tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60022579868803131712023-11-16T06:08:00.912-07:00The Stamp (of Approval)Fantasy, SciFi, and anything awesome.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.comBlogger235125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-79760594702376222942014-05-22T23:35:00.000-06:002014-05-22T23:36:22.067-06:00Book Haul - Making Up For Lost PostsI've neglected my Book Hauls for quite some time so I figured I'd collect as many as I could find and post them all in one. I like to keep track of my books this way and I can't deny how much I just plain like to look at a stack of books.<br />
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Newest to Oldest ... I think.<br />
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- Ressurrection (Blood of the Lamb #3) by Mandy Hager <br />
- My Real Children by Joe Walton - I'm extremely excited about this one, should get to it shortly.<br />
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- The Wurms of Blearmouth (Bauchelain and Korbal Broach #5) by Steven Erikson - Need I say more?<br />
- The Return of the Discontinued Man (Burton & Swinburne #5) by Mark Hodder<br />
- Nebula Awards Showcase 2014, ed. by Kij Johnson<br />
- The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mages #2) by Brian McClellan<br />
- Thief's Magic (Millennium's Rule #1) by Trudi Canavan - Might be my first by the author. Looks great.<br />
- The Scroll of Years (Gaunt and Bone #1) by Chris Willrich<br />
- The Silk Map (Gaunt and Bone #2) by Chris Willrich x2 - I think Pyr's trying to say something...<br />
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So ... what happened was ... I forgot what I'd photographed and doubled up. The only change from the above picture is <span style="color: red;">Prince of Fools</span> by Mark Lawrence, which I'm dying to read. May have to move some things around.<br />
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- Mystery Book (See below)<br />
- The Leopard (Marakand #1) by K.V. Johansen - I just read Blackdog, a stand-alone in the same world and it was excellent. This is exciting news to have more from Johansen.<br />
- The Barrow by Mark Smylie - Gave this copy away actually.<br />
- Blood and Iron (Book of the Black Earth #1) by Jon Sprunk - This one too.<br />
- Pillar to the Sky by William R. Fortschen<br />
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The Mystery Book:<br />
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Yep, you've seen this book above, but this is how the ARC came. Pretty cool when publisher's do this. It piqued my interest, that's for sure.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-78830677207245640842014-01-30T20:40:00.000-07:002014-01-30T20:40:42.788-07:00Book Haul - Sprunk, Smylie, Staveley, Connolly & RidyardSome really good ones, I just wish I had time to read anything at all! I'm seriously dying to read all these plus about a million more. Too bad books have time limits on them ... wait<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Blood and Iron</span> (Book of the Black Earth #1) by Jon Sprunk - I've been dying to read this ever since Sprunk's excellent Shadow Saga.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Barrow</span> by Mark Smylie - I'm very curious about this one. Hadn't heard anything until I received a copy.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Emperor's Blades</span> (Chronicles of the Unhewn Thrown #1) by Brian Staveley - Highly anticipated.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Conquest</span> (Chronicles of the Invaders #1) by John Connolly and Jennifer RidyardBryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-37358850388541766832013-12-28T00:34:00.002-07:002013-12-28T00:34:51.020-07:00Book Haul - McCammon, Ward, Swallow, Dixon<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Five</span> by Robert McCammon (Tor) - I actually bought this when it went on sale for kindle, but happy to see it in print.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: The Fall: Peaceable Kingdoms</span> by Dayton Ward (Pocket)<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice</span> by James Swallow (Pocket)<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Phoenix Island</span> by John Dixon (Gallery)Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-43140377411106684542013-11-30T12:29:00.003-07:002013-11-30T12:30:54.241-07:00Book Haul - Tregillis, Martin & Dozois, Bernobich, SoudersTor has been good to me here at year's end. I just read Ian Tregillis' <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6881685-bitter-seeds?from_search=true">Bitter Seeds</a> and it was excellent so this is a nice surprise to see his newest stand-alone novel. And then it goes without saying <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Dangerous Women</span> is one of the books of the year. It's definitely the anthology of the year. Abercrombie, Sanderson, Grossman, Butcher, a story in Martin's own <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">A Song of Ice and Fire</span> series, and the list goes on. It's too good to be true.<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Something More Than Night</span> by Ian Tregillis<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Dangerous Women</span> edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Allegiance</span> (River of Souls #3) by Beth Bernobich<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Revelations</span> (Elysium Chronicles #2) by J.A. SoudersBryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-82763788600074848822013-10-22T14:24:00.000-06:002013-10-23T11:00:28.091-06:00Book Haul - McCormack, Chu, Willrich, Connolly, Jeschke, Modesitt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I actually just got a couple of these that arrived at a previous address. Luckily that previous address was to my wife's parent's house so I could actually get them. Apologies to Pocket/Gallery/Simon Schuster and Pyr.</div>
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<b>For review:</b><br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: The Fall: The Crimson Shadow</span> by Una McCormack<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu</span> (Lives of Tao #2) - Check out <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-lives-of-tao-by-wesley-chu.html">my review of The Lives of Tao</a> here.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Scroll of Years</span> (Gaunt and Bone #1) by Chris Willrich<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Copperhead</span> (Ironskin #2) by Tina Connolly<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: Klingon Bird-of-Prey Owners' Workshop Manual</span><br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Cusanus Game</span> by Wolfgang Jeschke<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The One-Eyed Man</span> by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. - The hardback of the ARC I received last month.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-51330802698569269632013-09-02T22:24:00.002-06:002013-09-02T22:24:59.818-06:00Book Haul - Williams, Gunn, Zafon, Gemmell, Wolfe, GunnI've been spending lots of time in the library lately, how can I go and not pick up a book or two that's for sale? It's just about impossible as it turns out.<br />
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<b>Used:</b><br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">City of Golden Shadow (Otherland #1)</span> by Tad Williams - Been meaning to pick this up for a while.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Death's Head</span> by David Gunn - Picked these three up in their entirety for $1.20. My other blog gets a pretty constant stream of people to all of our <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-david-gunn.html">David Gunn stuff</a>, which occurred before I became a regular and it's peaked my interest. I guess no one knows who he/she is. Pays to be linked in Wikipedia too I guess.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Death's Head: Maximum Offense</span> by David Gunn<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Death's Head: Day of the Damned</span> by David Gunn<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Shadow of the Wind</span> by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Another that's been on the list a while.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend</span> by David Gemmell - Need to get back to these.<br />
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<b>For Review:</b><br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Shadows of the New Sun</span> - This is an anthology dedicated to Gene Wolfe with two new stories from him. I read the first one and it was good ... if a little confusing as to its point.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Transcendental</span> by James Gunn - Speaking of Gunns. I don't know if I'll get to this, the reviews of people I trust have not been good.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-64187558498535065702013-07-19T16:10:00.000-06:002013-07-19T16:10:06.221-06:00Book Haul - Martinez, Clines, Barnes, Kemp, Carniepunk, KingI've been meaning to try A. Lee Martinez for a while and Peter Clines has been making a splash lately with his Ex-Heroes series, plus some other good ones.<br />
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<b>Audio</b> (all from Brilliance Audio)<b>:</b><br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain</span> by A. Lee Martinez<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">14</span> by Peter Clines<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Garden of Stones</span> by Mark T. Barnes<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">A Discourse in Steel</span> (Egil & Nix #2) by Paul S. Kemp<br />
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<b>Paper:</b><br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Carniepunk</span> by multiple (Gallery)<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">A Once Crowded Sky</span> by Tom King (Touchstone)Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-28057348380343308382013-07-03T14:11:00.000-06:002013-07-03T14:22:55.335-06:00Book Haul - Bennett, North, Bernardo, Malki !, Erikson, Gafla, Posey, Salvatore, Kemp, Sullivan, Lynch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
While I'm looking forward the the physical books this week, I'm extremely excited for the ebooks. One in particular...</div>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16130104-rise-of-the-federation">Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures</a> by Chistopher L. Bennett<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16131226-this-is-how-you-die">This is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death</a>, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bernardo, David Malki ! - This is the follow up to the Machine of Death anthology which I enjoyed but never finished. I just felt like this concept was ... done to death. I read the first story and again it was good, but I just can't handle another batch of stories like this.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17282184-this-river-awakens">This River Awakens</a> by Steven Erikson - This is Erikson's first novel that's being released for the first time in the US. Very much looking forward to it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16059424-the-world-of-the-end">The World of the End</a> by Ofir Touche Gafla - This is really an odd book that I'm about 30% through. I don't know if I like it yet, but it's certainly unique and compelling. There are a couple giveaways I listed on the other blog <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-world-of-end-giveaways.html">here</a>.<br />
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<b>eBooks:</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17162150-three">Three</a> by Jay Posey - I have to say it's about 99% cover that makes me want to read this. Plus you usually can't go wrong with Angry Robot.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16142151-the-companions">The Companions</a> (The Sundering #1)by R.A Salvatore - A Forgotten Realms event called The Sundering starts with their most famous author.<br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1372353070l/17262407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1372353070l/17262407.jpg" width="132" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262407-the-godborn">The Godborn</a> (The Sundering #2) by Paul S. Kemp - Part of the event above, but number two.<br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348455987l/16043804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348455987l/16043804.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16043804-the-crown-tower">The Crown Tower</a> (Riyria Chronicles #1) by Michael J. Sullivan - The first in a two book prequel series to Sullivan's excellent Riyria Revelations.<br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362121827l/17163514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362121827l/17163514.jpg" width="128" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17163514-the-rose-and-the-thorn">The Rose and Thorn</a> (Riyria Chronicles #2) by Michael J. Sullivan - The second.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2890090-the-republic-of-thieves">The Republic of Thieves</a> (Gentlemen Bastards #3) by Scott Lynch - Only the most anticipated book of the year if not the last couple years. Very happy to have this, I guess it's time to start <i>Red Seas Under Red Skies </i>since I waited until this was a sure thing before I would start RSURS.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-36035318457948177092013-06-05T13:47:00.003-06:002013-06-05T13:47:45.237-06:00Book Haul - Brust, Bennett, King, Modesitt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two for review, two bought used. Looking forward to all, probably mostly Mr. Shivers because Robert Jackson Bennet is my new favorite author.<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Brokedown Palace</span> by Steven Brust<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Mr. Shivers</span> by Robert Jackson Bennet<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Joyland</span> by Stephen King<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The One-Eyed Man</span> by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-84211144386681534832013-05-23T18:14:00.001-06:002013-05-31T07:14:43.509-06:00Book Haul - Star Trek Crafts, Foster, Card/JohnstonThis first batch of the haul is probably the strangest (and yet still awesome) thing I've ever received for review. I can't say I have much use for them, especially the cross-stitching one, but I don't think a true fan could live without these:<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek Cross-Stitch: Explore Strange New Worlds of Crafting</span> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1476718660/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1476718660&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">$13.50</a>)<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek Craft Book: Make it so!</span> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1476718644/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1476718644&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">$13.36</a>)<br />
