great review for The Horsed Thief

TheBookWenches.com have reviewed the Horsed Thief: A Virtual Tale of Old Basra and  say, in part:

Teel James Glenn’s novella The Horsed Thief takes its reader on a trip into a world of virtual reality gone awry. This brief but action-packed tale combines elements of both science fiction and fantasy to tell two concurrent stories: the misadventures of a thief in first century Persia and the debugging of a virtual reality gaming system. I found this story to be entertaining, unique, and somewhat surprising in the end.

The two worlds of The Horsed Thief – the software development company and life inside the game – merge and diverge throughout the story. Since the character who becomes the thief Asad loses any sense of personal identity outside of the computer program, I found it a bit of a guessing game trying to determine which character in the “real” world translated to which ones in Al-Basrah. Who is real and who has been manufactured by the computer program? When the truth is revealed at the end of the story, I was more surprised that I thought I would be.

One characteristic of Mr. Glenn’s writing that I enjoy very much is the realism he instills into his action sequences. As Asad leaps between rooftops, evades the guards in the palace garden, and battles the troops of the evil Abdul-Azim who are trying to capture and kill him, there is a sense of urgency and danger, and I felt as if I were watching an expertly choreographed movie scene.

Mr. Glenn includes a number of unexpectedly lovely passages in this story. The songs sung by the physically enchanting Fatinah have a rhythm and a rhyme that appealed to me very much, and one character's observation that “cheekbones may change, but smiles are lit by souls” struck the romantic in me as well. Overall, I enjoyed this novella. Mr. Glenn has given us an unusual and well-told story in The Horsed Thief, and I hope that he offers us more such tales in the future.

--Bobby 
(Sensuality Level: 1
Rating: 4.25)

The ebook can be found at fictionwise.com, At the publisher Eternalpress.com and on Amazon.com in paperback for only under five bucks!! What a deal!!!