Harry at Temple Library Reviews is interviewing me and Chris on his Reviewer Time segment. It goes up on Sunday I believe. In addition to the excellent questions he has sent us, and in spite of how much I can talk about anything, but especially this place, he has offered you guys the opportunity to ask questions. Your questions can be posted in the comments here over the next two days or emailed to the main unbound address or tweeted at me (hagelrat I imagine i'm the only one). They can be addressed to me, Chris or both and we will select three to answer on reviewer time. The rest we may well answer here next week. Also, if any of the rest of the team have questions for us you should feel free to add them.
This is my first review for UnBound. So I thought very carefully about what I should review. Do I make myself look clever? Hip? Obscure? What are you expecting? What am I?
Then I thought, that doesn't matter, reviews are always personal. Don't you just hate being told you should read book X? Or that book Y will change your life? The books that have those effects on you aren't the ones people tell you, they are the ones you discover yourself, on your own journey. (And don't get me started on 1001 Zs to see/do/eat before you die lists...)
All those classics people tell you that are good for you. Aside from the ones you were forced to read in school (at least I hope you were. I was. Benefits of a classical education and all that), how many have you read? Sure, you can pick them up for a pound a piece, or less, but would you? Or do you, and they languish on the shelf, unread due to their feeble covers and the image of you it projects if you are caught reading them?
Then we have the ones that are misunderstood. That have grown in the popular mindset to be seen as difficult, worthy, transcendental, or worse, meaningful. Over the years, I have avoided books because others have told me I would love them, that they will inspire me, educate me or just make me laugh. I am somewhat of a contrarian, it must be said...
But for some reason I picked up a series of books, much lampooned in popular culture, with a reputation of being literate, verbose, and yes, difficult, worthy, transcendental and meaningful.
There are, in the new Penguin editions, six volumes, slightly rearranged from earlier translations. (Oh dear, see how worthy it is? Translated classics. Get me.) Having plenty of time to read (travelling to London every day on the train, the one benefit, aside from chatting with all the crazies in said town, is the ability to chomp through various works of politics, philosophy, theology, physics, political theology, philosophical politcs and more physics) I sat down with the overwrought Marcel.
And you know what? The things I inferred, the prejudices I held, they were all wrong. I don't wish to admit I was wrong, and everyone else (as everyone else has read Proust, right?) was right, but certainly I enjoyed it.
So are you going to get a review, even now, what, seven paragraphs in? No, you aren't. What I am going to say is that books should always suprise you. Proust, as it turns out, is a comedic genius, with the second volume making me smile on more than one occassion. Case in point: The narrator is with an artist, who is ruminating on life, experience, how both relate to our experiences of art, the personal journey of an artist, in a whimsical, philosophical sort of way, and after his speaks, thoughts and several pages, the narrator returns to where he is, having spent the whole time thinking of some chick's bewbz. His evocation of the pain and accelerated thoughts of a teenage boy are fantastic, and it takes you back (if you were once a teenage boy) to the angst and problems and courage it took to speak to a girl. (Yeah, yeah, I never had *that* much of an issue with that, and while I can't hide my personality in a review, I don't wish to get off the track more than I am.)
Books should mean something, but they should mean something to you. Yes, by all means tell of their virtues, but just remember, no one will ever read it the way you did, and you will always take that with you.
So, in summary, I am honoured to be onboard here, and if you have a spare week (reading time), and like sentences that go on for pages, with comma-ed asides and the insight into society in France at the end of the 1800s, then Proust could be for you. I won't recommend it, but suffice to say I love it. And this is my post by way of introduction to me. Pleased to meet you, to be sure.
Is it possible for a book to be both timely and timeless? The Forever War by Joe Halderman makes a great case for it. Halderman, a Vietnam veteran and recipient of a Purple Heart, wrote The Forever War back in 1975, fashioning a hardcore military tale from a grunt's point of view that swept all the major awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards for Best Novel that year, and served as a foundation and template for what would become a growing sub-genre within science fiction.
The story focuses on William Mandela, a physicist recruited for a military task force being set up to wage war against the Taurens, a hostile alien race that due to the immense distances between stars and the quirks of relativity, no one has ever seen. The novel walks through training and deployment on distance star gates that allow for instantaneous travel for the soldiers, even as the rest of the planet goes on for years. Halderman has a gifted imagination, going into a lot of detail on the ways and means of interstellar warfare, and the new technologies he conjures up have a hard basis in science. As William trains and learns to use the equipment that will save his life, the novel talks about the real implications of fighting in a war - the acceptable losses, the importance of training above all else, and the abject fear of fighting an enemy you can't see or even identify if you could.
If The Forever War were simply that - a war novel - it would be good, maybe even award-worthy good. But what makes it stand out among others is the use of time and relativity, and how it changes everything for both the soldiers in the field and the people at home. During the course of Mandela's first two military exercises, lasting approximately a few months for him, decades have gone by on earth, and his return home to a world he no longer knows echoes the sense of despair and alienation felt by many war veterans coming home from the front, whether it be Saigon back in the 70s or Baghdad today.
And that's what makes The Forever War special. Yes it's wrapped in the guise of a science fiction novel, and a damn good one at that, sporting the imagination, dialog, and action that mirrors efforts by some of the best writers working in similar fields today (John Scalzi springs to mind, who also wrote the introduction the the definitive version recently released), but it also eloquently speaks of the dislocation felt by many who have traveled to foreign lands, engaging in acts that may not be able to understand, only to come home to a place even more foreign than what they left. As it says on the cover, Joe Halderman has crafted an excellent and moving war novel that stands above and beyond the genre his story takes place in.
StrayTaoist has come on board with Un:Bound to add another dimension to our reviews. I think that gives us a complete team, with the occasional guest poster. Not sure when his first post will be, or what it will be, I do know that Stray's personal blog always makes my brain hurt so it should be interesting.
So for anyone who hasn't been in a while, yup things have changed. Check out the main site to see who's who now.
A Hagelrat to be specific, and possibly a GeekMonkey but I don't know yet. Harry at Temple Library Reviews has invited us to be interviewees for a change. I have accepted, I can't speak for Chris.
