Dewey Post #6: Last Book Finished Under the Wire and Post-Op on the Whole Readathon Thing

First things first.... I finished my last book 30 minutes before the ring of the bell.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman was a perfect pick for a late night read.  Unfortunately, it didn't keep me up but I don't think Neil should be blamed for that.  It was subtle creepy and fun and I shouldn't have waited this long to read it.  If you love his work, you'll like this one.

I didn't get a super amount completed but getting three completed isn't all that bad.  I'm not sure if this got me caught up on the GoodReads challenge of 50 books before the end of the year but hopefully I'm not so far behind anymore.

It also looks like I didn't hit that much on my Plan of Attack post; I can go back and scratch 2 from that page.  It was the sleeping that did me in.  If only I had Dewey in my life 10+ years ago, I would have rocked it!

So the goal for next October, try to get some of those other books read & removed from the list so I don't have them yet again to pick from.  It makes for a stale list.

So, until next year, keep reading!

Dewey Post #4: Graphic Novel to the Rescue!

Just when I needed something light, graphic novel was here to help.  Saga, Vol 5 by Brian K Vaughn.  Great read, crazy story, even weirder characters, all about family and love.  If you are not into graphic novels but want to give them a try, I think Saga would be an excellent one to start with.  Not that many volumes to get caught up with and gets top marks for creativity.  If you liked Firefly, you'll like Saga; space opera at its finest.  

Up next:  The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Staked by J.F. Lewis

Vampires are back. Well sort of. You see them all over, especially when a new movie is out but those aren’t real vampires. Vampires are monsters, just like werewolves, sea creatures, goblins, etc. Making your vampires cute and cuddly is an affront to the monster community and they should take a stand for their rights to be seen in an unflattering light. They should garner the respect that only true fear can accomplish. Anything less goes against the monster code.

There. Got that off my chest and I think I should be awarded points for not using the word glitter. It was hard but I suspect everyone knows what I’m talking about anyway so I won’t bore you with that.


As for today’s novel choice, we have a book that I only picked up because I wanted something as ridiculous and schlocky as I could possibly find. I chose Staked because it came with a scantily clad woman on the cover with a gun in her hand. Not to mention a summary on the back that sounded like the guy version of chick-lit: girlfriend pressuring him into turning her into a vampire, business trouble at his co-owned strip club, and after a weird turn of events, the local werewolf pack is after him. Is it every guy’s dream to own a strip club? For the record, I don’t really want an answer to that question but I can’t imagine anything more depressing.

As for the book, it runs pretty much exactly like the back summary describes. The only surprise is that he turns the girlfriend pretty close at the first of the story and it isn’t a pretty sight. Blood and gore and they really should make an informational video on it ‘cause it would make anyone not to want to go through something so gross. Not to mention, character-wise, I can’t imagine why he would want to choose to spend eternity with this person, nor why she with him. Perhaps in that sense, they are made for each other. After the whole turning, they really didn’t spend all that much time together and the story splits off into two directions: Eric dealing with his werewolf issues and Tabitha getting Vampire 101. Basically, I spent a lot of the first half of the book asking myself why I was still reading.

It wasn’t a completely horrible book to read. It was starting to get good when it abruptly ends. I suspect the author wrote a really, really long book and the publisher decides to cut it off there to split it into two books to be more profitable. It included the first chapter to the next book and that little bit of plot really needed to be in the first book. Not sure what happens after that little piece but the ending just seemed awkward to me after finally starting to like the characters a little bit.

If you are willing to invest into a new vampire series and read more than just the first book, then I can recommend. If you like your books more stand-alone so you can move on to other things, I’d leave this one on the shelf. J.F. Lewis gets extra points in my book for making his vampires (or werewolves or whatevers) monsters in the truest sense. They are not nice, they kill, are not to be trusted, and make choices out of personal gain. And that makes them monsters, just as much as humans can be.

Now I’m off to do something productive and perhaps unmonster like. Cross fingers.

Heat Stroke by Rachel Caine

Woohoo! Finished another book in the year 2010. Shocking! I'm hoping to turn this summer into a reading summer but that is yet to be seen. It is so hard to find time to read and be social at the same time.


Heat Stroke is a return to a favourite series of mine. Not sure if I wrote a review of the first one in the series, Ill Wind, but I really should have. Weather Wardens go out and help control the weather. They can ask the sky to rain or lessen the intensity of tornados. In this world, a select group of people have special powers to talk to the elements and help protect people from extreme dangers. Those extremes can be anything from hurricanes to wild fires.

At the start of this book, Joanne Baldwin, has been declared dead and she sort of is... or more like transformed into a whole new being, a Djinn. In this book, we get to see into the world of the Djinn. How they became to be, their role in the weather warden world, and how their darkest fear is to be enslaved by being stuck in a bottle. If you are tied to a bottle, you are under the power of whoever holds that bottle and you have to do everything that person commands no matter how much you don't want to. If your master is not a good guy, things could get really awful.

