Book: The Dead That Walk

Genre: Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: The Dead That Walk is a short story book with zombie-esque shorts by authors like Joe Hill, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Kim Newman and many many more wonderful authors.

“What’s this?” you ask, “Julia actually read a book about zombies?  What is the world coming to?”

I know, I know, I actually did read an entire book full of zombie short stories. When I went to Portland, Oregon for my birthday in December, I went to the awesome bookstore – Powells – and looked around for a fantastic book. To be honest, I was looking for The Living Dead, which has several of the same authors, but also includes Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin.  Anyway, I didn’t find that book, so I got The Dead That Walk and found out that a) I loved it and b) it didn’t give me nightmares.  So, maybe I’ve outgrown the whole nightmare part of zombies.

One really cool thing about this collection is that there are so many different types of zombie stories here.  There is a traditional, voodoo zombie story, there’s several brain eating stories, there’s a story which points up how humanity could be affected by the walking dead, without actually showing you any zombies.  Some of these stories are chilling in how much they point to man’s inhumanity to man, while others are actually very touching and sweet.  I think it was an extremely well put-together collection with a story for pretty much anyone.

Also, I’ve come to really enjoy short story collections.  They are nice if you want to take a little break from a full length novel you may be reading, or something to read on your lunch break.  Also, I don’t feel obligated to read them like I do with a short story magazine.  With a magazine, you’re going to get another one in a month or two, so you’d better be done with your current issue by then.  With a book of short stories, you can be leisurely, you can skip stories only to come back to them later.   It doesn’t matter.  There’s no rush.

So, if you like zombies or zombie stories, check out The Dead That Walk. If you buy it from the link I provide here, Amazon will pay me.

Book: A Circle of Souls

Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Julia Rating: 7

Comments:  Mr. Grandhi provided me with a review copy of his debut novel, A Circle of Souls.

This book involves several different characters and different points of view.  It’s about the investigation of a young girls kidnapping and subsequent murder.  An FBI agent is investigating the case and she, along with her police counterparts, is completely stumped.  In comes Peter, a young psychiatrist working to help a child with sleepwalking and nightmares.  The child has become a threat to herself while sleeping and Peter needs to solve the case.

One really wonderful thing that Preetham Grandhi does in this book is describe culture and backstory of the child in detail. However, Peter and pretty much all the other characters fell a little flat for me and I had a hard time staying interested while reading this book.

That said, there is a great twist ending, which I always love. I really thought I had everything all worked out by the middle, but at the end I found I was wrong.

I reason I gave this book a “7″ is because while I had a hard time getting through the first half of the book, the last half  was really well written and enjoyable.  So, if you’re okay with having a slow and slightly disjointed beginning, this book has a great ending.

Book: This Book Is Not Good For You

Genre: Young Adult/Humorous

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: I know this is a young adult book, but a friend of mine bought it for me for Christmas and it’s got a chocolate bar on the cover, so that got me reading it pretty much immediately.  It’s actually the third book in the Secret Series, but it’s perfectly readable on its own.

It’s a story about a girl and her friends who are all a part of a secret society called the Terces Society. They are fighting evil alchemists who have their own society (aka the Midnight Sun) that are looking for the Secret the Terces Society was built to protect. The current plot of these evil fiends has to do with obtaining a magical tuning fork from the days of the ancient Aztecs. This fork can make food taste like anything else the consumer has ever eaten, including anything the person’s ancestors have eaten. The alchemists hope they can get the Secret by using this tuning fork in their maniacal scheme.

I really love how playful the author is in his (or her) writing style.  They effortlessly move from story narration to stream of consciousness and back while remaining interesting, funny and easy to read.  Also, there are a lot of cute footnotes and interesting facts jammed into this book – including great chocolate info which is always a plus for me.

Pseudonymous Bosch’s blog says that there will be an appearance by “The Imposter” (who I am going to assume is really the author in a Mission Impossible-esque disguise) at the 4th Annual Family Festival of Books on February 28, 2010 on the Chino Fairgrounds.  I will most likely be there.

Book: Hunted By The Others

Genre: Fantasy

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: Hunted by the Others is Jess Haines’ debut novel.   Jess sent me a copy of her wonderful book prior to release so that I could review it here, Yay!  (She also did a little brow waggle to get me off my lazy butt and get reviewing.)

