Review of Part One
Review of Part Two
Even though it’s been over a month since I reviewed part two I had no problem at all getting right back into the world and characters when I started Losing Latitude part three.
The tale is definitely getting more emotional. The modern day section finds Lilly, the survivor of a shipwreck that killed her parents, preparing to leave the Naval hospital at Guantanamo Bay to enter the world free and alone for the first time in her life. She’s also developing quite an attachment to Rufus, the nurse who has been helping her survive her lengthy recovery from her own wounds.
In the journal Lilly’s father left behind, which chronicles the story of Buck, a young man being chased by a demon, the plot also picks up. Buck’s tale is far more interesting once the pursuing demon forces him to leave his underage girlfriend behind because instead of wallowing in happy love he’s fighting for something again. Between the sympathetic inclusion and tragic loss of Buck’s only friend in New Orleans, and the knowledge of Miss Mable, the voodooine who finally sheds some light on what the demon is (but not why it’s after Buck) the story definitely picks up here, both in action and in plot.
The sea really seems to be Cramer’s fuel, his knowledge of sailing and fishing among other things lends this section of the story a credibility and touch of realism that balances well with the increase of magic with the increased appearances of the demon himself.
On technical and textual levels Cramer also seems to be stepping into his stride, leaving me hoping he keeps it up and nails the climax and finale.
Review of Part 4 coming soon…
- “Mommy, the skelegan head wants to talk to you.”
Recently divorced mom of two Dena has come to rest in Benevolence, a small town where she thinks she can find peace after the turmoil of leaving behind her husband and trying to make a life of her own with her two daughters. Unfortunately she’s run straight into Benevolence’s most historically interesting–and haunted–house.
Everyone in the town seems eager to tell Dena and her older daughter the tangled tale of murder, lynching, witchery and hauntings. But Dena wants nothing more than to make a clean break from her troubled past and enjoy her luck in finding a lovely home. The house’s invisible occupants also want Dena to stay and make her and her two daughters part of their own story.
A classically creepy ghost story, Seven Days in Benevolence is a fast paced, tantalizingly horrific novella that’s perfect for hungry ghost story fans. The short length makes it an easy read, and its dazzling climax will leave readers breathless.
- So while I was reading Publisher’s Lunch today it struck me how very clueless publishers seem to be on why readers do or don’t buy. So all you readers out there, why don’t we help them?
- For the next (however long it takes for me to get bored) I’ll be keeping a monthly list of the books and magazines I buy and why (I’ll also include any free books I download). I already keep a list of the books I read (and I review most of them as well), so I don’t see this being much different.
- However, I also want to offer up my blog as a forum and myself as an organizer. If you want to participate you can do so in one of two ways:
- 1. Send me and email at sicacaelestasATinsightbbDOTcom (with spam guards removed) and on the first of every month I’ll send you the questionnaire below. Fill it out and send it back and I’ll post it on my blog either anonymously or contributed to you (your choice).
- or
- 2. Keep your own list and post it on your own web/blog/myspace/facebook/whatever. Please do send me a link though so that I can include your information.
- You don’t have to have read the books you bought to include them. This is just about your buying habits. Why you bought the book can be anything from “It was recommended to me” to “I liked the cover” to “I needed to qualify for free shipping” or even “The author is a friend and I want to support them”. Be honest, even if it’s a negative reason.
- The form I’ll be using for now is below.
- Name:
- Contact Email:
- Month:
- What books did you buy this month? Why did you buy them?
- Did you download any free books this month? Why did you chose to download them and where did you download them from (author web site, publisher web site, bit torrent site)?
- If you chose to participate thank you in advance and feel free to pass this call on to other readers who might be interested in participating.
28
May
That’s right, you can get the first book in Simon Haynes’ Hal Spackjock series as a free ebook. Here’s the details.
24
May
Part four of Death and the Maiden moves outside of the restrictions of a magazine strip and into a space of its own. It features full color pages of the same surreal, near pornographic art that can also be found in the first three sections (in Issues 1-3 of Murky Depths).
The Black Order and the whores of New Babylon are caught up in a war of pornacracy and gendercide. In the midst of it all Flip, an outcast whore from New Babylon falls for Mr. Death, an outcast from the The Black Order. With the expanded space Calder has the chance to not just catch new readers up on the premise, and expand the world tenfold, but Flip and Mr. Death also face down metal-lined clones determined to carry out the sentence of execution on them for their crimes. A spot of action takes the comic out of the reflective and pushes boldly forward.
Calder “pornographizes” (his word) our vanilla world, from the inside out, creating a skewed world of up the skirt shots and Barbie-doll bodies. Death and the Maiden is like no other comic, veined with social commentary and cloaked in unrelenting sex.
20
May
“It took a qualified wizard to detect a summoning in progress. It only took a half-literate idiot with a twitch of power and a dim idea of how to use it to attempt one. Before you knew it, a three-headed Slavonic god was wreaking havoc in downtown Atlanta, the skies were raining winged snakes, and SWAT was screaming for more ammo. These were unsafe times. But then, in safer times, I’d be a woman without a job.”
That paragraph, about a page in, sold me on Magic Bites. It stars Kate Daniels, a mercenary who handles odd jobs in a world where technology and magic are warring– and technology is losing. In a Magic-punk version of Atlanta, Kate is stunned to learn that the city’s knight-diviner (a prestigious member of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, the guardians of the city) has been murdered. A friend of her father’s Greg was also Kate’s guardian, and the closest thing to family she had.
Barely taking time to grieve, Kate launches herself into investigating Greg’s murder, more than willing to let the Order use her attempts to cover their own, quieter investigation. What she discovers puts her in the middle of the vampires and werecreatures, both of who have suffered loses similar to Greg’s murder, but neither is willing to admit to outsiders what they know and both want to blame each other, threatening to tear the city apart in a supernatural beastie war.
Andrew’s world threatens to leave the realm of urban fantasy altogether, building a city where magic and tech flip off and on in dominance, tearing at each other in constantly flexing waves. Andrew’s characters too, are the battered survivors of the decaying city, each urban fantasy breed–from vampires to shape shifters and beyond– have a made over, wilder representation in Kate Daniel’s world.
Magic Bites is a book that jumps headlong into mythology and magic, leaving the reader charmed and definitely wanting more. Similar in feel to Jim Butcher’s Dresden series this series is sure to be a stand out in the world of paranormal fiction.
My interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is live.You can read it here.
The tale of a snake demon who preys on the brightest and most creative that humanity has to offer, Serpentine at its heart is a study of our attraction to our own destruction…