Penelope Przekop, author of Aberrations, one of my top reads of 2008, has updated her new "novel in posts", Boundaries, today.
To learn more about Penelope Przekop's novel, Boundaries, and to start reading at the beginning, go here!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Today's literary birthday
Today we celebrate Mary Shelley's birthday (1797), who wrote the classic Frankenstein when she was only 19 years old.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Shatterboy by Scott William Carter
Title: Shatterboy
Author: Scott William Carter
I'm not actually counting this towards my reading goal for the year, but I did want to make mention of it. I don't know where it can be found to read other than through Apple's iBook app, where it is being offered as a free download right now.
It's a short story that revolves around Rebecca, who discovers a boy made of glass at the recycling center the day her husband is filing for divorce. At first, she thinks he is nothing more than a doll, until he moves, and she realizes that he is, in fact, alive.
What follows is a quick but eerie story of her growing obsession with the glass boys safety (she's afraid that he may break) and her need to keep him close to her, so that she can love him.
It's only about 20-ish pages on my iBook and it only took me a few minutes to read, but it was a creepy little story all the same and just thought it worth mentioning.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Boundaries by Penelope Przekop Update
Beth Kephart's Dangerous Neighbors released today!
Happy publication day to Beth Kephart for her book, Dangerous Neighbors. Look for my review later this week.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Boundaries by Penelope Przekop Update
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Dr. Seuss gets a new online home!
Are you craving a Dr. Seuss fix? Then head on over to the all-new Seussville, Random House's brand new website for all things Seuss! It's a great site, and I can't wait to be able to spend some more time exploring.
71. Metamorphosis by James Blaylock with Adriana Campoy, Brittany Cox, Alex Haniford and illustrated by Tim Powers
#71
Title: Metamorphosis
Authors: James Blaylock with Adriana Campoy, Brittany Cox, Alex Haniford and illustrated by Tim Powers
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 63
ISBN: 9781596062214
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Finished: 8-16-10
Challenge: 100 Books 10, 1010 Challenge (Fiction category)
From Amazon:
This was a volume that I received in a grab bag of books from Subterranean Press, and since it was the smallest volume I received in the box, I decided to read it first off. The premise is interesting: the three stories included in the volume are collaborations by Blaylock with three of his students from a creative writing class that he teaches. Each story deals with a man who finds his perception of reality slightly shifted for just a moment, where he is able to perceive a world that may or may not be associated with our own. All the stories are well told, but the problem I have with the stories is that they may be too well told to be from the minds of high school students, and it's hard to determine where their ideas and writing would be distinguished from that of Blaylock. I'm not trying to disparage the writing of the three high school students in any way; I just wonder exactly how much influence Blaylock had over their writing.
Overall, a handsomely produced little volume and the added autographs from all five writers made for a nice surprise!
Title: Metamorphosis
Authors: James Blaylock with Adriana Campoy, Brittany Cox, Alex Haniford and illustrated by Tim Powers
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 63
ISBN: 9781596062214
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Finished: 8-16-10
Challenge: 100 Books 10, 1010 Challenge (Fiction category)
From Amazon:
Metamorphosis: three stories, each one involving a man who discovers that he has come to dwell, for an hour or for a lifetime, in a house and in a mind not quite his own. Each one opens doors onto rooms of illusion, radiance, regret, and dark enchantment. Welcome to the stories of three young writers, stories written in collaboration with James P. Blaylock. Welcome to the borderland of illusion and reality.
Three tales, written in collaboration by James P. Blaylock with students in a class by Tim Powers, with an introduction and illustrations by Tim, an afterword by Blaylock, and some necessary meddling by William Ashbless.
This was a volume that I received in a grab bag of books from Subterranean Press, and since it was the smallest volume I received in the box, I decided to read it first off. The premise is interesting: the three stories included in the volume are collaborations by Blaylock with three of his students from a creative writing class that he teaches. Each story deals with a man who finds his perception of reality slightly shifted for just a moment, where he is able to perceive a world that may or may not be associated with our own. All the stories are well told, but the problem I have with the stories is that they may be too well told to be from the minds of high school students, and it's hard to determine where their ideas and writing would be distinguished from that of Blaylock. I'm not trying to disparage the writing of the three high school students in any way; I just wonder exactly how much influence Blaylock had over their writing.
Overall, a handsomely produced little volume and the added autographs from all five writers made for a nice surprise!
70. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
#70
Title: Montana 1948
Author: Larry Watson
Copyright: 1993
Pages: 169
ISBN: 9781571310613
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Author Website: larry-watson.com
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Finished: 7-31-10
Challenge: 100 Books 10, 1010 Challenge (Fiction category)
From Amazon:
Montana 1948 is a quietly powerful story, one that doesn't need a lot of bravado to tell its tale, but one that still packs a mighty punch that will leave you setting the book aside and taking a moment to think about it and what it means. It is a coming of age story, but not only for the narrator David Hayden, but also for his mother, his father, his family as a whole. David discovers that life is not always quite black and white, his mother proves her strength, his father finally stands on his own, learning the difference between the loyalty of family and his loyalty to the law.
