Waiting on Wednesday, Shakira and a possible book challenge

After a two years in a row of utter fail in reading challenges, I decided - in fact, PROMISED - not to join any more book reading challenges. But since then I came across this

and decided just one easygoing challenge wouldn't hurt. After all, it's low key; it's to encourage reading of books that have been on my TBR shelf/pile/mound/hill/MOUNTAIN; It's only one book a month - I can surely read one book a month, right?
{hosted by Dollycas via Goodreads}
sigh...Then I come across Beth's blog and find
THIS!

Yes. This person is hosting a Terry Pratchett related reading challenge...

Now, I'm not committing myself to it yet {oh hell, you know I'm going to end up at least trying this!}, but if you're a Discworld fan, then you know how tempting this is. Very. I love reading this guy, and he comes through with a book every year - usually around October.
If you're interested in this challenge, go over to OnceUponATime, {click on Terry Pratchett's pic above for the challenge link}
Most likely, I'll be joining - I love reading Terry Pratchett's work and it'll be nice to have an excuse to go back and re-read his work. I'm mostly up to date with his releases, so most of my challenge reads would have to be re-reads. The only thing I haven't read by him is Unseen Academicals in his discworld series. there's an unrelated to Discworld series novel coming out next called The Long Earth which sounds very intriguing - different from his normal work. But then Pratchett does write other things besides the Discworld - not as much, but some others. :) I'm willing to give the other work a try.




Which brings me to Waiting On Wednesday {frequently known as WOW}; I haven't posted one of these for a while {sometimes it's hard to keep up, folks...especially when I'm trying to expand my city in Cityville, find hidden pics in Hidden Chronicles and killing Zombies in Zombie Lane! That's a lot of hard work, very consuming *g* DAMN you FaceBook!}. Today, I feel the need to post an WOW.
Hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine, W0W is a great place to post books we're waiting to read, waiting even to see published.

Suzanne McLeod will have her fourth Spellcrackers.com novel out, which I'm looking forward to very much.

The Shifting Price of Prey is slated to be released in the UK June of 2012. If I have to order from The Book Depository, that's what I'm doing {I HATE waiting for the U.S. release, *g*} The continuing adventures of Genny and co. With McLeod's writing, narration, characters, and dialogue I know I'm going to enjoy The Shifting Price of Prey. Want to see some cool covers? click here for the German version of the Spellcrackers.com novels - love the covers.

As I mentioned earlier {or, higher up in this post} I'm looking forward to reading Terry Pratchett's upcoming The Long Earth. Started way back in the 1980's, apparently this manuscript was put aside when the Discworld books were demanding Pratchett's attention. Lately, Stephen Baxter has teamed up with Pratchett to finish up this novel; it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. Pratchett once before teamed up with another writer {Neil Gaiman on Good Omens} and that turned out pretty good. Sorry - can't find an excerpt of this yet.

Now what should we end with?

another LOLcat? or a music video?

Shakira - an appearance via David Letterman

Shakira takes Salsa dance to a whole 'nother level. Good way to stay in shape, yeah?

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen - review

Married With Zombies

****

Jesse Petersen

Just look at this cover...silhouettes (y'know, my mind went completely blank when I tried to spell out the word "silhouette" - I've seen this word many, many times, but it's the first time I've ever needed to write it and damned if my mind couldn't come up with the correct spelling! frustrating since I'm usually a good speller, only making mistakes when I'm typing too fast....thankfully if you have even the slightest idea of what you want, all you have to do is type it in the search box and your browser takes care of the rest, giving you many links to choose from - and there it was. The correct spelling. The Internet. So handy!) Back to the cover now...Silhouettes only, but you can tell the woman pictured is kick ass, take charge type of woman. She's obviously wearing a power suit, with the requisite high heels to go with it, and ...is that a cleaver in her hand? Why yes it is! What a mix...business suit, high heels and a deadly cleaver...and her man pictured there...looks like he's NOT wearing a suit...but he is holding an axe....What the hell is going on there?

ZOMBIES!

Now when I first bought this book, I thought twice about buying it. I liked the cover, but the blurb - it sounded like it could be a good horror book, but then again, it sounded like it might just be another chick-lit book with horror pretensions...one that ultimately disappoints when wanting to read less chicklit style of novel. In fact, even in the first chapter, I wasn't sure. But within a few pages I was experiencing all the gore and grossness that I could hope for in a zombie! book. Although I wouldn't completely rave about this novel, it did get better and better. Better enough for me to pick up the sequel.

Basically, the two main characters, Sarah and David, are a couple on the brink of divorce. They've been going to marriage counseling for a while, but we all know that counseling only works if you're both willing to go for it...and to forgive each other, come to an acceptance...yadda yadda yadda. But while they're at the appointment - in fact they've been waiting too long to go in....they begin to notice that things are very quiet...too quiet. Turns out even their counselor is a ....well, they barge in on their counselor trying to EAT part of the couple that's in the office ahead of them...they have to fight their way out, and then they leave...having to dodge weirdness in the parking garage...They notice that the freeways are very quiet...no traffic...and things get stranger and stranger.

They finally come to the realization that people are turning into ZOMBIES! and, using knowledge taken from video games and movies, fight their way through the novel. In the beginning of the book they're not only fighting ZOMBIES!, but each other. The fights are just as real and stupid as real life fights between couples can get. Very believable. I'm sure many of us can relate. (snicker) What was fun was experiencing the way they come to an acceptance of each other, find their way back to loving each other, and become stronger and self reliant - yet learn how to finally trust each other's opinion and decisions. Weirdest relationship book I've ever read - and yet it was fun to read it. An added bonus is the advice snippets that are tailored to a world wih ZOMBIES! strategically placed at the beginning of each chapter. This bonus is a gift for couples to follow. :)

If there is such a thing as a lighthearted romp of a book with blood, gore, ZOMBIES! and death, then this novel would fit in that category - a fun, lighthearted romp with ZOMBIES! and true love.

reading challenge:

Horror and Urban Fantasy 2011 Reading Challenge

Defiance by Lili St. Crow - review

Defiance
book four of the Strange Angels series

*****
Lili St. Crow

I did not like the cover of the previous book - because just looking at it, you had no idea that you would be reading an urban fantasy, it really looked like a very blah romance novel cover. The male model in no way resembled the character that I assume it was supposed to portray, and the hair! Her hair is supposed to be kinky curly, out of control curly on the female, but not in the latest covers. This one is a teeny bit better, though not much. Once again, if I weren't already on the look out for this particular book, or if I didn't already have an eye out for the author, nothing about this cover (except for the blue background) would have caught my eye to even take a look. It's boring, it's blah, and just barely surpasses the last cover. Maybe the publishers have a reason for this, but I think that having a more eye-popping cover would be a better draw for new readers. But that's just me, a person who buys books.....books that have covers, sometimes very interesting covers......I wonder what they were thinking. Hmmmmmmm... The cover of the next book, Reckoning, looks more promising.


