Book Goggles

Author E.J. Dabel Interview on Journal Jabber!‏

2012-01-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I'm posting an interview that author E.J. Dabel (author of Pantheons, released by Sea Lion Books) did with Journal Jabber. Enjoy!!

On this episode of Journal Jabber, we will be diving into what is sure to be the next big thing. Watch out Percy Jackson, Isaiah is hot on your tail to be the next boy on the block playing with the big boys. But we won't just be talking about the Greek gods - oh no - we have mythology that stretches through all times, all histories.

E.J. Dabel, author of Pantheons, will be here talking about his new book and how he was abe to mix Norse, Greek, Aztec and a plethora of other histories all in one book and make it AMAZING. Be sure to be here as we learn about how many gods and goddesses are really out there and how they all blend together.

Can we fit it all into a one-hour show? Be here to find out!!

Big rescue link!

2012-01-24T04:15:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

Just another post: I did find a link for rescuing other people's books.

Here's the link if you're a librarian. (Click here for ye big olde list.) If you're not a librarian it won't allow you to see it, but it's very easy to become one. Click here to apply!

Why Goodreads is getting rid of Amazon info (PS: They still need your help!)

2012-01-24T03:54:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!

I'm posting again on Goodreads to try to explain more about what I think is going on as well as another plea for people to help out.

What's been going on with this is that from what I can gather, Amazon has been getting more and more restrictive on what Goodreads can do with the information from their site. I've heard that GR is paying Amazon some amount of money (not sure if this is true or not), which would also factor into all of this.

Whatever the restrictions were, they were obviously getting to the point where Goodreads just couldn't deal with it anymore. I have a suspicion that Goodreads listing book availability on several merchant sites rather than just Amazon might have had something to do with it as well. (No basis for this, just common sense that a big merchant site would like to be the only option listed for purchases.)

In any case, there's still thousands of books that are in danger of getting deleted. One of the areas that I've seen is most likely to be in danger are foreign language books. I'm a huge fan of Japanese manga and I've noticed that much of the manga I'd reviewed came up as "rescue me". ESPECIALLY those series that haven't been officially translated into English.

I know that some might be figuring "oh, you can add them afterwards" but aren't realizing how much work it is to add a book that isn't on the system. It's a difference between filling out about 12 fields versus only having to fill out 3-4 at most. (The rescue books do have more fields, but at most you only have to verify 3 fields, one of which is a link to whatever source you're using.) It's just time consuming, plus you have to figure that hundreds of reviews are going to be lost for whatever book you're going to add after the 30th. I hate guilt tripping people, but there's a huge amount of work left to do. (Wish that Goodreads would offer one big list along with the smaller, more user oriented lists!)

EDIT:

I found a blog by Abel Keogh that gives a little more information (click here).

One of the users posted this:

My understanding is that Amazon has changed its terms of service for use of its API (the bit of code that allows third parties to access its database) and have basically forced GR into this new stance – a similar thing has also happened with Barnes and Noble. I guess Amazon has built up intellectual capital in its database construction and it is under no obligation to allow others to mine that data (and it doesn’t much matter where amazon gets its data from as presumably they have an arrangement of their own for that)

I followed a link to this page (here) and it looks like my hunch about the possibility of Amazon wanting to be the only site Goodreads linked to might be spot on.

Under (C) Linking and Diversion

2) You may not link any of the Amazon.com Properties presented on your Web site to (a) any commercial page of a Web site other than the Amazon.com Web site, or (b) direct traffic to any commercial page of a Web site other than the Amazon.com Web site; and

3) You may not utilize the Amazon.com Properties in a way that could divert sales from the Amazon.com Web site, including but not limited to, merchandising products not offered on the Amazon.com Web site.

This does seem to explain a lot. Neither side has mentioned anything, so I do have to stress that all of this is purely hypothetical.

Goodreads rescue!

2012-01-20T21:57:00.000-08:00

Goodreads needs you. No seriously, they do.

The reason being, on January 30th Goodreads will stop getting their data from Amazon. I'm re-posting the message from Goodreads: (click here to go to the original link)

At Goodreads, we make it a priority to use book information from the most reliable and open data sources, because it helps us build the best experience for our members. To that end, we're making a major change.

On January 30, Goodreads will no longer display book information that comes from Amazon.

Amazon's data has been great for us for many years, but the terms that come with it have gotten more and more restrictive, and we were finally forced to come to the conclusion that moving to other datasources will be better for Goodreads and our members in so many ways that we had to do it. It may be a little painful, but our aim is to make it as seamless as possible for all our members. Amazon data that we will stop using includes data such as titles, author names, page counts, and publication dates. For the vast majority of book editions, we are currently importing this data from other sources. Once the imports are done, those few remaining editions for which we haven't found an alternative source of information will be removed from Goodreads.

Member ratings, reviews, and bookshelves are safe, but your data may be moved to a different edition of the book. If we can't find a matching edition, then your review will be attached to a book with no title or author. But the good news is that there's a way you can help.

Today, we are announcing new tools to help Goodreads Librarians source data for the books that need rescuing.

To view these new tools, click here and click "rescue me!" next to any of the books on the list. You will then see a form with data to fill in and some helpful guidelines for where to locate said data.

Early next week, we will be importing a database of 14 million ISBNs from a new source, so many of the books that seem to need rescue today may not actually be in jeopardy. We won't know until we import this new data source. So please don't spend a lot of time rescuing books—we don't want you to do unnecessary work. What we really need is for everyone to try rescuing a few books to see if the tools are working as we hoped. That way, once next week rolls around, we'll be ready to get down to the business or rescuing the books that actually are in jeopardy.

Thanks for helping Goodreads remain the amazing resource and special place it is. Hopefully all of this work will result in an even more robust Goodreads database, a database that, with your help, is already one of the best book databases in the world, and will last the ages. The rescue link: http://www.goodreads.com/rescue_books/at...

What this means for authors is that there's a chance your book might get moved to a page with no name or author on it. The reviews will still be there but the book won't have a title.

Luckily there are things we can all do. If you have a Goodreads account and have a few reviews under your belt, you can become a Goodreads Librarian and help rescue the books. All you have to do is use a physical copy or look the information up on a site that isn't a merchant site. I've been using WorldCat, which is basically a lookup of library sites.

If you don't have a Goodreads account and want to become a librarian, all you need to do is sign up, review 50 books, and then apply to become a librarian. (Click here for a link to the application.)

It only takes minutes to save these books as they are now, but it'll take a lot longer to upload them after the 30th.

EDIT:

Updating this to say that if your books are only on sites such as Amazon or B&N, all you really have to do is verify that you have a physical copy and vouch for the information. I figure that even if the copy is a Kindle version or from a self-published source, it still qualifies. From what I've gathered from the GR post, all that the site really wants is to verify that the information is correct and true.

Book Review: The Unseen by Heather Graham

2012-01-18T01:29:00.000-08:00

Title: The Unseen

Author: Heather Graham

Publisher: Harlequin

Release Date: 03/27/2012

ISBN: 0778313298

I'll give all of the long time Heather Graham fans a warning. The old Graham is probably never going to come back. I'd liken her older books to rich Godiva chocolate: rich and oh-so-sinfully bad for you, whereas her newer books are like Hershey chocolate: good, but not nearly as good as the Godiva was. This is pretty much the case here in this book.

1800s. San Antonio, Texas: In room 207 at the Longhorn Saloon, in the long shadow of the Alamo itself, a woman renowned for her beauty was brutally murdered. Her killer was never found.

One year ago: In that same historic room, another woman vanished without a trace. Her blood was everywhere…but her body was never recovered.

Now: In the last month, San Antonio has become a dumping ground for battered bodies. All young women, all long missing, almost all forgotten. Until now. Texas Ranger Logan Raintree cannot sit by and let his city’s most vulnerable citizens be slain. So when he is approached to lead a brand-new group of elite paranormal investigators working the case, he has no choice but to accept the challenge. And with it, his powerful ability to commune with the dead. Among Logan’s new team is Kelsey O’Brien, a U.S. marshal known for her razor-sharp intuition and a toughness that belies her delicate exterior. Kelsey has been waiting all her life to work with someone who can understand her ability to “see” the past unfolding in the present. Now she has her chance.

Together, Kelsey and Logan follow their instincts to the Alamo and to the newly reopened Longhorn, which once tempted heroes with drink, cards and women. If the spirits of those long-dead Texans are really appearing to the victims before their deaths, only Kelsey and Logan have the skills to find out why. And if something more earthly is menacing the city’s oldest, darkest corners, only they can stop it – before more innocent women join the company of San Antonio’s restless ghosts….

I'll be honest and say that while this wasn't an "oh my gosh, read it until my eyeballs pop out" type of book, it wasn't bad and is an improvement over some of Graham's previous books. (This is far better than Dust to Dust was.) The Unseen is pretty much a continuation of the Krewe of Hunters series, but with a new group of characters since the previous bunch had all been paired off with their love interests. This book brings us a new pairing, a new murder mystery, and a new set of ghosts.

I really wanted to judge this book on its own merit (for good or bad), but some of the similarities between the pairing in this book and the pairing in the first KoH book sort of prevented that. Like our pairing in Phantom Evil, we're given two people in law enforcement, with the male love interest being a Native American. This is generally where the similarities ended, but it's enough to where I kind of felt a little disappointed that Graham didn't shake things up a little more. I'd have loved to have seen a pairing where one of the duo was a brash young thing that shoehorned their way into the investigation, but hopefully we'll get that in another book. The pairing in this book is nice, but didn't really set off an avalanche of steamy sparks. It's sort of just there and secondary to the book's mystery.

The mystery actually wasn't bad. I did enjoy the Texas setting as well as the inclusion of the infamous Alamo. We're given a good start, a tale of a star-crossed Southern belle that fell into a seedy lifestyle and was murdered because of her ill fated decisions and a valuable diamond ring. It's what really brought me into the book and pushed me past the tepid love scenes between Logan and Kelsey. It eventually turned a little predictable, but overall it wasn't half bad. I just wish that the mystery and murders had been played up a little more, with the main characters doing a little more detecting and investigating. Things just sort of progressed from point A to point B and it didn't really seem that our lead characters did anything on their own without a ghost to point the way for them. (Although if I can compare it to the mystery in the first KoH book, the mystery here is way better laid out.) I was still slightly surprised by the whodunit, although I wasn't too far off in my estimation.

Overall this is a good but not great Graham novel. It's something that is absolutely worth a library read, but I'd hesitate to buy this at a hardback price. (If it was paperback then it'd be easier to say "buy it".) Graham has shown some improvement as of late and this book is no exception, but I think this book would have done better if it had just spent a little more time in the stew pot.If you're looking for a whiz-banger of a read, you'll be disappointed, but if you're looking for a decent read to while away a few hours with in front of the fireplace, then this is worth checking out.

2.5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Protest SOPA and PIPA!

2012-01-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I'd like to take this moment to speak out against SOPA and PIPA, two legal actions that threaten the way of life as we know it on the internet. (For more information about them, check out CNET's excellent articles on the subjects here and here.)

Now I know what you're thinking. "What would this mean to me- it's only for people who pirate stuff, right?" WRONG. The fine print on SOPA and PIPA can extend to far more than pirated books, movies, games, and music. The amount of ways that these bills can be abused beyond their original intent are many and they can and will affect you, the average person.

Think about the review blog Book Chick City, one of the biggest review blogs on the internet. Or any review blog, for that matter. It's common practice to post a picture of the book cover and a favorite quote or two from the text. Not the whole book, just pieces and parts of it. Well, under SOPA and PIPA, that site is infringing on the publisher's copyright and that site can be removed. Even if it's clearly something that will help instead of hinder the publisher's sales, that site can be removed.

The same thing goes for youtube videos. Imagine that you're recording a video where you're gushing about the Tim Burton movie, Alice in Wonderland. You're wearing a shirt that has Johnny Depp on it and you happen to show a picture from the trailer. Well, that can be considered copyright infringement as well. It could also be considered copyright infringement to just be wearing the shirt even if you aren't discussing the movie or showing bits of the trailer.

That's not enough? Well, how about Wikipedia? They rely on fair use pictures to enhance their articles, usually posters and the occasional screen grab of a notable scene. Under these policies Wikipedia could have those images stripped from the site and potentially even the plot summaries. This is why Wikipedia along with Google, have blacked out their sites to protest these bills.

Here's where it gets really scary. Parts of the bill pretty much state that they can monitor everything that you do and even block sites that is believed to encourage piracy. Not the term "believed to encourage". They don't need proof, they just need to think that the site encourages piracy in any way. That means that even sites like Amazon, eBay, and Blogger could be put under fire because they think that it encourages piracy. (Amazon and eBay are both sites that try to remove pirated products when it's pointed out to them BTW.) That these bills effectively give the government and goodness knows who else the right to monitor your online movements is pretty scary. All of this smacks of communist China, a country well known for blocking out sites they believe are "bad" for their people or threaten the country in any way.

Like fanfiction? Under SOPA and PIPA your fanfiction site (and fanfiction.net itself) can be removed from the internet entirely since it's seen as "encouraging" piracy. It doesn't matter that you've purchased so much Harry Potter products that you've barely got enough room to move in your house or that you've bought every single Silent Hill game the day it's released. SOPA and PIPA will see your fanfiction site as a dirty and evil site that's going to encourage piracy.

Or how about just googling the internet? If SOPA and PIPA are approved then you'll find that the amount of sites that come up in a search are dramatically decreased. Sites such as youtube, eBay, or even random sites will not come up because the government is putting pressure on the search engines to not display those sites because they "encourage piracy". Yep, these bills will tell us what we can and can't see on our screens. While it might be nice to see fewer "download Harry Potter 6 from divx" hits, it'll also remove sites that legitimately sell the movie or book as well as any other Harry Potter site that the government deems is a site that encourages piracy.

This is an insanely bad move by the government. I won't deny that piracy is a problem, but this is not the answer. Everyone remember learning about Prohibition in school? For those who don't remember or haven't gotten to that point yet, Prohibition is a point in America's history where the government tried to "improve" the country by banning the sale of alcohol because they thought it encouraged evil and wicked behaviors. Rather than improving the country, Prohibition actually helped bring about an obscene amount of bloodshed and violence... and even then alcohol was still freely circulated. Crime rates soared. That's soared, not dropped, which is what we can expect from all of this. This didn't stop until 1933 when people finally saw that their good intentions were bringing more harm than good.

This is what we can expect from SOPA and PIPA, violence and crime. Piracy won't stop, it'll just find new ways to circulate. Effectively censoring the internet will only hurt everyone involved. I also think it'll hurt the wallets of the companies that are clamoring for it as well. I'm not condoning piracy, but many people discover new products through pirated products and many will end up purchasing things because they first saw the pirated version. I'm fully expecting for profits to fall rather than rise, with people never discovering that great new author, movie, or game.

We need to all try to find ways to solve the problem of piracy other than creating Big Brother. I for one think that if prices were potentially lowered, more people would buy things. I know that part of the reason I avoid the movies is because I don't feel like spending $8 on a matinee ticket for a movie I'm not even sure I'll like. (Maybe if the big Hollywood actors would stop demanding millions of dollars, the ticket prices could be lower.)

In any case, I highly recommend that you contact your local representatives about these proposed bills and let them know what you think. Give them ideas for what to do other than censoring and blocking the internet. Ignoring this problem will not make it go away.

For your local representatives, check out Wikipedia. They've blacked out the site and have a form where you can discover your local reps. (Click here.)

Also, I just thought I'd share a gif that The Oatmeal has posted on his site:

Press Release: Patrick Rothfuss's The Adventures of The Princess and Mr. Whiffle

2012-01-15T01:03:00.000-08:00

Dark, macabre, humorous! This isn't your children's faerie tale!

From New York Times bestselling Author of the Kingkiller Chronicles, Patrick Rothfuss, comes the dark picture-book The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed

ATLANTA, GA January 11, 2012 - Sea Lion Books is proud to announce they will be republishing the critically acclaimed Patrick Rothfuss picture-book illustrated by Nate Taylor, THE ADVENTURES OF THE PRINCESS AND MR. WHIFFLE: The Thing Beneath the Bed.

Don't let the sweet cover and sugary title fool you, this is NOT a children's book. From the mad mind of New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss comes a dark tale not for the faint of heart. A story evoking memories of good old-fashioned faerie tales, the main characters are
the cute little girl princess and her outwardly adorable teddy bear, Mr. Whiffle.

The world seems wonderful and good for the duo, except for the monster lurking Beneath the bed.

THE ADVENTURES OF THE PRINCESS AND MR. WHIFFLE is an odd mix of dark classic storytelling, new age terror, and a macabre sense of wicked humor that leave the reader with three possible endings, each one being darker than the last, letting the reader decide how far they dare to go.

The final ending just might keep your teddy bear awake tonight, or at least start a stuffed animal rebellion. The reprint will include original bonus material and a Q&A with author Patrick Rothfuss.

"Sea Lion Books is very excited to be able to republish this amazing story that is destined to be a classic modern faerie tale," said Derek Ruiz, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Sea Lion Books.

THE ADVENTURES OF THE PRINCESS AND MR. WHIFFLE: The Thing Beneath the Bed will be released as a soft cover title in July 2012 and will retail for $14.99, (ISBN 978-0-9836131-5-2)

About The Author:

Patrick Rothfuss had the good fortune to be born in Wisconsin where long winters and lack of cable television brought about a love of reading and writing. Patrick had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, and changed his major to Undeclared despite the fact that he had been in college for over three years. After nine years as an undergraduate, Pat was forced by university policy to finally complete his undergraduate degree.... in English. After two excruciating years of grad school, Pat returned to teach at the University he had grown to love as a student. Pat continues to live in central Wisconsin. He still lacks cable television, and the long winters
force him to stay inside and write. The long winters inspired his NYT bestseller, The Killkinger Chronicles: Name of the Wind, and Wise Man's Fear. You can learn more about Patrick at his website: http://www.patrickrothfuss.com

About Sea Lion Books:

Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Sea Lion Books LLC is a newly established publishing house which specializes in all formats: hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market and in urban fantasy and young adult genres. Sea Lion Books LLC recent roster of authors include: International Bestselling author, Anne Rice, Paulo Coelho, New York Times Bestselling authors, Richelle Mead, Richard A. Knaak, F. Paul Wilson and Becca Fitzpatrick. You can visit Sea Lion Books at www.sealionbooks.com

Copyright 2012, Sea Lion Books. All Rights reserved.

All trademarks and titles are the property of their respective owners. The statements contained within this document are considered "forward-looking statements" and may not reflect upon the actual future performance of Sea Lion Books.

When agents go bad...

2012-01-14T02:49:00.000-08:00

I'm following up yesterday's report of plagiarism with something just as bad: authors and agents trying to manipulate the system in their favor.

Recently a Goodreads reviewer and blogger named Wendy Darling (who puts out some of the best reviews ever, I might add) reviewed the book The Selection by author Kiera Cass. As sometimes happens, she didn't like it and wrote a negative review. She'd had reservations about the book to begin with, but how many of us have picked up a book in a similar situation and ended up adoring it? It makes sense that despite the earlier misgivings, you'd still give the book a try. She didn't finish the review, but finished enough of it to where she knew what her opinion would be in general and reviewed it. Wendy was completely honest about not finishing the book and this was one of the first things she mentioned in her review. (click here for her Goodreads review)

After a while (about 4:30 in the afternoon yesterday) Wendy started receiving anonymous negative comments at her blog entry for The Selection (you can see her blog post here) . They started with the typical "how dare you review a book you didn't finish that I loved?!?!" type of comment and then just spun off into general rudeness. Now any reviewer that's ever posted a critique about a book is aware that eventually you'll get someone who violently disagrees with your review. The response to negative Twilight reviews alone is enough to prove this fact. You generally try to just deal with them and move on. Now I have no way of knowing who posted these comments and I'm not trying to insinuate that it was either Cass or her agent.

However, once in a while you'll find that there's something else going on behind the random comments. In this case it had to do with some comments on Twitter. Yesterday (around 11 am) the following conversation happened between author Kiera Cass and her agent Elena Roth: (click on it to see the bigger picture)

Here you can see Kass and her agent publicly discussing ways to hide Wendy Darling's review. I do have to say that Kass is the nicer of the two and initially, she seemed to just shrug off her agent's anger towards the negative review. The better thing would have been to just not respond to her agent and to respond to her in private, but she did talk to her and it wasn't that bad. If this was all that happened, it'd pretty much be a non-issue.

However, eventually Roth dropped this "cute" little comment: (click here to go to the author's twitter page)

"That bitch at the top is really pissing me off. She complains before reading, then barely reads, then complains. What's her deal?"

This is wildly unprofessional and it's incredibly unwise for her to tweet this in a way that is trackable by the general public. (It was in response to another one of Kass's tweets and as of this blog posting, they're still up on both persons' twitter accounts.) Roth's tweets are currently protected, so I have no way of knowing if her tweets were ever completely unprotected. It's possible that she thought her tweets were completely private, but if watching the recent literary fiascos over the years have taught me anything, it's that nothing is ever completely private when it comes to social platforms. Pseudonyms created to comment on reviews can be discovered, comments sent around to specific people can be sent to the very people you're talking about, and comments you thought nobody would see will be found and read. (To see what I'm talking about, click here to see the CuddleBuggery blog that covers these events.) The fallout from these can often hurt your career and your credibility.

