Fantasy & SciFi Lovin' News & Reviews

"Lockout" Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:23:00 +0000

Guy Pearce as a tough guy? In space? I'm in!

See Guy Pearce in action in the new full length trailer for LOCKOUT, the sci-fi action thriller from the producers of TAKEN. The film follows a falsely convicted ex- government agent (Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison.

Book Review – The Official Haynes Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Do you remember the movie Galaxy Quest? That’s the one where the science fiction show inspires a race of aliens to create a real version of their starship, and then there are some fans of the show who have memorized in painstaking detail the blueprints for the same ship. I’ve never really been that kind of fan of any show (and I’m a crossover fan of both Star Wars, Star Trek and just about any scifi series I could get my hands on) so the appeal of technical manuals for me has always been pretty limited. Apparently Haynes (which does many real world workshop manuals for repairing cars and such) has done this kind of thing before, as when I looked it up on Amazon I found a similar book for the starship Enterprise.

Last year, for NJOE, I reviewed the Scholastic Millennium Falcon 3D Owners Guide, which already skirted the edge between something for kids and the kind of details that an adult might be interested in. So, how does this Haynes Manual compare and what does it give you?

This book is laid out by categories, like propulsion, as opposed to the 3D Guide, which took slices out of the ship and then explained what parts had now been revealed. This already reveals one difference between the two books, and when coupled with the fact that there is much more text in this Manual, you’re going to wind up with far more detailed descriptions than the 3D Guide revealed.

Despite the fact that Ryder Windham (the author) mentioned somewhere that this book tried to avoid spoiling the plot details of James Luceno’s Millennium Falcon novel, I did notice some of the history of the Falcon (like how it was cobbled together from two prior ships, as well as it’s first flight) within – which would probably make for some nice tidbits for those who are more into these kind of manuals than reading the fiction of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I also absolutely loved the introductions to each chapter, some of which are like the text out of a marketing catalog as if you were going to purchase a Millennium Falcon of your own (This ship has the greatest speed per engine that you’ve ever seen!). It’s all played as if this were a book being read by someone in that universe, as if you live there.

You’ll also get a history of the line of spacecraft that the Millennium Falcon comes from, as well as all the optional equipment and different configurations this type of craft comes in. I would suspect that this would be a fantastic help for any Star Wars RPG players who are looking to use these ships as locales in their games. I should also note that my kids really like looking through the book, with its peeks behind the panels (so to speak) of the interior of the Falcon, as well as the many movie pictures featuring the ship in action. It might not be the kind of book I’d recommend for any fan (like The Complete Darth Vader or Star Wars: Year by Year), if there’s one ship in the saga that all fans love it’s the Falcon, and this is probably the best book devoted to the ship that I’ve yet seen.

Giveaway! "Shattered Souls" by Mary Lindsey

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Courtesy of Penguin Books I have a copy of Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey to offer for giveaway.

A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger.

Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

Just add your information to the form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once the contest ends) and I will randomly pick one winner by Thursday February 9th. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open everywhere.

Good luck!

Waiting on Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:59:00 +0000

This is a blog meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming books. This week we're featuring picks chosen by SQT and Jim.
SQT's can't wait to read selection is:

Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW
Date: March 6, 2012
Pages: 368 pages

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...

Sometimes you just want a good urban fantasy... Seanan McGuire has really begun to make a name for herself with her October Daye series as well as her Newsflesh series (written under the pseudonym Mira Grant). This looks like a lot of fun and has the benefit of being written by an author with a track record.

Jim's can't wait to read selection is:

The Secret History of Marvel Comics by Blake Bell and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Date: August 28, 2012
pages: 168

The untold story of the House of Ideas.

Marvel Comics is home to such legendary super-heroes as Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man, all of whom have spun box office gold in the 21st century. But Marvel Comics has a secret history hidden in the shadows of these well-known franchises. The Secret History of Marvel Comics digs back to the 1930s when Marvel Comics wasn't just a comic-book producing company. Marvel Comics owner Martin Goodman had tentacles into a publishing world that might have made that era’s conservative American parents lynch him on his front porch. Marvel was but a small part of Goodman’s publishing empire, which had begun years before he published his first comic book. Goodman mostly published lurid and sensationalistic story books (known as “pulps”) and magazines, featuring sexually-charged detective and romance short fiction, and celebrity gossip scandal sheets. And artists like Jack Kirby, who was producing Captain America for eight-year-olds, were simultaneously dipping their toes in both ponds.

The Secret History of Marvel Comics tells this parallel story of 1930s/40s Marvel Comics sharing offices with those Goodman publications not quite fit for children. The book also features a comprehensive display of the artwork produced for Goodman’s other enterprises by Marvel Comics artists such as Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, Alex Schomburg, Bill Everett, Al Jaffee, and Dan DeCarlo, plus the very best pulp artists in the field, including Norman Saunders, John Walter Scott, Hans Wesso, L.F. Bjorklund, and Marvel Comics #1 cover artist Frank R. Paul. Goodman’s magazines also featured cover stories on celebrities such as Jackie Gleason, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace, and Sophia Loren, as well as contributions from famous literary and social figures such as Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, and L. Ron Hubbard.

These rare pieces of comic art, pulp and magazine history will open the door to Marvel Comics’ unseen history.

I'm a big Marvel Comics guy, and as soon as I saw something about this book it caught my interest.

Blu-Ray Review-- "Real Steel"

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

There are a lot of formulaic movies out there that try to tap into the underdog story. Movies like "Rocky" and "The Karate Kid" are classics because we can put ourselves in the shoes of the main character and the moment of victory is sweeter for it-- but what happens when you're rooting for a robot?

Real Steel, a movie loosely based on a short story by Richard Matheson, is the story of Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) and his estranged son Max. Charlie is a former boxer trying to earn a living in a world that no longer has any interest in boxing matches featuring human fighters. Over time audiences have moved on from the small spectacle of of traditional boxing matches and now only pay the big money to watch robots slug it out in the ring, so Charlie chooses to eke out a living operating his own robot fighter.

Charlie is the kind of guy who only seems capable of making bad decisions. He rushes into every situation with a gambler's impetuousness but no eye for detail and is running out of options when it comes to staying ahead of his debts. True to form Charlie approaches the unexpected appearance of his son Max as an opportunity to score some money rather than showing any interest in the relationship for its own sake. But Max has more than his share of stubbornness and before long is acting as his dad's fighting partner.

After another disastrous bout, Charlie ends up at the junkyard looking for parts to piece together another robot when Max literally falls over an old-school robot named Atom that turns out to be just the thing to improve their fortunes.

"Real Steel" is one of those movies that has so many elements from other films that very little comes across as new. Take a little "Rocky," sprinkle in "The Champ" and add some Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots for good measure and you've got "Real Steel." That said, it's still a pretty good little movie.

Hugh Jackman has to get most of the credit for making "Real Steel" a movie worth watching. Charlie isn't a sympathetic character-- and Jackman doesn't try to make him one. He's schemes and steals his way through life and the sudden arrival of a kid doesn't change his character. Max goes toe-to-toe with Charlie but he's one of those super-precocious kids that only exist in the movies. He's sympathetic and cute in a predictably smart-mouthed kind of way, but we've seen him before. Charlie isn't anything new either, but at least he takes his time evolving into someone worthwhile.