Chris (aka GeekMonkey) here - I've been traveling, so my invitation may have got lost on the (e)mail, but I'm 100% up for an interview :-)
Anyway, Harry is a sick and twisted individual (for which I love him) and has asked me to offer you lot the chance to put forward additional questions. Post them in the comments here or email them to me at hagelrat (at) googlemail (dot) com and I have to pick three to answer in Harry's interview.
If you entertain me enough with them I may answer the rest here for you guys.
Also, I am guest posting at TLR tomorrow, I have no idea what on yet, but I shall think of something.
New from St. Martin's Press is #1 New York Times bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon's 3-book series, 'The League'! With over 19 million books in print, Sherrilyn Kenyon is renowned the world over as "the reigning queen of the paranormal genre that she pioneered long before the world had heard of Twilight." Fans (also lovingly known as 'Kenyon's Minions') are at the edge of their seats in anticipation for this thrilling new series. The first book from 'the League' series, 'Born of Night', will be available September 29th.
and you can read the first nine chapters of Born of Night here.
Because MangaCat started university this week and her landlord hasn't supplied the broadband he put in the spec so he's an ass. Anyway, I believe she is reading and preparing the reviews which she will post when she can, but for those of us who remember freshers week, I think we will cut her some slack.
Hello all the people out there on the interweb. I have written this review in advance of Friday, as I shall be attending an induction day for my Uni on Friday. Which might I add is complete waste of every one's time. They essentially repeat everything, that they have written in the Course guide (Which they give you at the begging of the year any way). So you spend 2 hours bored out of your mind then I have to wait for 40 mins to catch my bus.
Oh and while I am on the subject the CBI is trying to steal more of MY money. Most people struggle with tuition fees now and this certainly won't help. Worst of all they want to remove courses 'not helpful to the economy', such as history (So naturally i am annoyed) and English. They want to encourage courses in engineering and so on. Ignoring the fact that Britain's engineering companies went by the way side years ago. Most manufacture now is in foreign hands, which means when something goes wrong British workers get the boot. So tell me how does that help the economy?! Phew, any way rant over. Sorry about that, on with the review.
The Book I shall be reviewing today is Vast by Linda Nagata. This book is special to me, as it is probably the first adult book I ever read. Stop snickering all of you I don't mean adult in that way. 'Grown up' is perhaps a better way of putting it. I was 11 or 12 when I bought it, and the quite patronising look on the face of the sales woman. 'Are you sure you want this one?' she said in an annoying sing - song voice. I was a little angered by this...... Alright, I was livid. Being rather cynical and highly strung I was well aware of what she was inferring. Luckily for her at the last moment my Mother saved her from having a WWE themed pencil case from being stuffed up her nose.
At the time the Vast filled my requirements for a good book. It had a colourful cover and it was about space. Obviously, these days I am a bit more discerning...... alright perhaps not.
Null Boundary, a huge,ancient semi-living star ship, chugs on through empty lonely space. It has been fleeing Deception Well, the place of a massacre, for 200 years and for 150 of those years it has been hunted by a Chezeme warship. Un - piolted ships that have been responsible for the deaths of most of humanity. The crew of Null Boundary must find a way of stopping it, or it is game over.
This is a risky book to write, as the most important component of the story is the how bored and alone the crew are. Nagata does not go in for, strategically placed wormholes, or some suspension of the laws of physics for getting her ship around. She takes Te more realistic, long haul view of space travel. This can be dangerous as it does mean some chapters contain, situations that are non-events. However she does pull it off and they are quite useful for creating the feeling boredom, and for developing the character's personality. On occasion I find some sci-fi can brush off character development in favour of technology. There are some similarities to Red Dwarf (without the jokes of course), such as a group of people forced to live together for long periods, alone in a small space.
The main character consist of Nikko, who is really the disembodied mind of the ship. He spends most of his time 'living' in 90 second bursts before wiping his memories of everything that has just happened, to help counter the boredom.
The other is Lot, who used to be human, until he was infected with the 'Cult' virus. This virus induces a kind of religious - mania, that make him feel compelled to try to convert others. The major problem is that no one wants to be converted, so he spends his time dreaming of finding an uninhabited world, where he can convert to his heart's content. Interestingly he is the only character who can not create copies of himself. Unlike the others who can make backups in case something goes wrong.
Any way, this one is well worth a read (or I would not be reviewing it!). It is honestly not the best book I have ever read, but it is special to me. I f you like character driven sci - fi this is for you.
TTFN
P.s sorry for the rant. This was an angry post, I think I need to go lie down in a darkened room with a tea towel over the lampshade.
Ah, Ravenous Wednesday! Once again I kick off my heels (wait...I don't really wear heels...so this is metaphorical kicking off here...), put on my most elegant yet comfy flannel jammies, and curl up with an abundance of food, drink, and good company!
Before the relaxing, however, comes the straightening up. Despite Adele's somewhat justified comment last Ravenous Wednesday that she always gets stuck with post-Post cleanup, I DO try and make things nice before I take over her blog and let all these wild romance writers in to play. This means bringing fresh flowers, wood for the fireplace (it's always cold and rainy outside in Un:Bound land when I'm here), polishing up the nice champagne flutes and wine glasses... y'know, pre-party stuff.
Ambiance is important, be it for a social gathering, a night alone with your lover, or even time alone with just you and your thoughts/a good book/your favorite movie. It's also important as a writer to create a working environment conducive to creative flow. And it's on this topic that Sephera Giron, here for her second guest appearance on Un:Bound, expands upon in her post, Romancing the Desk.
Please welcome Seph, and be sure to share your own ideas/thoughts/questions in the comments section!
Romancing the Desk: Activating Energy for the Freelance Author
At the risk of sounding new agey and witchy, well, hell, I am, so let’s just get that over with now... Like most people, I know “what to do” but find it challenging to really “do it” myself. Witchcraft or no witchcraft, I am human, we’re all human with our expectations, limitations and in my case, ADD...so do what you can, take what you will, and remember, 99% of the battle is visualizing what you want. If you don’t know what you want and what you DON’T want, how do you expect to get it?
In 2001, my book HOUSE MAGIC: THE GOOD WITCH’S GUIDE TO BRINGING GRACE TO YOUR SPACE came out under my tarot reading name, “Ariana.”I don’t use Ariana anymore because it’s too confusing to be two or more people. I’m not a Gemini, just an Aquarius with a Virgo moon and Leo rising. My Virgo is practical and my Leo wants it to be all about ME and I’m Sephera so I lost the Ariana.