One more note about the author before I get on with my review.   I have to say that it’s really wonderful to find new authors who have never been previously published that are as fully formed as Jess.  Often I see new authors who are good at one part of writing – like they’re really good at creating an awesome great plot, but the characters fall flat or their narration is great, but the dialog is awful.  I didn’t encounter any of those “growing pains” in Jess’s books, which really pleased me.

Okay, so Hunted By The Others is a story about a kick ass, female private detective named Shiarra Waynest who’s just trying to make ends meet in New York City – only her NYC includes vampires, werewolves and mages who have recently “come out of the closet”.  They have lived amongst us forever, they just never revealed themselves to us.  These are the Others.

Shiarra is hired by a coven to spy on a well-known vampire and possibly steal an item from him.  This is not her ideal working environment, but she figures she can always back out if she needs to.  Plus, the money is better than good.  However, the more she is entangled in the world of the Others, the more she is unable to escape.

This book explores magic, real vampires (as in the non-sparkly kind), werewolves, awesome mages and even touches on social issues like racism.

Hunted By The Others seems to have it all, humor (there are some seriously funny bits), action, drama, adventure, crazy human (and not-so-human) relationships and more.  I have been a little listless on the reading front lately, skipping from book to book, and I found that Jess’ book grabbed me and held me until I finished it.  So, if you like vampire novels, I recommend preordering Hunted By The Others.

PS: If you go to JessHaines.com, you can see her cool cover. For some reason GoDaddy upgraded wordpress to an evil version which makes all pictures look idiotic. I’m working on fixing that, but until then, don’t deprive yourself of cool cover art.

Podiobook: Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword

Performed by: Tee Morris

Main Guest Performances: LeeAnn Maybry, Dani Cutler

Genre: Fantasy and Historical Fiction

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: Tee Morris created a fantastic character with Billibub Baddings – a dwarf detective living in the 1920s. This isn’t just any dwarf detective. Billibub originally came from Acryonis – a glorious land in which elves are wise, orcs are vicious and dwarfs are fierce (and prolific progenitors).

Poor Billy falls into the portal to oblivion during a battle in the “Great War” of Acryonis and lands in the Chicago public library in the 1920s.  Being a resourceful dwarf, Billy learns all about the new world he has adopted and becomes a gumshoe.

Trouble lands square in Billy’s lap when a dame walks into his private detective agency with a commission to find out why the right hand man of the world famous gangster, Alphonse Capone, has been murdered. Not only is it a dangerous job, but it leads Billy to a talisman from Acryonis – an item earth humans named the Singing Sword.  This sword contains deep magical powers which, if in the wrong hands, could end the world as we (and Billy) know it.

Tee Morris has put together a hilarious and solid story. I love Billy amd all his great analogies to items and people in Acryonis . Tee also has some fantastic quips and barbs for those detective and fantasy stories which take themselves far, far too seriously.

 Click Here to Buy Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword on Amazon

I know I’ve not been posting much.  I’m sorry!!!  More posts are coming, I promise.  In fact, I’m spending the whole morning preparing for tomorrow’s post. I am going to be involved in The Other Side of the Leaf bookworm carnival. The Other Side of the Leaf is a great blog that has been reeling from the shock of the blog owner’s – Dewey’s – sad passing. She set up the bookworm carnival months ago and some intrepid souls have decided to continue with it as Dewey probably would have wanted.  So, you’ll see that post tomorrow.  The subject is Mystery and if anyone has any last minute mystery book review submissions, let me know.

Another thing I’ve been involved in is reading Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa.  It’s a great book, but unfortunately I’m having to sandwich it in between other activities, so I’m not reading it as fast as I normally would.  Sorry Chris!  I’ll finish it soon and review it then.

That’s it for me.  I’m going back to my bookworms carnival now.  Let me know what you think!

Mary E. Pearson

Book: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Genre: Sci Fi

Julia Rating: 10

Comments:
I found The Adoration of Jenna Fox at Becky’s Book Review Blog and fell in love with the idea of it. However, I totally thought it was just about a girl who lost her memory and is finding herself. All by itself, that’s a pretty good premise for a book, wouldn’t you say?

But The Adoration of Jenna Fox is much, much more than that. To my happy astonishment, I found it’s a sci fi book about possible future technologies.  It’s like Greg Bear, but for younger people and more emotionally minded (as opposed to Mr. Bear’s technically minded books).

