Sam Starbuck

I've been a fan of Sam's writing for a couple years now, and it's wonderful to see his first original novel in print and available in digital and hard copy (or "dead tree" format as he says).

Nameless is much more concerned with characters than with plot, so anyone looking for a rip roaring adventure ride will be disappointed. But, oh what characters!

Christopher, narrator and protagonist, and Lucas, who has many secrets, are fascinating; both of them fragile and strong in interesting ways. show more Through the development of their friendship, Sam explores the anxieties of belonging and being an outsider, the downsides and delights of small-town and big-city living, the joys of learning and creativity, the complexities of magic and rationality. show less

Roman Senator Marcus Brutus is a patriot, devoted to the Republic. Many of his days are spent actively working for the Republic, protecting the system he believes in. His main respite is the occasional trip to his country villa in the company of his dearest friend, and lover, Cassius. But his tireless work may not be enough, not when the consul Julius Caesar is taking more and more power to himself. When Cassius first proposes a drastic solution, Brutus rejects the idea, but as the months go show more by, it becomes ever more obvious that given enough time, Caesar will overthrow the Republic and make himself emperor.

I bought this because I love Sam's fanfic, and expected him to do a good job of original fiction drawing on historical fact. I wasn't disappointed. This is one of those novels where I think it can be enjoyed both by readers who know nothing about the historical characters, and by readers familiar with the historical story, or with Shakespeare's play. There's a solid story here that fleshes out the basic facts and brings Brutus to life as a real person, a decent, honorable man faced with a choice between evils. His decision is not a simple one, and is made over the course of months, as more and more evidence accumulates of what Rome's future could be if Caesar is not reined in.

And it's not just Brutus who's brought to life here. There's a good exploration of Cassius and his motives. In addition, there's a brief but lovely portrait of Brutus's wife Porcia, and a marriage that is a loving partnership and friendship, not just a useful front for a gay man. Along with the historical characters, there's original character Tiresius, a teenage runaway taken on by Brutus as a horseboy. Tiresius has secrets to hide, but as Brutus discovers more about the boy's troubled relationship with his father, it provides him with insight into his own troubled relationship with Caesar, a man who may or may not be his biological father. The interactions between the characters create a rich portrait of a situation where there is no easy right and wrong.

One of the problems with writing historical fiction is that historical people could have very different moral values and beliefs, often ones that don't sit well with a modern reader. In trying to make a lead character synpathetic, it's easy to slip into the trap of turning him or her into a twenty-first century person in fancy dress. This book does a superb job of presenting the characters in their proper context, with believable explanations for their attitudes and beliefs about various issues.

It's not a romance, because it follows Marcus Brutus and his relationships with Cassius and others in the months leading up to the assassination of Julius Caesar, and anyone who's familiar with either the history or Shakespeare's play will know that Things Do Not End Well for the conspirators. But well researched as far as I can tell, beautifully written, and I'd recommend it to someone looking for historical fiction with an LGBT theme. show less

[2010-04-12] This is a slightly unusual entry in the book log — it’s fanfic. But it’s novel-length, and it’s very good, and as far as I’m concerned it belongs in the book log.

A while back Sam Storyteller posted a Whoniverse short story about Jack Harkness, I Were The Heavens, Rating: PG for language, Summary: A sixteen-year-old boy from Boeshane is going to win the war. The Time Agency has a vested interest in children like him — and so does the Admiral of the Fleet.

Now he’s show more posted a novel-length story about what happened next. And it’s set both just after that short story — and just before Children of Earth. But this is no simple fix-it fic. This is a carefully crafted consideration of time paradoxes, and the potential for damaging your own past/future. It’s difficult to discuss it in much detail without heading into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that Jack Harkness’s convoluted timeline gives a distant future Jack a pressing reason to pull Ianto Jones into the 51st century — and it’s nothing to do with saving Ianto from an untimely death in the 21st century. Jack not only barely remembers Ianto, but to preserve the timeline will have to put Ianto back where he got him from once the job is done…

You’ll need to have at least some familiarity with the Torchwood universe to follow this story, but it’s a fine example of how good fanfic can be in the right hands.

Sam’s description:
Rating: R (more sex than you can shake a dick — a stick! I mean a stick! More sex than you can shake a stick at.)
Summary: Lo Boeshane has a promising career ahead of him as he enters his first year of Fleet Officer Training, but the war is still with him and life at Quantico Station can be difficult. Meanwhile, Ianto Jones is just trying to figure out why the Doctor kidnapped him to the fifty-first century and why Jack abandoned him at a school for the Fleet’s military elite. He suspects it may have something to do with Lo, but his attempts to help the troubled young veteran may damage his own timestream beyond repair. show less

It's hard to come up with a plot description for this one. There isn't one main character or main storyline; it's more about what happens to a group of people during a specific time period. The characters include the people who work at a small company called SparkVISION, an pseudonymous blogger who some suspect might be one of those employees, and a reporter who is trying to "out" said blogger.

I started reading this book and then had to put it aside for several months. In the beginning, the show more staff of SparkVISION get a group of new interns and are very unpleasant to them. The idea and description of people being intentionally nasty to people on their first day at a new job (which is already an incredibly stressful time) was so upsetting that I wasn't sure I would ever pick the book up again.

But I did, and I'm glad that I did. Beyond that unfortunate beginning, the characters are not all horrible people intent on making those around them cry, and it's an interesting story.

It is also semi-autobiographical; the author has or had a job - and roommate - similar to one of the character's. If you want to see if you might like this book, I suggest checking out the author's blog, specifically the posts related to his job, here. show less