At any rate, the book is about how to organize your environment in order to attract auspicious energy into the home. Over the years, I often go back to these ideas and really try to find my inner feng shui. As I say in the book, I’m a pack rat and a clutter bug and even though it’s 8 years later, I’m still wrestling with the practical versus the fantasy of being a full time at home author, a mom, a wife, an actress and member of several committees.
However, every little bit helps and my writing career is chugging along at a good pace. The money comes in fits and starts, often more from editing than from writing, but it’s all related. I don’t have to work a regular day job so something must be working.
And what would that be, you ask?
Once you’ve set your goals about what you want and what you don’t want, you can help yourself attract auspicious energy by reorganizing your environment. In consciously creating a working space, you are activating positive energy by believing in yourself and your work. You are worthwhile, your muse is worthwhile, your writing, whether a job or a hobby, is worthwhile or you wouldn’t be reading this. If you take your writing seriously, the universe will take it seriously.
Let’s look at some of the ideas of energy flow.
The first idea is to have a work space all your own. If at all possible, your work space should not be in your bedroom. It should be as private as you can get it even if it’s just a corner. Put up those Chinese blinds for privacy if you can’t have a room of your own.
Try to keep your desk area clean or organized in some manner. This is a huge challenge for the likes of me. Every couple of weeks, I scoop everything off my desk and into boxes. Unfortunately, there’s no magic fairy to sort my boxes but it gets done once a year during the joy of doing taxes.
Keep a big calendar on your desk and use it.
Put “toys” relating to your work and your muse on your desk. I have a huge wrap around desk so I can put lots of stuff on it and not be too cluttered. I have a couple of SCRAT figures from the movie Ice Age because I love Scrat. I often feel like Scrat, only instead of chasing nuts, I chase contracts.
I also have plants on my desk. If someone gives me flowers, I’ll put them on my desk but the minute they start to die, they have to leave. Dead flowers kill active creative energy, so all you Goths, remove those dead roses from your office area (and your bedroom!)
In front of my desk is my altar. There are witchy things on it of course as well as energy activators. I have a living bamboo plant on there as well as an OX piggy bank. I’m a metal ox and it’s the year of the ox so I’m hoping this will prove auspicious.
There are crystals on my desk. Fluorite to absorb negative energy, citrine for money luck, and rose quartz for the giving and receiving of unconditional universal love as well as pretty crystals and rocks from places I’ve visited.
Over the years, I’ve collected other little figures. I have a little marble whale to represent my creativity. This is a personal totem from a weird dream about a whale in my basement I had about ten years ago and the next morning, I saw the little whale in the store and knew I had to buy it. I have to keep the whale near me as one of my muses. I have a ring of elephants incense holder because elephants represent hard workers.I also have a small metal ox and a few assorted skulls.
On the walls of my office are some of my favourite prints. I love the Waterhouse mermaids and since I have no water in my astrological charts, (except one very tiny one that everyone has) they add the water element that I’m missing. I’m all hot air otherwise! I have walls of bookcases with books and pictures of my two sons.
On a bookshelf in front of me, in my creativity and children section, I have pictures of my children, my second wedding day, a couple of pictures with my favourite author, and a picture of me in a fancy car under the Eiffel tower that was taken in a mall.
Also on what limited wall space I have because of all the books, I have framed some of my book covers. Since I’ve had over fifteen books published, I don’t have them all up, but I have a few to remind myself of success and goal setting. I also have a certificate up of being a runner up for a writing award and I have my silver hammer mounted on the wall from winning the Silver Hammer Award from the Horror Writers Association this year. As an aside, that’s a typical award for a metal ox! We’re hard workers who want to help everyone.
There’s a “vision board” which is just a bulletin board with my weight goal of 145 pounds (oh, I’m soo close right now!), author goals, my magnum that I want so badly though they don’t make them anymore, a fancy ass house, and a few other pictures and words such as “patience!”
The point of all this is that you need to surround yourself with inspiration, accomplishments, growth, goals, and love.
You can organize your desk into sections as well as the entire room.
A quick rundown of power centers:
South west – love and marriage
South – fame and reputation
Southeast – wealth and prosperity
East – health and family
northeast – wisdom and knowledge
career – water
northwest – helpful people and mentors
west - creativity and children
To activate your power centers, you can use gemstones, plants, pictures, figurines, and incense as I’ve mentioned.
To attract love, use rose quartz. You can put it on your desk, in your bra, in your purse. A rose scented incense or rose petal oil/water works too.
For money luck and creativity, use citrine and malachite. Keep a small piece of citrine in your wallet and you’ll always have just enough money on you for some reason.
Amethyst is good for health and conquering addictions.
As I mentioned before, Fluorite is great for bringing order to chaos. I have tons of fluorite around the house. My life would be even MORE chaotic if I didn’t have it.
Lots of people like to wear hematite rings, especially earth signs (Virgo, Taurus, Capricorn) because it keeps them grounded and is said to be good for figuring out math questions and other analytical problems.
You can make a feng shui money jar vase. Get a vase that has a narrow middle (like a woman’s waist) and fill it with coins and gemstones and corn and anything that represents growth and creativity to you. Keep it hidden.
A little frog with a coin in his mouth sitting on a low shelf facing the door is said to draw in good luck.
Hang three Chinese coins tied with red thread on the back of your front door.
If your room is filled with negative energy, walk around the perimeter of the room with a sage stick and cleanse the corners from floor to ceiling. Keep a bowl of sand under the lit sage stick as it has a tendency to spark and fall apart while smoking.
If you have to deal with negative people, keep a ball of obsidian on your desk to absorb those buzz kill vibes.
Of course, despite all the magic tricks in the world, the only real advice for writers in any genre is:
Sorry for the delay...I'm in the great state of Texas for a business trip and things are hectic! Thanks to Lin Dot over at Tor for a copy of the book. Part I of the trilogy, Mistborn, was reviewed by me here. Part III, The Hero of Ages, was reviewed by Hagelrat here.
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The Well of Ascension is the second book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and, like all great middle sections of trilogies, it doles out equal doses of action, character, and tragedy. A year has passed since Vin, the young vagabond turned Mistborn, defeated the Lord Ruler. But instead of things getting better for the Final Empire, it's gotten worse. The various city noblemen have begun to war with other in attempt to grab and expand their power base. The skaa, the peasant class of the lands, are starving, and the mysterious mists are coming out in the daytime, killing people seemingly at random.
