Pimpin Books for 2012

Tangle of Need (Psy-Changeling, #11) by Nalini Singh
Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past—one as unpredictable in love as it was in war. Now comes a new territory, and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.
For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal. For Adria, his dangerous lone-wolf appeal is beyond sexual. It consumes her. It terrifies her. It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life. But fighting their wild compulsion toward one another proves a losing battle.
Their coming together is an inferno…and a melding of two wounded souls who promise each other no commitment, no ties, no bonds. Only pleasure. Too late, they realize that they have more to lose than they ever imagined. Drawn into a cataclysmic Psy war that may alter the fate of the world itself, they must make a decision that might just break them both.
Drops May 29, 2011


A Sliver of Shadow (Abby Sinclair, #2) by Allison Pang
Just when her new life as a TouchStone – a mortal bound to help OtherFolk cross between Faery and human worlds – seems to be settling down, Abby Sinclair is left in charge when the Protectorate, Moira, leaves for the Faery Court. And when the Protectorate’s away…let’s just say things spiral out of control when a spell on Abby backfires and the Faery Queen declares the Doors between their worlds officially closed. 
The results are disastrous for both sides: OtherFolk trapped in the mortal world are beginning to fade, while Faerie is on the brink of war with the daemons of Hell. Along with her brooding eleven prince Talivar and sexy incubus Brystion, Abby ventures to the CrossRoads in an attempt to override the Queen’s magic. But nothing in this beautiful, dangerous realm will compare to the discoveries she’s making about her past, her destiny, and what she will sacrifice for those she loves.
Drops February 28, 2012

Check Out Some Marjorie M. Liu

Marjorie M. Liu is the author of the Dirk & Steele series as well as the Hunter Kiss series.  I've read both and I have to say that the Dirk & Steel novels are not quite to my taste (I do like the Hunter Kiss books).  However, that hasn't kept me from reading every book in the series anyway which is a testament to Liu's skill as a writer.  She writes a good paranormal romance with interesting characters and varied locales.  Right now, you can download for free, Tiger Eye, the first book in the Dirk & Steele series over at Amazon.  If you haven't read Liu before, here's a perfect opportunity.  As always, I have no idea how long the free offer will last, so get it while you can.

Tiger Eye     

Link Love

I don't know about you but I find holidays exhausting.  Sometimes fun, sometimes... eh, not so much but always exhausting. Hopefully you all don't have to work today (like me), and can take some time to recover. After the gluttony of yesterday, you may feel like you never want to eat again so here's some links to feed your mind while your body is still digesting.

• Publishers Pay For You To See Their Books

• Changing the Archtype

• Presentation, Perception, and Reality 

• Worldcon, YA and Women

• Twilight, fetish and protecting girls from themselves

• Twilight: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

• 9 Astonishing Facts About Amazon

• Dogme 2011 for Weird Fiction

• The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren't Translatable Into English

• Which Venomous Spider Are You?

Review: Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Urban fantasy has really taken off as a genre in the last several years.  I used to search for books to read, now there is a glut.  It's become hard to find books that don't follow the standard UF pattern.  The majority of them are female authors writing about female protaganists who kick ass.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  Most times, that is what I am looking for.  But it was a bit refreshing to pick up Kevin Hearne's debut novel in which the protagonist is a dude - slinging the snark and walking the walk.  (I am thankful that this is one of the few places where this is a unique take as opposed to the rest of the dude-oriented world.)


Hounded by Kevin Hearne
Iron Druid Chronicles, #1
ISBN13: 9780345522474
ISBN10: 0345522478
Published May 3rd 2011 by Del Rey
Grade: B
Blurb: Tempe, Arizona is as far removed from paranormal activity as is possible. And that's where Atticus O'Sullivan, rare book salesman, herb peddler, and 2,000 year old Druid - the last of his kind - has decided to set up shop. He's been on the run, guarding a very powerful sword from a very angry ancient Celtic god for over two millennia now.
But while these years have been good to him - Atticus has become more powerful than he could have possibly imagined - The Morrigan, a very old god of death, has predicted death and doom for our hero, and it's up to Atticus, with help from a pride of werewolves, and a gorgeous bartender with a secret of her own, to stay alive, hopefully for another thousand years.