The story isn't set that far into the future so the world hasn't changed that much. The fights are a realistic combination of video/gladiatorial game that actually seem somewhat harmless compared to the current reality-television craze. The robots take a beating, sometimes to the point of being ripped apart, but it's not cringe-worthy without the blood involved in a real-world fight. There is a slight attempt to humanize Atom but there are never any glimmers of sentience beyond the imagination of the characters, so it's hard to connect to the robot as the underdog of the story beyond a superficial level. Charlie and Max do work in that role however and there's a certain sweetness in seeing heart triumph over advanced technology.

"Real Steel" works in that it's a film that successfully plays on the audience's emotions. Whether it's the evolution of Charlie's relationship with Max, the reconnection between Charlie and his onetime love Bailey (Evangeline Lilly) or the climactic title-fight, there's a lot of story to cheer for. Sure it's somewhat cookie-cutter but it's still an entertaining way to spend two hours. And it's a diversion you can watch with your kids-- something I don't take for granted these days. I might wish that the film had explored the idea of replacing fighters with robots and Charlie's feelings about that-- it seemed like a missed opportunity that was mostly wasted on setting up the final shadow-boxing scene. However "Real Steel" is strictly light entertainment--but it's also good fun and sometimes that's all you really need.

Series Commentary: Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy

noreply@blogger.com (The Man in Black) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

If Power Rangers in Space, with a close-knit team flitting about in space and visiting seedy locales and deadly forest planets, was Power Rangers meets Star Wars, then Lost Galaxy is Star Trek. Here we have a core group that forms much of the command and security team, responsible for a large vessel filled with military and civilian individuals on a long-term mission, independent enough that the Commander of Terra Venture has effectively complete control over what happens to the station and the people that call it home.

When the "final" season of Power Rangers was more popular than anyone could have imagined (despite my losing interest halfway through the series as a child), Saban shrugged its shoulders and said "what the hell, let's have another one". The result was Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, probably the single post-Angel Grove season with the most ties to the season that came before. The Megaship, which the Rangers use whenever they're not on Terra Venture, was stolen (yes, it was stolen) from its role after the finale of PRiS left it decommissioned. Tracheena is essentially a writers' response to "make Astronema again, but different". And... yeah, I just jumped two thirds of the way through the series. Oh well.

When Valerie Vernon had to leave the show for medical reasons, Kendrix sacrificed herself to save Cassie, the Pink Space Ranger, in the finale of a two-parter that saw eleven Rangers from two seasons (don't ask me why Zhayne didn''t show up) face off against the Psycho Rangers from PRiS. Rather than try and introduce a brand new Pink Ranger in a short span of time, the producers decided to have one of the girls from In Space reprise their role as a new Pink Ranger. When Patricia Ja Lee left the show for her own reasons, Melody Perkins was called upon to be the first villain-turned-black corset wearing Pink Ranger and it was glorious.

Having Karone (with the occasional cameo by Astronema) back was the highlight of the show for me. We already had the same villain quartet in Scorpius-Tracheena-Villamax-Deviot that we had had in Dark Specter-Astronema-Ecliptor-Darkonda, right down to Deviot causing Scorpius's death and wanting to be his successor. Karone being on the opposing side, and even having an unmorped fight or two with Tracheena, just made this all the more epic.

I just realized I may have an unhealthy crush on 10 years' ago Melody Perkins. Moving on.

As you can probably guess, Lost Galaxy was in many ways an attempt to duplicate In Space without being a blatant ripoff of In Space. The villains meet in different ways, taking half of the season to form the quarter I mentioned and changing much more in the process. While none of them ever were in danger of joining the Power Rangers, we go another step in exploring the perils of a noble warrior working for the forces of evil.

Lost Galaxy is so successful in copying the formula of In Space, in fact, that it comes with the same flaws. Specifically, I mean the sixth ranger. The introduction of the Magna Defender was done as well as the Silver Ranger (that is to say, as well as the Blue Centennial or the Phantom Ranger), but it was rather abrupt when Big Brother became the Defender and the constraints of a Sixth Ranger make him seem like less of a friend or a brother and more like a distant, lone wolf character that he never was when he was introduced.

Related to this issue- because the Lights of Orion were often used as an excuse to separate Max from the team- is all of the power ups they received. It's not the fact that they got power boosts that concerns me, but the fact that it seemed like more of a constant thing. In MMPR, the Rangers would gain new powers after getting their asses beat. Hard. Here, it's like more of an arbitrary reward. It's as though the marketing division were afraid toy sales would plummet the minute they stopped promoting new ones.

This was the last strictly linear Power Rangers season. They would continue until Operation Overdrive having crossovers that defined continuity, but other than those special events (thirteen or so episodes in the next eight years), continuing cast members like Bulk, Karone and Professor Phenomenous would be a thing of the past.

Bill Silvia is a regular contributor at Fantasy & SciFi Lovin' News & Reviews. You can find more of his content at http://www.MiBreviews.com

Jim's Rants & Raves

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Similar to SQT’s Random Thoughts, sometimes a few things wind up sticking in my craw that I feel the need to talk about, but it isn’t enough for me to write an entire entry about. Usually these are things that I either feel the need to express my displeasure about, or that I want to sing the praises of – so despite the fact that it’s rather unoriginal, I’m going to go with Rants & Raves.

Rave – the “Glory”ious return of Extreme Studios comics. Believe it or not, I wasn’t a huge fan of this particular sub-studio of Image back in the day – I was more of a Wildstorm guy (though I was not a Rob Liefeld hater, I just didn’t wind up reading most of these titles, with the exception of Prophet). I was only mildly intrigued by the announcement that some of these titles would be coming back in 2012, and even Prophet didn’t garner my attention at first (though it has since moved onto my list to check out, with it’s combination scifi/Conan vibe) – but after this recent interview with the creators of these books at Newsarama, I’ve decided I must give Glory a try. A book I never looked twice at, despite it’s attempts to pander in the past, I love how the creators of this book go out of their way to talk about how they don’t want to make a book that girls are embarrassed to read (like – as they say – DC screwed up royally with their relaunch). Descirbed as a superheroes meets epic fantasy book, with that kind of attitude from the creative team, I’ve decided I must give Glory a try.
Rant - Speaking of attitude, there was a great article on Author Behavior that I completely agree with. I’ve had contact with a number of authors over the years, even ones whose books I haven’t always loved (and they knew it). There have only been a few occasions where I’ve had completely bad interactions with authors (and by this I mean, giving me undeserved bad attitude) – in two cases I let it go owing to the situations (one was at a signing, the other through a Yahoo! Group interaction). But one I have never been able to let go. I had long lurked at the Star Trek BBS for discussing literature, where many of the authors interact with the fans. I had long seen one particular author act rudely to fans, but I didn’t know him and had never read anything by him. Eventually I did read one of his Trek books, and found it to be entertaining though not memorable. I never said anything one way or the other about that particular book, but when I was later praising a follow-up book by another author, the rude author wound up engaging me over my comments about the characterization of one new creation who had been introduced (by all of these authors) in the books. It became a personal attack against me (directed by this author), because it was apparently my fault that multiple authors had failed to make this character sympathetic to me. I’ll also note, I was essentially a new user to that board – I can’t imagine how people would feel welcomed in that kind of a situation. I vowed I would never read another book by that author again and that I would never post at that board again, and I haven’t. This despite the fact that TOR just released covers of some new books, including one by the author in question, which sounds like it would be right up my alley – but I’ll never allow my dollar to help subsidize his career again.
Rant – my family and I were recently watching The Brave Little Toaster. Actually we didn’t get very far with it – within moments of turning it on my wife was asking me when this movie was made (because it looked like Snow White era, and not in a good way, despite being made in 1987). Since I was on the Wiki page for it, I looked up the plot and decided it was going to be too sad to continue (at which point we switched to the new Pooh movie, which was hysterical by the way). I’m not sure if my rant is more directed at The Brave Little Toaster – which seems to be alluding that a Toaster, a Vacuum Cleaner, a Radio and an Electric Blanket are the favorite TOYS of their child master whom they miss (yes, all electrical appliances kids, lets go PLAY!) – or am I more annoyed to discover that essentially the Toy Story movies (which has the involvement of John Lassetter, who also worked on guess what? The Brave Little Toaster) drew from this plot with the household items coming to life, missing their master, going out on their own into the real world, sent to a junkyard… I guess I could look at it as the Toy Story movies actually took what was probably a good idea and making it far more appropriate by actually making it about toys instead of appliances that could get a person killed, but the whole experience has just gotten to me.
Rave – to end on a positive note, Orbit books recently announced that they would finally be bringing Michael Cobley’s Humanity’s Fire scifi series to the US. I’ve had an advance copy of the first book for a few years now, and I look forward to finally cracking it open in time for the debut here. You’re bound to see me feature these books in upcoming Waiting on Wednesday columns, but I thought I’d share my excitement here first.

