NAC Mini Challenge -- Dead to Me by Anton Strout

Whew. I'm home. Some of you may have read that I was traveling (hence the serious lack of posts -- I always say I'm going to prepare better and get preposts ready and I never do. Bad, Becky!)

I was in the lovely Charleston last week spending some time at the office and bumming around town with my coworkers -- who were all fabulous hosts, by the way. I had a super fun time. And like all trips, I spent the night before leaving trying to decide what to bring along to read in my down time.

I settled on just five books for this trip. It was agonizing, but almost perfect considering I made it halfway through book four on the plane ride home.

One of the books I brought along with me was Anton Strout's Dead to Me, first in the Simon Canderous series, and my first pick for Jackie's current mini challenge over at Literary Escapism.

Simon Canderous has the ability to see pieces of other people's lives just by touching something they owned. He'd been using the gift strictly for personal gain until he almost got thrown in the slammer for it. Now he's honing his skills working for the Department of Extraordinary Affairs. He and his partner are dragged into an investigation after meeting a dead woman who seems very much alive. Sure it's fairly common for the dead to not quite realize their time is up, but this woman is special.

Simon's a fun character. He's young, a bit headstrong, but also a bit naive as well. And I love the DEA. Imagine Warehouse 13, X-Files, and Buffy all in one paperback package and you get some idea what to expect.

Strout was my day one read, he got me through 2+ hours in the airport and through my flight to Atlanta. Good stuff!

Temporary Radio Silence

Terribly sorry, folks. I didn't prep and prepost for this week. Lots of work stuff going on! I'll be posting again next week, I promise!

New Releases 12/07/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Don Bruns

Death and the Running Patterer by Robin Adair

The Princess of Nowhere by Lorenzo Borghese

Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern (reissue)

Low Country by Eric L. Haney

The Final Reckoning by Sam Bourne

Right Hand Magic by Nancy A. Collins

The Diver by Alfred Neven DuMont

The Cloud Pavilion by Laura Joh Rowland

Nights of the Red Moon by Milton T. Burton

Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead -- Vampire Academy book 6

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier -- Sevenwaters book 5

New on DVD:

Inception

Shrek Forever After

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:

Death and the Running Patterer

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In the Dark of Dreams by Marjorie M. Liu

It's Been a Dystopian Holiday!

Wow, I'm on a total roll with the dystopian reads of late. First it was Ally Condie's Matched, then Andrea Cremer's Nightshade (not dystopian, but with enough elements in common that I'll lump it in here anyway) and then Hunger Games. Whew!

I know Hunger Games is everywhere right now. My fellow blogger friend Vickie just listed to it on audio this past week as well. The only reason it took me this long is because the Junior Junkies got to it first. I'm usually the one lending books to them.

Unfortunately, they only sent me the first two. Grrr. This means I'll have to wait to finish the trilogy and find out what happens. Til then I have a massive TBR stack to tackle and I can hold more books hostage for them until they send over Mockingjay :)

Hunger Games begins in a future where society has been reduced to thirteen districts and the Capitol. Seventy-four years ago, the districts attempted a rebellion and they've been paying the price ever since. District Thirteen was decimated and the remaining twelve must give up two children each year to compete in The Hunger Games. It's a fight to the death and only one can survive.

For those of you who haven't jumped on the Hunger Gamesbandwagon, track down the books now, before the movie comes out. (You have time, it's slated for 2013.) It's like Running Manmeets Survivor meets Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" -- a totally wild and addicting intense ride.

BTW, I keep ragging on my sister for not sending me the whole trilogy, but I guess I can hold out till Christmas to read it. The curiosity is going to kill me until then, though. I'm dying to know how it'll all end!

Spreading the Word About An Upcoming Author Event

Hey, folks! I just got word about a great author event that will be both live (if you're in Cincinnati) and virtual (for those of us who aren't). Here's the dets:

A Booklover’s Fantasy:

Romance & Fantasy Fans Worldwide Can Attend

Virtual/Live Book Signing Event at Joseph-Beth Booksellers

With New York Times Bestselling Authors Marjorie M. Liu & C.L. Wilson

WHAT:

The Book Signing. Revolutionized.