A Taste of Nalini Singh

Can't wait for the next volume in Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series to come out?  Well, suck it up, kids 'cause Tangle of Need won't be out until the end of May.  In the meantime, head on over to Singh's blog where you can read some deleted/extra scenes from the series.  She's posted seven from Kiss of Snow plus a few others.  While not as good as a full-fledged novel, they are a tasty snack to keep you going until the meal is finally delivered.  While you're there, you can also check out some free short stories, most of which are set in the Psy/Changeling world.
Deleted/Extra Scenes
Free Short Stories

Link Love

Just a few links this week, folks.  I don't know if the internet has been boring or its just me.  I have been awful busy and haven't had much time to keep up with the blogosphere.  Still, I'm pretty sure it's the internet...
Here they are - your links for the week!

• Cover Trends in YA Fiction: Why the Obsession with Elegant Death?

• The Power of Diverse Science Fiction

• Tanith Lee on the Weird

• 11 Women Warriors of World War II

• Why Comics Have Failed to Achieve Real Respect

• Briane Keene's Keynote Speech from Anthocon 2011

• Bruce Wayne Gets A Physical

• Life Magazine's 20 Worst Covers

• Teaching Good Sex

• Book Country Fail

Quick & Dirty Reviews: Two Entertaining Reads

Managing Death (Death Works, #2) by Trent Jamieson

In book two of the Death Works series, hero Steven de Selby has stepped into the job of Mortmax Industries' Australian Regional Manager, aka Death.  Steven never wanted the job, happy to tred water as a psychopomp but due to the catastrophic events in book one, his only choice was to sink or swim.  He chose to swim but despite the rebuilding of the company that must be done, Steven continues his slacker ways.  Though snarky and entertaining at times, I got to the point where I wanted him to start acting a little more responsible. Especially since there are new threats to not only the company but the entire world, plus once again someone is trying to kill Steven. As in the first book, the romantic relationship between Steven and Lissa is somewhat underwhelming, especially since this is supposed to be a death defying love.  I’m not sure what these two see in each other… besides the fact that Steven finds Lissa hot.  And I have no idea what she sees in him.  Which isn’t to say that Steven is hateful; he just doesn’t seem all that bright.  He is often amusing though, so he’s got that going for him and I do enjoy Jamieson’s take on the business of death, from its corporate structure to the nuts and bolts of ushering the recently deceased to their final resting place.  It’s a flawed but fun and original read.  If you haven't read Death Most Definite, start there before reading this book.  While this book can work as a stand alone, you'll get much more out of it if you read the proceeding book.  

GRADE: B-

Obtained: via Paperbackswap.com

Phoenix Rising (Ministry of Peculiar Occurences, #1) by Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris

A rollicking, occasionally lurid, adventure yarn with a plethora of action, explosions and gadgets.  To some extent, it reads like a movie.  With some nice use of language and grandiose settings, this is an entertaining read that in some ways feels familiar, evoking comparison to television’s The Wild Wild West and The Avengers.  In particular, the dynamic between the two leads, Books and Braun, is reminiscent of Steed and Mrs. Peel, a give and take between two people of opposite character that is spotted with sophisticated banter.   As agents of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, the two are forced to work together to protect the British empire from the nefarious Phoenix Society.  What makes the pairing unique is that the intellectual, orderly, prim inventor is the man while the woman is the bold, take charge, guns a blazin’ colonial.  Though there is some slight romantic tension, this is essentially a period adventure smorgasborg – with secret societies, megalomaniacal madmen, last minutes rescues, fisticuffs, contraptions, and sword fights (at the opera, no less.)  There is even a villainous orgy – one of the few outright missteps in the novel. 