The best thing about this series is that you never know where the author is going to take you. Just when you think you know what is going on and all is happening as expected, she throws a curve and you are somewhere you never thought possible. Another great feature is her ability to end the book on such a cliff-hanger, you want to jump online and priority order the next book in the series.

Really don't want to give too much away just in the off chance you want to read it. If you are into fantasy popcorn that delivers a plot pace of a hundred miles per hour, this is the book for you.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyers

You’ll have to forgive me; it has been forever since I’ve written up a review of a book. But then, it has been awhile since I’ve read something I thought others might find even slightly interesting. Not that Twilight and the notion of interesting should be combined in the same sentence.

Basic story: girl moves to town to live with her father. Girl goes to school and she seems to be the best thing to hit town since the push-up bra ... She’s like catnip to all the boys. But there is one boy who doesn’t seem to like her at all and of course, he is the one she is most fascinated with. He’s different, his family is different, but she is not afraid of his otherworldly ways. He saves her life from an out-of-control car and thus begins the greatest teen romance of all time.

Sigh! I know that isn’t true. Romeo & Juliet was the greatest teen romance of all time. But there is something about this book that just makes me want to make outlandish statements and think I can get away with it. Granted, that notion is somewhat liberating but still, props to the master, Shakespeare. He knew teen angst like nobody’s business.

Twilight was so girly it freaked me out. Normally I like girly, it usually makes for good brain candy but warning: you will never get those brain cells back. I can forgive it for being girly. What I can’t forgive it for is being boring.

Once those two start having a relationship, it is as if the clock has stopped. I swear to god, there was a meadow scene where they were just sitting and it just went on and on and on. I have a friend that doesn’t like the shopping montage in movies, I personally hate the meadow scenes… I have no idea what they are supposed to represent. The spend forever getting to that damn meadow, you would have thought there would be something cool at the end of the journey… Nope, just vampire show and tell. We get to see Edward’s true nature and he has to be the most boring vampire ever put to print. He can kill grisly bears with his bare hands but we never get a sense of that fierceness. He has to be the safest bad-boy ever.

And Bella, I don’t know where to start with her. One, she is the most perfect teenage daughter of all time. She cooks, she cleans, she does the grocery shopping, and all the while maintaining top grades. If Stepford made children, they would be just like Bella. Two, her reaction to fear is non-reaction. Edward shouldn’t be mad about that, he should fear that his girlfriend has a neurological disorder. And three, she really needs to be less self-sacrificing. That death wish thing she has going on is very disturbing.

Ultimately, these books should not be read by anyone whose age is not ending in the word “teen”. As for everyone else, just don’t go there and pick up some Shakespeare instead.

Serenity, Vol. 2: "Better Days" by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, Illustrated by Will Conrad

I know, I know... I haven't posted a review in forever and I know for a fact that I read almost 30 books in 2008, thanks to my list in GoodReads. Surely some of them were worthy of the InCoHerEnt book review treatment. (And for the record, all books deserve some kind of book review.)

I'm just lazy.

But 2009 is a fresh start and I'm hopeful that I'll get back into the groove. Not sure if this is the right book to get me there.

I can never resist a graphic novel by Joss Whedon. No matter what it is, I must have. I think it comes from missing his television shows so much. This one was like getting a lost episode from the archive that was never filmed but just story boarded. This volume takes three Serenity comics and binds them together to form the Better Days story arc. The basic story: the gang is hired do a heist, they heist, they deliver, but the guy can't pay. He pays them with information on how to find a stash of currency, they find it and there is a lot of it. Now they have someone even bigger chasing after them.

In a lot of ways, this one reminded me of one of my favourite Firefly episodes, "Ariel", and the fall-out in the episode "War Stories". Because of that, I didn't find this turn really gave us anything new. It pokes at the mysteries that I sometimes feel will never be answered. My other problem was that it takes place before the Serenity movie. It was nice seeing Wash and Shepherd again but I want to know what is going on with characters since the movie. It didn't feel like a progression of the story arc, just a retread of old material. It was an okay story, with some laugh-out-loud dialogue, but I didn't have a wow moment.

It would be remiss not to mention the artist, Will Conrad. He's very good at recreating the facial features of our beloved actors who he got spot on, especially the guys. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, the women might have been harder to render with their softer features. Anyway, I was less annoyed here than I normally am with comics where I can compare the art to an actor's face.

So, I can only recommend this to the die-hard Firefly/Serenity fans who are looking for anything new to add to their encyclopedic knowledge of the series. Otherwise, you might be a little disappointed.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Oh, the pain.

I love Neil. I positively, truly do. But I had the hardest time getting through this book and I don't really blame Neil for it. I suspect I am just getting stupider in my old age.