Thankfully, I enjoyed Defiance very much. I've been a fan of Lilith Saintcrow ever since she first came out with Working For The Devil - one of her adult urban fantasies. In case you haven't heard of this series yet, Defiance is the fourth of the Strange Angels series; about a teen, Dru Anderson who has been traveling around the country with her father, searching out supernatural baddies to exterminate. If you haven't read this series yet, then the following will be spoilerish.

possible

spoilers

ahead

Dru has been learning how to fight as a svetocha (the female dhampir) , continuing with her classes in the "Schola" and missing Graves (her wulfen not quite declared boyfriend) terribly. She's been finding out about her in-consistant growth of powers and is also learning how to sit in meetings - meetings that she hates, because what sane person loves meeting anyway? and how would a teen love a meeting? Nope!

So Dru is becoming frustrated, feeling like nothing much is being done to find and save Graves. She's having issues with her feelings toward Christophe (frankly, so am I) and is not sure that she can trust him to really look for Graves. At the same time, it seems like she's building a stronger relationship with the wulfen, something that the dhampirs don't quite like. Ash, the broken wulfen is also continuing to try to shift all the way back, and is actually making progress - and at the same time showing a strong loyalty to Dru.

One of the things that made me give this novel five stars (really like, even love this novel) as opposed to six stars (Hell Yeah! this is amazing! It's the Shit! Everyone should read this, I want to read it again and again!) is something that brought the story to a grinding halt for me....The book starts out with Dru going on a hunt for vampires and being the bait. There's a part where after running and running and being almost worn out she ends up killing the vampire. She's a bit shaken after this, and it keeps bugging her that she killed this vamp, and the others are making comments and giving her high fives, etc. over her first kill. I'm pretty sure that from the very first book, she's been hunting and killing wulfen, other-worldly baddies and vamps. In fact, in the first book she ends up having to kill her own father - within the first few chapters as a matter of fact....so .....first kill? I'm pretty sure not. The other issue is her thing with Christophe. I know that it's the popular thing to have love triangles and more than one love interest, etc in urban fantasies...but Saintcrow usually doesn't quite "toe the line" in formulaic writing, so I'm surprised that this is coming up...maybe she wants it, I don't know, I'm not the writer....BUT it kind of squicks me out that there's this whole Christophe in love with Dru thing, and Dru being attracted to Christophe and all these furtive kisses and angst over them...the angst I understand...but the whole thing feels....Uncle Pervy to me. Yeah, all these older dhampirs (and vamps/weres in other novels) are all "young" looking and in great shape, etc. but they always end up having this relationship with these girls that are young enough to be their grandaughters (in some cases great-great-great granddaughters). In some books, they've BOUNCED THE BABY ON THEIR KNEE! PLAYED WITH THEM AS A CHILD.... and here they are years later wanting to sex them up. This has always gotten to me...sometimes more than others - I guess it depends on the author, the book, the storyline etc. In Dru's case, there were inferences of Christophe being in love with Dru's mom in the previous books....and suddently - no, he was never in love with her, simply respected her quite a bit, felt BFFish. This was the basis of the previous book - Ana's extreme jealousy over Dru and Christophe. This was strongly hinted at in the last two books. Only now, it's okay suddenly for Christophe to be in love with Dru. The one thing that kind of saves it (for me) is that even Dru mentions in her internal dialogue that she's a little spooked about the whole age/Christophe/mom/history thing. Besides, she is pretty sure that she loves Graves - although they haven't quite come out and said "You Mine, Me Yours" quite yet. I know this isn't a popular feeling if you're a reader of vamps and weres and even some historical romances (some of them have the whole older knight or lord in love with the young naiive thing that was a child when seen last...and God's Balls, look how they've, er she's grown!) I don't consider myself a prude (hell, some of my best friends are porn stars...lol, not really) but to be honest, I do get an Uncle Pervy vibe from this type of situation. And with the older housewives panting after the young actors in Twilight movies....LADIES! Control, Control! LOL. Those two issues made this novel for me a five star rating rather than a six star rating. Hell, most people only go up to five stars anyway, so possibly, BFD - right?

My small disappointment aside, the novel was mostly very enjoyable to me. I've come to expect a certain amount of lyrical, descriptive writing. St.Crow is good at this. When you are reading a fight scene, you can almost feel the pain, hear the grunts (which aren't over done with descriptions of screams - I hate reading about how a person, especially a female, screams while fighting - yell, shout or bellow - cut down on the screams, okay? 'cause when I "hear" the screams, they sound ....shrieky to me, not like a strong angry...bellow), smell the surrounding scene, etc. When Dru is running, her locket (an important part of her) bounces, turning cold or hot. When she's getting angry her hair is curling with a life of its own - when danger looms, a taste blossoms in the back of her throat. Some would find this repetative, and in another hand, it might be - but here it's a complimentary part of the writing. You really get a feel for the complete atmosphere of the situation. With some items, Dru's hair - or the silver tinkling charms in another book's character's hair - the item is almost a secondary supporting character. The Locket that warms up or gets cold according to the danger level - or Dru's emotions. The taste of oranges when danger is coming. The flapping of the owl wings - Dru hears them often before she even notices her owl - the one she associates with her Gran. The changing colors and curling of Chrisophe's hair, and the fragrance of Christophe and Graves. (always a yummy smell - always better than the old sock smell that teen boys usually have in reality - *g*) This is a part of St. Crow's writing that I think is great.

Some subplots (I know there's a better word for this....story arc? conflict? this is where I prove that I am in no way a pro at reviewing or even of the english language! HAHAHA! - hand on hip!) are resolved in Defiance, and another plot point opens by the end of Defiance....I am really looking forward to the next novel. In fact, by the end of this book, Dru has pulled off a major feat, and has re-taken charge of her life! She rebels in a major way, kicking ass and asking questions later. You GO GIRL! KICK THEIR ASSES! Got my BLOOD UP!