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Next, we're keeping with the Star Trek theme... for some reason I can't quite <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408101/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4">put my finger on</a>.<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Earth Afire</span> (The First Formic War #2) by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: Into Darkness</span> by Alan Dean Foster - I don't usually go for movie novelizations, but this one does look really cool and the first few pages made it really hard to put down.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-41578597186667269462013-05-07T17:02:00.001-06:002013-05-07T17:02:52.312-06:00Book Haul - Scalzi, Walton, Sanderson, McClellan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I can't deny, I was pretty excited about this week's haul. Tor just keeps 'em coming and a surprise from Orbit that I didn't think was coming.<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Human Division</span> by John Scalzi - This is the hardback in addition to the ARC you can see in the background<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Quintessence</span> by David Walton - Usually I have to make a request from Tor, but sometimes books just show up and this is one of the latter. This is also never a bad thing. :)<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Rithmatist</span> by Brandon Sanderson - Very excited for this one!<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Promise of Blood</span> by Brian McClellan - I just finished this one and needs a review. Very good.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-20685768558759646672013-04-03T17:59:00.001-06:002013-04-03T17:59:05.322-06:00Book Haul - Correia, Walton, Tregillis, Gould, Golden, Traviss, Card<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As a reviewer for sffaudio.com I've begun to receive ARCs in the form of audio as well as paper and electronic. Here are four I requested along with some other ARC's in the mail. Behind these books is pretty much my TBR for the next few months now that I take a good look at this picture.<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Hard Magic </span>(Grimnoir Chronicles #1) by Larry Correia<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Among Others</span> by Jo Walton<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Bitter Seeds</span> (Milkweed Triptych #1) by Ian Tregillis<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Jumper</span> by Steven Gould - The book the movie was based on.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War</span> (World of Warcraft) by Christie Golden - Received the hardcover last year, here's the mmpb.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Gears of War: The Slab</span> by Karen Traviss - Also received the hardcover last year and can't believe it's already been a year. I meant to have had this read by now since I really enjoyed <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2011/08/review-gears-of-war-coalitions-end-by.html">Coalition's End</a>.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Gate Thief</span> (Mither Mages #2) by Orson Scott Card - <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2011/09/audiobook-review-lost-gate-mithermages.html">The Lost Gate</a> came out last year and I really enjoyed even though I had a few problems with it.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-37468432856437062992013-03-19T21:34:00.001-06:002013-03-19T21:34:29.380-06:00Book Haul - King, Stross, Boyette, Reynolds, McDonald, Stover, Rusch, Hambly, Yancey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lots of good used/new books bought and one ARC. I started buying all the Matthew Stover Star Wars novels and then got sucked into the Star Wars universe and had to get some more, but based on known authors still. For some reason the used book store owner didn't really understand inflation so all books (old and new) were half price from the listed price on the book. Made for some good deals though.<br />
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- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Shining</span> by Stephen King - Yes, I'm the last person in the world who hasn't read this.<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Clan Corporate</span> by Charles Stross<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Ariel</span> by Steven R. Boyett<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Galactic North</span> by Alastair Reynolds<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Sailing to Sarantium</span> (Sarantine Mosaic #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Desolation Road</span> by Ian McDonald<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Wars: Shatterpoint</span> (Clone Wars) by Matthew Stover<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor</span> by Matthew Stover<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> Star Wars: The New Rebellion</span> by Kristine Kathryn Rusch<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Wars: Children of the Jedi</span> by Barbara Hambly<br />
- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The 5th Wave</span> by Rick Yancey - The ARC.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-88211159120151520522013-02-06T09:00:00.000-07:002013-02-06T09:00:06.568-07:00Book Haul - Kenyon, George III, Healey, Scalzi, Marco, Jordan, Bertin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was a great book haul this week, almost as good as the last one which is really hard to beat. Most of all, I was excited to get <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Forever Knight</span> by John Marco and the more I research about Joanne Bertin, it seems like the<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> Dragonlord</span> series will be right up my alley.<br />
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-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Diablo III: The Order</span> by Nate Kenyon (<i>Pocket</i>)<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: The Original Series: Allegiance</span> in Exile by David R. George III (<i>Pocket</i>)<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">When We Wake</span> by Karen Healey (<i>Little Brown</i>)<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Human Division</span> (Old Man's War) by John Scalzi (<i>Tor</i>)<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Forever Knight</span> (Lukien #4) by John Marco - This one's signed as <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-book-haul-from-two-johns.html">shown here</a>. (<i>DAW</i>)<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel Volume 3</span> by Robert Jordan (<i>Tor</i>)<br />
-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Bard's Oath</span> (Dragonlord) by Joanne Bertin (<i>Tor</i>)Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-60704344330306001612013-01-25T13:15:00.000-07:002013-01-25T13:23:25.200-07:00Book Haul - Jordan, Sanderson, Bennett, Brett, Mack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was a great week for a nice haul of books. I really just want to drop everything and read...for like a year. I'm sure I'm unique in this wish. </div>
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I don't have time to do the usual post with synopses, so here's the list:</div>
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-<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations III: The Body Electric</span></i> by David Mack</div>
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-<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Daylight War </span></i>(Demon Cycle #3) by Peter V. Brett [currently reading]</div>
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-<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">American Elsewhere</span></i> by Robert Jackson Bennett</div>
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-<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">A Memory of Light </span></i>(Wheel of Time #14 and final book!) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - This is actually a giveaway win instead of ARC like the rest from a great site - <a href="http://bestfantasybooks.com/">http://bestfantasybooks.com</a>. If you like lists, and seriously who doesn't, check it out.</div>
Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-90699220161754445222012-12-31T09:00:00.000-07:002012-12-31T10:29:40.061-07:00Book Haul AND Signed Stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
First the signed stuff. I follow the author, John Marco, <a href="http://happynerdjohn.blogspot.com/">on his blog</a> and every now and then he gives away some pretty good stuff. In fact, in the upcoming months he'll be giving away lots of good things in preparation for the release of his new book, <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Forever Knight</span></i>.</div>
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Anyway, he mentioned he found old jackets from his book Starfinder, ones whose artwork was never on the finished copies, although it's very close. He mentioned he'd send them out to anyone who wanted one, and of course I promptly sent an email.</div>
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As I menioned, it's very close, but the actual book has the dragon in glasses whereas this one doesn't. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wEzuRSuaRwj-RC-H55Qfo45FfhjReBIgAs0G2w8VtOEyMrVRvtrUtrO-PN3l-H8aJnlnq6IXadNRRJOb3u0Gi6v6CvKmYWvtJHfdz02IuC9EsUj3wFF64aIiP0MMn-JXF6CtNynF9Lw/s1600/Jacket.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wEzuRSuaRwj-RC-H55Qfo45FfhjReBIgAs0G2w8VtOEyMrVRvtrUtrO-PN3l-H8aJnlnq6IXadNRRJOb3u0Gi6v6CvKmYWvtJHfdz02IuC9EsUj3wFF64aIiP0MMn-JXF6CtNynF9Lw/s320/Jacket.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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And then the signature of course:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5eVKomn8Y0qD3pZ9f2K7rr-engn78OrJwCa01kUZwROd8BG_qt2kspTK6uFbATJ-3gKNWofbmn2IGVGhxwcWt3GF7BvdAWUCk8plHMp-zz7MQBaKAxHCRJ-XM4bWAf_9AGtS7MJnMMI/s1600/JacketSigned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5eVKomn8Y0qD3pZ9f2K7rr-engn78OrJwCa01kUZwROd8BG_qt2kspTK6uFbATJ-3gKNWofbmn2IGVGhxwcWt3GF7BvdAWUCk8plHMp-zz7MQBaKAxHCRJ-XM4bWAf_9AGtS7MJnMMI/s320/JacketSigned.jpg" width="279" /></a></div>
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To the Book Haul:<br />
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These are a mix of book deals and ARC's because I don't have enough to read. I just couldn't resist though.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDEkRDNEHP8i7hk9OXlrvIYoKkg5FHVldHI5Phhb-sZoz_OvLbCMzgsDQm4RMKUNDi1A1QI1m-GUQ0ahQed23lv7LoY_h4mch1EVAExMIylZpZHdtlPLcpFOGV0xmCN20z4q_2PUTC1gk/s1600/Undergates.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDEkRDNEHP8i7hk9OXlrvIYoKkg5FHVldHI5Phhb-sZoz_OvLbCMzgsDQm4RMKUNDi1A1QI1m-GUQ0ahQed23lv7LoY_h4mch1EVAExMIylZpZHdtlPLcpFOGV0xmCN20z4q_2PUTC1gk/s320/Undergates.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1179636159l/939712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1179636159l/939712.jpg" width="118" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Rogue Moon</span></i> by Algis Budrys (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0575108002/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0575108002">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Before 1969, every science fiction writer wrote his or her own version of the first Moon landing. I doubt if any carry the horror of Budrys' unsettling story.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">During all recorded history, the Moon has hovered above our heads, a timeless symbol for lovers' ecstasy. Goddesses and Gibson Girls have tripped the light fantastic of her beams while sonneteers and scientists have scanned her changing phases.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Now man had actually reached the Moon, and on it the explorers found a structure, a formation so terrible and incomprehensible that it couldn't even be described in human terms. It was a thing that devoured men; that killed them again and again in torturous, unfathomable ways.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Earthbound are the only two men who could probe the thing: Al Barker, a homicidal maniac, whose loving mistress was death, and Dr. Edward Hawks, a scientific murderer, whose greatest mission was rebirth.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This is second printing, identical to the First in every aspect except for the book number and original cover price.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1287287030l/929660.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1287287030l/929660.jpg" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Land of Laughs</span></i> by Jonathan Carroll (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312873115/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0312873115">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<div style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Have you ever loved a magical book above all others? Have you ever wished the magic were real? Welcome to <em>The Land of Laughs.</em> A novel about how terrifying that would be.</div>
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Schoolteacher Thomas Abbey, unsure son of a film star, doesn't know who he is or what he wantsin life, in love, or in his relationship with the strange and intense Saxony Gardner. What he knows is that in his whole life nothing has touched him so deeply as the novels of Marshall France, a reclusive author of fabulous children's tales who died at forty-four.</div>
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Now Thomas and Saxony have come to France's hometown, the dreamy Midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, to write France's biography. Warned in advance that France's family may oppose them, they're surprised to find France's daughter warmly welcoming instead. But slowly they begin to see that something fantastic and horrible is happening. The magic of Marshall France has extended far beyond the printed page...leaving them with a terrifying task to undertake.</div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327948345l/47583.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327948345l/47583.jpg" width="136" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Tough Guide to FantasyLand</span></i> by Diana Wynne Jones (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142407224/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0142407224">Amazon</a>) - I've read a couple of these entires and so far it's made me laugh out loud in the real sense of LOL, not what we actually do.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This authoritative A-Z guide constitutes an essential source of information for all who dare to venture into the imaginative hinterlands, providing acute insights into such subjects as: the varying types of virgin, why High Priests are invariably evil, how Dark Lords always have minions, and why Cooks all have filthy tempers. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a veteran Fantasyland traveler, "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland" has everything you need to get the most from your Tour, including: what to do when you're captured by a Goblin, where to find a Healer when you're stricken with the dreaded plague, and how to obtain the magic sword which will protect you from those pesky Barbarian Hordes.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347740182l/1525997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347740182l/1525997.jpg" width="128" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Speaks the Nightbird</span></i> by Robert McCammon (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416552502/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1416552502">Amazon</a>) - This is actually the two books by McCammon above, but they only print it as one book anymore even though it's still two books. :) My books are pictured below:<br />