I do want to state that voting positive reviews up by itself is not exactly a negative action, but I think that voting them up just so you can hide a negative review is an attempt to game and manipulate the system. It might not be illegal, but it is (in my opinion) unethical. Discussing this in public is not only foolish, but dangerous for several reasons. The first is that quite obviously, people can find it and report on it, which can hurt the reputation of everyone involved in said discussion. The second is that it can cause readers to lash out in various ways, which could range from posting hostile comments on said reviewer's blog to posting fake reviews. (Not saying that anyone has in this instance, but it's a common thing for fans/friends/family to post fake positive reviews in the hopes of cancelling out any negative reviews.) This might not have been anyone's intent, but people have been harassed in response to authors who publicly complain about specific reviews and I've seen people remove reviews because they just get tired of it.

I'm not posting this because I want anyone to bully the author or the agent. I'm posting this because quite frankly, I don't want people to think that they can pull this sort of thing and not have it mentioned. Cass is a new author and this is the sort of thing that can really hurt her professionally, but she's a newbie. It's possible that she just isn't used to the reality that once you put things out for sale or review, you will get negatively reviewed. Her actions are mostly forgivable, to be honest. No, what made me angry is the reactions by her agent. Roth is someone who is supposed to be a professional and should know better than to post things like this to her author's twitter page. (Seriously, EMAIL. There's still a chance you could email it to the wrong person by mistake, but that chance is very slim.) She's the one who behaved incredibly badly in this instance, from calling Wendy names to reaching out to her various other clients to ask them to vote up positive reviews. They rely on her to get them jobs, so they might be afraid that if they deny her, she'll keep from getting them a good job. (Not saying she would, but if the person who helped promote my work asked me to do something, this would be the thought that went through my head regardless of how they asked.)

In any case, here's your daily dose of what not to do if you're an author or an agent. Just to be clear, here's what you shouldn't do: (Cass and Roth didn't do all of these, but they're just rules in general to follow)

1) Don't respond to negative reviews. Just ignore them. If you think that they're done in bad spirit, responding to them in any format is not the way to go. If they really were done in an attempt to be mean or to troll (Wendy's review was absolutely not written for these reasons), they'll want you to respond because that's what they want. The best way to respond to trolls or "meanies" is to ignore them and not respond.

2) If you do need to vent, don't do it publicly and don't publicly discuss ways to lower the review in your rankings or even ways to get it removed. If you plan on harassing the reviewer ala Deborah Anne MacGilveray, don't announce it publicly. (Although it should be said that you shouldn't harass anyone at all!)

3) Get used to the fact that you'll get negative responses to your work. Even the books considered to be the world's greatest classics have people that don't like them, so you will absolutely have people who don't like your work. Some of them will state their opinions in ways you don't like. Get used to it.

4) Don't hold campaigns to get the reviews negatively responded to via downreps on Amazon, post responses to the review to encourage them to remove or change it, or do anything to get the review removed. People can pick up on organized campaigns and nowadays people always suspect that stuff like this originated on the author's own forums. Even if it didn't, the bad actions of the fans can give the author a bad image. There are people who refuse to read Twilight because of the bad attitude they've seen from some of the Twihards, and that's an aspect of the fandom that Meyers does not endorse.

Just remember- the stuff you do today could end up as the blog topic for various blogs in the future, so if you're an author you need to tread carefully. Us reviewers aren't getting paid for our work, but you are and your actions can be seen as shooting yourself in your foot.

UPDATE:

Kierra Cass has apologized to Wendy Darling for attempting to vote reviews up to hide hers and I'm going to hope that she's also apologized for her agent's appalling behavior.

Kierra hon, if you read this then let me give you a tip: get a new agent. Her job is to sell you to people, part of which involves public relations. This is not good public relations and she should have known that publicly complaining to you, a new author, is not a wise decision to make. You might not have known better, but she should have known and that she didn't stop to think about any potential fallout should make you stop and worry about what other mistakes she might make or could make. This is the woman who is supposed to promote you to publishers and she's making moves like this, that can and will hurt your public image? What if she did something like this about your publisher and they caught wind of it?

Get a new agent. She might have been the one who started all of it and made the nastiest remarks, but you're the one who gets mud on their face. Roth gets to duck out of the spotlight and you have to sit there and be the focus of all of this. A person with these types of habits will only be a hazard to your writing career because you don't know when she'll stick her foot in her mouth or do something foolish and you'll end up suffering for it.

UPDATE #2:

I just got sent to Roth's twitter page (which isn't locked, as I thought- click here to go there) and this tweet just proves my point about Cass needing to get a new agent:

"Oh, I said something mean about someone else saying something mean, and now the world of unpublished writers is mad at me."

That's the type of thing I'm talking about. This is the type of unprofessional behavior that will hurt the authors they're supposed to be representing. Contrary to Roth's perception of things, not everyone is an unpublished writer wanting to take swings at the people who "made it". No, some of us are just average readers who take time out of our daily life to review the things we read. Review for free, I might add. Very few of us get paid money for what we do and even the more popular book bloggers out there have to keep a day job to pay for the daily necessities like rent and food. We generally don't like it when agents get angry at someone for not liking their author and we like it even less when they call them names and fail to see why it's such a big deal.

It's a big deal because THIS HURTS YOUR AUTHOR'S REPUTATION WORSE THAN ONE SINGLE NEGATIVE REVIEW WOULD. Sorry for shouting, but I just want to get this across in the vain hope that Cass or Roth would read this. At the very least I hope that this is something that future mainstream authors will read and remember. A bad reputation lasts longer than you'd like and with the hundreds upon thousands of talented people ready to take your place when you fall, well... let's just say that today (especially if you're a new author) it's easy to get replaced by a newer author.

If this is her trying to help her client out, then Cass needs to watch out. All of her literary deals and contracts are done through Roth and this level of unprofessional behavior could keep her from getting a better deal. Publishers don't like bad publicity and they might use this as a way to pay an author less or worse, not pick up a second series from them because they don't want the liability that your agent might do something like this again and alienate readers, thus lowering your sales.

I'm going to close this with a great quote from Wendy Darling:

Bad reviews don't always stop people from buying books. Bad behavior often does.

Plagiarism on Amazon? Say it isn't so!

2012-01-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

Amazon has never been a stranger to controversy or criticism. Whether it's the conditions of warehouse workers or the selling of a controversial book aimed towards pedophiles, odds are you've heard Amazon's name used in an unflattering news story.

Well, get ready for one of their newest situations: erotica plagiarism. Yep, plagiarism. It's one of the worst sins you can commit in publishing and according to some news sources, it's rampant. (Click here for one such news article.)

It was recently discovered that self-published "authors" such as Maria Cruz have been stealing stories from sites such as Literotica and passing it off as their own work. Cruz also plagiarized Bram Stoker's Dracula, a pretty gutsy move when you figure that it's a book that much of the literary world is at least passingly familiar with.

It's not only Literotica and Bram Stoker getting ripped off either. Another "author" named Jazmyne DeLyte (see her Amazon profile here) took the text of Victorian era novel Romance of Lust (written between the years 1873–1876), retitled it A Classic Victorian Erotic Novel, and never once stated that it was actually a public domain novel, choosing instead to pass it off as her own work. While it's not illegal to plagiarize public domain novels (see an explanation here), it is extremely unethical and is something that will eventually come back to bite you in the rump later on if/when you choose to try to publish something you actually wrote. Imagine trying to explain to your agent why you chose to misrepresent yourself and lie about things you actually wrote, especially after they (or a potential publisher) discovered the ruse! The old saying "you'll never work in this town (or at least in this publishing company) again" would probably apply. I don't have a problem with people selling copies of public domain works, just a problem with people trying to pass it off as something they wrote themselves. And yes, "forgetting" to state that you didn't write the book or "accidentally" submitting it incorrectly is plagiarism.

When the writing falls into a public site such as Literotica, the copyright is rather a tricky subject. What if the book was written anonymously or under a screen name? The author would have to find a way to prove that he or she was the actual writer of the tale. Then you come to another tricky subject: where you live. Some countries give you automatic copyrights under the Berne Convention, some don't. If you do live in one of these countries you will have some protection. If you don't, then it's all up to whether or not you applied to have your work copyrighted. WIPO says that you have the copyright to something the moment you finished writing it, but it can get tricky in the countries that don't follow the Berne Convention. So in other words, if it went to court it'd be a tricky thing to prove. Not impossible, but so difficult that many wouldn't have the money or time to invest in a lawsuit.

So what can we do about people like this? We do what we can. We comment in their book forums, stating that the book is plagiarized and state the source. We make a point to never purchase their books, not even the ones they actually wrote. (How could you ever know if they weren't ripping off someone else's work?) We tell our friends about it, especially those who are likely to purchase that person's work. Word of mouth can do a lot. And most importantly, we alert the website about the plagiarism. Again, it's not illegal to plagiarize a public domain works but many websites would rather remove the offending work than to keep them available for sale. It gives them a bad image, which is bad for business.

If you're curious, there's a whole thread about this over on Amazon. This is a really good example of how spreading the word about plagiarists can help get their books removed, as this thread was responsible for many of the plagiarized Literotica books getting removed from Amazon. (See the thread here.)

I'm honestly pretty disgusted by this. In my opinion plagiarism is no better than being a pickpocket. In the end you're still stealing something that belongs to someone else, even if it is in the public domain. These authors have to remember that they should treat other people's works the same way they want theirs to be treated: with respect, and passing off someone else work as your own shows a serious lack of respect for not only yourself, but also your readers and literature in general.

What I love about today's young adult fiction

2012-01-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

Just a little while ago I was thinking about how much young adult fiction has changed. What used to be a tiny niche best known for its dramatic or bubblegum portrayals of teen life has now blossomed into a genre where you can find something for just about any reading preference you like.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, reading things like Sweet Valley High and Fear Street. While I absolutely adored these types of books, I always got a little irritated with the characters. They were always so... sanitized. Unless it was a "I'm bad but now I'm seeing the error of my ways" type of book, the heroine (and most of these books always had a female as the main character) was someone who played by the rules, a good old fashioned "All American" girl that publishers apparently expected was the norm. Even the more free-spirited characters such as Jessica Wakefield found themselves eventually toeing the line after their latest crisis. After a while I just felt like the books were kind of dumbed down, like it was assumed that teens couldn't handle a more realistic character. The villains weren't much better. The bad girls and guys of the books either turned over a new leaf or "got their just desserts" by the end of the book.

The only books I would find that somewhat talked about real issues were the dramas and even then most of them had a patina of surrealism attached to them, to the point where you just couldn't fully see them as normal everyday people. There are of course exceptions to this, such as the wonderful Go Ask Alice, which dealt with a drug addicted teen. Unfortunately the majority of what was offered during the late 80s and early 90s was the "cleaner" stuff. (Or at least that's what my school and local libraries would mostly offer.)

Then there's the issue with what gender the books were written for. My male friends almost always had to shop in the general fiction sections for their books because well, there weren't many books that were out there for teen guys. There were things offered in the children's section, but after that you were pretty much limited to stuff like Redwall. I know that my friends and I usually ended up spending more time in the adult sections than we did in the teen and children's sections of our local libraries and bookstores.

This leads me to what I love about today's young adult fiction. Not only is it written in a more realistic and non-dumbed down fashion, but the characters are flawed. Wonderfully, beautifully flawed. There's always going to be the sanitized characters, but you can also see heroines who aren't always the prettiest girl in school (or described as the type of plain where it's pretty obvious that they're practically a Neutrogena skin model). They have bad habits and aren't the almost-Sues of earlier YA fiction. Oh and then there's the bad girls... It's wonderful to be able to pick up a book where the mean girls are actually mean and occasionally go without any huge repercussions. The heroine might get one over on the mean girl, but you know that in the end the antagonist will probably keep on trucking, but probably not bother our main character.

I was also overjoyed to see books aimed more towards guys. You have Christopher Paolini's Eragon, the James Patterson series (which are all gender-neutral), and a host of other books that guys can feel free to read without worrying that they're too "babyish". You'll always get teen boys and girls shopping in the adult section, but now the teen section is getting more love too!

In any case, I couldn't help but wonder if some of these authors grew up in the same time period that I did and experienced these things for themselves, choosing to write their books this way because they knew what this is what they'd have wanted as a teen. No matter what their reasoning, I'm glad for the changes.

Book Review: Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

2012-01-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

Title: Friends With Boys
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Publisher: First Second
Release date: 02/28/2012
ISBN: 1596435569

I have to admit that I'm a big fan of indie comics in general. Hopeless-Savages, Koko be Good, and Blue Monday... I love them all. Friends With Boys can now be added to this list. I literally sat and devoured this in one night, flipping back to scenes and images that I particularly loved, especially Maggie's interactions with her family.

A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist! Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older brothers, it’s time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friend—one who isn’t one of her brothers. Funny, surprising, and tender, Friends with Boys is a pitch perfect YA graphic novel full of spooky supernatural fun.

One of the best things about this comic was that the main character isn't some picture-perfect character with flawless skin and great hair. (You know the ones I'm talking about- the characters who are supposed to be outcasts but look like models instead.) Maggie does have good skin, but most importantly she isn't perfect. She has hair that sticks straight up and a huge nose, which I found refreshing. It makes her that much easier to instantly relate to as an average person. I also loved Maggie's expressions throughout the book. She's a very expressive character and it shows through her facial features. Another thing that I loved about the artwork is that it reminds me of so many different artists without actually copying their style. Hicks might have potentially been inspired by them, but her artwork style is all her own. (Especially reminds me of Koko be Good and Blue Monday.)

The story line here is pretty interesting, although I'd like to warn people that the ghost part of the story is never fully explored. I'm not sure if that means there will be another volume, but if you're hoping for a big ghost story then you'll be disappointed. She (the ghost) does factor into the story, but not as the main grab. No, the biggest and most basic focus of the story is Maggie growing up and adapting to life outside of her comfort zone. Hicks does a good job of showing this off, from Maggie's awkward first day to her attempts to deal with some of the more major issues of her life.

This is only a brief glimpse into Maggie's world and I hope that this won't be the last I see of her, but this does work as a stand alone book for the most part. People wanting a definitive ending will undoubtedly get frustrated at it and I won't entirely blame them. This doesn't have the clear cut ending that I normally want my stories to have, but it's satisfying enough that I won't begrudge it. I loved this manga and I would love to see more like it, if not more of Maggie herself.

If you're curious, Friends With Boys is also available online as a webcomic at the author's website. (Click here to go to the site.)

5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Amazon Vine)

Contest Winner!

2012-01-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the late wait for the winner, but I'm pleased to say that the winner is (drumroll)

Miss Delirious!

Congratulations! I'll pass your contact info to Artist Arthur so the two of you can work out sending you your prize!

Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to you all!

Book Review: A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison

2011-12-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

Title: A Perfect Blood (Hollows #10)
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: 02/21/2012
ISBN: 0061957895

It's coming down to the wire now, folks. After this book there's only 2 more books left to the series, with the potential of a bonus book afterwards. I ended up getting this through eBay and I have to say, it was money well spent. Harrison is worth spending money on.

Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth — a would-be creator is determined to make his (or her) own demons. But it can’t be done without Rachel’s blood.

As a bounty hunter, Rachel has battled vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more. But humanity itself might be her toughest challenge.

Things are heating up in this book and I mean that in multiple ways. First off, the tensions between the Inderlanders and certain factions of humanity are heating up. There's always been a portion of humanity that hated the Inderlanders and wanted them wiped off the face of the earth, so it's no surprise that Harrison would eventually revisit this idea. What's being done in this book is actually pretty chilling, and HAPA (Humans Against Paranormals Association) is a pretty lethal force here. I've never wanted to reach through a book and slug someone as much as I did in this book.

Secondly, things are heating up between Trent and Rachel. I know that none of us forgot the kiss from Pale Demon, and neither has Rachel. Her hormones are kicking in big time, but I'll warn you: there's not a lot of progress on this front in either direction, but then any progress is good progress. I have a feeling that whatever might ultimately come out of this relationship, it'll probably happen in book 12 and not a page sooner. There is some friendship brewing here, which is good since Rach needs someone who can keep up with her and understand where she's coming from. But regardless of whether or not they end up in a relationship, the tension between the two is so palpable that I'm beginning to think that they'll have to end up in bed together just to relieve it and get it over with. However, there's also the introduction of another potential interest in this book, although I'm not sure what chances he'll have against the Rachel/Trent combo. (Then again, I'm a fangirl of Rachel and Trent, so I tend to think this way about any other guy that comes into her life.)

There's a definite feel of loose ends beginning to get tied up and it's a good feeling. Harrison might have had a bit of a slump mid-series, but this is the Hollows that I fell in love with early on in the series and couldn't get enough of. It's good enough to make me want to re-read the series and is a worthy successor to Pale Demon. Oh, and the minor characters in this book rock. Hard. We finally see Rachel get her pack tattoo (a mild spoiler, but one we all knew was coming) and her tattoo artist is interesting enough to get a spinoff book of her own. (A tattoo artist that works on Inderlanders and humans? There's some material for you right there!)

And before anyone asks, yes Al is in this book. And of course he's awesome. Al is always awesome, even when you want to punt kick him across the room. His interactions with Rachel- and especially his last actions of the book- make me wonder where Harrison is going to go with his character next. There's a lot of potential here for him to be bad in the future, all with incredibly interesting results. I honestly can't wait for the next book to come out so I can see what'll happen next.

If you loved the last book, you'll really love this one. It's a fun ride and I had a blast reading this book.

5 out of 5 stars

Sony Reader WiFi: Want!

2011-12-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to postpone my e-reader's inevitable demise, mostly because I'm a Sony fangirl but also because I'm not really head over heels for any of the other competition out there. Either it doesn't have a memory slot (something that probably isn't necessary but a feature I enjoy), it's backlit (hurts my eyes), and/or it's so expensive that I just can't bring myself to really get it (looking at you, iPad).

So in any case, I just discovered the newest Sony reader: the Sony Reader WiFi.

As you can see in the picture, it's a touch screen. I'm not entirely fond of touch screens (mostly because of fingerprints), but it is a pretty nice looking device. It also has a micro SD slot and you don't even have to rip off the back of the unit to insert it like you do in the Nook readers! It's also WiFi, which means that I'd be able to download books from the Sony storefront AND go through their library service, which seems like it'd make it way easier to get books from the library. (It looks to be a storefront for libraries, for lack of a better definition.) It seems like right now Sony has the easiest way to get library books, so if you know that you'll be doing a lot of e-reading through libraries, this is definitely an e-reader to check out.

Engadget has a really great and in-depth review (click here to see it) that has a ton of pictures, and it looks like the size of this unit is comparable to both the Kobos reader as well as to one of the Kindles. That's where I read about the library feature as well as a feature where you can draw/scribble/write/doodle in your e-reader.

What's really great about this is that I noticed that the price point is only $99. This makes it more expensive than the Kindle with ads, but close enough to where the leap up wouldn't be that much of a hardship- ESPECIALLY with the easy library option. I know that people have said that the ads aren't that intrusive on the Kindle, but I have a pretty big problem with spending $80+ on an e-reader that contains ads (there's more than one model with this feature). If I'm going to have ads popping up for as long as I own the product, shouldn't the selling price be lower? After all, Amazon is going to be making some major moolah from selling the ad space to various companies, especially when considering that even after they make $80 from your sale they'll be continuously getting new offers from companies interested in advertising on your reader. (A multi-million dollar advertising feature at the very least should make the most basic reader $50 to make it really worthwhile.)

I have to say, I'm leaning towards staying with Sony after reading about this. I was a bit worried that Sony was being too much of a stick in the mud about e-readers and not being competitive enough, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Charlaine Harris shows her grace while Entertainment Weekly shows poor taste

2011-12-27T00:12:00.001-08:00

I'll admit that I don't really read Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series anymore. It's one of those series that I've drifted away from somewhere along the line and just didn't have the time or desire to pick back up again, although there is still an interest.

I remember hearing some disappointment over Charlaine Harris' latest book in the Sookie series, Dead Reckoning, but there was still enough buzz to where the book was relatively well received by a decent amount of fans and critics.

Recently Entertainment Weekly listed Dead Reckoning as one of the worst books of 2011, which to be honest I found in poor taste. Even Harris herself admits that the book wasn't her best, but she says that she had read worse this year.

I just found EW's post to be in poor taste because if they'd done any sort of research, they'd realize that Harris suffered a great loss during the writing of this book. Her mother had been suffering from a long illness and had passed away while Harris was working on the book, which had to have taken a huge toll on her. While this doesn't completely excuse the book (since it was published, after all), I would have thought that EW would have looked into Harris enough to see that there were external influences on her life beyond her control and quietly chose another author to lambast as the "worst of". It might not have made DR any better, but I think that it deserved better than this.

One of the Sookie/True Blood fansites has a picture of the EW article, which lists Harris' book among people such as the Kardashians and Snooki. I just have to say that most of the justification behind this nomination seems to be that people were disappointed with the book and underwhelmed, not that it was exceptionally bad. I've read the Snooki book and I can't imagine Harris writing anything as bad as A Shore Thing.

In true Southern grace, Harris took to her own blog to write about her opinions about the matter. She does admit frustration, but vows that she will work harder to put out better quality work. This is pretty much the epitome of a trooper in my opinion and makes me respect her that much more.

All I can say for Entertainment Weekly is that with so many other famous authors releasing books that have been sub-par (where's Laurell K Hamilton's vote for "worst of" for any of her previous or current books?), it's pretty poor form to choose a book that was written during the death of a loved one. Shame on you.

