What Are You Reading Between the Covers? - #13

I've been in bed this week feeling under the weather, but I have five new books to share with you.

I broke down and bought a copy of Kim Harrison's Pale Demon, even though I don't own any of the other books. I just couldn't wait for it at the library. The latest installment of Harrison's Hollows series did not disappoint. I am still recovering from Matalina dying in the last book, which brought a tear to my eye, but Jenks, Ivy, and the gang were back on track helping chauffeur Trent Kalamack cross-country on an elf quest. We also got an even closer look at Morgan's relationship with Al and the demons, which has been shaping up to be an interesting subplot. (I will not give away anything here, as the outcome of this book will blow you away). Don't worry; nobody dies. That's all I'll say. Check out this book.

Then I sunk my teeth into Stephen King's new novella collection, Full Dark, No Stars. Wow! What can I say that is bad about this book, but that it ended too soon! If you are a King fan, pick this one up. He is back in top storytelling form with this new release. So sad I finished this book and there's no more from King for awhile. I hate when that happens. I gobbled this like chocolate cake with no regrets; a man who murders his wife for money and is haunted by her ghost, a successful mystery writer raped on her way home from a book signing in the middle of nowhere seeking revenge, a man dying of cancer at 51 who makes an irresistible deal with the devil, and a woman who discovers after over twenty-some years of marriage that her husband is a famous serial killer. It was raw, harsh, and dirty. King makes no apologies in his afterword, in which he discusses getting into the darkness of his stories with a brutal honesty. He also mentions again that he writes for himself, not for the money, which is something as a writer I respect.

I switched gears then with a steampunk short story collection, Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology edited by Nick Gevers. This collection had me psyched, but after reading the entire book only four stories really stuck with me. It's not that it wasn't well written because it was; I just wasn't feeling the subject matter in many of the tales. However, there are four authors I'd like to shed some light on; James Lovegrove, Margo Lanagan, James Morrow, and Keith Brooke. Mr. Lovegrove opened the series with a bang not a whimper, as T.S. Eliot would say, writing Steampunch, a nice little tale about the creation of professional wrestling robots. Who doesn't love a good robot story? This one is not to miss! My next gem in the collection was Ms. Lanagan's Machine Maid, which turned out to be a disturbing tale of a Victorian housewife with a robot maid and a penchant for revenge against her callous husband who uses her for his own sexual pleasure. If you are a male, you might find this story particularly disturbing. I know I am not and I did! Mr. Morrow's short story, Lady Witherspoon's Solution, was just as deviant and quite an interesting perspective coming from a male writer as it dealt with the castration of famous Victorian criminals in a very unique way and focused on the evolution of the human species. Do not skip this tale of the dark heart of man! And you can follow it up quite nicely with Keith Brooke's Hannah, which addresses the ethical question of cloning DNA in Victorian times and nature vs. nurture.

From robots and mad scientists I turned my attention to the kinder, gentler realm of wizards and demons in  Cinda Williams Chima's YA fantasy novel, The Demon King: Seven Realms #1. This was an entertaining YA novel, but for adults, I feel it was a little predictable. However, for teens and preteens I think it's the perfect opening book in a series. There's Raisa, the tomboy princess who feels smothered by her mother, the Queen, and two boys, Han and Fire Dancer, coming of age and finding themselves - typical teenage emotions. It's fast-paced and well written.

On from demons to wizards to the creation of the atomic bomb in Ellen Klages's The Green Glass Sea! This YA novel actually moved me to tears; there I was around 1AM crying in bed last night while my husband snored innocently beside me. I couldn't put this book down yesterday. Klages's main character, Dewey, was such a touching, tender, girl. The story follows her journey of friendship with another girl on the Los Alamos base, Suze. This gem was well written and offers a poignant message about the invention of the atomic bomb, offering a unique look into part of America's dark past. I highly recommend it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to rereading Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!

What's in Your Library?

I cycle through some books from my personal library, sharing them with friends and family and donating to my local library for their fundraisers, but some books are treasured and will never leave my shelves. These books would leave the house first in a house fire before my own person, in fact, I would forgo putting on shoes or grabbing my wallet to take my books with me, I love them that much!

Over the years, I've collected a bunch of books that remain in my permanent collection. My shelves are organized according to my weird writer's logic. I have a horror/sci-fi/fantasy section, broken up into author groupings and then a special section for short story collections.

There's the Native American section, the arts, gardening and cooking sections, and my world religion section, which includes everything from The Tao of Pooh to a copy of The Holy Qu'ran.

I also have a poetry and English major section, which runs the gamut from The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor to James Joyce's Ulysses and Frank O'Hara's poetry. (Toni Morrison holds a special place in that section).

And then there's my research section, which consists of books like Weird Wisconsin and Fabulous Creatures and Other Magical Beings, a bestiary of mythological creatures, Joseph Campbell's books, The Golden Bough, and lots more.

My husband has started the tradition of buying me collectors books for my library for my birthday and other special days. The very first book he bought me was a signed first edition hardcover of Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show. For the holidays this year I got a first edition signed Tick Tock by Dean Koontz. For my last wedding anniversary I got a signed copy of Postscripts # 10 with great signatures like Stephen King,  Ramsey Campbell, Graham Joyce, Lucius Shepard, and more! And a few years ago, my kind husband relinquished his already purchased and signed hardcover copy of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine to my brother-in-law for our annual gift exhange. (However, I still give my lovely husband credit for that one!) There are others in my collection, but those are my favorites.

