Micro-review of the short story Darkness Taken by J.A. Campbell

Contest running now.  click on banner above then look for blog tour stops

Darkness Taken
J.A. Campbell
Dragonthology 
anthology/fantasy
Untold Press
available now

cover - I just love this cover.  It's subtle and with those claw marks, just gets the point across, doesn't it?  Under those 'rips' in the cover are glimpses of words....love it.

Being a shameless fan of J.A. Campbell, the first story I read in the Dragonthology anthology was Darkness Taken by - you guessed it - J.A. Campbell.  I really have a hard time reviewing short stories, because I am always afraid of simply summarizing the story.  When I read a review, I don't always want a rundown on the story - I want to know if the dialogue fits, if the characters sound like real people (depending on the situation or setting, of course), if the narration just pulls me along or if it's too stilted, how the characters are.  

J.A. Campbell has built a world in few words; a world that has children warriors partnering with dragons, unicorns and wolves who fight the Darkness.  Not just the darkness, but The Darkness.  Underneath lies a mystery of why there is no one over 18 in this group (I'm wondering if it's to do with unicorns and communicating with the dragons, unicorns and wolves - a whole believability thing with young people), and where those over 18 go as well as where the babies come from...it's hinted at - but ultimately it's a mystery, perhaps to be explored in another story in this setting (yes?)

The plot for this story is the kidnapping of a unicorn foal, and the rescue attempt that follows.  There are some very creepy elements in this Darkness - when you read this, watch out for the trees.  ugh.  shivery - a good shivery.

Campbell is great with dialogue.  You know when a voice is a dragon's voice, and when a human is speaking.  The dialogue is consistant, and is very believable.  Her narration conveys enough detail that you know what is happening and can follow the story without being overwhelmed with repetitive words or too many details.  When I started reading, my interested was caught and kept through the entire story.   The story contains a good mixture of  sorrow, adventure, horror and humor - which a great mix for a short story; it's a great mix for any length story, actually.

Another good short story by a very talented author with a wonderful imagination.

giveaway and a future post - Dragonthology

One of my all time favorite writers has a story in the Dragonthology anthology. 

I am going to be part of a blog tour - not sure exactly what you're going to see here, but keep your eyes open for a post on January 6, 2013.

AND - there is currently a giveaway where you can win a $25 card, then use it for your very own copy of this anthology - and who doesn't like a good dragon story, or better yet, a book full of dragon stories.  Click on banner below for giveaway link

Dragonthology

Edited by Untold Press

Genres: Fantasy + Mystery, Sci Fi, Humor, Dystopian,

Published: Jan 1 2013

Untold Press www.untoldpress.com

Authors: G.L. Jackson, Jason Andrew, Marian Allen, Jay Wilburn, Troy Lambert, Sandra Graves, J.A. Campbell

Word count: 54 552

Pages 171

ASIN: BooAVLQZ6G

Price:

eBook: 3.99

eBook Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Dragonthology-ebook/dp/B00AVLQZ6G

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragonthology-ebook/dp/B00AVLQZ6G

Amazon IT: http://www.amazon.it/Dragonthology-ebook/dp/B00AVLQZ6G

etc

Jan 1 –March 31- Amazon Prime members can borrow for FREE

(press packet info follows)

Blurb:
Enter the pages of the Dragonthology.  No single story has ever been great enough to contain the mystical, wondrous creature known as the dragon.  We assembled the greatest draconian tales and put them between the covers of a single tome to satisfy your hunger for everything dragon.  Seven magnificent stories, ranging from science fiction to mystery, await you within.

The Case of the Bloodstone Dragon by G.L. Jackson

A washed up has been, Private Investigator Clark is down to his last $100.  That is, until the night a mysterious femme fatale walks through his door weaving a tale of intrigue in hope of recovering an artifact steeped in mystery and danger.  What follows is a raucous ride through a little known human and dragon history, played out on the streets of New York City.

Unto the Breach by Jason Andrew

Jonathan Heller uncovers an unusual secret during one of the bloodiest campaigns of World War One in the middle of horrific trench warfare.  Can he convince an ancient dragon that humanity is worthy of life during their darkest hour?

The Dragon of Sullivan Hall by Marian Allen

A dormitory full of fun loving female students, an angry red dragon with a litter full of hungry whelps, and a particular student of Irish descent.  This won't end well for the dragon.