American Gods is a nice hefty little book that chronicles the adventures of a man named Shadow. He gets out of prison a week early to attend the funeral of his dear departed wife. On the way there, a man with a job offer approaches Shadow and he will not take no for an answer. He needs someone to do errands for him, chauffeur him around when needed, odd jobs. It turns out that he is one of the old gods and he has taken it upon himself to rally all the other old gods to do battle with the new American gods. The old gods are the ones that were brought over from the old country with the immigrants. The new gods are the ones that are worshipped today: television, media, internet, etc. Just like any war, everyone thinks their side is right and it gets pretty nasty.

For the record, I really did like the book. It had a nice sense of surreal to it and you never really knew what to expect even though some plot points were a little unsurprising. In some ways, it reminded me of Gaiman's Sandman series and it made me miss those old comics. My only problem was that I didn't feel the compulsion to keep picking it up to find out what was going to happen next. I always enjoyed it when I did but didn't feel all that guilty when I took a break to read a different book, which happened twice. That could have been the real reason it seemed to take me so long to finish it. If you like mythology at all, you really should read it.

That is all I have to say.

Fool Moon: Book Two of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Oh how I love reading on my vacation. If you spend a Sunday reading, you don’t feel bad about ignoring all the things you should be doing before the start of the week. Not that that has prevented me from Sunday reading in the past but you know...

Fool Moon is the second book from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series of books. I read book one ages ago and did a review of it on the podcast. At the time, we also reviewed the show that can currently be found on your local sci-fi channel. Love the show and sometimes get taken back a bit by the differences in the two. I love the ghost like character, Bob, who is played by an actor you can see. Whereas in the book, he is a disembodied voice who lives in a skull on Dresden’s shelf and only comes out when Harry wants recipes for fun little potions or info on things like werewolves. Thankfully, television being a visual medium, they made him slightly more corporeal with a body we can see and with slightly more impact on the plot.

In Fool’s Moon, werewolves are afoot and in this little world, we don’t just have one set design for the wolves. That has to be the strongest selling point for the book. Typically, an author will take a look at past werewolf legends, pick a few characteristics they like, mix together and viola! They have their own creative spin on the monster legend. Butcher takes the time to incorporate four or five different types into his story and this allows for some interesting plot twists. Some are turned when they wear a magical belt, some turn when they chant some magic, some are cursed, etc.

Also, I noticed a big jump in writing quality when it came to this book in comparison to the first book in the series. The first one, the plot was so painfully obvious but he had created an interesting enough world that it made you want to keep reading. Here, you weren’t quite sure where it was going to go and he set up Dresden with enough obstacles that you couldn’t be sure if he could make it out alive. Granted, there are at least four more books in the series so I wasn’t all that worried but if the story is good enough, you can find yourself forgetting that little bit of info for awhile.

So, I’ll continue to read these books. They are fun and a nice break from reality every once in awhile.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

It is over. Over. Never to be anymore. Gone.

So it is 2:30AM and my only source of comfort is leftover Naan bread from this evening’s takeaway. Why don't I have any friends that would be up at this hour? I know lots of techie people and yet, not one I can call at this late hour to lament on the ending of Harry Potter.

But don't get me wrong. I’m not upset about what happened; it sort of unfolded like I expected. A few turns, along the way I didn't expect but great nonetheless. I laughed, I cried, I made it last six days and that is pretty good considering the pressure I've been receiving from work to finish the blasted thing. Not to mention, one guy who kept teasing me by pretending to give away the ending.

Now comes the post-mortem. I need to go out and read the spoilers and the analyzing webpages and the Rowling interviews to see if she gives anything away. Anything that reveals why she made the choices she did. Why kill one character over another? Who did she spare that she wasn't intending to? These are burning questions I need to know. The most amazing thing she accomplished with this book is the tying up of loose strings. If she never got around to publishing that gigantic omnibus of Harry Potter lore, I will be okay with that.

Anyway, it has been a fantastic ride and I wouldn’t change any of it. Jo has given us a brilliant story and I hope to see more from her in the future, even if it is under another name.

The Renegade by Margaret St. George

As with pretty much every book I review, there seems to be a story attached as to why I have decided that of all the books on my shelf, this is the reason why I picked this one up to finish. I don’t have a hugely good reason why this time around.

The office I work in had a silent auction of things people had around the house that they don’t want anymore. Basically, it was a spring-cleaning motivator and instead of chucking those old appliances, crafts, figurines or books into the trash, people donated them to us to help raise money for the United Way. Someone donated a box of old Harlequins, and since I wasn’t interested in anything else, I bid a dollar on five different bundles of four each. I wanted to bid on something and if I ended up getting one or two, I figured they would make a pretty good gift to an aunt who I know loves those books. I ended up getting the winning bid on all five. So now I have a pile of them by my coffee table and who knows when I’ll see my aunt next. Feeling nostalgic for the old days, I grabbed one for a nice quick read.

