until dawn

Awakenings by Edward Lazellari

2011-03-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

AWAKENINGS
by Edward Lazellari
Available 08/30/11

Otherworldly magic collides with modern times, and the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance

Cal MacDonnell is a happily married New York City cop with a loving family. Seth Raincrest is a washed-up photographer who has alienated even his closest friends. The two have nothing in common — except that they both suffer from retrograde amnesia. It’s as if they just appeared out of thin air thirteen years ago, and nothing has been able to restore their memories. Now their forgotten past has caught up to them with a vengeance.

Cal's and Seth’s lives are turned upside down as they are stalked by otherworldly beings who know about the men's past lives. But these creatures aren't here to help; they're intent on killing anyone who gets in their way. In the balance hangs the life of a child who might someday restore a broken empire to peace and prosperity. With no clue why they're being hunted, Cal and Seth must accept the aid of a strange and beautiful woman who has promised to unlock their secrets. The two must stay alive long enough to protect their loved ones, recover their true selves — and save two worlds from tyranny and destruction.

Good or bad, when trying a new author half the fun is the anticipation. Only the author can ruin what seems to be one hell of a read by delivering a heaping, steaming, turd. But until then I live in hope that this will be as advertised, awesome.

The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett

2011-03-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

THE COMPANY MAN
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Available 4/7/11
(my copy arrived today from amazon.com)

A trolley car pulls into the station with eleven dead bodies inside. Four minutes before, the factory workers were seen boarding at the previous station. Now, all are dead. And all of them are union.

The year is 1919. The McNaughton Corporation is the pinnacle of American industry. They built airships that crossed the seas. Guns that won the Great War. And above all, they built Evesden: the city of tomorrow, dominated by the immense McNaughton Tower. But something is rotten at the heart of Evesden and one man must uncover its dark secret before it all goes up in flames.

Caught between the union and the company, between the police and the victims, McNaughton investigator Cyril Hayes must find the truth behind the city of the future. Because if he doesn’t... he’s history.

Author of the awesome book Mr. Shivers, I'm hoping this will be another hit out of the ballpark.

What I'm excited about...

2011-03-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

MY LIFE as a WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE
by Diana Rowland
Coming 07/05/11

Angel Crawford is a loser

Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.

That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the parish morgue--and that it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse.

Before she knows it she's dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey--just when she's hungriest!

Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn't, she's dead meat.

Literally.

In what I'm sure will be the best book cover of 2011, MLWTZ looks to be both awesome and disgusting. Could this be a quasi Scared Straight cautionary tale to teens about addiction and what will surely happen to you if you drop out of school. Maybe they can pass it out at high schools. Punishment for being an asshole and or a loser is being turned into a zombie!

I'm extremely intrigued that is still a class difference even as you are a reanimated rotting and brains craving corpse. And I am still loving this new breed of zombie, the one that can still hold down a job, solve a mystery, and find it in their putrid little hearts to look for love.

FINALLY! The wait is almost over....

2011-02-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

AFTERMATH
Sirantha Jax Book 5
by Ann Aguirre
Coming September 2011

DEAD HEROES GET MONUMENTS. LIVE ONES GET TRIALS.

Sirantha Jax has the right genes—ones that enable her to “jump” faster-than-light ships through grimspace. But it’s also in her genetic makeup to go it alone. It’s a character trait that has gotten her into—and out of—hot water time and time again, but now she’s caused one of the most horrific events in military history…

During the war against murderous, flesh-eating aliens, Sirantha went AWOL and shifted grimspace beacons to keep the enemy from invading humanity’s homeworld. The cost of her actions: the destruction of modern interstellar travel—and the lives of six hundred Conglomerate soldiers.

Accused of dereliction of duty, desertion, mass murder, and high treason, Sirantha is on trial for her life. And only time will tell if she’s one of the Conglomerate’s greatest heroes—or most infamous criminals…

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
A Morris and Chastain Investigation Book 3
by Justin Gustainis
Coming July 26, 2011

Senator Howard Stark wants to be President of the United States. So does the demon inside him. With the competing candidates dropping out due to scandal, blackmail, and ‘accidental’ death, Stark looks like a good bet to go all the way to the White House. And if he gets there, Hell on Earth will follow.

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and white witch Libby Chastain are determined to stop this evil conspiracy. But between them and Stark stand the dedicated agents of the US Secret Service – as well as the very forces of Hell itself. Quincey and Libby will risk everything to exorcise the demon possessing Stark. If they fail, ‘Hail to the Chief’ will become a funeral march – for all of us.

HARD SPELL
An Occult Crimes Unit Book 1
by Justin Gustainis
Coming July 26, 2011

Stan Markowski is a Detective Sergeant on the Scranton PD's Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit.

Like the rest of America, Scranton's got an uneasy 'live and let unlive' relationship with the supernatural. But when a vamp puts the bite on an unwilling victim, or some witch casts the wrong kind of spell, that's when they call Markowski. He carries a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Dial V For Vampire | Forbidden Spells | Bite Club | Scranton By Night ]

GHOST STORY
Dresden Files Book 13
by Jim Butcher
Coming July 26, 2011
(new date it really sucks yo)

When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn’t doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.

But being dead doesn’t stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has no body, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends — and his own soul — Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic…

Here's to book covers keeping us guessing!

2010-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

With the reveal of Dresden Files book 13 cover, Ghost Story, we are all still left with no clue as to how Butcher will continue the story. Is Harry protected by his new status as The Summer Knight? Did he simply survive the bullet? Or will he make a Buffy-esq resurrection? Butcher always goes for the unlikely rout, so we can all rest assured that none of the above is in actuality the correct answer. Much respect.

2010-05-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm going to say it: I think that the "urban fantasy" genre has been boring me for a little while now. (I am cringing in shame as I type this out! Lord Almighty Butcher forgive me, I don't mean you. Never you my Nerd King.) But I must explain something first, not ALL urban fantasy is boring. Just most of it, the adult part of it to be little more specific.

I want to also specify that I will never tire of monsters in any form be it; hunky, heroic, demonic, disgusting, or comedic. What I am terribly sick of are the stories they are being put into: CSI/FBI Vampire! PI Succubus! Detective Hard-Ass Werewolf! Gigantic-cliche-cast-iron-bitch-necromancer!

I try new authors, I try established series that you all seem to love and drive me nuts with irritation (anything Caitlin Kittredge the laziest writer I've ever read, or Lilith St. Crow who I kind of hate how she writes.) I despise authors who think they are so damn terribly cool that they sound like assholes on the page, or the ones who are so damn clueless and yet try and write a terribly fashionable character and it just ends up being terrible.

- - - - - -

What is the difference between YA urban fantasy and adult UF? It seems to me that aside from quite a few boarding schools, & high school diplomas, it is predominately: love.

I've always seen it as a terrible weakness on the part of the author not be unable to keep the reader interested, involved, or on the edge of their seat while their protagonists maintain a relationship, or gasp, a marriage.

On the flip side of this coin are the authors who put us out of our wretched misery quickly a la Patti Briggs & her Mercy Thompson series. Now it's about keeping your most precious people safe, together, strong, and prosperous. I feel the danger has been dialed up infinitely more because of the commitment of the characters have made to each other. Then there is Diana Gabaldon's time traveling Holy Grail couple who go through hell to be together. It's fucking priceless.

I know I'm venting into a vacuum, but that's the point of a blog right? It's only my opinion and it only matters to me.

Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes! Jim Butcher you god, you bitch, you dog...

2010-04-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

This book is fucking napalm on Harry Dresden and your brain! Sweet sweet oblivion, Jim Butcher you are my Nerd King and I writhe and worship at your fiendish altar. I LOVED IT!!!!

Titty Twisters! A new Nursery Crime Novel announced...

2010-03-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

The Last Great Tortoise Race
by Jasper Fforde
Spring 2012

"...Following on from the Nursery Crime Division's brilliant handling of the Goldilocks case, Jack Spratt, Mary Mary and Ashley once more take on the forces of evil within the harrowing and adventure-strewn streets of Reading..."

Published in Spring 2012 in both the UK and the US.
--from Jasper's website.

Soulless by Gail Carriger- beware mild spoilers ahead!

2009-10-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here is finally the book that has brought me out of the urban fantasy stupor that I’ve been in. My beloved genre (and all it’s varied and colorful sub-genres) had made me slip into an ennui only heretofore seen from a Rake in a romance novel.

Soulless, the first book in the Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger, has breathed new life in my flagging sails. Not only is this a delectably hilarious read, but the story is supremely presented. I found undercurrents and threads sewn throughout the novel that eventually brought fruit at the end of this book. Several reading must be undertaken to fully appreciate every carefully woven element. Even the smallest of Carrigers characters are never frivolous, everyone has their role to play in this book. I admire the author's vision of our protagonist Alexia Tarabotti she's smart, strong, powerful, flawed, and has a definite appetite. The best part about Alexia, for me anyway, is that she is all of these things, but she is still very much a vulnerable young woman. Her feelings are so natural and well expressed by the author and that all the while Alexia is felling discomfiture, mortification, fear, or has been extraordinarily offended, she always tries. She wants more than what life has dealt her and she truly puts herself out there. I love her for it.

It took me only a few pages to get acclimated to the cadence of the authors voice, and how she balanced the action, Victorian etiquette, and that delightful humor embedded in the fabric of the story. I admit to being overly cynical and making premature assumptions as to what would come next (you see, it's been a VERY long time since I've read a new author that has stepped outside of formula), but Gail Carriger proved me wrong at every turn! At first I worried that I'd run headlong into yet another female battle axe, the only difference being that this one was in Victorian dress instead of leather pants. A couple pages in, and that notion was dispelled completely. Then I thought to myself, (and here I must admit that this leap in illogic was due to the fact that I had just caught up on my Victoria Thompson Gaslight Mysteries where NOTHING happens in the way of advancing the relationship between the two main characters, but seeing as I am emotionally invested in them, I cannot stay away!) given the tantalizing chemistry and verbal sparring between Alexia and the uber delicious Lord Maccon, that we'd have to go many books into the series to get anywhere with them. I was wrong, so absolutely fantastically wrong.

Still, I was stubborn to have not learned my lesson. I was nearing the end of the book, trying to magically make the book longer by conjuring up new pages from thin air, when I bitterly figured the book would end with the climax of the story and maybe a page of wrap up ( you know this happens much too often!). I vow never to assume I know my ass from my elbow ever again when next I read a Gail Carriger novel. There is plenty of meat here people, I strongly advise you to dig in! I have just one last point to make, and one that is a cause very dear to me. Werewolves. I LOVE werewolves, if done properly they can be such powerful and sexy creatures. Unfortunately all too often they are second class to vampires, and I grow weary of this. Rare is the author with the imagination that takes them down the path less traveled.

But here in the world of the Parasol Protectorate, we have a sincerely excellent mythology of supernaturals. I am fervently excited to explore not just Conall Maccon's back story (because it is scintillating intriguing), and Alexia's father is another mysterious figure in the background. Let us not ignore Professor Lyall or Lord Akeldama. And what of the dewan and the potentate, and that silver haired gentleman, we've yet to meet these creatures. There's much in this world to explore!

I look forward to digging into Changeless, Book 2 in the Parasol Protectorate Series due out March 10, 2010, and the yet unpublished short story about Alexia's father Carriger has talked about on her blog.

RATING: A Fan For Life!

My brian is on vacation- yup, still.

2009-06-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a break from this blog, there's been a lot of amazing books published since I last posted, but there's been a lot of really disheartening bullshit too. It's kind of taken the wind out of me, and I've been licking my wounds by reading YA which has some really good shit going on and I don't mean that vampire series turned cultural hysteria. I'll be back soon... if the zombies outside my dungeon door don't bust in first!

Succubus Dreams

2008-03-01T23:15:00.000-08:00

Succubus Dreams Coming in October 2008

Some days, a girl just can’t catch a break……especially when the girl in question is Georgina Kincaid, a shape-shifting succubus who gets her energy from seducing men. First there’s her relationship with gorgeous bestselling writer Seth Mortensen, which is unsatisfying on a number of levels. It’s not just that they can’t have sex in case Georgina inadvertently kills him (generally a turn-off for most guys). Lately, even spending time together is a challenge. Seth's obsessed with finishing his latest novel, and Georgina's under demonic orders to mentor the new (and surprisingly inept) succubus on the block. Then there are the dreams. Someone, or something, is preying on Georgina at night, draining her energy, and supplying eerie visions of her future. Georgina seeks answers from Dante, a dream interpreter with ties to the underworld, but his flirtatious charm only leaves her more confused—especially as the situation with Seth reaches crisis point. Now Georgina faces a double challenge—rein in her out-of-control love life, and go toe-to-toe with an enemy capable of wreaking serious havoc among mankind. Otherwise, Georgina, and the entire mortal world, may never sleep easy again…

Madhouse by Rob Thurman

2008-02-29T23:33:00.000-08:00

My Brother has spent a lifetime- mine, at least- telling me that I was normal, that I wasn't a monster. With his help, I'd finally realized that as long as I could remain who I was, I could survive what I was. It was only bad genes....

Half-human Cal Leandros and his brother, Niko, aren't exactly prospering with their preternatural detective agency. Who could have guessed that business would dry up in New York City, where vampires, trolls, and other creepy crawlies are all over the place?

But now there's a new arrival in the Big Apple. A malevolent evil with ancient powers, dead set on making history with an orgy of blood and murder, is picking off humans like sheep. And for Cal and Niko, this is one paycheck they're going to have to earn... if the live long enough to collect it.

This series is on a breakneck pace to fucking Valhalla. I can only compare it's awesomeness to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. It's completely it's own little entity and the fullness of the story seems impossibly contained by the cover. When you read these books you are completely immersed into Cal and Niko's world. With this book Rob Thurman has, for me, cemented herself in that Murders Row of authors that do not fail, that leave all the others in the dust. Armstrong, Butcher, Harris's Grave Series, Caine, Briggs, and now Thurman!

