hank quense

About

Award-winning author Hank Quense lives in Bergenfield, NJ with his wife Pat. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. He writes humorous fantasy and scifi stories. On occasion, he also writes an article on fiction writing or book marketing but says that writing nonfiction is like work while writing fiction is fun. A member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, he refuses to write serious genre fiction saying there is enough of that on the front page of any daily newspaper and on the evening TV news.

He has three collections of short stories and four novels currently available. He has written a series of guides on fiction writing and another one on self-publishing and marketing a book. He also lectures on fiction writing and self-publishing.

Hank has initiated a series of lectures and workshops to share his expertise in creating fiction and publishing books. Create A Short Story is a 4-session workshop in which the participants design their own short story. He also gives a two-part seminar on Self-publishing & Marketing a self-published book.

He has a number of links where you can follow his work and his occasional rants:

Hank’s Blog:http://hank-quense.com/wp

Strange Worlds website:http://strangeworldsonline.com/wp

Follow him on twitter: http://twitter.com/hanque99

Facebook fan pages: https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnline

Along The Watchtower

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Description

A tragic warrior lost in two worlds... Which one will he choose?The war in Iraq ended for Freddie when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once a skilled gamer as well as a capable soldier, he's now a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he's inhabiting two separate realities.The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse—and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic, which Freddie enters when he sleeps. The lines soon blur for Freddie, not just caught between two worlds, but lost within himself.Is he Lieutenant Freddie Williams, a leader of men, a proud officer in the US Army who has suffered such egregious injury and loss? Or is he Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the monstrous Horde, his only solace the beautiful gardener, Rebecca, whose gentle words calm the storms in his soul.In the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission to that of the prince—a journey along a dark road, haunted by demons of guilt and memory. Can he let patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart? It may be his only way back from Hell.

Story Behind The Book

I developed Gundarland, a fantasy land, for my characters to romp around in. The country is populated aby dwarfs, humans, elves, trolls and several other races. They get along with no more than the usual inter-racial hostilities. I've had a lot of fun in Gundarland and I plan to have more fun in the future.

Media Links

Reviews

<h4 align="center" style="font-size:14px;"> This delightful collection of six short stories and two novellas is set in the mythical realm of Gundarland on a planet named Gundar, which, according to Quense, was named after “the omniscient god who accidentally created the universe with an explosive sneeze caused by snorting a larger-than-average dose of His favorite recreational powder.” As you can gather, this work is only for older kids and their insightful parents…</h4> Gunderland itself is populated by such diverse races as “dwarfs, humans, elves, half-pints, yuks and a few lesser races…[that]…live cheek-by-jowl in many cases and get along with no more than the usual interracial hostility”. A few of the tales are under ten pages, while the others vary substantially in length. All of them, however, are side-splittingly funny, and, if you enjoy the writings of Terry Pratchett, you should enjoy these too. Quense’s irreverent take on the world of fantasy is most amusing, I find, when he describes the relationships between fellow characters and between man and beast. Mind you, the characterization of the yuks is also a key source of humor, and reminded me somewhat of the trolls in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Their poor grasp on the English language is most evident in the verbal spats between the yuk brothers, Rolf and Ralf. Quense promises to return to these two characters in other stories, as he likes them too much to ignore them. <h4 align="center">Author Hank Quense has taken characters that we all recognize, put them into character form while having them live on the planet of Gundar. For instance we have Romeo and Juliet. Romeo Montague is a dwarf silver miner. Juliet Capulet is an elf. They met at a ballet class and fell madly in love with each other. But… Juliet’s brothers hate the Montague family and forbid their marriage. Will they end up like Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet? You will find yourself laughing out loud as you find out.</h4> <h4 align="center">These are just a few of the characters Author Hank Quense has brought to life in Tales From Gundarland. As I read each character’s story I couldn’t help but laugh. Martha Cheves</h4> <h4 align="center" style="font-size:15px;">Five stars on Amazon</h4> Tales from The Gunderland is one of those books that could easily become a cult phenomenon. I really enjoyed the humor, which was sort of a cross between Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Monty Python. Each story was unique and self-contained, but still contributed to the “Gunderland Universe” as a whole. My favorite is still Quense’s retake on Romeo and Juliet. But seriously, who wouldn’t love a book with dwarfs, pirates, and aliens? <h4>Hank Quense has created a collection I’d be proud to not only have on my shelf, but would definitely recommend to my friends. Anyone who enjoys off-beat humor should pick up this book. I’m looking forward to seeing more of his work. Five bookmarks, for sure! ~Reviewed by Sherry Ficklin for Mind Fog Reviews</h4> <div> </div> "Tales From Gundarland is a fantasy satire. It could be called “Fractured Legends.” I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading this book. What I discovered was a lot of humor. I was caught up in the numerous short stories. The connecting thread is the planet Gundarland. The stories each reminded me of a traditional story. Quense has managed to re-tell them with more than a bit of satire. Often we take ourselves too seriously; Quense’ sense of humor forces us to laugh. Five out of five stars: <a href="http://readersfavorite.com/cat-71.htm?review=3103" title="Readers Favorite">Readers Favorite</a> The Queen’s Hero turned out to be my favorite in the book. The full story got told in an interesting way. The plotting is intricate enough to catch and hold the reader’s attention, and with enough scope and detail to generate new interest at most every turn. The battle scenes in Part 4 are some of the best I’ve read since “Agincourt” no small feat. This story alone is worth the price of admission. Doc Finch Hank Quense is at it again. He’s sharpened up his satirical pen to let the hot air out of the greedy, the power-hungry, and maybe the rest of us. And therein lies a tale…or several. These action-packed, exciting adventures are laced with humor that will have you snickering, if not falling off your chair laughing. Drawing on traditional fairy-tale themes and a plethora of sources from Shakespeare to modern media, Quense adds his own twist to the familiar stories. What delicious fun. Jan Clark

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