Aside from an overwhelmingly successful reading of THE SUBLIMINAL RELIGION at the Book Revue, the novel has continued to get rave reviews from readers, and will continue to be featured in news magazines, libraries, and book stores.

On a personal note, the sequel is already well underway, and I am greatly enjoying the process of creating in the dismal world that we left off with at the end of THE SUBLIMINAL RELIGION.

A graphic comic book - drawn by the talented and renowned artist Matt Helbig - is also beyond the infant stages, and it will be a mystery involving zombies, a great cast of human characters, and is heavily influenced by the TV innovation LOST among other things.

A children's series has also been started up between myself and Kurt Zisa; it will consist of many of the things I feel are lacking in quality kids' books: mystery, suspense, technology, robots, and a journey through Penn Station.

Lastly my published short story "Lucky" will be reprinted in the US by Abandoned Towers Magazine . . . stay posted for updates as the when and where!

Best,

RJ

Well folks, here it is. A Juicy Quote from the book will be released sporadically on my very own blog here. Keep checking it, and read! It's fantastic!

RJ

Today's Juicy Quote: "The weeks following the terrorist attack of March Fifteenth saw a drastic outbreak of hate crimes" THE SUBLIMINAL RELIGION

My electric thriller THE SUBLIMINAL RELIGION is officially here! A lot of research went into subliminal messaging and the effects of this on unsuspecting TV watchers.

My riveting ride takes place in a New York City from a not too distant future that could be tomorrow; it is a dark place, that suffered another horrendous terrorist attack on 3/15, and is under a strict lock-down. People are encouraged to walk about the city in groups in order to single out potential wrong-doers.

It is a place where undertaking a documentary on subliminal messaging that implicates Disney and the Tea Party in heinous acts against the unsuspecting American public is a very dangerous endeavor. And this is especially the case when the two filming it are just NYU film students trying to prove themselves . . . but they do not realize the cost . . .

By R.J. Huneke

The language is key.  And with language, China Mieville’s venture into the science-fiction genre is nothing short of spectacular. 

As the master storyteller’s past works often utilize unique, flowing and intricate vocabulary, in general (just read The City & the City), the future described in Embassytown imbues.  The world-society on Arieka is based around the very use of language and is dependent on word-craft to survive.

China Mieville depicts Arieka as an alien world in which the native populous, the Ariekei, only harbor the human enclave within a city that was co-constructed, alongside the Ariekei’s own, to be an Embassytown.  The human city is a colony for the humans on the edge of the most unknown portion of space, the Immer, where few (Avice, the Immerser, is one of these) have traveled.  And it is also a colony, of sorts, for the Ariekei, though the humans are largely ignorant to this fact…

There is nothing like this.  The Ariekei, also referred to as the Host, are horse, maybe-fly or bird hybrid – well aliens – with two sets of wings and two mouths; they feel and seem utterly strange, lucid and imaginative (while still leaving plenty to the readers’ mind to discern).  The Ariekei can only speak truth, from their two completely separate mouths, which is quite a contrast to humanity’s use of language in the book and out of it.  The humans of Embassytown have learned how to genetically create and/or manipulate biotechnology and people to form their own Ambassadors who are linguists able to speak and negotiate with the Ariekes.

The main character that Mieville utilizes is Avice Benner Cho, the former native-born Embassytowner and successful Immerser, and she is as contemplative, stubborn, smart and kick-ass a female protagonist as you will ever see.  Her life is forever intertwined to her homeland when the Ariekei choose her to become a simile, which allows them to stretch the truth in just such a manner that their minds evolve, a little.

For the Ariekei language is power, life and starkly intoxicating.  Their dependence proves to be treacherous, as evolution and language-as-drug-use threatens the entire foundation of Embassytown.

“We speak now or I do, and others do. You've never spoken before. You will. You'll be able to say how the city is a pit and a hill and a standard and an animal that hunts and a vessel on the sea and the sea and how we are fish in it, not like the man who swims weekly with fish but the fish with which he swims, the water, the pool. I love you, you light me, warm me, you are suns. You have never spoken before” (Mieville, Embassytown).