With all that, why am I only giving the book a B?  Well, as much as I enjoyed all the individual elements of this tale, it didn’t quite gel for me as a whole.  To be honest, I’m not sure why.  Intellectually the book was exciting but I never hooked into emotionally.  I had no problem setting the book down for a spell and I was in no rush to get back to it.  That doesn’t mean I won’t be reading the next book in the series,  currently being written.  As a first book in a new series, I’m more than happy to overlook my little nigglings.  There is a lot of potential here.

GRADE: B

Obtained: via Paperbackswap.com    

A Little Love For Meljean Brook

Hey!  Meljean Brook's Heart of Steel was chosen as one of Amazon's best romance books of the year.  Good for her!  After you've checked out the list, you can download the Kindle version of Wild & Steamy, a novella collection that contains an Iron Seas story - and it's free!  (Not sure how long that will last so get it while you can.)

I think Brook is one of the best out there.  Her world building is phenomenal as is the depth of her characterization.  Each time I reread one of her books, I discover something new, no matter how many times I've already read it.  Brook started out writing fanfic and posting it to various online forums.  Enter editor Cindy Hwang from Berkely.  While tooling around the internet, Hwang came across some of Brook's fanfic.  Impressed, she read everything of Brook's that she could find, including a chapter from an original piece Brook had posted on her website.  That, coupled with the strength of Brook's fanfic, led Hwang to contact Meljean about her work and the rest is history.

After hearing this story, I, of course, had to track down some of that fanfic.  The wait between her books is too long.  (Well, not really.  I'm just an impatient, greedy pete.)   She has a shipper story about Batman and Wonder Woman that is adult (and I don't mean that as code for porn-y, although it is very sexy) and richly layered.   It was marvelous and pressed my buttons in a good way.  But if porn-y is what you are looking for, there is also Sloppy Seconds, a very funny bedroom story involving Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

So because I am all about sharing, I'm posting a couple of links.  No need to thank me, I'm all about the love.

In Darkest Light
Haunted
Sloppy Seconds
Iced Mocha

Link Love

I've been trying to come up with a pithy intro but I keep over thinking it.  So, whatever.  Here's some links.  Loving you.

• If Tolkien Were Black

• Self Publishing Doesn't Mean You Have To Be A Raging Fuck Wad

• Why Comics Have Failed to Achieve Real Respect

• J.K Rowling talks the women of Harry Potter

• A Woman's Opinion is the Mini-Skirt of the Internet

• Barry Eisler guests posts over at A newbie's Guide to Publishing

• The Weirdest Objects Found Inside Books

• My Five Favorite "Hard-Boiled With a Twist" Novels

• Are Libraries Good For Authors?

• Kat Howard on Putting Women in the Story

And because I just loved this:

• Arthur Recreates Scenes From Classic Movies

Book Pimpin

Usually, I pimp without comment, preferring to let the books speak for themselves but, I must tell you, that I am so very excited to read the first two books on this week's list.  I read books one, two, and three in Rachel Aaron's Eli Monpress series last spring and just loved them.  This was one of those series where each book was better than the last and so when I saw on Goodreads that the next book would be out August 23, 2011, I was so friggin happy that I wouldn't have to wait more than a couple of months to get the next installment.  (When it comes to books, I can be a little... impatient.)  Turns out the Goodreads publication date was incorrect and I was left in limbo... until now.  The Spirit War will be out next June!  If you haven't been reading this series, go out and get yourself the first three books.  They are fun, exciting, adventurous capers with a strong ensemble cast.    

