tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1 2008-05-15T14:41:32Z gagging on bad prose Movable Type 3.35 tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.1033 2008-05-15T14:00:00Z 2008-05-15T14:41:32Z

Elizabeth Headrick All too often when we attempt to control the outcome of events, things are only made worse in the end. For Aslaug Dattir, raised in isolation in Maine by her severe and rational mother Maren, real life begins in the wake of unexpected and tragic events. When Aslaug is forced into the real world she learns that people are not always who the say they are and honesty is a rare thing, even among family. The book opens in 1987 with a then-pregnant Maren telling her sister that she has had no lovers and thus cannot explain her pregnancy. Aslaug has been raised to believe that she has no father. She has never been given his name and indeed has been told quite plainly that she does not have a father. The book then moves to a courtroom in 2007 where Aslaug is on trial and being questioned about her paternity. As will be made evident, Aslaug's conception lies at the heart of everything. The novel soon shifts back to 2003 and the start of the events that would lead to the 2007 trial. From early childhood Aslaug has been raised in the small house at the edge of the woods with only her mother for company. She is home schooled and only goes into town occasionally with Maren for supplies. Maren teaches her a wide-range of foreign languages, instructs her in numerous areas of theology, and gives her an exhaustive education in botany and yet she also marks out passages in many of the books required by the State for home schooling. This piecemeal education will leave Aslaug at loose ends when she is forced to seek refuge with the family that she didn't know she had. The story of her supposed "virgin-birth" haunts her like a wraith and becomes the poison that infects everything around her. Madapple is Meldrum's debut novel and it's quite a promising start. The "virgin-birth" story is integral to the plot and requires quite a bit of theological background text but she inserts it in a way that isn't dogmatic or boring. The story shifts continually between the 2007 trial and the events that lead up to it until the whole thing finally blends rather seamlessly together. The plot was terribly clever and there were enough twists to keep one guessing though I did get a bit confused at one point. I must say though, I'm not terribly sure how this qualifies as "Young Adult" due to the subject matter (some sexiness is embarked upon) and the language but then we live in an era where teens use oral-sex as an ice-breaker at parties so maybe I'm just getting old. ----------------------------------------- Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (May 13, 2008) ISBN-10: 0375851763 ISBN-13: 978-0375851766 ]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.946 2008-05-15T13:00:00Z 2008-05-15T14:25:31Z

Dead Street follows Jack Stang, ex-NYPD cop, as he discovers his girlfriend from 20 years ago, Bettie, who supposedly died in an attempted kidnapping, is alive and living in Florida, sheltered in a police and firefighter retirement community. He learns...

Kurt Noll Dead Street follows Jack Stang, ex-NYPD cop, as he discovers his girlfriend from 20 years ago, Bettie, who supposedly died in an attempted kidnapping, is alive and living in Florida, sheltered in a police and firefighter retirement community. He learns this from vet Thomas Brice, whose father took Bettie in after the kidnapping-gone wrong, who also informs Jack that she has lost her memory from before the accident and is now blind. Brice informs Jack that it has been arranged for the the house next to Bettie's in the retirement community to be Jack's and, since he's leaving the neighborhood anyway, Jack might as well go to Florida to be with her. However, the men who ordered Bettie kidnapped are after her again now that they know she's alive. It seems she's got secrets that are vital to them and they will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get them. Thank goodness Jack's there for her, but will a community of old police officers be enough to keep the two of them safe? And what kind of secret, exactly, is important enough to hunt somebody after 20 years? Truth be told, this was my first exposure to Mickey Spillane, I never even watch the old TV show. I've heard a lot about what tough guys his characters are and what a drunken misogynist he was, but I really didn't see any of that here. Just a grizzled ex-cop looking out for his dame and not too slow on the trigger when he needs to be. The book was written simply and effectively; not too wordy, not too brief, paced well and interesting throughout. Not as violent as I was expecting from what I've been told about Spillane, but that's a statement of fact more than a complaint. Interesting thing here: the book was published posthumously and Max Allan Collins contributed 3 of 11 chapters and minor edits and continuity correction to complete the novel. The novel still remains fluid throughout and I never would have suspected had I not known. An afterword explaining the friendship of Collins and Spillane and a brief biography of Spillane close up the novel, and both are informative and round out the novel greatly. Definitely worth the $7 donation to Hard Case Crime. -------------------------- Mass Market Paperback: 219 pages Publisher: Hard Crime Case (October 30, 2007) ISBN-10: 0843957778 ISBN-13: 978-0843957778]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.1032 2008-05-14T13:00:00Z 2008-05-14T16:50:44Z