This was the one on top and it seemed to have a slightly more original storyline than most. You see, Sam is an avenging angel and he has been assigned to Brett’s case. It turns out that someone has killed her soon-to-be ex-husband and she is the prime suspect. If Sam doesn’t find the real killer, Brett faces life in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. And to make it more interesting, in this day and age, avenging angels can’t just perform miracles and make it all better. They have to find clues and create a case so that the evidence can hold up in a court of law for the guilty. They are like private detectives with wings.

So premise wise, it was top notch. It was the type of story I could imagine someone developing into a weekly serial for television. Each week: a new case, quirky avenging angel detectives, righting wrongs and saving the innocent. Sort of a little bit like Quantum Leap and Touched by An Angel meets The A-Team. Sort of.

The mystery part of the book wasn’t bad either. It kept the action going and it made up for the rest that was pretty mushy. The sparks between Sam and Brett wasn’t all that explosive and you couldn’t really figure out why they ended up in love with each other, especially in such a short period of time. (Other than it was in the author’s contract with Harlequin to get the two protagonists together by the end of the story.) So, character-wise, it was pretty bland. But if you can forgive it for that sin, it wasn’t bad as a light mystery novel.

As for the rest of the charity auction books, I predict a new home for them in the not-to-distant future.

A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli

Guest review by Red Bonney

It's a dark, wet, rancid book. It's about the dangers of certain people reproducing when they clearly should have been yanked out of the gene pool by the life guard. It's a good book. Reading it was like being sucked down into a gator infested swamp: you get that sinking feeling, but you know you'll be eaten before you drown, and all around you is the earthy smell of the bog. There was a story line, I'm sure of it. I think it was hidden between the random bouts of underage, extra-marital sex, that may or may not have been the hallucinatory dreams of our reluctant hero, Thomas. There was lots of writing on walls and on skin and some of it made sense. Most of it did not.

Thomas has three brothers in one. Sebastian, Jonah and Cole are conjoined triplets, joined at the cranium. They also have a sister, but she was nearly completely absorbed by Thomas when they were still in the womb. This goes back to the theory that some people shouldn't reproduce, namely, the entire list of characters in the book. It was difficult to find a normal character, and I would have to say it was Thomas, though he turned out to be a sex fiend with a penchant for younger partners. The Reverend Bibbler would be next, but his name alone strikes him off the
normal list.

So, Thomas was the reluctant hero, as I said, and very reluctant. He was the town's magnate, so to speak, the wealthiest man in town, who owns the mill that makes the town live. He lives in the most haunted house with his brothers and their care giver, Dodi, who is also their lover and was installed by the local conjure woman, Velma Coots, to keep an eye on them. Velma, I believe, should have gotten more page time. That's another moral hidden in these pages, always listen to the local conjure woman, she knows what she's talking about.

In a nutshell, this book was a lot like real life in that there were a lot of unexplained and unexplainable events, a lot of questions and not enough answers. Conversely, it was nothing at all like real life, with the ghosts and all-consuming evil threatening on the horizon. I can't tell you what the book was really about, it's a mystery and a horror and a romance (a sick, twisted, fucked up romance, but a romance nonetheless) and nothing was explicit.

I hope you are as confused as I am about this book now. You should read it and tell me what it was about.

Undead and Unappreciated by Mary Janice Davidson

Back again with a quick read and hopefully a quick review. This one was read in a day so I don’t think this one should take all that long in writing.

Betsy is back and this time, nothing all that much happens. Yeah, I know. I really shouldn’t be all that surprised considering the location you would find this book. This is not all that difficult of a read but it is funny on occasions. In this book, Betsy is not having the most fun in the world, her nightclub is in the red and her employees don’t like the change in management. Not to mention, it gets slipped that she has a long lost sister that she never knew about and it turns out little sis is the spawn of Satan and destined to rule the world.

The only uncomfortable part in this book is the fact that this is another book with a main character’s name as Elizabeth. I’m finding it a little weird, especially when whispered by her dark and handsome consort, Eric Sinclair. The other weird part is that I realized that her name is Elizabeth and her best friend since Junior High’s name is Jessica. This made me think of the Sweet Valley High twins and how this couldn’t be a coincidence. Perhaps it really is but it seemed very weird. I think I’ll have to send a friendly little email to the author and see if I get an answer back. I’ll keep you informed if something comes of it.

I really shouldn’t judge this book on the fact that it isn’t all that deep and difficult or complex. It does have its funny moments and that is all I bought it for. Sometimes you just need a brain break.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

My podcast has decided to do a little book club and now I’m into reading another book every four weeks. The good part of this one is that I get a bigger say into what is read and I might actually like the books chosen. Although, I had my doubts when we first chose this one.

I’m pretty sure everyone knows this story. Young lawyer goes to Castle Dracula on business and it turns out his client is a member of the evil undead. This walking fiend has plans on relocation to London and wreck havoc on its citizens. Wackiness ensues.

