The Moths of Miller Place by J.A. Campbell - micro review

I have been reading and enjoying all kinds of Doc and Brown stories, but for some odd reason, I can't find where I've actually reviewed them...which is weird, because of course, when you want to support a writer you love, you review their work, help get some notice about them even if your blog is a very teeny tiny blog amidst an ocean of book blogs.  (wow, see how wordy I can get? sometimes I surprise myself).

The Moths of Miller Place

J.A. Campbell

a Doc the Vampire Hunting Dog story

Cover - I  happen to know that the model for this cover is actually a REAL dog, and she's a border collie, owned by the author, who is a multi-talented woman.  But - back to the cover.  Look at the background, the little moths flying around looking so harmless....the dog giving that special look - THE EYE.  Oh,  yeah, the, the cover rocks.  And let me tell you - sometimes e-books have THE WORST covers.  So I am happy when I see a  good cover on an e-book.

The Moths of Miller Place is one of a few Doc short stories.  In this story, Doc and his human (Kevin) and their new friend (Jake, a wolf-human aka werewolf) are traveling together.  They stop at a place that rents cabins, and rent a cabin.  The owner leaves them with a dire warning - "Don't turn on your lights after dark".  and in a lower voice..."It's the migration."  That's all she says about it, like they know what that means.  Of course, they're thinking she's kind of whacko, except later, another person gives them pretty much the same warning.

Only this guy adds that the migration is about moths, and " t'aint natural".  {Now I don't know about you - but I've never been worried about moths - although they do freak my granddaughter out.}

These moths...aren't your everyday moths.  But like moths everywhere, they are attracted to light.  When they get in where the light is...oh boy.

Now this was a fun story - and like all of her Doc and Brown stories, Campbell really sounds like she knows what a dog would think like.  Not only does her dog character interact with his human, but there is always one or two other animal characters that have bit parts in these fun short stories.  And the conversations between Doc and in this case, the cat that belongs to the landlady are fun to read.  All of Campbell's animal characters sound and behave as I would like to imagine them to think.  She has a real talent for putting herself in the animals' heads.  Amazing.

I enjoyed this story very much and recommend it to lovers of fantasy, urban fantasy, light horror (haha, is that a real genre?  it should be), and animal fiction.  This and the other dog stories she writes has a wonderful mix of horror, fantasy and animals.  The best of all genres.  

If you've been reading any of J.A. Campbell's work, then you already know that here is a woman who can write.  She comes up with great stories, with interesting twists - some of them are serious topics done with humor (not slaptick,  humor for humor's sake, but a chuckle here and there in the midst of a situation). Her stories range from a series about a high school senior who was turned into a vampire against her will - (a girl who didn't even believe in vampires), to a two character series of books featuring dogs (Doc the Vampire Hunting dog and Brown, the Ghost Hunting dog), to a soon to be release story of an Arabian Horse (the breed, not set in Arabia) and the teen who travels into different worlds with her (Tales of the Traveler), to a series about a teen who has been 'relocated', and steampunk; along with her other novels she also is co-founder of InkWolf Press.

Campbell is also taking on the role of editor for Steampunk Trails.  If you think you have something to offer, take a look at this link.

memo to Borders

I wrote a quick memo to Borders the other day - regarding stocking books with more diverse colors on the covers - as well as authors (of course).

I was limited on content - so I had to cut some of it, their form only allowed a certain amount of characters and I was sick, so I had a hard time even finding that form.

Anyway, the letter is here - yes, you need to click on the link. For some reason, Blogger does not let me past anything I've copied. I can only upload and don't know how to upload anything but pictures. Sometimes I accidently upload a video, but I usually promptly forget how I did it. (figures)

I encourage others to continue writing letters and voicing your concerns about the lack of diversity in even our bookstores.

For great information and other blogs that are fonts of information

Color Online the link goes to a post of links
Reading in Color link goes to a letter "Miss Attitude" wrote
Happy Nappy Bookseller - Doret has lots of great links on her sidebar and has lots of recommendations for wonderful books
Asia in the Heart - for another view of POC reading


There's more - lots more, but I'm still sick, so look at those blogs - they have even more links.

tuesday teaser and bonus...

It's one day past Monday - which must mean Teaser Tuesdays...but

Wait! before anything else, I'm thinking of using
<----- for my profile icon thingy. It's been on many sites,

such as Icanhascheeseburgers, which is one of my favorite sites to look at cat pictures. It's just...zombie win.

And now, Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B

over at Should be reading. You can check the site for guidelines.

I've been getting a bit panicked about reaching my 2010 Countdown Challenge goal (ends October 10, 2010) so of course, I'm having a hard time focusing on books written before 2009 - especially since I feel I should be reading them. On the other hand, there's a few reviews that I've promised to do (2010 books), and then there are other reading challenges (such as the POC challenge, the Typically British Challenge, and RYOB, etc) that in my fit of overdoing and mildly obsessive
way of signing up for WAY TOO MANY CHALLENGES, I really did sign up for way too many challenges. I've finished 1 challenge so far - maybe. I attempted to read 5 out of 5 books for a challenge, but unfortunately the 5th book I had to put aside, and the month ended. I consider it a reached goal, but officially it might not be. I just couldn't finish the book. The whole time I was trying to read it, I was thinking of other books I wanted to read and feeling huge sighs welling up in me. That means its' time to put a book aside. So I did. Kind of a shame, because I really thought I was going to like it.

I'm reading Darkness Calls by Marjorie M Liu for my POC challenge, even though it was published in 2009 and I have all my 2009 books read. Now that I'm reading it, I don't know why I ever waited to start it. I loved the first book (Iron Hunt). The character, Maxine Kiss is from Asian descent and during the day her body is covered with tattoos. At night, these tattoos come off her body and resume their shapes as demons - however they are not your evil demons. These guys are hungry for anything metal, and also love to eat other demons and baddies that are killing humans, or otherwise causing havoc. Maxine is from a long line of Hunters. She's supposed to stay aloof from other human contact, except to bear a daughter who will eventually take over her hunter lifestyle (which also happens to mean the end of Maxine's life - good reason for birth control, yes?)

from page 44:

"I punched him. He staggered to one knee, clutching his face. I bent close and, in a loud, sickly-sweet voice, said, 'Wow. Those migraines are really bothering you, huh?' "

The next book, that I've started is Jim C. Hines' Goblin Quest. (2005) It's from the pov of a little runty goblin, Jig, who has been abused - though the goblins abuse each other, it seems to be a way of life - his whole life. He's so small that even though he's not a child, he's been doing children's work, such as tending the fires for the goblin families. He's forced into going on patrol by some of the community goblins and gets caught by a group of adventurers (a prince, a wizard, a dwarf, and a hostage elf) that are on a quest. They force him to be a guide, even though he only really knows the way around his own section.

from page 85:

"Once everything was repacked, new oil poured into the lantern, a few last touches made to Darnak's map, and everyone had eaten enought to take the edge off their hunger, they proceeded to sit around for another hour while Ryslind meditated. The life of an adventurer appeared to consist of roughly six parts boredom to one part stark terror, or so it seemed to Jig."

Just for fun:




My future DIL found this site while cruising the 'net. She thought I would like it. It's My Cat Is a Jerk. Each post is a numbered "My cat is a jerk reason number __" My Future DIL was right. It's a funny site. I wish I had thought of something like that! Really I'm just jealous of her creativity regarding her cat. Funny stuff!