Spaceman in the Iron Mask is #3 in new releases in Galactic Empires
Also, my works are at #17 and #29. Apparently Jon del Arroz posted my work on a list of ten based books, and the Dan Bongino report picked it up and amplified the signal.
From the pen of Daniel M. Bensen
Outlaw of the Outer Stars by John C. Wright – Another great beach read from Wright’s pulpy homage to Star Wars. In this, the 4th book, the overarching plot is well on its way, with Lyra, Athos, and Flint getting themselves in ever deeper trouble. Most of the book we spend with Athos, himself, who is in very deep, indeed. Frogs everywhere.
From the pen of Daniel M Benson
Giants of Pangea by John C. Wright – Sometimes I just gotta read another of John C. Wright’s pulpy candy bars. In this one (second of a series), Colonel Preston Lost, soldier, millionaire, ace pilot, and daring outdoorsman, continues to nearly get killed in all the ways a man can die on a far-future super-continent inhabited by post-human mutants, god-tech artifacts, and dinosaurs. Maybe the demon-worshiping giants and GM super-monkeys would leave him alone if only this guy would stop righting wrongs and defending the defenseless. He won’t, though. This is how you write a hero.
A favorable review from Essential Malady for SECRET AGENTS of the GALAXY. This review was posted some months ago, but I only came across it now:
Something I didn’t really mention in my last review was the swashbuckling genre this fits within. This shouldn’t be thought of simply in terms of sword-fighting (of which there is very little so far), but with regard to the spirit of the story. The characters are chivalrous, daring and as sure of themselves as they are of the difference between right and wrong. There is also a general spirit of fun in the book’s tone which is so often absent from so much fiction today. This fusion of fantasy, science-fiction, swashbuckling adventure is the formula that made the original Star Wars films so popular. Wright understands this much better than the current rights-holders to the once beloved franchise ever will.
Our own Hans G Schantz posts the results so far from the Summer Based Booksale, but also proposes that, based on the numbers and the reliability, these results are a better indicator of the popularity of a book than the now-debased Hugo Awards, the statistically questionable Amazon rankings, or even the popular Dragon Awards.
The sale is ongoing as of the time of this writing, so all readers are encouraged to open a generous billfold, and join this front in the Culture Wars. (And I may get a copy of the Complete Father Brown myself…)
The 2025 Summer Based Book Sale has just a couple of days left, and has already moved 1303 Kindle Free E-books and 1415 Kindle Paid E-Books for a total of 2718 referrals – more including the listed authors who sell outside Amazon.
What are the Top Based Books readers are buying this summer? Read on to learn about the remarkable range of both old and newly emerging classics that appeal to today’s based readers.
Tied for second place are science fiction grandmaster John C. Wright and H. Rider Haggard. Wright’s newly reissued The Iron Chamber of Memory is “[a]n eerie, suspenseful, romantic fantasy in the mood of C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams.”
“I never had an idea more beautiful or haunting than The Iron Chamber of Memory. It is a fairy tale for adults, a theological meditation, a time travel story, a ghost story, and a story about love and honor and remembering what you should not forget.”
Wright story, One Bright Star to Guide Them, arguably the book that broke the Hugo Awards, is also on sale. To grasp the full measure of the corruption and depravity behind today’s Hugo Awards, just read One Bright Star to Guide Them, and then learn how both it and its author were deliberately “No Awarded.”
H. Rider Haggard defined the genre of lost-world fiction with stories that blend Victorian sensibilities, ancient secrets, and thrilling adventures. Allan Quartermain, hero of King Solomon’s Mines, was a direct inspiration for Indiana Jones. Which character is better? Read and find out!
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I was pleased and surprised to hear my name during a Matt Walsh episode. Carl, who may be our own Carl Gaebler, made an indirect mention of my STARQUEST sequence. The comment is at 44.44
And, far more importantly, my comment is read by our future ruler, Lord Doomcock.
I was a guest on Ben Wheeler’s Sunday Superversive Livestream to publicize our Starquest Kickstarter.
Upstream Reviews posts a review of my IRON CHAMBER OF MEMORY
In his epic poem PARADISE LOST, the poet prays for a fit audience, that is, one sympathetic to the aim of the poem, sensitive to its spirit, mood, nuance. I have found such a reader in Declan Finn, who manages to review my attempt at a Charles Williams style metaphysical mystery tale without giving away any of the plot twists. He is to be thanked for this courtesy.
His review is here:
He writes, in part:
F. Paul Wilson’s novel The Keep had impressed me growing up because it was a novel that had started out as Dracula and ended with Lord of the Rings.
John C Wright has managed and even greater trick with his novel Iron Chamber of Memory.
In this case, what started out as a romantic comedy, Nora Roberts style, and then, Jeffery Deaver-like, ended in an epic battle on the scale of Mary Stewart and her books of King Arthur and Merlin.
Let’s call it a fantasy romance, of sorts. Where’s the soundtrack for Excalibur! I need O Fortuna to accompany the knights charging out of the mists!
Trust me, when I say it was epic, I mean EPIC.
Live From The Bunker 832: Finding New Franchises – The Superversive Era
Yours truly and the inestimable Richard Paolinelli discuss the future of the future, our current book projects, what went wrong with STAR WARS what is right with STARQUEST and many other topics both shallow and profound.
Our own Declan Finn posts a review of STARQUEST volume II: SECRET AGENTS of the GALAXY.
Cue John Williams music…
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When John C. Wright saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he had a different view than what we saw.