The Dip is exactly what it says it is: a little book that tells you when to quit... and when not to quit. Marketing extraordinaire Seth Godin has produced yet another treatise on seemingly obvious (but often-overlooked) principles of marketing,...

Janine Hodge The Dip is exactly what it says it is: a little book that tells you when to quit... and when not to quit. Marketing extraordinaire Seth Godin has produced yet another treatise on seemingly obvious (but often-overlooked) principles of marketing, job hunting and just about anything else that has to do with influencing others. This is a quick read that drives its point home and then allows you the time to move on to other things - like applying your newfound knowledge to make way for a better path in life! My best summary for this book is "clinically useful". I'm not sure this book will warrant purchase for your private collection as a repeat reference. However, The Dip is definitely worth a visit to your local library or an extended dalliance at the bookstore. ---------- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Pub. Date: May 2007 ISBN-13: 9781591841661 Pages: 96pp]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.947 2008-05-13T13:00:00Z 2008-05-13T13:33:14Z

Leona Hewitt heads an organization called Save Them, an elephant protection program, in addition to her job at a large DC bank and owning a restaurant. When the bank offers her a promotion to vice-president, she accepts, but can't shake...

Kurt Noll Leona Hewitt heads an organization called Save Them, an elephant protection program, in addition to her job at a large DC bank and owning a restaurant. When the bank offers her a promotion to vice-president, she accepts, but can't shake the feeling that she's being ordered to approve her first assignment, even if it would be a better business decision not to do so. Mike Anderson is an ex-cop who takes the money fundraised by Save Them to Kenya to be sure it is properly delivered to the people who are supposed to receive it. When Leona refuses to let her assignment proceed and finds herself on the wrong side of a rogue hit man because of it, the one person she needs to help her is in Africa and might not be able to leave alive. Jeff Buick's Delicate Chaos is a very well-done suspense novel. What really caught me about it was the storyline splitting off into two major plots and eventually meeting back up; it read like the reverse of how stories are normally handled and I found myself feeling like I was reading two separate novels at points instead of wondering "How are these two plots going to fit together during the climax?" Buick still managed to weave things back together without breaking the pace or thinning the suspense. Buick's ability to give Leona so much going on in her life and never make any one of aspect of it tedious or overstay its welcome was a definite plus. What I really didn't like was the obvious plot point once or twice, the not really that big a deal 'twist' to the hit man and the overwhelming presence of not one but two environmental issues. I understand the presence of them both and the need to have them in the story, and although Buick never gets preachy with either of them, I could not help but feel lectured at early on as he established background information and character motivation. A couple of rewrites on the dialog in these early scenes could have made the information presentation more natural and less textbook. And although the title gets explained in the story, I still think it sucks. Nonetheless, it's a good time and if you're looking for a thriller, you won't be disappointed. ------------------------------- Mass Market Paperback: 318 pages Publisher: Leisure Books (January 29, 2008) ISBN-10: 0843960388 ISBN-13: 978-0843960389]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.967 2008-05-12T13:00:00Z 2008-05-12T14:43:04Z