The way of the planet and the space surrounding it is constantly explored and revealed to us, the reader, in a compellingly emotional and explorative narrative that unfolds steadily and brilliantly.  What needs to be stressed is how the invented languages (and there are multiple of these in the work), terms and use of characters and story techniques are extremely experimental and courageously innovative, while maintaining a streamlined, philosophical, understandable and absolutely addictive reading experience.

Rarely are there newly constructed future-worlds in fiction that have such depth and originality as this one does.  Frank Herbert’s Dune is the only book I can bring to mind that does so similarly, and that comparison is, in itself, of the highest praise.

If you do not know by now, China Mieville strives to bring his monsters to every genre of fiction, and to do so in an enthralling and utterly innovative fashion.

See the rest of the article in the IMPULSIVE REVIEWS Section.

There are very few books that transcend genre and captivate everyone with their truly unique and entrancing story.  Neil Gaiman's American Gods is one of the rarities.

This is the tale of a man called Shadow, a large and seemingly slow-thinking individual, who is released from a prison to find that not only is his former life gone, but the world that he has known his entire life is actually full of strange gods that have immigrated to America in hopes of making a living (if it can be called that).

Amidst the riveting narrative there are incredibly insightful glances into the history and the legend of the world's gods, for some have been popular in mythology that is still somewhat remembered in the contemporary world and some are remnants of past subjects of worship that practically no one alive has any knowledge of (Neil Gaiman is one of the few who does).

Ancient Egypt is represented, as well as our Norse mythological friends (or enemies depending on your perspective), and the old gods meet up with new gods of technology and media and TV, which currently enthrall modern society (especially in the US).

This mysterious and thrilling tale of Shadow and the American Gods is unlike anything ever written or undertaken, and this could very well be one of those books that you put down and declare is one of the best you've ever read.

Neil Gaiman is currently on an American Gods 10th Anniversary Edition book tour, and this author's preferred text contains some 80,000 more words to embellish the story.  Read the original or the author's preferred version, but above all, make sure that you read American Gods!

IMPULSIVE REVIEW Grade:  see it HERE

Sabriel must learn to battle the unknown evils that continue to stack against her, in the place of her missing father, who is, or was, the Abhorsen:  a powerful magic wielding necromancer who fights...

Rarely do works of speculative fiction involve such world building, round character creation and invoke an utterly riveting story in an artistic combination of intriguing depth; such is the case with J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which is why, for a genre, he has often been named the Godfather, as few live up to his magic, or writing prowess. 

Garth Nix has succeeded in doing this with his speculative work Sabriel (the first in the Abhorsen Trilogy), and though he is not Tolkien, by any stretch, he is certainly a talented, innovative and incredible writer who has made such a world in his book that it should be considered a "must read" and a classic.

The stark language and the thrilling story keep the reader in such a state of involved suspense that this world and the world that contains the Old Kingdom could be misconstrued.  The protagonist, an 18 year old woman named Sabriel, is truly unique and displayed with the uttermost care by the author; she is an amazing character! 

The world involves the constant threat of the Dead to rise from beyond the Gates of Death into the world of Life.  Sabriel must learn to battle the unknown evils that continue to stack against her, in the place of her missing father, who is, or was, the Abhorsen:  a powerful magic wielding necromancer who fights to ensure that the Dead stay that way.

The book builds in suspense until the pages fly to the climax and beyond...into the next novel of the series.

It is time to look back on the year that was, so that we can better look forward to the exciting year that is just a day away.  2010 was revolutionary for Rune Works Productions.  Numerous art publications saw print and screen (on the internet).  R.J. Huneke completed his fourth novel's manuscript, titled The Subliminal Religion, and it will undoubtedly be thrust into the speculative thriller fiction limelight in 2011.  But next year is 2011, an odd year, and those are always the best!