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<strong><em>Judgment of the Witch</em></strong></div>
<div style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1340796721l/543180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1340796721l/543180.jpg" width="124" /></a>The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe a witch has cursed their town with inexplicable tragedies and they demand that beautiful widow Rachel Howarth be tried and executed for witchcraft. Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew Corbett. Believing in Rachel's innocence, Matthew will soon confront the true evil at work in Fount Royal....</div>
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<strong><em>Evil Unveiled</em></strong></div>
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After hearing damning testimony, magistrate Woodward sentences the accused witch to death by burning. Desperate to exonerate the woman he has come to love, Matthew begins his own investigation among the townspeople. Piecing together the truth, he has no choice but to vanquish a force more malevolent than witchcraft in order to save his beloved Rachel and free Fount Royal from the menace claiming innocent lives.</div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317793528l/9591398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317793528l/9591398.jpg" width="133" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making</span></i> by Catherynne M. Valente (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250010195/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1250010195">Amazon</a>) - Wins award for bestest title ever.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.</span><br />
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With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, <em>Fairyland </em>lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of <em>Alice in Wonderland</em> and the soul of <em>The Golden Compass</em>, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.</div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317063962l/6631944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317063962l/6631944.jpg" width="133" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Carrion Comfort</span></i> by Dan Simmons (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312567073/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0312567073">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">“CARRION COMFORT is one of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. Simple as that.” --</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>Stephen King</strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"Epic in scale and scope but intimately disturbing, CARRION COMFORT spans the ages to rewrite history and tug at the very fabric of reality. A nightmarish chronicle of predator and prey that will shatter your world view forever. A true classic." --</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>Guillermo del Toro</strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"CARRION COMFORT</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em> </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">is one of the scariest books ever written. Whenever I get the question asked</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>Who's your favorite author? </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">my answer is always Dan Simmons." --</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>James Rollins</strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">"One of the few major reinventions of the vampire concept, on a par with Jack Finney’s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, Richard Matheson’s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>I Am Legend</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">, and Stephen King’s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>Salem’s Lot</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. --</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>David Morrell</strong></span> </blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">THE PAST... Caught behind the lines of Hitler’s Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face to face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazi’s themselves…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">THE PRESENT... Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for Saul will span decades and cross continents, plunging into the darkest corners of 20th century history to reveal a secret society of beings who may often exist behind the world's most horrible and violent events. Killing from a distance, and by darkly manipulative proxy, they are people with the psychic ability to 'use' humans: read their minds, subjugate them to their wills, experience through their senses, feed off their emotions, force them to acts of unspeakable aggression. Each year, three of the most powerful of this hidden order meet to discuss their ongoing campaign of induced bloodshed and deliberate destruction. But this reunion, something will go terribly wrong. Saul’s quest is about to reach its elusive object, drawing hunter and hunted alike into a struggle that will plumb the depths of mankind’s attraction to violence, and determine the future of the world itself…</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320434106l/22876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320434106l/22876.jpg" width="122" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Reave the Just and Other Tales</span></i> by Stephen R. Donaldson (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553580140/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0553580140">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Stephen R. Donaldson's unique talents have placed his work alongside that of J.R.R. Tolkien and established him as a writer with the rare ability to expand readers' imaginations. Now he presents a magnificent new collection of eight stories and novellas--three of which have never before been published.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This outstanding volume commences with the fablelike title story, "Reave the Just," which highlights one of Donaldson's favorite themes: the individual's power to overcome adversity. This collection also introduces the morbid, soul-taking hero of "Penance," the mysterious beggar woman in the dark fairy tale "The Woman Who Loved Pigs," and the pampered antihero forced to make a choice between virtue and vice in "The Djinn Who Watches Over the Accursed."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Boasting exotic settings and suspense fueled by sudden plot twists,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>Reave the Just and Other Tales</strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">is a testament to Stephen R. Donaldson's talent to spin unforgettably spellbinding stories, and the astonishing scope of his mastery of magic and myth.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1277122204l/1716066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1277122204l/1716066.jpg" width="136" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Fortress of the Pearl</span></i> (Elric #8) by Michael Moorcock (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441248667/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0441248667">Amazon</a>) - Goodreads says this is number 8, but then the blurb says 7. Anytime anyone gets into the numbering of this "series" I get confused, so we'll go with this being number H.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The seventh installment in the prolific Moorcock's series about warrior Elric of Melnibone is set early in the warrior's career, opening as the Lord Gho Fhaazi seeks the principal seat on the ruling Council of Seven of the city of Quarzhasaat. He lures Elric into seeking the Pearl at the Heart of the World--the price of admission to the council--by addicting him to a slow-acting poison to which he, the Lord Gho, has the only antidote. Moorcock leads Elric over a course of monstrous and horrifying obstacles, pits him against the Sorcerer Adventurers, servants of Quarzhasatt's jaded rich, and then thrusts him into a dreamworld within the mind of an adoelscent girl. Trapped in a comatose state by the Sorcerer Adventurers, she is undergoing her own rite of passage into adulthood. Through the vast and turbulent landscape of the Dream Realm, guided by the Dreamthief Lady Oone, Elric seeks the Pearl. This is a superior adventure, colorful and exotic, well-paced and exciting.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350301989l/13544648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350301989l/13544648.jpg" width="132" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Day by Day Armageddon: Shattered Hourglass</span></i> (Day by Day #3) by J.L. Bourne (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451628811/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451628811">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">START INTERCEPT</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Armies of undead have risen up across the U.S. and around the globe;there is no safe haven from the diseased corpses hungering for human flesh. But in the heat of a Texas wasteland, a small band of survivors attempt to counter the millions closing in around them.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">INTERCEPT COMPLETE</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Survivor,Day by day, the handwritten journal entries of one man caught in a worldwide cataclysm capture the desperation—and the will to survive—as he joins forces with a handful of refugees to battle surviving enemies both human and inhuman from inside an abandoned strategic missile facility.But in the world of the undead, is mere survival enough?</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327895166l/7378426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327895166l/7378426.jpg" width="131" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Tome of the Undergates</span></i> (Aeon's Gate #1) by Sam Sykes (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616142421/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1616142421">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Lenk can barely keep control of his mismatched adventurer band at the best of times (Gariath the dragon man sees humans as little more than prey, Kataria the Shict despises most humans, and the humans in the band are little better). When they're not insulting each other's religions they're arguing about pay and conditions. So when the ship they are travelling on is attacked by pirates things don't go very well.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">They go a whole lot worse when an invincible demon joins the fray. The demon steals the Tome of the Undergates - a manuscript that contains all you need to open the undergates. And whichever god you believe in you don't want the undergates open. On the other side are countless more invincible demons, the manifestation of all the evil of the gods, and they want out.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Full of razor-sharp wit, characters who leap off the page (and into trouble) and plunging the reader into a vivid world of adventure this is a fantasy that kicks off a series that could dominate the second decade of the century.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348609057l/5463119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348609057l/5463119.jpg" width="133" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Stormcaller</span></i> (Twilight Reign #1) by Tom Lloyd (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591026938/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1591026938">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Isak is a white-eye, feared and despised in equal measure. Trapped in a life of poverty, hated and abused by his father, Isak dreams of escape, but when his chance comes, it isn't to a place in the army as he'd expected. Instead, the Gods have marked him out as heir-elect to the brooding Lord Bahl, the Lord of the Fahlan.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Lord Bahl is also a white-eye, a genetic rarity that produces men stronger, more savage and more charismatic than their normal counterparts. Their magnetic charm and brute strength both inspires and oppresses others.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span> </blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Now is the time for revenge, and the forging of empires. With mounting envy and malice the men who would themselves be kings watch Isak, chosen by Gods as flawed as the humans who serve them, as he is shaped and moulded to fulfil the prophecies that are encircling him like scavenger birds. The various factions jostle for the upper hand, and that means violence, but the Gods have been silent too long and that violence is about to spill over and paint the world the colour of spilled blood and guts and pain and anguish . . .</span></blockquote>
Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-69917846830961365952012-12-08T23:20:00.001-07:002012-12-08T23:21:16.470-07:00Book Haul - Mack, Brett, Cole, Redick, BrennanThis is mostly an eBooks post, so no picture of the one book that came in the mail lately. I seem to be getting review copies more and more through electronic means and it's actually kind of nice. I feel like I read books more quickly this way and books won't have to start replacing the kids. :D<br />
<br />
<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347975117l/13547351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347975117l/13547351.jpg" width="121" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations #2: Silent Weapons</span></i> by David Mack [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451650736/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451650736&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a>] <i>Pocket </i><br />
