Book Reviews and More: Barn Wars The Rise Of Brooster Motherclucker- Richard Paolinelli

Thursday 28 December 2023

Barn Wars The Rise Of Brooster Motherclucker- Richard Paolinelli - Dreams Of The Storyteller Book 14

Barn Wars: The Rise Of Brooster Motherclucker

Dreams Of The Storyteller Book 14

Richard Paolinelli

Tuscany Bay Books

ASIN B0CDSPF7CJ

Barn Wars The Rise Of Brooster Motherclucker- Richard Paolinelli - Dreams Of The Storyteller Book 14

When I started reading the Dreams of the Storyteller Series there were 18 volumes in the collection. Then it expanded to 20, and now it is compressed to 14. Six of the stories have been split off into a different collection called Sherlock Holmes Pastiches. I have read a number from each collection and I have picked up several anthologies that Paolinelli has contributed to, that I have not got around to reading yet. I have also read 2 novel, Galen’s Way, and Galen’s Blade and eagerly await the two forthcoming offerings in that series. I have also picked up several of his other novels after reading the first few stories in this series. This was the last of those 20 shorter works by Paolinelli that I got around to reading. IN part I saved it for the end, because this story in the Anthology Cracked An Anthology of Eggsellent Chicken Stories edited by Bokerah Brumley.

After having now read 22 different stories by Paolinelli and a number of them more than once, I am now trying to read one a week until I have read his whole back catalogue. Several of his stories and novels are towards the top of my ‘to be read pile’.

Richard is not only an author but the driving force behind Tuscany Bay Books, I have read many volumes from the Bay by a number of authors and all have been well worth the read. This was one of several new short stories that dropped in the collection Dreams Of The Storyteller. There are now as mentioned, a collection of 14 volumes in that collection, the first 2 date from 2014, 1 from 2022, and the rest have dropped in 2023.

After reading the first story I went back and grabbed the whole collection. Much like I did with Declan Finn last year with reading a story a week until I have read all he has published.

At the time of reading this I have read 449 books so far this year. I can easily state that this is another excellent story from Paolinelli’s masterful pen. I said in a previous review that I have been aware of Richard and his works for a few years now. It is my loss that I did not dig into his works earlier. Don’t make my mistake, pick some up and give them a read! The description of this story is:

“Old MacDonald’s Farm is a pot about to boil over. Brooster Motherclucker has had just about enough of the antics of the Evil Empire – the four-legged creatures that roam the barnyard in league with the Dark Lord, Old Farmer John MacDonald.

He wants to lead an alliance of rebels formed from his fellow two-legged fowls to throw off the yoke of the Evil Empire and their minion, the Dark Lord. But he fails to inspire the uprising.

Then, a spider named Naebi Obiwonk – the last of the Araneae Order – appears and begins to train Brooster in the ways of the Aranae, the light side of the Great Web. This training he will need to overcome the Dark Lord, who serves the Dark Side of the Great Web.

Only then will Brooster be able to defeat the Evil Empire.”

In the author’s forward Richard states:

“I feel like I should explain how this story came to be. That way it might make a little more sense how I managed to toss Star Wars, Charlotte’s Web, and Looney Tunes into a bowl, scramble them together, and come up with this story.

I was editing Planetary Anthology Series: Pluto and two authors – Bokerah Brumley and A.M. Freeman – submitted stories that I accepted into the anthology. Bokerah cooked up a story about a killer chicken on the loose on Pluto. A.M. is known for attending conventions in a cow onesie. With this in mind, I made the comment one day about a cow facing off against a chicken.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo, motherclucker,” was Bokerah’s response and that was just enough to get me started on the path to this story. When Bokerah decided to put together an anthology of sci-fi/fantasy chicken stories Brooster Motherclucker was born.”

This is a hilarious story and a mash up parody of some many fandoms. It is well written. It will have you laughing out loud. Join Brooster on his training regime. Be thrilled by his first battle with the hound dog. And watch as he loves ‘when a plan comes together’ to go after the four legged farm animals and the Evil lord the old farmer.

At the end of the volume it states:

Coming Soon - BARN WARS 2: The Hare Menace

It has been over three years and we have not seen it yet. But after how much fun this story was, I can hope we someday see it in print. It was fitting that this was the last story in the series I read as it was my introduction of Richard’s work.

This is another great short story from Paolinelli’s masterful pen. It is the final book in this series for me to read, at least for those in print at the moment. I plan now to read the 14 volumes in the Dreams of a Storyteller Series, in publication order. This is an Eggsellent story in a wonderful collection. I can easily recommend it!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2023 Catholic Reading Plan!

For reviews of all books from Tuscany Bay click here.

Books by Richard Paolinelli:

Maelstrom

When the Gods Fell

The Calling

The Last Lonely Trail

A Zombie Christmas Carol

The Woman Returns

…

Infinity Series:

Escaping Infinity