Vin and her love Elend, the new ruler of Luthadel, are trying to make the city work, but being the largest city in the Empire, coupled with the rumor of a vast treasure of atium makes it an attractive target for the greedy and evil. Soon two vast armies are camped outside their doorstep, and a third, comprised of the hideous Lord Ruler-created Koloss, are an unpredictable factor.
Sanderson spends most of The Well of Ascension fleshing out the motivations and drives of his main characters as Luthadel tries to play each side of against the other. A pervading sense of dread hangs over everything, and instead of making his heroine more heroic, he takes the smarter, harder road - he plays Vin like the unsure young girl she is. Filled with more power that anyone has ever seen, and labeled as the Heir of a new religion founded on the martyrdom of her mentor Kelsier and her own role in the destruction of the Lord Ruler, Vin is many things to many people, yet all she desires is to love Elend, and not be the tool of destruction she is forced to play if the city is to survive.
The intricate magic of Allomancy, the ability of those gifted to "burn" various metals in their body for superhuman powers, is again at the forefront of a vast imagination at play. The prophecies from the first book come back full force as well, and the ending of the book makes a complete reversal of everything we thought we knew about the nature of the mist, the mysterious Deepness that almost killed the world, and the true role the Hero of Ages plays in all of this.
Sanderson weaves all this together in a mesmerizing story that is devastating to its characters, never cheating what needs to happen, and making you leap for the next book in the series even as you're turning the last few pages of the book you're still reading.
And if THAT's not a hearty recommendation for The Well of Ascension and Brandon Sanderson in general, then I don't know what is.
I got chatting to Andrew while he was manning the stall at FantasyCon and he tapped into the Adele Spend Reflex. We had a pleasant chat, then he pushed his books, if i'd held out puppy dog eyes or wheeling out the starving children would have guaranteed a spend. As it was I picked up his novella and got it signed.
Since it was a shorty I read this one first and ok, I admit it, it was a hoot. Proper Romero shuffling zombies, conforming to all the delicious stereotypes. The story revolves around John, who just got dumped for thinking the world revolves around him to. He finds himself getting drawn into increasingly difficult zombie problems.
Ok but then it gets a little, Sophies World. There are hints and strange comments all through and at that point if I tell you any more we get into spoiler territory.
All I can say then, is it's worth a read, amusing, a little surprising, a little philosophical and very entertaining.
Ok i'll admit it, MangaCat got me curious. So off I poddled to Waterstones and umm grabbed something that was number one rather than late into a series, so I ended up with this. I have no idea if it's good manga or bad manga. I enjoyed it. It was silly and light and amusing and kinda cute.
Tsukune flunks his exams and can't get into any school until his mum finds a flyer for a private school that has no entry requirements. When he gets there he finds it's a school for monsters and he is the only human. If anyone finds out what he is, the next thing he will be is lunch.
His new best friend is Miko, the hottest girl in school also a vampire. To keep her human disguise (a school rule as they are all learning to fit in around humans and see them as more than snacks) Moka has to where a cross on a choker, with a rosary bead set in it. Break it off and she goes all silver haired and vampy. It's an odd relationship but hell, it's manga.
Honestly the whole thing was an hour of light entertainment and yeah, I could see me reading some more manga in the future, although I think MangaCat is safely installed as our resident expert.
Which is about as much sense as you'll get from me for the next day or two as I am happily replaying every moment of FCon in my head and hunting people out so I can drop them a line and starting to work my way through some of the books I picked up and and and... lol Obviously I will be going to book club on weds without completing the book but hey, do you really expect me to return to literary fic after the weekend i've had?
Sadly I could only escape from married life for the daytime today, not the whole weekend, maybe next year? If nothing else next year it's going in my diary early and I am staying late.
I arrived about 9:45 while things were still pretty quiet, wandered around the dealers room and the art gallery. I'd been instructed by the lovely Steve Savile to give the incredibly talented Daniele Serra a hug, isntead I bought a book of his art work and then lurked outside the artists panel till it finished to ambush him. I did eventually get to pass on the hug, but introduced myself first. (to our left, Daniele in front of some of his incredible canvases)
I talked to various people in the dealers room and then went to a panel myself "Dead good, or just Dead" about the popularity of vamps in fiction. It covered largely the teen and romance elements, which is fair enough because frankly, that's where the market is at the moment. Panelists were Raven Dane,Steven Erikson, Adam Nevill , Sam Stone & Dave Howe from Telos. It was an interesting panel and there was some good discussion about how a countries climate can inform it's vampire myths.
After that I got to hang our with Mark Charan Newton, Tim Lebbon , Darren Turpin and Mark Chadbourn, just sitting around chatting. Seriously, I was in fangirl heaven! Everyone was soo nice and approachable and really open to chatting to a random blogger. It does feel very much like an industry event, with relatively few fans and bloggers who are not writers or in publishing, but it's small and freindly and i'd seriously recommend it, because unlike the big fan conventions authors at FantasyCon aren't being mobbed by 600 rabid fans so they are all relaxed and happy and willing to give you some time.
for lunch I joined some of the East Midlands Lit Network folks (who you will be hearing a lot more about on Un:Bound in the future) & Steve Tribe. It was lovely to slip away to a tiny cafe in Notts an dhang out and chat in the sunshine, and it was glorius sunshine.
(right, Tim Lebbon & Mark Newton looking serious and writerly)
After lunch I picked up a copy of The Mammoth book of Best New Horror and joined for queue to get Vincent Chong (Mihai, he's lovely and I mentioned i'd seen your interview) and some of the featured authors to sign it, including Ramsey Campbell (squeee, Ramsey Campbell knows my name, squee! My cool, it has abandoned me) and Christopher Fowler, who I had to snap on my phone for gloating rights with the friend who sent me one of his books in the first place. I also managed to push a bookmark on each and every one of them. mwhahahahha. That way when I stalk them online to demand interview they will at least have seen the name before.
I also got an ontro to Mark Yon of SFFWorld which was great, talking to a more experienced and established blogger about our little corner of the webiverse.