Book Review: Mesmerize by Artist Arthur

2011-12-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Title: Mesmerize (Mystyx #4)
Author: Artist Arthur
Publisher: Kimani Tru (Harlequin)
ISBN: 0373534647
Release Date: 01/24/2012

Things come to a head in this book for our little Mystyx gang, but I'll warn you: there is still more to come in this series. I'll try to keep the spoilers in this review to a minimum, but some of the stuff that happens here is pretty big.

You can’t move forward until you deal with the past…

Starting over is nothing new to diplomat’s daughter Lindsey Yi. She’s grown up changing schools the way other girls change clothes. Still, moving to Lincoln, Connecticut, is different. Although she’s still reeling from the loss of her parents in an accident, Lindsey is finally in a place that feels like home. Because here, Lindsey’s ability to read other people’s thoughts doesn’t make her weird. It makes her one of the Mystyx.

When Dylan Murphy—hot, popular and a senior—starts to notice her, things get serious, fast. But even as she’s figuring out how she really feels, the Mystyx realize that they’re not the only supernaturals in town. There are other gifted teens who have different motives. And they are hoping to get close enough to the Mystyx to convert them—and the world—to Darkness…

First off, I'll warn people that you might be surprised at some of the events in this book. We do get to see a whole new side of Lindsey, but it comes at a very serious cost for our main characters. I have to admit that I was pretty sad to see certain things in the book happen, but all things considered it made sense that things like this would potentially happen- especially considering all of the pain and loss that everyone has had to go through earlier in the series.

There's a big confrontation in this book and initially I thought that this might have been the end of the series, although there is still another book and enough here is left open to where the series can go into an entirely new direction. I'm kind of digging the way it ended, to be honest. I think it'd be more interesting to see how these new story lines develop.

The only big problem I had with this book is that at times the action scenes felt like they went by a little too quickly. This does help give me the feeling that things are happening fast and furious, but I just wanted a little more detail and explanation in a few places. It just needed a little more time spent on these elements.

Overall this was a good read and one I'd recommend to fans of the series thus far. It's good to get a deeper glimpse into Lindsay's life, although I wish the actions scenes were a little more drawn out. (Especially the final battle of the book.) It's not my absolute favorite of the series, but the last few paragraphs has got me pretty excited for what might happen in the next entry.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

-----------------------------

Just to let you guys know, you still have plenty of time to win a copy of this book through the contest I'm hosting! This is something that I would recommend as a read, especially a signed copy!

Book Excerpt: Mesmerize by Artist Arthur

2011-12-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I'm excited to be able to let you have a sneak peek at the next book in the awesome Mystyx series by Artist Author! I'm in the process of reading it inbetween study sessions for finals and let me just tell you, it's pretty cool. I've always been curious about Lindsey and have been waiting for her book for a good long time. I'd say more about the book but I don't want to spoil it for you, so on with the excerpt!

Oh, and by the way... there's an extra bit of awesomeness going on here. Not only do you get to have a sneak peek at the book, but you also get a chance to win a signed copy of the book! Is this an excellent Christmas gift or what?

This contest will run until December the 30th!

Mesmerize

Excerpt

The last time I was out here the moon was huge and it was blue or it had a bluish tint. There was something in the air that night, something I’d never felt before. Until now.

There’s no breeze but the air around chills all of a sudden, so much so that when I breathe out my mouth frost smoke billows in front of me. My arms instantly prickle with chill bumps and I lift my hands to rub them. I keep walking with no real destination in mind. Actually, there is a destination—towards this feeling.

It’s a deep longing, like something inside me reaching out for whatever is out there. Through the taller grass and patch sand/dirt mixture I keep walking. The feeling’s stronger now, my breath pants with the effort of containing it because I’m not walking fast at all. My gaze stays in front of me even though it’s really hard to see anything it’s so dark out here. Dank air filters through my nostrils as I press against memories that threaten to distract me.

The wind stirs and whips my hair around my face. Usually this would bother me, the many wisps itching my fair skin. Tonight, I don’t mind. Nothing can break my stride, nothing can stop this longing ache that seems to be headed towards its sweet relief. My chest rises and falls, up, down, up, down, steady breaths producing a steady heartbeat that grows louder and louder as I get closer.

Above the tall branches of trees bend and whine in protest to the wind’s powerful pull. I step right into the forest without a care what may be beyond the perimeter. It’s even darker here and something scratches my cheeks, bare arms and stabs into my feet. But I keep going.

I can’t stop. It’s calling me, pulling me, needing me.

A great gust of wind howls in my ears just before knocking me flat on my face. Twigs dig into my face and the palms of my hand as I scramble to get up. It’s relentless, this wind that’s whipping so strong around me until I feel like I’m inside a funnel cloud. The only difference is I’m not being sucked up, but pressed further into the earth. I cough out a breath trying to breathe. It feels like something’s standing on my back, pressing me down, down, down. My nails dig into the round snapping twigs, scraping against hardened dirt and I open my mouth to yell but no sound comes out.

Now I think I should be afraid, I should be ready to get up and run as fast as I can from whatever is going on deep in this forest. But the longing’s still there, the feeling that something wants me here, that I belong here is even stronger, like a huge lump in my throat pressing its way down. Trees are breaking, falling to the ground with a loud rumble. The ground shakes with an angry burp and I struggle once again to stand. It’s a futile effort, I’m just not strong enough to fight against this wind. At least I think if I could just stand, to actually hold my head up and see what’s going on, maybe I could get away. All I can manage is to turn my head but that motion earns the stark pain of something cutting across my face. Tears burn my eyes as helplessness takes over and tiny edges of panic outline my mind. I’m going to die here in the middle of the forest, wearing only my NY Yankees night shirt.

Want to know what happens to Lindsey next? Reply to this post and be registered to win a signed copy of Mesmerize.

-----------

If you haven't read it already, make sure to check out Mutiny, a novella set between books 2 and 3 of the series. It's set from Franklin's POV, so definitely make sure to check it out. It's definitely worth reading and best of all... it's free! Just download a copy via Amazon ,Barnes & Nobles, or from the Harlequin ebook store!

For more information about Artist Arthur or any of the books in the Mystyx series, check out the official website!

Book Review: The Lost Goddess by Tom Knox

2011-12-08T01:50:00.001-08:00

Title: The Lost Goddess

Author: Tom Knox

Publisher: Penguin USA

Release Date: 01/19/2012

ISBN: 0670023183

If you're looking at this book and expecting a read along the lines of Dan Brown or James Rollins, look elsewhere. While Knox does try to expand on the wildly popular idea of the anthropological thriller, he fails to deliver the compulsive read his fellow authors have managed to bring to the table.

In the silent caves beneath France, young archaeologist Julia Kerrigan unearths an ancient skull-with a hole bored through the forehead. After she reveals her discovery, her mentor is brutally murdered. Deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, photographer Jake Thurby is offered a mysterious assignment by a beautiful Cambodian lawyer who is investigating finds at the two-thousand-year-old Plain of Jars-finds that shadowy forces want kept secret.

From the temples of Angkor Wat and the wild streets of Bangkok to the prehistoric caves in Western Europe, what links Jake's and Julia's discoveries is a strange, demonic woman whose unquenchable thirst for vengeance-and the horrors she seeks to avenge- are truly shocking.

Now I do have to give credit where it's due. Rather than attempt to bring out the same ideas that have already been well trod, Knox manages to find a historical mystery that nobody seems to have written about yet: the Hands of Gargas and the Plain of Jars, two fascinating anthropological and social finds that are woefully underused in the world of fiction. In this aspect, Knox did a good job since these are things that would make for a good anthropological/sociological thriller.

However, where Knox flounders is in his penchant for overstating to the point of tedium. We're given themes, histories, and info dumps, which I admit are unavoidable in any book, but we're browbeaten by these elements until we're rolling our eyes at the occasionally overly dramatic and unnecessary prose. A good example would be how Knox uses the horrific atrocities that the Khmer Rouge made against the people of Cambodia. These elements are stated time and time again, occasionally at the expense of character development. We're told how communism is bad and how horrible the Khmer Rouge was, meanwhile the main characters seem to be little more than a platform for these views. While these viewpoints are valid, they just kept me from getting as invested in the characters as I'd wanted to be. That the plot jumps between different groups of characters doesn't help out either.

Then there's the ending. I won't elaborate, but I'll just say that the message in the end will be controversial to some readers. If it wasn't as subtle as Gallagher smashing a watermelon, Knox could have gotten away with it to where I don't believe anyone would have complained. Sometimes less is more and a briefer revelation with less exclamation would have driven the point in more than pages of exposition. It just diluted everything and made it more overzealous and annoying than thought provoking, making the ending (and the book in general) more of a chore to read than a joy.

Now, it isn't all bad. There are some good scenes in here and the general idea of the book is pretty darn intriguing. If Knox could have gone back and eased up on the overstating of ideas and focused more on the character development, this would have been an amazing read. It could have had at least 40-60 pages shaved off to make a tighter narrative. It's just that the book failed to deliver on its promise and while it might make for an OK library read, Knox still has a long way to go before he gets to Douglass and Preston levels.

1.7 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Honey Badger Don't Care by Randall

2011-12-02T03:40:00.000-08:00

Title: Honey Badger Don't Care

Author: Randall

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: 01/24/2012

ISBN: 1449419658

Honey badger might not care that it's become an internet sensation and now a must-read book, but you absolutely will! I had pretty high hopes for this book and I have to say, it didn't disappoint. If you aren't aware of the youtube video "Nastyass Honey Badger", then I'm going to include the video for your viewing pleasure. Be aware, there is adult language in this video.

If you've seen the video, you know what to expect. If not, then I'll clue you into the awesomeness that this book contains. While you probably won't hear Randall narrating his own show on Animal Planet anytime soon (although we can hope), this book is full of wonderful humor and great insights on animal life. Frankly put, this is a book about animals that's written for those of us who aren't into the long Latin names or dry paragraphs about animal habits. Randall condenses all of these facts into a few pages per animal and it's incredibly fun. If I wasn't won over by the honey badger entry at the beginning of the book, I was won over by the hilarity in the following ones.

I do have to warn parents that they'll probably want to read through this to go over the language and some of the phrases in the book. (One entry suggests that Don Knotts had erm, illicit relations with a bat, but in a non-malicious way.) It's all in good fun and none of it is malicious, but this won't be appropriate for some younger readers.

This was just awesome to read and would make for an excellent late-late Christmas gift. (Or a late Boxing Day gift. Or a Valentine's gift.)

5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: The Pumpkin Man by John Everson

2011-10-23T03:32:00.000-07:00

Title: The Pumpkin Man

Author: John Everson

Publisher: DP

Release Date: 09/15/2011

ISBN: 1428512128

If you're familiar with the pulp horror books of the 80s and 90s, you'll be well prepared for this book. If you're not, then the best I can equate them to are the equally campy-yet-fun movies of that era. (Think 976-EVIL style camp.)

After her father’s gruesome murder, Jenn needed a place to get away from it all with some friends, to take her mind off her grief. The empty seaside cottage she inherited seemed perfect. Jenn didn’t know that the cottage held arcane secrets, mysteries long hidden and best left alone. She didn’t realize until it was too late that the old books and Ouija board she found there really do hold great power. And it was only after her friend’s headless body was discovered that she knew the legend of the local bogeyman was no mere legend at all. An evil has been unleashed, a terrifying figure previously only spoken of in whispers. But now the whispers will become screams. Beware…THE PUMPKIN MAN

As someone who cut her horror lit teeth on various pulps carried by the local libraries, I was pretty excited to dive into this book. The premise of this takes me back to an era where horror didn't have to be slick and put huge new spins on everything, it just had to entertain. Everson manages to capture the feeling and general intent of these books for the most part.

The story's beginning was pretty strong and managed to keep my interest. I'll admit that the characters are woefully underdeveloped but I wasn't really expecting a lot of depth here, so that's OK. There's a lot of great shock and titillation scenes that made up for this.

Where the book stumbled was in the last half of the book where things just seem to fall apart. Everson tries to shift the plot somewhat and as a result it just loses some of the momentum that made the earlier part of the book so much fun. We're given revelations and introductions that just seem a little out of left field. I can't help but think that if we were introduced to these specific characters earlier, the plot twists they brought about would have been a little more gasp-worthy and held the plot together better.

Overall this isn't a bad read and I'd heavily recommend it to fans of camp horror. It's the book equivalent of watching a horror movie along the lines of Night of the Demons, so it's perfect for the Halloween season. As long as you don't expect too much from it you'll enjoy the ride. I just wish that it'd been a little more polished than it ended up being. Either way, I'm going to check out some of Everson's other works.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Comic Preview: House of Night #1

2011-10-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

Title: House of Night #1

Author: P.C. Cast

Artist: Joëlle Jones,Karl Kerschl

Publisher: Dark Horse

Release Date: 11/9/2011

(Note: This review only covers a 6 page preview of the comic.)

Until recently, Zoey Redbird was an average high-school student worrying about grades, boys, and breakouts. But priorities have a way of changing when you are marked as a

vampyre, enroll in the vampyre academy House of Night, and have to figure out a whole new social hierarchy, affinities for elementa

l magic, and physiological changes that make you crave blood.

I wish I could recommend this higher, but I have to say that this preview left me lukewarm. The entire comic just seemed to be a jumbled mess and I can't quite say if this is because I only got a brief preview of the book or if it's because the comic itself is just lacking the addictive quality that the series holds.

First off, I'm highly disappointed with the artwork. When I first looked this series up via Netgalley there was this absolutely gorgeous cover artwork that had me drooling over the prospect of reading this preview. It didn't hurt that the other covers I found were equally awesome. With covers like these, the artwork inside has got to be pretty cool, right? Unfortunately that assumption was sort of wrong. The artwork as a whole is nice but occasionally there's things that just looked really off putting, such as the bodily proportions of some of the characters. As an example I've included the picture of Zoey and Aphrodite. Zoey has this weird popsicle stick body and this huge head that looks like it's threatening to fall right off her shoulders. It really draws you out of the story, putting it mildly. This is just really jarring to see when the artwork is otherwise nicely done.

Story-wise it's ok. Not great, but not awful either. I'll admit that it's been a while since I've picked up the books but I remember most of what went on and this just sort of confused me since I thought it was supposed to be the start of the series. I got the impression (since none of this was in the books) that this is supposed to be a side-story, but it's going to be a little hard for newbies to pick up and read without having previous read the books.

If you're curious, Dark Horse has a 10 page preview up on their website (click here) to peruse. I'm not going to completely dismiss this comic since it has the starts of something good, but some fans will probably want to wait for the inevitable volume collection to hit their library or bookstore shelves.

2.5 out of 5 stars

(Preview provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

2011-10-18T02:58:00.001-07:00

Title: The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Inc
Release Date: 0802126022
ISBN: 0802126022

I'll admit outright that I'm not overly a fan of Oates' writing style, but dangit... she knows how to write. Even as I asked myself why I'm reading the stories since I wasn't really digging them, I couldn't help but admire how well she managed to keep me turning the pages despite that.

"The Corn Maiden" is the gut-wrenching story of Marissa, a beautiful and sweet, but somewhat slow, eleven-year-old girl with hair the color of corn silk. Her single mother comes home one night to find her missing and panics, frantically knocking on the doors of her neighbors. She finally calls the police, who want to know why she left her young daughter alone until 8:00 o’clock.

Suspicion falls on a computer teacher at her school with no alibi for the time of the abduction. Obvious clues—perhaps too obvious—point directly to him. Unsuspected is Judah (born Judith), an older girl from the same school who has told two friends in her thrall of the Indian legend of the Corn Maiden, a girl sacrificed to ensure a good crop.

The trusting Marissa happily went to a secluded basement with the older girls, pleased to be included, and is convinced that the world has ended and that they are the last survivors. Remaining an unaware hostage for days, she grows weaker on a sparse diet as Judah prepares her for sacrifice.

The seemingly inevitable fate of Marissa becomes ever more terrifying as Judah relishes her power, leading to unbearable tension with a shocking conclusion.

“Helping Hands,” published here for the first time, begins with an apparently optimistic line: “He came into her life when it had seemed to her that her life was finished.”

A lonely woman meets a man in the unlikely clutter of a dingy charity shop and extends friendliness, which soon turns to quiet and unacknowledged desire. With the mind-set of a victim, struggling to overcome her shyness and fears, she has no idea what kinds of doors she may be opening.

The powerful stories in this extraordinary collection further enhance Joyce Carol Oates’s standing as one of the world’s greatest writers of suspense.

First off, I just have to repeat the statement that Joyce Carol Oates knows how to keep someone reading. I really didn't like the writing style that the first story was written in but I just had to keep reading purely because I had to, no needed to know how it all ended. The titular story (Corn Maiden) is just one of many stories in this book, all of which delivered that same "gotta know how it ends" tension and suspense.

Out of all of the stories, I have to say that Helping Hands grabbed me the most. Some of the stories, such as Beersheba, piqued my curiousity and kept me thinking, but it was Helping Hands that really made me keep reading. All of the stories here deal with a very human and realistic evil, but HH was the far more realistic of all of them, which I liked. The "evil" in this story was all the more heartbreaking for the situations all of the characters were in.

While I do have to give JCO props for drawing me in, some of the stories seemed a little too much at times. Either they were drawn out a little longer than they should have been or they just didn't grab me like their counterparts did. I know that there are some here that I'll want to re-read but there's just as many that I don't really care to pick up again.

This was a good Halloween read and one that JCO's fans will want to grab as soon as the books hit the shelves, but for the rest of us I recommend it as a library read. This is one of the books I would recommend reading regardless of your personal tastes, but it might be a good idea to check it out at the library instead. In the end it's JCO's ability to keep me reading that makes me give it as many stars as I have.

4 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

I love Rich Koslowski!

2011-10-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

(sighs) I'm currently in the process of moving to a new location, so that means that I've been having to pack up my huge bookshelf. It's bad since I'm going to have to decide which of my comics and books go into storage and I hate the idea of not having any of them within arm's reach, but good since I've been able to go through and re-discover some of my most favorite series and authors, one of which is The 3 Geeks series by Rich Koslowski. (Click on his smiling face to go to his website!)

While I've so far only read Koslowski's 3 Geeks series, I have to say that he's one of my favorite indie comic artists out there. Not only does he write one heck of an entertaining series, but Koslowski does a great job of depicting many of the comic book fans that are out there. I can easily see parts of myself in both Keith and Allen (some of my die-hard fangirl notions are more similar to Allen's nature than I'd like to admit sometimes). It's also pretty easy to look at some of my fellow comic fans and see how they compare to their inky counterparts. I've seen the general good natured "Keith" types of fans who love to share (and sometimes over-share) their love for comic books, the nerdy and socially inept "Allen" types that can occasionally blur the lines between fantasy and reality, as well as the Jim types who love to proclaim their love for all things drawn and violent. My point for mentioning this is that even if you only occasionally flirt with the comics world, odds are you've seen or experienced much of the actions that go on in this series.

Even if you haven't you would still enjoy this series. In between the biggest and most epic points of a comic book fan's life such as going to your first big comic convention or trying to draw your own comic book, there's tons of average adventures as well. I think that most of us can all remember the first time we realized that we had to get a job to afford whatever it was that we wanted (mine was washing dishes in order to afford my huge library fines). Many of us can also remember trying to figure out the opposite gender and trying to decide what it was that they wanted of us and how to attract their attention. All of that is here and hilariously captured for our amusement, so there's tons of appeal here for a wide audience.

The series is pretty easy to pick up regardless of which volume you decide to get, although I will say that the first volume is Going to the Con. You can still get all of the series at Koslowski's website as well as picking up the final volume of the series, The Geeksville Years. (Although there was a three part series put out a few years ago that takes place before the events in TGY.) Not only will you be able to get your comics directly from the man himself, but he'll also sign your stuff for you.

I think I can safely say that none of his stuff will be going into storage. 'Nuff said.

Book Review: Obsessed by Fiona Dodwell

2011-10-06T01:46:00.001-07:00

Title: Obsessed
Author: Fiona Dodwell
Publisher: Damnation Books LLC
Release Date: 08/31/2011
ASIN: B005KMBLQ

I have to admit that I held off on reading this book for a while because I wanted it to be the first horror book I read in October. Fiona Dodwell has a deliciously twisted writing style that is chock full of chills and thrills, so what could start off the Halloween season better than a book like this?

Sometimes the past just won't stay dead and buried…

James Barker is a happily married man. He thinks he has it all–until one morning when he witnesses a gruesome suicide. Haunted by the death, James embarks on a journey. Who was this man? Why did he kill himself?

Now haunted by visions of the dead man in his home and in his nightmares, James begins to wonder if he is losing his mind. Surely the dead can't return?

As James uncovers the terrifying truth of the stranger who died at his own hands, he realizes his own life is in danger–and the lives of those he loves.

Obsessed is Dodwell's second book and it's awesome. While her first book (The Banishing) showed us that she definitely has the skills to deliver a spine chilling tale, this book shows us that she's definitely improving and gearing up to bring us even more than that. This is a wonderfully creepy story that kept me turning the pages and wondering what would happen next. What I really liked about this book was that the title so aptly described our main characters in the book. Jeff Jones (the seemingly dead guy) is obsessed with tormenting James. James is obsessed with Jeff's death and the reasons behind Jeff's actions.