Egg Hunt by Jay Wilburn

A lonely smuggler must make decisions he never dreamt possible in the darkness of space to elude capture and protect his precious cargo of dragon eggs.  When one of them hatches, it threatens to damage his ship.  Can a person change enough to save a ship, a dragon, and himself?

The Clan by Troy Lambert

Dragons return to the earth and humanity enslaves them with the last remnants of technology of their dying race.  Now the technology of old is fading.  Will the dragons be able to rise again?  Will the humans declare war, or will a peaceful solution be found?  it all rests in the hands of an ancient dragon, and a lowly shepherd and his clan.

Dragon Seeks a Wife by Sandra Graves

What happens when a dragon falls ill and is told he will die in a year and a day unless he finds his one true love?  The only thing a dragon can do.  He sets out on a quest to win the hand of the perfect mate for a dragon-the daughter of the king.  Aided by a Quetzal bird sorcerer, he begins his quest.  An old fashioned fairy tale with a Meso-American twist.

Darkness Taken by J.A. Campbell**
In a land where children are warriors and the only adults are mythical creatures, all are called to fight the Darkness.  Til and her dragon partner, Heliodor, complete the perfect Welcome Ceremony, but their joy is short lived.  The Dark has slain a unicorn and taken her foal back to the Darklands.  Can Til and Heliodor venture where none go and rescue the young unicorn?

**me here - J.A. Campbell is the ONE in this anthology who is one of my alltime favorite authors - you KNOW this is the story I'm reading first!  :) **

Author Bios:

Marian Allen

Marian Allen writes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, humor, horror, mainstream, and anything else she can wrestle into fixed form.

Allen has had stories in on-line and print publications, on coffee cans and the wall of an Indian restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky.

Allen is a member of Quills and Quibbles and the Southern Indiana Writers Group, and is a regular contributor to SIW's annual anthology.

Find out more about Marian at  http://MarianAllen.com  and follow her on twitter @MarianAllen 

J.A. Campbell

Julie has been many things over the last few years, from college student, to bookstore clerk and an over the road trucker. She’s worked as a 911 dispatcher and in computer tech support, but through it all she’s been a writer and when she’s not out riding horses, she can usually be found sitting in front of her computer. She lives in Colorado with her three cats, her vampire-hunting dog in training, Kira, and her Irish Sailor.

She is the author of many Vampire and Ghost-Hunting Dog stories and the young adult urban fantasy series The Clanless.

Find out more about Julie at  www.writerjacampbell.com  and follow her on twitter @Pfirewolf

G.L. Jackson

G.L. Jackson lives in the hills outside Portland, Oregon with her family. She's a licensed massage therapist, but when she's not working at that she's either writing, reading, taking photographs, or indulging in philosophical discussion with the birds, stray cats, raccoons, and other creatures that stop by on a daily basis. Much to the chagrin of her parents, she cut her literary teeth at an early age by writing and performing plays with her two sisters. From there she moved on to stories both short and long, but poetry has remained elusive.  Born and raised on the east coast, she's fallen in love with the Pacific Ocean. The Case of the Bloodstone Dragon is her first detective story.

Find out more about Gwynne at gwynnejackson.wordpress.com  and follow her on twitter @notsuestorm 

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn lives in Conway, South Carolina with his wife and two sons. His novel, Loose Ends: A Zombie Novel, is available now. He has a novella, Circuit Rider, in the acclaimed anthology Realms of the Undead.  He has published a number of horror and speculative fiction stories.

Follow his many dark thoughts @AmongtheZombie on Twitter or at JayWilburn.com. 

Jason Andrew

Jason Andrew lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Lisa.  He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association, and the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.   His short fiction has appeared in markets such as Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic SF, Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in the New World, and Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations.  In 2011, Jason received an honorable mention in Ellen Datlow’s List for Best Horror of the Year for his story “Moonlight in Scarlet”.  Jason also writes for awesome RPG games such as Vampire: the Masquerade and Shadowrun

Find out more about Jason at www.jasonbandrew.com  and follow him on twitter @jasonbandrew

Sandra Graves

Raised in Colorado by European immigrant parents who passed on their love for both great literature and great music, Sandra has had her nose in a book since she first learned to read.  When she isn’t reading, she’s either writing fiction or designing her latest artwork project.  She also owns and operates her own business.