Graphic Novel Review: Fables vol 16 – Super Team

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

At the end of the last volume, the Fables had to retreat from our world just as they had to flee from their homelands ages ago. They had thought they had defeated Mr Dark, but he broke free of their enchantment and is intent on destroying them all, and as the second book opens he has trapped them within the realm of the Frog King with no way out. He is slowly wearing down the defenses of this realm, so the only thing left for the Fables is to fight.

Since Pinocchio is considered the foremost expert in the area of superheroics (as a comic reader) he has been tasked with putting together a team of the most powerful Fables in the hopes that these fearless characters will be able to defeat Mr Dark once and for all. Meanwhile, Mr Dark continues to gain power in our world, gathering more allies around him – ones that may still pursue his agenda even if the Fables are able to defeat him. And the biggest trouble of all may not come from Mr Dark at all, but from Bigby’s father, Mr North (the North Wind) who has discovered that one of his grandchildren is an abomination – and must be destroyed.

I was a little inaccurate in saying this book starts where the last book left off. The first issue included in this book is actually a tale of Buffkin the flying monkey and his continued mis-adventures in the lost offices of Fabletown (buried beneath Mr Dark’s new fortress in our world). My problem with this issue is that Buffkin was somewhat amusing as a one or two-panel joke in a single issue, but as a main plotline he holds no interest for me. His story continues to remain unresolved, as he winds up in Oz at the end of this issue, and while I’m sure it’ll eventually connect together into an important story for the Fables book – I was glad to be done with it and move on to the main story.

The forming of the super hero team was probably the best part of the main section of this volume, as they do a casting call and try out all sorts of different Fables for the various roles. It’s both a humorous look at the typical character stereotypes you’d see in a superhero comic book, and at the same time it remains serious business as Pinocchio (and the writer) treats these clichés with respect. Unfortunately the superhero team don’t get all that much to do in the story, as it’s actually resolved by a bit of a dues ex-machina that was a little out of left-field for me.

While I wasn’t enthralled by the final comic included in this collection, it fit better with the overall theme than the first did. Here the reader is shown what’s been going on back in the Homelands since the defeat of the Adversary – that some supporters of the Adversary are looking to defeat the enchantment of Sleeping Beauty (with echoes of Mr Dark’s breaking of the enchantment on him) in order to bring back the most powerful allies of the Adversary. What we also discover is that there are two sleeping women – and no one is quite sure which one is the real Sleeping Beauty.

For me, Super Team continued the recent trend of getting this book back on track. It wasn’t a complete success (I don’t think it’s ever been the same since the defeat of the Adversary) but it was an enjoyable book and at this point if you’re still following this book it’s worth a read. But don’t let this be your starting point with Fables, this is a book well worth starting from the beginning.

Books Received

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The Lost Goddess by Tom Knox

From the internationally bestselling author of The Genesis Secret-a seductive, exotic new thriller

In the silent caves beneath France, young archaeologist Julia Kerrigan unearths an ancient skull-with a hole bored through the forehead. After she reveals her discovery, her mentor is brutally murdered. Deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, photographer Jake Thurby is offered a mysterious assignment by a beautiful Cambodian lawyer who is investigating finds at the two-thousand-year-old Plain of Jars-finds that shadowy forces want kept secret.

From the temples of Angkor Wat and the wild streets of Bangkok to the prehistoric caves in Western Europe, what links Jake's and Julia's discoveries is a strange, demonic woman whose unquenchable thirst for vengeance-and the horrors she seeks to avenge- are truly shocking.

Readers have become enthralled by Knox's vivid blend of buccaneering modern adventure, gothic horror, and grand intellectual puzzles. The Lost Goddess is his most exciting novel to date.

Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear

Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards. These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.

Almost Everything by Tate Hallaway

Ever since her father banished the half-witch, half-vampire Ana Parker and vampire knight Elias from the court of the Northern vampires, Ana has been trying to live a normal life. But when the Prince of the Southern Region vampires informs Ana that they're on the brink of war and she accidentally offers up Elias as a peace offering, the princess knows that she's going to need some help to get out of this situation.

With Ana's boy drama meter hitting an all time high, summer in St. Paul is heating up for all the wrong reasons...

Undone Deeds by Mark Del Franco

Connor Grey is a druid consultant for the Boston PD on their "strange" cases. So his world is turned upside down when he suddenly finds that he himself has become one. Wrongly accused of a terrorist attack that rocked the city to its core, Connor evades arrest by going underground, where rumors of war are roiling. A final confrontation between the Celtic and Teutonic fey looks inevitable-with Boston as the battlefield...

Apocalypse to Go by Katharine Kerr

Nola O'Grady has enough trouble when a were-leopard accuses her of receiving stolen property. But when her younger brother Michael goes searching for their missing father, he lands himself and his brother, Sean, in a world of hurt-quite literally-in a deviant world version of San Francisco.

Can Nola and her partner in the Apocalypse Squad, Israeli Interpol agent Ari Nathan, find her brothers in time to save them from death by radiation poisoning? The search will lead them through a city of secrets, but the worst secret of all lurks at the heart of the only thing Nola loves more than Ari: her family.

Westward Weird Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes

From a Western circus where monsters and heroes collide, to a Civil War robot that clanks into battle, to a mining family that encounters parallel universes, Westward Weird features thirteen original stories that open the Old West to new frontiers of science fiction and fantasy.

Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole

Lieutenant Oscar Britton of the Supernatural Operations Corps has been trained to hunt down and take out people possessing magical powers. But when he starts manifesting powers of his own, the SOC revokes Oscar's government agent status to declare him public enemy number one.

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron- fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, "the last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat," just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame's family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter's path.

Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla's young assistant, is a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety. But even as Raseed's sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia.

Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near- mythical power of the lion-shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man's title. She lives only to avenge her father's death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father's killer. Until she meets Raseed.

When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince's brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time-and struggle against their own misgivings-to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.

Slipstream by Michael Offutt

Jordan Pendragon is crazy good at fixing situations that have gone bad. It's a talent prized by his high school ice hockey team. However, when a car accident puts Jordan in the hospital, he wakes up with more than just an amazing slapshot in his toolbox. Jordan can manipulate space-time and in just a few weeks, he'll depend on it to save his life.