Anyway about 4:30 I sloped off into Notts to meet a badly neglected old friend for coffee and head home before my husband forgets what I look like, we've not really seen each other much this week. Apologies to all the people who helped me settle in just to have me slink off without even saying goodbye and especially to Danny Serra, I did look but couldn't see you and needed to head off. Ah but folks, what an awesomely brilliant day, some of you have to come with me next year!
(Chris Fowler, thanks for the lightning Gav)
Ok and the swag, because I know you are dying to know. Wel.l because I joined the British Fantasy Society I get a couple fo free books, but because I paid by paypal and it's arsing around, they will follow on. Otherwise, there was a copy of Tom Lloyd's "Stormcaller" in the really cute canvas goody bag an dsome Hitchikers postcards I can't wait to use. I bought, "Different Skins" by Gary McMahon, Best New Horror anthology, "Illusions" by Daniele Serra, A nice boxed hardback of "Beyond each Blue Horizon" by Andrew Hook and "And god created zombies" by Andrew Hook (it was a good deal, I couldn't resist) I also grabbed any business cards, bookmarks and flyers I could, while leaving a trail of my own bookmarks behind me. Oh, and because I am a reviewer I got a copy of "Geas" by Jonathan Webb in return for promises of a review. Because it's my first Con and I am completely selfish, I am keeping it all mwahahahah. Well I might pass one or two books to other Un:Bound reviewers but I got my name signed on most of them.
Hello again ladies, gents and literate monkeys (The distinction is blurred, i know) Harbinger here. I had to get up horrendously early today, 7:30. I did not even know that such a time of day existed! So after having seen my Brother, Father and Sister in Law of on their trip to China I am at a loose end. I thought perhaps doing my post will help alleviate the boredom.
Today I am really going to spice things up. 'How?' I hear ye cry. I am going to review a book by an author, that I know HagelRat hates! Stephen King. I can already hear HagelRat screaming in horror at the computer screen and cursing her decision to allow me to review. However in all honesty I am not just doing this to mess with HagelRat(though that is fun). This book resonates with me in a way I find hard to describe.
The book is the Gunslinger, which is the first volume in a series of books called the Dark Tower. The shear length of time Stephen King took writing the book is astounding. Twelve years he spent on writing it and even joked in the 'afterword' that he estimates he would be 300 by the time he finished writing the whole series. Obviously this is not true as he has finished the series, in about a tenth of that time. 30 years is still bloody ages as I am sure you will agree.
The Gunslinger, is not one of his typical horror stories that many people either love or hate, it is in fact a fantasy (Though it can get fairly bloody at times). The book was inspired by a brilliant poem written by Robert Brownning, called 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came', written in 1855. King takes some of Brownnig's poem and transplants it into a nighmareishly empty and desolate world.
Roland of Gilead is the Last Gunslinger left in the world. A world which is in its death throes, something which Roland is very much aware of as he pursues 'The Man in Black'. Roland does this for revenge for all the 'Man in Black' has done to him and to find out what he knows of the Dark Tower. Along the way he encounters an alluring woman called Alice, and befriends a young boy from our world, Jake Chambers. In the end Roland has to chose between his friends and the Tower.
Stephen King places his characters in a world reminiscent of the American West. The locations are distinctly gritty and disturbingly dream like at times. I have never encountered a book that provoked such emotional response from me as this one has, simply from the setting. It really made me feel sad, hollow and lonely inside. It sounds melodramatic I know but I can think of no other way of describing it. He successfully imbues in you a sense of desolation and solitude even when other characters are present.
I need to now move to the Characters, and there is another first for me. I have never encountered a book before where I hate the main character. There is no other way of putting it I hate Roland. He is not your typical goody-two-shoes, you get in quest novels. He is a monster. Clinical and cold-hearted at times and deeply unsympathetic. However you do get an idea why, as his childhood was stolen from him. On occation, he can be warmer to his companions, however in a choice between them and his quest, the quest would more than likely win, and has done so before. He is a man without much of an imagination who rarely sees the bigger picture and his single mindedness can blind him. A man who hates jokes and has no patience, he just does not have many likable features.
My dislike of Roland is not necessarily a bad thing, because it is on a personal level (even though I have never met him). Stephen King has done the reverse of making me sympathetic to him. Which is no bad thing. I feel I respect him and fear him in equal parts. So in that regard he is an extremely well written character to elicit that kind of emotional response form me.
There is one major draw back with this book, and in fact the whole of the series. It depresses me a lot. I find I have to pull myself out of the black hole it puts me by doing somthing more cheerful, like attending a funeral,before I can recover. However as always I am aiming to experience as much through reading as possible and these books help me do that, by giving me another point of view to examine.
They are well worth reading. Comics have even been set in this world, plus I have heard rumors of a film. So I will certainly be looking out for those and hopefully now you will to. Any how TTFN!
~Takes a bow~
P.S Sorry HagelRat. Hope you won't stop speaking to me ;)
Happy Thursday! ^_^ Unfortunately, Amazon’s esteemed sellers have proved to be... evil. I didn’t get my Ghost Hunt. WHYYYYYYY GOD, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY?! Its okay, I mean, I’m perfectly happy with my Death Note DVD but... it’s not the same. It was meant to arrive on the 11th! *Sigh* I only used the independent seller because Amazon itself decided it was out of stock. And I go to Uni on Saturday... So the sister might actually read about Naru’s true identity first... Excuse me... I need to go outside and scream...
All better. It seems that I need to review something else, despite the very real pain of my broken heart. Therefore... I’m restraining myself from reviewing a manga that it’s possible I love more than Ghost Hunt, and I’m going to review another spirit-infested series.
XXXHolic, is written by arguably the most famous Shoujo artists in the world, a team of women called CLAMP. Shoujo is generally the genre of Girl Manga, and often involves romance and stereotyped love interests. CLAMP, however, branch out and create Shoujo manga with action and fantasy as the main genre. XXXHolic begins with young Watanuki, a boy able to see spirits, being chased down the road by one such spirit. In a frantic effort to escape, he finds himself walking, against his will, right into a traditional little teahouse. Greeted by two children, who cheerfully pull him further into the house where he meets the mysterious and enigmatic Yuko, the owner of the shop. She offers him the opportunity of his dreams, to take away his ability to see spirits... ...For a price.