Sandra spent her school years in Denver and her summers attending musical events in the mountain valley of Aspen.  Throughout her youth she was a talented cellist, achieving first chair position in the Colorado Youth Symphony as well as a position in a semi-professional symphony while in high school.  She earned an MA degree in Anthropology from Eastern New Mexico University where she met her husband.  They have been married for more than thirty years.

She currently lives in Minnesota, a state far away from her beloved mountains but featuring thousands of lakes and rivers.  She is combating homesickness by writing a novel that takes place in the years of the Colorado gold rush. She’s looking forward to the necessity of doing on-site research within the next year.

Find out more about Sandra at www.IsisRising08.com 

Troy Lambert

Troy began his writing life at a very young age, penning the as yet unpublished George and the Giant Castle at age six. He grew up in Southern Idaho, and after many adventures including a short stint in the US Army and a diverse education, Troy returned to Idaho, but the north end of the state this time, where he currently resides.

Troy works as a freelance writer and researcher by night, and the Museum Operations Specialist and Head of Research at the Wallace District Mining museum by day. He truly loves to write dark, psychological thrillers and released Broken Bones, a collection of his short stories, last September to great acclaim and with reasonable success. His new thriller Redemption is available now.

Troy lives with his wife of eleven years, two of his five children and two very talented dogs. He is a skier, cyclist, hiker, fisherman, hunter, and a terrible beginning golfer. The sequel to Redemption, titled Temptation will be released early in 2013.

Find out more about Troy at www.troylambertwrites.com  and follow him on twitter @authortroy

Back to me now - lots of info on these authors.  I haven't yet read anything by any of these authors except for J.A. Campbell, but these blurbs on the stories sound very interesting, so I'm looking forward to seeing what these writers have to offer - after all, that's one of the best things about anthologies - you get exposure to authors that you might never have otherwise heard of, or read.  Keep alert for further posts - or at least for a post coming up on the 6th of January.

Link to giveaway of The Care and Feeing of Stray Vampires by Molly Harper

You can win a copy of Molly Harper's The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires

Just go to Tynga's site and enter .

I hear Molly Harper is a good writer - I've never read her yet, but if it's funny, I would love to read it.

It's Monday, Baby - the first Monday of 2012

It's time for one of my rare giveaways - so far, there is only one entry, so odds are very good for any entrants. two books are up for grabs - enter here

Here we are, at the first Monday of 2012, and thus the first It's Monday meme of 2012. Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, we discuss books - what we're reading, what we've read and hopeful reads.

And here is where I admit that despite having a whole week off after Christmas break to spend relaxing and reading....

I didn't read much at all. I did relax, relaxed so much that I pretty much slept away a week of my life. On one hand, I felt glad that I could spend the time reading and on the other hand, I feel like I wasted away a whole week by sleeping.

Sigh...LOL - Oh Well, that's Life!

Even though I didn't finish a book, I have been reading a couple of books. True to my usual form, of all the books I've started in the last few months, none of them are the ones I ended up reading this week. This week, I've been re-reading - or rather re-starting Star Doc by L.H.Viehl. Now this is a book that I bought about two years ago, started and never finished. It must have been my mood at the time, because so far I've gotten past where I last left off, and only just now came to a slow-down spot in the novel. Where the beginnings of a romance is stirring. In a boring way. Hopefully, I'll get past it soon. :) and on to more interesting happenings.

That's all I'm going to list for now - have no plans for when I'm finished with Star Doc. We'll see - I have a lot of books in my TBR pile.

My only New Year's Resolution this year, is going to be

1 - no real resolutions

2 - as many laughs as I can laugh

3 - no book challenges. just makes it feel like a job to me, and I can't stay on top of them. Rather, I'll be trying to top my number of books read this last year. I'm going to have to deduct the books left unfinished with the books actually read to see how many I really read. :) I'll be deleting some titles from my list.

That's it for me - enjoy the reading and enjoy the life as much as possible.