When earthlings detonated the first atomic bomb in 1945, something incredible happened. The detonation triggered an extinction level event on a parallel world. A computer program saved humanity and became the ruler of this place. However, its brilliant mind fragmented and became insane.

Jordan's power strands him in this nightmare universe. To get home, he becomes a professional in a sport where athletes are killed to boost network ratings. To survive, he discovers that the most broken among us can be fixed and that love is unpredictable. Near the end, he also learns a startling truth about his own birth. If he fails to fix the computer’s insanity, both Earth and this sister world are doomed

Seven Princes by John R. Fultz

It is an Age of Legends.
Under the watchful eye of the Giants, the kingdoms of Men rose to power. Now, the Giant-King has slain the last of the Serpents and ushered in an era of untold peace and prosperity. Where a fire-blackened desert once stood, golden cities flourish in verdant fields.

It is an Age of Heroes.

But the realms of Man face a new threat-- an ancient sorcerer slaughters the rightful King of Yaskatha before the unbelieving eyes of his son, young Prince D'zan. With the Giant-King lost to a mysterious doom, it seems that no one has the power to stop the coming storm.

It is an Age of War.

The fugitive Prince seeks allies across the realms of Men and Giants to liberate his father's stolen kingdom. Six foreign Princes are tied to his fate. Only one thing is certain: War is coming.

SEVEN PRINCES.

Some will seek glory.

Some will seek vengeance.

All will be legends.

Tribulations by Ken Shufeldt

The world has ended…. The war is only beginning.

An asteroid storm has obliterated the Earth. Billy and Linda West have built enough space-going arks to save a small number of people who now roam the void in search of a new home.

Desperate to find a safe haven, Billy makes a dangerous attempt to exceed the speed of light. When his plans go terribly wrong, the Wests’ severely-damaged ship is separated from the fleet and left drifting near a mysterious planet.

This world’s conditions are hospitable—but its inhabitants are not. Suddenly the Wests and their fellow survivors are caught in the middle of an ancient war between two brutal nations. Faced with horrific dangers, they are forced to choose a side just to survive.

The Stolen Bride by Tony Hays

Malgwyn ap Cuneglas is counselor to Arthur, High King of the Britons. When he accompanies his liege to the West to broker a deal between warring tribes they come across a scene of utmost depravity and murder to sicken even the most battle-hardened warrior. Things don’t get any better when they finally arrive at their destination to discover that King Doged is fighting to keep his kingdom safe from both Saxons from abroad and younger nobles vying for power. Doged loses that fight when shortly after Arthur and his counselor arrive, he is murdered. His young wife, defenseless and alone, appeals to Arthur to find her husband’s killer. Arthur quickly agrees and Malgwyn is given this almost impossible task.

Why would Arthur be so interested in helping keep this small region stable and under the High King influence? Perhaps because Doged’s people had discovered caves that might contain huge veins of gold….

The Stolen Bride is the next masterpiece in Tony Hays critically acclaimed Arthurian mystery series.

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Godspeed was fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos.
It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to enact his vision - no more Phydus, no more lies.

But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart.

In book two of the Across the Universe trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis mesmerizes us again with a brilliantly crafted mystery filled with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship.

Perception by Kim Harrington

When you can see things others can't, what happens when someone is watching you?

Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one who can place her hands on something and see hidden visions from the past.

Only, Clare would rather not be a celebrity. She prefers hanging back, observing. Her gift is not a game to her.

But then someone starts playing with her head and heart. Messages and gifts from a secret admirer crop up everywhere Clare turns. Could they be from Gabriel, the gorgeous boy who gets Clare's pulse racing? Or from Justin, Clare's hopeful ex-boyfriend who'd do anything to win her back?

One thing is certain. Clare needs to solve this mystery, and soon. Because the messages are becoming sinister, and a girl in town has suddenly disappeared. Clare needs to see her way to the truth -- before it's much too late.

Waiting on Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:59:00 +0000

This is a blog meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine to spotlight upcoming books. This week we're featuring picks chosen by SQT and Jim.

Jim's can't wait to read selection is:

Greatshadow by James Maxey
Publisher: Solaris
Date: January 31, 2012
pages: 448

Greatshadow is the primal dragon of fire, an elemental evil whose malign intelligence spies upon mankind through every candle flame, waiting to devour any careless victim he can claim. The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay the dragon once and for all. But tensions run high between the leaders of the team who view the mission as a holy duty and the super-powered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who view the mission primarily as a chance to claim Greatshadow's vast treasure trove. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?

I loved the first two books in James Maxey's A Novel of the Dragon Age trilogy (Bitterwood and Dragonforge) - and the third one is sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read. This is a new trilogy of books from Maxey, unrelated to the previous series, so it's a great way to check out an author who might be new to you without having to catch up on a series.

SQT's can't wait to read selection is:

Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Date: April 20, 2012
Pages: 320

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, comes UNHOLY NIGHT, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism.

They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale.

In Grahame-Smith's telling, the so-called "Three Wise Men" are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod's prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod's men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt.

It's the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.

I'm intrigued by Grahame-Smith's willingness to tweak the Bible to tell what sounds like a very imaginative story. I definitely have my eye on this one...

"The Last Stormlord" by Glenda Larke-- Great World Building, Weak Characters

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:55:00 +0000

In the four quarters of the Scarpen water is provided to the people by the Stormlord and the Rainlords who keep the land alive with their power over water. But the Stormlord is dying and there are no Rainlords strong enough to move the storms that bring water to the cities. The Rainlords decide to go on a desperate search for a new Stormlord, even venturing into the poorest quarters in hopes of finding a water sensitive strong enough to save their way of life.

Shale is a young man barely surviving among the waterless of the Gibber quarter. Shale doesn't tell his alcoholic father that he can sense deep pockets of water out in the desert because of a deep wariness among their people that mistrusts anyone that demonstrates any water sensitivity. So Shale hides from the Rainlords so his ability won't be discovered-- which leads to an opportunity for those who want to overthrow the rule of Stormlords to use Shale for their own mission to return the land to a time of random rain.

Terelle was born in the Gibber and started out life as one of the waterless, but she has come to dread the life she faces in the snuggery more than a life without a water allotment. As the day looms when she will be sold into her first night of prostitution Terelle desperately searches for a way out of her circumstances but her escape into a new life comes from an unexpected place. Terelle learns there's more to water magic than she ever knew and her destiny has been shaped for her in ways she could never have imagined as she gets caught up in a larger conspiracy that threatens to change the world forever.

The Last Stormlord is a return to the kind of fantasy I grew up with; a style that puts a strong emphasis on world building with a strong magical foundation. Larke does a fabulous job of creating a believable world with varying cultures. The details she includes regarding the way people dress, look and behave paints a vivid picture of the place the characters inhabit and that alone makes this a book worth mentioning. Likewise the magic, which is centered around the manipulation of water, is skillfully crafted with time spent on explaining how it works and why it is important. The most believable aspect of the story were the little things-- like the outrage over stepping in a mud puddle as a flagrant waste of water.

