I know there have been no reviews lately, but it’s not because I haven’t been reading. It’s just that my random picks from the library have been so underwhelming. They’ve been neither bad enough nor good enough to warrant the effort of writing a full review. And none of them have sucked me in, so it’s been an uphill battle to even bother finishing them. Not my favorite reading situation, to be sure. SO! I am accepting any and all recommendations of good, suck-you-in, lose-sleep-staying-up-late-to-read books of the sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, romance, or detective fiction persuation (any combo of mentioned ‘genres’ is also ok). Hit me up, people.
In other news, to combat recurring insomnia, I got a sleep aid noise machine thingy. It has 6 different ‘soundtracks’ to choose from, and a timer to auto-turn-off. Currently trying out the Rain setting. It just came yesterday, so I don’t have a big enough data sample to tell if it helps yet or not. We shall see.
On the upside, I’m having fun with my new screen-printing venture, and am still pretty excited about it. Check it out: Dragonflight Apparel.
This is a piece written off of a prompt for the Four Thousand Words jam, round #5. The prompt was “She screamed when she saw me, but I was used to it.” with a bonus for including a flashback.
Word count: ~2,300
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Jed’s Choice
She screamed when she saw me, but I was used to it in my line of work. “Heavens above, Jed, you near scared me to death.” She tucked a stray piece of wheat blonde hair behind her ear, a nerve-calming gesture I knew well. The cracked ball of slag I called a heart shuddered somewhere inside me. I ignored it.
“Sorry, Sela. I wasn’t trying to sneak up you.” I flipped a kitched chair around to straddle it. If you need to move quickly, sitting backwards in a chair lets you use the back of it for leverage, and your feet are already placed for support. It’s one of those little things my body just did automatically now. Like moving so quietly people didn’t hear me coming. Side effects of the job.
“Hmph. It’s a wonder a man as big as you are can move so lightly as you do. You must have bird’s bones. What are you doing here anyhow?” She turned back to the stove. Whatever she had cooking smelled like heaven after my abstemious living of the past few months. She stirred it, unleashing a fresh wave of tempting aromas. A rumbling from below. Well, maybe it’d been more than a few months. Down, boy. I instructed my stomach. You’re not going to want anything in you for this.
Read more …
You may have noticed a change in the decor. Behold, the new look for Myths and Memoirs! I co-opted the former M&M dragon for a new venture (see Dragonflight Apparel) and so wanted to give this place its own new look. I found a great theme (called Fabel, no actual author listed) and customized it to my needs. I’m quite happy with it.
Also, I have finally joined the world of smart-phones as of last week when I got an iPhone. WordPress has a handy little app for it, so hopefully that means I’ll be posting more consistently/frequently.
India Black
By Carol K. Carr
The new fiction shelf at my library turns up some fun things sometimes. This was a fun and quick read. A madame at a brothel in London in 1876 becomes embroiled with one of England’s spymasters and matters of national security when a top government official dies at her establishment. The action is well-paced, the characters likeable (if not 100% believable), and Carr sets it up well for sequels/a series. India has a mysterious backstory that is hinted at in intriguing tidbits but not fully explored yet. The real-world history exposition can be a bit dry, but including it is unavoidable in any kind of historical fiction, I’ve found. My two major complaints with this book are: 1) while Carr makes it clear in the preface that (although the main character is a brothel owner and sometimes practitioner) there will be no detailed sex scenes, I did not think this also meant there would be no romance; and there wasn’t, despite ample opportunity between two certain characters (a 3rd character even comments on a likely attraction between the two, but neither of the two mention, act like, or act on such an attraction), which was a bit of a letdown as the back cover blurb led me to believe the romance plot line was not only existent but significant; and 2) after all the danger and hullabaloo and spy stuff, they are not successful in achieving one of the main objectives (all I can say here, without massive spoilers). So, while it was generally a fun read and I enjoyed the characters, the story as a whole ended on a somewhat disappointing note. Still, I will likely pick up the next one, just for some sense of resolution.
I give it 3/5 stars.
Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time, Book 11) by Robert Jordan – I think I’ve finally hit the point in this series where I’m no longer re-reading from years ago, but on new content!
Fire Sea (The Death Gate Cycle, Book 3) by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman – This is another series re-read, as it’s been a LONG time since I’ve read them.
Reading and reviewing genre works-in-progress on Book Country.
I’ll likely go to the library this weekend and pick out something new-ish.
Also, just recently finished The Wise Man’s Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles, Book 2) by Patrick Rothfuss – I’ll wait until the series is complete to review, but so far LOVE it.
Dawnthief (Chronicles of the Raven, Book 1)
By James Barclay
You’ll note in the above title, and on the book cover itself that this is Book 1 (the first) in a series titled Chronicles of the Raven (the Raven being the mercenary group the series revolves around). So you can imagine my surprise when, within the first 100 or so pages, 4 out of the 7 members of the Raven have been killed off. Yeah. And since the remaining members spend most of their time in those first 100 page mourning the death of their fellows, it’s a little hard to really get into reading this. Half of the main characters you’re supposed to care about are already dead, without giving you time to get to know them (and thus care that they’re dead), and the other half don’t show any individual character traits at all other than mourning their losses for the first long bit, so you don’t get to know them/care about them either. Not to mention that this is supposed to be an elite, highly skilled, always-gets-the-job-done type of group, and they’re dying like flies – doesn’t lend the setup credibility. Very unsatisfying. I was about ready to give up and put the book down for good when the author finally quit trying to prove how tough and rule-breaky he was, and quit killing off his characters long enough for me to give a damn. The second half or so of the book is better in that you do get to know the characters, though there’s some inconsistency in how they’re portrayed – Hirad, for example, is generally portrayed as fairly low intelligence, but has a few random comments that don’t at all fit with that, and have no explanation. The action is fast-paced and generally believable for the fantasy world it’s set in. The writing in general was unimpressive. If you can make it past the first 100 pages, you should have a light, relatively enjoyable read. That said, I will not be picking up any of the rest of this series.
I give it 2/5 stars.
The Masters of Solitude
By Marvin Kaye and Parke Godwin
This was another relic (1978) unearthed on my bookshelves, remnant of a long-ago library sale shopping spree. The Masters of Solitude is a post-apocolyptic story about the divide between the two groups who have emerged since the disaster, and the attempt of one family to bridge that divide. In the book, some unspecified disaster occurred in the distant past. In its wake, humanity divided into two groups: those in The City who still possess advanced technology and have walled themselves off (literally and aggressively) from the rest of the world; and everyone else, spread across the land in primitive clans/covens who have developed their own special skill to compensate for their lack of technology. The story centers around one family: Garick, head of his clan/coven; Judith, the City woman he takes as his first wife; Singer, son of Garick and Judith and so half City/half coven and belonging to neither; and Arin, Garick’s son from his second marriage to a coven woman and so fully of the coven (at least at first). While it’s not always a gripping read, it is thought-provoking, one of those rare blends of books where story and philosophy are inextricable. Central to the book is the idea of Community vs. Self – where the line is, and what Alone truly means. There’s also the obvious Technology vs. Nature duality, explored through the covens’ quest to get through to the City, and the City’s continually uncaring non-response. The characters are complex and interesting, though due to their mindsets and the portrayal in the text it’s hard to get emotionally attached, but that’s just the nature of a more cerebrally-focused story like this. I’m not sure what else I can say here without giving out some spoilers. It’s good, will get you thinking, and is well worth the read if you don’t mind working through the few slow parts for it. It also has a surprising and satisfying twist at the end. I intend to pick up the sequel, Wintermind, at some point in the future.