Janine Hodge The Stones were an unusual family, marked by sharply contrasting personalities and a family love for lepidoptery. When the last remaining members of the Stone family - sisters Vivian and Virginia - reunite after nearly fifty years of estrangement, the family's deepest secrets rise to the surface. Vivian's arrival on Virginia's doorstep heralds the exposure of truth behind the tragic events that destroyed a once-grand family. This is a great first-time novel from Poppy Adams, who is primarily known for making television documentaries. Initially, I had my reservations about this book as the jacket blurbs brought it across as chick-lit. It's not. This is soooo not chick-lit. The best description I can think of for this is "Southern Gothic with a British twist". This is what V.C. Andrews (*cough*) novels would be like if they were well-written and nominally believable. Twisting and turning, eerie and provocative, disturbing and seductive at the same time. The documentary filmmaking experience has served Adams well in writing The Sister. She has a keen sense for what details are and are not important, and for the unfolding of a story. She makes excellent use of flashbacks, and is capable of painting a picture so vivid that you can picture it just as clearly in your head as on a television screen. Her characters are remarkably well-rendered as well as memorable. Ginny (Virginia) is easily the most fascinating character of the whole story, both for being the narrator and for her defining characteristics. By the middle of the book, you can already tell that her accounting for events is slightly skewed or perhaps absent a certain perceptiveness natural in most people. Approaching the last quarter of the book, taking in the whole of Ginny's narratives regarding her childhood and her reaction to Vivi's arrival, I began to get a more concrete idea that Ginny's character likely experiences some form of high-functioning autism / Asperger's Syndrome. That understanding, in itself, put a twist on the revelations in the final chapters of the book. There are really only two bones of contention that I have with The Sister. The first is that I take a bit of issue with how abruptly Arthur Morris is essentially discarded from the story-line, as I feel he played a more integral part to the conclusion. There was a bit more that could have been done with Arthur and his relationship with the Stone sisters. Secondly, there's not much I can put into this review that isn't either completely formulaic, or a spoiler. :0) On the whole, this is an outstanding read. It will be interesting to see what Adams produces when she next puts pen to paper. ---------- Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group Pub. Date: June 17, 2008 ISBN-13: 9780307268167]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.975 2008-05-06T13:00:00Z 2008-05-06T13:34:54Z

Under Faith Malone's deceptively soft exterior lies a woman who knows exactly what she wants: a strong man who'll take without asking-because she's willing to give him everything...Dallas cop Gray Montgomery is on a mission: find the guy who killed...

Angela Longstreet Under Faith Malone's deceptively soft exterior lies a woman who knows exactly what she wants: a strong man who'll take without asking-because she's willing to give him everything...Dallas cop Gray Montgomery is on a mission: find the guy who killed his partner and bring him to justice. So far, he's found a link between the killer and Faith-and if Gray has to get close to her to catch the killer, so be it. Faith is sweet and feminine, everything Gray wants and desires in a woman, be he suspects she's playing games. No way would she allow a man to call the shots in their relationship. Or would she? Faith sees in Gray the strong, dominant man she needs, but he seems determined to keep her at a distance. So she takes matters into her own hands to prove to him it's no game she's playing. She's willing to surrender to the right man. Gray would like to be that man. But catching his partner's killer has to be his first priority-until Faith is threatened and Gray realizes he will do anything to protect her... Yet another one of those porn movies that claim to have a plot and as I attempt to read it as if I were reading the 'articles' in the playgirl magazines, I struggle to see exactly how the story and the screwing goes hand in ... well ... crotch. Upon reading those hot sex scenes I find myself adding in a tiny yet brightly-colored post-it note tab to keep the place for quick referral just like I would be able to click on the money-shot clips with my DVD remote. And as thoughts of carpet burns dance in my mind, I find that I am unable to feel sated by this wanton novel. She is just a blond bombshell aka secretary running the show at an independently owned contracting business while he is a six-pack-abbed male god with a badge. The story as I translated it goes to the affect that her mom is dating the bad guy that the cop is trying to get so in order to get to the mom, the law has to get in good with the blonde. Oh and of course Mr. Happy springs to life as soon as the first eye contact is made, which makes matters even worse. She claims to want a dominant male to take her where she wants to go while he wants a woman who will let him boss her around. They have their romp in the local bdsm sex house that just happen to let non-members off of the street come in, do their sex scenes and play with some rope and spanking. The kink is boring, the sex is the only thing giving this title any stars because it is that hot and the story...well...all ends are tied up without any real injury or worry due to something just happening to go right out of the blue. Read it for the sex scenes, burn the rest. The only spanking I want to read about is a six-packed-abbed man bent over my knee. ------------------------- Publisher: Berkley Trade (March 4, 2008) ISBN-10: 0425219437 ISBN-13: 978-0425219430 ]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.1031 2008-05-05T18:30:00Z 2008-05-05T18:32:54Z