Happy New Year's everyone

Epic Zombie Prize Pack contest at E. Van Lowe's blog...read on for info

pretty Covers ....read on for contest information

There aren't many young adult books that I read. Though there are a few that I'm interested in...one of them is a book called Never Slow Dance With a Zombie by E.Van Lowe. I've been reading his blog off and on for over a year, interested in the novel. It's been one of those novels that I've been telling myself I should buy and read, yet I forget to pick it up because I rarely go into the teen section at the bookstore. Especially NOW that the only bookstore I can go to has their teen section UP on a mezzanine style OPEN LOFT where I have to hold on to the bookshelves so I don't go flying off and over the railing to a inglorious death below....I'm a little nervous up there. I solved that problem tonight by looking the book up on line though Amazon. Ordered it, and took care of my lack of Lowe's book...and I found that he has another book out - Boyfriend From Hell (August 2011) and is releasing Earth Angel this month
E.Van Lowe - young adult author of books such as Never Slow Dancy With a Zombie is having a contest with an epic prize package.

The goodies include:

from E's blog: My Uncle Enoch's 1964 Zombie High, High School Year Book: This is an authentic yearbook with blood spattered pages filled with photos of the graduating class, the faculty, and of course all the teams--including the track team who had the distinction of not completing one meet the entire season. If you have any friends or family members who attended Zombie High, this is for you.
That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: Matt Mogk's illustrated children's book is a favorite at bedtime in my house because it explains to the little ones--in colored illustrations and verse--what to do when mommy starts acting strange.
Zombie Water or Juice Bottle: You can work up a tremendous thirst battling zombies. This zombie green water bottle is perfect for the zombie fighter who wants to quench his thirst and look the part while doing it.

Autographed copy of Never Slow Dance With A Zombie--this special edition autographed copy comes with a hand written Christmas greeting from the author. Any true zombie lover will want to add this to their collection of zombie paraphernalia.
Three Never Slow Dance With A Zombie Bookmarks-- Why three? Because when you're reading while fighting zombies it's easy to lose your place. Duh!
Zombie Love Button-- If you can't beat em join em. Sport this zombie pin while roaming among the zombie hordes to let them know you're not looking for a fight and would love to hang onto your braiins.
Zombie Love men's large TeeShirt--A zombie attack can come at any time--even while you're sleeping. Wear this tee shirt to bed so if you are ever dragged from your sleep by a band of marauding zombies, they will know you are a lover not a fighter.

Never Slow Dance With A Zombie Tote—Tired of carrying around all your zombie fighting gear in your hands? This stylish tote is perfect for carrying around all your gear and at the same time letting everyone know that you would Never Slow Dance With A Zombie.

This giveaway is available internationally
What to you have to do to enter? There are five possible entries: E's contest rules:
"The rules to enter are simple:
Everyone can have up to five entries. here's how.
you must sign up for my newsletter at E.Van Lowe. The sign up link is in the left hand column on the home page.
bonus entry if you also sign up for my blog (1 entry)
bonus II follow me on twitter (1 entry)
bonus III Like my Facebook Fan Page (1 entry)
bonus IV leave a comment on my blog telling me on whose blog you discovered the contest. (1 entry)
For those of my fans who have already done these, leave a comment on my blog and you will automatically have 5 entries.
(according to E, you can leave a comment on any post on his blog - just make sure you note which blog you came from and post your info)

NO ENTRIES ACCEPTED BEFORE DECEMBER 9TH "

Contest runs until December 16th

Drawing on December 17th.

Good luck everyone, and don't forget to mention Rabid Reader when you go enter the contest. :)

Teaser Tuesday...and enter a giveaway

I love It's Monday..., and Teaser Tuesdays. I usually like to use at least two books for teasers, sometimes three...but I haven't had a lot of energy tonight...and for some reason I can't stop thinking about a tuna sandwich. Solid White Albacore Tuna. Sounds so good right now.

Back to bookish things. Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Full guidelines are available there. I'm way too lazy to type them all here. And my hand doesn't like to type much anyway. See? Lazy.

Speaking of books - The e-book giveaway is still open, why not go enter? It's for a very interesting book about a highschool senior accidently turned vampire. Good story.

From Hannah Jayne's Under Wraps:

page 30

' Nina crossed her arms in front of her own midnight blue vintage Valentino wrap dress-vampires are total fashion whores-and shrugged.

"You so look fine," she mused, "just so secretarial." '

Now go enter my giveaway - odds are very good right now of winning, and I'm starting to get an inferiority complex - cause no one has entered. :(

It's Monday....