From what I've read on Ms Saintcrow's blog, the next book - Reckoning - will be the final book. Lili St.Crow is a master at writing a series with a beginning and end. A lot of her books are five or six book series - Dante Valenting (five books) , Jill Kismet (five or six) and now the Strange Angels (five, I think). Although it's a bittersweet acknowledgement - this engaging series is ending, I'm also very curious - what is next? I wonder if there will be another kick-ass Young Adult series, or another adult series....Of the novels that I've read by Lili St.Crow (or Lilith Saintcrow), I've highly enjoyed all of them.
Also writes as:

• Anna Beguine


• Lilith Saintcrow
  

Reading Challenges:

• Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011


• Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge 2011

Magic On The Hunt by Devon Monk

Magic On the Hunt

******

Devon Monk

If you don't have the book in front of you, you aren't going to get the full effect of the cover. You can barely see it here, but there are the magic marks on her right arm, just like in the book - and the bands of black on her left arm, just like the book...I just wish that they would show the magic swirls on her face. they're described as going all the way up to her face - the temple and near her eye...just show it, it'd be pretty cool. At least she's not looking too skinny here - there's one cover where she just doesn't look like she's ever done any walking - her main mode of transportation. The rest of the cover is pretty good - the background building, the swirls ....good cover. Best of all, her very cool sword.

From the very first novel, Devon Monk has written a kick-ass series. Magic On the Hunt is no exception to this. I feel like there isn't much for me to say at this point. This is the fifth book in the series, and if you haven't started this series yet, I'm surprised. If you have started reading this series, you won't be disappointed - there is more of what I enjoy about this series. The conversation between the characters - between Shame and Terric, Shame and Zay, Shame and Allie, Allie and Zay, Allie and her father, etc. There were a few tense moments between Allie and Zay - nice to know that their's isn't one of those maddeningly perfect unions where they're constantly gushy at each other. No, they get pissed at each other.

Allie continues to have her father in residence in her brain - even though Victor and Shame try to excorcise him. There is an escape from a supposedly escape proof prison for the magical criminals....and someone breaks into Allies apartment, attacks Allie and Zay in pursuit of another...spoilers.

Allie and Zay go in chase of this attacker(s) and keep finding more and more mayhem. There are a few spots where I started to suspect that Victor isn't all that he seems....but so far he's on the same side as Allie and Zay. I can't say why I get this feeling, I could be very wrong, but it'll be interesting to see in the future what's up with Victor.

Allie and Zay's chase of the attackers is complicated by rules and regulations of the Authority, and then by the complication of outside bigwigs coming to check out what's going on in Portland...

During this search for perps, Allie finds out more about her father, more about her and her memory losses (ARE they all caused by magic use?). Just WHAT kind of father WAS Beckstrom to Allie, anyway? He's still a bit of a mystery, and while portrayed by Allie and others to be evil and ruthless - I wonder if that's there's more to Daniel Beckstrom than that. There seems to be some layers that need to be pulled back.

So much is going on - and even though some things get resolved, there's plenty more that needs to be solved. I feel like this is all very vague, what I've written. But really - to go in depth on any review of these books would be giving out some serious spoilers.

Magic On The Hunt is a satisfying read, plenty of fighting, magical and physical. Lost of snark that's fun to read from Shame. And best of all, there is the continuing presence of the gargoyle, Stone...who has taken a liking to Cody...remember Cody? from book one. He's been living with Allie's best friend, Nola in a magically neutral farm...only they come to visit at a very inopportune time - right when someone is looking for a host for a certain...spirit.

Zayvion - wow, he shows some previously hidden depths also....oh, boy.

As usual with a Devon Monk novel, I didn't find one slow moment in the book - things seemed to just flow along, from one fight to chase to a fight to ....a lot happens. but ...and this is very sad for me...Zay has lost his dreadlocks. I like dreadlocks..... :( Why couldn't he keep them! sigh.... Those slow moments, almost every book and a lot of movies have them. They're somehow harder to take in a movie, almost enough to make me sleep. In a book, it's enough to make me look up, get up, go get a drink, use the facilities, etc.....when the slow moments are bad enough, or get too frequent, then it's enough to make me put the book aside....one of my quirks...the other quirk is the dialogue thing....So a slow moment in a book isn't always a bad thing...but it can be if not tempered with some good dialogue or interesting narration.

If you've been following the Magic series - make sure you get this one. And Ms Monk has been kind enough to see that we get our Allie fix every six months or so. That's got to be pretty tough - writing that many books - along with her new steampunk (Dead Iron = coming July 2011, just in time for my birthday) , and the anthology (A Cup of Normal) that she released recently.

Horror & Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011

OH! one more thing. As if writing many books and maintaining a blog, having a family, etc, isn't enough....Devon Monk KNITS. yes. She knits, and she doesn't just knit scarves and blankets...oh no. This woman knits fingerless gloves (ala becksgtrom style), little monsters, etc. as well as Stone, the Gargoyle. Boy, it would be cool to have a knitted Stone Gargoyle to hang out with the Magic books on the bookcase, wouldn't it? I could play with it while I'm reading, making him fly through the air, stack things, attack the grandchildrent and say..."What!...he's a gargoyle, he can't help it!" Could be very fun. Mwhahahahaha.....

Read to Me!

The two main picture books read in the library today were

7. Dog Breath, the horrible trouble with Hally Tosis by Dav Pilkey- There is a wonderful, very friendly dog named Hally. She lives with the Tosis family. They love her....but they don't love her horrible, rotten breath. Her breath makes the trees cringe away from her....I have to hand to to Dav Pilkey. Reading this book, we have a very nice lesson in acceptance and love. Even though she stinks soooo bad, her kids love her, and she does help out the family. Funny book with a lot of funny word play that might be above some younger children's head, but might make others laugh. I know I had a few chuckles just reading this out loud.

8. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by A. Wolf (Jon Scieszka) A. Wolf insists he was framed. He has details and the true facts....It was all about a sneeze, a cup of sugar...and if you saw a dead pig lying there, would you waste a perfectly good meal? He compares this to wasting a cheeseburger. I love this story, it's so classic in the "it's not my fault" department. There are a couple of rude remarks here (one of the pigs tells the wolf that his granny can just go sit on a pin...). The humor is high, the excuses are many - Jon Scieszka is a genius
:)

The Read To Me Picture Book Challenge

I don't know why this escaped my notice before - I frequently lurk on There's A Book blog - but for some reason this just didn't register with me.