Elizabeth Headrick To have Aisling Grey show up and turn out to be a dragon's mate was a rare enough turn of events. Dragon mates are special women and not born very often. When the doppelganger May Northcott appears in the backyard of Aisling's Greek villa, intent on returning something she stole from the mage next door, she had no plans to reveal herself to the Otherworld celebrities’ just steps away from her. Unfortunately for May, trouble collides in the form of her twin Cyrene and a handsome Newfoundland/demon named Efrijim. Unfortunately for May, that's only the tip of the Otherworldly iceberg. For May Northcott, being a doppleganger has always meant bondage to the demon Magoth. Her abilities as a doppleganger make her the perfect thief and he uses her as such. Unfortunately for May, this does not go unnoticed by the rest of the Otherworld. After the blundered raid on the mage's house, and May's attempt to make it right, the Lau Dela (Otherworld ruling body) allows the mage to place a price on May's head. All bets are off now. As if things couldn't get worse, May inadvertently downs a glass of the dragons favored brew, in front of Drake and Aisling, as well as Gabriel Tauhou, the wyvern of the silver dragons. Though May is unaware of the meaning it is not lost on anyone else present. Gabriel immediately moves to claim her, despite May's protestations. For May, above all else, is her bond to Magoth. He holds to the keys to her life and death. If he gives her a direct order she must follow it, even if it means stealing something very dear to the wyvern of the silver dragons, a man that she is quickly falling for. May must decide where her loyalties lie and whose neck is most important to save. Playing with Fire goes in a new direction for the dragons. Though Aisling and Drake appear they are only peripheral characters. The story itself is about May Northcutt and her dragon Gabriel. I liked the idea of the doppleganger, which MacAlister has explored before in the first Aisling Grey book, with another set of twins. May's abilities and her creation were an interesting twist. I also enjoyed seeing Drake and Aisling from a different point of view, as well as getting a much more expanded view of Gabriel. I must say though, the humor in this one didn't seem quite as up to par as I've come to expect from Katie MacAlister. It was indeed funny but I didn't have the laugh out loud moments that I'm so used to with her. All in all though it was a very good start to a new series and I'm looking forward to the next book. ------------------------------------------ Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Signet (May 6, 2008) ISBN-10: 0451223780 ISBN-13: 978-0451223784 ]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.979 2008-05-02T01:28:02Z 2008-05-02T14:35:26Z

Elizabeth Headrick The term "steampunk" was coined over twenty years ago by K.W. Jeter as an off-handed attempt to give a name to a rather specific form of science-fiction. The style itself though has been around since the days of Jules Verne and has gained enormous popularity in recent years. Though the main idea of steampunk focuses on steam-powered devices and much of it takes place in a Victorian-inspired environment, this isn't always the case. The genre allows for a rich and flourishing amount of creativity and nowhere is this more evident then in the newly-published Steampunk. Steampunk contains a broad spectrum of what this genre has to offer. The reader is given a trip back through the historical roots of steampunk with an excellent and classic excerpt from Michael Moorcock's The Warlord of the Air. Paul Di Fillipo also weighs in with his timeless piece, Victoria; though not typically steampunk, still it is a fascinating read. Joe Lansdale's offering includes some familiar figures in his dime novel, The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down. Also worth mentioning is Reflected Light by Rachel Pollack, which was originally printed in Steampunk Magazine. The anthology contains several more stories and four original essays regarding the roots of and its place in popular culture. None of the stories are original to the anthology but all of the stories are worth reading. They cover the entire broad spectrum of steampunk and illustrate the wide range of views that exist around it. They demonstrate beautifully just how expansive and imaginative this world of ours, the world of steampunk, can be. ---------------------------------- Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Tachyon Publications (May 1, 2008) ISBN-10: 1892391759 ISBN-13: 978-1892391759 ]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.978 2008-05-01T13:00:00Z 2008-05-01T14:42:21Z

