Slingers Saga Super Deep Discount

One of my favorite series of all time is ridiculously discounted today because the author, Matt Wallace, is trying to raise money for a good cause.

I have ranted and raved about how amazing this series is. Guys, I cannot even. Words fail me as a reader and a writer. It's near future science fiction, about gladiators who battle to the death over a wormhole for worldwide entertainment. If the premise alone wasn't enough, the writing is superb, and the style of voice is original and entertaining. Download a sample from Amazon if you want to check it out. 

Or you know, you could buy the first two volumes for a DOLLAR! Seriously people. I would pay a lot more money for this series, and right now the sale is mind-boggling. 

 

Recommended Reading

It's been a little while since I did a post like this and I have been reading A TON of books lately. So I figured I'd drop another post detailing my exploits into fiction.

*Disclaimer: My mind is a sieve, so forgive me if I've mentioned these before in a blog post. 

Shadow Unit: This bit of brilliance is a serial that reads like Criminal Minds meets X Files. It's a collaboration between Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, and Sarah Monette. The first episode is free, and every one afterward is only three dollars, but these are addictive. Be warned. 

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey: Angel noir at it's finest. It's gritty urban fantasy with a fast pace and a brooding anti-hero. What's more to love? The series keeps getting better and better as each book launches, instead of fizzling like so many do.

Dead Things by Stephan Blackmore: This book! So good. It has everything I think a book about a necromancer should have--their struggle with life and death, what happens to people when they die. Our anti-hero is a perfect mixture of broken and brave, and I loved how gritty it felt without feeling tired. I eagerly await the sequel this summer. Also, Stephan Blackmore is a wonderful human being and hilarious on Twitter.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: It's gorgeous and heartbreaking, made even more poignant to me because I was reading it this summer when I went to visit my childhood home for the first time in over a decade. 

Horns and NOS4A2 by Joe Hill: Both of these books were beautiful stories about love and loss with horror at it's center. NOS4A2 felt closer to a traditional horror novel, while HORNS was more Kafka-esque. Loved both of them to pieces.

The Siren by Tiffany Reisz: This is a wonderfully well written book with rich, flawed characters. I want to feel like I'm living in someone's skin when I read, that I'm getting into a person's head. This book did that and more. It's in the erotica genre, but the sex, though somewhat naughty, only served to highlight who the characters were. If BDSM turns you off, I would suggest checking out Goodreads or downloading a sample to see where it falls in your comfort zone, because the bondage stuff really wasn't bad. It wasn't in your face, and it wasn't there to just make things spicy.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab: OMG OMG OMG! I wanted to use more than one exclamation point, but barely restrained myself. A wonderful book and a wonderful look at superheros and the nature of evil, and OMG I wish she would write a sequel. /squee
 
Also, the latest novel in Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series comes out this Tuesday so I am rabidly awaiting it's arrival via my kindle. 

Alright my lovelies, that's enough book awesomeness for one post. I have exciting books in the queue that I will soon tell you about. In the meantime, someone tell me about an amazing book they've read. 

....

And...go!

Recommended Reading

By popular request (and by popular, I mean Rena asked), here is a post about all the books I've read recently, and think you should too. Peer pressure! Peer pressure! Peer pressure!

In absolutely no particular order (seriously don't read into this (ha! get it? Read into this? I cracked myself up)):

The Mindspace Investigation series by Alex Hughes. This is a light science fiction series that starts in the near future. It reminds me of X-men in all the most awesome of ways.

Wicked As They Come and Wicked As She Wants by Delilah S. Dawson. Steampunk alternate world romance with an excellent eye for worldbuilding and believable characters. Yes please!

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff. Gorgeous prose, haunting eerie story with fresh ideas. I love this book and I plan on checking out Yovanoff's other work.

Geekomany by Michael R. Underwood. Hilarious and fun urban fantasy with more geek references than you can shake a stick at.

The Deacon Chalk Series by James R. Tuck. Gritty urban fantasy with old school magic and vampires. Finally some dark urban fantasy that's actually dark.

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. Brutal beautiful prose about a girl who can see how you die by touching you. 

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman. Split worlds between Earth, Faeryland, and an inbetween place where society resembles Victorian London with it's rigid caste system. There's a gargoyle with a soul, and capricious fey, and feuding families. 