READ THE EXCERPT!

The Summoning Book 1 of The Darkest Powers and Living with the Dead

2008-02-22T00:46:00.000-08:00

The Darkest Powers Trilogy Book 1: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Meet...

Chloe Saunders, she sees dead people. Yes, like in the films. The problem is, in real life saying you see ghosts gets you a one-way ticket to the psych ward. And at 15, all Chloe wants to do is fit in at school and maybe get a boy to notice her. But when a particularly violent ghost haunts her, she gets noticed for all the wrong reasons. Her seemingly crazed behaviour earns her a trip to Lyle House, a centre for 'disturbed teens'. At first Chloe is determined to keep her head down. But then her room mate disappears after confessing she has a poltergeist, and some of the other patients also seem to be manifesting paranormal behaviour. Could that be a coincidence? Or is Lyle House not quite what it seems...? Chloe realizes that if she doesn't uncover the truth, she could be destined for a lifetime in a psychiatric hospital. Or could her fate be even worse...? Can she trust her fellow students, and does she dare reveal her dark secret? (visit her website and unlock the hidden pages with her darkest power). Due out July 1, 2008.

Otherworld Book 9: Living With the Dead

When Robyn Peltier—a very human PR rep—is framed for murder, the two people most determined to clear her name are half-demon tabloid reporter Hope Adams, and necromancer homicide detective John Findlay. And suddenly Robyn finds herself in the heart of a world she never even know existed—and which she is safer knowing nothing about.... October 28, 2008 according to amazon.com, her website says November so keep an eye out.

As for Personal Demons will be a huge test for the character Hope Adams, like Paige before her, she is very difficult to warm up to. But Paige came through in spades eventually, and I am really betting that Hope will as well. Lucas is like adding a wet blanket onto a struggling fire for me when what I want is a fucking inferno from this book, but Kelley has NEVER disappointed (um... wait, let me clarify, the Otherworld series has never disappointed. It remains a perfect series unmarred by author-brain-malfunction syndrome).

(There will hopefully be liberal servings of Carl Marsden throughout this story, honestly he is the only bite of excitement for me so far. But I am so far beyond biased toward the Werewolves in Armstrong books. I want them all the frigging time. It's a total irrational desire. After the payoff in No Humans Involved, I am in full Necro/Were mode. I'll get over it... kind of.)

Living With the Dead looks exciting in that we will be introduced to a new Male of the Otherworld Universe. We constantly get new Women, after all it is the Women of Otherworld Series, but they wouldn't be half the books they are without the incredible men in their lives. And a Necro homicide detective sounds pretty cool even if he won't have super human strength or a longer lasting youth. But Armstrong has already proven to us (and will continue to do so in The Darkest Powers Series) that Necromancers has the most terrible power of them all.

And here is what I am positively fucking foaming at the mouth over:

October - story "The Ungrateful Dead" in the anthology, Blood Lite. This is a Jaime story. October 21, 2008 (This means Jeremy and I am totally freaking.)

Mercedes Thompson- Homecoming

2008-02-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

Reasons why Mercy Thompson's Comic will be FUCKING awesome:

1. The book's success was first due to people picking up Moon Called because of that amazing book cover. Each book since has equalled the level of coolness and has remained true to the story inside. Just imaging the comic being up to par makes my mouth water.

2. The book starts just as a younger Mercy comes to work for Z, "When she takes the job, she finds herself in a mess of trouble. Vampires, werewolves and an ancient fae are all out to get her-".

3.Hopefully we'll see her introduction to Adam! I live in hope...

4.Homecoming will be a four part book and is slated for release late in 08.

Cry Wolf has it's cover and official release date, yay! Sure it's been out for a few weeks, I'm so damned behind! Sure the cover art is pretty ga-ga-gay, but I'm still looking forward to reading it.

If you haven't read Alpha and Omega short story in the On the Prowl anthology, here's an excerpt: http://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/onthepowlChapter.shtml

Finally the cover of Wolfsbane and Mistletoe! Charlaine, Patti, and Keri always deliver great reads. Even if I'm a Harper Connely fan and not a Sookie fan (yet I haven't been able to finish one, I got bored), I've got a sure fire touchdown with Patti Briggs. "I was also invited to write a short story for Charlaine Harris' Christmas anthology Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, which will be released, not too surprisingly, just before Christmas this year. As usual these days, I was late getting my story finished, polished and submitted (arrrggh!). My story, titled Star of David is about David Christiansen, the mercenary introduced briefly in Moon Called. A nice tale about how murder, mayhem and bloodshed can bring a family closer together. "

Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis

2008-01-31T00:31:00.000-08:00

Black Magic Woman, it totally lives up to the hype.

I had this baby pre-orderd from amazon as of
"Order Date: November 16, 2007" just on the strength of Jim Butcher's blurb on the book, "Black Magic Woman is the best manuscript I've ever been asked to read. Keep an eye on Justin Gustainis. You'll be seeing more of him soon." - Jim Butcher. There was no other description but that.

Butcher does not dissapoint. Ever.

Rarely can authors carry off and capture a reader into 4 different storylines all paralleling and diverging into this multufasceted ending that gave each storyline it's own conclusion, spotlite, and unique and compelling scene. This book will claw it's hooks into you and you'll be thinking about it for days.

Black Magic is full of cover to cover pleasant surprises, one being that Gustainis is a fanstastic character creator. I hope that he's able to spread out and create spinoff series of some of his "gust stars", and even to the cast he alluded to. Barry Love and the "Jack" Morris replaced in the prolgue, are great examples of Gustainis's fine-ass craftmanship.

The entire books is a breath of fresha air, it proves that the genre is not played out. It proves that if an author has enough creative juice, they can still blow you away with a series about witches, vampires, werewolves, and all that jazz. I am officially a fan for life.

So go buy this book, help a new author out and you will hopefully be rewarded with great books through your support! Here's the latest news from his website:

Exciting News!
My publisher, Solaris Books, has offered me a contract for Evil Ways (excerpt of this at the end of BMW), the second Quincey Morris Supernatural Investigation. Publication date: January, 2009.
In addition, Solaris has taken an option on two more books in the "Quincey Morris" series.
When I gave this news to a friend of mine, he congratulated me and then said, "Now all you have to do is write 'em."
Gulp.

Small Favor, small excerpt...

2008-01-29T23:10:00.000-08:00

Proving why he is still the Master, and we all should bow down to him and empty our wallets for Dresden Files Book 10, Jim and his minions at jim-butcher.com are parceling out sweet sweet chunks of heroin-like excerpts from the new book. Each Tuesday until it's release April 1st will bring a new installment. Find them at jimbutcher.com

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (Spoilers Ahead)

2008-01-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

City of Ashes
(The Mortal Instruments Book 2)
Cassandra Clare
March 25, 2008
ISBN-10: 1-4169-1429-3

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend (BOO!!!! Simon is LAME!). But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

One Foot in the Grave UPDATE!

2008-01-22T01:00:00.000-08:00

You can run from the grave, but you can't hide...
Releases April 29, 2008

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She's still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind.

Being around Bones awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline rush of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head - wanted: dead or half-alive - means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard Cat tries to keep things professional between them, she'll find that desire lasts forever ... and Bones won't let her get away again. -from jeanienefrost.com
Read an updated excerpt on my comments or go to her website

www.jeanienefrost.com.

Dresden Files comic artwork from issue #1

2008-01-22T00:07:00.000-08:00

Magic. It can get a guy killed...

Get all you Dresden Files Comic info from Dabel Bros. here, and don't forget to pick up the Kalshazzak Poster here!

Outlander Graphic Novel

2008-01-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

That's right, OUTLANDER Graphic Novel. Diana Gabaldon posted this yesterday:
"Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that it will publish an original story set in the world of Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander series, written by Gabaldon herself and illustrated in full color by award-winning artist Hoang Nguyen... The new story, starring Gabaldon’s beloved characters Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, opens with Murtagh, Jamie’s godfather, awaiting the return of his godson to Scotland, and the fulfillment of a vow made years before. The graphic novel will be approximately 192 pages and will publish sometime in 2009. Gabaldon’s upcoming new Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone, is expected to publish that year as well...
...Hoang Nguyen’s previous work includes the Robocop movie adaptation for Dark Horse, Alien Legion graphic novels for Marvel Epic, Punisher: War Zone for Marvel and Warstrike for Malibu Comics. His original project Metal Militia was optioned by Dino De Laurentiis for feature film development. More recently he has worked in the video game industry, having contributed to such well-known titles as the Elder Scrolls series for Bethesda Softworks and Xena for Universal Studios. He was the lead artist and character designer on Dead to Rights for Namco and is currently a consultant for Namco Bandai Games."

I am unbelievably excited about this project. I absolutely love the fact that we will get to know more about the story I have adored and memorized all these years. Gabaldon herself said this on her brand new blog Voyages of the Artemis:

"Well, now, mind--this isn't going to be a staight graphic-novel adaption _of_ OUTLANDER, itself. What the publisher asked for was a "new" Jamie and Claire story, set within the timeline/storyverse of the Outlander series.
So that's what you'll see. Now, if you're a fan of the series, you'll certainly see events that you recognize from OUTLANDER. But you'll see a lot of things that Claire _never_ saw, and had no idea were happening [g]--and even the things she did see may have had more or different meanings than she realized."

I checked out this artist character Hoang Nguyen's website and I was blown away. They are seriously going for it. His artwork is so detailed and luminous. I am literally nervous to see what their collaborative rendering of what Jamie will be. Don't RUIN it for me PLEASE! Here's a sample of his work.

Gale Force and Feast of Fools cover art!

2008-01-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

Gale Force: Weather Warden Book 7

will be released on August 5, 2008

I wait tortuously for Diana Gabaldon, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and Rachel Caine to publish. These are the masters of the long standing series. These are the authors who are able to make their series grow into epic tomes of perfection. And while The Weather Warden series will not be as long as others, quality will have won over quantity in this instance.

Feast of Fools: Morganville Vampires Book 4

Drops into our hot little hands June 3, 2008!

Think Amelie is scary? Meet her dad, the terrifying vampire Mr. Bishop. What does he want -- and what will Amelie do about it? Claire's caught in the middle, along with her friends and even her parents, as Morganville's fragile alliance between humans and vampires starts to fracture. Soon, everyone will have to choose a companion for the Feast of Fools ... and a side.
Release date: June 2008

Read the excerpt Morganville minions!

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

2008-01-09T00:51:00.000-08:00

I get seriously invested in the characters in the series I read. When traumatic things happen to them, I feel it in my stomach and I sometimes hate the author, sometimes I still love the author and the series but I can't revisit that book again for a long time. (namely Breath of Snow and Ashes, the memory of it's events still kill me)

This was not either or those. Patricia was able to break my heart and put it back together again. She didn't rush the end, or miraculously make everything okay, but she moved the character along and took the others farther along as well. I cannot express how much I treasure this book and how it has truly surpassed all other new series for me. Briggs has impressed me beyond all measure. Thank you for letting a strong woman be vulnerable without being weak, and for letting her make choices instead of stringing us along without end.

Mercy is a character with honor, heart, and true courage. I am and will always be, a fan for life.

Excerts to Upcoming Books

2008-01-08T02:26:00.000-08:00

Coming Febuary 26, 2008 (click cover for excerpt)

Coming Febuary 26, 2008 (Click cover for excerpt)

The Devil You Know(Book 2, Coming August 2008)
The beautiful. The bad. The Possessed.Some people worship them. Some people fear them. And some people—like Morgan Kingsley—go up against them toe-to-toe, flesh-to-flesh, and power against power. An exorcist by trade, Morgan is one of the few humans with an aura stronger than her possessor, even though her demon can tease her body senseless. She's also a woman who has just discovered a shocking truth: everything she once believed about her past, her identity, may have been a lie…With a family secret exploding around her and with a full-scale demon war igniting, Morgan is a key player in an unsettled world. Then a rogue, sociopathic demon enters her life with a bang. His name is The Hunter. And since she is the prey, Morgan has only one choice: to hunt The Hunter down—no matter what heartbreaking truths she uncovers on the way… Read Chapter One.

Romancing the Dead will be out May 6, 2008.
I’m on the top of the world. The Vatican witch hunters think I’m dead, the FBI has closed my file, I might get to buy the occult bookstore I manage, I’m co-founding a brand-new coven—and the vampire I love has just proposed. How lucky can a girl get? Wait, wai—
Oh, crap. I’ve jinxed myself. My fiancé, Sebastian, is missing and I’m worried sick. Has he been kidnapped? Or could he have run off with that leggy blonde from the coven? Now I’ll have to seek the help of my future stepson—the same brat who once turned me over to the Catholics, all for a pimped-out Jag. Plus, the Goddess Lilith, who camps out in my body, has been making embarrassing appearances. Now all I need is some crazy killer on my tail. Hold on, hold— Double crap. Read Chapter One.

City of Ashes is coming out March 25, 2008 Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father? Read the excerpt.

Wicked Lovely, and company

2007-12-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

While whiling away the weeks and months (*cough, years) wait for the next books from my Major League Murders Row in Urban Fantasy (Armstrong, Butcher, Caine, Harris) the new authors have been pretty hit and lukewarm for me. So this waiting period has given me an opportunity to explore the YA Urban Fantasy that I normally don’t have time for.
I read constantly. I am also addicted to movies (I see at least 6 a month at the theatres). And I keep my DVR fully loaded with shit I constantly need to catch up on. Add into this a full time job and a social life = me not getting enough sleep. So most often the YA of the genre went purchased but unread. When I finally got to read them, I was surprised to get my socks blown off by quiet a few of these books which are I am excited to say most often the start of a new series.