I do have to say that I felt that the book was a little too short- I couldn't help but wonder what happened next and more about our characters. (I suppose that if you're going to get criticism, reading that the reader wanted more is one of the best ones to receive.) I love novellas, but if Dodwell wanted she could easily expand this world. (And I'd be right there standing in line to read it!)

I know this all sounds like a fangirl gush, but I have to say that I'm unashamedly claiming my fan status. Just like so many of her peers at Damnation Books, Fiona Dodwell is one of the undiscovered jewels of the indie lit crowd. This should definitely be on your "to read" lists this Halloween.

5 out of 5 stars

(Reader copy provided by author)

Comic Review: Orchid #1

2011-10-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Title: Orchid #1
Author: Tom Morello
Artist: Scott Hepburn
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: 10/12/2011

(Note: This review only covers the first 4 pages of the comic.)

From the mind of musician Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman) with art by Scott Hepburn (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), Orchid is the tale of a teenage prostitute who learns that she is more than the role society has imposed upon her. When the seas rose, genetic codes were smashed. Human settlements are ringed by a dense wilderness from which ferocious new animal species prey on the helpless. The high ground belongs to the rich and powerful that overlook swampland shantytowns from their fortress-like cities. Iron-fisted rule ensures order and allows the wealthy to harvest the poor as slaves. Welcome to the world of Orchid.

I have to say that for only four pages of material where I didn't even get to meet our title character, I was pretty engrossed from the start. The artwork here is really nice and the writing/art team does a great job of setting the scene.

I love comics that are set in a post-apocalyptic world, so this comic is really up my alley. (It speaks to the girl in me who would read Battlefield Earth at least once a year during middle school.) The artwork is really cool and I liked the causes of some of the devastation. See that underwater city? It was swallowed up by a huge trash vortex, which definitely isn't something you've really seen in comics before. What makes it that much more interesting is that trash vortexes are a very real thing and can actually be pretty dangerous. (See this link for more information. If you're curious as to what a trash vortex looks like, click here.)

The only thing I'm a little leery of is that the underwater city in this picture is Japan, which might be a little too soon for some readers. Japan was hit earlier this year by a huge tsunami that crippled the nation, so some will be a little sensitive at seeing Japan underwater. If you're one of these people, you might want to hold off on Orchid for a little while. The preview is pretty cool and it's likely that this comic was in production long before the tsunami hit, but I know that for some of you this will just be too soon.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this preview and I'm fairly certain that anyone who loves a good apocalyptic comic will absolutely love this comic and want to pick it up.

Want to see this comic for yourself? Luckily for you Dark Horse has a preview set up on their website where you can get a glimpse of the action for yourself. (Click here for the link.)

(Preview provided through Netgalley)

Hush, Hush Backgrounds!

2011-10-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

I had to share this with everyone. Becca Fitzpatrick and SeaLion Books have some pretty awesome wallpapers that are Hush, Hush themed.

All I know is that they're gorgeous and I know what's going on my computer as soon as I get home.

Comic Review: Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life

2011-10-03T10:23:00.001-07:00

Title: Doctor Who:A Fairytale Life
Author: Matthew Sturges
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: 11/22/2011
ISBN: 1613770227

(Note: This review only covers the first issue of the entire volume.)

I've only really watched the first season of Doctor Who and almost all of Torchwood, so all things considered I'm pretty much a newbie. However, one of the great things about the show is that as long as you know the very basics of the show, you can pick up the series just about anywhere and this comic is no exception.

What's better: an ugly reality or beautiful fantasy? This is the question the Doctor is forced to confront in a medieval fantasy world where Amy Pond finds herself reluctantly cast as a damsel in distress. Matthew Sturges, Eisner Award-nominated writer of Jack of Fables, spins this yarn, featuring covers by Mark Buckingham of Miracleman and Fables fame.

The story idea for this is pretty interesting, with Doctor Who and Amy traveling to a world where it's every Ren Faire addict's greatest fantasy. It's a world designed to resemble the idealized Middle Ages, complete with magic and fantasy. When you figure that we've got several of the geniuses behind Fables writing and illustrating the story, you would think that this would be an explosion of awesomeness. It's cool, just not as much as I was hoping it would be.

I loved that I could jump right into this without having to know any major details about the series so far, which will undoubtedly help bring in new audiences who (like me) are only really familiar with the basic premise of Doctor Who. However the story just seemed a little underdeveloped so far. It's intriguing enough to where I would want to keep reading, but not enough to where I'd run out and buy the volume straight away. I can only hope that the story improves later on in the volume.

As far as the artwork goes, I liked it. The artwork is nice and playful, which suits the initial feeling of the comic. Yates did an excellent job, although I don't know how well it would fit if the tone of the volume gets darker. I also adored the covers- Buckingham is a great artist and it makes sense to have him contribute to this in some form. I can only hope that later in the volume they had him do a little of the issues' artwork as well.

Overall this was entertaining but I just can't help but think that it's not quite the best that the world of Doctor Who has to offer as far as graphic novels go. Fans of the series will probably want to read this and keep their collection up to date and for newbies this will be a good jumping in point, although they'd probably be better off getting it as a library read.

3 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Do Want: Kindle Fire

2011-10-01T02:28:00.001-07:00

I've occasionally been tempted to get a kindle, but never really had anything that would truly draw me to the unit. Not until now, anyway.

I could tell you about how you can watch videos on it or the internet browser, but what really intrigues me is that Amazon has finally created a kindle that is capable of reading different book formats. Previously you could email the books to your kindle, but that was pretty time consuming because you had to wait for the email to send and get received. This isn't including the irritation that came from sending a document and then discovering that the text is sort of skewed from the formatting. (My coworkers consider me an ebook guru for some reason, so I've been asked to help email everything from books they got elsewhere to homework to their kindles.)

I'm going to assume that you can either side load these books and/or have them emailed to the Kindle Fire without it having to be changed into kindle format. Either way, I'm glad that Amazon finally gave in and allowed different formats to be read on their units. I know I'm not the only one who held out because of this reason. Now if Amazon would only put a memory slot in this unit, I'd be in heaven. I know that there's a ton of memory on this thing and the Fire will also have usage of the Cloud network, but I'm fond of my memory cards.

I have to admit, I'm pretty tempted to queue up like everyone else and preorder one.

Book Review: Love & Capes Volume 3 by Thom Zahler

2011-09-30T20:44:00.001-07:00

Title: Love and Capes: Wake up Where You Are (Volume 3)

Author: Thom Zahler

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Release Date: 08/04/2011

ISBN: 1613770499

Note: I only got to read the first issue of this volume. (Sad face)

I've been a fan of Love and Capes ever since I came across it in webcomic format and it's swiftly become one of my favorite superhero comic books. I was already planning on purchasing volume 3 when it came out, so getting a little sneak preview was a bonus. Before I was merely looking forward to this volume. Now I can't wait.

Mark and Abby are home from their honeymoon and ready to settle in for some domestic bliss. But settling in doesn't mean things will settle down. Mark's best friend, Darkblade, is now dating his ex-girlfriend, Amazonia. Abby's landlord is trying to drive her and her bookstore out. And Charlotte is about to graduate from college. Plus, it's time to tell Abby's parents about Mark's super-secret, but will that mean telling Abby's brother, too? "Ever after" is where things get really interesting!

I was pretty interested in seeing what Zahler could do now that Mark and Abby are married. They were a close couple but there was a lot that they hadn't really been through just yet. Would they quickly settle down into a routine? Would the new pressures that come with (super) married life emerge? So far I was pretty impressed by how Zahler approached the idea of a superhero marrying. Abby does see a few things that only the spouse of the Crusader would experience, but overall her newlywed life is pretty mundane. This was pretty nice to read since part of why this comic appeals to me is because it doesn't go for the melodramatics that the more mainstream comics do. (Not that melodrama can't be fun, but that's not really the point of this strip.)

I also enjoyed seeing Amazonia pair up with Darkblade, the new couple in the book. It wasn't really all that surprising and the two seem to match up well so far. It'll be interesting to see how that relationship will fare, given what ultimately caused the Amazonia/Crusader breakup.

The artwork in this volume was fun and playful. Zahler has a great style that fits this universe and its characters well and he continues to deliver quality artwork here. I would love to have posted a few of my favorite bits here, but I couldn't quite get any of it to save without sacrificing picture quality. You'll have to trust me that there's some great parts in here, notably the "My Precious..." strip.

I'll try to elaborate more on volume 3 when I get my copy (preordered through Amazon, yay!), but all you really need to know is that Zahler still has it and doesn't appear to be in any danger of losing it. Love and Capes is an incredibly entertaining series that belongs on any comic book lover's bookshelf!

5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

2011-09-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Title: The Iron Knight (Iron Fey #4)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Release Date: 10/25/2011

ISBN: 0373210361

It's hard not to approach another Iron Fey book with a little excitement & anticipation. The last book in the series left us with a lot of odds & ends tied up, but with just enough unresolved plot to make another book a natural progression in the series. (BTW, there's going to be another series set after this book following Meghan's younger brother Ethan!) How could we not be interested in a book following Ash as he tries to find a way to be with Meghan?

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

I'll admit that the change in narrative voices was a little hard to get used to, even though I knew to expect it. It's just not the same, seeing about the fae world through the eyes of a native & part of what I enjoyed about Meghan's narrative is that everything was so new to her. Luckily for me the book's plot would involve Ash going to places that are new & relatively unheard of even to Ash, so this never really interfered with my enjoyment of the book. It made it a little slow to get into, but this was still a very readable & enjoyable book.

It's just I just couldn't relate to Ash as a character like I could Meghan. I could read the book & be entertained, but I just didn't get as good of a "book high" with this read as I wanted to. I was able to get used to Ash's voice but I still couldn't get as excited as I wanted to be. I can't help but feel that there will probably be a few people who will read this book & be disappointed that this just doesn't have the "snap bang!" that the previous books did. There will be those who will devour this book whole & love it as much as the previous books, but I can't help but think that this book just felt a little pale in comparison to the rest of the series.

There is, however, enough interesting material brought up in this book to where readers will still be waiting for when Kagawa starts in on Ethan's story. The ideas brought up in this book as well as the possibilities of a few of the characters introduced were intriguing & despite a few reservations with Iron Knight, I still feel pretty invested in the series enough to want to pick up the next book Kagawa puts out in this universe.

3 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Manga Review: Sailor Moon and Sailor V, volumes 1

2011-09-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

Title: Sailor Moon, Sailor V Volumes 1

Author: Naoko Takeuchi

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: 09/13/2011

ISBN: 1935429744

ISBN: 1935429779

If you're a manga fan like me, you've been eagerly awaiting these releases for years. Not days or months, but years. Ever since the now defunct Tokyopop lost their licence to Sailor Moon, this manga has been something that you could only find via eBay or scanned onto the internet. Sailor V never got an official release, so you could really only hope to find an untranslated copy or hope that a scanlated copy got released from someone. Now you don't have to wait anymore. Kodansha has released Takeuchi's most famous work to the English speaking audience.

Art-wise, these books are absolutely gorgeous. One look at the covers should show you that you're in for a treat. I don't have any scans of the new translations, but the artwork has been cleaned up for this reprint. It's been a while since I've seen the Tokyopop translation, so at some point I'm going to have to find a copy to compare it to. (Or look for pictures that people have posted on the net.)

Story-wise, the Sailor Moon volume was stronger than the Sailor V manga was. I'm sort of chalking this up to the Sailor V manga being more of a sporadic release than the Sailor Moon story was. One thing that's absolutely cool about reading the Sailor V manga was seeing how Takeuchi began to brainstorm characters and designs for Sailor Moon as well as to see the gradual change in how the series was presented. Over time the Sailor V manga started changing to show it as a prequel to Sailor Moon. (Sailor V started before Sailor Moon started being made, but continued to be sporadically released while Sailor Moon was running.) It's a glimpse into Takeuchi's thought processes and it's incredibly fun to see which designs made it into Sailor Moon and which ones didn't.

Translation-wise this is much more faithful than the Tokyopop/Mixx translations and fans who have poured over the TP releases will instantly notice a few translation differences. One thing that I couldn't help but notice was that while the translation was more faithful, it's just a little clunky. I loved that there were honorifics in here, but I'd be lying if I said that the honorifics occasionally hurt more than they helped. One such instance is the usage of "Princess-Sama", which just seemed a little redundant and clunky. I have to admit that I'd almost prefer that the honorifics were dropped entirely for flow reasons, although at times they do help to show some character interactions a little better.

This is something that I'd absolutely recommend for any Sailor Moon or Takeuchi fan as well as any fan of shoujo manga. It's worth looking at for the nostalgia value as well as to get a gander at the series that introduced a lot of the American and English speaking audience to anime and manga as a whole. (Sailor Moon was the first television series I watched where I knew that I was watching anime.)

4 out of 5 stars for both volumes

Yay for contests: Hush, Hush and Sea Lion Books!

2011-09-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! My posts have been a little erratic due to school and a little someone called Irene playing havoc with my electronics, but I'm happy to give you some info on a comic that I think is going to be a "must own" for me.

Like Hush, Hush? Well, I know that I do and I'm pretty excited to see that it's getting the graphic novel treatment. I'm also pretty excited to hear that Sea Lion Books is doing a contest so awesome that I'm just going to post what they wrote word for word since I don't think I could do it without giving a huge fangirl squee.

Did you miss out on the signed graphic novel and 2011 books that bite
purse? Well don't be sad for we are doing it AGAIN and this time it's
BIGGGGGGEEERRRRRR and BEEETTTTTTTEEERRRR. In celebration of the upcoming
release! We thought a graphic novel this epic deserved something extra
special!!!

On our store tab ( http://store.sealionbookstore.com ) you can purchase the
limited edition Hush Hush graphic novel prologue for $10.00. WE WILL ONLY
BE RELEASING 1,000 COPIES AND IT WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB STORE.
So not only is this an important piece to the contest puzzle but you will
be one of a thousand people to own this piece of Becca Fitzpatrick's
history!!! Keep in mind since there are only 1,000 copies of the prologue
being made we need to limit the number of copies you can purchase. It is
limited to 2 copies per person.

Now here is the fun part! Once you receive the book, take a picture of
yourself with it and email the picture to us along with a paragraph as to
why you should be the next to make a cameo in the next volume of Hush Hush!
In this cameo you will even interact with Patch and Nora. NOW REMEMBER I
SAID THAT I WAS GOING TO BE ENVIOUS OF THE NEXT WINNER!!! WELL HERE IS
WHY! The winner will not only get to interact with Patch and Nora in the
next Hush Hush Graphic Novel, BUT the illustrator for the graphic novel
will also IMMORTALIZE you from head to toe in Patch's arms! Your image
will be held lovingly safe in his arms! How awesome is that!!!

SO LET'S RECAP!!!

1. 1,000 limited edition prologues will be available for sale on
www.SeaLionBooks.com. Limit 2 please!

2. Once you receive the Hush Hush prologues you must take a picture of
yourself with it and post the picture on our FB page with a paragraph in
the comments under the picture as to why they should be the next to make a
cameo in the next volume of Hush Hush!

3. The winner gets an interacting cameo with Patch and Nora in Hush Hush
volume 2, and they get a unique one-of-a-kind poster with Patch holding the
winner in his arms.

4. The limited edition prologues will ship the first week of October.

I'm so excited over this that I could scream. I loved the heck out of Hush, Hush and the possibility of getting a picture drawn of Patch (let alone one of me with him) is pretty freaking cool. (OK, so I'm no longer a teenager, but Patch is far older than I am. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Click on the beautiful graphic novel cover above for a direct link to the sale page!

Book Review: No One to Trust by Julie Moffett

2011-09-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

Title: No One To Trust (Lexi Carmichael #2)
Author: Julie Moffett
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: 06/13/2011

After having read Moffett's previous book in the LC series, I was pretty excited to give the second entry a try. There was just something addicting about Lexi's adventures that keept drawing me back in and I'm glad to say that entry #2 is no exception.

SWFG: Single, White, Female, Geek.

That’s me, Lexi Carmichael, a reformed hacker who was gainfully employed by the National Security Agency. But a series of extraordinary events led me to leave government life behind for a fresh start with a brand-new company and an incredibly sexy boss, Finn Shaughnessy. It may not be kosher to have the hots for your boss, but he seems to have the hots for me, too. If only things didn’t get so complicated…

Darren Greening, a genius researcher from Flow Technologies (our first client!) is missing, and his bosses think I’m involved. And they aren’t the only ones—the man who nearly snapped my neck in the parking garage thinks so, too.

Now I’m caught in the middle of a complex and dangerous case. I’ll have to use all my geek skills and a little help from my friends to solve the mystery of Darren’s disappearance before Neck-Snapping-Man makes a return visit…

I don't know much about the hacking world, but I do know that I enjoyed this book greatly. I love Lexi and I love the situations she gets herself into. She's a feisty heroine and we finally get to see her hands get a little dirtier than they did in the previous novel, which I enjoyed. One of my gripes with the first novel was that Lexi did little of her own hacking work, which isn't the case in this book. Lexi does just as much as the next person in this mystery.

The love interests are pretty sexy as well and are developing pretty well at this stage. I have my own personal favorites as far as who Lexi should end up with (Team Zimmerman!), but Lexi's reasoning for who she likes and what she is or isn't going to do is pretty realistic. There's also a decent amount of competition and/or other barriers keeping her from each guy, giving good reason to draw out the tension for just a little bit longer. (As long as it doesn't get as ridiculously drawn out as the Stephanie Plum love triangle has, I'm good with this.)

I will say that the mystery does move quickly and at times the plot seemed to move a little too quickly, not giving me as much time as I'd have wanted on some issues. I can't elaborate without getting spoilerish, but let's just say that there were some issues I wanted to linger on a little longer as far as the missing researcher goes. You get a good sense of what is what and I didn't end the book feeling unsatisfied, but it all seemed to get wrapped up a little too quickly for me. This isn't really a gripe, just more of an observation since it didn't really get in the way of my reading experience that much.

Overall this book was awesome to read and I can't wait to get my hot little hands on the next book in the series. It's honestly a shame that these are only in ebook format at this point in time since I think they'd sell well in paperback format.

5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: If This is Paradise Then I Want My Money Back by Claudia Carroll

2011-08-28T01:59:00.000-07:00

Title: If This is Paradise Then I Want My Money Back

Author: Claudia Carroll

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: 10/18/2011

ISBN: 0062045156

Chick lit has always been one of my guilty pleasures. It's pure potato chip pleasure for me and I've been known to completely cut myself off from civilization whenever Sophie Kinsella or Meg Cabot put out a new book. Paradise gives off roughly the same feel of guilty pleasure, but fails to deliver on exactly all that it promised.

What if you got the opportunity to come back to life…as a guardian angel to your evil ex-boyfriend? That’s the hilarious premise of If This is Paradise I Want My Money Back, a wonderfully clever and charming tale of heavenly revenge from Claudia Carroll, the bestselling author of I Never Fancied Him Anyway and Remind Me Again Why I Need a Man. Fans of smart, contemporary women’s fiction like the bestselling novels of Meg Cabot and Marion Keyes will adore this delightful romp, as Charlotte Grey makes her way back to Earth for a second chance…at retribution!

I'm a little torn at how to describe this book. Carroll puts out an entertaining read to where I'm definitely going to track down her other books, but this was a bit of a chore to read at times. The book's general premise sounded like it'd be incredibly fun because after all, being able to get even with an awful ex is something most of us would love to do. In this aspect yes, the book was fun. I read the scenes of Charlotte tormenting her ex with a bit of sadistic glee. These were some of the better written scenes. Charlotte made for an interesting main character in that she was enough of an every-woman to be relatable to, something that is invaluable in any sort of read. She made me want to keep reading about her even as I wanted to throttle her for being so dense.

Where the "but I'm torn" part comes in is with the book's predictability. You can see every big revelation and plot twist coming miles away. This wouldn't be so bad considering that chick lit books tend to be a little formulaic by nature, but when you add in the parts of the book where the plot got a little dull, it became a chore to read at times. The amount of times where Charlotte visits her family members really could have been reduced greatly because most of what she does ends up being the same as the last time she saw them. I'd express more irritation over how completely devoid Charlotte is of common sense (she wouldn't know it's raining even if her head was soaked), but as this is something that was brought up in the book as a plot element I figured that I'd give it a pass. If anything, Charlotte's moronic nature was something of a "how much more simple minded can you get" form of entertainment where I eagerly turned the pages like a crack addicted chipmunk to see exactly what she'd do next.

Even with all of the irritation I would occasionally feel throughout the book, I was somehow unable to put it down. This might not live up to the high standards put out by Kinsella's fare, but Paradise was still an addicting read and I know I'll be tracking down the author's other works. Carroll still has a way to go but I have a feeling I will end up staying with her for the long haul. My recommendation? For anyone who loves chick lit, this is something you'll probably want to read, but you might want to flip through it first or check it out at the library.

3 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

2011-08-24T02:27:00.001-07:00

Title: First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson #1)

Author: Darynda Jones

Publisher: St Martins Press

Release Date: 02/01/2011

ISBN: 0312662750

A smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper
Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.
This is a thrilling debut novel from an exciting newcomer to the world of paranormal romantic suspense.

I procrastinated a little bit on this book, but the cover kept calling to me saying "Read me- I won't be like all of the others here on the shelf". Wouldn't you know that the cover was right? This isn't like any of the other books out there.