I had started this book before, ages ago and didn’t finish it. The first time I tried reading this book, I gave up after about the third chapter. Really boring. This time I stuck with it and realized it got really good once we get some good supernatural action. During the first go, I likely wasn’t responding too well to the diary like way the story was told. This time, I’ve been so desensitized by the world of blogs that it didn’t bother me that much.

The most interesting thing I got out of this reading was the fact that they have changed Mina’s character in every movie I’ve seen her in. In a lot of the movies, she is portrayed as someone who is in love with Dracula. In the book, she is an example of the modern woman, smart, articulate, and not afraid to work to carry out what needs to be done. That part was quite refreshing to read. She was definitely the brains and the strength behind the group of merry men banding together to kill the little nuisance.

Anyway, it was good to read and if you are low in money, a copy of it can be downloaded from Project Guttenberg.

The Joss Whedon Comic Collection,... er, Graphic Novel Review

Warm, buttered, biscuits with real maple syrup and a pot of strong coffee by my side… Can anything be finer? Joss Whedon is a close second. I’m not a huge comic fan but between him and Neil Gaiman, you really wouldn’t know it. Those two will lead you on a very slippery slope that ends with standing orders at your local comic shop. The comic guy, who works there, is way too helpful and it doesn’t help that we have similar tastes. Oh well, I’m enjoying it.

And we really should get onto why I’m writing this. It has been so long since I’ve written one of these, it is almost difficult. Sort of like getting out of practice and it doesn’t help that I’m reviewing a new medium. Comics are very visual (obviously) but I’ve found that they can be just as complex as most books. Especially compared to the piece of crap I’m reading right now but that is for another time and place….

First up, is Joss Whedon’s, Fray. Based in the Slayer universe except this takes place hundreds of years into the future. We have a world where the rich are very rich and the rest of us are very, very poor. There are flying cars, and lurkers, and radies, people who have mutated due to the sun’s radiation. And most importantly, we have Melanka Fray, the first Slayer to be called since the big event at the end of the Buffy finale. It has the same action you would expect from an episode of Buffy without the limitations you face during filming. For example, the first two pages of panels detail Mel’s fall from a high story building and everything she hits on her way down. Of course this doesn’t kill her or this would be the shortest comic ever produced. It also has that offbeat humor you come to expect and love from the mind of Joss. He is nice enough to give you some laugh out loud moments.

Karl Moline, penciller, did an amazing job bringing his words to life in the design of this whacked out world. Between Karl and the rest of the art team, they were able to bring to life the most important thing about being a Slayer.... Hair to die for. Yep, Mel had really great hair and that is worth the price of admission right there. Added bonus is the wonderful job they (Joss included) did bringing to life a character like Loo. She is the greatest thing ever at pulling those good ole heartstrings. Sorry, can’t say more about that.

Up next is Serenity: Those Left Behind. This little three-parter bridges the gap between the last episode of Firefly and the movie Serenity. We get to see Inara leave and the return of Dobson, the guy Mal shot in the first two hour episode. He has a grudge against Mal and would like to be the one to take Mal out of this world in the most painful way possible. The Blue Hand Alliance Agents strike a deal with Dobson, he gets Mal if they can get River. Yeah for Cooperation!!

The artists must have been fans of the show because they did an amazing job on rendering the likeness of the actors to the graphic novel world. Nowhere was I brought out of the illusion to think that they were only doing vague representations.

The only problem I had with this one is that I found it too rushed. They had a lot to get in and while there was good build-up, the ending seemed abrupt. And the other problem I had was that River seemed a little off, word-wise. A couple of times, Conrad had her saying stuff that just didn’t seem very River like. But I suspect she might be the hardest one to bring to the page without Summer Glau’s magic behind the character.

And last but not least, we have Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, which is the first six comics in Joss’ series packaged into one graphic novel. This is the first X-Men comic I’ve ever read and it was pretty good. Jean Grey is gone and Professor Xavier has left the school in the hands of Scott (Cyclops) and Emma Frost. We also have Beast (my personal favorite X-Men character), Wolverine, and Kitty Pryde. It is announced that an agency has developed a new cure to the mutant gene that causes no small amount of turmoil in the mutant community, including Team X-Men.

This is my first introduction to the characters Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde so I feel that I’ve missed something in not knowing their history. It would have been nice to get some background but it looks like I’ll have to do my own research for that. So for the X-Men uninitiated, it might be a little hard going. If you can skip over anything you don’t understand, you will do fine and love the humor Joss puts into this world. He does an excellent job with Beast and it is obvious that Kitty is his favorite... I’m sure his foreword didn’t tip me off at all.

The only thing left to say about all of these graphic novels is that they leave you wanting more which I suspect, Joss takes personal glee in. I have no problem visualizing him running around his office, giggling like a little school girl, over the angst he has produced in his fans concerning our need to find out what happens next. Of course, this is completely done in private as he wouldn’t want to be known as a giggler.

He is too cool for that.