Pictures, poetry, art, short stories and non-fiction articles have continued to be churned out by Rune Works, and many artists are currently working with R.J. Huneke to create more!  The possibilities are endless, as is the media, and with the tremendous magazine, newspaper and internet publications that were successfully displayed in 2010, there is hoped to be even more  spectacular and entertaining innovative works of words and art in the coming year.  New announcements will follow as soon as there is enough Top Secret material to reveal to the world, but for now, just know that 2011 is going to be HUGE!

Thank you to all who support Rune Works!  And Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well it would appear that December is a good month for Rune Works.  R.J. Huneke has eight new publications in print that are available now. 

The Stony Brook PRESS featured a Fall 2010 Literary Supplement highlighted by four R.J.H. poems, and the Stony Brook University Literary Magazine "Spoke the Thunder" has successfully launched with three R.J.H. photos and one short story, tilted "The Bottle". 

All of these pieces are in print and available in the Stony Brook University Union, among other places around Long Island, NY.  Read more from them here.

For the sensational world that surrounds Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Voldemort, the epic finale reaches the start of its climax in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.  The movie rendition of J.K. Rowling's final book in the Harry Potter series is as accurate, emotional and powerful as any of the other films, but it is certainly the most profound of the seven. 

This penultimate film, and the book it is based off of, is a grim, riveting and frightening point in Harry Potter's history; like Star Wars:  the Empire Strikes Back, the first part of "The Deathly Hallows" takes the courageous characters that readers and movie-goers have come to love and plunges them into the darkest days and the most trying of circumstances.  This flick has much of the humor and charm of the previous six in the HP series, but it is also a slow building crescendo that swarms the viewer with the fear, suspense and shock that ensues as the precarious events unfold. 

The tale of the Boy Who Lived has been riddled with dark events and circumstances - Harry's parents being murdered by a power-crazed Voldemort and then the boy's awful family forcing Harry to be the Cinderella in their household - but the friendships, adventures and fun of magic at Hogwarts always seemed to balance out the harshness of Harry's reality.  Unfortunately, the Chosen One, Harry Potter, is the only person who has the possibility of killing the Dark Lord who has risen to gain a tyrant's control over much of the wizarding world.  Harry is targeted as the lone threat to Voldemort's domination of everything and the government and Death Eaters now have total control to seek the 17 year old at will; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a contrastingly different experience than the previous looks into Rowling's wonderful tale. 

The odds are against Harry, Ron and Hermione, as their mentor and hero Professor Dumbledore is dead; the one hope that they had, in their ally and shield against the utterly evil Voldemort and his armies of darkness, has not only been erased from the earth, but he is being discredited by the press.  A biography has emerged revealing little known facts about the dark life that Dumbledore had led.  Harry has had no idea of these things and is overwhelmed with the futile feeling that his old bearded ally did not make anything clear to him about how to defeat Voldemort, and the fact that Dumbledore had a mysterious other side creates a disturbingly surreptitious effect.

The cinematography is truly gorgeous, and the fact that Hogwarts is entirely absent lends to the foreign, thrilling and dangerous feel to the movie.  The characters of Ron, Hermione and Harry, in particular, go through so much inner turmoil that they become extremely deep and even more realistic than they have been previously depicted. 

Voldemort is brought in for some significant screen time and his madness, power and evil show through very well.  The Malfoy's estate is just as I imagined it would look and feel, and Bellatrix, who also gets a good deal of more time in this movie, makes the place a harbor for twisted selfishness and the blackness of the criminally insane.  This flick is dark!  The villains are truly given justice in this film and much more so than any of the previous six installments.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the ultimate cliff-hanger in a depiction of one of the greatest epic tales ever written.  The sheer weight of the series is realistically brought about in this film and it is sad, moving and excellent in every way.  Ms. Rowling must be proud.

See the IMPULSIVE REVIEW Section for the Grade Here.