Bloodshot by Cherie Priest. Vampires become awesome again as spies and victims of government experiements. 

Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire. Cryptozoologists fight to study and protect creatures we don't acknowledge as real. Midnight Blue Light Special is the next in the series, and why this is on my recently read list, but if you haven't read anything, you should start with the first in the series. :D 

Also by Seanan McGuire is this bit of brilliance: a serial. It's called Indexing, about people who work for a secret government agency protecting the world from...faery tales. Every two weeks your Kindle is updated with a new installment of the story, but McGuire does a good job of wrapping up each episode so you don't feel ripped off.

These last few aren't recent, but since we're listing books I enjoyed, here you go:

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. No words can describe this book. It broke me apart inside, and then made me whole.

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Man who gets badly burned is nursed to health by a nurse who claims they were lovers in ancient Germany. Fantastic storytelling.

Shelter by Susan Palwick. Science fiction in the near future, about two women's lives clashing.


Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments section. 

P.S. For some reason while gathering all these links, I had the urge to Rick-roll you guys. Put Wally Lamb's link with Chuck Wendig's for example. But I resisted, because I'd like for you to actually read some of these books if they catch your interest. You're welcome. 

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Or rather, me?

I have been busy doing stuff. Lots of stuff. I went to Deliah Dawson's release party and then Alex Hughes's release party. I had tons of fun. It was really nice to get out and talk to other readers and writers. 

Being in front of your computer is important as a writer. It is. Most of the time it's just you and the words. But sometimes you need to get out into the world and interact with your fellow human beings. Sometimes you need to listen to music loudly and drive long distances, and bring a friend along to a party celebrating a book. What a wonderful idea for a party! I say we have parties for books more frequently than when they're just released, but that's me. 

Getting out and talking about books and movies and TV and songs and the weather and food was good for my psyche. It's me and my 15 month old most of the time, so having real conversations in the flesh with people is wonderful. I didn't have to tell anyone to not eat dirt or climb on the table, which is always a bonus.

When I wasn't at a release party eating cupcakes, I've been home, editing. I've been editing ZOMBIE ROAD TRIP for a while now, and it's taking longer than I thought. It always takes longer to go through the book for all the messed up stuff than I think it will, though, so we're right on track.

I also had a fantastic Mother's Day. I got a pedicure with my mom, and we ate Chinese food for lunch. Which is a trip to the bookstore short of perfect (don't worry, I just bought some books on Amazon to make up for it ;) ).

Life isn't going to slow down any time soon, so I'm about to go into "carve out time to blog" mode, since I'm neglecting the blog again, and time isn't going to appear any time soon. 

So what have you all been up to? Do you like the new blog design? I've been working on admin stuff for the blog in my spare time (hence no new posts) and I think you guys are going to like it. :D

Wicked As She Wants Release Party

Today is the day!

I am going to Delilah Dawson's book launch party tonight for Wicked As She Wants, and I am so pumped!

I had the pleasure of meeting Delilah at Jordon Con a few weeks ago. I've been reading her Blud series for awhile now, so meeting her in person was a real treat. 

If you haven't picked up one of her books yet, they are a brilliant blend of steampunk, romance, and alternate worlds. Once I got to the part with the bludbunnies (adorable, vicious bloodsucking rabbits) I was sold. The fact that the writing was awesome and the characters lovable was just cake. 

I'll have a longer post later about the happenings of the launch party, but in the meantime you can amuse yourselves by checking out her books. 

Try not to let the bunnies bite!

Blackbirds Release Date!

There are some books you mark your calender to remind yourself of the release date. BLACKBIRDS by Chuck Wendig is one of them.

I've read Chuck's blog for a while now, and ever since I heard him talk about the premise for the book I've been frothing at the mouth to read it. Here's the blurb:

Miriam Black knows when you will die.

Still in her early twenties, she's foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name.

Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. But Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim. No matter what she does she can't save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she'll have to try.


So yeah...frothing at the mouth. I've always loved the idea of someone seeing the future and being unable to stop it (I actually have a book in the making about just that), and I love the twist that Wendig's put on it.

 You know you're intrigued too! Run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore or bookstore web page and order the book now!

Book Lust

This post is inspired by The Rejectionist's post yesterday.