This is a very smart and slick story that grabs you from the very first page and doesn't let you go. I know that sounds like a cheesy blurb line but it's the truth. I loved that Charley Davidson both broke and embodied the idea of the gritty supernatural heroine. She's not afraid to get hurt and she's not afraid to go after whatever it is that she's currently set her mind on. I loved that she wasn't really all that stupid either.

Story-wise this was a pretty decent read. I loved the one liners and I liked the slow buildup in the story. It does occasionally suffer from first-book-itis, but this is an exemplary first book from a new author.

4.5 out of 5 stars

(I received this for free via the Goodreads ARC contest. )

Book Review: The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce

2011-08-20T01:21:00.001-07:00

Title: The Dark Glamour

Author: Gabriella Pierce

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: 09/06/2011

ISBN:0061434906

When I read the first book I was a little confused as to how to classify this book. It isn't what I'd classify as chick-lit but it isn't exactly an urban fantasy or a paranormal romance. After I finished the second book I'm only slightly less clueless as to which genre I'd shelve this in, but the most important reaction is still the same: this is a very fun series to read.

Jane Boyle married her prince charming and moved into his upper east side castle—but she didn’t get her fairy-tale ending

It’s hard to live happily ever after when you discover your demanding and controlling mother-in-law is literally a witch, determined to steal the magical powers you didn’t even know you had. Jane narrowly avoided Lynne Doran’s clutches when she escaped on her wedding day, and has been hiding out in New York City. But she can’t hide forever.

When Jane learns of the one thing Lynne wants most, she sets out to provide it, hoping her good turn will persuade her mother-in-law to stop hunting her. Unfortunately, Jane’s daring plan will send her right back into the witches’ den—the Doran clan’s multistory town house on Park Avenue. But thanks to a tricky spell, blond architect Jane will be transformed into Ella, a dark beauty with a whole new look . . . and all of Jane’s budding powers. Though the stakes are life or death, nobody said “Ella” couldn’t have a little fun along the way, too.

This isn't exactly a dark and gritty read, but neither is it as light and fluffy as I was expecting it to be. We have the wonderfully luxurious wish fulfillment of being able to live vicariously through Jane but then we also have moments where Jane takes on her new persona with reckless abandon. I was a bit surprised to see the lengths she goes to (and the people she takes up with) in order to get back into the house of Doran. While Jane isn't exactly doing anything absolutely horrible, it is a little bit out of the norm for books in the chick-lit or general paranormal romance genre. It does make sense though- she's fighting for her life. Jane can't afford to be prudish.

Pierce has found a decent rhythm in her second book. She's beginning to shake off the "new author" awkwardness and is becoming more confident and familiar with her style. While parts of the book are disappointingly predictable (I was able to see the big surprises coming a mile away), there are a lot of good interactions between the characters and I absolutely loved how Pierce portrayed Jane's reaction to having a completely different form. The descriptions here are very well done, helping to set each scene nicely.

This book improved on the last one but those who weren't able to get overly into the last one will probably want to stick to getting this from the library. For those who loved the first book, this will be an absolute "must buy". It's fluffy fare, but darnit... it's good fluffy fare, the type you curl up with on the beach or on a rainy day.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Manga Review: Gate 7 by CLAMP

2011-08-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Title: Gate 7
Artist/Author: CLAMP
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: 10/25/2011
ISBN: 1595828060

Before I go any further with this review I have to state that I've only read the first chapter of Gate 7, the oneshot that started everything with this series. CLAMP works tend to have plots that reach far beyond one chapter, so I want to stress that all I can do is give my impressions of what I have.

Get ready for another exciting new series from best-selling manga creators, CLAMP (Chobits, Clover, Cardcaptor Sakura)! Chikahito Takamoto has always read about the beauty and mystique of Japan's ancient capital city, Kyoto. Now, two years into high school, he's finally visiting there for real. But wandering the grounds of Kyoto's legendary Shinto shrine of Kita no Tenmangu, he chances upon a mystery that his guidebooks didn't prepare him for - two handsome men and an attractive woman, all strangely-garbed, wielding powers...and fighting monsters! The two men treat poor Chikahito with suspicion - but the girl seems to like him. They aren't worried about what Chikahito's just seen, because they have the power to erase his memory...except for some reason, that power doesn't work! And why does the girl kiss him before sending him away? One thing's for sure: Chikahito is going to be seeing a lot more of these three strangers...

You can't read any CLAMP manga without admiring the gorgeous style that is their trademark. It might change as members come and go, but it's always beautiful and worth looking at on its own merit. This doesn't really change in Gate 7. I absolutely loved looking at the art in this story. It might not be their strongest work (their earliest works will always be my favorite), but this is beautiful. I can't say enough about it.

Story-wise, I can see where this will draw in a lot of readers. It's not entirely my style, but there's a decent base here to expand upon. It's a little on the vague side, but since this was just the first chapter I don't feel right giving any final judgement on the storyline of this series. (Supposedly what I read was just a oneshot but it looks like it was definitely intended to be a promo for a series.) I've done a little snooping on the internet for information and it looks like this series will get pretty interesting as the volume progresses. It just doesn't seem to be my cup of tea, but that's OK. I'll just wait for Dark Horse to release the inevitable artbook. (Hopefully they'll re-release some of the out of print artbooks TokyoPop used to carry.)

I have to say, this will definitely find an easy audience here in the states. CLAMP can rarely go wrong in my opinion and they're giving us more of what they do best. Gate 7 will definitely appeal to those who loved X and xxxHolic.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(Reader copy provided by Netgalley)

JManga: First opinions

2011-08-19T03:04:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! I just discovered a new site a little bit ago called JManga where (to put it bluntly) you can read e-manga online.

I have to admit, I've got mixed emotions about this. Offhand I'm going to say that I'm really irritated that you can't download any of the manga you purchase. You can only view it via the website, which takes away the whole convenience factor. Even if they release an app there's still the whole inconvenience of knowing that you're reliant on the website being up and being in an area where you can access the app/website.

The cool factor lies in the titles the site has to offer. JManga brings in some titles that have never been officially released in the US as well as titles by defunct publishers such as CMX. Some of the bigger titles are limited to 1-2 chapters, possibly because many of the bigger publishers are offering their titles via similar storefronts. I was more excited to see how many different series they have and the variety.There's a lot of selection, although I was slightly disappointed to see that there's listings for manga that aren't available on the site. (My pulse quickened to see a Higurashi manga listed, only to get let down when there wasn't even so much as a preview available.)

Here's something that might put a damper on some of the excitement, though: while the site does list industry heavyweights such as Naruto and Haruhi Suzumiya, most of these pages only have preview chapters available... if they have anything listed at all. This might be due to many of these publishers moving towards similar business models as JManga and preferring to keep their manga on their personal sites. It's just a little frustrating to see so many of these series come up and end up being previews only. The previews are all free, but it's still frustrating nonetheless.

The translation is a little on the wonky side. It works and won't leave you wondering what they were trying to get across, but it just doesn't flow like some of the other translations out there. I don't see this being a big problem and I figure that as the company's translators get more comfortable with translations it'll become a little more smooth. Right now though, the translations come across as a little too overly literal at times or like the translator isn't entirely comfortable with the English language jut yet.

JManga's final point worth mentioning is that you pay via "points" rather than a set price point, which seems a little unnecessary to me. For $10 you get 1000 points so I can't help but wonder why they don't just list it at its dollar equivalent. I doubt that this will really irk people as much as that there's no way to just purchase points when you choose. To purchase manga you have to submit a credit card and have a monthly subscription. You can cancel anytime you choose, but it just seems a little overly complicated to have to constantly have to sign up and cancel if you're the type that doesn't really want to make purchases each month. The points last for about a year after they're applied to the account and you do get bonus points (these only last for 3 months), but I'd rather have the option of applying points without having to go the subscription route. On a plus side, if you're a subscriber who plans on reading a lot of manga there is the option of buying more points per month.

Overall I'm just a little underwhelmed by this site. I love that you can preview things for free but so far there's not a huge amount of wow factor to this site and not being able to buy points without a subscription is incredibly irritating. It's worth keeping an eye on since I like the idea of a company that brings over titles that might not otherwise have been picked up.

Book Trailers: Obsessed by Fiona Dodwell

2011-08-18T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ever since I read Dodwell's The Banishing, a creepy read that left me pretty shaken for weeks, I've been eagerly awaiting her next book. It's not out yet, but we do have this spiffy new trailer to whet our appetites on!

James Barker is a happily married man. He thinks he has it all -- until he witnesses a gruesome suicide. Haunted by the death, James seeks therapy for post-traumatic stress. Finding that the answers he seeks don't lie in the therapists' office, James embarks on a journey. Who was this man, and why did he kill himself?

Now haunted by visions of the dead man in his home and in his nightmares, James begins to wonder if he is losing his mind. Surely the dead can't return?

As his obsession spirals out of control, James uncovers the terrifying truth of the stranger who died at his own hands. Is the ghost following James a result of his stressed and damaged mind, or do the dead really return?

Find out, in OBSESSED.
Available September 1st, 2011 from www.damnationbooks.comAuthor website: http://fionasfiction.wordpress.com/
Trailer Design: Su Halfwerk - http://www.su-halfwerk.com

Comic Review: Pariah #1 by Aron Warner

2011-08-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

Title:Pariah #1
Author: Aron Warner, Philip Gelaff
Artist: Brett Weldele
Publisher: Sea Lion Books
ISBN: 9780983613

Brent Marks is not a freak. He is one of the Pariah, a group of teens who become extremely intelligent after being cured of a genetic disorder. Although in most ways a normal teen, Brent is considered dangerous and is tracked down by the government who see these kids as an enormous threat. Can he evade them? What do they have planned for Brent and the others?

Aron Warner is the Academy Award®-winning producer of the animated blockbuster “Shrek” series. Mr. Warner joined PDI/Dreamworks in 1997 working as the producer on the animated film, Antz. He is currently in partnership with director Andrew Adamson in Strange Weather where they and partner Jeff Fierson are developing a slate of live action and animated feature films and television shows. He, producing alongside James Cameron, just wrapped the Untitled Cirque Du Soleil 3-D project, which was written and directed by Adamson. Pariah is his first graphic novel series.

The first thing I noticed about this comic was the artwork. Weldele chose to eschew the traditional comic artwork for a more dreamy, lush style. It works well to help the comic stand out, much as the main character of Brent does. It's gorgeous to look at and to me, was one of the best parts of the issue. It's more true to life than the traditional styles are, yet still reminds you that you're reading a comic.

The story of this is so far rather simple in design, which works for and against it. People looking for a ton of action will be slightly disappointed by the first issue since so much of it surrounds Brent trying to fit in at his school and appeal to a female friend. There's an ever present hostility due to the widespread public dislike of the Pariah, but that doesn't really come into play at first. By the end of the first issue I was hooked, but I have a feeling that this isn't going to be as well-loved as your average mainstream comic. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. Some of the best comics have been ones that have taken the comics world by surprise.

Overall this is something that's going to appeal more to readers of comics like Sandman or Bone. As the series unwinds and shows more of its wares I'm sure that we'll see more action, but this looks to be a comic that will appeal more to our human sides than the Michael Bay part of our brain.

3.7 out of 5 stars

(Reader copy provided by Sea Lion Books)

Book Review: Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum by Stephen Prosapio

2011-08-13T21:38:00.001-07:00

Title: Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum (Xavier Paranormal Investigations #1)
Author: Stephen Prosapio
Release Date: 05/10/2011
Available Through: Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Nobles

Zach Kalusky, host of Sci-D TV's Xavier Paranormal Investigators, is ecstatic when he's given the opportunity to explore the most haunted site in Chicago for a Halloween Special: Rosewood Asylum, a place long made off-limits by the local government, plagued by decades of mysterious fires and unexplained events. It's Zach's dream investigation- but there's a catch: the network forces Xavier Paranormal Investigators to partner with the more dramatic-but less ethical-Demon Hunters. Now, Zach must fight for both his show's integrity and his team's loyalty while trying to protect his own secret: that he, himself, is possessed.

If I had to describe this book in one word, it'd be unusual. Prosapio has given us a rather interesting read in Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum in that it's rather hard to pin down to a specific genre. At its heart it's a ghost story but it also has the feel of a nice cozy mystery (minus the murder that always happens at the start of a cozy mystery) as well as a touch of urban fantasy.

The idea of a group of ghost hunting college students (their ghost show takes on the name of the university) is an intriguing one. There's a lot that can be done with this idea as well as with the celebrity angle, which is a good thing since this is going to be a series. I liked that the characters were so varied, although not all of them stood out as much as I'd have liked them to. This is forgivable since there's a rather huge cast in this book and a lot of "first novel" ground to cover. My only true gripe with the book is that it took a while for some of the plot's more basic elements to be explained (such as the reason why the show is named Xavier and that almost everyone in the group is a student at St Xavier).

This novel is a little rough around the edges but it's overall an entertaining read. The book included a sneak preview of the next book, which seemed to be pretty promising. This is a series worth checking out.

4 out of 5 stars

(Reader's copy provided by the author)

Book Review: Under His Spell by Marie P. Croall

2011-08-11T10:17:00.001-07:00

Title: Under His Spell (My Boyfriend is a Monster #4)
Author: Marie P. Croall
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Release Date: 04/01/2011
ISBN: 0761356029

Bethany Farmer's life is a boring high school routine, and she likes it that way. Soccer, coffee, homework, more coffee, and no goofy romance. That is, until foreign exchange student Allein Atwood shows up in her Midwestern town, and her life turns epically weird. Allein has unearthly good looks, princely politeness, and a bunch of goofy, romantic pick-up lines. But is his country really so foreign that they don't know anything about soccer? Or coffee?

To her horror, Bethany is swept off her feet by Allein's spellbinding ways--and then knocked flat by savage creatures set loose into suburbia to hunt Allein down. Suddenly Bethany's normal town is twisted upside down, and nothing is what it seems. Can Bethany rescue her prince of a boyfriend and keep them both alive long enough to go on a second date?

So far I've found that this series is sort of hit or miss. For every volume that's absolutely great (My Boyfriend Bites), there's a volume that's somewhat mediocre. This volume falls under the mediocre category.

One of the most distracting aspects of this story really had to be the artwork. The quality of it just wasn't very consistent. On one page it would be very well done and on the next you'd see proportions that just weren't very realistic or feasible. There was one panel where our heroine Bethany was giving a solid kick to one of our villains and her leg and foot seemed to be unnaturally twisted. It made it look a little malformed, as if she'd broken it. The only thing about the artwork that seemed to stick to the same level of quality was the backgrounds, which were generally very well illustrated. This was just really disappointing to see since one thing the previous volumes did have in common was some decent artwork. I just couldn't help but think that the artist's work detracted from the story.

I can't blame everything on the artist, however. The basic gist of the storyline is decent. Girl meets fae boy. (I'd consider this a spoiler except the cover pretty much shows that he's a faerie.) Despite this being a pretty common story element, there's a lot you can do with this and I can't help but think that the delivery felt a little flat. I never really felt like the characters came to life for me and to be honest, neither did the chemistry between our lead characters.

There are some nice things about this volume, such as the section of the book that was in full color. It was a smart move and it did pay off well. It was one of the better sections of the book story and art wise. Parts of this book showed me that this really wanted to be a better story than what it was and I wish that it could have been.

If you're looking to read this, I'd recommend getting it from the library. This just wasn't one of the strongest offerings in the MBIAM series. Read it first via the library and then decide if you want to buy it for further re-readings or save up and wait on the next book in the series.

1.5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Comics Review: Storm Born by Richelle Mead

2011-08-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

Title: Storm Born Vol 1 (Dark Swan book 1)
Author: Richelle Mead, Grant Alter
Artist: Dave Hamann
Publisher: SeaLion Books
Buy it from: Amazon.com
Release Date: 10/4/2011
ISBN: 0982818645

(Note: This review is based on issues 1 & 2 of the series, not the whole volume.)

Eugenie Markham never asked for any of this. Until now, she''s been content with her job as a freelance shaman, battling and banishing Otherworldly creatures. When a prophecy suddenly makes her the Otherworld''s most popular bachelorette, Eugenie finds herself fighting off unwanted supernatural suitors, as well as the evils that begin emerging from her past...

Wow. Just wow. Richelle Mead has been on my list of authors to check out so Sea Lion Book's offer to preview one of her comics was pretty exciting. After all, thousands of screaming fans must mean that she's doing something right, right?

Well, those thousands of screaming fans have to check out the graphic novel adaptation of the first book in her Dark Swan series because then they'll have a little something to scream extra loud about. Storm Born is a perfect example of what you should do as far as book to comic goes.

I haven't read the books (although that's going to change very, very quickly) so I'm not sure if there's any big alterations from the novel, but this was easy to get into and follow along with. I absolutely love-love-LOVE the artwork. It's so beautifully done. It doesn't hurt that I love artwork of redheads. Hamann does a very good job of bringing the characters here to life. Some of the artwork reminds me of the comic series Fables, which is a good thing considering the quality of work you see in it.

Sea Lion Books was gracious enough to allow me to post some of the covers as well as a few pages from the comics. Eugenie (aka Odile) has such wonderful expressions that it's easy to get wrapped up in the story. I do have to warn that there are some adult situations in this volume, although they are very tactfully done. You won't see any full nudity in these comics and any "extracurricular activities" aren't overly graphic. Parents might want to preview this before handing it over to their teens, but this is rather tame in comparison to some of the things seen in other graphic novels out in the market. (Although there is a risk to teens of getting their libraries raided so the parent in question can read the novel format of Storm Born and find out what happens next.)

Story-wise, my curiosity is piqued. There's been a lot of different things in the urban fantasy world, but shamans are rather under-represented. Necromancers or witches? Plenty. Shamans? Not so much. There's a lot of room for Mead to expand in & showcase Eugenie's talents in this series.

So far I've got my theories as to what's going on with certain characters, but I'll have to wait until I finish the graphic novel or book to find out. I'm also sort of predicting some future romantic entanglements, or perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part. (Eugenie's roommate is pretty intriguing.)

My two issues ended on a very big cliffhanger so I'm really looking forward to reading the full volume when it comes out in October. I've been informed that volume 1 will cover the first half of Storm Born, with volume 2 completing the novel.

Fans of Mead will also be happy to know that her much loved Vampire Academy series has also gotten the graphic novel treatment, with the first book coming out this August.

5 out of 5 stars

(Reader copies provided by Sea Lion Books)

Book Trailer Time! (The Other Side of the Window by Chloe Bierge)

2011-08-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I've showcased author Chloe Bierge before (you can check it out here) & recently I got an email from her telling me that she's got a brand spanking new trailer for her book The Other Side of the Window for you to view!

You can purchase a copy of Chloe's book at Amazon, Smashwords, & Barnes & Nobles!

Author Showcase: Angela Panayotopulos

2011-08-06T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm pleased to introduce you to another author to check out, Angela Panayotopulos! She was nice enough to do a guest blog for me!

You Are Here

This is a story about Mythakians— Greek-speaking human villagers living on a fictional representation of the real Ithaki and all the metaphorical ones; creatures created through inspiration, written words, and long coffee-flavored nights. It is a story about Greeks—the Greeks who once lived with hearts pulsing with the deepest emotions (such joys, sorrows, rages, passions), with bodies toughened to shoot and run and love and conceive, with minds sharpened and haunted by life’s most tragic scenes, with spines steeled by centuries of warfare, repression, and revolution. It is a story about Germans, about Italians, about Australians, about Brits. It is a story about farmers, fisherfolk, shepherds, monks, leaders, soldiers, children, killers, lovers. It is about neglectful gods and timeless myths, about a God of miracles and mercy, about a civilization of poverty and pride.

Most of all, The Art of War: a Novel is about my friends, my dreams, my nightmares, my family, my soulmate, and myself. It is an exploration of who I am—and, through me as a sample, an exploration of humanness. It can also work the other way around (usually, of course, it’s both); after researching and writing about other human beings, I discover more about myself. It’s a two-way street that your pen walks you down, whether you plan it or not.
But it’s not that at all—or rather, it’s not all that, only. It’s far more… It begins like that, you see, and then it evolves, like a tree whose soul you’ve planted in the ground in springtime and which by summer begins unfurling branches and dropping fruit from angles you never even knew existed.

That is why sometimes I am hesitant to say: My dear, this character was based after you… but he sort of took a life of his own along the way. He says what he wants, he packs off and goes to war without asking me, he almost gets himself shot in the head like a fool. This being a war novel, you must know, chances of him getting shot are huge. So it isn’t you, you see! Except he is your namesake—or you are his, I always get that mixed up—and his compassion, wit, and rugged good looks are all you. I like to include you in my writing, because you’ve either make a big impression on me as a person, or I simply loved your name and had to use it, or I wanted to feel close to you (on a more intimate note, I like to sketch the faces of the people I love most when I miss them). So as that Elton John song goes, “I don’t have much / but it’s the best I can do / my gift is my song, yea / and this one’s for you…”

This kind of all ties in to the reason I actually began writing. I read a lovely quote once that I really disliked but couldn’t help agreeing with. It went something along the lines of—and I’m paraphrasing here, so forgive—writers are people who shun society in order to speak with and connect to society. It’s a pretty little paradox, but to an extent somehow I think it works. There’s the self-imposed aloneness, of course; but there’s also an imposed loneliness, of a sorts. The latter is mine. It’s as they say; sometimes your choices form your circumstances, and sometimes your circumstances form your choices. When I was still a kid, I moved half-way around the world and was homeschooled in a very rural region of Europe. I had a lot of precious time to spend in the company of my family’s big wheezing computer and my rampant imagination.

