Reprint of the Year: McKee of Centre Street
5 hours ago
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Author - Emily Goodwin
Genre - Horror
Series - Contagium Trilogy #1
Pages - 339
Description from Goodreads
"I wasn’t afraid of death. If I died, it would be over. My worst fear wasn’t of dying, it was of living. Living, while everyone around me had their flesh savagely torn from their bodies to be shoved into the festering and ever-hungry mouths of zombies. It terrified me, right down to my very core, to be alive while the rest of the world was dead."
In the midst of the Second Great Depression, twenty-five year old Orissa Penwell doesn't think things can get any worse. She couldn't be more wrong. A virus breaks out across the country, leaving the infected crazed, aggressive and very hungry.
Orissa will do anything-no matter if it's right or wrong- to save the ones she loves. But when she discovers that most of the world is infected or dead, she must decided if those lives are worth saving at all.
"I wasn’t afraid of death. If I died, it would be over. My worst fear wasn’t of dying, it was of living. Living, while everyone around me had their flesh savagely torn from their bodies to be shoved into the festering and ever-hungry mouths of zombies. It terrified me, right down to my very core, to be alive while the rest of the world was dead."
In the midst of the Second Great Depression, twenty-five year old Orissa Penwell doesn't think things can get any worse. She couldn't be more wrong. A virus breaks out across the country, leaving the infected crazed, aggressive and very hungry.
Orissa will do anything-no matter if it's right or wrong- to save the ones she loves. But when she discovers that most of the world is infected or dead, she must decided if those lives are worth saving at all.
Not good, but not bad. Contagious is the first in a trilogy about a zombie outbreak.
That is about it, the story really is not that deep. We have Orissa, our main character who is so unlikeable I wished she would have gotten bit. She is selfish, puts everyone in danger, and makes terrible decisions. Sadly, she is the only character that really gets any backstory the others are just sort of there.
The story was sort of haphazard, there were many parts that made no sense and there were some parts that a normal, rational person would do differently and survive better than Orissa and her group, Like DON’T wait for the zombies to get 10 feet in front of you before you get into the car..
The book picks up a little bit when Hayden is introduced but it doesn’t pick up too much. Mostly it is mission runs and drama. No explanation of how the virus got out, no theories thrown about. They will not drink the water because it could be contaminated but they will shower in it... makes no sense.
All my ranting does not mean it was not a nice book, it is if you are looking for something to fill in the time, but do not expect something ground breaking from this novel.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Author - Kij Johnson
Genre -Japanese Fantasy
Pages - 384
Description from Goodreads.
Yoshifuji is a man fascinated by foxes, a man discontented and troubled by the meaning of life. A misstep at court forces him to retire to his long-deserted country estate, to rethink his plans and contemplate the next move that might return him to favor and guarantee his family's prosperity.
Kitsune is a young fox who is fascinated by the large creatures that have suddenly invaded her world. She is drawn to them and to Yoshifuji. She comes to love him and will do anything to become a human woman to be with him.
Shikujo is Yoshifuji's wife, ashamed of her husband, yet in love with him and uncertain of her role in his world. She is confused by his fascination with the creatures of the wood, and especially the foxes that she knows in her heart are harbingers of danger. She sees him slipping away and is determined to win him back from the wild ... for all that she has her own fox-related secret.
Magic binds them all. And in the making (and breaking) of oaths and honors, the patterns of their lives will be changed forever.
Yoshifuji is a man fascinated by foxes, a man discontented and troubled by the meaning of life. A misstep at court forces him to retire to his long-deserted country estate, to rethink his plans and contemplate the next move that might return him to favor and guarantee his family's prosperity.
Kitsune is a young fox who is fascinated by the large creatures that have suddenly invaded her world. She is drawn to them and to Yoshifuji. She comes to love him and will do anything to become a human woman to be with him.
Shikujo is Yoshifuji's wife, ashamed of her husband, yet in love with him and uncertain of her role in his world. She is confused by his fascination with the creatures of the wood, and especially the foxes that she knows in her heart are harbingers of danger. She sees him slipping away and is determined to win him back from the wild ... for all that she has her own fox-related secret.
Magic binds them all. And in the making (and breaking) of oaths and honors, the patterns of their lives will be changed forever.
*Sigh* I wanted to love this book, I wanted to be enamored and entrapped within its pages and not want to let go. I was sadly not any of those. While the book was still good, it was not so much a tale of a fox turning human but of how she deals with being human and loss and madness. Yes, she (Kitsune since she doesn’t really have a name) does find love, does learn to be human and we do get to see her in her fox form for a good chunk of the book, but still. It fell flat for me.
