“The Action Elite” Raves About “The Genesis Exiles”

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

The bad asses at “The Action Elite,” one of the most popular online havens for action buffs around, covering everything from movies, TV shows and books, took the time out review my new novel “The Genesis Exiles.”

From the website that’s had the privilege to interview folks like Keanu Reeves, Michael Jai White, and Wesley Snipes, I am thrilled to say that they rated “The Genesis Exiles” with a four out of five stars, branding it as “Explosive!” And that’s not a recommendation I take with a grain of salt.

“The Action Elite” knows the action genre well, and gave “The Genesis Exiles” a fair, honest, and thankfully rave review. Here are some choice excerpts from the review from The Action Elite webmaster Eoin Friel:

“I’m pleased to say that it’s genuinely thrilling and action-packed with well developed characters who we care about…”

“Vasquez Jr. has an immediately appealing writing style and when penning the action scenes there is an energy to them which shows that he was just as excited writing them as we are reading them…”

“This would make for an excellent movie or even TV series as the characters are so engaging that you want to spend more time with them…”

Read the full review here, and don’t hesitate to buy “The Genesis Exiles”! It’s now available on paperback, and Kindle!

Thanks to “The Action Elite” for taking time out of their busy schedule to review “The Genesis Exiles.”

Hell Comes To Hollywood: An Anthology of Short Horror Fiction Set In Tinseltown Written By Hollywood Genre Professionals (Volume 1) [Paperback]

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

I quite like the premise of “Hell Comes to Hollywood.” Create a short horror story that in some way involves Hollywoodland and its devices. In that general framework, Eric Miller’s compendium of various horror stories from a cadre of actual Hollywood screenwriters and television writers makes Hollywood feel so bleak and hopeless. There are no happy endings in any of the stories presented here, and thankfully there isn’t a bad story to be read either.

The stories here range from forgettable to really damn good. Even the worst story is really just a groaner that will inspire you to quickly flip to the next story hoping for the best. Most of “Hell Comes to Hollywood” does tend to fall in to the trappings of monotony most times, which is a caveat. The writers base their stories on vapid shallow human beings or the horrors of the movie studio system, and there’s never really anything that breaks out from the pair of themes. Sometimes they collide in the most unusual ways.

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The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor [Hardcover]

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Felix Vasquez

It’s very likely that I had too high expectations, or that Max Brooks just spoiled me. But in the end when I was finished with “Rise of the Governor” I was somewhat underwhelmed. Rather than considering re-reading the book, I merely just closed it and moved on with my life. “Rise of the Governor” proves that even with good writing and a wonderful premise, a prequel isn’t always a good idea. The Governor aka Phillip Blake is surely one of the most notorious and memorable characters from the Walking Dead series, and he’s yet to be topped. And while I think he was a fascinating character with a lot of depth and complexity, I really don’t know if I care who he was before the dead destroyed the world.

Phillip Blake’s story is so unimportant in the grand scheme of things because we know how he will end up, unfortunately. The characters in “Rise of the Governor” lack any impact or real individuality. I had a very hard time discerning which characters were talking most times, and I really wasn’t on the edge of my seat. Granted, there are some truly excellent moments to be mined here. I loved the search for the missing zombie kid in the house, and Blake’s intensity toward protecting his family, but “Rise of the Governor” really has nothing to add to the universe beyond “Here is what happened before he met Rick Grimes and massacred a bunch of people in the prison.” While it is a good idea in theory, I really didn’t feel the need to follow him on his path to evil.

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