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Blurb from book one: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>A BRAZEN HEIST </strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>Enterprise </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">crew race to find out who has stolen Data’s android brother B-4—and for what sinister purpose.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>A BROKEN PROMISE </strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">One desperate father risks all for the son he abandoned forty years ago—but is he ready to pay the price for redemption?</span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>A DARING MISSION </strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Against overwhelming odds, and with time running out, Commander Worf has only one chance to avert a disaster. But how high a price will he pay for victory?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353537750l/9268487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353537750l/9268487.jpg" width="131" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Daylight War</span></i> (Demon Cycle #3) by Peter V. Brett [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345503821/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345503821&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a>] <i>Del Rey</i> - This is easily my most anticipated book of 2013. Can't wait to read it, it's actually a wonder I haven't dropped everything else already.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">With</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>The Warded Man</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>The Desert Spear,</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Peter V. Brett surged to the front rank of contemporary fantasy, standing alongside giants in the field like George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><em>The Daylight War,</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">the eagerly anticipated third volume in Brett’s internationally bestselling Demon Cycle, continues the epic tale of humanity’s last stand against an army of demons that rise each night to prey on mankind.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more—the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen’s path threatens to lead him to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons—a spear and a crown—that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera’s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all—those lurking in the human heart.</span></blockquote>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Shadow Ops #2: Fortress Frontier</span></i> by Myke Cole [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425256367/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0425256367&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a>] <i>Ace</i> - Loved the <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2012/01/review-shadow-ops-control-point-by-myke.html">first book</a> and looking forward to book two, what more can I say.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began to develop terrifying powers—summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Overnight the rules changed…but not for everyone.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Colonel Alan Bookbinder is an army bureaucrat whose worst war wound is a paper-cut. But after he develops magical powers, he is torn from everything he knows and thrown onto the front-lines.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Drafted into the Supernatural Operations Corps in a new and dangerous world, Bookbinder finds himself in command of Forward Operating Base Frontier—cut off, surrounded by monsters, and on the brink of being overrun.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Now, he must find the will to lead the people of FOB Frontier out of hell, even if the one hope of salvation lies in teaming up with the man whose own magical powers put the base in such grave danger in the first place—Oscar Britton, public enemy number one...</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320458575l/6540260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320458575l/6540260.jpg" width="121" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Red Wolf Conspiracy</span></i> (Chathrand Voyages #1) by Robert V.S. Redick [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027G6XFG/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0027G6XFG&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a>] <i>Del Rey</i> - Actually, I downloaded the entire series and this is supposed to have one of the better series endings around. Hopefully I get there.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Told with infectious joy and enthusiasm by an immensely talented new writer this is a landmark fantasy debut. The Chathrand - The Great Ship, The Wind-Palace, His Supremacy's First Fancy - is the last of her kind - built 600 years ago she dwarves all the ships around her. The secrets of her construction are long lost. She was the pride of the Empire. The natural choice for the great diplomatic voyage to seal the peace with the last of the Emperor's last enemies. 700 souls boarded her. Her sadistic Captain Nilus Rose, the Emperor's Ambassador and Thasha, the daughter he plans to marry off to seal the treaty, a spy master and six assassins, one hunderd imperial marines, Pazel the tarboy gifted and cursed by his mother's spell and a small band of Ixchel. The Ixchel sneaked aboard and now hide below decks amongst the rats. Intent on their own mission. But there is treachery afoot. Behind the plans for peace lies the shadow of war and the fear that a dead king might live again. And now the Chathrand, having survived countless battles and centuries of typhoons has gone missing. This is her story.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341282052l/12974372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341282052l/12974372.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent</span></i> by Marie Brennan [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765331969/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765331969&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a>] <i>Tor</i> - I've heard good things about this author and this book simply intrigues me. Not a bad start really.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Not a day goes by that the post does not bring me at least one letter from a young person (or sometimes one not so young) who wishes to follow in my footsteps and become a dragon naturalist. Nowadays, of course, the field is quite respectable, with university courses and intellectual societies putting out fat volumes titled Proceedings of some meeting or other. Those interested in respectable things, however, attend my lectures. The ones who write to me invariably want to hear about my adventures: my escape from captivity in the swamps of Mouleen, or my role in the great Battle of Keonga, or (most frequently) my flight to the inhospitable heights of the Mrtyahaima peaks, the only place on earth where the secrets of the ancient world could be unlocked.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Even the most dedicated of letter-writers could not hope to answer all these queries personally. I have therefore accepted the offer from Messrs. Carrigdon & Rudge to publish a series of memoirs, chronicling the more interesting portions of my life. By and large these shall focus on those expeditions which led to the discovery for which I have become so famous, but there shall also be occasional digressions into matters more entertaining, personal, or even (yes) salacious. One benefit of being an old woman now, and moreover one who has been called a "national treasure," is that there are very few who can tell me what I may and may not write.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Beyond this point, therefore, lie foetid swamps, society gossip, disfiguring diseases, familial conflicts, hostile foreigners, and a plenitude of mud. You, dear reader, continue on at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart -- no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments -- even at the risk of one's life -- is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. If my humble words convey even a fraction of that wonder, I will rest content.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In this first volume, I will relate to you how my career as a lady adventurer and dragon naturalist began, commencing at the creation of my childhood fascination with all things winged, and for the bulk of its length describing my first foreign expedition, to study the rock-wyrms of Vystrana. Common gossip has made the bare facts well-known, but I warn you, dear reader, that all was not as you have heard.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Isabella, Lady Trent</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Casselthwaite, Linshire</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">11 Iyar, 1895</span></blockquote>
Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-89076556058852769762012-10-31T13:57:00.000-06:002012-10-31T14:00:45.090-06:00Book Haul - Shirley, Pang, Abercrombie<br />
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344662942l/13545098.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344662942l/13545098.jpg" width="121" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Borderlands: Unconquered</span></i> (Borderlands #2) by John Shirley [<i>Pocket</i>] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439198489/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1439198489&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - I let my son play with this one and that's why it's a bit worse for the wear. Cool concept, but I've never played the game. Any good?</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Everyone already knows that. But the General of an army of Psycho Soldiers takes on this planetary hell headfirst, planning to enslave all of the Borderlands. And that General . . . is a Goddess. The General Goddess, Gynella, is a cunning maniac who uses the dark science of the vile Dr. Vialle to control a growing army of bandits and malcontents. Only four people stand in Gynella’s way. Roland. Mordecai. Brick. And . . . Daphne.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Daphne?! Better known as Kuller the Killer, she was once the galaxy’s most effective assassin for organized crime—until her forced retirement on this abandoned wasteland of a world. Roland is one of the toughest fighters in the Borderlands, and Mordecai is the best shot in four solar systems—all the two really want is to get to the Crystalisks, harvest some Eridium, get rich, and leave the planet for the nearest intergalactic party. But there are nightmarish creatures to deal with: Varkids and Skags and Threshers. Worse, Gynella is still in their way. Brick—a pile of walking muscle who lives to smash his enemies, could be their ally or their enemy . . . but you’d definitely rather have him on your side. As for Daphne Kuller? Don't make her mad. Just . . . don’t.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">If you want to hear about the whole thing, take a ride on the bus to Fyrestone with Marcus. Because Marcus has a tale to tell you . . . an untold story of the Borderlands.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337002562l/13507828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337002562l/13507828.jpg" width="121" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">A Trace of Moonlight</span></i> (Abby Sinclair #3) by Allison Pang [<i>Pocket</i>] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439198365/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1439198365&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - The reviews are pretty good for this series, but this is number three and probably won't be happening. Cover's not doing it for me either.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong><em>Drinking from the waters of lethe and offering herself up as Faerie’s sacrificial Tithe . . . these just might be the least of Abby Sinclair’s problems. </em></strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Abby’s pact with a daemon—whether or not she remembers making it—is binding, so she’d better count herself lucky that (in the words of a daemon who knows better) there’s nearly always a loophole. But her friends’ reckless attempts to free her, well intentioned though they may be, set off a disastrous chain of events. In no time at all, Abby turns her incubus lover mortal, then gets herself killed, cursed, and married to an elven prince whose mother wants her dead. On top of everything else, she’s lost the Key to the CrossRoads to her mortal enemy, who promptly uses his restored power to wreak havoc on the OtherWorld and put its very existence in jeopardy. Only one person can make things right again, but to find her, Abby must place her trust in allies of mixed loyalties, and conquer her nightmares once and for all.</span></blockquote>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Red Country</span></i> by Joe Abercrombie [<i>Orbit</i>] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316187216/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316187216&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - Woot! This is one of the top fantasy releases of the year and I may be a bit excited to jump in.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">They burned her home.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">They stole her brother and sister.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But vengeance is following.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust . . .</span></blockquote>
Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-24481903878065551122012-10-11T22:49:00.002-06:002012-10-11T22:49:39.375-06:00Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. MartinI was way too excited about this so I took a picture. This book's not easy to get ahold of, especially not for $0.25.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_7gJUpiWVBl6PxE-ObudoV9Gig6ERTjP_FM9PQQNWxuYa_rYF6YwjPjzhWn478jELvmNzLT_VNztHWlx9DzXUCu0IvkhTqulsk9nkRtlTMKs2T-RP9-bBOQv0emXUm2DRL5VpR7hZR4/s1600/Tuf.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_7gJUpiWVBl6PxE-ObudoV9Gig6ERTjP_FM9PQQNWxuYa_rYF6YwjPjzhWn478jELvmNzLT_VNztHWlx9DzXUCu0IvkhTqulsk9nkRtlTMKs2T-RP9-bBOQv0emXUm2DRL5VpR7hZR4/s1600/Tuf.JPG" /></a></div>
