I’m excited to see Marble Season by Gilbert Hernandez in the lineup.

Anything catch your eye?

A big thank you to Marcia for originating Mailbox Monday. This weekly meme is now on tour with a new host each month. April’s host is Mari of Mari Reads.

Locke & Key Volume 2: Head Games by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.

What arrived in your mailbox this week?

Vamps in Chicago!

You’d think headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to take up arms against us bloodsucking fiends. Instead, ten months later, we’re enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite—fending off paparazzi only slightly less dangerous than cross and stake-wielding slayers. Don’t get me wrong, Joe Public isn’t exactly thrilled to be living side-by-side with the undead, but at least they haven’t stormed the castle yet.

But all that will change once they learn about the Raves—mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle and drink themselves silly. Most civilized vampires frown on this behavior, putting mere mortals at ease with their policy of asking a person’s consent before taking a big gulp of the red stuff. However, that doesn’t make good copy for a first time reporter looking to impress his high society family.

So now my “master,” the centuries old, yet gorgeously well-preserved Ethan Sullivan, wants me to reconnect with my own upper class family and act as liaison between humans and vampires—and keep the more unsavory aspects of our existence out of the media. But someone doesn’t want people and vamps to play nicey-nice—someone with an ancient grudge.

This book had a bit of a mystery feel to it. Merit’s Scooby Gang (Mallory – fledgling sorcerer; Catcher – excommunicated sorcerer; Jeff – computer genius and supernatural being; and Ethan – Vampire Master and supreme strategist) gets to investigate the raves. Merit’s former high school sweetheart blackmails Merit and Ethan into it. Meanwhile, the shifters are getting ready to meet in Chicago to discuss if they are going to keep their presence from humans hidden or not.

The attraction Ethan and Merit feel for each other yet deny at every turn creates an underlying tension to their encounters. When they relax and engage in witty banter it’s very entertaining. I admit I’m rooting for them to have a relationship at some point in the series.

The ending of this one made me say “Argh!” because it ended on a cliffhanger. I had to get my hands on the third book in the series immediately!

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead. Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude— and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.

The novel takes place over a two week span of time. Merit is attacked while on campus one evening and wakes up different. At first she thinks her grubby, comfortable grad school clothes have been swapped for a mani-pedi and designer clothes. It doesn’t take long for her new situation to be explained to her.

Most of the novel has Merit coming to terms with a feudal style vampire system of honor versus her independent, modern woman lifestyle. She’s headstrong and makes some blunders because she doesn’t read the all important vampire canon given to all newly turned vampires. Vampires have been out in the open for a short time but none of the other supernatural beings are which gives Merit a lot to catch up on.

In addition to Ethan Sullivan, the vampire who makes her blood boil and leaves her googly-eyed, the cast of characters includes Merit’s family (parents and grandfather), her roommate (Mallory), a handsome vampire (Morgan) from another house and some other supernatural characters I can’t say anything more about because I don’t want to give any spoilers.

I rather liked Merit. She’s one of the few characters I’ve come across who has a sense of who she is. Sure, she’s been thrust into a situation not of her choosing, but it’s a lot better than being dead.

Neill creates characters who come to life. Merit and Mallory have the banter of longtime friends. The attitude of Merit’s father fits a man who wants to hoard money and power. It’s a marked contrast to her grandfather. It’s all convincing. Because of that, I’m able to overlook the Corgi misspelling I found.

This took me a day to read and I’m already looking forward to the next in the series. There are lots of plots hinted at in the first novel which will take several books to play out. The sixth novel in the Chicagoland Vampires series was released last month and the seventh is scheduled to come out in August 2013.

A big thank you to Marcia for originating Mailbox Monday. This weekly meme is now on tour with a new host each month. March’s host is Caitlin of Chaotic Compendiums.

The 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology which features short stories from writers nominated for the John W. Campbell Best New Writer award.

What arrived in your mailbox this week?

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

The challenge is to mail an item daily for each day of postal service in your area. The second part of the challenge is to reply to all the letters you receive.

