There are some people’ whose heads you really don’t want to be inside and dark fiction author Alan Baxter is one of those people. In Realm Shift Alan Baxter takes you from blood sacrifices to the varied realms of hell and back again, battling demons, gods and Lucifer himself in a gore fest that makes your head spin.
Not only does Baxter spin a tale of life on the dark side, he questions, quite soundly, the basis for all religions, modern and ancient, treating all with the same irreverence and offering an alternate viewpoint that is so valid it’s almost frightening. It’ll challenge your deepest held beliefs. Belief creates reality and Baxter’s reality is full of magic and darkness, evil and good, but a good that lies easily to serve its own purpose and with the full backing of the universe and all the power behind it.
Baxter’s fight scenes are intense. They get your heart pounding, leaving you on the edge of your seat. With Baxter’s own martial arts training the scenes are realistic, sometimes so much so that you find yourself wondering if Baxter himself has ever crushed someone’s head or slit a throat and heard the blood gurgle and the breath hiss as his victim lie dying. Baxter draws you along a knife’s edge of tension from the first page to the last, leaving your heart thumping and sweat on your brow.
A good example of the supernatural element in Baxter’s writing, his use of imagery and his ability to write a good fight scene follows:
“Samuel could do nothing but watch helplessly as the battle began. Isiah’s fingers were pressing with immense force into the devil’s face. Samuel could hear the creak and crack of bones fracturing, Isiah’s middle finger and thumb slowly sinking into the hollows of Lucifer’s temples, dark black blood leaking out, running down his cheeks. Satan’s own nails were drawing blood from Isiah’s forearm, Isiah’s skin taut and white under his grip. The devil lashed out with his other hand, clawing for Isiah’s face. Isiah caught his hand with lightening reflexes, his hand wrapped around the devil’s closed fist, squeezing. More of Lucifer’s bones began popping.”
RealmShift is phenomenal. If it’s not already on your bookshelf it should be.
RealmShift First Published 2006 by Alan Baxter, Second Edition, 2008 by Blade Red Press. ISBN 978-0-9805782-0-1, Third Edition, available April 2010 ISBN 978-0-9825087-4-9 available online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, other online bookstores, as well as local book retailers. For more information see the author’s website at http://www.alanbaxteronline.com
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