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Terrible picture (I know! Blame the crappy phone), but very excited about that find.Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-25076553086779019962012-10-10T09:00:00.000-06:002012-10-10T09:00:12.285-06:00Book Haul - Schafer, Wurts, Francis, Smith-Ready<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here are some ARC's I may have forgotten to mention over the last couple months.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDWP6KIQAX85UceMx5LxXY7RRID-QE7Fp7fWB4dRfWbAOA3Eu92xCcmcGzkEyjX6UWiuUZ8c4ZUnzqRfXFDVyatjN_ffw7PHsx7x55Z1ztLrldj-IUQ3XFRpNd0pNlPX4kaK6RB2O2DM/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDWP6KIQAX85UceMx5LxXY7RRID-QE7Fp7fWB4dRfWbAOA3Eu92xCcmcGzkEyjX6UWiuUZ8c4ZUnzqRfXFDVyatjN_ffw7PHsx7x55Z1ztLrldj-IUQ3XFRpNd0pNlPX4kaK6RB2O2DM/s1600/photo.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340241078l/13590715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340241078l/13590715.jpg" width="133" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><i>The Tainted City</i></span> (Shattered Sigil #2) by Courtney Schafer [Night Shade Books] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597804037/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1597804037&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - Loved the first and can't wait to dive into this one. Will be reading this next. (<a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2011/12/seaks-stamp-whitefire-crossing-by.html">Book 1 review</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Dev is a desperate man. After narrowly surviving a smuggling job gone wrong, he’s now a prisoner of the Alathian Council, held hostage to ensure his friend Kiran — former apprentice to one of the most ruthless mages alive — does their bidding.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But Kiran isn’t Dev’s only concern. Back in his home city of Ninavel, the child he once swore to protect faces a terrible fate if he can’t reach her in time, and the days are fast slipping away. So when the Council offers Dev freedom in exchange for his and Kiran’s assistance in a clandestine mission to Ninavel, he can’t refuse, no matter how much he distrusts their motives.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Once in Ninavel the mission proves more treacherous than even Dev could have imagined. Betrayed by allies, forced to aid their enemies, he and Kiran must confront the darkest truths of their pasts if they hope to save those they love and survive their return to the Tainted City.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1315344711l/28664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1315344711l/28664.jpg" width="123" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Warhost of Vastmark</span></i> (Wars of Light and Shadow #3) by Janny Wurts [HarperVoyager] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0006482074/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0006482074&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - This is an amazing series that keeps getting more and more complex, for those who really want to get immersed in a world. (<a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-curse-of-mistwraith-by-janny.html">Book 1 review</a>)<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Tricked once more by his wily half-brother, Lysaer, Lord of Light, arrives at the tiny harbor town of Merior to find that Arithon's ship yards have been abandoned and meticulously destroyed, and that the Master of Shadow has disappeared as if into thin air. Meanwhile Arithon and the Mad Prophet Dakar are traveling on foot through the treacherous Kelhorn Mountains towards the Vastmark clans, there to raise further support for his cause. But raising a warhost is a costly business. Is it mere coincidence that Princess Talith—Lysaer's beautiful, headstrong wife—is taken captive and held for a vast ransom by a master brigand? The forces of light and shadow circle and feint, drawing ever closer to a huge conflict. And in the background the Fellowship of Seven Sorcerers and the Koriani Enchantresses watch and plan, and wait.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328835847l/1961496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328835847l/1961496.jpg" width="123" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">To Ride Hell's Chasm</span></i> by Janny Wurts [HarperVoyager] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RI91A8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002RI91A8&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - I'm actually currently reading this and so far it's excellent as expected.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">When Princess Anja fails to appear at her betrothal banquet, the tiny, peaceful kingdom of Sessalie is plunged into intrigue. Two warriors are charged with recovering the distraught king's beloved daughter. Taskin, Commander of the Royal Guard, whose icy competence and impressive life-term as the Crown's right-hand man command the kingdom's deep-seated respect; and Mykkael, the rough-hewn newcomer who has won the post of Captain of the Garrison - a scarred veteran with a deadly record of field warfare, whose "interesting" background and foreign breeding are held in contempt by court society. As the princess's trail vanishes outside the citadel's gates, anxiety and tension escalate. Mykkael's investigations lead him to a radical explanation for the mystery, but he finds himself under suspicion from the court factions. Will Commander Taskin's famous fair-mindedness be enough to unravel the truth behind the garrison captain's dramatic theory: that the resourceful, high-spirited princess was not taken by force, but fled the palace to escape a demonic evil?</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338324136l/13547481.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338324136l/13547481.jpg" width="121" /></a></div>
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Blood Winter</span></i> (Horngate Witches #4) by Diana Pharaoh Francis [Pocket] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451613865/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451613865&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - I can't deny the blurb looks pretty good, but at number 4 in the series, I probably won't be giving this a go. There's just too much out there and some things need to get cut.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Set in apocalyptic America and featuring a magically enslaved heroine who is “a riveting mixture of guts, compassion, and furious anger as she struggles with a world coming apart at the seams” (Romantic Times), the fourth in a dynamic dark urban fantasy series unlike anything you’ve ever read before.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Winter is coming to Montana and Shadowblade warrior Max is expecting trouble. People are hoarding everything. They are banding together, many flocking to the congregation of Sterling Savage, a fire-and-brimstone preacher. A charismatic cult leader who claims to be the Hand of God, he’s determined to create a human utopia and destroy all magic, starting with witches.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Unbeknownst to him, the “divine” voice he’s been hearing isn’t God but a demon that feeds on hate, death, and destruction. Savage is the perfect puppet for the demon’s ambitions. Max and her people at Horngate are all that stand in its way, and they are woefully unprepared.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Conducting terrible, bloody ceremonies to boost his own power and that of the demon riding him, Savage starts a war between his congregants and two other powerful gangs in the city, fighting for food, fuel, clothing and territory. When he manages to capture Max’s niece, brother, and several teenagers from Horngate, Max tries to free them but finds that Savage has twisted their minds. They worship him—even her brother, who is a witch and whom Savage intends to burn at the stake. Going undercover in the cult compound, Max swiftly realizes just how seductive Savage is. His charisma is reinforced with magic. His followers adore him and will do anything for him. Anything.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But courage, loyalty, and friendship are powerful forces—and Max doesn’t like to lose.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345049268l/9785202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345049268l/9785202.jpg" width="123" /></a></div>
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Lust for Life</span></i> (WVMP Radio #4) by Jeri Smith-Ready [Pocket] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439163502/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1439163502&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Amazon</a> - I don't know what it is about the fourth book in the series lately, but this goes the same as above, very unlikely for me to read.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><strong>EVERYONE’S OUT FOR BLOOD—HERS </strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Ciara’s con-artist parents taught her three keys to survival: keep low, keep quiet, and most of all, keep moving. But managing WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll—not to mention becoming a vampire herself—has kept her in one place long enough to fall madly in love, adopt an undead dog . . .</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. . . and make more enemies than she can shake a stake at.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">A psychotic DJ, a wanna-be necromancer, and a posse of vengeful hippies would all love to see Ciara get her day in the sun—literally. To protect Ciara, her fiancé, Shane, has traded his flannel shirt and guitar for a flak jacket and crossbow. If she survives to walk down the aisle, will she recognize the man waiting at the altar?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In this final chapter of the award-winning WVMP RADIO series, Ciara must decide who to trust, whom to love—and whom to kill.</span></blockquote>
Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-9763048604858686832012-08-28T09:00:00.000-06:002012-08-28T12:24:08.771-06:00Book Haul - Martin, Beyer, Golden, Gay<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf0Fj6-MHdAC2fXZd9PCFyd3LadtzWqcADJE2fyffFnLCyBz6DtEjDmkhOc_3s4ri57gQk620jJuKuguDmDlq0TrtAwuPtYKTbhNP4wmXyQp_KAZXjku3nSROWP8Qp8n2MxpBcaz8qgqo/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf0Fj6-MHdAC2fXZd9PCFyd3LadtzWqcADJE2fyffFnLCyBz6DtEjDmkhOc_3s4ri57gQk620jJuKuguDmDlq0TrtAwuPtYKTbhNP4wmXyQp_KAZXjku3nSROWP8Qp8n2MxpBcaz8qgqo/s1600/photo.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitchen counter, so you get to see other stuff too, like our cordless vacuum battery.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338182104l/13093624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338182104l/13093624.jpg" /></a><i style="color: red;">Star Trek: Titan: Fallen Gods</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451660626/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451660626&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">buy</a>] by Michael A. Martin - There are so many different series, etc. I've enjoyed Star Trek in the past...in television and movie form, but I've yet to read a book. I still mean to. I still keep saying that too. It WILL happen!<br />
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<span id="freeText10644218871152920375">The Starship Titan continues on her outward voyage of discovery in this latest exciting novel. <br /><br />Though
the Federation still reels from Andor's political decision that will
forever affect the Federation, Captain William T. Riker and the crew of
the USS Titan are carrying out Starfleet's renewed commitment to deep
space exploration. While continuing to search the Beta Quadrant's
unknown expanses for an ancient civilizations long-lost
quick-terraforming technology–a potential boon to many Borg-ravaged
worlds across the Federation and beyond–Titan's science specialists
encounter the planet Ta'ith, home to the remnant of a once-great society
that may hold the very secrets they seek. But this quest also takes
Titan perilously close to the deadly Vela Pulsar, the galaxy's most
prolific source of lethal radiation, potentially jeopardizing both Titan
and what remains of the Ta'ithan civilization. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Riker
finds himself on a collision course with the Federation Council and the
Andorian government, both of which intend to deprive Titan of its
Andorian crewmembers. And one of those Andorians–Lieutenant Pava Ek'Noor
sh'Aqabaa–uncovers a terrible danger that has been hiding in plain
sight for more than two centuries...</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344662231l/13106916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344662231l/13106916.jpg" width="121" /></a><i style="color: red;">Star Trek: Voyager: The Eternal Tide</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145166818X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=145166818X&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">buy</a>] by Kirsten Beyer - This is one of those things where I just have no idea where to start. I guess I have some heads up due to <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2012/04/convince-me-star-trek-novels.html">this post</a> I did.<br />
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<span id="freeText6920861325576787924">As the <i>Voyager </i>fleet
continues its exploration of the Delta Quadrant, investigating the
current status of sectors formerly controlled by the Borg becomes a key
priority. Two of the fleet’s special mission vessels, the <i>U.S.S. Galen </i>and <i>U.S.S. Demeter, </i>are left at New Talax to aid Neelix’s people, while the <i>Voyager</i>, <i>Quirinal</i>, <i>Esquiline</i>, <i>Hawking</i>, and <i>Curie </i>do a systematic search for any remnants of the Borg or Caeliar, even as the <i>Achilles </i>moves
to a location central enough to offer aid to the exploring vessels as
needed. As this critical mission begins, Fleet Commander Afsarah Eden,
who has shared what little she knows of her mysterious past with Captain
Chakotay, begins to experience several more “awakenings” as she
encounters artifacts and places that make her feel connected to her
long-lost home. She is reluctant to allow these visions to overshadow
the mission, and this becomes increasingly difficult as time passes. But
in the midst of this growing crisis, no one in the fleet could
anticipate the unexpected return of one of Starfleet’s most revered
leaders—a return that could hold the very fate of the galaxy in the
balance.</span></blockquote>
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<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345765233l/13260060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345765233l/13260060.jpg" width="131" /></a><i style="color: red;">World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451697910/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451697910&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">buy</a>] by Christine Golden - Golden's a pretty prolific author when it comes to tie-ins. The problem with this series is that I don't know if you can just start anywhere (Goodreads says this book is #11) or if you need to start at the beginning, and that's just daunting.<br />
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<span id="freeText5053402879206697133">The ashes of the
Cataclysm have settled across Azeroth’s disparate kingdoms. As the
broken world recovers from the disaster, the renowned sorceress Lady
Jaina Proudmoore continues her long struggle to mend relations between
the Horde and the Alliance. Yet of late, escalating tensions have pushed
the two factions closer to open war, threatening to destroy what little
stability remains in the . . . <br /><br />Dark news arrives in Jaina’s
beloved city, Theramore. One of the blue dragonflight’s most powerful
artifacts—the Focusing Iris—has been stolen. To unravel the item’s
mysterious whereabouts, Jaina works with the former blue Dragon Aspect
Kalecgos. The two brilliant heroes forge an unlikely bond during their
investigation, but another disastrous turn of events looms on the
horizon. . . . <br /><br />Garrosh Hellscream is mustering the Horde’s
armies for an all-out invasion of Theramore. Despite mounting dissent
within his faction, the brazen warchief aims to usher in a new era of
Horde domination. His thirst for conquest leads him to take brutal
measures against anyone who dares question his leadership. <br /><br />Alliance
forces converge on Theramore to repel the Horde onslaught, but the
brave defenders are unprepared for the true scope of Garrosh’s cunning
and deceptive strategy. His attack will irrevocably transform Jaina,
engulfing the ardent peacekeeper in the chaotic and all-consuming . . .