I can’t really go in to all the details, because I’d probably completely ruin the book for you.  But the basic premise is a girl named Jenna Fox wakes up a year after a terrible accident.  She can’t remember anything about her previous life and is trying to focus on making her awkward body do what she wants it to do.  As she delves deeper into her past, she tries to remember the accident.  She can’t, but discovers tidbits and finds out she shouldn’t have survived… yet she did. Why you ask? You’ll have to read the book.

If you want to buy The Adoration of Jenna Fox from Amazon, click here.

Otherwise, comment and tell me what you think! If you want a spoiler, let me know and I’ll give it to you in the comments.

Book: Unlock The Mystery To Math

Genre: Nonfiction

Julia Rating: 10

Comments:

This book isn’t my usual. I’m normally a fiction girl, but when the author – RJ Toftness – asked me to review it, I couldn’t refuse. Why? Because I’m terrible at math. I haven’t liked math since I was a little kid, like 9 years old. Then later because I had a cute math teacher for a couple of months.

Anyway, this book was really awesome. It breaks math down to the basics, like the core definitions, parts, etc. I loved that it made everything so simple. I wish I had this in school!

I really understood how important the basics of any subject are when you are trying to learn. If you don’t know the basics, everything seems complicated and confusing. RJ Toftness does a good job of breaking things down.

So, if you have math trouble like me (some of you do – I know it), check out Unlock The Mystery To Math.

Book: Deadly Night

Genre: Murder Mystery/Fantasy

Julia Rating: 10

Julia Comments: I finally am getting around to reviewing Deadly Night by Heather Graham as I promised for horror month.  Deadly Night is the first in The Flynn Brother’s Trilogy and I, for one, enjoyed it.  The book contains murder, suspense, mystery and the supernatural.  It’s one of those books where you don’t know if there really is a supernatural element in it until the end. 

The book starts with the three Flynn brothers (who are private detectives) inheriting a large estate in New Orleans from a long lost relative (Amelia).  The eldest brother, Aidan, has pursued a run-away in the area and finds an old bone.  He and his brothers bring the police in to investigate and then head out to take a look at their inheritance.

The Flynns don’t know it, but a young local lady named Kendall Montgomery took care of Amelia until the old woman’s death is at the house, reliving some of it’s ancient secrets in a dead woman’s diary. 

In a happenstance meeting, the Flynns run into Kendall at their new plantation.  They find they have mutual friends and end up meeting quite a lot.  From the moment the Flynns meet Kendall on, there is no rest around the plantation.  Ghostly apparitions appear, people disappear, construction occurs and a freeloader living in one of the slave’s quarters is discovered.  Also, Aidan Flynn cannot shake off a deep attraction for Kendall – and she for him. 

When all is said and done, murders and a murderer is discovered, old ghosts are laid to rest and construction is completed.  But not without a cost.

As I said, I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.  If you want to, buy it at Amazon by following this link

Book: The Darkest Evening of the Year

Genre: Horror/Suspense/Thriller

Julia Rating: 9

Comments: I have to make an admission to start out with. I’ve never read Dean Koontz before horror month, so if I am missing some kind of a theme (aside from an affinity for golden retrievers) that is obvious to his long-time readers, please let me know.

I really liked The Darkest Evening of the Year, but from the beginning to about half way through it reminded me of an evaluation my boyfriend gave one of my short stories: “You got confused there in the middle, but you made it in the end”.  At the beginning of this book, Koontz introduces several major characters: the mysterious but lovable Amy Redwing, the boyfriend – Brian McCarthy, Nickie the golden retriever and a mysterious person introduced as Moongirl.  It takes a while for you to realize that they all have something to do with each other.  Maybe I’m just slow – and I don’t think I am – but the story didn’t delineate what was important and what wasn’t at the beginning.

Later in the book you find Amy Redwing has a history.  She currently saves golden retrievers, but she once was a young orphan raised by Catholics and has even had a relationship  with a man before Brian – the boyfriend.  Boyfriend Brian also has baggage, and once that is explained, the connections make sense.  Nickie the golden retriever also seems to have a history – supernatural though it is.

I think the other problem I had with this book is that Moongirl is such a cruel b**** that I could hardly read the sections with her.  You just want to take a knife to her and save everyone else the trouble.  That’s a good thing, of course, because it means Mr. Koontz did fantastic characterization and made a true villain, but it was hard to read.

All in all I recommend The Darkest Evening of the Year. If you’d like to purchase The book through Amazon, buy it here, via my blog. Since I don’t get paid to do this, each purchase from Amazon helps me spend more time reviewing books for you!