Los Angeles is no stranger to organized crime. But when several crime families work together and, with with the help of four witches, completely nullify the police's ability to stop them, the City of Angels becomes easy pickings. The crime...

Kurt Noll Los Angeles is no stranger to organized crime. But when several crime families work together and, with with the help of four witches, completely nullify the police's ability to stop them, the City of Angels becomes easy pickings. The crime families do what they want, go where they want and, if someone or something stands in their way, they utterly destroy it. Detective Dan Fisher is running out of options. He's the only member of the LAPD who knows exactly how powerful these witches are, but cannot get anybody to believe him. Can the assistance of his neighbor, a witch named Annie, prove to aid him in any way against these mafia witches? And on top of everything else, Dan's deceased wife, Gayle, haunts him at night. Can an officer whose life is slowly falling apart do anything to stop the city he loves from following suit? The 5th Witch is the first Graham Masterton I've read; I've heard his name and just never got around to reading anything by him before. I must say, The 5th Witch was not a bad place to start. It's a well-paced, well-researched and well-written novel and I must honestly admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. Masterton takes different ethnic witchcrafts and uses these to for each of the different crime families. The results are varied and enjoyable, generally leading to twisted scenes of violence and chaos and leaving the reader with a 'Damn, I'd like to see that done in a movie'-type reaction. It's very visually written, with scenarios easily playing through the mind's eye chapter after chapter. My only complaint here, and it's a minor one, is overall the book is formulaic. It seems to me, the more and more I read, the more and more authors generally tend to write their book outline based on the generic skeleton of novels: eye-catching intro, main plot, add subplot(s), crazy twist, shocking revelation, everybody who hasn't died yet and needs to gets thrown in a chipper shredder, THE END because I hit the 350 page mark. It's the same basic story progression here except Masterton leaves the ending to The 5th Witch ambiguous as opposed to open-ended; it's a big difference and it means the difference between a writer and an excellent writer. Based on The 5th Witch, Masterton is the latter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mass Market Paperback: 325 pages Publisher: Leisure (April 29, 2008) ISBN-10: 0843957905 ISBN-13: 978-0843957907]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.969 2008-04-30T19:00:00Z 2008-04-30T19:02:30Z

Deborah has long been known as one of the most revered and respected women of the Bible. Her place as one of the Judges of the Old Testament has stood the test of time. It is up to authors like...

Elizabeth Headrick Deborah has long been known as one of the most revered and respected women of the Bible. Her place as one of the Judges of the Old Testament has stood the test of time. It is up to authors like Eva Etzioni--Halevy however to remind us that even wise and stalwart judges were human, and very much women of their times. In her third biblical saga, Etzioni--Halevy shows us the heart that beat inside the laws of the people of Israel. Deborah's position as a judge is already well-established when war breaks out between the Israelites and the Canaanites under King Jabin. After Deborah's husband Lapidoth serves her with a Book of Divorcement for refusing to heed his counsel, she has a vision of the death of Sisra, Jabin's commander, by a woman. Once this has come to pass, the leader of the Israelite army, Barak, brings down Jabin and takes his daughters Asherah and Nogah captive. The former, legitimate, he takes to wife; the latter, illegitimate, he keeps on as a maid. These women, and Deborah herself circle Barak in a triangle of unrequited love on several sides. As each struggles against the other, playing sides, the war moves on. Each will have to lay aside their own personal gains to ensure that victory is achieved for the embattled Israelites. In the end peace may only be found in the heart of a woman. Eva Etzioni--Halevy has such a truly simple and beautiful way of bringing these women to life. Her style is lyrical but not in the least overdone. One never feels over-awed by who these women are. The reader feels that maybe she would have done the same, or felt the same in the given situation. Bringing historical figures to life, especially figures of an almost mythological proportion (depending on your belief system) isn't easy but this author does it very well. --------------------------------- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Pub. Date: February 2008 ISBN-13: 9780452289062]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.977 2008-04-30T16:00:00Z 2008-04-30T16:32:00Z