Here’s the Hits List so far:

*Beast by Alex Flinn (Standalone novel in a new Fairy Tale Retelling series) - I'm foaming at the mouth!
*City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Book One of the Mortal Instruments Trilogy) -I'm foaming at the mouth!
*Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (First in a series) -a fan for life!
*Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (First in a new series) -a fan for life!
*Glass House by Rachel Caine (Book One of the Morganville Vampires series) - a fan for life!
*Dead Girls Dance by Rachel Caine (Book Two of the Morganville Vampires series) - I'm foaming at the mouth!
*Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine (book Three of the Morganville Vampires Series) - I'm foaming at the mouth!
*The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer(Book One) -Can I haz more?
*Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (Book One in the Twilight series) - I'm Foaming at the mouth!
*New Moon by Stephanie Meyer (Book Two in the Twilight series) -Can I haz more?
*Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (Book Three in the Twilight series) - Can I haz more?
*Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Book One) *and I’ve placed this series and author on notice, it is hanging on by a thread. Another flop ending and you are dead to me. - this motherfucker is on notice!
*The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga (while this is not YA it is a must read for anyone who is a nerd, a geek, an outcast, or if you are all of those but just in the closet about it like Cal and so many others!) -A fan for life!

P.S.

2007-12-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

By the way, while I work at a library, I believe in buying the book. I believe in advanced purchases and going to the bookstore the DAY the big titles drop. If books are going to survive, then we have to shell out the cash. If you can, then DO IT. If you can’t, that’s where the library comes in. I believe in first editions, special editions, and buying the series again when the covers have had an overhaul (the latter is reserved for those deemed worthy) .
So for all that I do for the publishing industry, I expect some returns. Amazon takes care of me with its discounts (not found in any store) and it Prime Member benefits. I believe in this awesome wave of authors having to start blogs, and websites as a part of the whole promotion machine. It gives the fans a way to feel connected to the books and the authors- and kudos for those authors who are providing individual feedback to the fans. I know it’s difficult for the big name authors to do that (especially ones like Hamilton who is equally revered and vilified by her past and present minions), but it gives the new authors a way to really garner a hardcore and cult following. Hey, as a fan, if you think and feel like you know and are friends with your favorite author, wouldn’t you go to the mat for that author any day?

2007-12-02T02:36:00.000-08:00

Uhh, I am so irritated.

I really despise when a book has so much promise and hype and then doesn’t deliver. I was surprised, I kept reading thinking it would turn the corner and start kicking ass, but it never did. The only ass that was kicked was me.
I didn’t blog on Tantalize right away, I wanted a few days to settle down and see what my feelings and impressions really were without the immediacy of that first rush of reactionary emotions.
And guess what, I’m still fucking pissed. And I suppose the fact that I have strong emotions means that the storytelling was good, and I’ll grant you that. There was a lot of meat there. There was a lot to love. But the author kept tearing away everything that meant anything to the main character. And since it’s told in first person, the way the main character dealt with everything was so ANTICLIMACTIC!
And I hate hate hate non endings. And this one has a doozy. NOTHING HAPPENS. I do not feel satisfied, not when in the end everything changed for the main character. Just imagine waking up to be that last person on earth, it was sort of like that, and that characters reaction and actions were inadequate to the situation.

They only possible saving grace could be if this is the first book of a series. Otherwise, FUCK YOU.
Although looking up her forthcoming work she has this listed: watch for ETERNAL by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick, TBA)(ages 14-up). A gothic fantasy novel.
It is obviously the follow up to Tantalize and will (and had better) deliver. Quincy was a lamb to the slaughter in this book, and I like my heroine’s to kick some ass. Like In Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy, a perfect book. Take note YA authors. (Even the oh so high and mighty Stephanie Meyer should take notice)

totally forgot to post this months ago!

2007-11-21T02:37:00.000-08:00

masterbation, again!

2007-11-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

Masturbation from Ruben Fleischer on Vimeo.

Small Favor

2007-11-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

Here is the description for Small Favor:

No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.

An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she's calling in her marker. It's a small favor he can't refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills-and loyalties-to their very limits.

It figures. Everything was going too well to last...

Butcher never disappoints, one of my favorite Dresden stories has been from the anthology Many Bloody Returns named It's My Bithday, Too.

Also in Dresden news, the Dabel Brothers (of the Anita comic fame) are producing The Dresden Files in comic format. I'm extremely excited, although the concept art is not thrilling me in the least. And the way they depicted Anita and co. left me scratching my head asking, "Why are her thighs so BIG? Why does she look exactly like Jean Claude?" No big, it's still going to be awesome seeing some of Harry's most memorable moments in ink. I've already contacted my source for all my comic needs Lightspeed. I get Anita, Supernatural and Buffy from them. (also see Dean Koontz's Frankenstein art at Dabel Bros. it's a must have!)

The Devil Inside

2007-11-12T18:19:00.001-08:00

I never like book trailers. They are never as cool or intense as the book is. In fact they usually turn me off the book.
But then I watched the trailer for The Devil Inside by Jenna Black, and I totally loved it. Whoever made this trailer did a great job and it adds to the anticipation of the book nicely. Read the post below for info on The Devil Inside.
Check out the fabulous excerpt from the book and Jenna Black's website. I have a very good feeling about this book.

Update!

11-28-07. Okay, The Devil Inside…um… where do I start?

I’m PMSing so take all this with a grain of salt.

I didn’t love it. But I’ll totally keep reading this series…

Okay, I know where to start.

Let’s start with the good: Jenna has created a new world where demons are the new vampires. Meaning that demons are everywhere, there are fanatics for and against them. There are demon heroes, demon bad guys, demon executioners, demons up your ass. Literally.

Here’s the part that bothers me, it’s A LOT like vintage Anita Blake. And while vintage AB is what makes LKH able to show her face in public, it wasn’t perfect to begin with. And therefore we should be better than the original when we “cover” it. Like a song.

Our Heroine in The Devil Inside, Morgan, is like homage to AB (pre-Obsidian Butterfly). She’s closed minded. Thinks that the gays want to do her (thus not getting the concept of GAY). And is a lone wolf, as in, “I work alone.” She even has an annoying BFF who is even more of a tight ass than her, ala AB.

Also, why make your gay characters sadists? I know it was a plot point, but fuck, can we have some balance? How about a gay demon who isn’t into S&M?

Please don’t take this to mean I didn’t enjoy the book, in fact I read it straight through. Even though I had to work the next morning, I put it down completely finished around four-thirty am. This is a great start to a wonderful new series. And I am positive that Black’s characters will grow and change in the best possible ways. Buy the book, it’s worth it.

Something wicked this way comes- but not soon enough!

2007-11-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

The Devil Inside 11/27/07 I am very curious to see if this author can deliver like the excerpt promises. Read Chapter One. Watch the book trailer it's cool.

Exorcism isn’t a job, it’s a calling—and a curse. Just ask Morgan Kingsley, a woman who has a stronger aura than any demon. Or so she thought. Now, in a pair of black leather pants and a kick-ass tattoo, Morgan is heading back to Philadelphia after a nasty little exorcism—and her life is about to be turned upside down…by the demon that’s gotten inside her.Not just any demon. Six feet five inches of dark, delicious temptation, this one is to die for—that is, if he doesn’t get Morgan killed first. Because while some humans vilify demons and others idolize them, Morgan’s demon is leading a war of succession no human has ever imagined. For a woman trying to live a life, and hold on to the almost-perfect man, being possessed by a gorgeous rebel demon will mean a wild ride of uninhibited thrills, shocking surprises, and pure, unadulterated terror…

My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon- 12/26/07 Can't wait!!

What newly married couple doesn't dream of a romantic retreat where they can escape the world for a while—but what happens when supernatural forces intrude on their wedded bliss?

Jim Butcher contributes a story named "Heorot," which is the name of the mead hall Beowulf defended from Grendel in the great epic.

"Her Mother’s Daughter" by P. N. Elrod- Gangsters, gats, and girls in Depression-Era Chicago means trouble even for an undead shamus.Jack Fleming relates his latest case from The Vampire Files

"Chicago, February, 1938
It’s been my experience that a blushing bride usually waits until after the honeymoon’s over before hiring a gumshoe to check up on her husband’s whereabouts.
When Dorothy Schubert, neé Huffman, plowed into the office still in her wedding gown I figured she was out to break a record along with anything else in her path.
She was the angriest woman I’d ever seen—which is saying a lot.
I’d only stopped by to pick up the mail and hadn’t bothered to turn on the light. She’d charged noisily up the outside stairs, shoving the door open so hard the glass rattled. Blindly she fumbled the switch, and the sudden brightness caught me behind the desk, envelopes in one hand, reaching under my coat for my .38 with the other. Chicago’s a tough town; even a vampire needs an extra edge at times." read the rest of the excerpt.

Stories from * Rachel Caine * Caitlin Kittredge * Marjorie M. Liu * Katie MacAlister * Lilith Saintcrow * Ronda Thompson

Iron Kissed 1/2/08 It's too far away! "Iron Kissed, the third book in the Mercedes Thompson series focuses more on the fae. The werewolves, of course, as Mercy's family (whether she wants them or not) also have a major role, but the vampires are conspicuous by their absence. The reason for their absence is that the events of Iron Kissed take place in less than a week -- and because I had enough to juggle and the vampire situation Mercy has put herself in is going to require more than a brief appearance will answer.
Like most of my books, this one held a lot of surprizes for me. I had intended for Mercy to choose her man in this book, but I didn't expect it to happen the way it did. I also found out a few things I didn't know about some of the characters. It made me like some of them more and others less. It also made me realize that one of the terrific things about writing a series is the ability to get to know more about the bit players. In a single book, or even a duology, there are only so many pages to develop characters and I have to restrict myself to only a few. A series is not so restrictive." author's comments. Read a sample chapter.

Black Magic Woman 1/8/08 Has the strongest recommendation I've seen in a while. "Black Magic Woman is the best manuscript I've ever been asked to read. Keep an eye on Justin Gustainis. You'll be seeing more of him soon."
- Jim Butcher.

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his "consultant", white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself - the very heart of darkness.

Unquiet Dreams 1/29/08 Been waiting a long assed time for this sequel. In which we continue the saga of Connor Grey, ability-crippled druid and former agent of the fey-run Guild, and all that goes bump in the night in the neighborhood known as the Weird. Del Franco has yet to post an official synopsis of the storyline for Unquiet Dreams.

Happy Hour of the Damned 2/26/08 Most curious about.

"Donuts are deadly. One minute you’re getting your binge on, the next, you’re slipping on the box, cracking your skull, and in the weirdest turn of events, rising as a zombie. That’s just for starters. Now, the recently deceased Amanda Feral is trying to make her way through Seattle’s undead scene with style (mortuary-grade makeup, six inch stilettos, bangin’ Balenciaga handbag) while satisfying a craving for decent vodkatinis and the occasional human flesh—Don’t judge. And no, not like chicken.
Navigating a dangerous world of cloud-doped bloodsuckers, reapers, horny and horned devils, celebrity blood donors, and PR-obsessed shapeshifters—not to mention an extremely hot bartender named Ricardo—isn’t easy. And the minute one of Amanda’s undead friends disappears after texting for “help” (the undead—so dramatic!) she knows the afterlife is about to get really ugly.
Something sinister is at hand. Someone or something is hellbent on turning Seattle’s supernatural underworld into a place of true terror. And this time, Amanda may meet a fate a lot worse than donuts…" visit the author Mark Henry at League of Reluctant Adults or Burlesque of the Damned.

Madhouse 3/4/08 I wish it was now!

Small Favor- 4/1/08 Too far away!

Personal Demons -Stacia Kane 4/1/08 This sounds so good! Megan promises listeners to her new radio call-in show that she'll "slay their personal demons," and they believe her. So do the personal demons... although she doesn't know it, Megan is the only human without a demon on her shoulder! Megan and her allies - a demon lover who both protects and seduces her with devilish intensity, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons - have to deal not only with the personal demons, but a soul-sucker, ghosts of Megan's past, and a reporter who threatens to destroy Megan's career! Read an excerpt.

Darkest Kiss 4/29/08 I'm loyal! The next Riley Jensen Guardian book by Keri Arthur, I hope we can narrow down prince charming!

UPDATE! Romancing the Dead- 5/8/08 Woo hoo! These books are too good!

"I’m on the top of the world. The Vatican witch hunters think I’m dead, the FBI has closed my file, I might get to buy the occult bookstore I manage, I’m co-founding a brand-new coven—and the vampire I love has just proposed. How lucky can a girl get? Wait, wai—

Oh, crap. I’ve jinxed myself. My fiancé, Sebastian, is missing and I’m worried sick. Has he been kidnapped? Or could he have run off with that leggy blonde from the coven? Now I’ll have to seek the help of my future stepson—the same brat who once turned me over to the Catholics, all for a pimped-out Jag. Plus, the Goddess Lilith, who camps out in my body, has been making embarrassing appearances. Now all I need is some crazy killer on my tail. Hold on, hold—

Double crap." excerpt from Romancing the Dead. Read the excerpt.

The Host 5/6/08 Will it be as good as Bella and Edward? The Host takes place after a bodysnatchers-style invasion of the earth. We (the humans) lost. Our narrator is Wanderer, one of the invading "souls," who struggles to navigate all the bewildering challenges that come with living inside a human body. She was forewarned about these challenges—the overwhelming emotions, the stunning physical responses, the glut of senses, the too vivid dreams and memories… However, there was one challenge Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body, human survivor Melanie Stryder, refuses to fade away into oblivion the way she should. Melanie lingers as an angry presence in Wanderer's head, holding on to her human secrets and filling Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, another human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for the man she's never met. Outside forces combine to make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, and, working together, they set off to search for the man they both love. It's possibly the first love triangle that only involves two bodies.- stephaniemeyer.com

Personal Demon 5/25/08 I worry that this heroine won't mean anything to me, and Lucas as the other protag? Doesn't get this engine revving fo sho.