I did better this year in sending items out, replying to letters, and posting my updates. Last year I mainly wrote to people I knew. This year I added some new people from the LetterMo forums to my address book. Postable seemed like a popular choice for keeping track of mailing addresses although I did not create an account for myself. I did add my address to a few Postable accounts. I made sure each new person I wrote or was hoping to get a letter from had something in common with me. Usually it was an interest such as reading, writing, or yarn crafting.

Curiously, the mail I received was not much more than last year and none of the people with Postable accounts sent me anything. If they did, it’s either gotten lost or has to travel quite a long ways to get to me. Even though it is March I am still replying to anyone who sends me a letter; I’m taking more than 2 days to send my reply though.

It’s a natural assumption to me if someone sent out a lot of mail they should receive a lot of mail. I mean, if you send out 100 items then you’re probably going to get 25 or 50 back, right? (I’m assuming not all letters were for charity.) So I asked the prolific mailers of LetterMo and found out some interesting things.

They mailed early. Knowing mail out of the country would take a week or longer, they mailed many of these items the final week in January. This gave the mail a headstart in reaching its destination. If it was going to another LetterMo participant then it (hopefully) allowed time for a reply.

They found snail mail blogs. Some people blog about the mail they send and receive. Included along the sidebar is their mailing address. Voila! Another person to mail who is under no obligation to reply but is likely to do so.

They signed up for other mail-related challenges. The Fountain Pen Geeks did International Correspondence Writing Month (aka Incowrimo) each day in February. Postcrossing saw postcards winging across the globe with the recipient noting when the postcard arrived. (And you only get so many addresses until your postcards are received.) Swap-Bot organizes group swaps for items such as books, crocheted granny squares and letters. Sendsomething collects your address and interests so you can find other mail enthusiasts.

I was disappointed I didn’t get as many letters or postcards from my fellow participants. I may need to focus more on charity letters as I know there won’t be anyone writing back. Last month it was nice to decorate cards and rubberstamp them. Some unexpected things have come about from my month of letters. For one, I’m still writing letters and sending cards. For another, I’ve signed up to be part of a traveling journal. I’ve never done one before but it should be a fun experience. Several people are reading epistolary novels and conversing about them on Goodreads. As you can see from yesterday’s post I’m considering getting an account to keep up the conversation.

In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.

Mantel creates a sympathetic portrayal of Thomas Cromwell. He’s a self-made man who left his abusive father’s home as soon as he could. I’ve commented in the Wolf Hall Read-Along discussions (held by The Bluestocking Society  and It’s All About Books) how his story can appeal to Americans since he’s a self-made made. Out of nothing but his willingness to work (or fight in battle) and use his brains, he rises to power in King Henry’s court.

One aspect of Cromwell nearly everyone commented on in the Read-Along was his love for his wife. Because of his background he was able to choose his own wife. Mantel certainly makes you believe he loved her. After her death he longs for her and often finds himself mistaking his sister-in-law’s presence for his wife. Years later, he still thinks of her.

The political intrigue is quite interesting but nothing I’d want to live through or with. A lot of the book is spent trying to figure out how Henry can leave his wife and still be a religious example. Cromwell thinks like a lawyer and a common man so it’s interesting when he thinks ahead to the counter-arguments.

There are so many different characters with the same first names – Thomas, Henry, Edward and William – it can be difficult to keep track of them. Fortunately, Mantel has a reference guide in the front of the book. I didn’t want to wait too long before reading Bring Up the Bodies. For some readers it will be confusing because some of the story is told through Cromwell’s recollections and some parts are third-person point of view. But if you can read it for long stretches at a time, it will become second nature to know what is happening in the action.

The goal of $500 is ambitious and like most online fundraising campaigns held through a third party site, if the goal isn’t met then Niteblade doesn’t get the money. Some of the items up for donations include ebooks, art work, books, and writing-related critiques. You may not be interested in horror or fantasy literature, but you may know someone who does. Help spread the word; it’s appreciated.