Marjorie M. Liu and C.L. Wilson headline an innovative live/virtual book signing, powered by Vivo (http://www.vivolive.com/harpercollins/majorieliuandclwilson). Both authors will be reading, answering questions, and signing copies for anyone who attends the event at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati--in-person or online.

“We recently had our first experiment with a virtual event, featuring New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn…not only did we have a packed house in-store, but we had more than 500 virtual attendees from around the globe. With the powerhouse duo of Marjorie M. Liu and C.L. Wilson, we expect to have a dynamic audience and record-setting online attendance for their Joseph Beth event – whether fans attend in flesh or in virtual reality, they can interact with these beloved authors and get signed copies of their newest books,” says Pam Jaffee, director of publicity for Avon Books.

WHO:

New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu is known for her paranormal romance novels and comic books. She recently gained national renown with her video game, Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box. Marjorie is also an attorney, and divides her time between China and Indiana.

New York Times bestselling author C.L. Wilson wrote her first novel at age six…but it wasn’t until 2006 that she sold her first book, an epic fantasy then entitled Tairen Soul, at auction. This debut novel was an instant bestseller – as has been every other novel in the series. The author lives in Florida.

WHEN:

Thursday, December 2^nd, 2010. 6:00pm EST

WHERE:

Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati (2692 Madison Road, Cincinnati OH 45208, 513.396.8960)

Online at www.vivolive.com, www.josephbeth.com, www.avonromance.com and www.rtbookreviews.com.

WHY:

To celebrate the release of two of the most anticipated books of the season—

IN THE DARK OF DREAMS (9780062020161, on sale 11/30 from Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins), which has already been nominated for the 2010 RT Book Reviews “Best Shapeshifter Romance”, and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, who called it “a satisfying adventure of intense emotion and compelling characters.”

CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME (9780062018960, on sale 10/26 from Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins), the conclusion of New York Timesbestselling author C.L. Wilson’s sweeping Tairen Soul saga, has been called, “Epic in scope and scale yet emotionally intimate…a truly stellar achievement” by RT Book Reviews.

NOTE: Readers can log onto Joseph-Beth Booksellers web site to pre-order a signed copies of IN THE DARK OF DREAMS HERE(http://www.josephbeth.com/Products/56281-in-the-dark-of-dreams-a-dirk-steele-novel-author-signed.aspx) and CROWN OF CRYSTAL FLAME HERE (http://www.josephbeth.com/Products/56287-crown-of-crystal-flame-author-signed.aspx)

New Releases 11/30/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Critical Condition by CJ Lyons -- fourth in the Angels of Mercy series

Matched by Ally Condie

Bitter Legacy by H. Terrell Griffin

Set the Night on Fire by Libby Fischer Hellmann

Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello

In the Dark of Dreams by Marjorie M. Liu

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell

Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice

Rescue by Anita Shreve

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

New On DVD

Eclipse

Knight and Day

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Going the Distance

New Reviews at Bookbitch.com:

Matched

Critical Condition

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Blacklands by Belinda Bauer

The First Love Cookie Club by Lori Wilde

Another Mini Challenge From Literary Escapism!

Yay! Another Mini-Challenge from Jackie over at Literary Escapism. This time around, the goal is to read up to five new male oriented urban fantasy titles. But, this means they can be written by or star a man. I'm going to peruse my TBR and see what I've got that applies.

My goal for the next few months is to really tackle my backlist collection and knock out some reads! Jackie's challenges always help since I've been hoarding books for the apocalypse!

My projected so far (subject to change):

Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner

Child of Fire by Harry Connolly

Dead to Me by Anton Strout

Kill the Rain by Tony Richards

for my fifth, I have some seconds in series that I'm considering. The goal is to do new to you authors, but it's been a while since I've tackled Mike Carey and I've also got Richard Kadry's Kill the Dead. Or I could go F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack, possibly. I've been meaning the reread The Keep, which is first in the Adversary Cycle, book two is The Tomb, which happens to be the first Repairman Jack. We'll see! Challenge begins Dec 1, so I have some time to decide.