Half-demon tabloid reporter Hope Adams has a secret. Like full demons, she loves chaos. She thrives on it. She needs it.
Most of the time, Hope feeds the hunger by helping the interracial council. But it's never enough. So when Benicio Cortez offers her a job infiltrating a gang of young supernaturals, she thinks she's found the perfect solution. Instead, she finds a tinderbox of greed, desire and ambition. And when it ignites, a world is going to explode. Read excerpt.

Underground 8/5/08 Ridiculously far away!
That's all I could dig up folks. Hope you have better luck with the titles that don't have any book descriptions. I'll keep my eyes open for clues.

Halfway to the Grave- go buy it!

2007-11-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

Halfway to the Grave

What a great fucking read. I read the excerpt of this book months ago and pre-ordered it on the strength of that sneak peak of the first chapter, and I am so happy to say that the rest of the book far surpassed my expectations. It is very hard to find good story and creative takes on the Vampire/ Vampire Huntress books. *Many of the books out there are written by authors jumping on the Supernatural bandwagon and it clearly doesn't fit. But this book has the humor that Charlaine Harris's Harper Connely books lack, the heart compassion and STORY that LKH's AB lacks *(as of Obsidian Butterfly and on, LKH's brain has been taken over by aliens). Sure it's not perfect, some of the dialogue for the heroine Cat has the tendency to try to "cool" it up. *Please authors, stop doing that! It sooo rarely works. I can't even read Lilith Saintcrow because it's so rampant in her books. ( Damn that author thinks she's some hot shit with a keyboard and I wanna scream, "Well you ain't!") I cannot wait for ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE, book two in the NIGHT HUNTRESS series, April 22, 2008. There are five books planned for this series so far, and it has soo much promise. Go buy it now, you won't be sorry.

*I digress.

remove.

2007-11-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

Meaning of Life?

2007-11-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

Meaning of Life? from Adam Holwerda on Vimeo.

Lobster

2007-10-31T22:26:00.001-07:00

Lobster from Ruben Fleischer on Vimeo.

2007-10-31T22:12:00.001-07:00

Phone Tag from Ruben Fleischer on Vimeo.

The Witch Fire is such a Bitch

2007-10-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

Although the Harris Fire is the Fatal Fire, the Witch Fire has decimated such a massive chunk of the County. These pictures are from all over the county.

2007-10-23T00:25:00.000-07:00

NEW: MANDATORY EVACUATIONS IN EASTLAKE: Mandatory evacuations have been announced for the area of Highway 125 and San Miguel road south of Sweetwater Reservoir. Evacuated residents are being told to go to the Chula Vista High School Youth Center (campus of Chula Vista High School, 465 L Street).

This fucking shit is everywhere!

Harry Potter and the Future as an Auror

2007-10-10T03:13:00.000-07:00

remove

2007-10-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

An Ice Cold Grave

2007-09-27T01:39:00.000-07:00

It's perfect, absolutely perfect. My favorite book of the year.

2007-09-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

I forgot I had this great podcast interview of Jasper Fforde on the latest Thursday Next Book: First Amoung Sequals. Brought to you by: Reduced Shakespear Company

More Free Fiction

2007-09-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

Jim Butcher doesn't put a lot of extras out there. His website is all updated by his minions and I have no problem with that. He keeps the goods on the pages and I have NEVER found fault with anything Dresden he's done. But blue moons have been known to happen, and thankfully so. Jim put out Restoration of Faith, a prequel to all things Dresden. Here's the official description straight from the source:
Ever wonder how Harry did as a private eye before he set out on his own? Read about Harry's life as a Ragged Angel in Jim's short story, Restoration of Faith.
He also put out a "vignette" whilst promoting the Dresden Series.
(the image is of Harry courtesy of Daniel Dos Santos the artist responsible for all the newest Dresden cover art, and I'm sure we all recognize what scene this is.)

2007-09-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

"I had to get rid of the mutt.
Killing him would be easiest but, unfortunately, out of the question. If Elena found out, she'd be pissed.
Ten years from now, I'd still be hearing about it: "Clay couldn't even get through our honeymoon without killing someone." She'd laugh when she said it . . . in ten years. Right now, she'd be furious."- ecerpt from Kelley Armstrong's "Stalked". Her contribution to My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon - Coming January 2008.
Now that Many Bloody Returns is out, it's onto the next thing. My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon. And the COOLEST bit about it is that Armstrong is doing a Clay & Elena story about their honeymoon. The one that was never going to happen, because they were never getting married. We are soo passed that road block, thank god, and the story is told from CLAY'S POV. Isn't that just fucking amazing?
Here's Kelley's comments on her story, "Stalked"
It's a Clay and Elena story, narrated by Clay, which is always fun.
This one gave me a chance to revisit two of my favourite characters and deal with some leftover business from Broken--how is Clay coping with his injured arm?
Some may recognize the setting as St. Louis, but it's not named. That's because, just before final edits, I read that LKH's books are set in St. Louis. Clay isn't terribly...complimentary about the city, and I know some reader, somewhere, would say I was somehow "dissing" the Anita Blake series. So I cut the references. As for why it was set there...it's one of the few US cities I've visited but never used in my books!

We haven't had Clay's POV since the online novellas, the last from Clay & Elena being Beginnings, which is now MIA thanks to it being part of the group of novellas that will be published in the hopefully near future seeing as how they are written already and just need some polish.
Oh and Kelley, diss away girl, diss away.

30 Days of Night

2007-08-27T01:59:00.000-07:00

30 Days of Night (dir. David Slade) In this flick based on the popular graphic novels, vampires take a over an isolated town in Alaska, which is plunged into darkness for a full month each year. Josh Hartnett plays local Sherriff Eban Olemaun and his weapon of choice: an axe. Watch the extended trailer, that also includes a full scene from the movie, it's 18 & over restricted, here. (nov. 19)

Read Urban Fantasy for Free!

2007-08-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

Well I was going to make a post with a listing for a slew of free online horror/urban fantasy fiction that could be found on author websites. My problem now is that the good ones are gone! And not just gone, never coming back either. The best from Kelley Armstrong who really HAD the best website anywhere with prequels to her unequaled Otherworld series were Savage, Ascension, and Beginnings. These are the stories of Clay as a feral child being found by Jeremy. Of Jeremy's ascension to Alpha and it's bloody battle. Ascension also giving the story of how Clayton got the reputation of a psychopath. And of Beginnings being the story of how Clay and Elena met.

All perfect and beautiful and tortured. And all there as a gift from Kelley to her readers. I admit that I wanted these in book form, fleshed out and in my greedy little hands.

But now they really are being published with proceeds going to charity. And so they have been removed from the website and are pending publication. As to WHEN they will be published as a Men of Otherworld compilation, she hasn't yet said. And I'm sorry for the new hardcore fans she's made who never got a chance to read them.

All is not lost, there are still some online fiction from Kelley that is still available. The most exciting is Becoming. A graphic novel chronicling Elena's transition into the only female werewolf on the planet. The artwork is really good and thank god they are faithful to the author's descriptions of the characters. Which means Elena won't be running around in mini skirts and high heels. This story is one of two works in progress on her site, it comes along with Framed, Nick's story.

Here's a list of the 2005 stories she wrote with the help of a poll to her readers as to what stories they wanted her to write. Here are my favorites (the full list can be found here):
Infusion: Jeremy's conception and birth. online PDF

Birthright: Logan's initial visit to the pack. online PDF

Territorial: Karl Marsten before the event of Bitten. online PDF

Ghosts: Jermey after sending Clay and Elena to Toronto in Bitten. online PDF

Bargain: Xavier gets the "From Hell" letter theft job. (Serves as companion and prequel to the novel Broken) online PDF

Case of the Half-Demon Spy: Paige & Adam's first sleuthing adventure. online PDF

Expectations: Lucas's confrontation with Eve online PDF

Escape: Eve's incarceration at the compound online PDF

Wedding Bell Hell: Paige & Lucas's Wedding online PDF

Upcoming

2007-08-14T01:45:00.000-07:00

Iron Kissed
Mercy Book 3
Patricia Briggs

Talk about a picture being worth a thousand books sales. It is unmistakable that a book cover sells copies, and the Mercy series was launched into the stratosphere by the book covers alone. What kept it up there was the amazing new world and fantastic storytelling of the author.

Well now that it's garnered a cult following it is exciting to see what the future brings.

Here's the author's note on this upcoming title, "Iron Kissed, the third book in the Mercedes Thompson series focuses more on the fae. The werewolves, of course, as Mercy's family (whether she wants them or not) also have a major role, but the vampires are conspicuous by their absence. The reason for their absence is that the events of Iron Kissed take place in less than a week -- and because I had enough to juggle and the vampire situation Mercy has put herself in is going to require more than a brief appearance will answer."

Also the Mercy's garage T-shirts are going to be made available for purchase, but is going to be a limited run so keep your eyes and ears open. Patty has signed contracts for four books, and has verbally agreed to an offer to write three more, for a total of seven books in this series! These books will be released in Jan/Feb of each year. The third book, Iron Kissed will be available in January of 2008. - hurog.com

An Ice Cold Grave
Harper Connelly Book 3
Charlaine Harris

Hired to find a boy gene missing in Doraville, North Carolina, Harper Connelly and her brother Tolliver head there-only to discover that the boy was only one of several who had disappeared over the previous five years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways. All calling for Harper. Harper soon finds them-eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterwards, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville-knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave.

This is one of my super fave series and I cannot wait until it's October release. I need something to get started between Harper and Tolliver man! I'm sure she'll drag it out forever, but I live in hope. She posted the first two chapters on her website and you can read them here. It's made the wait worse for me after I read them, so read at your own risk.

Madhouse
Book 3
Rob Thurman

Okay, she is really bad at giving any info on what's coming up next. So I don't know didly squat on what the story'll be about. I'm sure the Auphe will be in there for shiz. The blond on the cover is a character nammed Delilah, and that's all I know so far. But it's worth a trip to Thurman's livejournal to read some hints into the lives of the HTOH.

Here's an example from it:

Cal's List

Cal's list of reasons not to brood and/or kill self:

1. find out where Robin gets all the Prozac he keeps sprinkling in my morning cereal

2. write to Dr. Phil and find out if they take moody, genetic freak monster half breeds with mommy issues on the show...and if so, does it pay anything?

3.decide once and all between boxers and briefs

4. ask Delilah to please let you wear underwear again as its beginning to chafe.

5. keep dosing Niko's soy milk with pure cane sugar and ground coffee. It seems to make him less homicidal

6. when Robin knocks at the door and says Orgy-to-Go, believe him and lock the door. Then climb out the window, down the fire escape and run for your life.

7. figure out how I can be Greek, Rom, and Auphe and still can't understand a single cab driver in this city.

8. find out if Goodfellow perms or that's natural, because if that's a perm...shit he's got a good stylist.

9. would I look more brooding with a streak of silver in my hair ? (note to self: ask Robin's stylist)

10. get some sort of pepper spray to keep the goth/emo kids from following me down the street 24/7. It's starting to freak me out.

11. Get Niko to stop calling my underwear underoos when it's his turn to do the laundry.

12. Start cleaning old food out of the refrigerator before the mold gets a chokehold on you (like last time.)

13. Never ask your brother's vampire girlfriend if she's glad to see you or that's just an overbite.

14. never leave explosive rounds on top of the stove while cooking a pizza...

15, SHIT!

Small Favor
Dresden Book 10
Jim Butcher

Not much is known about this book yet, other than Jim saying: "Small Favor. Because, y'know, Harry still owes two."
To be released in hardcover from Roc publishing, April 2008.- jim-butcher.com

I still hate Murphy as his love interest.

Best of what's new

2007-08-14T00:20:00.000-07:00

Thin Air
Weather Warden Book 6
Rachel Caine
Wow! Thin Air lived up perfectly to the rest of the series. Although I got frustrated that Rachel makes David's character absent to often. The romance is there but you are beginning to loose the connection between Jo and David. I loved that at the end of the book you get a preview to Book 7, but it ends up feeling like an epilogue to Book 6. The preview made all the pain and tension of Joanne's struggle during Thin Air dissipate and take us off the edge of our seats. I'm really loving the direction the series is going. Everything is so mercurial in these books, you feel like anything can happen. No one is safe.

Thanks to Rachel's livejournal blog and her website newsletter we know that there is a contract for 3 more Weather Warden novels. Yahoo! Also that she just completed the Book 7 manuscript, The Friction Layer! It won't be out until most likely this same time next year, but it is a comfort to know that it is out there.

eclipse
Stephanie Meyer
Another enthralling installment to this totally captivating series. Don't sell it short because it's YA. It's a great story no matter what category it's shelved and marketed to. Of coarse it isn't perfect, the heroine is often over dramatic and the author uses the same descriptions over and over again. Let me never read "pouted" again from you Meyer. It is also ridiculous for an 18yr old to be grounded. And shoving a love triangle into a story about that one true love dims the authenticity of the original love story and makes me wonder if Bella really is just too young.
But these are minor concerns and annoyances. The book as a whole was a success.
If you go to Meyer’ website you can find Edward’s version of Twilight called Midnight Sun. The first chapter has been posted and it is awesome. Go read it now! Next up is Breaking Dawn which has a 2008 release date.

Poltergeist
Kat Richardson
Better than the original! This sequel to Greywalker was thrilling. I love love love Richardson's characters in this series. I’d love to see a series on the Danzinger’s and Rhino boy. That would be to cool. Quinton is a character you know is going to just explode with a major back story soon. That guy is hiding something major, and it’s a pleasure to have him in any scene. I’d love for Harper to be more involved with him and the Danzinger’s. Even Albert, the D’s ghost, is foreshadowing like crazy and he can’t even talk. I can’t wait! I even love the ferret Chaos. This is a series that is not to be missed. It is more in line with Dresden Files- without the goofiness- and Women of Otherworld series- with a lot less romance.
The third book in the Greywalker series, Underground, is slated for release in summer 2008.
Read an excerpt from Poltergeist.