TIDES OF WAR</span> </blockquote>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1326449668l/12504228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1326449668l/12504228.jpg" width="120" /></a></div>
<i style="color: red;">Shadows Before the Sun</i> (Charlie Madigan #4) [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451625480/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451625480&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">buy</a>] by Kelly Gay - To be honest, I want to read this series for this cover alone not to mention the <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/2012/08/bastard-reactions-shadows-before-sun-by.html">good things I've heard</a>...but it's the 4th book! That just makes it difficult to start a series.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText12049395897979457748"><b>The electrifying sequel to the acclaimed urban fantasies <i>The Better Part of Darkness</i>, <i>The Darkest Edge of Dawn</i>, and <i>The Hour of Dust and Ashes</i>!</b><br /><br />After
filling out mountains of paperwork, Detective Charlie Madigan sets out
for a death-defying trip into heavenly Elysia to rescue her partner Hank
and bring the siren home. Of course, she doesn’t expect to leave behind
an all out siren revolution or return home to find that jinn crime
boss, Grigori Tennin, has begun a massive search for the divine being,
Ahkneri. Tennin’s tactics set off a chain reaction that puts Charlie in
the crosshairs of the shadowy creature known as Death and awakens
Ahkneri from her long sleep. And when Vengeance rises, Atlanta will
never be the same.</span> </blockquote>
Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-720511989209163132012-06-30T13:02:00.001-06:002012-06-30T13:05:00.882-06:00Book Haul - Browne, Jacobs, Recht, VanderMeer, Esslemont<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One giveaway win, 3 review copies shown, and one review copy not shown...oh, and zero time for reading! Doh.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCjv5s-Ge_yNUkwOutChBCd05JTn0tuvQ2MRCYByTgwJ_rpz8_51kPhooYWxjzS14a4AAhgV2lq4zN9FUN7qXmXhZfXZTPABipsmt2muv75EdMk5zsfqVJNOHgcUymqHJ79BOP63z6AU/s1600/Lambshead.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCjv5s-Ge_yNUkwOutChBCd05JTn0tuvQ2MRCYByTgwJ_rpz8_51kPhooYWxjzS14a4AAhgV2lq4zN9FUN7qXmXhZfXZTPABipsmt2muv75EdMk5zsfqVJNOHgcUymqHJ79BOP63z6AU/s320/Lambshead.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330028233l/13259637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330028233l/13259637.jpg" width="127" /></a><i style="color: red;">Lucky Bastard</i> by S.G. Browne [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451657196/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451657196&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GG0M7Y/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005GG0M7Y&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">kindle</a>] - Thanks to <a href="http://bastardbooks.blogspot.com/">Bastard Books</a>, whose giveaway I won, I will hopefully be enjoying this book soon. It looks really good.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText11335622816147252393">Meet Nick Monday: a
private detective who’s more Columbo than Sam Spade, more Magnum P.I.
than Philip Marlowe. As San Francisco’s infamous luck poacher, Nick
doesn’t know whether his ability to swipe other people’s fortunes with a
simple handshake is a blessing or a curse. Ever since his youth, Nick
has swallowed more than a few bitter truths when it comes to wheeling
and dealing in destinies. Because whether the highest bidders of Nick’s
serendipitous booty are celebrities, yuppies, or douche bag vegans, the
unsavory fact remains: luck is the most powerful, addictive, and
dangerous drug of them all. And no amount of cappuccinos, Lucky Charms,
or apple fritters can sweeten the notion that Nick might be exactly what
his father once claimed—as ambitious as a fart. That is, until Tuesday
Knight, the curvy brunette who also happens to be the mayor’s daughter,
approaches Nick with an irresistible offer: $100,000 to retrieve her
father’s stolen luck. Could this high-stakes deal let Nick do right? Or
will kowtowing to another greedmonger’s demands simply fund Nick’s
addiction to corporate coffee bars while his morality drains down the
toilet? Before he downs his next mocha, Nick finds himself at the mercy
of a Chinese mafia kingpin and with no choice but to scour the city for
the purest kind of luck, a hunt more titillating than softcore porn. All
he has to do to stay ahead of the game is remember that you can’t take
something from someone without eventually paying like hell for it. . . .</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331143116l/13260168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331143116l/13260168.jpg" width="126" /></a><i style="color: red;">This Dark Earth</i> by John Hornor Jacobs [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451666667/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451666667&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0061PBWR8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0061PBWR8&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">kindle</a>] - From the author of the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/198947959">extremely</a> <a href="http://kingofthenerds.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/review-southern-gods-by-john-hornor-jacobs/">well</a>-<a href="http://kamvision.blogspot.com/2011/09/southern-gods-by-john-horner-jacobs.html">received</a> Southern Gods comes a zombie novel. I don't think I can pass it up.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText3704843792545292956"><b>In a bleak, zombie-ridden future, a small settlement fights for survival and looks to a teenager to lead them…</b>The
land is contaminated, electronics are defunct, the ravenous undead
remain, and life has fallen into a nasty and brutish state of nature.
Welcome to Bridge City, in what was once Arkansas: part medieval
fortress, part Western outpost, and the precarious last stand for
civilization. A ten-year-old prodigy when the world ended, Gus is now a
battle-hardened young man. He designed Bridge City to protect the living
few from the shamblers eternally at the gates. Now he’s being groomed
by his physician mother, Lucy, and the gentle giant Knock-Out to become
the next leader of men. But an army of slavers is on its way, and the
war they wage for the city’s resources could mean the end of mankind as
we know it. Can Gus be humanity’s savior? And if he is, will it mean
becoming a dictator, a martyr, or maybe something far worse than even
the zombies?</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340165450l/9729593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340165450l/9729593.jpg" width="132" /></a><i style="color: red;">Survivors</i> by Z.A. Recht [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145162882X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=145162882X&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U7HS4U/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004U7HS4U&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">kindle</a>] - The third book in Recht's Morningstar Strain zombie trilogy, beginning with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439176736/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1439176736&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">Plague of the Dead</a>. The blurb looks good, but seeing as how this is the third one, I don't know if I'll get to this series. The above book also doesn't help either. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText15200872249746067246">The long-awaited finale
of Z.A. Recht’s “action-packed zombie extravaganza” (Ryan C. Thomas)
that began with the acclaimed novels Plague of the Dead and Thunder and
Ashes. . . .<br /><br />THE MORNINGSTAR STRAIN WAS THE END OF THE WORLD.<br />In
the wake of the zombie apocalypse, two separate bands of survivors
journey across a decimated America, each with the desperate goal of
finding the cure for the virulent plague that threatens the existence of
humankind—or what’s left of it. Now it’s up to these inheritors of the
future to outlive their waking nightmare, any way they can.<br /><br />BUT FOR THESE SURVIVORS, IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING.<br />One
group includes a brilliant virologist; for the other, an immune soldier
proves invaluable. Battling infected and marauding raiders at every
turn, the teams soon uncover the devious plans of Sawyer, an agent of
the Chairman of the Reunited States of America, who believes that Dr.
Anna Demilio already has the cure, and he will stop at nothing to find
her. Now, with the salvation of the world and their own souls on the
line, how far will the survivors go to emerge victorious?</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327893048l/9466840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327893048l/9466840.jpg" width="143" /></a><i><span style="color: red;">The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images & Stories from Top Authors & Artists</span></i> edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MXBKUC/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007MXBKUC&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XVN10I/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004XVN10I&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">kindle</a>] - This may just be the coolest book I've ever received. This is such a great concept and I guess it's a sequel of sorts (to <i style="color: red;">The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases</i>), but only in the relation to the main character as far as I can tell. Also, check out the other blog for a giveaway for this book in the next couple days.<br />
<br />
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<span id="freeTextContainer9816358233647865291">A spectacular
illustrated steampunk anthology with works from some of the most
renowned and bestselling writers and artists in speculative and graphic
fiction, including Mike Mignola, Alan Moore, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik,
Cherie Priest, Lev Grossman, and China Mieville</span>.</blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1315502095l/11487809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1315502095l/11487809.jpg" width="130" /></a><i style="color: red;">Orb, Sceptre, Throne</i> by Ian C. Esslemont [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765329999/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765329999&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0071NOJYC/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0071NOJYC&linkCode=as2&tag=onthbescfifa-20">kindle</a>] - This is the one not shown in the picture above. I didn't have time to grab it in our quick move to the in-law's house while my wife's on bed rest, but let's just say I'm HIGHLY looking forward to this. ICE seems to be getting better and better and he's taking us back to Darujhistan.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText1089560031852742118">The epic new chapter in
the history of Malaz -- the new epic fantasy from Steven Erikson's
friend and co-creator of this extraordinary and exciting imagined world.<br /><br />Darujhistan,
city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens
free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all,
enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow
the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles
across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to
drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a
long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity.