My rating: :D :D :D :D

Haunted by Heather Graham

Review by Red Bonney

This was a ghost story, something I don't see much of anymore, which was why I picked it up. Actually, I picked it up because I saw the author's name and wondered if she was the same woman who was in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me". I don't mind saying I was a little disappointed when it wasn't, but by the time I realized that, I'd read the back cover and the first chapter, and already planned on buying it.

I found it in the romance section, and who knew it would turn out to be a cheap romance? To its credit, it has an excellent premise: An old southern plantation haunted by dozens of ghosts owned by Matt, the down-to-earth, non-believer county Sheriff, who is totally unimpressed by the occult and does not believe the problem has anything to do with a revenging spirit. Then, enter Darcy, the 'ghost hunter'. A buxom, redheaded ex-model who communicates with ghosts. Naturally, they have an innate attraction to each other they can't resist, though they do try.

The thing I liked best about this book was the ghost talk between the ghost investigators. There was a sense of frustration for Darcy who had this strange ability to know things and having to pass it off as simple investigation to everyone who either didn't believe in her or who wanted to exaggerate it for purposes of popularizing the idea of the haunted house. But this frustration only increased the tension between Darcy and Matt. Hence making it the cheap romance novel of Harlequin proportions. (Note: When I say cheap romance, it is a term of endearment, I mean no disrespect to the Harlequin establishment.)

The other side of this story is the mystery, which was the whole point to invite ghost hunters. The ghosts are creating a disturbance for some reason. Plus, it seems someone is trying to harm Darcy, though it's unclear why. Which makes it a good mystery. The Sheriff is concerned for her safety and where is the safest place he can put her? If you answered: In his own bed, you win a kewpie dawl. (Void where prohibited, what's a kewpie dawl?)

So, up to this point, I consider the book a good read and would recommend it to those who fall into the mystery, ghost story and romance novel categories. I won't comment on how it ends, except to say that it was left lacking. There seemed to be a lot of loose ends, and for some reason, the dialogue seemed to slip in quality. Like Heather's little sister tried to write the final three chapters. Still, the ending wasn't bad enough to make me hate the book. Overall, I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn

This has been a lazy on-my-butt weekend. So it was an excellent time to finish a Shinn book and this one kept me up until 5am last night because I couldn’t put it down and had to find out how it ended. Haven’t done this in ages.

It has been forever since I’ve read on of Shinn’s Archangel books. At one time, I’d have to reread her trilogy at least once a year. Then I get a pile of unread books and you get busy and you get into other stuff (aka Harry Potter fandom). Not to mention this one was first published in trade paperback size and I decided to wait for the mass market paperback. So all my fault really.

But I want to talk about Angel-Seeker. In the land of Samaria, there are humans and angels. The angels pray to Jovah on behalf of the humans for help in the weather or medicine, etc. The angels need the humans to reproduce. Angel-Seekers are women who entice angels to sleep with them, hoping to conceive an angel baby. If that happens, the Angel-Seeker gets to move, as a beloved member, into the Angelhold (the communities where the angels live. For a woman with no family or prospects, this seems like a good deal. The problem is, angel babies are quite rare and this can lead to a number of unwanted babies.

This story is told from the point of view of three characters. The first one is Elizabeth, a servant girl, who moves to the new Cedar Hills in the hopes of falling in love with an angel or conceive an angel baby. The second is Rebekah, who gives us our first inside look into the harsh world of the Jansai. She finds an injured angel in the desert, Obadiah (the third character) and this meeting springs their lives into a completely different direction.

I had been so worried that this book might have been a bad idea, sort of one of those staying too long at the party type of scenarios (Cough!StarWarsCough!). I loved the Archangel books and this is the first to break away from that setup. These books have a world I’d love to visit. Experience the Gloria (which is a yearly Woodstock) or walk through Luminaux or just people watch with a drink at a café in Cedar Hills. It is the world you fall in love with, but the stories keep it interesting.

Another fun game is to compare it to Lord of the Rings. I’m figuring that the Edori are very Hobbit like except they really like to travel. The Oracles could be considered the Wizards as they are good to go to for counsel and know lots of stuff. The angels have an ethereal or mystical quality that is rather elf like. The Jansai are not exactly as scary as an Orc but they are not nice people either. And I’m still trying to figure out the dwarf connection. … This is what happens when you read this book way too late at night.

But it is fun and I enjoyed walking in that world again. It also made me want to pick the old ones up again which is a good sign that Shinn didn’t ruin it for me. That was all I was asking for.

Outbreak by Marianne Ruuth

Review by Red Bonney

I blame LoisAbductions Inc and InCoHerEnt for this. I can't read a book now without reviewing it. Any little slip of a book. The copious amounts of rum help too. (Host here... hehehe, my work here is done.)