Richardson had this to say on her website, "First draft of Book 3 is now officially done and ready for printing and shipping to New York--as soon as I get a new toner cartridge and paper. The title has been officially changed to Underground and the publisher hopes to stick to one-word titles henceforth. As this is the last book under that contract, I'm now looking for other things to keep me busy, but I do have a short story or two on tap for anthologies (including a werewolf piece) and another novel I'd like to get back into. And of course, my agents and I hope for a new Harper Blaine contract near the end of the year."

Oh, she had better had a new contract for more Harper books by the end of the year. No kidding, I'll flip.
Check out her blog to keep up with the news. Websites are always the last to know.

First Among Sequels
Thursday Next Book 5
Jasper Fforde
Okay... I loved it because Thursday is back, but... I didn't exactly looove it. And this is coming from the girl that has gone through the series six or seven times already. The elimination of Spec Ops and the whole End of the World deal with Friday was really hard to accept. It will change things a lot.
Does this mean we really won't ever see Anton?
Before, time was more elastic, and it was possible if not really necessary to have Anton resserected. An added bonus is Col. Next is home. But the downside being that he is absent from the story.
TN Book 5 was way to techno geeky. Reel it in will ya.

The three Thursdays was very cool. As was most of the book. It's a must read and a wonderful launching pad for the Next books to come.
I especially love the coloring in contest. That was major cool.
Check out that and other extras at Fford's website- the best one out there for sure. Also check out his amazon.com blog. And a great audio interview here.

Darjeeling "I love you but I'm going to mace you in the face"

2007-08-01T23:20:00.001-07:00

I feel like a perv

2007-07-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Check out Daniel Radcliffe in the August issue of Details magazine. If you have trouble viewing the interview below, click the link for a pop up video interview of Dan from the Details photo shoot.
Details: Daniel Radcliffe

Gabaldon returns very very soon

2007-06-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

I'm hyperventilating, this is going to be amazing, Jaime is back! In a one-two punch Gabaldon is putting out two Lord John novels this August and November. The much anticipated "LJ" (ha, get it Clair!) novel with Jaime will be out August 28, 2007. Here is what we know so far...

"In her much-anticipated new novel, the New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander saga brings back one of her most compelling characters: Lord John Grey–soldier, gentleman, and no mean hand with a blade. Here Diana Gabaldon brilliantly weaves together the strands of Lord John’s secret and public lives–a shattering family mystery, a love affair with potentially disastrous consequences, and a war that stretches from the Old World to the New. . . .

In 1758, in the heart of the Seven Years’ War, Britain fights by the side of Prussia in the Rhineland. For Lord John and his titled brother Hal, the battlefield will be a welcome respite from the torturous mystery that burns poisonously in their family’s history. Seventeen years earlier, Lord John’s late father, the Duke of Pardloe, was found dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family’s honor.

Now unlaid ghosts from the past are stirring. Lord John’s brother has mysteriously received a page of their late father’s missing diary. Someone is taunting the Grey family with secrets from the grave, but Hal, with secrets of his own, refuses to pursue the matter and orders his brother to do likewise. Frustrated, John turns to a man who has been both his prisoner and his confessor: the Scottish Jacobite James Fraser.
Fraser can tell many secrets–and withhold many others. But war, a forbidden affair, and Fraser’s own secrets will complicate Lord John’s quest. Until James Fraser yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle–and Lord John, caught between his courage and his conscience, must decide whether his family’s honor is worth his life." random house.com
excerpt:
Family Affairs
Family Affairs 2
Gustav

Lord John's next release is November 27, 2007 with Lord John and the Hand of Devils.
According to Gabaldon's website this is a completion of three novellas Lord John and the Hellfire Club, Lord John and the Succubus, and Lord John and the Haunted Soldier.

Here are some amazing excerpts:

Lord John and the Hellfire Club:
When First We Practice To Deceive

Lord John and the Succubus:
Chapt 1: Death Rides a Pale Horse

Lord John and the Haunted Soldier:
excerpt

trying something new

2007-06-24T23:56:00.000-07:00

Bertram...

From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden comes a work of gothic storytelling like no other. Reminiscent of the illustrated tales of old, here is a lyrical, atmospheric novel of the paranormal—and a chilling allegory for the nature of war.“Why do dead men rise up to torment the living?” Captain Henry Baltimore asks the malevolent winged creature. The vampire shakes its head. “It was you called us. All of you, with your war. The roar of your cannons shook us from our quiet graves…. You killers. You berserkers…. You will never be rid of us now.”When Lord Henry Baltimore awakens the wrath of a vampire on the hellish battlefields of World War I, the world is forever changed. For a virulent plague has been unleashed—a plague that even death cannot end.Now the lone soldier in an eternal struggle against darkness, Baltimore summons three old friends to a lonely inn—men whose travels and fantastical experiences incline them to fully believe in the evil that is devouring the soul of mankind.As the men await their old friend, they share their tales of terror and misadventure, and contemplate what part they will play in Baltimore's timeless battle. Before the night is through, they will learn what is required to banish the plague—and the creature who named Baltimore his nemesis—once and for all.

let the right one in...

Oskar and Eli. In very different ways, they were both victims. Which is why, against the odds, they became friends. And how they came to depend on one another, for life itself. Oskar is a 12 year old boy living with his mother on a dreary housing estate at the city's edge. He dreams about his absentee father, gets bullied at school, and wets himself when he's frightened. Eli is the young girl who moves in next door. She doesn't go to school and never leaves the flat by day. She is a 200 year old vampire, forever frozen in childhood, and condemned to live on a diet of fresh blood. John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel, a huge bestseller in his native Sweden, is a unique and brilliant fusion of social novel and vampire legend; and a deeply moving fable about rejection, friendship and loyalty.

spaceman blues: a love song

When Manuel Rodrigo de GuzmÃ¡n GonzÃ¡lez disappears, Wendell Apogee decides to find out where he has gone and why. But in order to figure out what happened to Manuel, Wendell must contend with parties, cockfights, and chases; an underground city whose people live in houses suspended from cavern ceilings; urban weirdos and alien assassins; immigrants, the black market, flight, riots, and religious cults.Painted in browns and grays and sparked by sudden fires, Spaceman Blues is a literary retro-pulp science-fiction-mystery-superhero novel, the debut of a true voice of the future, and a cult classic in the making.

Thanks David, this was funny shit

2007-06-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

America... Fuck Yeah!

2007-05-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

There are bands that you wait to see, always scared they'll die or break up. I'll never forgive Jurt Loder rubbing in the fact that I would never see Nirvana in concert the day Kurt Cobain died. It just twisted the knife. So I made a promise to myself that I would never let that happen to me again. So I saw Radiohead. They looked like ants but I was there. I saw Rage Against the Machine before they broke up, and I'll have to do it again now that they are together again (damn you Cochella for your bad timing). And now for my next greatest wish, Interpol.
I can't believe they'll be so close to my house, it's like they fell into my lap, and the venue is tiny!!!! Go buy tickets, but stay out of my way!

No Humans Involved

2007-05-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

This book was totally worth the wait. For Jeremy fans especially. I loved every bit of it. Jaime Vegas is a great character and the best foil for Jeremy and vice verse. Jeremy + Jaime my second favorite couple (no one can top Elena + Clay). It's wonderful that it's only the beginning of their story really, I cannot wait to see what is next for them, they are an amazing team. Go buy this book Kelley Armstrong fans, who cares if it's in hardcover. Support your author, she is even doing these little gift bags for those who send their receipts in. Check out her website, I can never stress that enough, no one has a better website. Free online novellas of your favorite characters and a graphic novel that is not to be missed.

Oh Pearl

2007-04-17T18:30:00.001-07:00

I'm a Cowboy...

2007-04-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

I think I was more excitied about the start of the 3rd season of the Deadliest Catch than anything elseon tv this year. I'm a hardcore fan and DVR every damn rerun on Discovery every weekday. I just can't get enough. I'm in heaven.

Unfortunately with the new season comes new boats and different crew members on the boats we love that have comeback. I've got no complaints on the Northwestern, I never do they kick so much ass, but with only one episode under the belt I've yet to aclimate to the Cornelia Marie addition of Josh, Jake's older bro. He just doesn't have that quiet sweet face that Jake has. Oh well, I'm sure the dynamic will be at least interesting. Blake becoming Captain of the Mavrick after D/C made him look like a little baby last king crab season was weird. But then I read the interview he did after episode 1 of the new season and he came across as a pretty level headed and cool guy. I'm ready to give him a chance, but I miss Hiram. Rick will be back for opie season thankfully tho.

But my biggest disappointments are two glarring differences.

1. Were the hell is the Rollo? I want Corey, Matt, Brian, Christian, and Eric back! I loved that they were different from the other boats, totally funny and cool. We must get them back. Who hell are the people on The Wizard? The Farwest Leader?! And the Early Dawn? What the hell?

2. Where the hell is MIKE Time Bandit? Explain to me where your most popular crew member, arguably one of the most popular of the series, is? I was totally amped to see him on board, could've sworn I heard his voice on the promo's on tv "Man is injured" sounded like his voice, as well as "Oh my God!" If he's not back for opie season I'll be damn disappointed.

Since we love the Rollo so much (really it is not necessary to have 3 completely new boats is it Discovery Channel?) and we especially love Corey Arnold for his kick ass pictures we need to support them as much as possible. Go check out Corey's solo exhibition of fishing photographs in Santa Monica opening May 12 at the Richard Heller Gallery . Check out more info and photos from Corey at his website coreyfishes.com.

There is a lot of cool shit to do and see on the Deadliest Catch Discovery Channel site it is a total must.

all photos were taken by Corey Arnold.

The Tudors

2007-04-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited by the new series The Tudors on Showtime. I've watched the first two episodes and am ready for more. I hope that it is able to fill the void left by Deadwood and Rome. Showtime has made great series that are unique unto themselves in the form of The L Word (which I am a fan), Dexter (which I am a long time fan of Jeff Lindsay and Dexter and thank Showtime for not fucking up completely), and the late Dead Like Me.

This is a an ambitious undertaking for Showtime and I hope it can really take off so that they can expand The Showtime series repertoire.

There is a lot to look forward to in this series. The story is legendary, the guys are hot, and it's thankfully on cable.

NWA Day

2007-04-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

fuck me

2007-03-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today I came to a really scary realization, I want to be saved. Despite all the strong female characters I love and admire, I am a silly girl that wants someone to swoop in and take care of things for me.
I also know that this is never going to happen. And if anything is going to happen in my life, I have to do things for myself.
I am so damn tired of having jobs that I really hate. And I just accepted a position at a job that is a little weird (I'll post on that one when I quit). But it feels like a never ending shit eating gig that I have to put up with to pay bills. I live under a mountain of bad credit and it is sucking my soul away.
What I need is a plan that I stick to to get out of debt and do whatever the fuck I want. I don't have kids or a significant other to drag me down (or to hold me up). My future is mine and mine alone.
I need to see the endgame somewhere in the horizon, because things cannot go on this way. As it is I hate everyone and everything that has to do with employers and employment. I hate that you have to sell to keep a job, or that in California they can fire you without any notice. I want some kind of safety net, that there will be days when my shit eating grin is tarnished and they won't be able to hold it against me.
I'm tired, so this all seems like I'm a lazy asshole who doesn't like to work.
I want to work, and I like to work hard. But I don't want to work in a place that I don't believe in just because I need income desperately. I hate the choices I have to make so that my life and my future doesn't fall apart completely.
I have to save myself.

Or This could be me...

Rome

2007-03-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have to say that the second season of Rome did not disappoint. From beginning to end, I was rivited every episode. The last episode made me cry and laugh and it really satisfied. An amazing ride.

Buffy's back

2007-03-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie, I still DVR Buffy episodes off of the FX channel. I still love them. Sarah Michelle Gellar is still my faveorite ass-kicking heroine. When season 7 closed the curtain on Buffy I wasn't finished, not yet satisfied. Obviously neither was Joss Whedon. There will never be a season 8 on tv, but we will get one in the form of a Buffy comic.

Dark Horse Comics and Joss Whedon are bringing our Slayer back into our lives where the tv show dropped off.

"Since the destruction of the Hellmouth, the Slayers have gotten organized and are kicking some serious undead butt. But not everything's fun and firearms, as an old enemy reappears and Dawn experiences some serious growing pains . . . "

If you're a serious fan and don't want to miss anything and yet are too lazy to go out and buy a copy every month, here is at least one place you can pre-order them. Lightspeed Hobbies is the place where I'm getting my Anita Blake Guilty Pleasures series and they are also going to carry the Buffy Season 8 series. I get a e-mail every month and I pay them through paypal. I love it.

stagger lee

2007-03-08T22:28:00.001-08:00

this is the most hardcore gay song ever. I love it motherfucker!

this is the funniest shit ever you joke hitler!

