American Craftsmen

March 3, 2014
Doyle’s uneven debut raises the reader’s hopes and then crushes them. American army captain Dale Morton is cursed by a Middle Eastern mage while on a special mission. The last member of one of American’s Craft families—magic practitioners who have allied themselves in service to the American government in exchange for protection and secrecy—Morton knows he was set up, and he must investigate and thwart a conspiracy that threatens the long-standing covenant. Amid a flutter of tense action sequences and interesting worldbuilding, Morton develops an unconvincing relationship with the tragically under-characterized Scherezade Rezvani; her whole function is to be a plot device and shout obscenities at ghosts. The two of them could found a new magical line, if only they manage to survive their assault on the clichéd, cardboard villains, including an anorexic woman who conquers through sexual submission. The ideas and prose are interesting enough to suggest that Doyle’s next offering might be worth reading. Agent: Robert Thixton, Pinder Lane Productions.

April 15, 2014
Doyle, a graduate of the Clarion Writing Workshop and author of critically acclaimed short stories, breaks into the popular mainstream with this first novel, a multigenre blend incorporating elements of supernatural fantasy, military fiction, spy thriller, and alternate history. The titular "craftsmen" are not carpenters or watchmakers but elite military practitioners of a more secretive and dangerous craft: sorcery. The world they inhabit is similar to our own, complete with brushfire wars in the Middle East, a bureaucratic Washington, DC, and a U.S. heartland full of small-town motels well stocked with Gideon Bibles. But in Doyle's version, military operations sometimes involve the use of mind blasting and matter-manipulating magic spells, as well as grenades and guns, bureaucracies that can hold secrets of truly devilish darkness, and the Bibles, like many other things, are not quite what they seem. VERDICT Other authors have blended soldiering and sorcery, but few have brought Doyle's well-crafted prose style, carefully paced plotting, and depth of characterization to the trope. The gradual revelation of the intricate "secret history" behind the spell-wielding soldiers and the long-simmering family feuds intertwined with that history add intrigue and depth to the slam-bang action of the opening chapters. This series launch will appeal to fans of fantasy and military fiction.--Bradley Scott, Buffalo, MO

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