Watanuki has to work for her until he has ‘paid’ her enough for his wish to be granted. The XXX in XXXHolic stands as a variable (as in Alco-holic, Worka-holic, choco-holic), since the people who come to Yuko’s shop for wishes are often addicted to something. The moral ground covered by this series is mainly that nothing can be gained without a price, and at the same time, that you need to work hard yourself to grant your wishes.
But possibly the best thing about this series is Mokona.
Mokona Modoki is one half of a pair of magical creatures created by Yuko for one purpose... To help with the journey undertaken by the characters in XXXHolic’s sister manga, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (Commonly titled Tsubasa, which translates as wings.) Tsubasa was, admittedly, the first of these two series that I read, and I will review that next week. Mokona in XXXHolic is a Black creature with Blue jewels, and the Mokona in Tsubasa is White with Red jewels. And they both make me squeal with cuteness of them both!!! Black Mokona is probably Yuko’s new best friend, as his love of alcohol equals hers (They are both often found pestering Watanuki for different food and alcohol at stupid times of night) and his love of teasing Watanuki is exceeded only by his usefulness in the various errands Watanuki and Mokona are sent on. For instance... he saves Watanuki from a demon by riding a giant bird (while wearing goggles and a scarf to complete the look) and he will occasionally spit out various objects from other dimensions that White Mokona has swallowed as gifts to Yuko.
To get the full story of XXXHolic, it is good to read Tsubasa as well, as small things (like an apple popping out of Mokona’s mouth in the background) will amuse you as you see the connecting points in storyline. I, for example, when reading the book, felt it necessary to point out to my mum that the apple being spit out there in one book was swallowed there in another.
I don’t think she’s ever looked at me with such a blank face before... Oh well! I thought it was fun.
The artwork off XXXHolic is very surreal, even though it’s set in our world (More on CLAMP’s different worlds next week) and the luxurious style of Yuko’s clothing and the backgrounds make it a fascinating series to buy and read over and over again. I actually bought the books after reading it online because I felt the style and quality could be better appreciated when held in my own hands.
Yes, I really just said that. I am such an otaku (manga geek) that I get real enjoyment out of holding the book. It helps that the covers of XXXHolic books has a strange soft texture, rather than the glossy surface of most books... I actually felt the need to stroke one of the books just then, just to remember it ^^’ I’m actually beyond help aren’t I? *Sigh* University’s gonna kill me...
ANYWAY back to the series... When reading the books, as someone who knows nothing about Japanese everyday culture, it did feel a little like being thrown in at the deep end. XXXHolic deals with a lot of traditional Japanese fables and spirits, called Youkai, and there are some phrases and references to Japanese culture that in all honesty, left me feeling a little left out... BUT!!! The wonderful translators and publishers at Tanoshimi have solved this dilemma!!! There is a glossary at the back! And this glossary also explains the connections between Tsubasa and XXXHolic, so you’ll never feel out of the loop again! Oh... I forgot to mention that they do this in Ghost Hunt too... (See last week’s obsessed rant)
This is generally a light hearted series as Yuko’s gung-ho attitude towards smashing up computers and discrediting fake psychics makes for an amusing read. Her utter belief in the idea that nothing is free does make you think about modern values. There’s also the occasional bit to get your hair raised...
Strange shadows on the wall? A woman forced to paralysis by her own actions? A Monkey’s paw... There are also several hints that there’s more to Yuko than meets the eye.
As the series progresses, everything gets more complicated, but you know what? It darn well works. And besides... When everything is revealed it leaves you breathless.
Well not me. I ran around the house screaming with the sheer awesomeness of it all. Haha... This review is too long...
Hi, Chris/Geek Monkey here. Instead of creating a new post to answer the BBAW meme Hagelrat posted, I included my answers below hers. Feel free to include your own, either directly in the comments or by linking to them in the comments!!!!
And Harbinger/MangaCat - as part of your newbie/hazing ritual, Hagelrat and I expect to see YOUR ANSWERS there as well!
I kept seeing this author cropping up on the regular fiction review blogs. Several people referred to Dairy Queen either in the review or in the comments and eventually i put it on the list. Some time later I ordered it and later still, finally read it. The cover is pretty but ordinary, heads on grass, typical of slightly chick litty YA fiction. Thing is, this book isn't quite as frivolous as all that. DJ has grown up on a farm, which due to all sorts of circumstances she is pretty much working single handed at the moment, it's quite a long time since she has been able to do anything much for herself and to make matters worse she finds herself coaching a guy from the opposing town's football team. It's a coming of age tale, DJ turns 16 during the course of the book and grows up a lot, but she was actually already pretty mature in many ways. She was milking twice a day, haymaking, mowing, and taking care of everything out on the farm. It's a lot of responsibility and as someone who's done the whole, bale, load, stack bit and bringing livestock into sheds and stables because the snow is falling in a blizzard and the mucking out and the rest of it I can honestly say DJ is already a hell of a lot more mature than most 16 year olds. She's actually quite an impressive kid. The whole family has one big issue though, they don't talk about anything. It's fractured the family and DJ's actions over the summer could be the final nail in the coffin. Murdock has given us an engaging and oddly charming narrator and a nice blend of the sort of devastating trauma that some things are in youth and the more serious problems that the family isn't even looking at. It's an enjoyable read, entertaining and thoughtful and well written YA fiction. Murdock is well worth a look. Good stuff.
**Chris/Geek Monkey here...I've added my answers to the meme in blue. Hopefully we'll get Harbinger and MangaCat on here as well (hint, hint...). Feel free to leave your own answers or link to them in the comments!**
~~Harbinger here... After working for ages I found out how to do the colour....thing. Stop me if I get to technical. I took the hint Geek Monkey...... as you probably have guessed. Anyway hope you enjoy my ravings and droolings.