By now I'm sure we're all very aware of what I think of Mondays....I can say, though, that every Monday means another week of fun with children is ahead of me...it's a little exhausting, but ultimately satisfying.

And the part of Mondays that I do always look forward to is the Monday Meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Sheila has been hosting It's Monday...for one year.

Before Sheila, J.Kaye used to host it.

Sheila took it over when J.Kaye chose to follow other paths.

Go over (if you haven't participated in this meme before), now is a good time to begin following this meme.

Sheila is having a special one year anniversary post this week.

As for this past week, it hasn't been particularly ambitious....but I've been enjoying what I've been able to read...

I received in the post, my very own copy of The Bitter Seed of Magic and I've just started reading it....I think that Suzanne McLeod is one of the better writers out there. She's definitely one of my favorites! The Bitter Seed of Magic is the third in her Spellcrackers.com series. Great series. Fae, Witches, Vampires, Ghosts...the works.
In case you've missed my recent posts, I'm hosting a contest for a signed copy of The Bitter Seed of Magic.... (signed by the author of course, not me...*g*) & Ms McLeod's current contest is also for a copy of The Bitter Seed of Magic. Suzanne McLeod's current contest is part of her 16 week celebratory giveaway....

John Meaney's Bone Song is my Current Read - the one I'm almost done with, was a Christmas Present from a wonderful person (waving) and I'm so glad she picked it for me to try. It is an amazing book, and the only reason I haven't dived straight into the above book, is because this one is so good (so I'm kind of torturing myself, making myself wait, kind of enjoying the anticipation...I know, I'm a bit weird, but that's how us book people can get...). This book is amazing, and the only reason I haven't finished it yet is the whole babysitting granchildren on the weekend thing..and the superbowl (watched it for the commercials really), the obsession with farmville, and the whole having to work and sleep thing....Almost finished though. Amazing world building....This reminds me of reading authors, and wondering before I'm even finished about sequels. Right up there with Suzanne McLeod, Ilona Andrews and my other favorites.

"re-found" - Marianne DePierres' Dark Space. I had made the effort to order this from overseas, since I had tried one of DePierres' trilogies (Nylon Angel) and was hoping to read more from her. I'm also on a kind of scifi-space odyssey type trip. I enjoy the occasional space opera-ish novel (such as Ann Aguirre's Jax series -Grimspace, KillBox).

After starting it, I misplaced it, found it....misplaced it again and just recently re=found it. Thank god, because I really want to read this and just gotten to where the action was starting to happen. The main character had just escaped one fate, and was hiding on a ship, and had just been discovered.....and I lost the book. Well, it's here again - but now I have to finish at least two books before I try to read this again; At least I have it to look forward to (and the other 100 or so books that I've been greedily accumulating....)

besides all the other books that I read two to five pages at a time of, here and there, there and here, now and again....that's it for the reading for me....oh - except that we've been reading

How to Train Your Dragon (Cressida Cowell) - in the library for the 3rd, and 4th grades

Spaceheadz (Jon Sczieska) in the afterschool program

I am very partial to books with humor for children's books. I think if you can get them laughing and enjoying a book because of the laughs, then maybe some of the boy and girls who wouldn't normally enjoy reading just for reading might just start to see the appeal. Take a look at the links for the books - great websites that will keep kids interested.

Suzanne McLeod- Book Releases-contest info-Suzanne McLeod!!!

Chapter one of The Bitter Seed of Magic is available here
for Chapter two of The Bitter Seed of Magic, click on the book cover

For a taste of The Cold Kiss of Death click on cover above

I have a few things to mention here, and a treat for you...

One of my favorite writers, Suzanne McLeod is releasing her third novel, The Bitter Seed of Magic over in the U.K. Februrary 17, 2011.

The Bitter Seed of Magic is the third novel in the Spellcrackers.com series .

Never fear, if you are one of my fellow impatient readers in the U.S. who have already read her other two novels....The Bitter Seed of Magic is being released in the U.K. on February 17th, but The Book Depository (who is very wonderful, and does NOT charge postage) will ship this book to you in the U.S. (and other countries)

Suzanne McLeod's second novel, The Cold Kiss of Death is releasing in the U.S. April 26 2011. Of course, it's available right now in the U.K.

The first novel of the Spellcrackers.com series, The Sweet Scent of Blood, is available right now in both the U.K. and the U.S.