Twin shotgun blasts rip apart a rainy night in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An Amish farmer, Jacob Stoltzfus, lies dead and his killer has disappeared into the night. Who would murder an Amish man, and why? Patrolman John Lapp is called in;...

Kurt Noll Twin shotgun blasts rip apart a rainy night in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An Amish farmer, Jacob Stoltzfus, lies dead and his killer has disappeared into the night. Who would murder an Amish man, and why? Patrolman John Lapp is called in; despite not being a homicide detective, Lapp's ties to the Amish community may prove useful in uncovering information and leads. Jacob's widow, Sallie, would have married John if he had stayed with the church. But that was years ago and despite taking different paths in life, Sallie and John find themselves a part of each other's lives. Can they work together through the resurfacing emotions they feel to piece together the events of that night and uncover the truth behind Jacob's murder? Much like a day in the life of the Amish, Death Takes a Buggy Ride is slow and methodical. Don't come looking for John Woo-style double-fisted 9mm shootouts and explosions and insane car chases 90 mph down the interstate in reverse; you'll leave sorely disappointed. Buggy Ride takes its time and develops gradually and evenly and shuns the conventions of the modern mystery/thriller by setting its own pace. It has a very nice build to the story that works well and, for those familiar with the Amish way of life, you'll find Ron Yeakley successfully replicates their approach to doing things: evenly and patiently. However, the story's most admirable attribute is also its downfall: 264 pages paced like that make the book feel twice as long and despite the proclamations of the author being understanding of the Amish way of life, I didn't get the feeling that anything concerning the Amish was given from an insider's point of view or, more precisely, that the book I read could only be written by someone intensely familiar with the Amish ways of doing things. I would have liked to have seen more involved descriptions of the Amish customs and activities; not just the few odd phrases exchanged in Pennsylvania Dutch and little snippets of custom and habit. But then again, I've been stuck behind a few horse and buggies in my time, so I might be a bit used to the whole thing. On a more legitimate level, I disliked the whole branding of the book a Lapp/Stolzfus mystery as it makes it seem like the author was pressured or coerced into propositioning a series and, frankly, enough excitement in Lancaster to merit a mystery/thriller series would have the whole of the Amish people converting to Mennonites. That and I got tired of the police saying every other thing mockingly and sarcastically. Yes, PA police, especially state troopers, are that rude and ignorant and nasty, but I didn't need that drilled into my head every other sentence of dialog; I could just slap some stickers on the back of my car, get pulled over every other trip out of the house for not being a redneck and experience it firsthand. The overkill of attitude led to dislike of certain characters and, by extension, disinterest in the events that befell them. And when you don't care about the characters, you tend to not care that much about the book. ----------------------------------------------- Paperback: 270 pages Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (April 26, 2007) ISBN-10: 0595404278 ISBN-13: 978-0595404278]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.973 2008-04-30T13:00:00Z 2008-04-30T14:46:06Z

