The Promised Book Post

Ok, so sorry about the abrupt leave-off earlier. I was telling you all about my weird and stressful week. So glad the weekend has hit, by the way. Here's hoping I get to hit the gym (no excuses) and get a little r&r. Off to bed early, no more 2am bedtimes -- it's happened way too often in the past few weeks and I have no doubt that it plays a bit part in the whole headaches and stressing out over every little thing game I've been playing.

Oh, my rent check went missing. That was the other big, headache inducing, pulling my hair out occurrence this week. Thanks USPS. Here's a thought, if you want to work on your whole losing money to online bill pay and other alternatives, maybe you should work on your PR for a while. Delivering open, empty packages, losing mail, and charging me twice as much for a redirected package from up the street as it cost to ship it from NYC in the first place are not good ways to build customer relations.

I feel as though the post office is a necessary evil at this point. It's not like anyone can fight them on anything. My mom asked me why I didn't report the empty package. Um because they wouldn't give a fig. Seriously. Why would they care? They deliver mangled mail all the time and it says very clearly that they take no responsibility for it. So why would they care? They delivered the package, it's not like I could say one of their workers opened it and did it on purpose. It's idiocy at work and there's no recourse against idiocy.

It would almost be better if I could say that it was some conspiracy against me. If I could say that some one person had it out for me over there. I can't. It's simply not the case, or at least I'm pretty sure it's not the case. It's simply a random set of coincidences, but the fact that they're happening at all proves the severe inefficiency of the postal service these days. I mean, c'mon. All of these things have happened to me in less than a month. Not kidding.

Alright, done with my rant.

On to the book post because I have been so delinquent in that lately. Today's title is a must-buy for any and every urban fantasy reader out there. Why? Because it's a collection of tales that are great extras for fans already reading the various series represented and it's a great starting off point for anyone who hasn't read any or all of these authors.

Unbound is a collection of five novellas. In Kim Harrison's tale, "Ley Line Drifter," everyone's favorite pixy is hired to work a case on his own. In Jeaniene Frost's story, "Reckoning," Bones is pre-Cat and working a case in The Big Easy that has him chasing down the notorious Lalauries. Fans of Vicki Pettersson's Zodiac books will recognize the characters in "Dark Matters," a story that is touched on in book 4, City of Souls, but it works just as well as an introduction to the Zodiac troop as well since it takes place prior to The Scent of Shadows. Jocelynn Drake's "The Dead, The Damned and The Forgotten" has Mira investigating the death of a fellow nightwalker. And Melissa Marr's "Two Lines" marks her debut into the adult fiction world -- Marr is the uber-popular author of the teen Faerie series that began with Wicked Lovely. The JJs love this series, but I'm trying not to buy duplicates so I'll have to wait until I get to visit to borrow theirs (hey, I bought those copies!).

Alright. I know it was on the radar already for many of you, but if you have yet to snatch it up, now's the time! Each story can be read in one sitting and at under 100 pages each, they make some great reading for when you're short on time -- waiting rooms, lunch breaks, bedtime reading. And trust me, you'll want to know more about each series behind the tales if you don't read them already, so you'll be adding to your TBR stacks for sure when you finish. My sisters are chomping at the bit for me to send a copy of it to them so they can get a little taste while they're waiting for each author's new installments to come out.

Also, just and FYI because I've only read the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series, but if you're a fan, they're releasing a hardcover collection of Charlaine Harris's SS short stories in a volume called A Touch of Dead. Each of the stories has appeared in other publications prior to this, but now you can have them in one place! One of the JJs has zoomed through this series so it's going to be an IOU for her b-day. The book's release is set for October 6. Super cool of the folks at ACE to release this one.