjoy some good blues music, chain smoke some cigarettes, and throw back some shots, chasing them with a few beers. But nope. Instead he has to rescue some kid who’s been kidnapped and dragged below to the Winter regions.
It’s no pick-nick there. lots of tunnels, bitter cold, and some really nasty Fae that want to eat him for dinner.
Known as the Fix-It man, it’s just another case and with a few bumps and bruises, and spilled blood, Yancy takes care of business. Except, it doesn’t stop there.
Things are hinky. Others are scheming to open the supernatural gates, inviting in all manner of beasts. Can’t be good for mankind, or Yancy. It’s gonna get tricky without his VIS, his powers.
Aah, Yancy. You can’t help but love him. He’s not a good catch. Smokes too much. Drinks too much. And kind of lazy. And he’s a lot older than he looks. But there’s something about him. Once you get past his smart mouth, you find he has a large heart, even though he tries to hide it behind a cavalier attitude. I’m thinking a lot of you men can relate with Yancy.
Like the first book, the action is wild, the beings are out of this world, in more ways than one, and Yancy charms you yet again.
Sorry Mom. I know you warned me about the bad boys. But, I just love Yancy.
And I love this series. I sure you hope you give it a try. It’s all good.
5 Stars
***
Synopsis
Yancy Lazarus just wants to be left alone. He wants play his blues music, smoke a few cigarettes, and otherwise leave the supernatural world to fend for itself.
He especially wants to be left alone by the Guild of the Staff—the mage ruling body—where he used to work as a Fix-It man. But when a little kid gets nabbed by an ancient Fae creature from the nether regions of Winter and the Guild refuses to set things right, he just can’t seem to heed good sense and leave things be.
Nothing’s ever easy though. Turns out, the kidnapping is just the tip of one big ol’ iceberg of pain and trouble. It seems some nefarious force is working behind the scenes to try and unhinge the tenuous balance between the supernatural nations and usher in a new world order. So now, if Yancy ever hopes to see the bottom of another beer bottle, he’s gonna have to partner up with an FBI agent—an agent who’s been hunting him for years—in order to bring down a nigh-immortal, douchebag mage from a different era. And to top it off, Yancy’s gonna have to pull it off without his magical powers … Boy, some days just aren’t worth getting out of bed for.
Available at Amazon
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About the Author:
Hey all, my name is James Hunter and I’m a writer, among other things. So just a little about me: I’m a former Marine Corps Sergeant, combat veteran, and pirate hunter (seriously). I’m also a member of The Royal Order of the Shellback—‘cause that’s a real thing. And, a space-ship captain, can’t forget that.
Okay … the last one is only in my imagination.
Currently, I work as a missionary and international aid worker with my wife and young daughter in Bangkok, Thailand. When I’m not working, writing, or spending time with family, I occasionally eat and sleep. Strange Magic is the first novel in the Yancy Lazarus series—the third, full-length novel, Wendigo Rising, just released on November 3rd, 2015.
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Until the next time….
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Busy, busy, busy. So many delicious reads! Some I’ve read and will be posting my reviews soon.
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