I hope to acquire more throughout the years. Next to my family, my cats, and my pizza, I love my books the

best. I missed out on an early copy of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe last year. As Kim Harrison's character Madison Avery would say, "Son of a puppy!"

That concludes my Show and Tell today, folks.

Offtopic side note: My husband brought this balloon home to celebrate my Godzilla/Hello Kitty love story I previously blogged about. Notice the drawn on mouth which correlates to my story, now up on the Critters forum in first draft for critique, if anyone is interested. I've been getting some good feedback and am currently working on flushing out Hello Kitty's character. Thanks to everyone who has critiqued this week!

Also, Kim Harrison has a sneak preview of her new Hollows novel, Pale Demon up on her site, for anyone who follows that series.

As always, happy writing and happy reading!

My Room With a View

I had to borrow liberally from Virginia Woolf for this title -- one of my favorite authors.  People have asked me where I write and it's not very glamorous, really.  A writing office is on my wish list in the next few years.  Currently, I work downstairs in my open concept townhome, which is nice, but sometimes distracting when others are watching T.V., etc.  Thankfully, I own an iPod which helps filter out noise and am not easily distracted.  I write at my dining room table -- the black hole for mail, books, and ongoing art/crafting projects in the house.  If there isn't clutter there, it doesn't feel like home. 

This is my view outside as I write:

It looks kind of barren now, but its winter.  What can I do?  I wish I had a lush, green pic to share with you, but when I moved in it was winter as well and shortly thereafter my tree was struck by lightning.  The tree promised to be amazing in spring when we moved in on New Year's Eve 2007.  It had a gorgeous structure and towered over the three story building in front of my townhouse.  Its limbs covered the entire balcony from view until calamity hit about two months later.  It was struck by lightning in the middle of a tornado!  I hadn't even been in Dallas but a few months when this giant tree limb fell on top of my car.  Gone was the promise of a shady, regal tree and left was the smaller version you now see in the previous picture above.

I am glad the tree was salvaged, though.  I like to watch the birds and squirrels while I write.

I have various writing toys that hopefully, will find their way to my dream writing office, when I move and have room for one.  My two favorites to bring out are the 1985 Godzilla action figure and the Creature from the Black Lagoon that I acquired used at a comic book shop in New Mexico.  You can see them looming tall in the background.

The following picture shows what I have to contend with on a daily basis while writing. 

This is my breditor, Toshio.  Now I realize this nickname warrants some explaining, so here goes:  I got Toshio, my adopted Bombay, from this wonderful no-kill cat shelter, Texas Cares.  He was already eight months old and responded to his name, so I thought it would be confusing to rename him, but if I had, it would have been Bradbury after Ray Bradbury, one of my all-time favorite authors, who has also owned a black cat.  Toshio quickly took an interest in my writing, as you can see from the pic above.  He seems to think my laptop case is his office.  One day my husband and I were joking around about Toshio being my editor -- thus, the nickname "Breditor", a combination of Bradbury and editor.  So really, I don't have an editor at the moment, but a "Breditor".

This is a more regal photo of the laptop bandit:

So there you have it -- my crazy room with a view!  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more writing to do.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!  (And if you happen to enjoy what you're reading, feel free to become a follower below).

What Are You Reading Between the Covers?

There's a large stack of books piling up on my nightstand at the moment because I've been a little preoccupied with my newest pet, a 3-toed box turtle.  I named him Bradbury after Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite authors.

It's hard for me to resist his tiny wrinkled old man face and I've been spending more time watching him than reading lately.

A lot of friends and relatives are always asking me for book suggestions.  I read about 60+ books a year and am happy to share my good findings with you.  I read a variety of genres, but mostly historical fiction, fantasy, horror, and science fiction, though sometimes I delve into cyberpunk here and there and other genres.  (Actually, as a writer I find it hard to use blanket terms like "fantasy" and "horror", etc. because there are so many sub-categories out there and I enjoy them all!  But I'll save that for another blog, perhaps).  I also read mainstream fiction, though not as much as the genres I like to write in.

I like short stories at bedtime because I can finish a tale in one sitting and go to bed completely satisfied.  If I'm reading a good novel, I tend to lose track of time and more sleep than I should!  Last night I finished reading Death's Excellent Vacation, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner.  It's a wonderful, humorous short story collection about what happens to paranormals on their vacations.  This collection was amusing and a fast read like the other collections they've edited together, which I also highly recommend.  It was so good, it actually inspired me to write my own gargoyle story, which I am currently working on.  If you like succubus, vampires, demons, and more, then this collection is for you. 

Here's the link to this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Excellent-Vacation-Charlaine-Harris/dp/0441018688

Currently, I am reading a historical novel by Isabel Allende, Island Beneath the Sea.  It's set in Saint-Domingue in the late 1700s and tells the tale of a young slave girl's journey into womanhood and her search for her own identity.  I'm about 1/5 through the book.  In fact, I stayed up later than I had planned reading because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

Here's the link to this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Island-Beneath-Sea-Isabel-Allende/dp/0061988243/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294537644&sr=1-1

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book to get back to.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!