New Releases 7/8

Some new titles out this week are:

Silent Thunder by Iris and Roy Johansen - I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I've been an Iris Johansen reader since she officially jumped from romance to thrillers, but haven't read any of her stuff for a while. Roy offers a nice balance to the book, making it a bit harder than her work typically is.

Sleeping Arrangements by Madeleine Wickham - stand alone from Sophie Kinsella's alter ego

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke - everyone's favorite south Louisiana detective is back

DVD:

The Ruins - on my to buy list! 

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:

Silent Thunder

Sleeping Arrangements

Boneyard by Michelle Gagnon

Tower Hill by Sarah Pinborough

Currently working my way through: Natsuo Kirino's Real World and Julie Kramer's Stalking Susan

I want to share

If you're like me, then you're always on the lookout for great new authors. Last year, a group of debut authors got together and created The Killer Year. Authors in the group included Toni McGee Causey, Bill Cameron, Marcus Sakey, and JT Ellison, to name a few.

I was on The Killer Year website each month checking out the new releases and adding titles to my to buy list. Then, the whole thing culminated with a short story collection edited by Lee Child. And that was it. Most of the authors have their second titles hitting shelves, but there's no new Killer Year group. If you've not read any of the Killer Year authors, you're really missing out. If you have read them, then you were probably hoping for a 2008 crew as well.

I did find a new resource, though, and that's what I wanted to share with you here. If you read thrillers, then you've probably heard of the International Thriller Writers organization. If not, check them out here. A couple of years ago, a collection entitled Thriller hit the shelves. This marked the beginning of the ITW and their annual Thrillerfest (wish I could go!). This year, I discovered a link to a debut authors page. Through this, I have found some great new titles that I think you should all check out.

I should also add that it was through ITW that I discovered the Bookbitch. Now I'm lucky enough to be a contributor to her site (yay!) which helps to feed my addiction to books! Check out Stacy's monthly giveaways, and you'll find the Thriller shelf of the month. Each month, one person walks away with the entire thriller shelf. How freaking cool is that?

See, you learn something new everyday! Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer (pictured above) is just one of the titles being given away this month. I started reading this evening and it's super good - a reporter is given a major scoop when a retiring cop drops a file in her lap. The file contains two reports, two murder victims named Susan, each murdered on the same day one year apart.

You'll also find Kelli Stanley's debut, Nox Dormienda, a Roman noir mystery, and Brad Thor's controversial title, The Last Patriot (I should blog about that one another time), amongst others. Check it out, enter to win, and in the meantime hit up your local bookstore for other ITW debuts.

My Second Summer Flick

So my other is out hiking today and I decided to take in another movie. I threatened to see Wanted and will go it alone if I think he's going to drag his feet around long enough for me to miss it. Instead, though, I opted to see The Happening. 

In spite of my opinion about Lady in the Water and the things that I have heard about The Happening, I had some expectations. It met just about none of them. I mean c'mon! What's up with M. Night Shyamalan? This was his first rated R flick. I thought he'd learned his lesson from Lady. I expected a vast improvement. Nope.

It had it's moments, I will give it that. I love Mark Whalberg but was really not digging the whole confused and earnest act that he had throughout the whole film. His voice was about an octave higher than it usually is and I think that was because he was supposed to be more sensitive and understanding in this movie. Frankly he came across as a wuss. 

Zooey Deschanel is always fun. I like her a lot, but they tried to add this mystery to her character that really didn't work well with the rest of the tone of the movie. If you've seen it, then you know. I won't explain it and ruin it for anyone else who may opt to see the movie, but it's really predictable and not a big deal.

The message in the movie, well I actually didn't mind. I think he could have kept all of the shocking scenes, the message, the creepy people, and just tweaked the dialogue and the delivery and it would have been a way better movie. 

Overall, The Happening was eh.

In DVD news, however, last night I watched The Signal. I loved it! It was fantastic! Highly recommended. Not at all what I expected. I'm sure The Signal is down in horror movie lore somewhere thanks to the incident that occurred during a screening in Cali earlier this year. Yeah, didn't really see anything in the movie that would prompt me to stab fellow watchers. Hm. Anyway, it's gory and has a few jump out of your seat moments as well as a few hysterical moments (New Year's Eve party anyone?), good flick!

My First Official Summer Flick

I'm a big movie buff. In good month, I will probably see at least one flick at the theaters each week. Lately, though, it seems like pickings have been slim. Nevermind the fact that I've had way too much going on to go to any movie lately anyway. 

Adding to my recent dry spell is the fact that my other wants to see most of the films that I do and so I have to wait until it's convenient for both of us to go before I can see it. I have no problem seeing movies all by my lonesome and would probably have seen all of the movies on my list by now if not for being slowed down.

Anyway, I was in a particularly bad mood yesterday and decided that I was in need of some celluloid comfort. I was actually heading over to see Wanted with my uber-crush James McAvoy, but called the other so that he would have some input. Basically the only thing that I could have gone to see without him was The Happening. Unfortunately, I seem to have missed the boat on that one 'cause it's only got limited showings now.

Since he made me miss the beginning of Wanted anyway, I bought tickets for Get Smart.

Overall, the film was cute and funny. It seemed as though most of the movie was already shown in the previews, though, something that has plagued many a film lately. Steve Carrell was great and despite what some elder fans of the show have said, I thought Anne Hathaway played her part very well. 