Angela Longstreet Everyone knows stress is a bad thing. It leaches energy, leads to illness, strains relationships, and generally makes life miserable. Yet studies show that even though most people know they should relax, few actually do. Stress-Proof Your Life shows readers how to soothe their frazzled lives with techniques like: Idea 10: Leave the office on time Idea 46: Time your to-do list Idea 47: Cherish yourself Idea 52: Make life easy This practical and upbeat guide will help even the most exhausted readers stop stress in its tracks. This self-help guide takes stress relief back and forth from doing simple things like to-do lists and itemizing important over frivolous time-wasting activities to offering suggestions on how to Feng Shei your house and what scent incense you should burn to calm your mind. From the usual and obvious advice on going out and getting a massage, the author expands the ideas to include the necessity of just fucking cleaning your room. We all know that mountains of old McDonalds bags, wrappers and half-finished cups of mold-infested cola do not help the body's immune system much less the health of the mind. I found it quite uplifting and yes, I did mark a few pages. I am attempting, at least for the moment, to do a few of the techniques listed within the text and although I know that I will never be completely stress free...I will be able to manage what anxiety I do suffer with. Touched with a bit of professional quotes, surveys of tests done by doctors and little tidbits of how to organize this or that along with Q/A at the end of each chapter, I could not ignore the ideas set forth. Another great coffee table book read and promptly placed on top of the stack of old National Geographics in the restroom to share the joy of living stress-free with the family. Thank you for one good idea and "namasta" Miss Wilson. ------------------------------------- Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1 edition (April 1, 2008) ISBN-10: 0399534059 ISBN-13: 978-0399534058 Buy the Book]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.970 2008-04-29T13:00:00Z 2008-04-29T13:57:06Z

Only certain individuals are born with the J-gene; the rare and prized gift that allows them to accelerate themselves and navigate their ships through Grimspace. The voyage through Grimspace is a rush unlike any other and for many jumpers...

Elizabeth Headrick Only certain individuals are born with the J-gene; the rare and prized gift that allows them to accelerate themselves and navigate their ships through Grimspace. The voyage through Grimspace is a rush unlike any other and for many jumpers death finds them all too often as they're jacked-in. Even this eventual ending however, isn't enough to quell the growing ranks of the Corp jumpers For Sirantha Jax the rush of jumping through space has long outweighed the knowledge that one day her skill will burn itself out. As the most successful jumper in the Corp Jax ignores the threats to her own mortality until the last fateful jump with her beloved pilot that leaves the entire crew dead. Only Jax survives, imprisoned by the Corp in a psychiatric hospital with no memory of the crash that killed her mates. When Jax's cell is stormed by March, a ship's captain and a pilot with an agenda of his own Jax is offered her freedom but with a price. Now Jax will have to trust a rogue crew and a new pilot to learn the truth behind what really happened. The idea of Grimspace is a new one and I found it highly intriguing. The idea of jumper and pilot relying on each other so intimately, being so connected, was also quite excellent. It leads to a certain tension between the two that I thought was well-played. The characters are well-drawn and easy to like and relate to. My concerns with the story arise with certain similarities I see to Firefly/Serenity; between the jailbreak, amnesia concerning what really happened, how deeply is the government involved, bounty hunters. Don't misunderstand me though; I did like this book and I believe it has promise as a series (I saw a mention of a second book today). I simply think it needs to find its own footing. ---------------------------------- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Pub. Date: February 2008 ISBN-13: 9780441015993]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.976 2008-04-28T13:00:00Z 2008-05-15T14:38:13Z