Until tonight.

Full details can be found at Danielle's site, There's A Book. Basically, it's a challenge of reading and reviewing picture books. Either reading them on your own, or to a child.

I work in an k-8 library, and while I don't read to the 5-8th graders, I do read to the k-4th graders, so I go through a lot of picture books. I especially like reading the funny books.

I also have two grandchildren that I usually read to on the weekends, although the last two weekends, we didn't read very much. We need to get back in the rythym of reading, at least at bed time.

So with all this in mind, I am going to join this challenge, even though the year is pretty close to half over.

There are different levels, and though I think I read a lot, I'm going to go for the lower levels...cause the year is half over anyway *g*

My challenge will be "watering" - reading to a child (or children in my case) at least 36 books for the year (or the rest of the year. *g*)

I hope to post my first review tomorrow - This week I've already read:

Stanley's Wild Ride - Linda Bailey

A Case of the Stripes - David Shannon

Smelly Socks - Robert Munsch**

Get Out of Bed - Robert Munsch

More Pies - Robert Munsch

**Robert Munsch is like a contemporary Tall Tale Teller - he writes the most amazingly absurd stories for kids. They never fail to bring on the laughs, which is one of my favorite parts of reading aloud to children. :)

coming up for the 3rd and 4th graders - the continuing adventures of How To Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell, quite a bit different from the movie. Cressida Cowell is an UK citizen, by the way, in case there's is a read UK challenge going on anywhere (haven't found any, myself this year)

and for my own grandchildren a pack of the Skippy Jon Jones books by Judith Schachner

In case you've never heard of Skippy Jon Jones, my puppy (now two) is a half chihuahua, half smooth fox terrior - and named after the book character of SkippyJon Jones (courtesy of my granddaughter) because the book character is a siamese cat who thinks like a chihuahua, even though his "mamalita" cat encourages him to think like a cat. When granddaughter was a year old, getting towards two, she helped me name my dog. It took a week to come up with a name for him, but this is the name that stuck. However, we don't always call him by his full name. Sometimes he's SkippyJon, sometimes he's Skippy and sometimes he's "asshole" - depending on what he's doing. He's mischievious. :)

Challenge, Teasers, etc

I've only joined in on one reading challenge so far this year. The way my reading is going, (I'm averaging a whopping one book per week - whew! ), I'm not sure it's such a good idea to even try for more; however there are a couple other challenges that are calling to me.....Really there are more than a couple more, but I'm officially going to sign up for two more at the moment. We'll just have to see how it goes.

The Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge 2011 is hosted by The Book Vixen. The basis of this one is to read more books in 2011 than in 2010. This is the one that I'll have to push myself on, because my reading has actually SLOWED down since last year, and I'm doubtful that I'll even be able to read the same amount as last year. lol. But I'm going to try.
According to the books that I kept track of (who knows, I might have forgot to list a book here or there) I read 54 novels (this isn't including any anthologies, because I can take up to a year or longer to read every story from an anthology - hey. they are full of short stories. I'm assuming it's okay to read a short story when ever I feel like it, not read the whole anthology right through)

I am going to go easy on myself, though, and sign up for the absolutely easiest level. This would be the - Getting My Heart Rate Up Level: 1 - 5 more books this year than last. The challenge goes from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. haha - so far, I've read 7 books. seven.

Then there is also;Darlyn, of Darlynandbooks is hosting the 2011 Fantasy Reading Challenge. There are four levels, Curious (3), Fascinated (6), Addicted (12)and Obsessed (20). I'm going for Fascinated, so will try to read 6 fantasy novels for 2011. This sounds easy, but mostly I read urban fantasy, and this is for straight fantasy...a la Patricia McKillip fantasy (love her). Like most challenges, this one runs from January 1 to December 31, 2011. It's also possible to change your goal.

Now I've never posted an official "wrap up post" at any book challenge site, so I'll be looking for ideas with format by reading other wrap-up posts - just to get an idea how it's done, not to plagiarize. :)

Now, Finally - Tuesday Teaser....Teaser Tuesday!

Hosted by Miz B at ShouldBeReading, this is one of the fun MeMes I like to participate in. I get to tease with sentences from books I'm reading. Of course, full guidelines are at Miz B's site, but main thing is NO spoilers and credit the author and book.

This week's reading (the books within reach anyway) are...

The Iron Witch by Karan Mahoney (aka Kaz)

from page 102

'....Crazy Homeless Dude lowered his head to Xan's face and...what the hell was he doing? Donna watched with repulsion as the man's teeth suddenly seemed sharper, like there were too many of them to fit properly in this mouth.'

Masques by Patricia Briggs

from page 7

'...Everyone feared him. Everyone. Even Him, even the one who searched. She smelled of horse, sweat, and something sweet. No Fear.

He snarled, and she wrapped one hand over his muzzle. Sheer astonishment stopped his growls. Just how stupid was she? '

Me, pretty much every morning....lol

2011 Fantasy Reading Challenge

It's possible that I'm being totally foolish in planning to enter more than ONE reading challenge, but the very idea of reading challenges pulls me in....even though I don't really do so well at them. Last year I signed up for way too many challenges that, in theory, should have all cross-qualified and should have worked out well. Problem was, I'm pretty sure that there actually are books that I read that I didn't list - anywhere. And there was also a definite slowdown in my reading....and when it came right down to it, it was hard for me to find books with qualifying titles, or books that interested me enough to finish that would have qualified for a challenge or two. The challenge I did the best in was the Speculative Fiction challenge, and the second best was the YA reading challenge. I didn't do so bad in the POC reading challenge, but I also didn't sign up for a huge amount of books. My main love of reading is for urban fantasy or Sci-fi novels, and it was much easier to find POC characters in other genres, such as plain old literature, or romance and those two genres don't really keep my interest. I'm still always open for POC writers recommendations by the way - hopefully for urban fantasy and sci-fi.

Well, the point of this post was to officially sign up for the 2011 Fantasy Reading challenge hosted by darlynandbooks. I'm keeping it at a middle of the road level.... the Fascinated level, which is 6 books. I can probably handle that. The challenge runs from January 1, 2011 to December 31st, 2011. Thanks Darlyn for hosting this challenge! Take a look at the cool challenge button, also. Beautiful.