His review of the movie is what we were promised, as opposed to what we got.
The end result of this shot-from-the-hip mock review came an outline of a twelve-book series. You can read it without much in the way of spoilers. The story grew exponentially as time went on, with the addition of many, many more space pirates.
Princess Lirazel Centauri (or simply “Lyra”) watched her world, and her family die. They went down battling the forces of darkness. And despite everything she personally witnessed, no one will believe that the Galactic Empire was behind it—the Empire and its overlords were all dead.
And that’s just the thirty-page prologue.
Thirteen years later, Star Patrol Captain Athos Lone (not Solo, Lone) is boarding a pirate vessel, reading to exterminate the vile scum. He has a high tech mask from the ancient times that helps him be on par with a whole ship filled of pirates. When he finds himself on the hull, he discovers a translucent maiden with a bow and arrow just striding along the vacuum of space.
Lyra has learned a few tricks since her planet was destroyed.
From here is a breakneck run for survival against a horde of pirates, all out for Athos’ blood.
Think about the pacing of the original Star Wars: A New Hope. We open with a space shootout, follow two droids down to Tatooine, then the film slows down as the droids wander over the sands.
Space Pirates of Andromeda has no such slow down. It doesn’t stop to breathe. Like the original serials that Star Wars was based on, the plot is always moving, and the threats are omnipresent. The pacing is on par with Flash Gordon or a Barsoom novel.
And the prose is … well, it’s John C. Wright. His narration is poetry, no matter who’s being chased, stalked and / or shot at. It’s also very clear that Wright wanted to take a stiletto to the woke nonsense of “modern audiences.” Everyone is lovingly described. The heroes are heroic. The villains are villainous. you know, like most fiction.
The reason this review is so late, despite having an early review copy, is … well, the ending was very much like a Flash Gordon serial. Complete with a cliffhanger. The sort of cliffhanger that was fine if the next chapter came out next week, not months later. What do I mean? Imagine if The Empire Strikes Back stopped with TIE fighters chasing the Millennium Falcon into the clouds, and Luke Skywalker just dangling over Bespin, and everything just cut to credits… Yeah, that sensation right there? That was me when I first read it.
However, book two is out, I read it, it’s fun, so you can go straight from book one to book two.
From the pen of Charles Hackney
“Remember the days gone by,” the author asks, “when science fiction was fun?” In this, John C. Wright has succeeded. Space Pirates of Andromeda is a fun tale of big action, and noble heroes fighting against impossible odds. The worldbuilding is most impressive, feeling original and fully realized, but only offering us tantalizing glimpses of what has gone before instead of burdening the reader with tedious exposition. I was left with a desire to find out more about Wright’s Star Quest universe, and to see the mysteries of the characters be slowly revealed.
I highly recommend Space Pirates of Andromeda for all ages. I loved it, and immediately handed it off to my youngest, who is currently deep in the adventures of Athos and Lyra (I had to “steal” the book back to write this review).
Read the whole thing
From our own CPE Gaebler, who helped fund the writing:
Far in the future, in a galaxy not so far away…
Starquest was sold to me as a loving homage to Star Wars, but a fresh and renewed approach to the theme; as a fan of both Star Wars and the author, I had to try it.
I had high expectations, but was still blown away. The prologue alone got me hooked on the first book; Book 1 got me hooked on the series.
The theme is Space Opera more than it is Science Fiction.
Theoretically, the spaceships and supertechnology have a hand-wavey physical explanation. But the author does not waste your time explaining them, as the priority is the finer things in stories: Adventure, Romance, Revenge, Pirates, Space Princesses, and the Annihilation of Entire Planets.
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A reader calls to my attention that I was mentioned by name during an episode of
Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders April 8th, 2024
The question of private revelations or visions is asked at 5:15 and my name is mentioned at 8:06.
For some odd reason, he calls it a near-death experience, which it most certainly was not. I did see the Christ, the Father, the Holy Spirit, and saw and spoke with the Virgin. A month later, I saw separate visions about eternity and other realms, I did not visit heaven nor claim to have.
To be sure, I would not expect a casual readers of my account to remember these distinction. They were only meant for me. I was ordered to speak but little about exactly what I saw, and so misunderstandings are inevitable.
But neither vision was not a “near-death” nor an “out-of-body” experience in the way that term is normally used. It was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill, inexplicable supernatural experience.
This is a reader review for the UNEXPECTED ENLIGHTENMENT books penned by my beautiful and talented wife. I was proud enough to bust my buttons, so I wanted to pass the kind words along to my readers:
Review for THE UNEXPECTED ENLIGHTENMENT OF RACHEL GRIFFIN
Except this series. I’ve heard good things about it for years, but avoided it – after all, I hate young adult books. On a whim after reading a particularly good review, I just decided to give it a try – and I am really, really glad I did.
I absolutely love the world – and yes, while there are plenty of hat tips to Harry Potter and its influence is undeniable, not only would I say this series stands on its own with a unique world, but I would strongly say I prefer it. Really, I love everything about this series – the characters are unique enough to be memorable, and deep enough for me to really love them – even though I am old, I am getting suckered into a enjoying the 13 year old’s perspective on the world. It is particularly enjoyable to see her deal with conflicts with adults, and remembering having some of them myself. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would strongly recommend it – even if you are old and hate young adult books like me, these are something special. I am looking forward to watching Rachel Griffin grow up – can’t wait to see where the series goes. And can’t wait to share it with my kids.
