Between the Covers - Book Review #5 & 100 Followers Contest Winners Announced!

First, congratulations to Spot, Kat, and Lindsey Beth Goddard. You won a prize for my 100 Followers Contest!

My last Creepfest giveaway is still going on. Don't forget to check the post and comment to win a signed copy of my work.

It's cold and rainy outside and with my bad back and a roaring bout of insomnia; I've been reading a bunch more than usual lately. I have five books to share with you, my constant reader. Thankfully, none of them are duds, though some are better than others.

1) Theodora Goss's short story collection, In the Forest of Forgetting, proved beautiful on more than one level. It is a gorgeous book; the cover illustration and the page illustrations accompanying each story fit quite well. And the stories will give any writer writing envy. They are so beautiful. Gross does a wonderful job of weaving myth with modern world or a Victorian setting. This book is a shining gem!

2) Quiver by Holly Luhning started out very promising. Danica Winston, a young forensic psychologist, gets wrapped up in the mystery of Elizabeth Bathory's missing diary, which would be the perfect bribe for her interview with a suspected serial killer with a Bathory fetish. This book was great, until the ending. I felt the characters were very two-dimensional, which is okay sometimes in a crime novel with a good plot, but this one fell short with the ending. The rest of the book was so good that I expected more than I got at the end.

3) Inkheart by Cornelia Caroline Funke was a joy from beginning to end. The characters were rich, vivid, and wonderful. The concept of a book's characters coming alive in a story is not a new one, but this tale of magic and personal growth/triumph captured my interest. I loved the villain in the story and rooted for Meggie, the little girl, from beginning to end. This book would win the heart of any teen or adult.

4) My reading only hit another high note with Lilith Saintcrow's Working for the Devil. Again, not a new idea, having a necromancer working for the devil, but Dante Valentine's tortured past and her budding love interest with her own demon protector from hell is so intriguing and well written. I highly recommend this one. Working for the Devil will steal your soul. Heheh. Bad pun, I know, but I couldn't put this one down.

5) Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling is a great young adult collection of retold fairy tales and new fairy tales. The twist is telling the story from the villain's perspective. I can't pick a favorite. They were all so good. This is a quick read and entertaining for adults and teens alike.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!

Between the Covers - Book Review #4

This week's book review is brought to you by this cute, cuddly cat from The Dallas World Aquarium. I've got three picks for you.

1) I discovered Valerie Laken at my local library's fundraiser book sale. When I read she teaches at the university where I started graduate school, my interest was piqued. Dream House, her debut novel, started out relatively slow. If you're willing to stick with the story, the plot does pick up after about four chapters. Its cover blurb is misleading. I thought I was purchasing a ghost story, but it wasn't much of one. It was a great study in character development, though. The writing is good, but honestly, after reading it and putting it aside, the story hasn't stayed with me the way good ones do. Dream House follows a young couple through their troubled marriage and renovation of a house once owned by a family with a dark history of domestic violence. After being released from prison, a mysterious man befriends Kate, the woman of the house, and offers to help her renovate, but he has a secret himself. He used to live there and he knows what happened the night that tore his family apart forever. I'd say this book is worth a vacation read, but don't expect any gothic grandness, paranormal experiences, or a seriously profound ending.

2) Teeth: Vampire Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling was better than Dream House. This young adult collection of tales entertained me. A few stories stuck with me well past when I closed the cover. Genevieve Valentine's Things to Know About Being Dead was a lovely take on Asian vampires. I truly enjoyed the female character in Christopher Barzak's Gap Year, struggling with the coming of age debacle after high school. Delia Sherman delivered a unique perspective from a family of circus performers and lovely collection of cats, my very favorite story in the anthology. And Tanith Lee's Why Light? proved to be a great love story. I recommend this one for all ages and I've been introduced a new author, so thank you kindly, Ms. Datlow and Ms. Windling.

3) Then I read Patricia Cornwell's From Potter's Field, a Kay Scarpetta novel that did not disappoint. I love the Kay Scarpetta series because she's a strong female character who doesn't wimp out for love, sticks to her principles, and works well under pressure. Also, it helps that the other characters are interesting and the subplots aren't boring either. The murders never fail to entertain with their details too. This one deals with the case of a young woman found naked and frozen, propped up beside a fountain in a New York park during the holidays. Scarpetta is on the hunt for the sadistic Temple Gault, a character her readers are very familiar with by now, one that's eluded and traumatized her family, friends, and coworkers, leaving a trail of bodies behind him to shame Hannibal Lector. Will she catch him this time? Read and find out.

As always, happy reading and happy writing to all!

What Are You Reading Between the Covers? - #3

Last night I pulled an all-nighter to finish reading The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales. This collection is part of editor Ellen Datlow's and editor Terri Windling's ongoing series celebrating myth and contemporary fantasy around the world. Both women's professional credits are enough to ensue writer envy. They are very successful and savvy women with good taste in writing, which is why I know when I pick up one of their collections, it will deliver a beautiful journey. Also, most of the authors featured in the collections edited by Ms. Datlow and Ms. Windling support The Endicott Studio, "dedicated to myth and its expression through literary, visual, and performance arts," as the site reads. (If you are a fan of world myth, digital art, or good writing, you should really check out the links in these posts). The sites are beautiful and informative.

I always read the introductions to these collections because unlike some, they are actually entertaining. Right away, I was drawn into the book. Pat Murphy, the first author in the collection, wrote a killer story featuring Coyote as a woman, which is not unheard of, but pretty rare to read. Usually, Coyote is featured as a man.  One Odd Shoe left me with a good smirk on my face.

The next tale that stuck with me was written by Delia Sherman. The Fiddler of Bayou Teche tells the haunting story of a beautiful woman outcast in her bayou community because of her looks. She may be an outcast, but she will dance you straight out of town and then some!

There were four other stories that I enjoyed too. The first was Friday Night at St. Cecelia's, by Ellen Klages , which took an interesting modern approach to Queen Mab, the fairy, and also incorporated one of my favorite pastimes -- board games. The second was by Katherine Vaz, The Chamber Music of Animals.  Now this story caught my attention because it dealt with a beloved childhood stuffed animal, something I could relate to and have written about myself, and a son dying of leukemia. Her Portugese-American background gives her work an exotic, flavor of myth I cannot get enough of and I highly recommend any of her writing. The third story reminded me of living in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the hikes I would take with my family out in the desert. It's The Senorita and the Cactus Thorn, written by Kim Antieau; the tale of a woman who is trying to impress her future mother-in-law with a twist. And the fourth and last tale was The Dreaming Wind by Jeffrey Ford; a delightful, whimsical story of a town caught in the spell of a dreaming wind.

If you like what you read in these collections, Ms. Datlow and Ms. Windling have thoughtfully included a list of fiction, non-fiction, and trickster studies for further reading -- another reason why I love their contemporary fantasy collections because I can always get my hands on lots of good new reading to keep me up at night!

I hope you pick up this book and find it as much of a treasure as I do.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!