Ms McLeod is also hosting a weekly contest in honor of her book releases - a schedule is posted on her blog. If you follow her blog, though, you won't have to remember when to go enter for the contests, etc.

Now, if you haven't read her books yet, then click on the book covers above which will take you to excerpts of her novels. You will read them and get a taste of her writing, which will make you want to read more....and you'll have discovered a great author with entertaining novels that are at times humorous, spooky and touching - (sometimes all at the same time!) and always good. I have enjoyed everything that I've read by her.

Some other fun news for me, is finding out that Suzanne has a short story coming out in an anthology (Charlaine Harris) August, 2011. The short story is a Spellcrackers.com story titled Full Scale Demolition...more on that later. The name of the anthology is Home Improvement:Undead Edition. (Love the title)

If you HAVE read her first - then you have more to look forward to coming soon. :)

There is an excerpt of her latest, The Bitter Seed of Magic available here courtesy of Suzanne McLeod (Thanks Suzanne!)

And stay tuned because on Tuesday, I'll include another little snippet of the latest novel.

so, click on the link directly above and enjoy!

Quick! go enter a giveaway!

Upcoming Releases...and a contest

There is this really cool writer, who is celebrating a UK release (The Bitter Seed of Magic) and a US release (The Cold Kiss of Death) is hosting a giveaway for the soon-to-be-released The Iron Witch (Karen Mahoney).

giveaway is ends 1/19/11, which is soon, so go enter very quickly.

And I believe that is the first of a series of giveaways that Ms Suzanne McLeod is hosting....keep on the lookout.

It's Monday! OMG - read it, even though it's long. There's a couple contest alerts. :)

Well - another week bites the dust. Seems like I just finished a Tuesday post yesterday. And then...I got a little sick and lost the rest of the week...But, I was able to read a little more than usual - so there's the silver lining in that cloud. :) One of my favorite things about Mondays...(the only good thing really, other than Monday night...) is the Monday Meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Seriously ! (sort of seriously *g*) Mondays are just no good for me...... but back to some positives. Because I was so DEATHLY ILL the last five days...(deathly, guys - I almost dehydrated myself and CONTINUED to take my diuretic for b/p. not a good thing to do...) Really, I'm okay - I just almost screwed myself up until in a lightening stroke brain surge, I realized I was probably very low on potassium....but that has nothing to with books, except...

Because I was so DEATHLY ILL (yeah, I just repeated myself) I was able to actually read two whole books in almost four days. That is unheard of for me lately....I haven't been able to read this much in a while ..... hummmm, ever since..OMG ever since I learned how to cruise the internet....No - it was ever since I started blogging and reading other blogs....NO....WOW!!! lightbulb moment!!! it's ever since FACEbook and FARMVILLE!!! Oh My Goodness! those two things will suck the time from you...and your soul along with it.. and yet I just can't seem to stay away. Plowing fields, growing crops...forgetting I planted crops and having them all wither...leaving my cows and animals unharvested....My dog who is supposed to be learning tricks with every 7 days worth of biscuit feeding, keeps getting knocked back a trick because I don't get there in time... looking for the gifts your farmville neighbors send, accepting the gifts (takes more time)....I HATE FARMVILLE, but I keep playing....it's a stupid addiction. sheepish grin here... Anyway, back to some semi-serious book talk.

***for excerpts, click on book covers***

The first complete book that I've read since Tuesday was Jealousy, by Lili St.Crow. Probably anyone who has read the Jill Kismet series or the Dante Valentine series knows by now that Lilith Saintcrow writes Young Adult fiction under the name Lili St.Crow. If you didn't know before, now you do. This was an excellent addition to the first two books in the Strange Angels series, btw. (Strange Angels, Betrayal, and Jealousy). Of course, this one ended with a cliffhanger type ending - and now I have to wait until Spring of 2011 to find out if a certain someone is going to....well, Ms Saintcrow/St.Crow is not always kind to her characters, but she sure writes a hell of a story.

Well, after reading an excellent young adult book, I decided I needed to read some Ilona Andrews...I've had Bayou Moon sitting on my shelf ever since it came out. (remember my little addiction to buying books - even though I don't have time to read all of them?). I think I read this one in a 24 hour period. Started it late Friday night and finished it Saturday night...kind of late also. This book is written by Gordon and Ilona Andrews under the name Ilona Andrews. Great writing, great dialogue, great fighting...well, review is coming. (Just in case) The are also the authors of the Kate Daniels series, one of my favorite series. Check out their other website - both sites are extremely interesting.