While, as ever at the centre of everything, a thief in a red waistcoat
and of rotund proportions walks the streets, juggling in one hand
custard pastries, and in the other the fate of the city itself.<br /><br />Far
to the south, fragments of the titanic Moon's Spawn have crashed into
the Rivan Sea creating a series of isles... and a fortune hunter's
dream. A Malazan veteran calling himself 'Red' ventures out to try his
luck -- and perhaps say goodbye to old friends. But there he finds far
more than he'd bargained for as the rush to claim the Spawn's treasures
descends into a mad scramble of chaos and bloodshed. For powers from
across the world have gathered here, searching for the legendary Throne
of Night. The impact of these events are far reaching, it seems. On an
unremarkable island off the coast of Genabackis, a people who had turned
their backs upon all such strivings now lift their masked faces towards
the mainland and recall the ancient prophesy of a return.<br /><br />And
what about the ex-Claw of the Malazan Empire who now walks the uttermost
edge of creation? His mission -- the success or failure of which the
Queen of Dreams saw long ago -- is destined to shape far more than
anyone could have ever imagined.</span></blockquote>Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-17614331251618827212012-06-13T12:20:00.002-06:002012-06-24T11:39:46.482-06:00Review - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (from Different Seasons) by Stephen King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Seasonsking.jpg/200px-Seasonsking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Seasonsking.jpg/200px-Seasonsking.jpg" width="130" /></a><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Different Seasons</span></i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451167538/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0451167538">US</a>] [<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Different-Seasons-Stephen-King/dp/0340952601/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">UK</a>] [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SR2PZG/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002SR2PZG">Kindle</a>] is a book of four novellas, three of which were turned into movies,
and two of those three nominated for multiple Oscars. Incidentally,
they're also the three novellas in this collection that aren't even
King's typical fair - horror.<br />
<br />
I haven't read a whole lot of King,
but what I have I've loved. This set of books is supposed to be some of
King's best writing and even with my limited experience, I can tell
he's in top form. I've been on a King kick lately and couldn't
resist reading the inspiration for one of my favorite movies, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_903134116"></span>The
Shawshank Redemption<span id="goog_903134117"></span></a>. I don't know if I'll get to the rest any time
soon, but here's a review of the first:<br />
<br />
<b>Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/images/2185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/images/2185.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(That's Rita Hayworth if you were wondering, the one in the movie the prisoners watch who tosses her hair.)</span></div>
<br />
The
movie is only titled "The Shawshank Redemption" and with the little
research I did, I learned it was because they didn't want people
thinking it was a movie about Rita Hayworth's life (before the movie was
really underway, they received multiple solicitations from actresses to
play the lead). <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3V2x94sQ76_62A-5D-MKz01nSp3Rjr8ztN53oLiL74x3E650CPwgCfkzYuH6n03VKK53uovKsyIby1O0_fUX1SilxYsN5XyggsUfgINjqKRchRIvwKI8P1nPVkrKgXGVujS87I7gm0Wi/s1600/wall2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho3V2x94sQ76_62A-5D-MKz01nSp3Rjr8ztN53oLiL74x3E650CPwgCfkzYuH6n03VKK53uovKsyIby1O0_fUX1SilxYsN5XyggsUfgINjqKRchRIvwKI8P1nPVkrKgXGVujS87I7gm0Wi/s320/wall2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />For
me, and I'm sure plenty of other people, the movie and the novella will
always be intertwined. Not only did I see the movie first (and as many
times as it's been on TV), but I had no idea it was based on a Stephen
King story. It's a classic in both formats.<br />
<br />
Of course, directly
after reading this, I had to watch the movie again, and it's really
spot-on. There are actually very little changes made to the story (like
what happens to Tommy) and absolutely nothing that changes the story in
any way. I was honestly wondering if Stephen King thought the minor
changes were actually improvements even. <br />
<br />
Also, for some final movie trivia facts, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King" rel="nofollow">King considers</a> this movie, <b>Stand by Me</b> (film adaptation of The Body also contained in this book), and <b>The Mist</b> to be his favorite adaptations of his works.<br />
<br />
I
doubt you need a synopsis, but if you've been living under a rock and
haven't actually seen the movie, this is a tale of an innocent man
falsely sent to prison for killing his wife and her lover. It details
his trials with people such as the "sisters," the ways prisoners cope
(or don't cope) with prison life, and as the title of this section of
the book suggests - hope.<br />
<br />
I've been told that this is some of
King's best writing and I have to admit it is some of the best I've ever
read. So much of the movie is filled with the same narration as the
book and even some of the same dialogue and there's a reason for it -
there's no need to change it, it's perfect the way it is.<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<b>5 out of 5 Stars (You would not be disappointed to read this immediately)</b>Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-5719633450256222002012-05-14T10:00:00.000-06:002012-05-14T10:00:07.577-06:00Book Haul - George III, Knaak, Durham, & Kenyon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvlM_8L2l5nxTVLG8cdYc80-r8cxqqTsLQmn5OIzTsD0WaNXMvZdOsEFy9pvZehdFU7fT-5SrVMuxOICwzZWNHq7UlLZkz2xxi-XiMTXUSYS-3olkeO1xR6WLj_Z2Ue2egPXt06EPX-E/s1600/Acacia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvlM_8L2l5nxTVLG8cdYc80-r8cxqqTsLQmn5OIzTsD0WaNXMvZdOsEFy9pvZehdFU7fT-5SrVMuxOICwzZWNHq7UlLZkz2xxi-XiMTXUSYS-3olkeO1xR6WLj_Z2Ue2egPXt06EPX-E/s320/Acacia.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324943760l/13026545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324943760l/13026545.jpg" width="128" /></a><i style="color: red;">Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145164955X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=145164955X">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005PSL5C4/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005PSL5C4">Kindle</a>] by David R. George III - I don't know what to say except that I should really read a Star Trek book already. I think the count's at 9 that I own give or take a few.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText6953314657215580619">In the wake of the final
Borg invasion, which destroyed entire worlds, cost the lives of
sixty-three billion people, and struck a crippling blow to Starfleet,
six nations adversarial to the United Federation of Planets–—the Romulan
Star Empire, the Breen Confederacy, the Tholian Assembly, the Gorn
Hegemony, the Tzenkethi Coalition, and the Holy Order of the
Kinshaya–joined ranks to form the Typhon Pact. <br /><br />For almost three
years, the Federation and the Klingon Empire, allied under the Khitomer
Accords, have contended with the nascent coalition on a predominantly
cold-war footing. But as Starfleet rebuilds itself, factions within the
Typhon Pact grow restive, concerned about their own inability to develop
a quantum slipstream drive to match that of the Federation. Will
leaders such as UFP President Bacco and RSE Praetor Kamemor bring about a
lasting peace across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, or will the cold war
between the two alliances deepen, and perhaps even lead to an all-out
shooting war?</span></blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311024802l/10818702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311024802l/10818702.jpg" width="132" /></a><i style="color: red;">World of Warcraft: Wolfheart</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451605765/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451605765">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-of-Warcraft-Wolfheart-ebook/dp/B004T4KXLE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">Kindle</a>] by Richard A. Knaak - I received the hardcover last year and now the mmpb. This is another world I'd love to read. I only have limited knowledge of the game, but I have friends who absolutely love it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeTextContainer5333146524692885446">"New York
Times"-bestselling author Knaak continues the thrilling story begun in
the record-breaking MMO game expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm...</span><span id="freeText7885700472284443079"></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText7885700472284443079">In the wake of the
Cataclysm, conflict has engulfed every corner of Azeroth. Hungering for
more resources amid the turmoil, the Horde has pressed into Ashenvale to
feed its burgeoning war machine. There, acting warchief Garrosh
Hellscream has employed a brutal new tactic to conquer the region and
crush its night elf defenders, a move that will cripple the Alliance’s
power throughout Azeroth. Unaware of the disaster brewing in Ashenvale,
the night elves’ legendary leaders, High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind
and Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, conduct a summit near Darnassus in
order to vote the proud worgen of Gilneas into the Alliance. However,
resentment of Gilneas and its ruler, Genn Greymane, runs deep in
Stormwind’s King Varian Wrynn. His refusal to forgive Genn for closing
his nation off from the rest of the world years ago endangers more than
just the summit: it threatens to unravel the Alliance itself. Varian’s
animosity is only one of many unsettling developments in Darnassus. An
uneasiness creeps over the once-immortal night elves as the first of
them fall victim to the infirmities of age. While they cope with their
mortality, tensions flare over the reintroduction of the Highborne,
formerly the highest caste of night elf nobility, into their society.
Many night elves are unable to pardon the Highborne for the destruction
unleashed millennia ago by their reckless use of magic. When a murdered
Highborne is discovered on the outskirts of Darnassus, Malfurion and
Tyrande move to stop further bloodshed and unrest by appointing one of
the night elves’ most cunning and skilled agents to find the killer: the
renowned warden Maiev Shadowsong. Yet with all that is transpiring in
Darnassus, the Alliance might be powerless to stop the relentless new
warchief Garrosh from seizing the whole of Ashenvale.</span> </blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320518561l/4446826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320518561l/4446826.jpg" width="121" /></a><i style="color: red;">Acacia</i> (<i>The War with the Mein</i>, book 1) [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Acacia-The-War-Mein-Book/dp/0385722524/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Acacia-Mein-Book-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B001EUGCSO/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">Kindle</a>] by David Anthony Durham - I made a comment on Neth Space's post about this series and was shortly thereafter contacted by the author. Neth convinced me I should give these books a try and David made sure I'll be reading it shortly. I'm highly looking forward to it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText9861853651489863701"><b>An assassin sent
from the frozen North on a mortal mission. A mighty empire under siege
by its oldest enemy. Four royal children in exile or captivity, bent on
avenging their father’s death. Prepare yourself to be astonished and
transported by <i>Acacia</i></b>.<br /><br />Leodan Akaran, ruler
of the Known World, has inherited generations of apparent peace and
prosperity, won ages ago by his ancestors. A widower of high
intelligence, he presides over an empire called Acacia, after the
idyllic island from which he rules. He dotes on his four children and
hides from them the dark realities of traffic in drugs and human lives
on which their prosperity depends. He hopes that he might change this,
but powerful forces stand in his way. And then a deadly assassin sent
from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold
in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan in the heart of Acacia while the
Mein unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed,
Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to
his or her separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge
their father's death and restore the Acacian empire—this time on the
basis of universal freedom.<br /><br /><i>Acacia</i> is a thrilling work
of the imagination that creates an all-enveloping and mythic world that
will carry readers away. It is a timeless tale of heroism and betrayal,
of treachery and revenge, of primal wrongs and ultimate redemption.