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Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? HR: Sometimes, I often read on lunch break, I also often have a book going while I eat in the evening. GM: A book is mandatory during lunch, unless I'm eating with friends or family. Alone? Sometimes there's nothing better than a couple of PB&Js coupled with a cold glass of milk! HAR:.....Nope with my co-ordination it can get pretty messy. If I have anything it tends to be tea, becasue even if i spill that on the book I can still read through the satin... sort of. MC- Um... yes... hehe. And HB- I'm just as messy. I've stained Harry Potter with Ribena before... And also biscuits. I never eat biscuits unless with a book and then get immensely annoyed that there's crumbs all over the book and the sofa... and me ¬_¬
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea ofwriting in books horrify you? HR: I don't but it doesn't horrify me; I used to do it all the time when I was studying. GM: I used to be in the habit of lightly underlining a favorite passage in pencil for some of my fiction books, then putting the page number on the inside front cover. Nonfiction books are quicker to get the pen. If it's something particularly beloved, I'll buy a second copy. HAR: Being a history student, you can't pick up and old book without someone wrting in it. I don't mind other people doing it, but it is not somthing I would do myself. MC- I don't write in fiction, but I WILL dog-ear my favourite bits. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? HR: Mostly a bookmark or receipt or something, in a pinch I will dog ear. GM: Why, Un:Bound bookmarks of course! I'm also in the habit of laminating concert tickets to use for bookmarks - my Muse and Sonic Youth bookmarks are dear to my heart. HAR: I do use book marks. However I tend to loose them after a few weeks so I end up dog earing. Perhaps scraps of paper? MC- Dog Earing! I have a system where it's little dog-ears for favourite bits and big dog-ears to keep my place. But then if there's a really awesome bit I use a big Dog-Ear again and it just gets messy >.<> Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? HR: Mostly fiction, genre fiction really, but sometimes other. The occasional biography or random interesting item falls in there. GM: Everything, although since joining up with Hagelrat and Un:Bound I've been reading a lot more fantasy...now that we're expanding a bit I may jump back into the peripheral stuff. HAR: If it stands still I will read it, almost anything. I find myself reading things even if I am not interested in what it says, and advantage in studying History let me tell you! MC- Call me a broken record... But NF manga would be AWESOME. *cough* I should try it...
Hard copy or audiobooks? HR: Hard copy as a rule but I am starting to really enjoy audiobooks, especially with the right reader. GM: Hard copy. I've done a few short stories on audiobook, but I don't think I'd have the patience for novels. HAR: Never listened to audio books really. I find that audio books are for people who want to do other things at the same time. I can't concentrate on two things at once. Talking and walking is a challenge. MC- Hard Copy generally (see my review for XXXHolic where i mention caressing covers) but I got my dad into Artemis Fowl one summer when driving through France by playing the audiobook... he didn't stop driving much and was really enjoying it. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? HR: I stop when the time runs out, or I read until 3am because the book must be finished, it varies. Terry Pratchett pretty much broke me of the chapter habit. GM: I always try to stop at a natural break in the book. Usually a chapter but sometimes I'll go for a large paragraph break in a pinch. HAR: I stop at the end of chapters, or in the case of Stephen King, sub-chapters. I f I get to tired to read on I will stop at a large paragraph. MC- Chapters in general, but sometimes I'm too engrossed in the story to notice the chapter's ended (The Pellinor Series was the worst for that...) so I have to stop when my dad turns out the light.
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? HR: Nah, I read sci fi, I don't understand half the words in it, I generally take it on faith. Occasionally I will look a word up afterward because I like new ones. GM: As a general rule, no...if I can pick up the gist of it in the context of the sentence, I'm fine. if not, I'll go to a dictionary. HAR: I find I am pretty good at guessing what words mean. If some one old.... more mature (sorry Hagelrat), is around I may ask them. MC- Hagelrat knows that my Dad is a font of knowledge. Don't need to look it up, or look up, or even glance away from the book, I just ask. What are you currently reading? HR: Strange Brew, it's an urban fantasy anthology. Features some of my fave authors in the genre. GM: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Hagelrat just sent me Book 3 of the series, so I want to get to it ASAP! HAR: I've got two books on the go, 'Absolution GapAlastair Reynoldsand'Nova War' by Gary Gibson. MC- It's a secret for my SUPER-MEGA review which will come one day... for my favourite series ever. It's the billionth time I've read it. What is the last book you bought? HR: Oh hell, I don't know, I bought about 10 in the last week. Um, maybe a copy of Breakfast on Pluto(awesome book! - CV/GM). GM: Based on Harbinger's review, I bought Praxis and Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams. HAR: I see Geek Monkey, that means you can blame me if goes wrong! Tut tut! I bought a book on Nazism? However is suppose that is not what you are after. Actually it is another Walter Jon Williams, 'Convention's of War'. MC- The latest Ghost Hunt... Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? HR: Hahaha, I often have bookmarks in half a dozen or so but only actively read one or two at a time. GM: I'm old and have a bad memory...one at a time! HAR: I can cope with one or two at the time. No more than that. MC- I have stopped reading one book to quickly read (and finish) another, so I'm not sure if that counts. Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? HR: All the time, everyday. Hey if I could or would. Actually Coffee Republic at lunchtime is a favourite for at the moment. On my sofa in the evenings too. GM: Lying on my couch or in my comfy leather chair in the living room after I get my son to sleep. Other than that, airplanes/airports rule for reading! HAR: In bed (now there is a nice image). I find I struggle to sleep without reading, plus people are less likely to disturb you. (For obvious reasons) MC- Never thought about it, but I broke the reading in bed habit as a consequence of Ghost Hunt. After a shower is usually good cause I can't be bothered to get dressed. Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? HR: Mm, I love both for different reasons. I love following favourite characters through a series, but sometimes a stand alone can be mind blowing. GM: Both (cop out answer, I know). Maybe I skewer a little more toward stand-alone books, but some of my favorite book are series. HAR: Both. But I hate coming into the middle or end of a series. An author has to be exceptional for me to be able to know what is going on. MC- SERIES SERIES SERIES and may it be a never ending series? Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? HR: Yeah, I am always recommending my fave urban fantasy authors, Neil Gaiman of course, I recommend different authors to different people. GM: I also tend to recommend based on what the person enjoys. But anyone and everyone should read Kurt Vonnegut! As for SF/Fantasy, lately I tell anyone who hasn't read it to pick up The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. HAR: Oh God yes! I frequently get quite boring on this. I find it hard to beat Ian McDonald,Walter Jon Williamsand the great Terry Pratchett. MC- Often. Many times. Always. Ask my friends... and family. Every series I like.