Zoo City - review

Z00 City
******

by Lauren Beukes

I've already posted a bit about the cover. It's a great cover that represents the characters in the story very well...and those animals you see? they have a big part to play.

Zoo City is the first book in over a month that I was able to read in just a few days. feels good. I really enjoyed this novel.

Zinzi December (main character) is an animalled....there are a lot of animalled people in Zoo City. It happens to people who have a huge load of guilt, and seems to be related to magical ability. The story takes place in South Africa and Ms Beukes does a wonderful job of painting word pictures of the places Zinzi goes; the slums of Zoo City, the slowly deteriating Jo'burg, the dusty streets of parts of the city.

An urban fantasy with a good mystery contained within, Zoo City is the story of how Zinzi, a finder of lost things, ends up pressured to find a missing person. This is something she usually does not do. There's quite a twist towards the end and a smaller twist after that. It's a hell of a book.

The dialogue was wonderfully real between characters. The narrative, first person present tense, was page turning. I enjoyed Zinzi's point of view. Zinzi doesn't always do wonderful things, but she's not living a girl scout life, either. She has quite a past.

The characters were extremely interesting, and each one stood on their own.

If you want to read an urban fantasy that is a bit different from any other you've read, this would be the one. If you enjoy reading "real" characters that aren't always the best behaved, but are people getting by the best they can, this is a book to read. Hell, if you enjoy a very good story - this is a good book.

I was thinking of using it for a giveaway, but then I kind of want to read it again.

Horror & Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011

POC Reading Challenge

I'm biting the bullet...

Well, sort of. :)

Last year I signed up for quite a few challenges, reading challenges that is. (certainly not PHYSICAL challenges...LOL).

I didn't do so well, in fact I think I had less than a 20 % success rate. :(

At least I tried.....kind of...well I tried as hard as I could.

I'm now a little wary of trying to do reading challenges this year.

But Book Chick City is hosting a challenge in my favorite genre, Urban Fantasy.

Specifically, this challenge will be the Horror & Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011

I have to do it.

Have to.

Will.

I'm doing it, signing up!

:)

A Challenge and a Book.

I was lurking around on a few blogs tonight, clicked on The Geeky Book Blogger - where I saw this new challenge - and it looks like a challenge I might be able to handle (LOL). Namely, read a few more books this coming year than the previous year. I can do that. Sure, no problem.....maybe. The challenge is Out Do Yourself Reading Challenge and is hosted by The Book Vixen.

Tonight, or rather today, I received a book package in the mail. Witch Hunt, by Devin O'Branagan. I love the cover of this book. It's dramatic. I like the font. It's dramatic without being too much. This book was previously released 20 years ago, but has been reworked and updated. I read the prologue as soon as I opened the book package up (or course!). It's going to be good. I was already angry at one man's reaction to his own fear, and to have a feeling right away in a book is a good sign. When you're reading a book and you feel nothing at all for any of the characters....then that's not a good sign. So I have hopes for this book. By the way, this is the same woman who has written Glory, the young adult novel I read recently. Although this book isn't young adult, it's intended for adults.

I should be able to finish Bitter Angels tonight - if I can stay off of Farmville and concentrate on reading tonight, or stop lurking around on other people's blogs....then I would love to sink into Witch Hunt. I should also go shopping for the grandchildren's X-mas gifts soon....but i don't feel like it. I just want to lay around and read. :)

Links, I'm a failure, TBR piles, and Caramel - sweet caramel

One of the blogs I follow is by a woman that has reached retirement age...this woman is funny as hell. I always get a laugh when I visit her blog. I usually do my lurking thing, but I love to read her blog. Saturday's blog is a collection of cartoons - not sure where she got them, but they're something else. If you're easily offended, skip it, but I laughed. Go to Eva's blog Wrestling with Retirement.

Over at There's a Book, 1st daughter, (Danielle) is hosting a weekly meme called "A Little Bit of Me". I hardly ever do this meme (okay, I don't think I ever have) because I'm weird about what I want to talk about regarding me. (sometimes you can't shut me up, and sometimes I can't open up) but this week, the questions is regarding what we're grateful for.

Very Quickly: I am grateful for being alive, and for having grown children with the extensions of their significant others, the grandchildren that are so very fun to be around, the pets in my life and my work "family" (work mom, work daughter, work cousin, etc. these are people that you wish you were really related to. LOL)

One more thing - I am very grateful that I am a reader - that I'm able to buy (and occasionally win) books. In this age of technology I've also been able to actually have text conversations with authors and people that I would never have come across without the internet. There are those that I've had fun conversations with about books, about similar issues that we are going through,...and there are two authors that I consider my online friends - one all the way over in another country, and one in another state. It's great that technology has allowed us to be a kind of penpal, and to keep in touch with each other - and this all can be traced back to a love of books. (Waving to Suzanne and Julie - I love your books!) There is a lot to be grateful for, and I'm only listing the basics.

There is another fun blog that I used to follow - Since Erika went over to another blog provider, I haven't been able to "follow" her as easily, especially since I don't seem to get the notifications of when a new entry is posted by her, even though I signed up for notifications...Whatever. The Girl Next Door Grows up hosts a Feel Good Friday meme, where every Friday you find something in your life that's positive to post about. I don't always do it - mainly because I'm basically lazy, usually exhausted by Thursday nights, and by Fridays I'm not feeling that great about anything...except seeing my grandchildren...but it's still an important weekly meme. I should be trying to do this every week, and maybe one day I'll start posting this meme again....In the meantime, take a look at her previous posts - she's on "blogcation" until Thanksgiving. Think about adding this meme to your blogs.

I have so many wonderful, interesting books in my TBR pile(s) that I have a hard time deciding which book to concentrate on after I finish a book. It's even harder to decide after I've finished a great book like Magic Bleeds, or Magic At The Gate. (just two examples of the many great books that I've read in 2010) I think when I read a great urban fantasy book that will make other normally good books pale in comparison - that I should just read a book in another genre. Maybe this would be a good time to start that Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum novel - Wicked Appetite, featuring Diesel. (nope - not the Diesel of Riddick fame. This is a completely book fictional character, as opposed to a movie star) Actually, I don't think this book even has Stephanie Plum's character in it, so it might not count as a Plum book...and it's kind of paranormal.....and I'm not sure if I can use it for one my many almost failed book reading challenges....GREAT! Now I'm still wondering what to read!!!!! There is a book titled the Manny. About a male that takes a position as a male influence for the kids of a rich woman whose husband is always....gone or something.Yeah - that's the one. I just have to remember which TBR pile it's on, the one in my bedroom, the one in my living room or the one in the garage...