But when it came to characterizations "The Last Stormlord" didn't bring the same level of credibility that was brought to the setting. There is some attempt to put the characters into "good" and "bad" categories with some shades of grey, but mostly they got mired down in the usual stereotypes. The two main characters Terelle and Shale are, thankfully, fairly well done. Because we're allowed to follow their progress from youth to young adulthood there is the opportunity to see the necessary growing pains of a character we're meant to empathize with. But rarely are we given the chance to bond with any other characters in a meaningful way. Most of the "good" guys are the kind of people who have been raised in circumstances of privilege and have little concept of hardship. When confronted with a bleak future they're quick to shore up their own circumstances as the expense of others-- and that aspect of the story is believable. But when obvious solutions are presented the characters display a level of obtuseness that's hard to get past. Some characters are allowed to ambiguously hover between good and bad but they are only ones credited with any intelligence while everyone else seems confused or insistent on taking the most illogical position available.

Certain threads of the story also have a kind of repetitious nature. For example: both Shale and Terelle take up apprenticeships without really trusting the motives of their mentors. Additionally all the romantic relationships seem founded more on overdone misunderstandings than any kind of natural progression.

Overall "The Last Stormlord" was a book I had to push myself to finish reading. The world-building is first rate and the detail oriented way Larke built her society was the main attraction for me. But the personalities of her characters fell flat. Their interactions sometimes felt forced and always hovered on the edge of being a cliché. I wanted to like the book enough to finish the whole series because there is some real quality in Larke's writing, but I never connected to the characters enough to want to invest in reading the full trilogy.

3 out of 5 stars.

Fantasy Writing Contest at Fantasy Faction-- Coming Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:50:00 +0000

Fantasy Faction is launching a fantasy writing contest on February 1, 2012 and wanted to get the word out.

This is a wonderful contest that looks to put undiscovered talent in an anthology alongside authors like Mark Lawrence, Myke Cole, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan, Adrian Tchaikovsky and others. There are six spots available in the anthology as well as cash prizes being offered. You can find the rules for submissions HERE.

Get your stories polished up and ready to go!

Series Commentary: Power Rangers in Space

noreply@blogger.com (The Man in Black) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Power Rangers in Space is widely regarded as the greatest season in Power Rangers, and it's not hard to see why. After Turbo, Studio execs knew that a drastic change in the series was required in order for Power Rangers to keep breathing. The result, something that I thought of at the time as jumping the shark, was to take the series into space.

But space wasn't the only change made in Power Rangers in Space. Individual zords were done away with, and even when they came back, they were no longer ridden into battle the same way they were before. The Red Ranger, rather than being a natural leader and a friend to the Rangers from the start, was a loner and outsider- a Space Elf, if anything. But these were just the most superficial of changes.

No, the real change was the scope, and the villains. Dark Specter, the ruler of the United Alliance of Evil, loomed like a shadow over everything the Power Rangers had ever accomplished. We saw Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa and Divatox, vanquisher of the Turbo Rangers, literally brushed aside in favor of Astronema, played by the then twenty-something Melody Perkins. For the first time, we had a villain who was young and had an air of mystery about her (nobody ever asked about the origins of Rita, Zedd or Divatox), who embraced the attentions of the young audience and was damned sexy to boot (more on that next time, I promise). She was also a diverse actor with no Megaranger footage to speak of.

Astronema's lieutenant, Ecliptor, was the first morally grey villain on the show. Despite being dedicated to the team of evil, Ecliptor was an honorable opponent, an honest warrior who sided with the strongest side, raised Astronema for Dark Specter, and generated audience sympathy without raising too many questions as to why he would stay with the Alliance, save for one gamble toward the end of the season that I'll get to in a minute. Ecliptor was not only the Goldar of this season, but in many ways he was also the Lord Zedd, and one of the most powerful sentient threats the Power Rangers have ever faced. E.Z. Peterson of Toku Time has stated on Twitter in regards to his Top 10 Power Rangers Villains episode, had Astronema not taken the #1 spot, the top two villains would have been Ecliptor and Darkonda.

If Ecliptor is the more machine than man warrior that we love to hate, Darkonda, his counterpart, is the one that we just hate. Darkonda is a vicious brute, Boba Fett if you crossed him with Jabba the Hutt and Grand Moff Tarkin with just a hint of Darth Maul. He literally has nine lives (you even see him keeping score at one point) and only Ecliptor can face him in a fair fight- if Darkonda ever fought fair, that is.

While Darkonda is the last villain introduced to the series, he really finalizes the tone of PRiS. A bounty hunter that can be seen visiting seedy cantinas, laying traps and having a mysterious relation to the past of the main characters on both sides? This show may blatantly borrow from Star Wars, but it does so in an original way. Every Star Wars similarity is an obvious reference and homage, making Power Rangers in Space a unique blend of Star Wars, Power Rangers, and something new- something with a main villain who both the Silver Ranger and the audience want to spend the night between episodes with every time she's on screen.

Now that I've mentioned Zhayne, I should say he's the one real disappointment of the season. He's not a total joke like some later Rangers, but he's the first real instance of a sixth ranger who could really help whenever he wants, but the Sentai footage doesn't allow that. They make some effort to blatantly write him out of episodes he doesn't need to be in, but that's the thing, it's blatant every time. This may be nostalgia talking, but when the Green Dragon Ranger couldn't make every fight, we believed the excuses, and they felt natural. Here, we have scenes like Cassie blatantly telling Zhayne to sit the fight out and rest. Add that to scenes talking about the Silver Ranger's awesome reputation when we never see him doing anything that his friend and partner Andros can't do, and the Silver Ranger just seems like a pretty wrapping on an average character. After the Green Dragon Ranger, the White Ranger, the Gold Ranger, the Blue Centurion and the Phantom Ranger, this is all too obvious and comes across as a let down. This wouldn't be the first time that the writers had trouble matching the needs of the Sentai footage to a new story in regards to the team's trump card, though.

It's obvious that I love this show, even as an adult, and I would probably need a full review to talk about everything that I want to, but I'm going to start easing this commentary out. I promised I would talk about the one time Ecliptor and Astronema questioned their alliance to evil, so that will be the last thing I mention here. This was really a huge gamble for the show- Astronema develops various allegiances to the Red and Silver Rangers, and openly questions if she's on the right side while coming to enjoy the company of the whole team. Ecliptor's allegiance as a surrogate father is of much greater import to him than the Alliance, so he backs her up.

There were three ways to go forward with this plot. The first, and probably most predictable route, would be to eliminate or heavily weaken the Rangers' new allies, allowing Darkonda and possibly a new enemy to rise in their place. The second route would be to allow them to step in as extra not-quite Rangers, similar to how Ninja Storm would have a two-man Ranger team in addition to the main team and the sixth Ranger.

The third route- the route Saban chose- was to take Astronema and erase her character, leaving her under the cyborg control of Dark Specter. This left Locutus- I mean, Astronema- as an even more ruthless, deadlier enemy that the Rangers could not bring themselves to attack.

I was really iffy about this when I first saw it, but the In Space writing team pulled it off. I still think more could have been done with these characters, but I understand why they made the choice they did, and I maintain that it was a better decision than having never had the redemption plotline in the first place. Ultimately, it was much less contrived than creating a new Big Bad in the eleventh hour, or even letting Darkonda run the last group of episodes.

I said I'll this commentary a while ago, so about the two-parter that was supposed to end Power Rangers for all time, all I'll say is that it does its job extremely well, in addition to setting the foundation that Lost Galaxy would come to be built on.