Like I said, the book starts off with Kitsune being a fox, then one day she sees Yoshifuji and knows she wants him, knows that she must be human to have him and thus with magic, begins her journey for humanity.
Shikujo is Yoshifujis wife and I really felt for her throughout the book. Sure , in the beginning she was a little high strung but with her life it is understandable. She did not ask for her husband to become obsessed with the foxes he finds, nor did she ask for Kitsune to steal her husband from her with magic. I like how she grew through the book and I was happy for her in the end. I think I enjoyed her story more than the others.
The book is told from the views of Yoshifuji, Kistune and Shikujo. It was nice seeing what they thought of the goings-on of everything. I just wish this book stayed more with Kitsune in her fox form, even though I know it was supposed to be a love story between a fox woman and a human man.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Q: Write a letter to your fav character. Rant, rave or gush... just pretend they are real and you just want to let them know a 'few things'
You are one of the most interesting, honorable and complex characters I have ever come across. Defying your race, surviving the Underdark and the Upper Realms where Dark Elves are feared and loathed. Making friends and losing friends you never give up and are always up for the adventure of a new day. With your twin scimitars in hand and a determined heart, you Drizzt have become my favorite character and I will continue to follow your story until the bittersweet end.
Monday, February 11, 2013
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REVIEWS
“Some folks treated the past like an old friend. The memories warmed them with fondness for what was, and hope for what was to come. Not me. When I thought of long ago, my insides curdled, and I was left feeling sour and wasted.”
Jenny Schmidt is a young woman with old heartaches. A small town Texas girl with big city attitude, she just doesn’t fit in. Not that she has ever tried.
Life has pummeled her heart into one big, lonely callus. She has no siblings, both parents were dead by sixteen, and her last grandparent—and caretaker—was in the ground before she turned twenty-one. She’s the last living member of her immediate family. Or so she thinks…
“We found my ‘grandfather’ sitting at his dining room table. An entire scorched pot of coffee dangled from his shaky hand. His skin was the ashen gray shade of thunderclouds, not the rich mocha from the photo I’d seen. There were dark blue circles under each swollen red eye. A halo of white hair skirted his bald head, a crown of tangles and mats. Corpses had more life in them.
” Suddenly, instead of burying it with the dead, Jenny is forced to confront the past. Armed only with an ancient family journal, her rifle, and an Apache tomahawk, she must save her grandfather’s life and embrace her dangerous heritage. Or be devoured by it.
Jenny is a technophile, she loves computers and video games. She also lives by herself after her mother, father and grandmother have passed away. Her life is pretty normal but she likes it that way, running her computer repair business. However a mysterious call from her grandfather whom she thought dead will changer her life forever.
This is a very short book and with short books often times things go by quickly and are not especially detailed. This is how this book works as well. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable but left me with many questions i hope to get answers for in the next book(s)
I will not give too much away but i did like her friend Marshal, he is the right mix of care and whit. The end was good and i do look forward to the next book.
After receiving an ancient tribal journal from her grandfather, Jenny is sent on a mission of discovery in an attempt to unravel clues to her family's monster hunting past. The journey becomes more than academic when she is asked to confront a coven of dangerous witches who plan to cast an insidious spell on the plains of West Texas.
Witch's Nocturne is the second of the Moonsongs Books, a series of paranormal-horror-action novelettes by author E.J. Wesley. These stories contain language and content better suited for mature readers.
Witch's Nocturne is the second of the Moonsongs Books, a series of paranormal-horror-action novelettes by author E.J. Wesley. These stories contain language and content better suited for mature readers.
Witch's Nocturne leads on where Blood Fugue left off. This time however Jenny is contacted by a witch named Sarah, seems her coven is up to some very dark magic and it's Jenny's job to stop them or her whole town and everyone in it will die.
In my opinion Witch's Nocturne was a vast improvement over Blood Fugue. There was more action, characters and it was better paced. Jenny and Marshal are still the same, Sarah was a good character as well. Again the book is very short and there are still many questions to be answered but Witch's Nocturne's end sets up well for a third book (hopefully.)
MEET THE AUTHOR
Born
and raised in Oklahoma, E.J. grew up in a land of good earth and better people.
He holds degrees in psychology and counseling, but prefers to spend his time in
the heads of imaginary people to real ones. He writes and lives in South Texas,
and loves to chat about movies, books, music, food, and family.
BUY BLOOD FUGUE AND WITCH'S NOCTURNE
Blood Fugue
Witch's Nocturne
Smashwords
– https://www.smashwords.com/
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