At school today, the children were offered sliced apples with dipping caramel. Yummm, caramel. I was able to get a taste. I love caramel, and I love mixing the apple taste with the caramel. I really was looking forward to this wonderful treat. Ummm, ummm, um. I saved the caramel for later, and forgot about it until I got home. No matter, I decided to have it later, when I wanted a little snack. When it was time, I got out the sliced apples, and found the little packet of caramel. Opened it up, and dipped a piece of apple in it, and put it in my mouth - anticipating the wonderful taste of caramel.........Let's just say here, that not all caramel is created equal. I don't know how they managed it, but they seemed to find the one maker of caramel that doens't know good caramel taste! This "caramel" was grainy in texture and had the taste of MAPLE! IT TASTED LIKE MAPLE, LIKE THICK CONGEALED, KIND OF FAKE MAPLE. Yuk. I threw it away, and found the container of Marzetti Old Fashioned Caramel that I had recently found at our store. Now THAT is a good caramel- smooth, sweet, rich caramel. No Maple taste! Just wonderful caramel. Ahhhh! Life is better now - but why are they serving the school children substandard caramel? What a sin!

Speaking of substandard...I am failing miserably on my reading challenges. For some reason, I can't even get my sh** together enough to post the reading challenges at the bottom of my reviews. I haven't been posting them at the original challenge sites. It seems that once I failed at the 2010 Countdown Reading Challenge, that my brain gave up on the others. I sat down tonight to try to catch up on the challenges, to list the books I've read lately and see which challenges they fell under...and instead I ended up writing about other things. This coming calender year I think I might only try one or two challenges. I went obsessivly, compulsively overboard on the reading challenges - and really though I could pull it off - NOPE! Not happening. I couldn't do it. I should have known, with all the times that I get sick, or all the times I end up babysitting instead of reading....of all the hours I have to spend working for a living! that I wouldn't be able to do this. Well, live and learn. Apparently no matter how old you are, there are always things to be learned, whether you want to learn them or not. And I get to learn these little life lessons...all the time one of these little life lessons are slapping me in the face! Thanks life! I guess it means I'm alive, and we all know it's good to be alive. LOL

So my plan for the rest of the year? if I can, I'll keep reading. If I happen to make one of the challenges - than good for me. If not - it's not a life changing miss - I'll just (feel like I'm a FAILURE, A FAILURE AT LIFE!!!) know that at least I tried, and did the best I could...sort of. Now that I'm finished putting off my challenge update - maybe another day. I'm going to go look for a book to read.

:)

The Undomestic Goddess

The Undomestic Goddess

*****

Sophie Kinsella

fiction

401 pages

The first book I ever read by Sophie Kinsella was Shopaholic Takes Over Manhattan. While I thought the main character was a complete boob, the book was written well. It read easily, and there were times where I cringed for the character and other times that I laughed pretty hard.

The second book I read by her was Can You Keep a Secret. Another very well-written book. I could just feel with the main character, her embarrassment, her anger, her happiness.

Remember Me? is another very good book by Sophie Kinsella. I've been meaning to buy Undomestic Goddess for a long time, but this and that kept me from it. I finally bought it a while ago with b-day gift-card. Wonderful book.

The main character, Samantha Sweeting, is an overacheiving workaholic who keeps a rather messy desk. She also has near photographic memory. She's up for partnership in a law firm, and one day her messy desk gets her in trouble - big trouble.

She panics - absolutely panics and just leaves London - ending up in a very small town, and accidently gets hired as a housekeeper. The only problem is that she's never ever done any type of housecleaning. She doesn't even know how to do a load of laundry.

So here is this highly intelligent lawyer, trying to fake housecleaning knowledge and she makes the stupidest mistakes. This very handsom gardener on her first day of work just watches her make mistake after mistake....

Don't worry, he comes through for her later.

This was a fun read. Sophie Kinsella has a gift for making the reader feel embarrassed for Samantha and want to root for her, no matter how clueless she is to normal life in the beginning of the story. Samantha is basically a strong character that has had such a rude awakening to mistake making that she doesn't know how to handle and loses her way and self-confidence almost completely. The novel chronicles her journey from making a new life, to deciding to fight back for her old life and the choices she makes, the consequences to be had.

There are some great characters in the book. One of the reasons she's able to fake her housekeeper skills is because her new employers are new to being rich and having staff. Their attitudes are amazing. Quite a funny couple in a twisted way.

The Undomestic Goddess was a great summer read. I got through it in a 24 hour period, and was left with a happy feeling for Samantha. It's like a contemporary fairytale, complete with a happy ending. It's good to read a happy ending once in a while. :)

Reading Challenges

2010 Countdown Challenge for 2005

Typically British Reading Challenge

City of Ghosts

City of Ghosts

****** Oh hell, let's give it more ****

by Stacia Kane

urban fantasy


City of Ghosts is the third book of the Downside Series by Stacia Kane. In this novel, Chess has a huge mystery to solve and is paired with a member of the Black Squad, an elite section of the Church's investigative section. While she is dealing with this member, who is arrogant and hard for Chess to work with, Chess is also dealing with her broken heart of extreme feelings of guilt and low self-esteem. She has less respect for herself, and is using even more drugs. Because her drug dealer is in charge of part of her life, she gets thrown together with Terrible even though he doesn't want to be near her, and being around him is breaking her heart. This book was great, and you might need a few tissues.

The writing is good, the story was great, the heartbreak heartbreaking, and the choices Chess makes are hard. You can just see her in a kind of freefall with her life. Nothing is going right for her, and she is in danger, with even less protection at times than she had before.

Chess is investigating what seems to be serial kills, body parts have been left here and there - but as usual with Chess, nothing is as simple as it first seems. There are quite a few twists in City of Ghosts. A strange looking little girl tries to steal something from her purse, a strange new vendor of magic potions shows up in the Downside Market place, even church members are being killed.

Even with all life seemingly against her, Chess still makes her self go through daily life, she still goes to work, she still tries to work out what's happening with the ghosts, and she still tries to just survive.

