Thursday, 16 January 2025

Live and Let Fly - Karina Fabian - DragonEye, PI Original Edition

Live and Let Fly
Original First Edition
DragonEye, PI Book 2a
Karina Fabian
Muse It Up
ISBN 9781771270250
ASIN B007Y5TCHG

Live and Let Fly - Karina Fabian - DragonEye, PI Original Edition

Note: I have had this book since 2012 but had not got around to reading it. It was originally volume 2 in the DragonEye PI series, and book 1 was Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem. Both have long been out of print, but are currently being rewritten by the author to release in 2025, as books 10 and 11 in the series. I will read the new editions but wanted to give this older version of the story a try. Much like J.F. Powers, Fabian has gone back and reworked older stories and expanded them. I look forward to the new iteration of this story later this year. But now back to your regularly scheduled review.
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Each time I read a book by Fabian, no matter the series, I think ‘it can’t get better than this’ and yet somehow it almost always does. This story blew took me completely by surprise. I kept putting off reading these original 2 stories because the covers just did not click with me. It is an excellent read in its current format and part of a wonderful series. 

I read this volume over a few days during the holidays; I was off for a few weeks over Christmas and New Year’s because of unused vacation and flex-time. I was hard time putting it down, and I only did so because of family and friends being around. It is such a fun story. Yet again Fabian pulled it off was masterfully. 

I believe that with each new book I read from Karina Fabian’s pen I am more and more impressed with her writing. To date, I have loved all the books and all the series I have read by her. And this marks the 35th time I have read a book by her. This old story is another excellent offering. 

I have been reading stories from Karina Fabian since 2008. But in the last four years I have read or reread over 40 books and stories published by her. In that time I have read stories across most of her series, some a few times. There is one other Series that is currently out of print The Mind Over series that rumour has it will be back in print soon. I usually read her books and then often listen to them a second time using adaptive technology. My understanding is that this is the order of the series at least at the time of writing this review:

9.0 Gapman
10.0 Magic, Mensa and Mayhem (Revised edition forthcoming)
11.0 Live and Let Fly (Revised edition forthcoming)

And as announced at the end of this volume Fabian is circling back and rewriting the original 2 stories as the next 2 volumes in this excellent series, which includes this title. My understanding is they are undergoing a major rewrite, and if they are as good as the nine more recent volumes, they will be well worth the wait. There are a couple of other short stories published in this universe as well:


And yes, with my dyslexia every time I read the title of that last one I think A Wrinkle in Time, but that is another author and universe. Back to this story, the description of this book is:

“For a dragon detective with a magic-slinging nun as a partner, saving the worlds gets routine. So, when the U.S. government hires Vern and Sister Grace to recover stolen secrets for creating a new Interdimensional Gap—secrets the U.S. would like to keep, thank you—Vern sees a chance to play Dragon-Oh-Seven.

No human spy, however, ever went up against a Norse goddess determined to rescue her husband. Sigyn will move heaven and earth to get Loki—and use the best and worst of our world against anyone who tries to stop her.

It's super-spy spoofing at its best with exotic locations (Idaho--exotic? Well, Idaho’s exotic to them), maniacal middle-managers, secret agent men, teen rock stars in trouble, man-eating animatronics, evil overlords, and more!”

The chapter tiles in Fabians books are often very important, the chapters in this volume are:

Kick of Evil
Gapraker
Ace in the Hole
Strangers on an Airship
Ocrapussy
Toyland Royale
Gonefinger
With Remorse
Mage Storm Rising
For Your Ears Only
Body and Soul
Gears of the Tiger
The Vern Identity
From Helheim With Love
The Vern Supremacy

Yes there appears to be a lot of James Bond references from the title and numerous chapter titles. This story is in its current format 22 chapters of fun, adventure, and an epic battle. When you go up against Gods, Demi Gods, and those with truly evil plans what do you expect. 

This story is yet another wonderfully written tale of Vern and Sister Grace. And Vern is willing to sacrifice some of his Dragonness he has received back … Better let you find out why when reading this wonderful book. 
  
This book is another wonderfully entertaining read, in an excellent series. It is another great offering from Fabian’s pen. Even if you have not read any of the other DragonEye PI stories I can easily recommend this book to you. I have said it before, and I say it again in many ways it reads like a catholic version of Robert Apsrin’s MYTH series and his Phule’s Company and also the works of Tom Holt, especially Holt’s Nothing but Blue Skies. Give this book or the series a try; I am certain you will be entertained. Another great read in a fantastic series that I can easily recommend.  

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!


Dex Hollister Series:

The Old Man and the Void
Dex's Way
...

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator Series :
Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
I Left My Brains in San Francisco
Shambling in a Winter Wonderland


DragonEye PI Series:
DragonEye PI Novels:
9.0 Gapman
10.0 Magic, Mensa and Mayhem (Revised edition forthcoming)
11.0 Live and Let Fly (Revised edition forthcoming)
... 

DragonEye PI Short Stories:

DragonEye PI Original First Editions:
...

Space Traipse Series:
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 1
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 2
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 3
Space Traipse Stories

Mind Over Series:
Mind Over Mind
Mind Over Psyche
Mind Over All
Hearts Over Mind


Edited by: Karina Fabian:
Infinite Space, Infinite God I
Leaps of Faith
Infinite Space, Infinite God II
...


Contributed to:
Firestorm of Dragons
The Zombie Cookbook
The Book of Tentacles
Twisted Fayrie Tales
FRIGHTLINER: And Other Tales of the Undead
Mother Goose is Dead
Word by Word: Slowing Down with the Hail Mary
Image and Likeness Literary Reflections on the Theology of the Body
Corrupts Absolutely? Dark Metahuman Fiction
Weird Noir
The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Novels
Manifesto UF
Avenir Eclectia
Planetary Anthology: Jupiter
Planetary Anthology: Pluto
Planetary Anthology: Luna
Planetary Anthology: Uranus
FlagShip Science Fiction and Fantasy v2i5
My Little Book of Headdesks
To Be Men: Stories Celebrating Masculinity
...









2 comments:

Karina Fabian said...

I hope you're interested in rereading this later when I revise and republish it. I have plans for this book! (Ditto Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, the revision of which is coming out later this year.)

Steven R. McEvoy said...

Absolutely that is the plan!