David Anthony Durham has reimagined the epic narrative for our time in a
book that will surely mark his break-through to a wide audience.</span> </blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1283411159l/7822236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1283411159l/7822236.jpg" /></a><i style="color: red;">The Other Lands</i> (<i>The War with the Mein</i>, book 2) [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Lands-Acacia-Trilogy/dp/0307947149/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NEOKAW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002NEOKAW">Kindle</a>] by David Anthony Durham<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText18233667822770730773">The thrilling new installment in the ambitious Acacia trilogy, praised by the <i>Washington Post</i> as "gripping and sophisticated."</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText18233667822770730773"></span><br />
A
few years have passed since the conquering of the Mein, and Queen
Corinn is firmly in control of the Known World--perhaps too firmly. With
plans to expand her empire, she sends her brother, Daniel, on an
exploratory mission to the Other Lands. There Daniel discovers a lush,
exotic mainland ruled by an alliance of tribes that poses a grave danger
to the stability of the Known World. Is Queen Corinn strong enough to
face this new challenge? Readers of this bold, imaginative sequel will
not be disappointed in the answer.</blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328967260l/11813306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328967260l/11813306.jpg" width="121" /></a><i style="color: red;">The Sacred Band</i> (<i>The War with the Mein</i>, book 3) [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307947157/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307947157">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Sacred-Band-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B004J4XG0E/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">Kindle</a>] by David Anthony Durham<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText13716394297180404713">With the first two books in the Acacia Trilogy, <i>Acacia </i>and <i>The Other Lands</i>,
David Anthony Durham has created a vast and engrossing canvas of a
world in turmoil, where the surviving children of a royal dynasty are on
a quest to realize their fates—and perhaps right ancient wrongs once
and for all. As <i>The Sacred Band</i> begins, one of them, Queen
Corinn, bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells found
in the ancient Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been
sent on a perilous mission to the Other Lands, while her sister, Mena,
travels to the far north to confront an invasion of the feared race of
the Auldek. Their separate trajectories will converge in a series of
world-shaping, earth-shattering battles, all rendered with vividly
imagined detail and in heroic scale. <br /><br />David Anthony Durham
concludes his tale of kingdoms in collision in an exciting fashion. His
fictional world is at once realistic and fantastic, informed with an
eloquent and distinctively Shakespearean sensibility.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333118851l/13259855.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333118851l/13259855.jpg" width="137" /></a><i style="color: red;">Diablo III: The Order</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141655078X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=141655078X">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Diablo-III-The-Order-ebook/dp/B005C7CWO8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">Kindle</a>] by Nate Kenyon - Yet another popular game tie-in novel and I have to admit I've only had good experiences with them. This looks really cool, I just hope I have time to fit it in.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText17783674967770911004">Deckard Cain made his
way across the floor, following the footprints to an alcove in the far
wall. Rotted boards clung to supports, the last remains of an ancient
library. This had been a ritual chamber, many centuries before, used to
summon things from beyond the human world. A portal to the Burning Hells
themselves, perhaps. The shelves were empty now. He saw a speck of
yellow underneath a splinter of wood and bent to pick up a corner of
parchment paper, curled and speckled with mildew. Something moved in the
shadows to his right. He whirled, holding the light up. For a moment it
appeared as if the shadows themselves were alive, bunching and swirling
like ink in water. At the same time, a voice like the distant moan of
wind drifted through the empty room and raised the hairs on the back of
his neck. “<i>Deckaaaaarrdddd Caiiinnnn . . .” </i>Cain felt a strange
doubling, a memory of a night many years before, when he was just a
boy. A whispered voice calling to him, just like this. He backed away,
fumbling in his rucksack with one hand, holding the lighted staff with
the other against the darkness. Already he was doubting himself: had it
just been the wind moving through the broken remains of the building
above him, a trick his mind had played after so long in the sun? The
voice came again, a sound like bones scraping together in the grave. <i>“Your ghosts are many, old man, and they are active.” </i>A
grating of metal over rock seemed to come from everywhere at once. Once
again a pool of black smoke thickened and then dissipated, only to
reassemble somewhere else: a shape carrying a sword, the form of a man,
but with eyes that glowed red with the fires of hell. Cain knew what
this was, yanked from the depths of his own mind and used against him:
the image of the Dark Wanderer himself, conjured up to weaken his
resolve. The smoke-shape swirled and shifted, reforming into two
indistinct human shapes, one taller and clearly female, one small and
delicate. Shock raced through Cain’s limbs as an older, familiar memory
fought to surface. He closed his eyes against the darkness as the
yawning pit of despair opened within him, threatening to pull him in. <i>You must not listen. </i><i></i> <i>***</i>
Deckard Cain is the last of the Horadrim, the sole surviving member of a
mysterious and legendary order. Assembled by the archangel Tyrael, the
Horadrim were charged with the sacred duty of seeking out and
vanquishing the three Prime Evils: Diablo (the Lord of Terror), Mephisto
(the Lord of Hatred), and Baal (the Lord of Destruction). But that was
many years ago. As the decades passed, the Horadrim’s strength
diminished, and they fell into obscurity. Now all of their collected
history, tactics, and wisdom lie within the aged hands of one man. A man
who is growing concerned. Dark whisperings have begun to fill the air,
tales of ancient evil stirring, rumblings of a demonic invasion set to
tear the land apart. Amid the mounting dread, Deckard Cain uncovers
startling new information that could bring about the salvation—or
ruin—of the mortal world: other remnants of the Horadrim still exist. He
must unravel where they have been and why they are hiding from one of
their own. As Cain searches for the lost members of his order, he is
thrust into an alliance with an unlikely ally: Leah, an eight-year-old
girl feared by many to carry a diabolical curse. What is her secret? How
is it tied to the prophesied End of Days? And if there are other living
Horadrim, will they be able to stand against oblivion? These are the
questions Deckard Cain must answer . . . . . . before it is too late.<b>
<br />
<i> </i>
</b></span></blockquote>Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002257986880313171.post-46878906835900102552012-05-07T09:30:00.000-06:002012-05-14T17:24:24.580-06:00Book Haul - Bennett, Wells, King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwc4keqNbtmwlG4r4BtUu8Uynq5KUeMN1Wmwi1ucJvv4aAM2mmLlONN0R-UXH3ZnQe7GfhFSkjIY5bkleejmAhTFs3hJQZanGwNcmsoV5b9TrG49hBdSmPdmXsRBPBcP4kejPSPJ-Ttw/s1600/Keyhole.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwc4keqNbtmwlG4r4BtUu8Uynq5KUeMN1Wmwi1ucJvv4aAM2mmLlONN0R-UXH3ZnQe7GfhFSkjIY5bkleejmAhTFs3hJQZanGwNcmsoV5b9TrG49hBdSmPdmXsRBPBcP4kejPSPJ-Ttw/s320/Keyhole.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Sorry for the crappy photo)</span></div>
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335333028l/12700416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335333028l/12700416.jpg" width="123" /></a><i style="color: red;">Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Forgotten History</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451657250/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451657250">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GG0KLM/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005GG0KLM">Kindle</a>] by Chistopher L. Bennett - Never heard of DTI before, looks like a crime procedural for Star Trek.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText843812575478958704">The agents of the
Department of Temporal Investigations are assigned to look into an
anomaly that has appeared deep in Federation territory. It’s difficult
to get clear readings, but a mysterious inactive vessel lies at the
heart of the anomaly, one outfitted with some sort of temporal drive
disrupting space-time and subspace. To the agents’ shock, the ship bears
a striking resemblance to a Constitution-class starship, and its warp
signature matches that of the original Federation starship Enterprise
NCC-1701—the ship of James T. Kirk, that infamous bogeyman of temporal
investigators, whose record of violations is held up by DTI agents as a
cautionary tale for Starfleet recklessness toward history. But the
vessel’s hull markings identify it as Timeship Two, belonging to none
other than the DTI itself. At first, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur assume the
ship is from some other timeline . . . but its quantum signature
confirms that it came from their own past, despite the fact that the DTI
never possessed such a timeship. While the anomaly is closely
monitored, Lucsly and Dulmur must search for answers in the history of
Kirk’s Enterprise and its many encounters with time travel—a series of
events with direct ties to the origins of the DTI itself. . . </span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327433190l/13034956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327433190l/13034956.jpg" width="132" /></a><i style="color: red;">The Hollow City</i> [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765331705/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765331705">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007NJOXKY/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007NJOXKY">Kindle</a>] by Dan Wells - This will be released July 3, 2012 and if it weren't for <i>The Wind Through the Keyhole</i>, I'd be all over it. Finals and looming bar study aren't helping either.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText10649220624066113178">Dan Wells won instant
acclaim for his three-novel debut about the adventures of John Wayne
Cleaver, a heroic young man who is a potential serial killer. All who
read the trilogy were struck by the distinctive and believable voice
Wells created for John.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText10649220624066113178">Now he returns with another innovative
thriller told in a very different, equally unique voice. A voice that
comes to us from the realm of madness.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText10649220624066113178">Michael Shipman is paranoid
schizophrenic; he suffers from hallucinations, delusions, and complex
fantasies of persecution and horror. That’s bad enough. But what can he
do if some of the monsters he sees turn out to be real?</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText10649220624066113178">Who can you trust if you can't even trust yourself? <i>The Hollow City</i> is a mesmerizing journey into madness, where the greatest enemy of all is your own mind.</span> </blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328001524l/12341557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328001524l/12341557.jpg" width="131" /></a><i><span style="color: red;">The Wind Through the Keyhole</span></i> (Dark Tower 4.5) [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451658907/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451658907">paper</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GG0MTC/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=onthbescfifa-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005GG0MTC">Kindle</a>] by Stephen King - I decided to read this before the rest of the series so I've been waiting eagerly for the last month since I finished <a href="http://onlythebestscifi.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-wizard-and-glass-dark-tower-iv.html">Wizard and Glass</a>. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText9574452427333794603">Dear Constant Readers,<br /><br />At
some point, while worrying over the copyedited manuscript of the next
book (11/22/63, out November 8th), I started thinking—and dreaming—about
Mid-World again. The major story of Roland and his ka-tet was told, but
I realized there was at least one hole in the narrative progression:
what happened to Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy between the time
they leave the Emerald City (the end of Wizard and Glass) and the time
we pick them up again, on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis (the
beginning of Wolves of the Calla)?<br /><br />There was a storm, I decided.
One of sudden and vicious intensity. The kind to which billy-bumblers
like Oy are particularly susceptible. Little by little, a story began to
take shape. I saw a line of riders, one of them Roland’s old mate,
Jamie DeCurry, emerging from clouds of alkali dust thrown by a high
wind. I saw a severed head on a fencepost. I saw a swamp full of dangers
and terrors. I saw just enough to want to see the rest. Long story
short, I went back to visit an-tet with my friends for awhile. The
result is a novel called The Wind Through the Keyhole. It’s finished,
and I expect it will be published next year.<br /><br />It won’t tell you
much that’s new about Roland and his friends, but there’s a lot none of
us knew about Mid-World, both past and present. The novel is shorter
than DT 2-7, but quite a bit longer than the first volume—call this one
DT-4.5. It’s not going to change anybody’s life, but God, I had fun.<br /><br />-- Steve King</span></blockquote>Bryce L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13951278240008332023noreply@blogger.com0