First thing I have to say is that this book was written in 1977. Which might explain what I thought was basically a B-movie in print. It was about a Utopian society that was foolishly run by men. I mean by foolish power men. Everyone in the society was a blue eyed, blond haired specimen of human being, labeling themselves a "Primaries". Everyone else, presumably the dark eyed, dark haired people, were, as a result, called "Secondaries". The secondaries were servants, or to put it another way, slaves to the Primaries and thought to be other than human. It was illegal for a secondary to mate a primary. Not only illegal, but immoral.

It's meant to be a metaphor, the whole book, for racism, but it's very generalized, very black and white, not to put too find a point on it. It's supposed to shock the readers with it's immorality. I was shocked, but at the many typos and bad grammar. The dialogue was overly simplified, but I was able to think my way through, rewrite it in my head, so to speak. Still, it was almost embarrassing.

But getting past all the technicalities, the story takes you through some intense bigotry, from both sides. It's a fine piece of societal commentary. It's a warning against the dangers of technology and a reminder to look at history and learn the hard lessons. A glimpse at one possible future.

Then, there's the romantic subplot. Oona, a "Primary" woman tries to escape the coils of her perfect society, because perfection doesn't sit very well with her. Perfection consists of a drugged, semi-conscious existence, where most people are pliable and easily controlled by the all knowing, all powerful Father. In her bid for freedom, she meets Garth, a tough, worldly-wise Secondary man. From the very start, she feels an attraction to him, but she is confused by her feelings, having only ever been taught that such a relationship is an abomination, that he isn't really human the way she is.

Of course, it's not always black and white, sometimes it's hard to tell who to root for. That's what makes it a fun story. It's a little tattered around the edges, metaphorically speaking, but I think it's worth wading through. If you like early futuristic sci-fi ... well, it's not a great book, but if you're a die hard, it won't take you long to get through it.

Violin by Anne Rice

Review by Red Bonney

They say that writing about music is like interpreting architecture through dance. Well, Anne Rice has given it a shot. The writing about music, not the dancing about architecture, but wouldn't that have been interesting too? Anybody want to start a petition (either for or against) please contact my host. (Host here... yeah, please don't.)

The book, Violin, was another ghost story. Stefan, a Russian prince and a gifted violinist from the eighteenth century wanders the spectral world, looking for people to haunt and drive insane with his music. He seems to be driven solely by his angst and self-suffering. Then he meets Triana, a fifty something, frumpy sort of woman, from 1997, whose angst leaves Stefan's miles behind. She feels personally responsible for the deaths of her mother, father, daughter and her husband, and revisits their deathbeds repeatedly throughout the whole book. Angst.

Stefan plays for Triana in her grief for her husband, enthralling her with his gift and they develop some weird sort of relationship bordering on lust. They argue with each other like an old married couple and then Triana steals his Stradivarius when his guard is down and poor Stefan is unable to take it back from her. He takes her instead to his past and shows her how he died for his very fine violin.

The story is so jam packed full of angst, I can't say the word enough, angst, that it hardly seems likely there will be a happy ending to it. The two of them compare and contrast their evil doings in life, how they betrayed their parents etc. They battle each other, fighting for the prize of the Stradivarius. Then they embrace like seasoned lovers, and it's hard to say which of them is the more insane.

As I was reading, I kept picturing Anne Rice as Triana, the main character and I get the impression she did too. And come on, snuggling with a young, handsome rockstar. Who wouldn't want that? It was kind of a frustrating book, with few action scenes and more reminiscences than I care to recount. As I said, she revisited the four great deaths in her life frequently, and got off on it too. Also, much of the descriptions went toward music and if a violin is played in a book, does anyone hear it? She described Beethoven's Ninth and I wished I was listening to Beethoven, it might have affected the way I felt about the book.

Maybe I would have understood it a little better. It's definitely something I have to read again, after I find a disk with Beethoven's Ninth to play in the background. I also think you should read it. It's a vivid, haunting (mind the pun), ghost story with a hint of unrequited romance. And so full of angst you'll think a teenager exploded onto the pages.

Cheers.

Forever Fifteen by Kimberly Steele

I am a weak, weak person. There are a million things I should be doing at this very moment, the clock is ticking down, but instead, I sit here and spend the afternoon and evening listening to an audio book… Oh how did I get sucked in?

I’m not even the audio book type of person. I like the feel of the paper and the smell of the pages. Book stores are my most favorite places in the world and sometimes I think that the only reason I go to work everyday is to finance my book collection. My living room feels somewhat like a library. But thanks to my MP3 player, it has lead to the discovery that I can somewhat safely walk and read at the same time. Quite tempting and consequently, I got sucked into this story.

Forever Fifteen is about a girl who was turned into a vampire many, many moons ago at the age of, you guessed it, fifteen. At the time, she was considered an adult, old enough to be married. But nowadays, she isn’t old enough to buy cigarettes and that must really suck. Reminds me of an old Buffy episode where Anya, a many century old demon but newly turned human, was trying to order a beer in a bar. Bartender asks for ID, she spouts off about how old she really is, undaunted he asks for the ID again, she accepts her fate and orders a coke. Just the memory of that scene makes me laugh.