2007-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

check them out at their website

grindhouse glory

2007-03-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

the horror

moonshine lives up

2007-03-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

Moonshine was a great great read. I loved it just as much as the first book, which is saying a lot. Love the relationship between the two brothers Cal and Niko. I love Cal's angst and Niko's strength. They are a great team. In the first book, Nightlife, Cal was possessed for most of the story. I really missed his sarcasm, his humor, and his love for his brother. Most of the story was told through the perspective of the creature who had possessed him. In Moonshine, it's all Cal all the time and I totally loved it. Thurman makes great characters and great relationships between them. Exciting plot, spine tingling peril, twists and turns, and a lot of what goes bump in the night. Very cool read.
"I was born a monster. No big deal, right? Monsters were everywhere in this world. I’m not talking your sweaty pedophile with twitching fingers or your serial killer with a cold and silent harem buried in his crawlspace. No, I’m talking about the real deal. Creatures that had scuttled across the surface of this world when the air was sulfuric acid and the nighttime moon all but blocked out the sky. Scales and fangs, blood that doubled as venom, minds and bodies twisted in concert, dark legends come to life. These legends had always been a reality, but refused to register on modern human eyes. Monsters, they existed all right, and they were legion, so what was one more? " buy it!

coming this fall

2007-03-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

the latest

2007-03-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a rundown of the most up to date information:

Thin Air: Weather Warden Book 6
By Rachel Caine
check out her website and her live journal The Weather Report
chapter sample (already the best of all)
coming: 8-7-07

White Night: The Dresden Files Book 9
By Jim Butcher
check out his website
chapters 1-3
coming: 4-3-07

For a Few Demons More: The Hollows Book 5
By Kim Harrison
(her first book in Hardcover)
check out her website
chapter excerpt
coming: 3-20-07 (right around the corner)

Moonshine
(book 2 in series)
By Rob Thurman
check out her website and live journal Far Side of Lazy
chapter excerpt
coming 3-6-07
Pick it up immediately!

Poltergeist
(book 2 in series)
By Kat Richardson
check out her website
chapter 2 excerpt
coming 8-7-07

The Taste of Night: The Second Sign of the Zodiac
By Vicki Pettersson
check out her website
chapter excerpt
coming 4-1-07

Exit Strategy
(1st book in a new non-supernatural series)
By Kelley Armstrong
check out kelley's kick assed website
chapter 1 & 2 excerpt
coming 6-26-07

No Humans Involved: Otherworld Book 7
(my most anticipated read since Broken)
By Kelley Armstrong (we love her!)
check out the amazing extras on her website
(don't forget to check out each 1st of the month for the newest installment to her last online novella: Framed)
coming 5-1-07

There are other very worthy mentions like; Dexter In The Dark coming 8-14-07 in the US & 7-19-07 (for us hardcore fans) in the UK. No other info available due to authors lack of website, thanks bro. Undead and Uneasy coming 6-5-07 (not that I find the Undead series on par with any of my other mentions-not passed book 1 anyway- but I have committed so much time that I have to see it through. I do find MJD a very funny lady, the books just need more... more. The Harlequin coming 6-5-07 (expectation are not high on plot content, but I always hope). But at least there is the Anita Blake Comic for Guilty Pleasures. It stays very close to the story, although I never understand why the artist makes her thighs so damn large. I highly recommend you order it. The comic isn't free like Kelley Armstrong's is (check out her extras), but I'd love to see who comes out on top. Kelley vs. Laurell. My $ is on Kelley.

upcoming update

2007-03-04T21:42:00.001-08:00

There isn't much info on the who and the what of this novel, and one of my absolute new favorite series. I haven't yet jumped onto the bandwagon of her Sookie Series, I tried to read it years ago and got bored. This series was completely different and I love every inch of it. I quickly scanned through Charlaine's blogs to see if any other info was handy, but she only ever brought it up to say writing was slow going, and then that she had finally turned it into her editor the second week of February this year. The official publication date is 10/2/07, a lovely little birthday present for me!

Here is a long awaited and eager anticipated sequel to Touch of Evil, by the equally evil C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp. They have to have THE WORST website known to authors, ever. Do they ever update that shit, I mean really guys amazon has more info than you do. Hire some people damn. Thanks to Tor Forge Books & amazon I have this info to impart, Touch of Madness hits shelves 5/29/07 and the only description given anywhere is this:
She's on trial for murders she didn't commit. She's next on the list of a serial killer. The parasitic vampires known as the Thrall want her to investigate the murder of their young, and will use any means necessary to force her to bow to their demands. And--possibly worst of all--her boyfriend Tom's werewolf pack is trying to break them up so Tom can mate with a werewolf to ensure the survival of his pack. Now Kate must fight for Tom--and fight for her very survival in this brand new paranormal romance from the unbeatable, bestselling team of C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. check out all the info here at the Tor website.

The cover is in! Okay it's been in for a little while, but I haven't updated. It'll be exciting and odd to have a new Thursday Next novel in our grasp when it comes out. A story which I thought I had closure on. As a fan I and all the rest I assume always knew there was more to her story, a lot more. Thursday's life and universe is as layered and intricate and topsy turvey as they come. It makes sense that in a world where so many things don't make any sense that the middle of the story would include Thursday's end. Due out 7/19/07 I already have mine pre-ordered. And if you've never visited Fforde Grand Central, you don't know what your missing it's got to be the best author website in the business.
"It’s been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday’s got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what’s going on—there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that’s not all—The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds."

impressive surprises

2007-03-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

I just came back from a long trip, while I was gone I had ordered a few things from amazon to keep me sane on the long plane rides I would have to endure to get to the good part of my vacation. I had blown through my stock of favorite authors and therefor had to experiment a little in my choices.

The BEST thing I found was this book, Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco. There are a lot of urban fantasy writers right now. A lot of strong female protagonists, and while that's really exiting for women it gets pretty boring one after another. In Unshapely Things we get Connor Grey & a whole new, and very well thought out, world.

"As long as there were desperate people, there would be the Weird, and I would have a reason to get up in the morning." Connor Grey

In the alleys of the decrepit Boston neighborhood known as the Weird, fairy prostitutes are turning up dead. The crime scenes show signs of residual magic, but the Guild, which polices the fey, has more “important” crimes to investigate and dumps the case on human law enforcement. So the Boston police calls in Connor Grey, a druid who used to be a hot-shot investigator for the Guild— until a run–in with a radical environmentalist elf left his magical abilities crippled. "
Taking place in Boston, the authors home town, in a part of the city nicknamed The Weird. It's a police procedural that is smart, creative, full of great characters, and a solid plot. Not since I found Rob Thurman's Nightlife a year ago have I been so impressed by a debut author. I'm eagerly awaiting the next instalment in the series, something Mr. Del Franco is working on right now. You can check out his progress on his livejournal here, and I highly recommend you check out his website too. Please go buy this book now. Here is a link to the first chapter of the book, and that is all it took to hook me.

Another great find was this "little" number The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson. It's twice the size of a Mary Janice Davidson- but so is my TV guide. And yet again we are entered into a completely new world of supernatural heroes and villains.
The story is complex well wrought and enveloping. There is much to love here. My favorite bit is that the sequel comes out next month and I am anxious to see if our heroine can have some happiness instilled into a life that has been completely and irrevocably changed by the events that transpire in Scent of Shadows.
Here is an excerpt from the 1st chapter.
I love the author almost if not just as much as I loved the book, here's a bit from her bio,
"Born and raised in Las Vegas, where THE SCENT OF SHADOWS is set, I’ve always been a voracious reader and writer. However, a post-college stint in Public Relations convinced me I didn’t want to spend my days writing on assignment, so I did what any self-respecting Vegas girl would do. I became a showgirl.

Fast forward half a decade and I had a handful of manuscripts, but was no closer to being published. I was also entering my thirties, a time when a showgirl’s career usually hits the skids. Maybe living in a city built on longshots and pipedreams had something to do with it, but I decided to bag everything I’d previously written – a historical, a mystery, a couple of romances – and ignore all I’d heard about writing to genre. My new goal was to write a book filled with things I love: a mystery’s noir, a strong romantic subplot, an accessible first-person voice, and the fantasy I’d loved before college lit had knocked it out of my head and life. Turns out, I’d unknowingly written a dark urban fantasy, and it was the most fun I’d ever had writing. THE SCENT OF SHADOWS was picked up by my agent at the beginning of ‘05, and by HarperCollins six months later. Praise be, because I got knocked up at the exact same time and my showgirl career was officially over." check out her website and find out more about her, her upcoming work,and appearances.

Picking up this novel was a total fluke. I was out of books on my vacation and in a moment of desperation picked this guy up in a Fred Meyer store in Juneau Alaska.

Mr.Twilight (Book II of The Trine) by Micheal Reaves with Maya Bohnhoff. At first I was pretty leery of a book that a: I bought at a super market, and b: had two authors. But all my qualms proved unfounded as I read throughout the first chapter. Again, new world, new supernatural heroes this time dealing with forces that battle angles demons and gods from all religions.
"In bookshop specializing in rare volumes, an avid fan of horror fiction seizes a tome too valuable and too incredible to fathom. . . . A few miles away, in a Manhattan brownstone, Colin–he has no other name–has been an unrelenting warrior against the dark, the demonic, and the damned. A man who has angels at his side and hell staring him in the face, he has devoted his life to solving magical crimes and tracking down–and neutralizing–the perpetrators of those crimes, human and nonhuman alike. Now Colin is about to team up with a beautiful Native American a long way from home and a tough NYPD detective who seems to be immune to magic. Together, in a funhouse of evidence and apparitions, they are chasing a killer and untangling a tale that leads from the infamous Vlad the Impaler to a dead twentieth-century occult author and his gorgeous daughter–who is as seductive as the devil himself.Mr. Twilight combines the mystical and the mysterious, the supernatural and the primitive, in a rich, steamy brew of otherworldly adventure."
The story divided it's time between Colin and Gabrielle the two heroes, and the murders that they are trying to stop. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but I found it distracting whenever they switched from one to another. I'd have much rather have stayed with Colin, he had the best action going on. As well it should be, this is book two of his story and I am eagerly awaiting my copy of Hell On Earth Book I of The Trine. Unfortunately it is out of print, I didn't let that little fact get in my way. The authors websites are kind of a waste of time, not very interesting. But check out Ms. Bohnhoff's for a chapter one excerpt.

2007-02-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Grand Duchess Perla the Random of Much Leering
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Dresden Files

2007-01-24T14:11:00.000-08:00

I'm still on the fence about whether or not I approve of the changes made to the character and series of the Dresden Files which plays on Sci Fi channel. Some differences just get under your skin and just rub and rub until it bothers you too much. I'll keep watching because I am a loyal fan, but also because pilot episodes are not a fantastic yardstick to measure series like these. It wasn't perfect by a long shot, but that was to be expected. We knew that things were going to change. Hopefully the episodes to come will show a Dresden who does magic and is a force to be reckoned with. That will be a major balm to sooth this nerds ruffled feathers.

because I just had to

2007-01-19T21:15:00.001-08:00

i just wish i could've added Faithfully, because the road aint no place to start a family

no, wait, THIS is the best movie ever

2007-01-18T17:50:00.001-08:00

the best movie...EVER

2007-01-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

eureka

2007-01-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that of all the networks, the one that is getting most of my DVR space belongs to the Sci Fi channel. I'm really late in catching on to the show Eureka (click to watch the full 1st episode).
"But for all its familiar, small-town trappings, things in this secret hamlet are anything but ordinary. The stereotype of the absent-minded professor exists for a reason, and most of the quantum leaps in science and technology during the past 50 years were produced by Eureka's elite researchers. Unfortunately, scientific exploration is rarely what one expects, and years of experiments gone awry have yielded some peculiar by-products.

From unrequited love to professional jealousy, from addiction to depression, the problems of Eureka's townsfolk stem from life's myriad of everyday challenges. But with the population's unique talents, troubled psyches and limitless resources, these small-town concerns have a way of becoming big-time problems. It is at that intersection, where human frailty and super-science collide, that Eureka begins…. "

And while the star of the show Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), is super hot and I doubt I'd have watched the show at all without him, it's his daughter Zoe Carter (Jordan Hinson ) who is that one special ingredient that makes me really love this show.

"Zoe Carter is Jack Carter's defiant, delinquent, and also terribly intelligent daughter. Though Zoe tries to keep up her "riot grrrl" image, behind her attitude and piercings she's just another young woman who wants her absentee father to pay her some attention. And what's the best way to attract a cop's attention? Consistently put oneself at odds with the law — something that Zoe has become quite adept at doing. But in truth, reuniting her divorced parents is her ultimate goal — a factor that makes dating a difficult prospect for Carter."

I've watched all the season 1 episodes courtesy of youtube (what would I do without it... thanks tvguy whoever you are), except for episode 1 which you can find on the link above, or catch the re-runs that air on Tues. at 9 immediately after my long long long time fave Dead Like Me. To this day I still hold a grudge against Showtime for not making 4th season and leaving me hanging!

And in a little over a week (January 21) The Dresden Files airs it's first episode: Birds of a Feather. I hope they've done justice to the story and characters us Dresden Files fans have come to love.

the best is yet to come

2006-12-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Dexter in the Dark
By Jeff Lindsay
coming 8/14/06

The newest in the coolest mystery series ever! Dexter is not as amazing on screen as he is in print (how can they not mention The Dark Passenger!), so if you've never read one of the books, do it now. And even better, listen to them on audio, the narrator Nick Landrum does a fantastic job with these books and this character. To me he'll always be the true voice of Dexter Morgan.
No excerpts yet, if there'll ever be any. And it doesn't help that Jeff Lindsay doesn't have a website -that I know of. But I did find some information on fantasticfiction.co.uk. Click Dexter in the Dark for the link to fantasticfiction. And here's another interesting tidbit, the release date for the UK is July 19,2007 as opposed to the US release of August 14, 2007.
For those of us who cannot wait that extra month, this is good albeit expensive news.

Dearly Devoted Dexter
By Jeff Lindsay
available now

The second Dexter Morgan novel, and my fave. While the first novel threw my into paroxysms of first love with this serial killing anti-hero, this second installment saw a well rounded version of Dexter's supporting cast. Where everyone except Dexter and his new friend, were total fucktards. Devoted shows that there's more to Deb than, "God damned it Dexter, what the fuck!". More to Sgt. Doakes than, "Get the fuck away from me Morgan, you gimme the fuckin' creeps."
We see everyone and everything in a higher strung peril.