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) HR: Organise? Interesting concept. Umm, some of them are in series or author, mostly they are dropped on the set of shelves nearest to where I finished them. It's a bit chaotic. One day I will have all the shelves in one room and then I will look at a system. GM: Sort of by author, but also by crazy themes that so far only I have been able to decipher. One shelf is all pulp mystery and crime books, but another is hardcover graphic novels, film reference and criticism, and European Literature. I swear it makes sense in my head... HAR: My system is easy to understand. I put books on the self. When the shelf stars to fall of the wall, they go under my bed until the mattress becomes to lumpy. Then I find the floor is as good a place as any! MC- Total Girl answer (or just weird) But my bookcase is covered in series, so the series are all put where they look best. (Ghost Hunt looks good opposite Twilight... cause I never put two black series together... it over-goths my bookcase.
This is the second of the Dark Swan series by the author who brought us the Succubus books and the Vampire Academy YA series. Eugenie has been resisting the draw of the otherworld since she unintentionally became the Thorn Queen with her own kingdom, something that does not sit well with her as a shaman, feared for sending the gentry back into the otherworld and not too gently. The thing is, her kingdom is starting to demand her attention, after all, willing or not she is their queen and she has a responsibility.
I love Mead's books, her main characters are coloured with her warmth and humour and her plots are layered with consequence. Her motivations and actions are moored in real people so no matter what her characters are (succubus, demon, elf, human) or what they are doing it is entirely possible to connect with their intentions, even the evil ones.
Thorn Queen is superb, gaining pace from a strong start in Storm Born, if you are a fan of UF and have never tried Mead's books then you are missing out.
Although Watchmen (especially in light of the film) gets the most attention from the public, I think I've come to the conclusion that From Hell is the defining work of Alan Moore's comic career thus far.
A massive, sprawling epic, From Hell is Moore's attempt to unravel the mystery and motivations behind the notorious Jack the Ripper slayings in Whitechapel and the surrounding destitute areas of London in 1888 - a mystery that to this day has its share of theories but no clear solution. Divided into 16 chapters, Moore weaves a byzantine plot involving secret societies, the Elephant Man, an illegitimate heir and the Royal Family, wrapping it in a complex and lurid look into the history of London during the time. Moore and artist Eddie Campbell dug into tons of history, researching police reports, conspiracy theories and books on the subject, as well as the historical documentation on what London was like in the late 19th century in an effort to make everything as realistic, as tangible, as possible.
A lot of the credit for this realism goes to Campbell's incredible pencils. At first look, the art seems to very coarse, relying less on detail and more on getting the grimy feel of the city in every line. But once you get used to the style, it opens up to reveal a level of detail that's astounding, and this style subtly changes throughout the novel to meet the needs of the whatever emotion Moore is trying to evoke in each scene.
You'll notice I used the word "novel" to describe From Hell. Although it was published as a serial comic (ha! get it - serial comic? It's like serial killer! I'm so tired...), make no mistake - this is a novel in the truest sense of the word. Moore's excellence in the comic field has always stemmed from his ability to narrate a story in a way that on paper should never work for a comic, yet always does. From Hell engages many of Moore's passions: magic, the nature of time, the role of religion, class distinctions...it feels (though never reads) like a scholarly paper on everything Moore has tried into integrate into his previous work.
Everyone (reading this, anyway) probably knows a little bit about Jack the Ripper: a mysterious serial killer sliced up a number of prostitutes with almost surgical precision, and played a cat-and-mouse game with the law enforcement (the title "From Hell" came from the signature line of one of the killer's messages to the police). I don't want to comment too much on the plot - if you've seen the very loose adaptation of the film made by the Hughes Brothers and starring Johhney Depp, you know a little of what the story entails. But Moore's version doesn't play at all like a whodunit; Moore introduces us to the killer early on in the book. But knowing who the killer is only makes the process of his evolution into the myth all the more thrilling.
On all fronts a massive achievement. If Watchmen is the (arguably) definitive word on the deconstruction of the superhero comic, From Hell feels like the definitive word (up to this point) on Alan Moore, encapsulating everything that has made him the towering figure in comics he has come to be.
Ok so to celebrate BBAW I put my name down for an interview partner. I have been partnered with the lovely Lizaanne of Words all Day Thru Lizaanne blogs about books and her teaching and it's a warm charming blog well worth visiting. So without further ado:
HR: What caused you to start the blog?
I decided to blog early this summer after spending the better part of the spring reading other people's blogs. I was particularly inspired by The Chronic Hysteresis (in which Steven of Radio Free Skaro is blogging reviews of every episode of Doctor Who in order). I thought I would do something similar with all of the books I read over the summer. It didn't quite work out that way, but that was the original inspiration.
HR: What has been the best or most surprising thing about book blogging for you?
The best thing about book blogging for me was discovering how many other people were out there doing exactly the same thing. Finding a community of book lovers who were engaging in intelligent and witty commentary was so refreshing. Another real benefit for me was the opportunity to stretch my writing skills, which sadly do not get much exercise these days.
HR: Which books do you drive everyone nuts trying to get them to read? The ones you end up buying for other people, or lending out and having to replace for yourself.
I bug everyone to read Laurie R. King's novels. (I have, in fact, loaned "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" out three times, and had to replace it once). Her intense, realistic characters and well-researched and carefully-drawn settings just draw me in, and I want to share that feeling. The fact that I'm a big Holmes fan helps, too; although she has non-Holmesian novels that I also adore. I have to be careful with King's books because I will devour them in one sitting-- even if it means staying up until 4 am when I have work in the morning!
HR: Are there any particular genres you love or avoid?
I love the Mystery genre, in many of its varieties. I talk consistently in my reviews about the author "playing fair" with the clues and giving the reader enough to solve the mystery along with the characters. I like to be a participant in the novel in that way. I avoid Literary Fiction generally. In my job, I have quite enough angst and tension, thank you very much, and I would prefer not to deal with it in my pleasure reading. Also, since my reading time during the school year is terribly tight & tends to consist of 5 or 10 stolen minutes, I like short story collections. I can nibble them quickly and not worry too much about keeping a plot line straight for months at a time.
HR: For fun, which cartoon character would you be and why?
If I were a cartoon character, I would be Scooby Doo. I like snacks and hanging out with my friends; when it gets too scary, I might go and hide under the bed, but I like knowing that it will all work out ok in the end. It was just the old caretaker, after all. ;)
Harry at Temple Library Reviews is interviewing me and Chris on his Reviewer Time segment. It goes up on Sunday I believe. In addition to the excellent questions he has sent us, and in spite of how much I can talk about anything, but especially this place, he has offered you guys the opportunity to ask questions.