The second book that has me in a bit of a tiz is Kate Locke's God Save the Queen.  Locke also writes under the names Kathryn Smith and Kady Cross and made a big splash earlier this year with The Girl in the Steel Corset.  I was only vaguely aware of her writing until I had the pleasure of seeing her on a steampunk panel at the NY Comic Con.  She was incredibly entertaining and my interest ratched up a couple of notches.  Plus Queen Victoria is a vampire!  So check 'em out and make sure to take a gander at some more upcoming books after the jump.  

The Spirit War (The Legend of Eli Monpress, #4) by Rachel Aaron
Eli Monpress is vain. He's cocky. And he's a thief.
But he's a thief who has just seen his bounty topped and he's not happy about it. The bounty topper, as it turns out, is his best friend, bodyguard, and master swordsman, Josef. Who has been keeping secrets from Eli. Apparently, he's the only prince of a rather feisty country and his mother (a formidable queen who's every bit as driven and stubborn as he is) wants him to come home and do his duty, which means throwing over personal ambitions like proving he's the greatest swordsman who ever lived.
Family drama aside, Eli and Josef have their hands full. The Spirit Court has been usurped by the Council of Thrones and someone calling herself the Immortal Empress is staging a massive invasion. But it's not just politics --- the Immortal Empress has a specific target in mind: Eli Monpress, the greatest thief in the world.
Drops June 5, 2012


God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #1)by Kate Locke
Queen Victoria rules with an immortal fist.
The undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath), Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day, and leeches are considered a delicacy. And a world where technology lives side by side with magic. The year is 2012 and Pax Britannia still reigns. 
Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it is her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But when her sister goes missing, Xandra will set out on a path that undermines everything she believed in and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire. And she is the key-the prize in a very dangerous struggle.
Drops July 3, 2012

Book News

• Looking for a place where you can explore all aspects of the weird?  Well, look no further.  Weirdfictionreview.com, a site devoted to all things weird, launched this past week.  The brainchild of Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, the website was created by Luis Rodrigues with Angela Slatter acting as managing editor and promises to be "your non-denominational source for The Weird".  The first week kicks off with interviews with Neil Gaiman and Kelly Link along with some other tasty weird bits

• The Roddenberry Foundation has provided a 5 million dollar gift to Gladstone Institutes, a biomedical research organization dedicated to scientific discovery and innovation in preventing and curing cardiovascular and neurological diseases and viral infections.

• In more STAR TREK news, IDW Publishing and the Comic Book Defense League are co-sponsoring a "Be A Redshirt" contest.  The winner, along with their favorite comic-book retailer, will be featured on a limited edition cover of an upcoming STAR TREK comic.  AND in the tradition of redshirts, the winner will get to die while saving the retailer from a phaser blast.  You can read more about the contest here.  The contest began last Wednesday.  I can't find an end date so if your thinking of entering better do it quick.  The winner will get to keep the original art plus receive 100 copies of the comic.

• The estate of the late Philip K. Dick has filed suit against Media Rights Capital and others involved with the Matt Damon movie THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU.   The suit says that MRC tried to avoid bonus payments to the estate by declaring that ADJUSTMENT TEAM, Dick's original story, was already in the public domain, having been published in Orbit magazine in 1954.  BUT the Dick estate says that Orbit published the story without authorization and the author had no knowledge of the publication.

• The final edition of online magazine THE GATEHOUSE GAZETTE has been published.  Focused on the speculative genres of steampunk and dieselpunk, the magazine has been in existence since 2008.  You can read more about it here and check out the link to the final issue.

• This is cool.  For the month of November, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN is offering complimentary access to more than 75,000 articles from the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 1845-1909 archive collection.  We're talking 65 years of scientific history here, folks!

Review: Child of Fire by Harry Connolly

There's something exciting about discovering a new series that already has several books out.  No anxiously awaiting for the next book to be released - it's already been published and if you want to go on a glom - you can!  That's how I feel about Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series.  I'd never paid much attention to the series before.  I thought it was an action/crime drama or something but at Comic Con, I saw it displayed on the Del Ray table with all the other urban fantasy and took a closer look.  I walked out of there with a copy and I'm glad I did.  