Bill Silvia is a regular contributor at Fantasy & SciFi Lovin' News & Reviews. You can find more of his content at http://www.MiBreviews.com

Book Review: Star Wars – Darth Plagueis by James Luceno

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:47:00 +0000

I wasn’t all that happy with my last Star Wars book review (Revan), so I’m going to try something a little different this time around. The first part of this review (The Summary) will be geared towards the casual fan, those who have some interest in Star Wars, but don’t read all the books and just want to know if this book will appeal to you. This is probably where the majority of readers of this blog will be able to stop, as you’ll get my recommendation in that section. Then I’m going to go more in-depth with my review, which is really meant for the big Star Wars fans (for those who come to see my thoughts). I’ll be far more nit picky there, more spoilery of the story, and will hopefully feel better about my overall analysis of Darth Plagueis. So without further ado:

The Summary:

Who the heck is Darth Plagueis and why should you care? Well for those paying attention during Revenge of the Sith, he’s a Sith Lord that Palpatine/Sidious refers to when talking to Anakin just before his fatal decision to turn to the dark side. “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise” in which we learn that a Sith may have learned how to use the Force to stave off death itself. In this novel, we learn that Darth Plagueis was Palpatine’s master, and we follow his apprenticeship up through the point where Palpatine becomes Supreme Chancellor of the Republic during The Phantom Menace.

The book is broken up into thirds. In the first section, Plagueis fulfills his destiny as a Sith and eliminates his own master. While he senses that the Sith goal of finally defeating the Jedi is close at hand, his own personal goal is to learn how to keep himself alive indefinitely in order to rule over this galaxy which will fall to the Dark Side. In order to do that he must learn to control the Midicholians within a person, to force them to do things that are unnatural. But he does also feel the need to continue the plan to destroy the Jedi, and his secret life as a Muun Banker allows him to use his finances to manipulate governments into conflict – including the planet of Naboo. It is there that he first meets young Palpatine, and eventually learns that he is a powerful Force user, taking him on as an apprentice.

The second part of the book skips ahead ten years, where Palpatine is now an aide to the Senator from Naboo. Palpatine begins to gather the people who will help him rise to power in the Republic around him, as he orders the death of his friend and mentor in order to rise to his seat in the Senate. Finally, in the third part of the book, the time is just before the opening of The Phantom Menace, where Plagueis and Palpatine’s plans are finally coalescing. But the best laid plans may yet be undone by the presence of one boy from the planet Tatooine.

Despite the title, this book is at least as much about Palpatine as it is about Plagueis, and if the idea of learning more about one of the most important characters in the Star Wars saga, then this book is for you. The other reason you may want to check out this book is if you’ve always wanted more detail around the political machinations that led to the opening of The Phantom Menace (the Trade Federation Blockade of Naboo) as well as hints at how the Republic is falling apart and why the Separatist movement comes about, igniting the Clone Wars. Just don’t expect an action-packed novel, nor any point of view other than that of Plagueis or Palpatine. Like the Bane books, this is told strictly from the point of view of the Sith, thought there are some appearances by some famous Jedi (like Qui-gon Jinn and Obi-wan Kenobi). There were times near the end of the book that I could tell there were other stories that have been written (which I haven’t read) that this book is referencing, but it shouldn’t cause too much of a problem for new readers (it didn’t for me). It’s not the purest example of a standard Star Wars novel (big action, larger than life heroes in derring-do situations), but it is a good read and a strong novel fulfilling its purpose of giving much more depth to these characters and the overriding story behind the movies and the TV show. If that sounds appealing to you, check out Darth Plagueis.

The Details:

This is in many ways the Holy Grail of books for Star Wars fans, filling in a very important part of the saga – sometimes answering questions you didn’t even know you had. James Luceno, well known as someone who an encyclopedia-like knowledge of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, is the perfect author to write this book. He adds little tid-bits on every page that the really hard-core fans will catch, from references to the Celestials and Rakata to planets, events and characters from The Clone Wars TV series as well as layering in plenty of new information for fans to mull over.

I mentioned before about Luceno explaining away questions you didn’t know you had – for instance, all those various Dark Side users the Emperor seems to gather around him in the Expanded Universe. Between Mara Jade, Sedriss, Vader… that “Rule of Two” thing that meant so much to Bane seems more like guidelines than a code. Of course, the reason all these additional Dark Siders are around is because they were created before the prequels (and the Rule of Two was introduced), but Luceno comes up with a great way around the “problem” – Plagueis already recognized that the time was coming to a close for the Rule of Two, and he passed on that idea to his own apprentice.

At the same time, I felt there were some flaws to the book. The first section of the novel is a bit of a bore, it doesn’t really pick up until the introduction of Palpatine, and even then it only starts to really get good when he kills his own family and becomes Plagueis’ apprentice. The lack of action throughout the book is a bit of a letdown – it’s a shame that in the last third that we couldn’t have followed some of these missions that Maul went on – I suspect that would have added the action I was seeking. I’m sure that these are stories I haven’t read (in the short stories featuring Maul printed elsewhere, as well as the novels Shadow Hunter and Cloak of Deception) as opposed to Luceno just skipping over the “good stuff”, but the story could have used more punch either way. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of Palpatine’s fighting abilities – to back up what we finally see from him in Revenge of the Sith, and that could have been used both during his training period (in the second part of the book) as well as in the third. I was hoping for a duel between him and the Jedi son (Ronhar Kim) of his mentor, the former Senator from Naboo – but it seems even this is told in a later story.

Another issue I had was Plagueis himself, he just wasn’t that fascinating to me, and ultimately he wore out his welcome a bit by the end. I was wondering where the hell the Darth Sidious I know was when Plagueis kept talking about being his co-Chancellor of the Republic and sticking around way after his time as Master should have been over. I had trouble believing Palpatine would suffer his Master as long as he did, and that they were still working together during the events of The Phantom Menace. I think it was a mistake to have Plagueis still be alive at that point – I would have thought the whole reason for Sidious to wonder if his master had achieved the impossible was when he meets Anakin and discovers how the boy was created by the Force. With Plagueis still alive, there’s no question he had nothing to do with the creation of the Chosen One.

Not that I disliked the way in which Anakin’s conception was dealt with – this book makes it fairly clear that it was the will of the Force itself, and not any one person, who created the child. In fact, it seems to be alluded to that the Force did it just as Plagueis and Palpatine achived what they believe was one of their first victories over the Jedi, tipping the balance of the Force to the Dark Side and obscuring the Jedi’s ability to see the future – as a kind of counter-balance to that event. I just think it shouldn’t have been made so obvious to Palpatine that that is what had happened – that question should have been one of the many reasons why he would ultimately choose to pursue Anakin as his apprentice.

I also question where the idea ever came about that Plagueis was supposed to be Palpatine’s Master came from (the way he speaks about it to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, it sounded more like an “old tale of the Sith” to me), but I’m sure that isn’t James Luceno’s fault, he’s just running with something that was already established elsewhere. But I don’t mean to harp only on the things I didn’t like as much about the book, the truth is I couldn’t put it down at times. You just get the sense through the whole thing that secrets you’ve been waiting for are going to be revealed, driving you to read that next page. I loved all the links to The Clone Wars, and the clarity it helped provide behind the creation of the Clone army and the connections between all the players.