I wrote a lot of fantasy when I was little—mostly because I could have things my way. My world, my friends. I could bring all the people I loved and missed so much, talk with them, remember them, imagine their reactions, and invite them in a world that I’d created. No surprise then, how this pattern of attachment and connection continued, even when I was back in a busy-as-a-beehive university surrounded by amazing people I’d also come to love. I decided these people deserve to be written about, too.

A lot of people, when they write fiction, like to disclaim that any and all persons within their books are fictional and any resemblance to any real persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Sometimes, okay, I’ll let it slide. Other times, sorry, but it’s obvious bullshit. That’s a red flag trying to camouflage itself in a jungle. This book is probably inspired by all the people I know but legalities are freaking me out so let’s not say it.

Okay, not everyone in my novel is based on someone. Some characters were just dreamed up along the way, simply because they were needed there. But many were inspired by real people, people like me and you. If you recognize yourself in this book—and you might just catch one name, or one character trait, or one all-too-familiar phrase—just know that you’re in there for a reason. At some point in my life, you’ve touched my heart, and I sought to keep and thank you just so.

The Art of War: a Novel. From me, to you, with love.

--Angela.

------------

You can purchase The Art of War: a Novel via Smashworlds. You can also view trailers for Angela's book, which I'll be linking to below:

Book Review: Zombies of the World

2011-08-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

Title: Zombies of the World
Author: Ross Payton
Publisher: Slang Design
Release Date: 06/15/2011
ISBN: 0982726503

If you're like me, you probably never knew that there were different types of zombies other than "dead" & "really dead". Ignorance of the different species can not only be deadly but it can also lead to the extinction of several rare & intriguing zombie kinds. By shooting first & asking questions later, you might be missing out on the chance to watch the the well choreographed Dancing Zombie. Or you could anger a Revenant, which is insanely hard to kill & will most likely end with you being a greasy smear on the pavement.

Fortunately for you & I, this book covers at least 20 species of the undead. We're given not only a brief synopsis of the specific species's history but also images telling us where they can be located & how plentiful they are. (Joining a zombie sight seeing tour is discouraged without properly checking their credentials, year the company was formed, & their CorpseFax, which details all of the skirmishes, fatalities, & infections they've had. More than one person has lost their lives by signing up with a fly-by-night zombie tour!) The book also lists which humans (living ones, not dead ones) you should try to avoid if you're trapped in a zombie attack. If you're reading this book (or this review) then your chances of survival are already far better than that of the uninformed citizen.

We're also treated to a brief but highly informative history of the zombie race in general, starting from its ancient beginnings to the present day. Author Payton also treats us to a bright, hopeful vision of the future where zombie science will eradicate death, illness, & enable us to lead better and happier lives.

However if you're one of the skeptics who insist that zombies aren't real & that this book is nothing but a novelty item, you might still find this guide useful for role-playing games. It's a valuable resource that you can use to heighten your game playing experience. It might also save your life when the "fictional" zombies break in during your Friday gaming night.

5 out of 5 stars

(Reader Copy provided by the author.)

As a bonus I do want to say that more & more home owners are seeing the appeal of having Dancing Zombies congregate on their lawn to perform surprisingly well choreographed dances. While the North American Necrological Research Institute (NANRI) does not recommend encouraging these displays (mostly due to horrific public overreaction), it does recognize that certain displays are far more likely to appeal to the Dancing Zombie.

RIP, LA Banks: Beloved author dead at age 51

2011-08-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

Everyone, it's my sad duty to inform you that beloved author LA Banks passed away yesterday morning on August the 2nd, 2011. The website doesn't say, but I believe that it was due to her battle with cancer.

She will be much missed in the literary community. That much is painfully obvious.

What we can do to ensure that her memory is never forgotten is to take a moment sometime to recommend her books to someone and/or to do a good deed for those who are suffering from any sort of cancer.

I just want to say that I'm grateful for having been able to read LA's books. They brought me countless hours of joy & I know that they've done the same for others. Rest in peace, Ms Banks.

Book Review: The Evil Inside by Heather Graham

2011-08-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Title: The Evil Inside (Krewe of Hunters #4)

Author: Heather Graham

Publisher: Harlequin

Release Date: 08/30/2011

ISBN: 0778312534

I was initially apprehensive about reading this book. After all, some of the previous books in this series weren't really as good as some of Graham's previous works. I decided to give this a read & ultimately I'm rather glad I did.

For as long as it has stood overlooking New England’s jagged coastline, Lexington House has been the witness to madness…and murder. But in recent years the inexplicable malice that once tormented so many has lain as silent as its victims. Until now…

A member of the nation’s foremost paranormal forensic team, Jenna Duffy has made a career out of investigating the inexplicable. Yet nothing could prepare her for the string of slayings once again plaguing Lexington House – or for the chief suspect, a boy barely old enough to drive, much less kill.

With the young man’s life on the line, Jenna must team up with attorney Samuel Hill to pinpoint who – or what – is taking the lives of those who get too close to the past. But everything they learn brings them closer to the forces of evil stalking this tortured ground.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I really enjoyed reading this book. From the very first page I was hooked. The suspense in this was well done for the most part & unlike some of the previous books, I couldn't instantly discover who the true killer was. The romance in this was also pleasant, albeit a little too overly similarly plotted to the romances in the previous books. I'd like to see a romance in this series (there's still one more character to match up) where the love interest didn't instantly go the skeptical route or have that be a big focus of the match up. It just gets a little overly tread after a while. Even with this handicap our main characters are still well matched. Their romance isn't "set the pages on fire" hot, but it is sweet.

One of the strongest points in the book was the book's atmosphere, which was helped along by Graham setting the story in Salem, Massachusetts. The name alone gives the reader a certain mental image, which helps out greatly in this book. It also doesn't hurt that Graham decided to bring in the idea of witch hunting, comparing the hunts of the past to those of the present. It was a bold but smart move by Graham.

It's not a completely flawless book, however. At times I really couldn't help but wish that Graham had fleshed out some of the characters more, especially our whodunit. The whodunit wasn't an outrageous surprise but a little more development would have made the finish really stand out. I sort of blame this on the fact that this book was part of a series. It was only when the KoH had to be involved that the book started somewhat unraveling & I feel like if our two heroes had to do more of the footwork themselves (rather than relying on people who could quickly do it offscreen) the book would have been a little more tightly woven. This would have been an excellent standalone novel.

I'd still highly recommend this as a last minute vacation or "yay, the kids are back in school" read. Despite a few stumbles, this was a lot of fun to read & I would recommend it even if you haven't read or been all that entranced by the previous books. I'd go as far as to say that this is easily the best book of the series so far.

3.4/5

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Green River Killer: A True Detective Story by Jeff Jensen & Jonathan Case

2011-07-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

Title: Green River Killer: A True Detective Story
Author: Jeff Jensen, Jonathan Case
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: 10/11/2011
ISBN: 1595825606

Before I start this review I want you to know that I love true crime books. Nothing is as frightening or as chilling as the tales of real people being murdered by monsters more heinous than anything Stephen King or Hollywood could dream up. Why? Because these monsters are very human & very real. That's why I was so eager to read this graphic novel, but unfortunately it just didn't live up to even my most modest expectations.

The story of one of America''s most notorious killers is revealed in this true-crime comic unlike any other! Throughout the 1980s, the highest priority of Seattle-area police was the apprehension of the Green River Killer, the man responsible for the murders of dozens of women. But in 1990, with the body count numbering at least forty-eight, the case was put in the hands of a single detective, Tom Jensen. After twenty years, when the killer was finally captured with the help of DNA technology, Jensen and fellow detectives spent 188 days interviewing Gary Leon Ridgway in an effort to learn his most closely held secrets-an epic confrontation with evil that proved as disturbing and surreal as can be imagined. Written by Jensen''s own son, acclaimed entertainment journalist Jeff Jensen, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story presents the ultimate insider''s account of America's most prolific serial killer.

Where did this book go wrong? I'd say it went wrong when the authors decided to jump from time period to time period rather than telling the story in a more linear fashion. The book's format assumes that the reader is at least passingly familiar with the details of the story, which sometimes works against itself. Someone who has never really heard of the GRK will probably feel a little lost at times reading this, while others who have some familiarity will be able to keep up with it fine. I'm familiar with the GRK, so I was able to keep up but I couldn't help but feel that the jumps in the timeline just drew away from the story.

As a result of the jarring jumps I wasn't really able to feel the tension that the book tried to impart, nor was I really able to get a good clear feeling for Tom Jensen's personality. Forgive me, but this really seemed to be a shallow telling & I couldn't help but feel that the creepy story of the GRK was really given the treatment it deserves. I wasn't looking for some overly sensationalized & gory treatment of the GRK & his victims, but I was hoping for something more than this book put out.

There are, however, a few parts in the book where our authors did manage to capture my attention, such as the epilogue (which was very good), the emotional scenes where Jensen has to pass along bad news to family members, as well as Ridgway's chilling admission of "I just needed to kill".

One thing I do have to give praise for is the artwork. It manages to look good without going the "flashy, slick, attention grabbing" route that you see in many comics. The artwork here is understated, which helps keep the work from appearing too unreal & story-like. Others have compared it to the works of Charles Burns, which I agree is a good comparison. It's just that even the excellent artwork in this book was unable to keep this book from being an overall dull & forgettable read.

I'd really only recommend this if you can read it at your local library or glance through it on the shelves of a bookstore. True crime completists will probably want to pick this up since it's one of the few graphic novel versions of any murder's grisly accomplishments, but if you're looking to learn about the GRK then there's better resources out there.

2 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

For a good cause: American Refugee Committee

2011-07-27T01:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know this is sort of out of my normal scope of blogging, but a little research for a book I'm reading (I'm a nerd, I google stuff mentioned in the books to get a better mental picture of everything) eventually lead me to to discover the American Refugee Committee.

While we're all enjoying our books & the freedom to read what we like, we should remember that not everyone enjoys the same privileges we do. There are many people

in areas such as Somalia that have to live in refugee camps, go to bed hungry, & try to raise children in areas that make some of the worse neighborhoods in the USA look like Disney World. Right now there's a terrible famine going on, leaving many adults & children without any food.

Because of this I wanted to highlight a group that's doing an awful lot of good in the world: the American Refugee Committee. They're not only taking donations but they're also taking on volunteers to help with anything from reaching out to people in needy places such as Somalia & Darfur to simply spending time in the ARC home base here in the States.

Even if you can only help out by spreading the word about this or similar groups (or even just trying to help out by donating to your favorite local charity), we should all do what we can!

Book Review: Evelyn Evelyn by Amanda Palmer

2011-07-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Title: Evelyn Evelyn
Author: Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley
Artist: Cynthia von Buhler
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: 09/14/2011
ISBN: 1595825789

Ever read A Series of Unfortunate Events & thought "It would be really cool if instead of focusing on a trio of orphans & mysterious events, it'd be cool if Snicket wrote about conjoined twins?" If you've ever thought that, then you're in luck. Dresden Dolls genius Amanda Palmer has you covered in spades. (Oh yeah, and Jason Webley. I'm not too familiar with his stuff.)

Enthusiasts of genuine tragedy and celebrity intrique, gird your mental loins for an authentic tale of unbelievable hardship and epic catastrophe!

This wholly true and accurate account details the extraordinary lives of Evelyn and Evelyn, a darling but unfortunate pair of conjoined twins who brave extreme circumstances of calamity and adversity, such as the bizarre and bloody night of their birth and subsequent orphaning; their early years on a chicken farm; shocking encounters with depraved gentlemen; life in the circus; the terrible fates of their dearest friends; and concluding with the sisters' rise to international fame via the internet!

Fans of Amanda Palmer won't be surprised at how completely twisted & strange this collection is. A story like this can really only be properly told by someone as wickedly unique as her. It's not PC, but that's not the point of this story. The point is to showcase two talents that have been here all along.

The storyline of the book is quite frankly very dark. If you saw this & thought "oh how cute, a kid's book" then you'll be incredibly mistaken. There's nothing in this that's appropriate for children. The book starts off with the twins' sad beginning & from there goes through a pretty tragic course of events. I don't want to spoil the book for you but there's stuff in here ranging from child abuse to pedophilia. None of it is especially graphic. You never see it "on screen" or directly called out for what it was by the twins, but it is there. People who prefer not to read books with this sort of material will probably want to steer clear or at least get this for a library read. (Hey, nothing wrong with that. I avoid overly tragic movies for the same reason.)

Artwork-wise, it really fits the tone of the story. The artwork is sad and depressing, but intentionally so. After all, it's not like this is a story about two happy-go-lucky girls fighting evil with magical powers given to them by a stray cat. There was a lot of time & care put into the art in this book & I can't help but admire it even as I wince at some of the things inferred in it. (We can thank the uber-talented Cynthia von Buhler for this artwork!)

Overall this was a pretty great read, but I think it'll really only appeal to a specific group of people. It's definitely worth reading but I recommend this as a library read first for anyone who is on the fence about purchasing this book. There will be people for whom this will be an absolutely buy immediately book, but others will be content to read this once, bask in its glow for a while, then remain content to keep up with the twins via the internet.

(By the way, if you haven't checked them out on youtube, do so. It's worth the watch. By the time the video is over the musical stylings of Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley, erm... I mean Evelyn Evelyn will have stolen your heart away. I've included this video below. It's entirely kid-friendly.)

4/5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen

2011-07-26T00:42:00.001-07:00

Title: Beyond the Grave (Past Midnight #3)

Author: Mara Purnhagen

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: 08/23/2011

ISBN: 0373210310

I'm going to have to tone down my geekthusiam while writing this review because quite frankly, I thought this book was awesome. It's one of the best in the Past Midnight series so far, in my humble opinion.

A haunting new tale in the Past Midnight series...

I can’t move forward with my life until I know my demons are confined to the past...

Being Charlotte Silver, the daughter of famous paranormal investigators, means my life isn’t like that of other teenage girls. Especially after what happened to my parents. Things changed. I missed prom and deferred my big college plans. But I still have my boyfriend, Noah. He’s everything I could want—if I can figure out what’s up with him. Suddenly Noah is secretive.

I fear it has something to do with what happened to us three months ago. The bruise Noah suffered during a paranormal attack has never completely faded. Now I’ve learned Noah is researching demons. And when he disappears, it’s up to me to find him—before something else does.

If you couldn't guess from my earlier statement, I loved this book. I loved that it was such a quick & easy read. Also great was that we get a deeper look into the character of Bliss, someone that many will recognize as the former Queen of Mean that she used to be in some of the previous books. We get a better look into her character, showing us things that really help explain how & why she's acted like she has in the past. It really was a good look into a character that could stand to have a series of her own eventually. (After you read this book you'll understand why this could work.)

What really impressed me was that there weren't a lot of punches pulled in this book. People who are a little squeamish will probably wince at the ending since it can get a little on the gory side. You also have to have read the previous books in the series in order to really appreciate everything that's going on here. Enough is explained that new readers will be able to keep up but it probably won't be as fun for them as it would for someone who has read the entire run so far.

I'm not sure if this is the last book in the series or not, to be honest. There's a definite "ending" feel to this book & if Purnhagen did decide to end the series, this would be a terrific ending. I hope she continues the series in some form or fashion (whether with Charlotte or with another character) because there's still a whole world here to explore, especially the world of the Protectors, a group of people whose entire purpose is to protect people like Charlotte.

This is definitely one of my top 10 books of the year. If you haven't read any of Purnhagen's previous books, you need to get them & read them just so you can read Beyond the Grave. It's that good. I have to say, this book is making me want to start over at the beginning of the series & re-read them all, including 1.5.

This is a must read for anyone who loves supernatural fiction! Not a teen? Don't worry because you don't have to be under 18 in order to love this book.

5 out of 5 stars!

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

P.S. I read on the author's blog that this has been optioned for a TV series! I'm definitely crossing my fingers that the bigwigs at CBS realize that they've got a good thing here!

How not to respond to a review: Fandom version

2011-07-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I've got two things to mention, one that's good & another that's not so good. First the good: I should be posting a new set of authors & books to check out along with a contest, so look back in a week or two!

The other thing isn't really so good.

/rant mode on

I was a little bored earlier tonight so I decided to flip through my little stock pile of books. While doing so, I re-discovered a book that I'd wanted to read but had put off for one specific reason. What was that reason?

The fan reaction. I'm not going to name the author. If you haven't discovered this author then I want you to find her without this hanging over you. If you've already read her stuff then I don't want to ruin the reading experience for you.

This author is relatively popular on amazon, but of course with any amount of positive reviews you're going to get some negative reviews. Hey- it comes with the territory. Nobody is going to agree 100% on anything. No matter how well you think something is written, there's always going to be someone who doesn't agree with you. This doesn't mean that they're stupid or that they're attacking your opinions. It also doesn't mean that they're jealous or that they're trying to sabotage the author. It just means that for whatever reason, this book just wasn't for them.

In this particular instance the negative reviews for this author were getting bombarded by people saying all sorts of things about the reviewers. One memorable commenter asked how many books the reviewer had written. (This same reviewer commented on quite a few of the negative reviews.) Others were lambasted for various reasons from not finishing the book to the bad grammar of the reviewer. It got sort of nasty.

The really awful thing about this? The author did actually comment in one of the reviews & was nothing but nice. Unfortunately her comment was lost in a sea full of well-meaning but overly rabid fans out to "get" anyone who said something they didn't agree with.

Seriously, if you find yourself doing this or tempted to do this... take a step away from the computer and take a deep breath. I know that you want to defend your author & that you feel if you only vent to the reviewer that they'll see the light, but STOP. It doesn't make you look good and most importantly, it doesn't make the author look good either. You might have good intentions but commenting back to a negative review rarely ends well. The same goes for down-voting because nine times out of ten you're down voting it because you don't agree with the opinion, not because the review is actually unhelpful.

I still have the book because I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to forget the horrible behavior by the fandom. I just can't bring myself to read it because each time I remember the fan reaction & I get worried that if I were to read & dislike it, would I be attacked if I reviewed the book? Then I end up turning to another story because I just don't want to knowingly put myself through that.

So what to do when you're looking up your favorite author & see a negative review? The same thing you should do if you're an author & you see a negative review. Ignore it. If you're on amazon, don't even bother down-voting it. If you absolutely positively feel that you have to respond, remember that online comments don't usually give off the proper meaning and/or inflection that you want it to. That rather innocuous comment that you planned on posting might come across as a condescending fan rant.

The best thing to do would be to make sure that you've given that book a positive review once you've finished it. Don't mention the negative reviews or any of the comments. That comes across like you're only posting because of the negative reviews. Isn't that insulting the author, for his or her work to share second billing with a rant against negative reviewers?

(Although it should be said that if your negative review contains personal information about the author that has absolutely nothing to do with the book or you're commenting on a book that you haven't even picked up, then you should hold off on that review for right now. Just because you're angry that George R.R. Martin takes years to release a book or you hate that everyone's into the Twilight craze is no reason to post a review.)

So in any case, so ends my little rant. I know that everyone's been in this situation on both sides, both seeing the comments & getting put off of them as well as wanting to comment on a negative review (this is why I don't read reviews on Scott Sigler books). We just have to make sure that we don't turn into one of the fan ranters. It only hurts the author in the long run, which is the exact opposite of what we want to accomplish.

/rant mode off

Book Review: The Fifth Kingdom by Caridad Piñeiro

2011-07-21T03:48:00.001-07:00

Title: The Fifth Kingdom
Author: Caridad Piñeiro
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: 07/11/2011

There's just something about books involving long lost treasures & historical mysteries that just lure me in. The promise of a steamy pairing doesn't hurt either. I got both, but I'll admit that this book was heavier on the steamy pairing than it was on the historical mystery. And I didn't mind a bit.

Dr. Deanna Vasquez hasn't spoken to her mother in years, not since the renowned archaeologist abandoned her family in her quest to find the lost tomb of Montezuma. When CIA agent Bill Santana shows up in her classroom with the news that her mother has been abducted by terrorists, Deanna has to help in any way she can.

Bill needs Deanna's expertise to determine the location of her mother's latest find, before her kidnappers do. He fears whatever mysteries the tomb holds could be deadly in the wrong hands. In an effort to make contact with the terrorist cell, Bill accompanies Deanna to Mexico posing as her fiancé—a ruse made doubly dangerous because of the very real heat between them...

What made this book was the awesome pairing of Bill & Deanna. It's hot, it's tangible, & it's very easy to get wrapped up in. Piñeiro might have gone a little lighter on the anthropological side with this book, but she stepped it up with the romance. One of the more intriguing & inviting things of the romance here is that the gender roles are switched. Normally when it comes to initiating sex it's the man who takes charge, but in this book the women are the ones who are large & in charge. It's really a nice turn of pace to see a woman doing this.

The action scenes are tense and fast paced, but a good chunk of this book focuses on the romantic & emotional state of our two main characters. It might seem a little risky, but it does seem to work here. I really felt myself connect with Deanna, although I'll admit that at times I was a little impatient for the plot to shift towards the inevitable action & discovery scenes. This might result in some readers getting a little anxious to get to the action, but trust me- the first sex scene more than makes up for it. (Yowza!)

I really enjoyed Piñeiro's Aztec Gold & this is no exception. I'm really looking forward to the next book she puts out along these lines. Caridad Piñeiro has a wonderful way of bringing a scene to life that's really exciting.