Today we're going to talk about lust. Book lust. Because we're not just writers, we're also readers. A lot of my friends, while not being writers, are voracious readers. Obsessive readers form their own little crazy subgroup.  We have our own quirks. Some people call us obsessed, I think we just really like books.

Warning signs of being a compulsive readers are as follows:

*People always remark on your vast quantity of books.

*You carry a book with you everywhere you go.

*You will never have enough books.

*People who help you move complain about your massive boxes of books.

*You check the book section wherever you go. Goodwill, the grocery store, the pet store. 


If any of these warning signs apply to you, don't worry. You're already hooked on books. There's no backing out now.  The advent of Ereaders is only enabling your book buying habits. Less space, easier ways to hide them. Click the button, boom. Another book in your hoard.


I had to order a rain CD from Amazon so I could sleep at night, so of course I thought it would be a great time to order some more books. Since the CD almost put me at getting free shipping. Then I heard about Borders's amazing going out of business sale. So I bought a bunch of books from there.


Mind you, I have a huge stack of books I already need to read. It's like a sickness. A wonderful sickness. The Rejectionist was right. We're all going to be on Hoarders some day, unable to move because our mountain of books will be so large. 


At least being a writer gives me an excuse. I have to stay current in the market. I have to be well read. I have my husband convinced of this, although he still objects to my incessant need to fill my bookshelves up with books. He jokingly told me that when I have the baby, we're going to have to buy diapers instead of books.


I told him I'd rather starve, thank you very much.


I don't know what it is about books. But I love them. I love owning them. I like looking at them on my bookshelves. It fills me with great joy. 


What are your crazy book stories? I know you have them.

Once More Into the Breach, Dear Friends

I image this in a Mr. Smithers voice.

After three weeks of catching up on my reading, housework, and social life, I am ready to jump back into my writing. I realized that I was moderately burned out, and needed to recharge my batteries.

Consider the battery recharged.

I spent last week pondering what I should/wanted to work on next. I've decided to finish the novel I set aside in November, tentatively named REDEEMER, since the interest has come back, and I have ideas on how to fix the problems that made me set it aside in the first place. This story won't leave me alone; it refuses to be forgotten. So now I get to look through all my notes (another benefit of planning a novel--if you have to stop for a long period of time, you're not going to forget all the cool stuff you had in mind) and try to get back into the swing of things.

I had fun these last three weeks, but I am itching to be writing again. This time, however, I plan to balance out my time. Writers spend so much enery trying to carve out time for our writing, we forget to plan for other activities, like reading and socializing with our families. There will be times that a deadline will force you to eshew reading, spending time with friends, and housework, but I don't think it should be the default setting for writers. 

Maybe you guys have this figured out already, and I am just slow on the up take. I tend to go all in. I throw myself into a project and focus on it solely that until it's complete. I can multitask, but it's not my default setting. So when I am working on a book, everything else falls to the wayside, which isn't a good long term strategy, both for my creativity and for my personal life.

So from now on, I am going to budget time, not just for writing, but for reading, and housework and all the other things I need to take care of.

I spent the last three weeks quite busy, and I don't want to give up reading in favor of writing again. So I plan to reorganize my time more efficiently. 


And now, my accomplishments for the last few weeks:

*Several trips to the shopping center with my best friend, with many books bought. 
*Moving up to Medium on Guitar Hero. The learning curve is at a 45 degree angle, by the way.
*Started beta reading a book I've had since December. Sorry Joe. :D I should be done by the end of the week.
*Went to North Carolina this last weekend to meet my husband's extended family, and attended his great-grandmother's 90th birthday party.
*Caught up on housework and still in the middle of spring cleaning. I have too much stuff. 
*Started a role-playing campaign with my husband, twin brother and sister in law. I am the DM, or the dungeon master, which means I control the story. It's really interesting to tell a story and watch the audience/characters interact.
*Read a ton of books, and I have even more on the "To Read" pile.

Here is a list of what I have read:

The Iron Duke, by Meljean Brook
Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Steampunk'D Edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg
Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale
Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik (unfinished)
John Dies at the End by David Wong
Lost Echos by Joe R. Lansdale

I am still working on Haunted, because...well...it's Chuck Palahnuik. There's a story in there that made me physically sick to my stomach (I didn't actually throw up, but it was a close call). I was just getting over a sinus infection, so I decided I would just set that aside. But if you've ever read Palahniuk, you know that he casts a spell on you while you read. The main character could be the worse person in the world, and you're still reading to find out what happens to him. 