Child of Fire by Harry Connolly
Twenty Palaces series, #1
ISBN13: 9780345508898
ISBN10: 0345508890
Published September 29th 2009 by Del Rey
Grade: A
Blurb:  Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He’s the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him–or let someone else do the job.
Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise’s next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who’s sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must find–and destroy–the source of that inhuman magic.

Link Love

Why waste time watching tv when you can be reading about books.  Here there are. folks.  Friday links!  Posted with love...    

• Rebranding Hell

• Booksellers I'd Like To F*** - 10 Myths About Bookselling

• Q.R. Markham: 9 Ways That Spy Novels Made Me A Better Bookseller

• Advice For Authors and Readers of the M/M Community

• The Female Body in Geek Culture

• How the Blogosphere Has Transformed the Feminist Conversation

• An Oral History of 'Ms.' Magazine

• 6 Reasons We're In Another 'Book-Burning' Period in History

• Hard Choices: Do Libraries Really Destroy Books?

• Free ebooks, Piracy & Secondhanding

• Why Zombies Never Die

• Alternative Literature

• How Can Font Alleviate Reading Problems?

• The Dos and Don'ts of Time Travel

• Watch Zach Galifianakis Seriously Discuss Fairy Tales

• Autonomy, Individuality, and Narration: More Conjectures on Fantastika and Sense of Self

• It's Time to Stop Talking About Copyright

• Romanticism and Fantasy: The Gothic

• Should Authors Hang Out at Reader Communities?

• Doctor Who - Cast & Crew Special

Book News

• Subterranean Press has announced four new titles for next year, including The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shephard which collects all of the authors novelettes and novellas about a 6,000 feet dragon into one volume.  Included in the book will be a brand new novel.  You can read more about it and the other three announced titles here.

• A new television series based on Kim Harrison's Hollows series has been sold to the CW.  Whether or not it makes it to the air remains to be seen.  The majority of shows in development never make it on the air.  However, there is a lot to work with regarding the source material.  On the other hand, it is the CW so those supernatural shenanigans could end up coming across as cheesy.  

• Kill Shakespeare, a twelve issue comic/graphic novel, is among six properties to be invited to be part of the Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab, a week long workshop focused on developing new properties for film and different media.  PW has the scoop.

• Cooper Union has refused to grant the St. Mark's Bookshop a reduction in rent which will force the store to find a new location, despite having been a mainstay of the area for close to twenty years.  The bookstore has seven more years on their lease which will give them time to find a new home but it will be a loss to the street.  Hopefully they'll be able to stay in the area.  Read more here. 

• The Consumer Affairs Department of Puerto Rico is preparing to file a lawsuit against Amazon for discriminatory practices.  Basically, Amazon has discontinued the Free Super Saver shipping option that has been available to residents of Puerto Rico for over a decade.   Other U.S. territories have been excluded from the Super Saver option but according to Amazon, due to a glitch in the system, Puerto Rican customers were able to utilize the free shipping option if they spent over $25.  Although geographically much further away from the U.S. mainland than Puerto Rico, Hawaii still retains the free shipping option.  Benefit of being a state, I guess.

• In further Amazon news, the company has received permission from the Office of Fair Trading to purchase the smaller company, The Book Depository.  A number of concerns have been raised by third parties.   A spokesman from the Booksellers Association has stated that the decision will make Amazon "the dominant supplier with a stranglehold over the market."

• With the success of HBO's adaptation of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones plus all the excitement over the (finally) published next installment to the series, is it any wonder that Hollywood is looking to bring other works by Martin to the big screen?  Syfy Films has acquired the screen rights to Wild Cards, an anthology series co-written and edited by Martin.  Already at twenty-two volumes, the series includes stories by many of the top writers of science fiction and fantasy.  Syfy Films hopes to turn the series into a modest-budgeted movie.