4/5

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Google+ enabled!

2011-07-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This isn't really all that book related, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm on Google+ now, so if any of you are on you should look me up. I'm listed under "Book Goggles". (And of course if anyone needs/wants an invite, let me know- I'll see what I can do.)

So far it's pretty interesting. It's pretty similar to facebook (no gaming just yet). It seems a little more professional, so I'd liken it to facebook & twitter's older cousin.

Book Review: The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten

2011-07-19T03:38:00.001-07:00

Title: The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten
Author: Harrison Geillor
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Release Date: 10/18/2011
ISBN: 1597802840

You don't have to be a Twilight fan to like this book, although I do recommend that you have a rudimentary knowledge of the series. This is a lot of fun to read, especially for the nice little twists that the author throws on the various characters. If you're worried about someone poking fun at the Twilight series, then relax. There's nothing particularly horrible in this that you or a friend haven't already poked fun at yourselves.

A small town... a plucky heroin, a shiny vampire, and a hunkey Native American rival with a secret. But all is not as it seems in Lake Woebegotten. Let Harrison Geillor reveal what lies beneath the seemingly placid surface. You'll Laugh. We promise.

When Bonnie Grayduck relocates from sunny Santa Cruz California to the small town of Lake Woebegotten, Minnesota, to live with her estranged father, chief of the local two-man police department, she thinks she's leaving her troubles behind. But she soon becomes fascinated by another student - the brooding, beautiful Edwin Scullen, whose reclusive family hides a terrible secret. (Psst: they're actually vampires. But they're the kind who don't eat people, so it's okay.)

Once Bonnie realizes what her new lover really is, she isn't afraid. Instead, she sees potential. Because while Bonnie seems to her friends and family to be an ordinary, slightly clumsy, easily-distracted girl, she's really manipulative, calculating, power hungry, and not above committing murder to get her way - or even just to amuse herself. This is a love story about monsters... but the vampire isn't the monster.

I have to admit that what really drew me to this book was that the author was parodying two separate groups: Harrison Keillor and Twilight. It's a pretty unusual mixture, which is probably why this book works so well as a parody. It's not the typical Twilight parody that's out there & I also liked that this wasn't as mean spirited as some of the other parodies out there can be. (Although in fairness I'm referring more to the various parodies out there in the fanfic-verse, so they weren't polished up like this book was.)

It really was a great idea to make Bonnie into a sociopath, which made a lot of sense in this story. It explains a lot of her actions as well as providing just enough entertainment value to keep me interested. I also liked how the book tries very hard to follow the storyline of the Twilight saga. It's just close enough to where you can spot when the shifts to the plots of each different book happens, but not to the point where it's overly awkward or jarring.

It's not all sunshine & puppies, though. While I did enjoy the book I also found that it just got a little old after a while. I would get into the book, only to find my attention wandering every once in a while. I'd enjoy the bits and pieces I read, but this really is something that I'd recommend more in small doses. It's the type of book that you read along with another book & flip through when you need a little something to clear your mind. It's more of an aperitif than a main course.

This is sort of par for the course, though. It's very difficult to find a parody novel that you'd want to read the entire way through. The problem with novel-length parodies is that it's pretty hard to keep the same level of entertainment & humor throughout the book. Geillor does an admirable job of this, but falls short of being something that held my attention non-stop throughout the entire book. I can't really see this as a major flaw since most parody books aren't really meant to be the attention grabbers that their more serious bretheren are.

For what this is, it's pretty good. Fans of Twilight will enjoy the spoof & the anti-fans will love seeing the sendups of the various characters. It's not a "ZOMG! BUY IT NOW!1!" type of read, but it's the type of book that will undoubtedly get a lot of readers through word of mouth. It's something that you absolutely must get if you see it at the library & a possible buy if you see it at the bookstore & like what you see.

3/5

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson

2011-07-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

Title: Ultraviolet
Author: R.J. Anderson
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Release Date: 09/01/2011
ISBN: 0761374086

Before I go on with this review, I just want people to understand that this book was published in the UK & is set in Canada. My reasons for mentioning this are semi-spoilerish, so if you want to read a spoiler-free review then you might want to stop at this paragraph. I'll summarize my review here: I enjoyed this book & would recommend it, but I really felt like the last 1/4th of the book deserved to be stretched out more- it was too good to be as short as it was. Otherwise this was a very good sci-fi/fantasy read.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who was special. This is not her story. Unless you count the part where I killed her."

Sixteen-year-old Alison wakes up in a mental institution. As she pieces her memory back together, she realizes she’s confessed to murdering Tori Beaugrand, the most perfect girl at school. But the case is a mystery. Tori's body has not been found, and Alison can't explain what happened. One minute she was fighting with Tori. The next moment Tori disintegrated—into nothing.

But that's impossible. No one is capable of making someone vanish. Right? Alison must be losing her mind—like her mother always feared she would.

For years Alison has tried to keep her weird sensory abilities a secret. No one ever understood—until a mysterious visiting scientist takes an interest in Alison's case. Suddenly, Alison discovers that the world is wrong about her—and that she’s capable of far more than anyone else would believe.

I'll talk about the good before I start going into the other aspects of the book. First off, I loved that this wasn't your typical YA read. There are a few basic tropes in this book but when you write a story of any sort (YA or otherwise), you're going to have to utilize some of them. Anderson does an excellent job of giving us something new as far as the "teen girl with (maybe) superpowers" genre goes. It was wonderful to see something new in this genre. Maybe it was this uniqueness that made me get so attached to Alison, as I found myself eagerly following along with everything that happened to her. I will admit though, that I found the character of Tori (Alison's rival) far more interesting for what little screen time & mentions she received.

The book does have its imperfections though. I found that even though I liked the slow buildup, there's a lot of time spent on Alison's time in the group home & very little time spent on the actual reveal in the last part of the book. I can't go into this without spoiling it, but I felt that it was incredibly underserved. It's developed enough to where you can read it without being horribly disappointed, but the reveal was so interesting that I really wish that the author had spent a little less time with Alison's time at the asylum & interactions with Faraday (a & more time on this aspect of the book. It was just too cool for how little "screen time" it gets.

This also brings me to the reason why I mentioned that this whole thing takes place in Canada & was published in the UK. This is somewhat spoilerish so if you don't want to read this then just skip over this paragraph. The reason I mention this is because there's a little bit of romance between a 16 year old & a 24 year old, which really sort of bothered me. I know that the age of consent in Canada & the UK is lower than here in the US (although some states do have AOC at 16), but this just sort of creeped me out a little & I know it'll do the same for other readers. My reason for mentioning this isn't to keep people from reading the book but to mention that this age gap is brought up by the older of the two characters & there's no sex. I debated about whether or not to include this in my review at all, but I know that others have mentioned it so I felt like it was worth mentioning.

Overall this really was a good read & if the author puts out another book in this series (preferably surrounding the character of Tori) I'll definitely read it. This author has a great style that I would really love to see more of. Once again Carolrhoda Labs has put out a YA title that refuses to play by the same rules as the other publishers in the field & I love them for it.

4/5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: An Unusual Journey Through Royal History by Victoria Martinez

2011-07-08T22:02:00.001-07:00

Title: An Unusual Journey Through Royal History
Author: Victoria Martinez
Publisher: Who Dares Wins Publishing
Release Date: 04/18/2011
eISBN: B004X7LYPQ

This is not your typical royal history book. The table of contents reads more like a menu at a good restaurant, where there’s something for everyone’s taste. Each of the 18 chapters tells a unique story about an overlooked or unusual aspect of royal history, spanning centuries and countries, but in no particular order. From first to last, they will take you on a journey through royal history you’ve probably never seen or thought of before.

In few – if any – other books will you find the British Monarchy compared to London’s sewer system, or read of the challenges of finding a suitable husband for a 200-plus pound Victorian princess who was nonetheless a “remarkably light dancer.” Rarely are the lives of historic and modern royals from Queen Victoria and Catherine the Great to Prince Charles and Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark “illustrated” not by paintings but by tattoos. Even more intimate topics, like the practice of circumcision among royals – including Princes William and Harry – are explored for the sake of inquiring minds.

Chances are, even readers who usually find historic royalty boring and stuffy or modern royalty anachronistic and detached will find something to enjoy. Who wouldn’t feel a bit satisfied reading about a celebrated 19th century courtesan being paid to steal the thunder of an old and frumpy queen just to prove that queens are expected to be beautiful? It can also be quite amusing to find that a supposedly formal portrait of the current British Royal Family holds hidden, enigmatic clues to family dynamics and individual personalities that amuse and baffle.

In short (much like the Court dwarfs you’ll read about), this book will leave you with a sense that you not only know royal history – and enjoy it – but that you have also journeyed through it and know the royals personally, from who exterminates their palaces right down to their infamous last words.

Everyone knows the basics about royalty. You know that there's a King, a Queen, & veritable hordes of Princes, Princesses, & various other titles. But did you know that the royalty helped usher in London's sewer system? Or that they used to be tattooed? Little tidbits like these are what makes this book so interesting to read & believe me, I'm not a history reader.

Victoria Martinez has managed to do a very difficult task with this book. Not only does she do the research to find the stuff that you won't find in your normal textbooks, but she manages to make it fun to read & best of all- EASY to read. There's no dry, boring lines of chewed over text in this book.

If you hate history then you need to read this book. If you like history well, it goes without saying that this is a "must download" for you. I have to admit, if more books were written like this then I'd be a bigger history buff.

5/5

(Review copy provided by author)

Book Review: Mayhem by Artist Arthur

2011-07-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Title: Mayhemn (Mystyx #3)
Author: Artist Arthur
Publisher: Kimani Tru
Release Date: 07/19/2011
ISBN: 0373229933

This book in the series really seemed to strike a chord with me. Maybe it's that I've become a huge fan of this series or perhaps it's because I was bullied in school, albeit not to the extent that Jake was. Maybe it's all of the above, but let me tell you- this was easily the strongest book in the series so far. (No pun on Jake's abilities intended.)

A lot can change in a few months. Jake Palmer is living proof of that. In a short time, the once-shy loner has discovered his incredible supernatural abilities and forged a tight bond with his fellow Mystyx. What’s more—he’s fallen for his best friend, Krystal. And fallen hard.

Still, some things remain the same—like the jocks who keep bullying him. Even though they have no idea how powerful Jake has become. And while he tries to follow Krystal’s advice, he may not be able to keep his cool much longer. But there are bigger problems ahead, because the darkness that’s been hovering nearby is about to descend on the town of Lincoln, Connecticut. And when it does, the Mystyx will learn who to trust, who to fear and just how much is at stake…

You don't have to have been bullied to appreciate how Arthur approaches it. She doesn't get preachy, nor does she make Jake out to be some frail creature that never reacts or only acts ineffectively. Jake gives as good as he gets. Aside from the obvious addition of supernatural powers & evil forces, this was a pretty honest portrayal of what bullying is & was like for so many of us out there. This part of the book was extremely easy to get into & Jake's emotions were also easy to relate to. I think everyone's been a Jake at some point in their lives.

Now as far as the series as a whole goes, this is literally the turning point in the series for just about everything. We finally get more answers to the questions & although I can't divulge them without spoiling anything for you, this really was fun to read. I just couldn't put it down! We've got about two more books in the series & things are really building up to an explosive finale. I'm more excited to read the finish than ever! (Plus there's awesome Jake/Krystal goodness in this book!)

One thing I do want to note is that while there is cussing in this book, it was censored in my copy via asterisks. This might just be because it's a galley, but it could end up being censored in the final product. I actually don't have a problem with this & the main reason I'm mentioning it is because I know that there's a lot of people who don't like reading curse words in their YA books.

With all of the various teen series getting made into TV shows, I'm really mystified (lol) that this hasn't been picked up by someone. This book series really is a winner!

4/5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Another LA Banks auction!

2011-07-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I should have posted this a few days ago when it officially opened, but here it is:

Wicked Little Pixie's LA Banks auction!

There's a lot of awesome stuff here, from signed books to hotel stays! It's just as awesome as the first auction & it looks like it's off to a great start!!

LA Banks auction results!

2011-07-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give you a quick update on the results from the most recent auction for LA Banks!

I did a quick calculation from the end results from the official auction page & it looks like about $26,000 was raised!

There's also going to be another auction on the 6th, so keep your eyes out for any announcements via Wicked Lil Pixie's website!

Amazon Tablet & rumors: DO WANT!

2011-06-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've been somewhat following the rumors that have been floating about the potential Amazon tablet. Jeff Bezos has been rather coy about any potential tablets, never really giving out a definite answer as to when or how their own tablet will be released.

It's pretty much a given as to whether or not it will happen. After all, tablets are the "it" thing right now & it'd be incredibly foolhardy for amazon to pass up an opportunity to offer their own version. They're well known for successfully introducing their own ereader into the general public during a time where ereaders were pretty much a non-mainstream item. Even with the strong competition from Barnes & Nobles, Amazon has still managed to keep the kindle relevant, so I'm not surprised that they'd try to repeat this success with a tablet.

But what type of tablet? The rumors have ranged from the following:

*It'll run on android. (Not really a surprise. Android is really popular.)
*It'll have streaming movies. (Again, not a surprise. I expect that the AT will try to do everything the iPad can do.)
*Amazon is expecting to ship between half a million to a million units a month. (This is a little extravagant but I can see high amounts being shipped, especially if pre-existing kindle users get offered a special deal.)
*There are going to be 2 tablets offered. (Sort of doubting this, but it might be a good idea if amazon were to offer a cheaper, simpler tablet for people on a budget. It'd definitely take some wind out of iPad's sails since one of the biggest complains about the iPad is that it's too expensive.)

Supposedly we can expect the AT to appear sometime towards the end of the summer or mid-fall. I have to admit, I'm definitely intrigued. I've been wanting an iPad for a while but the price really deters me from purchasing one. If I could get something that's just as good for half or a third of the price, I'd probably go for it.

Book Review: The Paradise Prophecy

2011-06-28T20:02:00.001-07:00

Title: The Paradise Prophecy
Author: Robert Browne
Publisher: Penguin Group
Release Date: 07/21/2011
ISBN: 9780525952237

The Da Vinci Code is going to both help & hinder Browne when it comes to this book. As both books deal with religious mysteries, the two of them are going to inevitably be compared to one another. The authors having nearly identical last names will only help further this along. It'll help since people will see this book, remember the good times they had reading TDVC, & pick The Paradise Prophecy up. It'll hinder because people won't find a TDVC-esque read behind these covers. Which I view as a very good thing. (Hey, there are enough clones out there.)

In the bestselling tradition of Dan Brown, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child comes a spectacular thriller inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost, in which the final chapter of the War in Heaven is about to play out on Earth, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

THE MYTH:
When God cast the archangel Satan into Hell, ending the War in Heaven, peace prevailed on Earth. Until the fallen angels took revenge in the Garden of Eden. Ever since, mankind has been in a struggle between good and evil, paradise and apocalypse: the fall of Rome, the Crusades, world wars, nuclear proliferation, the Middle East crisis. The War in Heaven never really ended-it just changed venues. For millennia, God's angels have been fighting Satan's demons on Earth to try to prevent Satan's greatest ambition-the apocalypse.

THE REALITY:
Satan has never been closer to his goal than right now.

Agent Bernadette Callahan is a talented investigator at a shadowy government organization known only as Section, on the trail of a serial killer with nearly supernatural abilities. Sebastian "Batty" LaLaurie is a religious historian who knows far too much about the other side-and that hard-earned knowledge is exactly what Callahan needs. This unlikely duo pairs up for a race across the globe, decoding clues left in ancient texts from the Bible to Paradise Lost and beyond. In the process they stumble upon a vast conspiracy-one beyond the scope of mankind's darkest imagination.

This book was fantastic. I'm always looking for something, anything that will give me that heady rush that getting wrapped up in a good book always gives me. I absolutely loved that Browne didn't go the traditional route with this sort of book, which is to give us either a Dan Brown or a James Rollins clone. I also love that he gave us heroes that are so flawed, so initially corruptible. Batty & Callahan play well off of each other, him being the Mulder to Callahan's Scully. I also appreciated how the idea of angels & evil played into the book without going too over my head. This was an easily addictive read & I'm glad to have read it.

I can't help but feel that there will be a few people who will be inevitably disappointed that this book goes more to the supernatural than the whole "historical/mythological treasure hunt" angle that is predominant in the genre. I can understand that to a point, but if they allow that to completely taint their reading they'll be missing out on a really fun read.

The book wraps itself up nicely, but hopefully Browne will write a sequel or two. This is far too good to just be one book & I'm really digging his writing style. It's very addicting.

4/5

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Check it Out: Contest winner!

2011-06-27T05:15:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry for posting the results of the contest so late! I ended up pulling a double shift & spent most of the weekend asleep! Sorry about that!!!

In any case, I picked a winner using random.org (awesome site to play around with, if you're curious) & here's the winner:

Auntie Deb!

I'll be sending you an email with the winning code from smashwords!

Book Review: Sacred Evil by Heather Graham

2011-06-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Title: Sacred Evil (Krewe of Hunters #3)
Author: Heather Graham
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: 07/26/2011
ISBN: 0778312429

If you were like me & was disappointed in the previous book in the series, take an easy breath: this book is better. It's not as fun as the first book was, but it's still much more intriguing than Heart of Evil.

A terror born of Jack the Ripper

The details of the crime scene are no coincidence. The body—a promising starlet—has been battered, bloodied and then discarded between two of Manhattan's oldest graveyards.

One look and Detective Jude Crosby recognizes the tableau:

A re–creation of Jack the Ripper's gruesome work. But he also sees something beyond the actions of a mere copycat. Something more dangerous…and unexplainable.

As the city seethes with suspicion, Jude calls on Whitney Tremont, a member of the country's preeminent paranormal investigating team, to put the speculation to rest. Yet when Whitney and Jude delve deeper, what they discover is more shocking than either could have predicted, and twice as sinister…

It's really hard to write a book with Ripper themes to it & not have the book be incredibly interesting. What really intrigued me about the book is how much Graham took from past events. I was surprised to know that there were a series of murders in New York that closely mirrored Jack the Ripper's style & that even today, the murderer was never caught. That played in well with the modern day killings in this book, making the suspense that much more thrilling & fun to read.

The romance in the book is mostly cut & dry, sadly. The chemistry between our two main characters doesn't really come through as well as I'd wanted it to, although I will admit that their later love scenes are pretty sizzling. The mystery does make up for this for most of the book, so I was well willing to overlook this. The only downfall of the mystery is that the conclusion is a little abrupt. The killer's identity was about what I was expecting but it came about so quickly that I couldn't help but feel like I'd missed out on something. I couldn't help but feel that a quick 5 pages or so would have helped ease the transition from chase to resolution a bit better.

This was still very fun to read & it'll make for an excellent beach read when it's released. Despite a few mild disappointments in the last few books, this is a series that I'd still recommend & am still waiting to see how it all pans out in the end.

3 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Pottermore: Cool or disappointing?

2011-06-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

I'll admit that I was just as eager as most to find out what the mysterious Pottermore website was about. Was it new information? New books? Maybe a series of short stories set in the world? The possibilities were endless. The wait & anticipation only made the speculation in the Harry Potter communities grow even more.

And then we found out what it was.

Don't get me wrong. The idea of official ebooks of the series is nice (although bootleg ebook versions abound on the internet) & having interactive content is cool as well. All that additional info on the series that JK claimed she had is cool as well.

It's just that all the site will basically contain are the ebooks & the equivalent of a Harry Potter encyclopedia. It's a little disappointing, to be honest. I will admit that I'm going to check out the website when it opens but probably not in the day or even the month (October, if you're curious) that it opens unless I hear it's really cool.

I don't have anything against the idea of it. It's just that I don't understand all the fanfare. It's like someone constantly telling you "Oh man, this is going to be THE best dinner ever- you wait & see" for a whole week, then you get home on the day in question & it's just a microwaved Hot Pocket. It's still delicious but you were expecting something a little bit bigger & fancier.

Check it Out: Linda Hawley

2011-06-24T00:21:00.000-07:00

Today's the last day of the series, so I'm giving you double the author goodness with Linda Hawley!

I notice that your book deals with a not-too-far-in-the-future where everyone is tracked. What made you come up with this frightening (yet entirely plausible) idea?

I want to try to make the world a better place. I am an observer of life, and those observations have led me to realize that many are unhappy with the government’s involvment in people’s lives. The inspiration for The Prophecies trilogy started with that. Tracking through RFID came about after I started to research the technology; it absolutely blew my mind. It’s being used right now in most advanced countries in the world, to track citizens. Taking the next step, into the future use of it in 2015, wasn’t that big of a leap.

Have you based any of the elements in your book on true life experiences or people? Obviously there's some creative liberty taken, but is any of it based on real situations? (That you can tell us, anyway.)

The last chapter of Dreams Unleashed came from an experience that I had. When I wrote it down (in story form), the main character, Ann Torgeson, was born.

What do you do when you hit a creative roadblock?

For me, writing is the easy part. There was one junction in writing Dreams Unleashed, where I ran out of ideas. I was talking in bed with my husband (at 3:00 AM, after writing), and told him that I had no idea what would happen to this character next. I said that my mind was a blank—nothing was happening. The next day, from work, he sent me an email with some ideas he had. One really funny idea stuck, and you'll find it in chapter 22 of Dreams Unleashed; it has to do with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

For some it's the title, for others it's getting that perfect ending: What's the hardest thing about writing for you?