I don’t think anyone but James Luceno could have written this book, anyone else would have made a complete mess out of it. The fact that it is such a gripping novel, that it stays together so well even as it tries to make sense of so many different plots, is entirely to his credit. Just as I felt after reading his books Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord, Luceno is at his best when writing in the prequel era of Star Wars, filling in these gaps and telling stories featuring these characters – I didn’t really care for much of anything I’d read in this era prior to his work, and I can only hope that he’ll get the chance to tell another story set during this time as well. But Darth Plagueis could also be seen as his Star Wars magnum opus, and it’s not a bad way to finish up should this be his last work in that Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Free Reading-- "The Heretic" by Joseph Nassise

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

This weekend Amazon is running a Friday-the-13th special on "The Heretic" by Joseph Nassise and you can download a copy for free on Friday and Saturday.

At the end of the First Crusade, the church created a monastic military order known as the Knights Templar. Now, rising up from the ashes of history, they are the Vatican's last defense in the war between good and evil...

AN ANCIENT ARMY REBORN
Cade Williams is no ordinary man. His ability to cross over to the other side makes him uniquely qualified to command the Church's special operations division. As a modern-day Knight, Cade can use the curse that has scarred his soul as a weapon against the forces of darkness. But a new kind of unholy war is brewing -- and soon Cade may be the last man standing...between the living and the dead.

AN ANCIENT MYSTERY RESURRECTED
The desecration of Templar cemeteries has sparked a full-scale investigation. Cade and his team suspect that a cabal of necromancers is behind it all. Their purpose: to claim the legendary powers of a lost holy relic for their own ungodly campaign. For Cade, there's only one way to stop them -- by tracking the dead himself...crossing the most sacred of battle lines...and facing his own terrifying demons.

Follow this link to download your copy on your laptop or Kindle device-- the Kindle app for the iPad and iPhone works really well too.

Fabulous (and Funny) Comparisons to Male/Female Book Covers

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:16:00 +0000

Jim Hines did a fantastic post in which he attempted to pose in the same fashion as the women on genre book covers do-- with some pretty awesome results.

Here's a sample.

To see the rest of this post go HERE.

But what really elevates the awesomeness of this is Genrereview's own take on the same thing-- only she adds some male poses to the mix.

Here's a sample.

To see more go HERE.

Not only are the poses funny, but they really illustrate the weirdness with which women are depicted on the covers of popular fiction.

Enjoy!

Love/Hate Relationships and Why I Can't Quit YA Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:12:00 +0000

I had a boyfriend, when I was in my early 20's, who drove me crazy. He was one of those guys who
swept me off my feet with declarations of undying love and extravagant gestures who became indifferent once he had my undivided attention. When I would express my frustration by breaking up he would suddenly become my dream guy all over again-- and the roller-coaster would continue.

Reading YA fiction reminds a lot of that relationship.

I'm not altogether sure why I am so attracted to YA fiction. As a *cough* older woman my tastes should have evolved by now. But when I see a shiny new book with an attractive cover (and YA has some fabulous covers) I turn into a schoolgirl all over again. I tell myself that this time will be different-- and yet I am most often disappointed.

Like the girl who bounced back to an old boyfriend too many times, I am forever on the rebound with YA fiction and I have come to a conclusion: it's all my fault.

Here's the thing: YA fiction is what it is. It should not change to please me-- who am I but one reader among millions? And when YA is good, or my definition of good, it's fantastic. Two of my favorite books from last year fell under the YA category.

Whether I'm in an unhealthy relationship, literary or otherwise, I often step away and try to gain perspective-- but inevitably return because I only remember the good times. If there's anything YA fiction does well is to appeal to the emotional triggers that allow us to abandon our logical side. The ups and downs don't seem that bad in the beginning-- we must suffer for love, right? And I do have the capacity to learn. I know to avoid books that including phrases like "the new boy she is crushing on" in the description-- I'm not that blind to my own preferences.

Sometimes I feel as if I am still caught between a literary childhood and adulthood. I'm not shy about trying to read adult fiction-- I don't blush when I read a sex scene; but I'm not terribly impressed by them either. (Read this article for some examples of just how bad fictional sex can be.) Most of the time I feel like the sex and violence are thrown in for effect and have little to do with moving the story-- and then I wistfully look back to YA fiction to satisfy my craving for a fantasy that doesn't try so hard to prove it's grown up; only to be let down by stories that don't appeal to my adult need for logic and consistency.

I can't seem to rationalize my dysfunctional relationship with paranormal fiction, whether it's the adult or the YA variety, but I can't seem to tear myself away either. Maybe I'm addicted to the chase. And when I do catch my ideal fantasy-- it is heavenly. But there's always the knowledge that my satisfaction is destined to be short term. And then the hunt begins again....

Maybe I'll never get off that darned roller-coaster. Who knows... Maybe I don't want to.

Waiting on Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:59:00 +0000

This is a blog meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming books. This week we're featuring picks chosen by SQT and Jim.

SQT's can't wait to read selection is:

Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell

Publisher: Pyr Books
Date: February 21, 2012
240 pages

Once she had climbed to the ranks of the city’s aristocracy in a rags-to-riches story straight from an ancient fairy tale. Today she is Widdershins, a thief making her way with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god.

Widdershins and Olgun are going to find answers, and justice, for what happened to her—but only if those who almost destroyed her in those years gone by don’t finish the job first.

Two things caught my attention when I first saw this book-- the cover and the publisher. Pyr Books doesn't have a large catalog, but what they do have is awfully good. They have just recently started publishing YA titles and I'm interested to see how they compare to other publishing houses.

Jim's can't wait to read selection is:

The Lost Fleet: Invincible by Jack Campbell
Publisher: ACE
Publication Date: 5/1/2012
Pages: 400

Admiral John “Black Jack” Geary earned his rank after being revived from cryogenic sleep to lead the Alliance to victory against the Syndicate Worlds. But his superiors question his loyalty to the regime. Now in command of the First Fleet, Geary is tasked with exploring the frontier beyond Syndic space, a mission he fears deliberately puts the fleet—andhimself—in harm’s way.

I think my love of this series should be well known by now, since I've reviewed (and raved about) just about the entire series here. Not a single book in this series has been bad, not even disappointing. That's 7 books so far, with Invincible being book 8 (but if you're looking to catch up before the new book arrives, you could start with Dreadnaught - book 7, as it's a nice jumping on point) - and I doubt my feelings will be changing on this series anytime soon.

Saying Goodbye to 2011; and Hello to 2012

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:13:00 +0000

It's that time of year again; when all of us bloggers make our lists and talk about our favorite things from last year and what we're looking forward to in the one ahead of us. This year was unusual for me in that both posts relating to last-year's and this-year's picks were first posted as guest posts on other blogs. But I'm going to re-post my picks here-- to sort of make them "officially" mine.

TOP BOOK PICKS OF 2011

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

With her poetic style Laini Taylor showed that YA fiction doesn't have to be all about angst-ridden teenagers and non-stop sarcasm. This is a beautiful story that alternates between a modern, picturesque Prague and a world of fantastic creatures. I loved this atmospheric fantasy.

Review HERE

Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry

"Dead of Night" isn't Maberry first foray into zombie-themed fiction but this story is less of a thriller than a full-fledged horror story. Maberry doesn't forget the characters and the story is as introspective as it is taut. A very original take on the zombie story that does a credible job of creating a real-world explanation for a usually unbelievable monster.

Review HERE

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Rothfuss brings back his hero Kvothe in another soulful foray into his long and event-filled past. Rothfuss has the unique ability to take his time with a story without making it boring and his prose is beautifully rendered. This isn't a book for the fan of fiction that has the characters rushing around with a lot of pointless action. It's a grown-up fantasy for the reader that knows what it's like to look back on life with both fondness and regret.