Jennifer L. James-Montestruc Another novel in the Immortals After Dark Series … Neomi Laress, a famous ballerina from a past century, became a phantom the night she was publicly and torturously murdered by her ex-fiance. Dead to the world and invisible to the living, she relives her harrowing death every month during the full moon. Bound by her violent demise and as a result unable to leave her beloved manse Elancourt, Neomi haunts the grounds … protecting the premises and scaring away trespassers and potential vandals – until she encounters a lodger even more terrifying than herself. To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Worth’s three brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. Half-mad for centuries, the Fallen vampire is driven by an overpowering bloodlust, the urge to kill, and most importantly - to revenge himself upon his makers … and his family is running an immortal intervention. But at Elancourt, the vampire warlord risks being driven even further into madness by an exquisite female who leaves his body racked with lust and his soul torn with desire. For when Conrad realizes that Neomi is real and not merely another one of his hallucinations, he knows that he’ll do anything to claim his destined Bride, even if it means wrestling her back from the Reaper himself … All of the definitions at the beginning of the book before you got to the story threw me off, but I will say they were necessary to understand the text – I just don’t know if the average reader would pick up this book in a store, flip open the first six pages, and want to keep reading after seeing that they are all a glossary. Who would have thought of a klepto casper? Or a three-hundred (plus) year old (male) virgin! Vampires having the ability to regenerate limbs like lizards (don’t know if I would have ever been driven to chop off my own limbs, even taking that into account), or for that matter, have children! There’s definitely some new twists on the vampire theme pulled out of Cole’s hat. I loved the Valkerie sister-in-laws. You take their menfolk, they wage war on you, and it doesn’t matter a damn that you’re a vampire king with a vast immortal army. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, give us our men back. -------------------------------- ISBN 10: 1-4165-4707-X ISBN 13: 978-1-4165-4707-5 Publication date April 29, 2008 through Pocket Star Books]]> tag:www.bookfetish.org,2008://1.974 2008-04-28T13:00:00Z 2008-04-28T14:09:09Z

Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life is Peter Sellers' combination autobiography and diatribe on music, told from the point of view of a hardcore music fan. Sellers recounts his life growing up and how certain events...

Kurt Noll Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life is Peter Sellers' combination autobiography and diatribe on music, told from the point of view of a hardcore music fan. Sellers recounts his life growing up and how certain events and situations (his father listening to Dylan constantly, purchasing his first album) initially shaped the music in his life and how he listened to it until the music in his life eventually began shaping the events and situations (traveling overseas to see a concert). Like any die hard music fan, Sellers recounts some of the major events in his life as being turned on to a certain band or sub-genre, and spends the majority of the book discussing these events with small footnotes and asides to add additional details to stories, short, digressive anecdotes and extra details. He covers his life from early childhood to current day and provides several appendices to further expound on his musical tastes and feelings. Musical elitists in the crowd will enjoying figuring out the song titles and lyrics he references in each chapter title. Perfect From Now On...let me put it this way: there have been three books I never finished in my life. The Hobbit and Interview with the Vampire bored me to the point I just never picked the book up again. Perfect From Now On I never finished because I got so sick and angry at the whiny, pretentious narrative that I couldn't make myself read any further. Every chapter is just basically yelling praises of one of his favorite bands, some obscure references and name-dropping for scene points and the most pointless, meandering digressions ever put to paper. A 10 (!) page footnote describing the ideal day commemorating Ian Curtis' death? Are you f****** kidding me? I might not have done anything with my life, but I've done enough to not have to blow up the sad events to 183 underwhelming pages with the extensive use of remarkably unfunny footnotes, plus 32 pages of absolutely useless appendices. Per footnote 68: "People think other people care about what they have to say. Take it from a part-time blogger: They don't. No one cares what you have to say. I'm surprised anybody's even reading this sentence." Oh, how right you are, you tool. If you've ever known an indie rocker, a die-hard, there-before-the-scene-got-big, there-after-Kurt-Cobain-took-the-Hemingway-Train indie rocker, you know precisely what I'm saying. Utterly pretentious, self-worshiping drivel. Whoever paid this man money to write this needs to be institutionalized and sterilized so as to prevent polluting the gene pool with his chromosomes . The author himself? I can't think of any way to comment that won't sound like a threat to fight him, so I'm just going to let it drop here. I can't believe just thinking about this book still gets me this angry! Do the world a favor - instead of burning every copy of this book you can find, drop them in acid so there's not a trace left. I'd give this book negative stars if the system let me. (Editor's Note: I apologize for our lack of a negative ratings system. Please be patient while I attempt to rectify this situation.) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (March 4, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 0743277090 ISBN-13: 978-0743277099]]>