The Hayden's housekeeper, Marie, falls ill and when David's uncle, Frank, is called in to check on her, it is discovered that Frank has been molesting his female Indian patients. A war hero and member of the respected Hayden family, it is hard to believe that Frank has done these things, and his brother, David's father, the sheriff, has a harder time deciding what to do: be loyal to his brother and try to keep the secret quiet or uphold the law and take his brother into custody. David's grandfather, the previous sheriff of Mercer County, doesn't make things easier, thinking his clout in town will be enough to keep his son safe. What follows tests and proves the strength of every member of the Hayden family.
Montana 1948 is not a very long book, but tells a story that fills its pages to brimming. It won't take you long to read it, but I'm pretty sure you'll be thinking about it far after you've moved on to other books. I'll be on the lookout for more by Larry Watson in the future.
Title: Montana 1948
Author: Larry Watson
Copyright: 1993
Pages: 169
ISBN: 9781571310613
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Author Website: larry-watson.com
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Finished: 7-31-10
Challenge: 100 Books 10, 1010 Challenge (Fiction category)
From Amazon:
“From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others of my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them… “ So begins David Hayden’s story of what happened in Montana in 1948. The events of that cataclysmic summer permanently alter twelve-year-old David’s understanding of his family: his father, a small-town sheriff; his remarkably strong mother; David’s uncle Frank, a war hero and respected doctor; and the Haydens’ Sioux housekeeper, Marie Little Soldier, whose revelations turn the family’s life upside down as she relates how Frank has been molesting his female Indian patients. As their story unravels around David, he learns that truth is not what one believes it to be, that power is abused, and that sometimes one has to choose between family loyalty and justice.
Montana 1948 is a quietly powerful story, one that doesn't need a lot of bravado to tell its tale, but one that still packs a mighty punch that will leave you setting the book aside and taking a moment to think about it and what it means. It is a coming of age story, but not only for the narrator David Hayden, but also for his mother, his father, his family as a whole. David discovers that life is not always quite black and white, his mother proves her strength, his father finally stands on his own, learning the difference between the loyalty of family and his loyalty to the law.
The Hayden's housekeeper, Marie, falls ill and when David's uncle, Frank, is called in to check on her, it is discovered that Frank has been molesting his female Indian patients. A war hero and member of the respected Hayden family, it is hard to believe that Frank has done these things, and his brother, David's father, the sheriff, has a harder time deciding what to do: be loyal to his brother and try to keep the secret quiet or uphold the law and take his brother into custody. David's grandfather, the previous sheriff of Mercer County, doesn't make things easier, thinking his clout in town will be enough to keep his son safe. What follows tests and proves the strength of every member of the Hayden family.
Montana 1948 is not a very long book, but tells a story that fills its pages to brimming. It won't take you long to read it, but I'm pretty sure you'll be thinking about it far after you've moved on to other books. I'll be on the lookout for more by Larry Watson in the future.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Feeling the fellow blogger love! =)
Gail from Ticket to Anywhere recently interviewed me for her blog, and you can read that here.
I've warned her to be careful, she never knows when I'll be springing an interview on her! You should stop by her blog, all the same. She's always reading some greats books and has some great book info there!
Thanks, Gail!!
I've warned her to be careful, she never knows when I'll be springing an interview on her! You should stop by her blog, all the same. She's always reading some greats books and has some great book info there!
Thanks, Gail!!
Monday, August 16, 2010
A big box of Subterranean Press happy in the mail!
A couple of months back Subterranean Press offered a grab bag of books consisting of 12-14 volumes, some limited, some signed and retailing between $500-$600 for $100. I thought about it for about 5 minutes before I placed my order.
While I was on vacation last week, my box of goodies arrived and this is what I had waiting at home for me:
Total retail for the entire lot? $620. I think I got my money's worth! Now, just to find the time to read all these great books...
While I was on vacation last week, my box of goodies arrived and this is what I had waiting at home for me:
Metamorphosis by James Blaylock with Adriana Campoy, Brittany Cox, Alex Haniford and Tim Powers - a limited edition volume signed by all 5 authors!
Ubik: the Screenplay by Phillip K. Dick
The Other in the Mirror by Philip José Farmer
Necroscope: the Plague-Bearer by Brian Lumley
D.A. by Connie Willis
Vacancy & Ariel by Lucius Shepard
The Kragen by Jack Vance
The Book of Dreams edited by Nick Gevers
This is Me, Jack Vance! by Jack Vance
Rude Mechanicals by Kage Baker
Mister Slaughter by Robert McCammon
Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner
The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist - signed by the author
The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1: Crimson Shadows illustrated by Jim Keegan and Ruth Keegan - a limited edition slip-cased edition signed by the illustrators
Total retail for the entire lot? $620. I think I got my money's worth! Now, just to find the time to read all these great books...
Back from vacation...
...and not a single book read! I was having far too much fun with Mickey Mouse and company while at Walt Disney World. However, it's a new week and a new chance to start another great book!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Vacation books!
So, next week I'm heading off to sunny Florida to spend a week at Walt Disney World with some friends and their daughter. I don't expect that I'll be getting much reading done, but at the same time I don't want to be stuck without a book, so I think I'm going to overcompensate (as usual) and take four books with me this trip. I'll be taking:
Chances are I'll probably throw another book or two into the suitcase, but I think those four should get me through the week easy enough.
- Duma Key by Stephen King
- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
- City of Bones, Mortal Instruments Book 1 by Cassandra Clare
- Storm Front by Jim Butcher (I want to restart this series)
Chances are I'll probably throw another book or two into the suitcase, but I think those four should get me through the week easy enough.
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