That would be editing. I want to make it clear that I have a content editor that is the Special Forces equivalent. But I detest the editing process; it’s actually painful for me. I lost at least 20,000 words in the editing process of Dreams Unleashed. In those 20k words, was a hat that one of my characters was wearing that I was very fond of. : ( However, with all that said, with very good content editing, the story is fit for comsumption by readers.

You've had an incredible past, working for the government as well as in our military (which I totally appreciate). Do you have any cool stories you can tell us? Did working at these places help or hinder your writing?

I have to be very careful here; I’m sure they’re listening. : /

I really wanted to include the military in this story, as part of Ann’s past, because I wanted to show another side of how the military contributes to government intelligence. I am certain that my understanding of these things helped me write the humor present in Dreams Unleashed. The scene with Ann at the shooting range was one that happened to me, so writing about it was fun.
That’s about all I can say. : /

Why should readers read your book?

This first book in The Prophecies trilogy is about getting yourself strapped in for a wild ride of adventure where anything is possible using the human mind. I have created multidimensional characters that stick with the reader, and that readers can invest in. In this trilogy, connections are everywhere. It’s the kind of novel that you can go back and read it a second time, and glean more from it. It keeps giving.

Can you tell us little bit more about yourself, family, or hobbies (other than writing or reading)?

I've kayaked from one island to another in the Carribean. I've backpacked the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia with the Sierra Club. I've attended a Christmas party at the White House and have been on Air Force One. I've been to Europe many times (I am in love with Paris, which will be a part of book two of The Prophecies). I’ve jumped out of a plane and had my parachute lines tangle, making me think through the emergency rather quickly. Of course, I've sailed the San Juan Islands, which are featured in Dreams Unleashed.

Any funny quirks or pet peeves?

I chew ice when I’m writing a tense passage in my novels. My dentist doesn’t like it.

Anything you want to say to readers and fans?

Recently I received permission from a number of Book Reviewers to use their quotes in interviews. Their objective perspectives are very insightful. Here is what they’ve said about reading and reviewing Dreams Unleashed (book one in The Prophecies trilogy):

“Ann is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read…. The world is dystopian: the government is the evil Big Brother keeping people safe even against their will. Yet, the characters aren’t depressed or desperate. They try to live their normal lives which includes laughter, too.”
Mervi's Book Reviews

“The book really pushed me out of my comfort zone as I’ve never read any other book similar to this…. From the very beginning, the book kept me intrigued by its mystifying plot and excellent narration. I must laud the author for her ability to write her story in the finest detail, which makes the story sound somewhat believable. Everything was described superbly…. Overall, this novel is a real and pure page-turner.”
Vanessa Eric, The Bornean Bookworm

“The book has some references to current political figures and situations that make it very easy to get sucked into the story. The book is extremely well written and had my attention from the beginning to the end.”
Scott, Indie Book Blog

“It's like a present that you are slowly unwrapping layer by layer.”
Smitten With Reading
“If you put Dana Scully and Fox Mulder into a blender and hit puree, they’d make a mean Ann Torgeson. Dreams Unleashed was a great start to what I’m sure will be a fantastic book series. It poked fun at the TSA, and gave a frightful vision into a not-too-distant world where privacy truly is a thing of the past.”
She Never Slept

Thank you for reading my stories!
Linda

Book/Author Information

The eBook version of Dreams Unleashed is available for purchase now at $2.99 (for all eBook readers) at Smashwords, Amazon, as well as at Barnes & Noble.

You can read a free sample of Dreams Unleashed at Amazon.

The print copy of Dreams Unleashed is due to be published the week of June 20th.

Visit Linda on her website as well as her blog at: http://lindahawley.com/ & http://lindahawley.com/b2e/blog5.php!

Check it Out: Lisa Lim

2011-06-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This month's series of authors to watch for is winding down, but I've still got a few authors to reveal to you!

Lisa Lim has written a book that definitely strikes a chord with me. It's about a girl who works in a call center & as someone who used to work in an outsourced "call before you dig" call center (Indiana Underground, how can I help you?), I can commiserate with the craziness that abounds in this profession. (Spraypainted dogs, people yelling at me to turn their utilities back on... it was crazy.) This is a profession that's actually ingenious to cast a heroine in- there's a lot of potential for humor, drama, & for one call to take you in some of the most wild directions!

What inspired you to write Confessions of a Call Center Gal?

I’m a chick lit junkie and I've read countless of chick lit novels. The women usually have fancy jobs, and they fancy men who hold fancy jobs. And I wanted to read about a woman I could relate to. A protagonist who is regular chick with a very ordinary job, who falls for a guy with an ordinary job. Although, the guy is anything but ordinary (I like to think).

And I know this sounds cliched, but my English teacher in college prefaced every writing assignment with this advice – “Write what you know.” And I know too much about call centers. One only need to hear the word "call center" and everyone’s blood pressure skyrockets through the roofs. Callers go ballistic and become verbally abusive over the phone, and often feel entitled to unload their personal demons on us. I've seen many of my co-workers on the verge of tears... and I wanted to tell our story.

What do you do in your spare time when you're not writing?

I have three pooches that I adore to bits. They're shelter dogs and my motto is ~ Don't shop! Adopt!

I enjoy walking my furry companions but I find it mildly annoying when people ask, “Oh are you walking the dogs or are the dogs walking you?” Me: *Dry laugh*

Oh, I also love scarfing down bean burritos. Mexican food. *Nom* *Nom*

By the way, I want to marry a bean burrito.

And he will have Mexican Monterey cheese hair.

What’s your typical celebration ritual when you sell a new book or get exciting news about an existing one? Anything strange or quirky we should know about?

Um, did I mention I love bean burritos? I blast the Mariachi music and gobble up bean burritos.

If you could choose one dessert or snack food that you could eat as much as you want of (and never gain an ounce!) what would it be?

Bwarhahahaha. I think you already know the answer to that one.

What was your favorite book growing up and why?

Anne of Green Gables, Sweet Valley High, oh and of course Peter Pan. That book is chock full of memorable sayings that I cherish. *COUGH* If I may? Here goes ~

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”

“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

“To love would be an awfully big adventure.”

“To live will be a great adventure.”

“If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!”

“Wendy,’ Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, ‘Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.”

~ by the great J.M Barrie

If your book were to be turned into a movie, would your dream cast be?

Ohhh this is fab fun. The lead protagonist Maddy would be played by Zooey Deschannel (500 Days of Summer) and Zac Efron or Zac Levi would be cast as Mika—the Belgian stud.

Rex Lee (flamboyantly gay Asian on Entourage) or Jo Koy as Truong Nguyen.

What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?

No other emotion quite compares to laughter, and I hope my readers get plenty of laughs.

A fun chick lit that will appeal to fans of Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes. Bridget Jones meets The Office. Madison Lee is a fresh college grad, ready to take on the world of print media. But she has zero luck landing a job. Unemployment is at ten percent and on the rise. Desperate and left with no other options, she accepts a position as a service rep at a call center in Pocatello, Idaho. At the Lightning Speed call center in Spudsville, Maddy plunges into the wild and dysfunctional world of customer service where Sales is prided over Service and an eight hour shift is equivalent to eight hours of callers bashing her over the phone. Oh sure, the calls are bad. But Maddy manages to find humor on the phone and off the phone. And with all the salacious drama behind the calls, there is never a dull moment at the Lightning Speed call center.

Lately . . . Maddy has been pining for her smolderingly gorgeous co-worker Mika Harket. Now things are heating up on the phone--and elsewhere. Don't hang up on this novel. Working at a call center has never been this garish . . . or this delightful.

Confessions of a Call Center Gal: a novel is available on Amazon for Kindle and on Barnes and Noble for Nook for $2.99. The paperback edition is available on Amazon for $12.95.

L.A. Banks diagnosed with cancer.. :( Help via auction!

2011-06-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hi guys... I hate to interrupt the fun of introducing new authors, but I've got some sad news to impart.

Bestselling author L.A. Banks of Vampire Huntress fame has just been diagnosed with late stage adrenal cancer. She's going to fight this as hard as she can for as long as she can, but unfortunately good cancer care is expensive.

That's where fans like you & I come in. I've discovered that her friends & family have set up a page where we can donate towards her medical care. (Click here for the page.)

If you're in the Philly, PA area then you can take a donation to any Police and Fire Federal Credit Union branch. For the rest of us we can donate via paypal.

If you can, please donate so we can keep her with us for a long time to come!

UPDATE:

I've also found the auction site where you can bid on items & the proceeds will go towards Banks' treatment. There's all sorts of wonderful things up for bids from all sorts of authors & people, from Heather Graham offering a two night stay & registration for a conference she's holding, to various businesses offering marketing packages.

All of the opening bids on these items are at a fraction of their cost, so please take a look!

Check it Out: Chloe Bierge

2011-06-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I've got another author to introduce to you today! Her name is Chloe Bierge & she's agreed to write a little bit about her book The Other Side of the Window for us!

The Other Side of the Window by Chloe Bierge is a dramtic, illuminating, and sometimes humorous journey of a young women's battle with mental illness.

Savannah Bloom believes in the power of good journalism and wants to report on important stories, which she believes can be found anywhere, even in the small town of Saddlebrook, Maryland. After her childhood sweetheart, Chase, returns from Africa, she gets sick with whatever it is that he brought back and soon finds herself battling It, this thing that takes over the helm in her brain in a mutiny that causes her to have a continuous tug of war between belief and disbelief as she battles her own war on terror. All the while she is being stalked by a young man who has hacked into her computer and is plagued with intrusive mental holograms of Tom, a pharmaceutical sales rep, after writing an unflattering story about the drug he sells. She worries he is her stalker. In her pursuit of the truth about what is wrong with her, what caused it, and how it can best be treated, she finds herself the central figure of a national story she uncovers. But her creditability -- her sanity-- comes into question, making it near impossible for her to get her story to be taken with the seriousness it deserves, which leaves her with a tall order to fill: She must prove to the world that she can have a brain disorder that at times makes her feel insane but still really be sane.

Chloe Bierge is an award-winning national medical journalist writing under a pen name so that she may let her creativity flow. The Other Side of the Window is based on years of research and blends fiction with fact. Chloe hopes readers will enjoy the story and learn a little along the way.

Check it Out: Darren Pillsbury

2011-06-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's time again for me to introduce you to a new author! Today I have Darren Pillsbury, author of Peter and the Vampires! He was kind enough to answer some questions for me, so here goes:

Have you always loved horror? What are some of your favorite horror books & movies?

Yeah, I’ve pretty much always loved horror novels. Mostly because of Stephen King, and partly because he was ‘forbidden.’ I grew up in a pretty conservative, religious household, and while my father read King’s books (because my dad did whatever he wanted to), my mom forbade me to even look at them. So I remember sneaking into the grocery store book aisles when I was nine and ten and reading ‘the good parts’ of books like SKELETON CREW and PET SEMATARY.

I never saw horror movies growing up because I couldn’t see anything Rated R. When I finally went off to college, I never really gravitated towards horror movies that strongly, especially not slasher films or overtly gross ones. I vastly prefer being creeped out and frightened rather than disgusted. That’s what I shoot for in PETER AND THE VAMPIRES and its sequels (PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES and PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN).

As far as books, PET SEMATARY is my favorite horror novel of all time. And I’d say SEVEN is my favorite horror movie, although you could just as easily call it a thriller. I also like THE RING quite a bit.

Is anything in your book true to life? There's obviously some creative license involved, but is anything in the book based on real people or experiences? If not, what's your favorite ghost story?

Oh yeah, there’s a ton of stuff I take from my own life. Mostly small plot details or characters. The most obvious one is that Peter has a two-year-old sister named Beth who is a terror. She’s just hellacious. And she’s taken directly from my own real-life sister, down to details like they both wore a Strawberry Shortcake bathing suit over their regular clothes in the wintertime. (My sister now is very nice and sweet, and since she doesn’t remember how bad she was as a toddler, she always thinks we’re lying when we tell stories about her at family gatherings.)

As far as spooky stuff, no, I've never encountered anything supernaturally creepy in real life. My favorite ghost story is about a woman who goes into a deserted church late at night. She sits down near the front and notices a silver platter on the altar - and in it she sees the reflections of a bunch of skeletons in the pews behind her. They claw at her as she runs out the front door, and she barely escapes with her life. Nobody in the village believes her until they find her shredded scarf lying in front of the empty church. I like that story so much I actually stole it and put it in the book! Anybody who reads PETER AND THE VAMPIRES will recognize that scene immediately, even in its modified form.

What age group would you say your book is for?

Everybody. No, I’m serious! Like the Harry Potter series, PETER AND THE VAMPIRES has young protagonists, but the stories are definitely entertaining for older audiences. Ten-year-old kids will enjoy PETER, but I blogged the series for three years, and most of my fans are in high school, college, and their 20’s and 30’s.

Wait – you blogged these books for three years?

Yup! I wanted to try to build up an audience first by blogging the stories for awhile. ‘Awhile’ turned into three years and four novels (PETER AND THE MUMMY will probably be out in Fall 2011). I took down the blog posts, but I made some Youtube videos that are still around. Just google ‘Peter And The Dead Men video.’

Do you have any specific inspirations & muses or do you pick up ideas randomly?

Mmmm…I’d say that I get core ideas from simple images, and I build off of those through a lot of daydreaming. Usually I see something interesting and I think, “Hey, what if…”

For instance, in "Vampires," the image in my head was of a little girl in a rainstorm, calling up to a window in a faint, creepy voice. And then, when the lightning crashes, she’s gone. Who was she? Why was she there? That's fairly typical of how I'll start a new story.

I notice that you're active with charities. Any specific one that you really love that you want to mention here on the blog?

Yes, thank you for mentioning it! SaveThe Children is a great charity that helps impoverished kids throughout the world. If you want to donate, they’re a wonderful organization.

Writer's block: the author's worst bogeyman. What do you do to slay this horrendous beast? Any suggestions for other authors?

The hardest part of writing every day is the first ten minutes. Every day it’s a struggle to get started. Then once you warm up and you’re in the zone, it’s fun. So just start, and it gets a whole lot easier after that. When I begin writing for the day, I go back and revise the last page from the previous session, and that usually gets me into the frame of mind for putting down new material.

The other thing is I don’t write nearly as much as I daydream. For most of the stories I write, I’ve already daydreamed a movie in my head with all the major plot points. I usually have A, B, E, J, M, P, Q, and Z. I just have to fill in all the other letters so the story’s complete. (That’s a big ‘just,’ by the way.) So as long as I make it through that first ten minutes, knowing what big scene is coming up next helps me stay on track and away from writer’s block.

Do you have any news I can dish out for you?

Let’s see…go buy PETER AND THE VAMPIRES (99 cents!), PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES ($2.99), and PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN ($2.99)! Available on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords!

I eventually plan to put out paper versions, but it might take a year, and they’ll be a whole lot more expensive.

PETER AND THE MUMMY (Volume 4 of the series) will hopefully be out in Fall 2011.

I also have another book, IMAGINARY FRIENDS (about a single dad who can see his two little boys’ imaginary friends), that is currently available in paperback on Amazon. It should be out as an ebook at the same time as MUMMY.

What made you want to write? Was there a specific moment in your life that made you realize this is what you wanted to do or did you always know?

I think I always knew. It crystallized a bit more when I started reading Stephen King – “I wanna do that when I grow up!” – but I always made up stories in my head, from the earliest I can remember. There weren’t many kids in my neighborhood growing up, so I came up with all sorts of imaginary stories and worlds to pass the time. More than anything, I think it was that need to entertain myself that eventually led me to writing. Now hopefully I can entertain other people, too!

--------------

Curious to read Darren's books? You can find them on Amazon, Smashwords, & Barnes & Nobles!

Check It Out: Simon Dunn

2011-06-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Here's your latest dose of author goodness! Today I have author & comedian Simon Dunn! He's here to answer a few questions & promote his book Rotten Apple: Seven Sins, One Deadly City!

Where do you come up with your ideas? Do you have a specific muse or do you draw your inspiration from things you see in your daily life?

I never know how to answer that question without sounding sarcastic. One writer once said that he heard a voice in his head, but it spoke in a foreign language he couldn't understand, so instead he sat down and wrote for hours until everything was done.

I see you've done some comedy work. Is it very different, writing comedy for the screen rather than writing for a book?

They are different disciplines for sure, but they both rely on strong dramatic structure. Prose gives you more breathing space to explore ideas though, while on screen you have to be quick, concise and have many more ideas in a shorter space of time. I think Rotten Apple is paced more like a screenplay than a book - it probably needs to be when it comes to comedy.

Comedy is serious business. Have you ever worked on a scene or joke for so long that it just isn't funny to you anymore?

Yes. It needs to stop being funny before you can assess it critically. It's usually the things that make you laugh when you write them which are the things that soon get dropped and re-worked.

Are any of the events in your books based upon real people or situations? If so, how much of it is real & how much is from your own imagination?

There's a moment when Vic Malone jumps out of a tenth storey window naked and uses the body of a cop to dampen his fall. That happened to me.

Do you have any news that I can dish for you?

I'm currently working on a few ideas for British TV and a new Kindle book is coming soon.

What do you do when writer's block hits you? Any advice for other authors out there?

There's no such thing as writers' block, it's pretentious nonsense. No other field of work hides behind such twaddle. You don't see coal miners taking the day off because they aren't feeling creative. If your writing is running out of steam, it's due to lack of planning and thought. Always have several projects on the go, and switch to another and let your mind ponder things for a while.

What drives you to write & do comedy work? What made you look at these fields & decide "this is the life for me"? Was there a big moment or did you just always know this is what you were meant for?

Bills.

Coke or Pepsi?

Bills.

--------------------------------------------------------------

A noir-crime-suspense-thriller parody.

Seven interwoven comic stories from the underbelly of a sinful city. The hard-boiled detective, the down-to-earth stripper, the embittered hack, the psycho killer, the sultry brief, the gentleman thief - they all live in the Rotten Apple.

Curious about Simon's book? You can pick it up via Amazon.com for the kindle!

Kodansha's website is up!

2011-06-22T01:44:00.000-07:00

I'm intruding on the CIO series to let my fellow manga fans know that the Kodansha website it up. I'm horribly late at remarking on this, but it's exciting to see what the website has to offer. It's also interesting to see that they aren't stopping at manga- there's another Kodansha website that has book offerings in many various fields!

Previously the Kodansha site only had a list of various manga they were going to be releasing, so this is really nice to look at. Still no sign of what the Sailor Moon covers will look like, but I've heard that they'll probably resemble the newer released volumes in Japan that collect multiple volumes in one binding. (The shinsōban editions.)

What's interesting is that the site has covers up for the manga that had previously been released in the US. It makes me think that perhaps Kodansha will continue to release the series in similar themed covers, which is pretty cool for those of us who love to have all of their manga matching one another. I'm pretty excited to see what their manga will look like- I've got a few of their manga on order through amazon, so I'll definitely let you guys know when it comes in!

Book Review: Deviant by Adrian McKinty

2011-06-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Title: Deviant
Author: Adrian McKinty
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: 10/01/2011
ISBN: 9780810984202

I really debated about whether or not to review this book because I didn't really know what to say about it. It isn't a terrible read but I just didn't get into this as much as I would have liked to. The following parts of the review will be semi-spoilerish (I'll leave the big stuff out) to some people, so if you're wondering whether or not to read the book then here's my opinion: It's worth checking out as a library book & reading. I also recommend that you read the book synopsis below because well, the official book description isn't all that accurate. Those details are in the book, but not to the degree that the official synopsis makes it appear.

Danny's not happy. First his mother got married to a guy that Danny just can't stand and now he has to leave his home because his mother got a new job in Colorado. To make matters worse, Danny's new school is "special" in that everything is controlled. The kids don't just wear uniforms- they're also not allowed to speak unless it's from a script. Supposedly the incredibly controlling environment is going to help kids excel, but it doesn't stop schoolyard bullies from finding ways to pick on Danny & his new friends. If these stressors aren't enough, there's the neighborhood's tendency for dead cats. The adults swear that it's due to coyotes, but the kids know better. They know that there's someone dangerous out there & that it's only a matter of time before he makes the leap from animals to humans!

First the good. I really appreciated that the author took such great pains to research the stages that a potential serial killer would go through as well as what might go through their minds. The rather gruesome beginning to the book sets a dark tone for much of the book's opening. When it comes to details about serial killing, the author is top notch.

However, when it comes to details about everything else the author seems to come up a little short. Scenes that revolve around non-serial killer emotions tend to fall a little flat & I really couldn't help but feel that a few lines here or there would have helped out immensely. One such scene occurs later in the book with Danny & there just wasn't enough buildup to really justify such a scene, especially since it's such a complete opposite of things he was feeling & thinking earlier. It also doesn't help that the book's official description doesn't really fit the actions of the book's bad guy. If you're expecting this to be about a serial killer then you'll be semi-disappointed. The book is mostly about Danny adapting to his new environment, his stepdad, & his new friends.

I'm willing to give the book the benefit of the doubt though & I'll still recommend it, albeit as a library read. I can see this having a pretty large appeal to the male reading audience, especially since it's so hard for young men to find a book that isn't aimed towards teen girls or written for a far younger mindset. It's just that this didn't draw me in like I really wanted & needed it to. It'll never capture the public mindset like Pretty Little Liars did, but I have a feeling that it'll still find a good following.

2.5/5

(Arc provided by Netgalley)