Even though there isn't much of Lex featured in this novel, he does have a part here. Most of the novel focuses on Terrible - along with the disastrous mystery and killing that Chess is trying to solve.

This is an amazing book and when I finished it, I was already missing reading it. I recommend it for the fresh twist on the urban fantasy female character. Chess isn't perfect, not by a long shot. She's very vulnerable and yet doesn't behave in the typical lash out at everyone way that some characters do in other book.

I love the fresh new twist in urban fantasy that Stacia Kane gives us with this character and series. Ghosts, a drug addicted main character that is functioning in her own little world, trying to keep her drug use a secret and trying to stay isolated from people even while she is falling in love and breaking her own heart as well as other's.

On a more personal level, I'm am glad to see a character like Chess Putnam. I think most likely it'll also mean a lot to many other women out there who have led less than stellar lives. There's a lot of people who have been through a lot, made some poor choices and still manage to work, raise families, love children and family and make as good a go at things as they can. Life is full of people like that. We might not all be fighting ghosts and demons - but there are lots of other hurdles that many face. Some need crutches - some need crutches forever and never come out of it, and some need these crutches temporarily and go on with our lives. Not everything is black and white in the world, and there are many levels of existing, and a lot of us do the best we can with what we have. We don't always make the best choices, but a lot of us pick ourselves up, hopefully learn something along the way, and try our damnednest to make as good a life as we can. I'm not sure if I'm expressing my thoughts clearly enough. What matters in the end, I think is how well you love your self, your family and how much you TRY to do what you can do.

Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series so far, and I hope to see more about Chess, Terrible, Lex and others in the Downside.

Other books in the series

Unholy Ghosts (#1)

Unholy Magic (#2)

Other series by Stacia Kane

Personal Demons (Megan Chase #1)

Demon Inside (Megan Chase #2)

Demon Possessed (Megan Chase#3)

E-book Be A Sex-Writing Strumpet

Stacia Kane has also written quite a few erotic fiction novels under the name December Quinn (sound familiar to anyone? I remember seeing the name before, but didn't know about the connection until Stacia had written Personal Demons). Her alter ego's books are still available, though December Quinn is at the moment in retirement.

Reading Challenges

Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge

The Pack

The Pack

****

L.M. Preston

facebook, twitter, blogspot

YA Science Fiction
Phenomenal One Press

Before I write my thoughts on the book - take a look at the cover. I mentioned this before, but I really like the cover. Based on her parent's descriptions, I would have liked to see slightly darker skin pictured on Shamira, but the rest is pretty cool. I love the sky color, the cloud colors, the color of the ground, and that's a pretty wicked looking blade she has there. Oh, and I would have made her bottom bigger too, you'll understand when you read a little further on. But, love the hair and the general feel or atmosphere of the cover. It looks like it's hot there, like it's arid and sandy and .... hello MARS!

The Pack - there's a good plot to this story, and some very interesting characters. The main character is a 16 year old blind girl named Shamira who has a younger brother, mom and dad. Get this - They live on MARS. I love this concept. Apparently Mars is being colonized; a kind of experiment - colonized with minor petty criminals who have shown that they can behave.....

Shamira's mother and father are Elites, on a security task force, in charge of a sector of Mars. I kind of felt bad for Shamira, because her mother comes across as angry and cold, very disapproving of Shamira. Dad, comes across a little warmer. But wait - it seems that Shamira has a problem with listening to her parents. When they want her to stay in, she goes out to search out criminals.....

Shamira is searching out criminals because kids and Elite personnel are being kidnapped. There is a "black market" going on, drugs for sale and all kinds of illicit things are going on. Shamira has honed her own senses to the point where she doesn't really need real eyesight to get around. Her father has trained her in self defense, and Shamira has enhances strength - more than her parents seem to be aware of. Shamira also suffers from intense rage, and this worries her. Shamira feels compelled to try to figure out what's going on and how to stop the kidnappings. This feeling of responsibility is amplified when the crimes come close to home. Throughout all of this, Shamira is trying to control her rage.

There's a lot more to this novel, but I don't want to put in spoilers - Hope I haven't already. There are however, lots of fun gadgets that are in use on Mars. There are generators that emit oxygen. There are "smart houses" - the rooms sense when someone enters, and adjusts lighting and temperature automatically. Shamira has a motocycle that she can drive even though she's blind. The "cars" and cycles not only drive on the ground, but they can be FLOWN. This is so cool. There are other teens in this book that are improving on gadgets and inventions that help with strength, speed, hearing - etc. These gadgets and "toys" are a science fiction buff's dream. Lots of fun things. I love L.M. Prestons's imaginative use of all these gadgets.

I enjoyed the story, there was an excellent plot twist, lots of action and fight scenes - even Shamira's rage was kind of fun, when she used it right. Shamira's personality was a bit prickly - a result of the way other kids treated her as she was growing up (and possibly her mother's coldness). I don't know if it was purposely done, but the mom seriously came across as hard-hearted and angry for most of the book. Shamira's mistrust of others affected the way she relates to everyone that she meets and has to deal with, except for her little brother. I liked that Shamira was forced to rely on others at one point, though she struggle with it and does NOT want to work with anyone, she did learn some valuable lessons about trust and friendship. There is even the barest beginnings of romance - rather sweetly done with a light touch.

I've read a few other reviews, where reviewers question her parents' decision to put Shamira through an operation to cure her blindness. This was interesting for me, because Shamira was hesitating - not really wanting to have her eyes fixed, showing an understandable resistance to change when she thought she was getting along just fine without "real" eyesight. But there are some definite benefits for her after the operation, which come into play throughout the book.

It's not until Shamira is able to fully visualize her parents that you learn that Dad is dark brown, and Mom is golden brown - and that's pretty much it for the skin color of the characters. It's mentioned as a descriptive device - Shamira loves the color of her dad and her mom, she's surprised at size of her "bump" in the back, but soon comes to accept it. Refreshingly - these Mars inhabitants have so many other things to worry about, skincolor or ethnicity seems to be a non-issue (which is how things SHOULD be - I'm this color, you're that color, he's another color, big deal). It feels like a subtle message of acceptance to me, which I liked.