But back to this story. Lucy had entered the foster care system and has spent the last many years ridding the world of lecherous foster parents, child molesters, and other bad people. She had been living with the Beck’s for awhile now and they are good people. No matter how old she really is, she looks fifteen and that means, going to high school, with all the drama that is included. A boy named John likes her and no matter what age you really are, that still brings on the angst. The story jumps back and forth, from current time to the past, where we learn of Lucy’s beginnings as a human, her turning into a vampire, and her life with Sebastian, her vampire sire/lover.

The story is explicit and nicely detailed in parts. It was read by the author, Kimberly Steele, and she does a good job. She kept the characters’ voices distinctive and kept it flowing nicely. I haven’t looked into why she has posted her story in this way but glad that she did. The only problem I had is that I thought that Lucy should have been written as more jaded or cynical. For hundreds of years, she has lived the life of a predator, living on the lowest of humans to survive. She has seen how horrible humans can be to each other but she came off as rather meek and mild. She would make Rory Gilmore look like a foul mouthed trucker. Not that there is anything wrong with being a foul mouthed trucker.

Anyway, the story did suck me in and I had to find out how it ended. Not that the ending was all that surprising or satisfying, but I really did need to know what happened to these characters. I did love the premise and for that alone, it deserves a read or in this case, a listen. Forever Fifteen can be found via the iTunes music store as a free download.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

No real life crap, just jumping right to the book...


That's how it goes, you think you're on top of the world,
and suddenly they spring Armageddon on you.*

There is so much I want to InCoHerEntLy say about this book.

But first, I have to say that I’m terribly disappointed in an educational system that has kept me from such a book for the last sixteen years. Granted, only about three of those sixteen years were spent in the public education sector. But I believe that to be a big enough window for at least one of my instructors to make an attempt at suggesting the importance of reading it if they had been as well read as they had claimed. Good Omens would have prevented a little late adolescent angst on the religious spectrum. Or, I would like to think it would have.

Please don't start to think that I believe that Good Omens should be considered the end all and be all of spiritual guides for our generation. I'm not that wacked. But it did surprise me in it's depth for what I had just assumed was just a comedy in the same league as Kevin Smith's film, Dogma. (And yes, I liked that movie but those thoughts are best saved for another time and place.)


CAVEAT:
Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous.
Do not attempt it in your home.


We really shouldn't get ahead of ourselves but I fear that I will try to describe it and end up making it sound like a summary of a third grade play. A task that is like trying to describe the Bible in fifty words or less... ooohh, a game... let's give it a try... God created the earth, you get a bunch of sin and morality tales. One of the grandest stories in the collection details how God's only son is killed as part of the ineffable Plan. Other stuff happen and then an ending describing Armageddon that would make any fantasy writer proud. The End. ...hmmm... 50 words on the dot but would you read it?

With that in mind and much trepidation, we will give Good Omens a shot: the Antichrist is born and puts into the play the Ineffable Plan of Armageddon. (The real danger of this book is that it makes you want to use the word ‘ineffable’ a lot.) Aziraphale (angel) and Crowley (demon), the true stars of this story, don’t exactly want that to happen as they like Earth just as it is. They team up to attempt to stop all of human existence from ending in one big train wreck. Due to a hospital mix-up, the Antichrist is incorrectly switched at birth and spends the next eleven years growing up in nice Lower Tadfield. So, the end of humanity is scheduled for this Saturday and you can't have the end of time without the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, 90’s style, wearing Hell’s Angels jackets and riding motorcycles. Not to mention witches, Witchfinders, demons, angels, aliens, Tibetans, Americans, etc, etc, etc... all told in a comedic voice so sharp it could be considered brutal if you weren't too busy laughing.

See what I mean? Not so great in the description department but I hope you will read it anyway. Personally, I enjoyed the general sense of doom you feel that is usually only achievable after a morbid “Disaster Recovery Plan” work meeting. Except Good Omens is much funnier than most management seminars not attended by Scott Adams.

It's the type of book that will make you want to crawl inside and see the world the authors are serving up to us. Granted it would not be that different from today's London but it would be interesting to visit Aziraphale's bookshop. That is if you could happen to find it open and withstand the glowering looks of the owner. And although I'm not much of a car lover, it would be fun to take a spin in Crowley's Bentley with Queen belting from the speakers. The story definitely leaves you wanting more and that could explain the fandom that has sprung from just one book published in the long ago days of 1990. The book is also one of the few that would find its way onto my to-be-read-again shelf.

Normally I wouldn't tell people I don't know what to do but if you haven't read Good Omens, go buy it. Or if you have, you should read it again and let the approaching Apocalypse bring a smile to your face. Cheers!

Have a nice doomsday.

*All bolded quotes were written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, copyrighted 1990, Workman Publishing Company. I would consider it one of the signs of the apocalypse if I could write something with half as much wit.