Robin McKinley has a new release coming out very soon - Pegasus. I was so lucky, I found her website one day, saw a post about review copies and took a chance of asking for one. They actually sent me one! I'm always suprised when I get a book just to review. It feels so.....omg, they're TRUSTING ME! it's kind of scary, actually and at the same time kind of fun....At any rate - I started reading this today, and it looks like it's going to be a good one. Of course, I don't think I've ever read a Robin McKinley book that I didn't enjoy - I've been reading her since....over 13 years for sure. This one is a fantasy (most of her's are, except that one vampire book...which I think could be considered one of the earlier urban fantasy books - vampires, modern day, magic and mayhem....written in 2003, which, if I'm remembering right, is before the term Urban Fantasy was widely used. My, isn't this long for a parenthesized aside? yes it is; and. yet. I. can't. seem. to. stop.) Oh, thank god, I got out of that parenthesis thing. Bet you're glad too.

:)

In the midst of my deathly illness (you remember, where I almost offed myself because I was still taking my diuretic for blood pressure, and yet throwing up most of my ...ahem. sorry for the tmi ) one of the few bright spots, besides being able to read in between the numerous trips to the bathroom...was a little package that came in the mail. It was a surprise, because I had completely forgotten that I had won a book from Literary Escapism. I had been wanting to read Skin Game since I first heard about it a couple years ago (has it really been that long? ). I never saw it in the store, but I kept seeing mentions of it whenever I visited Ann Aguirre's website, and clicked on her lists of books...She wrote Skin Game under the pen name Ava Gray. This is actually just one of her pen names - she has many, many pen names.....Okay, really only two pen names. Ava Gray and Ellen Connor (co-writing with Carrie Lofty) AND she's also writing a young adult series, as well as the Sirantha Jax series (another of my favorites) and the Corinne Solomon series, and ....more. much more. the woman is a writing machine - it's amazing.

Speaking of some of my favorites...The Bitter Seed of Magic by Suzanne McLeod is coming soon, February of 2011 according to The Book Depository - alas in the UK, but again, The Book Depository is my friend and can be your friend too. If you haven't read it yet, The Sweet Scent of Blood is her first book, available now in the U.S., there is a second - The Cold Kiss of Death which is currently out in the UK. There is also a contest going on right now, until November 7th - UK time (which I can never remember - are they ahead of us or behind? I'm horrible at remembering that) where you can win The Cold Kiss of Death -which is set around Halloween. Visit Suzanne McLeod's website for excerpts and fun content.

and...J.A. Campbell has some new Doc (the vampire hunting dog) stories up at her website. One of them is a Halloween story. She's also trying to fundraise for writing purposes, so if at all possible show some love with some $$. It's worth it, also - Girl can write! Julie is also holding a contest to giveaway The Devil You Know by Mike Carey (it's a good book, I've read it).

This has definitely turned into one of my longest posts - but after being cooped up and recovering from near death (lol) I guess I had a lot to get out.

Check this out

Kalayna Price is the author of three novels . Two of them are available now; although they aren't available in stores, they can be ordered online-this is something I plan to do just as soon as I'm done catching up with bills/car repair/etc (end of summer is a bitch for people working in a school schedule).

The books that are out now are titled Once Bitten and Twice Dead. I was able to read excerpts of them and they seem great.

Ms Price is also releasing the first of a new series, Grave Witch. This one seens like it'll be very good also. So, in order to celebrate her new release (hopefully to be stocked in stores) she has a widget available, as well as a contest. Check out the contest here.

For excerpts and sneak peeks, click on the book images.

Another writer that I'm looking forward to reading is J.A. Saare. I first heard of her through ...er....um....okay, I don't remember where I first read about J.A.Saare's book, Dead, Undead, or somewhere in between - but it was somewhere. I read an excerpt and liked it. This book is available as an e-book or print on demand through Eternal Press.

sorry, can't find the excerpt. *** Excerpt found! Click on cover for Excerpt no. 1 and here for excerpt no 2. Right when I was trying to post this, my son had to leave, the grandson was in a tub full of water and I had to hurry up. Hours later, I found the excerpt.