The author wrote this book with middle grade students in mind. But be aware that there might be some middle grade students that just aren't ready for the mature content of the book. Other than the fights, there are no graphic scenes - but there are inferences to sexual abuse (very subtle inferences - the language used is pretty benign, but if you're aware of what goes on, then you catch on to what's happening) , to child slavery and outright killing - with revenge being mentioned as a reason. It's kind of understandable in the context; Shamira is ready to kill for her family members, but it might not be the best message to put out for certain tweens - or teens. For a well adjusted teen with common sense - no problem. But for some who might be super sensitive, or on the verge of exploding themselves - it's good to be aware. It could lead to some very good talks about ethics, how to handle intense feelings of rage, and revenge....Just feel the need to put it out there. I would totally have let any of my own children read this, but I know there are other parents who really worry about this. On the other hand, there are lots of kids who have already seen movies such as Saw and Hostel, so this could be a non-issue for many. For that matter, there are plenty of children who have lived through some very intense situations themselves. Again, I only mention this, because lately I've been surprised by some of the complaints from student parents regarding the content of books that I wouldn't have had any problem with my children reading.

The story has the feel of a comic book - I mean this in a good way. It's like a comic book that has come to life in a good story, with very dramatic things going on, the gadgets that are used, the utter bravery of the children trying to save other children, the clear emergence of a hero and the lessons that Shamira and even her own parents have to learn. I do like the messages brought by this novel. Children and teens are pushing themselves to the limit to help others, even when they are afraid. Shamira has to learn that her utter distrust of others could actually harm her cause, and also learns that not only does she herself has some flaws, but others have strengths that she needs. Everyone finds their own strengths and flaws.

The dialogue between characters was pretty believable with only a couple of instances that I thought a teen wouldn't use a certain type of wording - but I've noticed this with quite a few YA authors (the few that I've read anyway). Sometimes it seems an author will slip up and have their teen character use language that a professor might use. Thankfully this only occurred a few times - the rest of the time Shamira and others sounded reassuringly like real kids. Of course, these kids ARE children of scientists and well educated people....so that could explain that.

The only other issue that someone else might have is that The Pack would have benifitted from better editing. Now, I'm no author (HAH! not even close!) or editor (I probably need to be edited!) and so this type of thing won't usually bother me, or take away my enjoyment of a book. But I know some people are real sticklers for this, and I do wish publishers that handle the independent writers would provide better editing for their authors. I have no idea how this really works, though - so when I read an independently published book, I try to take this into account and focus on the story - not the editing. The book would have to have quite a few problems with spelling and format to cut my enjoyment, and The Pack has only a few issues with editing/spelling. To be totally honest, lately, there have been a few books put out by major publishing houses that seem to have missed out on some editing and spelling.

My final verdict - Good Story, exciting adventure scenes, good fight scenes, likeable and unlikeable characters (a plus in any novel), fun gadgets, superhero comic book feel to the story, with a light hand in the romance department, strong female characters as well as positive male characters. Glad I read the book.

Interesting note - L.M. Preston's husband founded Phenomenal One Press, using L.M. Preston as his first client. They have a goal of adding more YA authors to their publishing. Hard work and perserverance on both parts of this team is beginning to pay off.

Other books by L.M. Preston
Explorer X - Alpha - available now
Bandits - coming February 2011
Explorer X - Beta - coming July 2011


Reading Challenges
POC Reading Challenge
2010 Speculative Reading Challenge
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

It's Monday! Yeay...yeah, sure AND GLBT reading

First of all, This is something I meant to do at the beginning of the year, but somehow it slipped by me. I believe that every family has at least one or two gay or lesbian family members. It might be a brother, uncle, sister, cousin (I have at least three gay cousins) or even a parent or (gasp!) grandparent (though they're less likely to admit this). In my case, it's my brother as well as some cousins over in Panama. In Panama, the family all knows, but they don't speak about it. They're own version of don't ask, don't tell. This might be only the elders, maybe the young ones are more open - I don't know my family in Panama that well. I know they were all scandalized by my tattoo in 2005. With my brother, it was always in the back of my mind, but I don't remember it ever really affecting the way I felt about him, it just was. When he turned 18 and moved away to study Ballet and then to L.A. to be in Dance Videos I remember finally teasing him about when he was going to come out. It wasn't until at five more years that he came out to our mom, because he really was worried about how she would react. This could be because all our lives she would make these comments like (Imagine a spanish accent with this) "Aye, Those Gays - so Crazy. Why do they want to be with themselves!" it didn't make sense, but basically what she was saying is they already have a penis, what do they want with another one. She never even mentioned the lesbians -at all.

I bring this up, because I think we all need to be more open and honest about things. Gay and Lesbians are here - they always have been and they always will be. Why make things more difficult? My kids all knew about their uncle way before their grandma did. In fact, they spoke about it to their cousins, assuming that all parents were open about this subject like their parents. They were wrong, and I think my sister found out it didn't help to keep things quiet. I follow a blog called GLBT reading, where I (rather late, but better late than never) have joined the challenge to read GLBT literature. I prefer fiction, so that's what I'm concentrating on. Happily, August is mini-challenge for GLBT Speculative fiction.

I would hope that more and more people open up to acceptance so that perfectly wonderful teens and young adults (hell older adults too) don't feel like they have to hide part of themselves from their own family.

And now, for my It's Monday check in, hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

First, I finally finished Moonshine by Alaya Johnson. It's a good book with some wonderful world building, set during The Prohibition, it's gangsters and prohibition -only with vampires and "others". I recommend it - AND if you happen to be participating in the 2010 Persons of Color Reading Challenge, (if you're not, you should try it - believe me, it IS challenging trying to find authors who ARE POC) Alaya Johnson is a POC author.

I also read and reviewed A Wild Light by Marjorie M. Liu, one of the best books that I've read.
Marjorie M. Liu is another POC author.

I am starting (started today, in fact) The Man With The Golden Torc by Simon R. Green. I just figured out that he's from England - never paid attention before, so it'll help with my Typically British Challenge. I couldn't find his own website, just a bunch of other's, so I linked to a place called MY Shelf - click on the book cover.

I have also started a book called The Pack - about a kick-ass girl that lives on Mars. Hello! MARS! Imagine, living on Mars.....wow. The Pack is written by L.M. Preston, who also is a POC author, and published by Phenominal One Press. I like the premise of this book. I'm also going to be giving away some Pack swag soon. Click on book cover for an excerpt of the first three chapters. Love me some excerpts!