Poltergeist
by Kat Richardson

coming 8/7/06

The follow up to Richardson's 2006 Greywalker novel is coming August 7 2007.

"Halloween is approaching when Harper agrees to investigate the members of a research group who've been attempting to create an artificial poltergeist. The head researcher suspects someones been faking the phenomena, but Harper's investigation reveals something entirely different--they've succeeded. When one of the group's members is killed in a brutal and inexplicable fashion, Harper must determine if the murderer is the ghost itself or someone all too human." -from Ms. Richarson's website.

This is a serious MUST addition to the urban fantasy fan. If you liked any Jim Butcher Dresden Files novel, Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series (the best of any-ever!) Patricia Briggs' Moon Called, Kim Harrison's books, then you'll love Kat Richardson and her Greywalker series. (clock on the Poltergeist image and read an excerpt)

Greywalker
By Kat Richardson
available now

The first book in a brand new series about a female P.I. , Harper Blaine, who after coming back from the dead, now sees a parallel "ghost world".

Greywalker starts out better than any book I've read lately, with Harper's murder. From there we jump to her trying to get back to her normal life in Seattle (a great backdrop for a ghost story), only to find that she is being sucked into inescapable weird. From slipping back & forth from the ghost world and all it's nauseating and scariness, to vampires good &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; bad & becoming enmeshed in their brimming war, to witches, and even a necromancer.
And about Harper Blaine, well, she's a tough cookie who doesn't take any stupid chances and can take care of herself. Thank goodness she also has a good heart and can be compassionate when someone is in need, and a girl with just enough insecurities when an attractive man is around.
Kat Richardson does a wonderful job of making this book feel as serious as Harper's situation is. There is no joke or silliness to this story which is a welcome departure from all the Mary Janice Davidson's and her wanna-be's. The fact that the author took the genre seriously lends much more credence to a wonderfully written story with a great plot that has just enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.
(click Greywalker image for book excerpt from author's website)

For A few Demon's More
By Kim Harrison

coming 3/20/06

The latest installment in the Rachel Morgan series. You just can never get enough. Well we finlay have some cover art, and even if it's cool in a I-look-like-a-hooker kind of way, they are never as cool as the first book, Dead Witch Walking.
If you've never read any of Ms Harrison's books I highly recommend you start at the beginning or you'll be totally lost. That and I'd totally skip that installment in the anthology Dates From Hell which stars my least favorite Vampire ever Ivy. She is too damn annoying!
(click on A few Demons More for an excerpt)

harry potter gear up to Order of the Phoenix

2006-11-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

ok, time to reveal my biggest secret: I AM A HARRY POTTER WHORE. I looooove all things Potter.

That being revealed, here are two must-see videos. First off, we have a HP OOTP the making video that is a guilty pleasure receptor gratifying 4 min long...

and secondly, here's the recently released teaser trailer

also check out this segment from E! News when they visit the OOTP set and interview Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Thompson, and director David Yates.
or you can visit the Official Harry Potter & Order of the Phoenix website here.

brad pitt you'd better not screw up

2006-11-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

12:00 AM, 23-OCTOBER-06

"McAdams Mulls Time Traveler?TMZ.com reported a rumor that Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers) is in negotiations to take the lead in a quickly coalescing feature film based on The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger's best-selling 2003 SF novel. Brad Pitt is producing it via his Plan B Productions, as is Nick Wechsler. The Time Traveler's Wife follows a Chicago librarian who finds himself involuntarily shot forward and yanked backward 10 years in time. He meets and falls in love with a beautiful heiress. New Line is still meeting with directors, but it's come down to Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) and German director Robert Schwentke (Flightplan), the site reported. "-from sci-fi.com rumors.

Holy shit! This could be possibly the greatest BOOK ever. And I am extremely conflicted about something so personal and dear to my heart, being actualized with someone else's vision. Rachel McAdam's is my favorite actress and I coun't ask for a better actress to play my Claire, but it would ALL depend on the male lead. Henry De Tamble is a character you fall in love with. If he is cast incorrectly, it'll break my heart.
The setting must be perfect, ALL characters must be perfect, and the MUSIC must be perfect. All these were so specific in the book and gave it such character, made it so unique.
Brad Pitt you have been warned.

updates for thursday next

2006-11-24T18:15:00.000-08:00

First Among Sequels

"It is fourteen years since Thursday Next pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and her son Friday is now sixteen. As previous meetings with the young man might indicate, he should be thinking of entering the Academy of Time in order to fulfil his destiny at the ChronoGuard, but he has decided instead to pursue a career in music - and now leads a teenage rockband called 'Snot'. Exasperation at her son's time-career non-fulfillment is but one of Thursday's problems at present.

Meanwhile, Goliath have perfected their own 22-seater Prose Portal Luxury Coach, and plan on taking literary tourists on a maiden voyage to the works of Jane Austen. 'The future of books is interactivity', claims the upper management at the Council of Genres, 'and regulated book travel is far preferable to an unregulated tourism industry.' Thursday is naturally appalled at the prospect, but her objections fall on deaf ears, and Thursday herself is selected to accompany the 'Austen Rover' as it travels on its maiden voyage into Pride and Prejudice.

Of course, all is not what it seems and Thursday soon realises that Goliath is up to its old tricks again. With the future of the entire Bookworld in jeopardy and a mass erasure threatening the very fabric of fiction itself, Thursday must travel to the very outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to do battle with old foes and new adversaries...

Published on the 5th July in the UK and the 23rd July 2007 in the USA."-from jasperfforde.com

Woo Hoo!!!!!! I love all things Ffordian. It was one of the most exciting announcements I'd ever read when in the back of The Fourth Bear- Fforde's last novel- was news of a forthcoming Nextian novel. There were no details, just a tentative title, "War of the Words".

It's great to have her back, her life is too full of the adventurous and the absurd not to want to continue her journey. Anything can happen in these novels, imagination really is able to expand and fly in this world Jasper Fforde created.

This is a MUST read. There is no way I'm waiting for the US release eighteen days after the UK gets it's release. Amazon.com.uk here I come. Next day delivery, come on... how perfect is that?

How cool is it for Friday to be in a band called 'Snot'.

murder in chinatown

2006-11-24T17:47:00.000-08:00

"Sarah Brandt finds herself involved in the secretive world of Chinatown when she is called to attend the Irish-American wife of a Chinese merchant. Since the United States government has prohibited Chinese women from immigrating, many Chinese men in New York City have married Irish girls. Although these women encounter prejudice from the white community, Sarah learns that the women are quite happy with their lot in life.

Their mixed-race children don’t necessarily share their contentment, however, and when one of these girls runs away, Sarah uses her detecting skills to help her family find her. When the girl is later murdered, Sarah must ask her friend, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, for help. Has someone in her family killed her for rejecting an arranged marriage with a Chinese man to elope with a penniless Irish lad? Has her would-be fiancé killed her for dishonoring him? Or has someone in her husband’s family killed her because of her mixed blood? "-from author's website.

I'm so excited that the next book in the Sarah Brandt Murder series has been officially announced by Ms. Thompson herself! Due out in June 07, this is a period crime series set at the turn of the century with a female sleuth as the lead, and a gritty cop as her sometimes partner, love interest, teacher, and sparring partner.

My weakness for straight-up mysteries is very narrow, they have to be turn of the century, have female lead, and she's got to have a love interest.(my all time faveorites being the Francesca Cahill series by Joyce) It's the old romance reader in me. I assume I'll eventually graduate to a Grafton, but as much as I know I'd like those, I like my little period mysteries like these for now.

You can read up on this author at her web-site by clicking on the image above.

rise up with fists

2006-11-09T20:07:00.001-08:00

strangers with candy coming to dvd 11/14!!!

2006-11-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

you

2006-11-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

WTF

2006-10-11T23:32:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy what with having started a new job after having taken a year off. I was waiting for all me prime time TV premieres to have rolled out to comment on them. All I had remaining was 30Rock, and I would be good to go. Then I hear one of my BIG time favorites has been not just canceled, but yanked so hard off the air that my poor DVR still says it's playing while the network airs it's old hits from their moneymaker.

My new shows were thus:

Smith
Vanished
30Rock

Heroes

Ugly Betty

And these would be added to my regular fall line up of:

Prison Break

Supernatural

Project Runway

Amazing Race

These are my hardcore commitments. I break for them.

Unfortunately Smith is cancelled, 3 episodes in and I was left hangin'! All I want is a mega supped up DVD edition to be released ASAP for those of us who did care!

All I can do is live in hope that Heroes is still in the race, Vanished gets to finish it's season, Ugly Betty stays afloat, and 30Rock makes it.

I'm too sad and tired to post anything on my very satisfactory returning faves, they are all doing a great job- some more than others- but I need to sleep... and to get a pair of feet that don't throb with pain.

2007 can't wait!

2006-09-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Looks like 2007 will be a great year in reading for me. It'll start off with a bang in February thanks to two upcoming releases:

Mercedes Thompson returns in: Blood Bound February 2007

The second in Patricia Bigg's Mercedes Thompson series ! Patricia Biggs has not posted any sample chapters, but her publisher was smart enough to keep the illustrator from the first book in the series- Moon Called. That cover alone was what drew in sooo many Urban fantasy enthusiasts. Mercy's got more ink on her, but she's still her bad-assed mechanic self. (click image to pre-order with amazon.com)

And the follow up to 2006's Full Moon Rising, Kissing Sin... (click images of Keri Arthur's books for a link to Keri's website were you can view her blog and read up on these books)

This will be followed up with a quick fire release of the 3rd book in the Guardian Series Tempting Evil due out March 07...
And book 4 in the Guardian Series, Dangerous Games hitting the bookshelves April 07. There is still a book 5 in this series, Embraced by Darkness, and it's drop date are TBA.

Harry Dresden is back! White Night April 2007

This just posted minutes ago on the Jim Butcher website! No details just yet, but at least we've got great cover art to hold us a little longer! (click White Night to visit Jim's website)

Rob Thurman's sequel to Nightlife: Moonshine May 6 2007!!!

Cal and his brother Niko are back! The first book, Nightlife, totally blew me away. I'd been on a steady diet to bad-ass chick kicking a lot of ass and taking a lot of names, so it was really nice to change it up and get the story from a male perspective. The connection between the two brothers, and what impossible odds they are up against is great. I really cannot wait to get Moonshine in my hot little hands. (click image of Moonshine to see Rob Thurman's website)

Women of Otherworld no. 7: No Humans Involved May 2007
I've got no cover art just yet for this beauty, but urban fantasy queen Kelley Armstrong is coming out with the next book in her Women of Otherworld series book 7 titled- No Humans Involved. Rumor has it's release date in May, but I'll post a definite date as soon as Kelley post's it on her site. Her website is the best place for a fan to wait out the long months between books. She writes all year, and publishes free novellas and serials through out. You can read previously finished novellas on your favorite characters and see how things began. Click the image above for a link to the prologue and 1st chapter in No Humans Involved, her Jaime Vegas novel.

Thursday Next returns in- The War of the Words July 2007

And my dearest darling author of the Thursday Next and Jack Spratt novels will be releasing a new installment in the Thursday Next series July 2007! This is an amazing surprise for us TN fans. The last TN novel, Something Rotten, has tied up all the loose ends and left the readers feeling as if Fforde was done with her world. Thankfully not. In his latest novel, The Fourth Bear, there is a chapter heading that gave illusion that all had come slightly unstuck just a bit after we left Thursday, Landon, and little Friday. Then, at the back of Fourth Bear, we see the announcement of TN's The War of the Words, and Ashley, Jack, and Mary will return in- The Last Great Tortoise Race, release date TBA. (click on "image" to go to Jasper Fforde's truley amazing website full of extra features and lots and lots of fun stuff)

There are a lot more books coming to name a few greats they are:

Thin Air (Sixth novel in the Weather Warden series, by Rachel Caine) due Summer 2007

For A Few Demons More (next installment to Rachel Morgan's stories, by Kim Harrison) due March 2007

Touch of Madness (Second in the "Thrall" series, by CT Adams & Cathy Clamp) June 2007

Undead and Uneasy (Queen Betsy's Sixth story, by Mary Janice Davidson) June 2007

I'll post more on these as the info becomes available!

2006-09-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

(click image to buy Perfect Circle on amazon.com)

I woke up sweaty and shaking. Tense. I has been dreaming about ghost roads again. This one was leaving an apartment complex swimming pool, and there was a little girl walking down it. She was looking back over her shoulder at me, eyes solemn behind a cheap kid's snorkeling mask, and wearing pool flippers; slow dreamy duck-steps, a trail of wet inhuman footprints disappearing into the the dim black and white houses, the humming silence.

I looked at the clock display on my VCR, but the glowing blue numbers just flashed

-00:00-

Time unstuck and drifting. The lost feeling, like when you're a kid with a fever and the night breaks around you forever.

I lay on my dingy mattress in my tiny living room, body humming with the premonition of something terrible about to happen. That copper taste in my mouth. Eyes wide in the darkness. Waiting.- Sean Stewart, Perfect Circle.

From Publishers Weekly- Ghosts are like homeless people, we are told by DK "Dead" Kennedy, the hero of World Fantasy Award winner Stewart's latest blend of magical realism and Texas regionalism: most of us look away, but he can't. This ability to see the other side complicates life tremendously (he can't drive because at night ghosts look just like the living, and he's wrecked cars avoiding them), especially when a distant cousin hires him to exorcise the ghost of a girl the cousin murdered. Part of the novel deals with DK's offbeat career as an alternative exorcist, but what Stewart seems really to focus on is how these abilities now threaten his relationships with family, both immediate and extended. DK still loves his ex-wife and is active in the life of his daughter, but comes to realize that he's like a ghost in their lives: "Not all ghosts are dead, but all are hungry." Stewart's compelling account of how DK comes to grips with his ghosts, both actual and metaphorical, is alternately poignant and hilarious, with some genuinely creepy moments and one or two powerful jolts. This compelling story is a genre title with strong potential for crossing over into the mainstream. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

I read this book in one sitting, and don't get me wrong, it's not simply an action packed page-turning drama. This is more a book that gives insite to one man's pained and heavily burdened eexistence He is acutely unique in that he is a conduit for the "undead" or put simply. ghosts. He is at a point in his life where everything is a wreck of his own making. What kept me from putting this book down was the the author Sean Stewart told DK's story. You really care for DK, and his life is turned upside down with a single phone call.