Now, I've seen old episodes of the show, but it's been ages. I can't tell you how the two really stack up. In the midst of all of the tv show remakes that are heading to the big screen, I thought Get Smart was one of the better ones. 

I guess I'll have to channel my inner Izzy Spellman (referring to the Get Smart obsessed main character in the hilarious Lisa Lutz titles - must reads for everyone!) and watch some of the original episodes.

My movie plans for this month need a great boost. I'm super excited about Hellboy II, X-Files 2, and The Dark Knight. Rumor has it that Barker's Midnight Meat Train may finally hit the big screen on August 1st. If that's actually the case, you'd better believe I'll be there! Course we'll also be seeing Hancock and Wall-E but Wanted tops my list as the next movie to see. 

Another Contest From Dorchester

Alright guys, Dorchester is putting on another contest - some of you might remember the vote for Mr. Romance that they had in the week leading up to the Romantic Times convention. This time, they want you to pick your favorite character or scene from one of their romance titles, dress up and take a pic. That's all. Play dress-up and take a picture.

Here's the link for more info. Winners will be chosen in the following categories:

Best Historical

Best Paranormal

Most Romantic

Most Creative

Photos should be e-mailed to cnelson@dorchesterpub.com by 9/1/08

Good Luck!

A Food Post

While I was on vacation this week, I had some absolutely amazing food. It's not that we don't have good food here in CO, not at all, it's just that I had some things that I really can't get here. 

I wanted to eat some real home-cooked cajun/creole food that I didn't have to slave over myself. My friend's husband just happened to recommend Randol's (where they film the AOC dancing). I'd never actually been there in spite of the number of years that I lived in Lafayette. They did have boiled crawfish and I really should have taken advantage of it, but alas, I did not. I did have some of their barbecued shrimp (this would be the New Orleans style BBQ sauce, very different from regular BBQ sauce) and some potato hash. I was unable to find official recipes, but I have a few BBQ shrimp recipes (great served over grits) and I did find a potato hash recipe on recipezaar that looks similar.

We also ate at this fantastic BBQ place in Austin. From what I understand, this place is an Austin institution! It was a catered dinner with all you can eat brisket, ribs, sausage, chicken, potatoes, beans, bread, cole slaw, and your choice of peach or blackberry cobbler. Their sauce is phenomenal. It's sweet and mustardy and you can kick it up by adding some Texas Gold hot sauce - I'm drooling here!

Anyway, I think I managed to find their potato salad recipe online and will be trying it out, possibly this 4th. You can also find their peach cobbler recipe online as well. The sauce, however, seems to be a closely held secret. If you can find it, send it to me, otherwise I'll just have to wait and see if my travels ever take me back there. 

Another place we hit up in Austin was the Iron Cactus. I had this phenomenal stuffed chicken breast, but was stuffed after all of the guacamole I ate! They do this tableside guac with fresh tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, salt, lime, and oj - yep, orange juice. It's just a squeeze, but man it gives that classic dip a sweet zing that is not to be missed. I'm going to be trying that one shortly as well.

Of course, I couldn't skip Le Truffe Sauvage. It's probably the most pricey restaurant back home, but my dad discovered it upon it's opening, and we've been going for special occasions ever since. Their seasonal menu options are all over the place. I had their filet and the crab ceviche. Yum!

I'm so glad that the internet allows me to scrape up fantastic finds like the recipes above. Unfortunately, I'm attempting to cut back, which is hard for a foodie like me! I'm an avid recipe collector which makes my current job just about perfect (still hoping to make it permanent). It also makes cookbook buying quite pricey! 

Ah well, vacation is over and I have to begin budgeting and eating better. My b-day is just days away, though, and I'll get to go somewhere nice for that, I just can't decide where. In the meantime, I'll be trying out the recipes above and I just bought the Deen brothers' Y'all Come Eat.

On My Wishlist

So here's a scenario for you - Winter 2006/2007, week after week of weekend snowstorms, one bad enough to be classified as a blizzard. We were trapped in our house for 3 days (thank GOD I keep my freezer stocked!). Fortunately the electricity only failed on us once! What would you have done in my situation?

Well, I read (and cooked). One of the books that got me through was Dan Simmons's The Terror, a book about the failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage in 1845. I found this book intriguing on so many different levels. First off, I remembered discussing the actual expedition in my medical anth class in college. The doomed Franklin expedition brought canned food that was sealed with lead. One of the symptoms of lead poisoning is dementia and there were reports that crew members were trekking across the ice with all manner of nonessentials, including a writing desk!

Anyway, I found this discussion incredibly interesting and was totally stoked when I found out that Dan Simmons had a historical horror novel based around said expedition. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a review copy and I gotta tell you it really helped to keep me sane during our massive snow storms!

Simmons is a very prolific author who writes in many genres - sci-fi, horror, mystery - but I had not really read any of his work until Teror. After reading it, though, I've been waiting in extreme anticipation for the upcoming release of Drood. Simmons will once again tackle the mix of historical info and fiction that worked so well in The Terror. This time, he looks at famous literary friends Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins from 1865 to Dickens's death in 1870. According to his website, it will be a combination of history, biography, and dark fantasy.

I can't wait!