Don't forget, I am having a blogfest on April Fool's Day! You should sign up!


How do you budget your time? Can you multitask well? What's on your current To Read list?

Why Do We Read?

There was a tweet going around the other day that asked, "Why do we read?"

And I thought about why. For days, actually. Because reading was sort of a knee jerk reaction for me. I can't remember a time I wasn't reading.  My mom is a voracious reader too, so there were certainly books lying around the house. But I don't ever remember making the conscious decision to read. I just always did.

I remember spending most of my free time at the library, reading every single children's book they had, and moving on to Young Adult. I tore through the Babysitter's Club, and the Boxcar Children, and the Little House on the Prairie series. 

Still, I wanted more. By then the librarian Mrs. Crookshank, the apotheosis of all librarians ever with her glasses and fuzzy gray hair, knew me well. It got to the point where I would just start at one end of the shelf and move through forward, reading each book at a time (Boy was I shocked when I got to William Golding's Lord of the Flies in sixth grade. Talk about your wake up call!)

I can still remember the day I discovered Roald Dahl. Man, those are some good books. "The Story of Henry Sugar and Six More", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Matilda", "James and the Giant Peach", and the "Witches" just to name a few. I still love those books. If you could point to one event and say that's why you are the way you are now I think Dahl's books are what sparked my interest in fantasy.

His stories have a fairy tale element, mixed in with real life. I found myself wanting to go on the adventures that his characters did. I wanted to have special mind powers like Matilda and Henry Sugar.

I kept reading. In books I found not a new world, but a world that felt real. I think it's part of the human condition that we don't often get to reflect on our own life. We are in the middle of experiencing it, so rarely do we have an out of body experience and think, "This is my life, and I am the person that is living it." If that sounds strange, is it. I have had a few moments where I stepped outside of myself (not like astral projection or Out of Body Experiences) and it does feel strange.

But when you read a book you get to experience someone's life for them, but with the benefit of this awareness. You are aware of this person's life. Even as you loss yourself in the story world, there still comes a sense of actively experiencing something. 

Reading is a cathartic experience for me. I always feel cleansed and whole after reading a good book. Some books are so good they stay will you, they come inside you and take up permanent residence. "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb is a book that lives inside of me. I still think about passages from the book, even though it was at least seven years ago that I first read it. Roald Dahl's books live inside me, and so do Stephan King's, and Jim Butcher's, and so many others. It's wonderful to be filled up by all these other lives. 

I think it's part of our nature to feel alone. Even when we are surrounded by friends and loved ones, we are still alone. I don't mean that to sound depressing, but as a reflection on how we feel. You are the only person (hopefully) inside your head. Even your closest friend doesn't know exactly what is going on in your mind. Why you think the way you do; why you feel the way you do. Only you can ever know exactly what you are feeling and thinking. 

And unless you read, you can't know what other people are thinking and feeling.


One of the most profound experiences I have ever had was while I was in massage therapy school. Some of you may know that my day job is as a massage therapist. I received an excellent education on anatomy and physiology, and neuromuscular therapy techniques, but we also had a few classes on the profession of...well...touching people. My best friend who is a nurse confirms she had similar "etiquette" classes on the fact that you would be spending your day touching complete strangers. 


I am not talking about just refraining from the inappropriate touching either, so get your minds out of the gutter. I mean the psychology of it. It's invasive, to go to the doctor. You don't know this dude, and here he is, putting his hands on your throat and asking you to say "ahh". And that is the least personal he could possibly get with you.


So in this first class the instructor told us to go around to each of our classmates, put our hands on their shoulders, look them directly in the eye and say, "I see you in there. I know who you are. I'm not going to hurt you."


That was intense. This class was within the first week of school. Naturally, there was a lot of giggling and jokes made about the exercise because we were all really uncomfortable, and felt silly. But it was still profound. If you ever want to feel vulnerable--like, stripped naked on live television dancing the cha cha while confessing you're in love with someone vulnerable--just look a complete stranger right in the eyes (and watch them back away from you because you're subtly invading their personal space. Isn't psychology fun, kids?). You feel like they are looking right inside you.


I read because I feel like I am looking right inside the characters, and they in turn, are looking inside of me.