You will be pulling for DK to overcome his astronomic oobstacles and you will not be able to put down this, action infused page-turning drama/horror story.

vote for your favorite books of the year!

2006-08-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

"The Quills, an initiative launched with the support of Reed Business Information and NBC, is an industry-qualified “consumers choice” awards program for books. The Quills celebrates the best adult and children's books of the year in 20 popular categories, including Book of the Year, plus an committee-selected award for best Book to Film." MSNBC.com

Vote for your favorite book of the year, favorite audio book, romance, sci-fi & fantasy, ect....

a guide to recognizing your saints

2006-08-24T01:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know that Channing Tatum is not the lead of this movie, Shia LaBeouf plays Dito, the focus of the book and the movie. But the only reason I'm going to see this film, is Channing Channing Channing. Actually, Shia had this to say about his co-star Channing on his character Antonio-
"Channing Tatum gives the movie a huge, bright spark. Antonio is one of the most difficult but one of the most important roles in the film. He needed to convey tremendous vulnerability despite his tendency to violence. Channing manages to generate huge empathy for Antonio. We can see how troubled he is, and we can see that everything he does, while it may be misguided, is done out of love and friendship for Dito. " Shia LaBeouf.

I read that Channing's- sorry, Antonio's opening scene, "he struts down the graffitied, dirty streets with a bruised face and jumps a Puerto Rican kid who is harassing Dito ". I'm sorry but that is soooo cool.

This film opens September 29 in New York & L.A.
Jana, road trip girl!!!!

(click movie poster for full trailer curtsey of G.T.R.Y.S. myspace page)

(click image of Antonio so he can introduce himself curtsey of youtube.com)

the black dahlia

2006-08-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

"The Black Dahlia weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession, love, corruption ,greed, and depravity around the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet's that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. Two ex-pugilist cops, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Buckey Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), are called to investigate the homicide of ambitious silver-screen B-lister Betty Ann Short (Mia Kirshner) A.K.A. "The Black Dahlia"- an attack so grisly that images of the killing were kept from the public... True crime meets urban legend when De Palma brings Ellroy's The Black Dahlia to the big screen."-from The Black Dahlia official site.

By amazing Brian De Palma who directed Scarface, The Untouchables, and Dressed to Kill (to name a few), and adapted from James Ellroy's (who wrote L.A. Confidential) The Black Dahlia, his best-selling crime novel.

The trailer sealed the deal for me. I'm a HUGE unsolved mystery buff, so this was tailor made for a movie watcher like me. But they really would have lost me if the adaptation had not been up to snuff. Click the image of Betty Ann Short (played here by Mia Kirshner) for the movie trailer from The B.D. official site. It feels very L.A. Confidential, which means they are staying true to Ellroy's novel, but De Palma is KING at Crime Dramas, so it'll be so exciting and entertaining to see what he's done with this amazing crime tale.

In theaters September 15th, Be there!

a real doll

2006-08-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

There is a book by the name The Safety of Objects, and in this book there is a short story by the name A Real Doll. When I was on Etsy last night looking through photographs for sale, I came across these two pictured left. They are from a seller going by the name swirlingthoughts. Well, when I saw these photos named, Long Legs (top pic) and Snagged (second pic from top),I was immediately reminded of this short story I had read in the book The Safety of Objects by A.M. Homes.

The story is about an adolescent boy who falls in love with his younger sisters Barbie Doll. He has a physical affair with her, complete with conversation and jealousy. It's a twisted little tale completely befitting an A.M. Homes story.
If your into that sort of thing, or just get a kick out of reading the twisted and absurd, then she is the author for you.

Honestly, go buy this book and tell me these photos aren't perfect for it.
Did the artist who took them have any idea what he/she was suggesting? I think may be so. And if not, wow, what a hilarious conversation that would be to tell them about it.

(click image to look inside this book at amazon.com)

Check out the author's official website, she is definitely worth a look if you've never read her. A.M. Homes.

she'll kill you, she'll kill you, she'll kill you and she'll never let you go...

2006-08-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

"PSYCO EX CONTEST: Rules of competition
1. Not for public consumption.
2. No more than one entry per e-mail.
3. Only one destructive, long term, psychologically challenged significant other per comtetitor.
4. No details regarding martital relations.*
*"Marital relations" is loosely defined as any act of sexual congress between a principal player and the human object of his/her affections.

Seconds later, a third piece of e-mail.

PSYCHO EX STORY #1
I had twenty-five dollars in my pocket. Psycho Ex demanded that I give it to her for drugs. I argued that we wouldn't be able to eat or take the bus or anything. When my argument failed, I shouted, "I won't give you my twenty-five dollars because it's MINE." She screamed, "You think I need your money? I'll go out right now and suck some dick!"-Andy Prieboy The Psycho Ex Game.

This a great story written in the He said, She said fashion. Authors Merrill Markoe and Andy Prieboy created a story about a writer, Lisa Roberty, and a rock musician, Grant Repka (both serial psycho ex daters) who start a game to see who had the worst ex of them all. In my humble opinion Grants horror stories blew Lisa's out of the water, but you'll have to judge for yourself. It's an engrossing read. And one that makes you fall for that jaded hard-living musician type.

"Bells don't immediately ring when Lisa, a writer meets Grant a veteran rock musician, backstage at one of his shows but they do exchange e-mail addresses. Soon after they begin an online correspondence that blossoms into what they call the Psycho Ex Game... Story for story, each accumulates points for humiliation, degradation, and complicity in the rationalizing of psychotic behavior. And as the game continues, each realizes that their exchanges are offering them an intimacy missing in their offline lives." from psychoexgame.com

Check out the PSYCHO EX SONG by Andy Preiboy!
(click image to search inside this book at amazon.com)

the science of sleep

2006-08-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

"Since he was a child, Stephane Miroux (Gael Garcia Bernal) has had trouble separating his dreams from his waking life, and growing into his twenties hasn't changed him one bit. On the contrary, his dreams are beginning to take over. Ordinary life is becoming an intrusion from the dreamscape where Stephane's imagination takes flight.
In his mind, Stephane is an authority on The Science of Sleep, and his Mission Control is "Stephane TV," an imaginary studio crafted from cardboard boxes, egg cartons, and a shower curtain. As Stephane's inner and outer world zigzags, it take shim back and fourth from this network headquarters in his brain. On his "cooking" show, he carefully combines a set of ingredients- random thoughts, remininscenses of the day, memories, love relationships, friends, songs, images- to demonstrate how dreams are prepared... Meanwhile,the real Stephane returns to his childhood home in Paris, after the death of his father and his mother's (Miou-Miou) promise of a creative job with a calendar publisher... Stunned to discover his job involves paste-up, not illustration, Stephane shows the boss, Mr. Pouchet (Pierre Vaneck), his "Disastrology" drawings of earthquakes and plane crashes- but his creativity is unappreciated. Soon Stephane's dreams are being filtered with bizzare images of the office he loathes.
Stephane meets his new neighbor, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her friend Zoe (Emma de Caunes) when they mistake him for an injured piano mover. Stephane goes to great lengths to hide the fact that he is the son of the landlady and lives across the hall. He amazes them with his "inventions," including glasses that show the world in 3-D and a pair of bike helmets that magically transfer the names of cards. While he is first attracted to Zoe, he discovers a kindred spirit in Stephanie, who shares his love for handcrafting whimsical objects.
Initially Stephanie is charmed by Stephane's sweetness, but she is increasingly bewildered by his flimsy connection to reality and his childish sulking. Feeling rejected, Stephane's fantasies become ever more grandiose: in his dream life, he designs a vast metropolis out of cardboard tubes, writes a bestselling novel (I am Just Your Neighbor and a Liar, By the Way, Do You Have Zoe's Number?), and is serenaded by his co-workers in kitty-cat costumes.
Stephane tries to woo Stephanie with some new creations, including a one-second time machine, and a galloping toy horse, but she remains put off by his inexplicable behavior. Unable to find the secret to Stephanie's heart while awake, Stephane searches for the answer in his dreams." official website synopsis.

This is my MOST anticipated movie of the year. I love director Michel Gondry who directed Bjork's videos: Human Behavior, Army of Me, Isobel, Hyper-ballad, Joga, & Bachelorette. He also directed the Foo Fighter's awesome Everlong video, and several White Stripes videos including The Hardest Button to Button, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Fell in Love with a Girl, Denial Twist.
But most importantly (to me), he directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I fell so completely in love with this movie and have to counted it as part of my Top 3 All Time Favorites.
There is an innocence, a whit, and a loneliness to all his work that really gets to me. I've got it bad for his work. And this is the first he wrote and directed. I cannot wait. Opens 9/22/06.

(all Bjork videos courtesy of Bjork.com/Foo Fighters Everlong provided by YouTube.com/White Stripes Videos provided by whitestripes.com)

seeking a friend...

2006-08-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend
for the end
of the world
-Tiffanie DeBartolo God-Shaped Hole

This story is unbelievably beautiful, young, and heartbreaking. I cried so hard I thought my heart was breaking. You know what the end is when you start the book, I think that helped make everything that much more special. If you like Nick Drake, Big Sur, edgy jewelry, then this is a story you might be interested in. You won't regret it.
(click on image to look inside this book at amazon.com)

tonight tonight

2006-08-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

The Illusionist
"When word of the famed Eisenheim's (Ed Norton) illusions reaches Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), the ruler attends one of the magician's shows in order to debunk the performance. But when the prince's intended, Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), assists the magician onstage, Eisenheim and Sophie recognize each other from their childhoods, and pretty soon they're totally hot for each other. As the clandestine romance continues, the prince's best cop (Paul Giamatti) is charged with exposing Eisenheim, even while the magician gains a devoted and vocal public following. Before long, Sophie turns up dead, and the logical suspect is Eisenheim himself." movies.com

I'm watching this tonight, I hope it lives up to expectations.

Okay, I'm back fromm watching the Illusionist and I highly recommend it. It's a great story.

so hard to define and yet so easy to love

2006-08-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
"A combination of fantasy, comedy, science fiction, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Lewis Carroll, Monty Python, and even 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'." (The New York Times)"Lovers of great literature with a fondness for light genre fiction...will feel instantly at home in The Eyre Affair." (The Los Angeles Times)

Lost in a Good Book-Thursday Next book 2
"Inventive, witty, and uniquely original novelist Jasper Fforde sends his literary sleuth on another wildly imaginative journey through time and literature. Thursday Next faces a sinister global multinational corporation represented by Mr. Schitt-Hawse, beats the magistrate from Kafka's The Trial at his own game, and trains for her next assignment by apprenticing herself to Miss Havisham. Thursday then accepts the ultimate challenge: capture Acheron Hades, the murderer of characters from the classics." audible.com

The Well of Lost Plots-Thursday Next book 3
When soon-to-be single parent Thursday Next emerges from her comfortable life inside an unpublished book, she steps into a new age of fictional narrative. The entire book world is abuzz with anticipation of an improved Text Operating System that moves from the 8-plot to the new 32-plot story system. But danger lurks when Jurisfiction agents keep turning up dead...The Well of Lost Plots, the place where all fiction is created, is an exhilarating romp through literary classics, an insightful look at how books are made, and a jewel in the long tradition of British nonsense."audible.com

Something Rotten-Thursday Next book 4
"After spending her time chasing a stray Minotaur into pulp Westerns, filling in for Joan of Arc, and raising her infant son, Friday, Thursday needs a break in the real world. But her return to Swindon is far from relaxing. Rogue fictioneer Yorrick Kaine and the evil multinational Goliath Corporation are trying to rule the world, and a deadly assassin called the Windowmaker is tracking Thursday's every move. To top it all off, her husband is still missing after being eradicated from the timestream before they met."audible.com

(click US cover on the left for audio sample/ click UK cover to purchase UK edition)

Jasper Fforde has a unique mind and thank god for that. He has created a alternate reality where imagination and reality are extremely fluid. They are full to bursting with literary references, alternate historical realities, a python-esq humor, and a sharp self deprecating whit. I was instantly hooked on these books from The Eyre Affair's debut, through to his Jack Spratt Nursery Crime series which is now two books in. If you find pleasure in sifting through wildly imaginative plots and continuing threads that are full of mystery and humor then please please please pick up the Eyre Affair. Do not make the mistake of starting out of order!

Thursday Next returns in
War of the Words
July 2007

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

2006-08-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

It's coming! This fall- no date concrete date yet- a 12 episode series all about our Darling Dexter! Click the pic for an excerpt from the audio novel which is fucking fantastic. You MUST read/listen to the novel & it's sequel Dearly Devoted Dexter before the series starts. You must understand Dexter and how he operates.

DEXTER, starring EmmyÂ®- and Golden GlobeÂ®- nominated actor Michael C. Hall ("Six Feet Under"), Hall, the series stars Jennifer Carpenter ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose"), Lauren Velez ("New York Undercover"), Julie Benz ("Jawbreaker"), Erik King ("National Treasure"), David Zayas ("The Interpreter") and James Remar ("Sex and the City"). Set to begin production in late spring, the series is scheduled to debut before the end of 2006 and will be shot on location in Miami.

Nanana nanana hey hey hey... goodbye!

2006-08-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

The End!
These Blog Wars Were The Lamest Ever!
Try Again Next Year!