Review HERE

Divergent by Veronica Roth

"Divergent" has garnered a lot of comparisons to "The Hunger Games" thanks to its action-packed style. But Roth deserves credit for creating her own brand of dystopian fiction that is perhaps more uncomfortably plausible than "The Hunger Games." Tris, the main character, is just the right kind of blend of stubborn and resilient who never ventures into the cookie-cutter territory of annoyingly precocious like so many YA heroines. I'm eagerly looking forward to the sequel Insurgent , due in May of 2012.

Review HERE

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

I read "Among Thieves" early in 2011 and it still ranks high on my list of this year's favorites. The thief as the main character and sometimes-hero is nothing new, but in Hulick's hands the story is nonetheless fresh with subtle magic and lots of intrigue. It's action packed but never overly busy and I can't wait for the release of the sequel Sworn in Steel, due in June of 2012.

Review HERE

TOP MOVIE PICKS 2011

Unfortunately this is a very incomplete selection. There are several movies like "Hugo" and even "Real Steel" that I would still like to see. But these are the ones that I enjoyed the most (so far) last year.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"

"Captain America: The First Avenger"

"Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol"

2012 looks to be a great year for genre, especially as far as movies are concerned. How can you not be excited when you have a movie schedule that includes both "The Avengers" and "The Dark Night Rises?" Needless to say, this was a fairly easy list to compile. I do have to acknowledge, however, that my book list is incomplete since I really couldn't find any publication lists that go beyond June of this year. So the book list is my "Most Anticipated for the First Six Months of 2012." I look forward to adding to it later...

MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS 2012

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
DAW Hardcover
February 7, 2012
448 pages

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, land of djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, Khalifs and killers, is at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings:

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, "The last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat," just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame's family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter's path.

Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla's young assistant, a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety, is eager to deliver God's justice. But even as Raseed's sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia.

Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near-mythical power of the Lion-Shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man's title. She lives only to avenge her father's death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father's killer. Until she meets Raseed.

The Scar Sergey Dyachenko and Marina Dyachenko
Tor Books
February 28, 2012
336 pages

Reaching far beyond sword and sorcery, The Scar is a story of two people torn by disaster, their descent into despair, and their reemergence through love and courage. Sergey and Marina Dyachenko mix dramatic scenes with romance, action and wit, in a style both direct and lyrical. Written with a sure artistic hand, The Scar is the story of a man driven by his own feverish demons to find redemption and the woman who just might save him.

Egert is a brash, confident member of the elite guards and an egotistical philanderer. But after he kills an innocent student in a duel, a mysterious man known as “The Wanderer” challenges Egert and slashes his face with his sword, leaving Egert with a scar that comes to symbolize his cowardice. Unable to end his suffering by his own hand, Egert embarks on an odyssey to undo the curse and the horrible damage he has caused, which can only be repaired by a painful journey down a long and harrowing path.

Doubletake: A Cal Leandros Novel by Rob Thurman
March 6, 2012
Roc
352 pages

Half-human/half-monster Cal Leandros knows that family is a pain. But now that pain belongs to his half-brother, Niko. Niko’s shady father is in town, and he needs a big favor. Even worse is the reunion being held by the devious Puck race — including the Leandros’ friend, Robin — featuring a lottery that no Puck wants to win.

As Cal tries to keep both Niko and Robin from paying the ultimate price for their kin, a horrific reminder from Cal’s own past arrives to remind him that blood is thicker than water — and that’s why it’s so much more fun to spill.

Sworn in Steel: A Tale of the Kin by Douglas Hulick
Roc, April 3, 2012
432 pages

Second book in an action-packed edgy fantasy series about thieves.

It's been three months since Drothe killed a legend, burned down a portion of the imperial capital, and found himself unexpectedly elevated into the ranks of the criminal elite. Now, as the newest Gray Prince in the underworld, he's learning just how good he used to have it.

With barely the beginnings of an organization to his name, Drothe is already being called out by other Gray Princes. And to make matters worse, when one up and dies on him, all signs point to Drothe as being the hand behind the knife. As members of the Kin begin choosing sides - mostly against him - for what looks to be another impending war in the streets, Drothe is approached by a man. A man who not only has the solution to Drothe's most pressing problem, but also an offer that's hard for the new Prince to refuse: an offer of redemption. The only problem is, the offer isn't for him.

Now Drothe finds himself on the way to the Despotate of Djan, the empire's long-standing enemy, with an offer to make and a price on his head. And the grains of sand in the hour glass are running out fast.

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig
Publisher: Angry Robot
Date: April 24, 2012
320 pages

Miriam Black knows when you will die.

Still in her early twenties, she's foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name.

Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. But Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim. No matter what she does she can't save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she'll have to try.

The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Date: 4/24/2012
Pages: 324

A bishop is dead. As Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson picks through the rubble of the tiny church, he discovers that it was deliberately bombed. That it’s a terrorist act is soon beyond doubt. It’s been a long time since anyone saw anything like this. Terrorism is history. At first, suspicion falls on atheists more militant than the secular authorities. But when the target list expands to include the godless, it becomes evident that something very old has risen from the ashes. Old and very, very dangerous. . .

Tricked by Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Random House
Date: April 24, 2012
384 pages

Druid Atticus O’Sullivan hasn’t stayed alive for more than two millennia without a fair bit of Celtic cunning. So when vengeful thunder gods come Norse by Southwest looking for payback, Atticus, with a little help from the Navajo trickster god Coyote, lets them think that they’ve chopped up his body in the Arizona desert.

But the mischievous Coyote is not above a little sleight of paw, and Atticus soon finds that he’s been duped into battling bloodthirsty desert shapeshifters called skinwalkers. Just when the Druid thinks he’s got a handle on all the duplicity, betrayal comes from an unlikely source. If Atticus survives this time, he vows he won’t be fooled again. Famous last words.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Katherine Tegan Books
May 1, 2012
496 pages

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Pages: 576

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIES 2012

John Carter

The Hunger Games

The Avengers

Snow White and the Huntsman

The Dark Knight Rises

Brave

Prometheus

2012 looks like it is going to be a great year for us geeks! What are you looking forward to?

Guest Blogging...

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:56:00 +0000

I'm over at Geek Banter today with my "Most Anticipated" list of 2012. Stop by and say hi!

Series Commentary: Power Rangers Zeo and Turbo

noreply@blogger.com (The Man in Black) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was unquestionably one of the highest points of the series. Eventually, though, Saban tired of shooting new footage, and Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers could only exist for so long. This brings us to Power Rangers: Zeo. Where did the series go after the Power Rangers stopped being Mighty when they Morphed?

Power Rangers: Zeo was a great premise, a fact you can see some evidence for in the show. The Zeo crystal is said to get stronger as time goes on, and to be such a source of power that its acquisition was the first goal of Season 3′s temporary villain, Master Vile. Naturally, this should make for extremely powerful rangers, and this shows with an entire team of Rangers carrying swords- usually the Red Ranger’s weapon- in addition to their other weapons and Zeo crystal-charged special attacks.

The downsides to this season started when Ohranger, the original source material, had to be rewritten for sociopolitical reasons that kept it from being as dark as the series would indicate. For whatever reason, the Sentai footage from Ohranger just seems that much worse than anything from Zyuranger, Dairanger or Kakuranger (the three series used to form the backbone of Mighty Morphin). The “noble” Bulk and Skull revert to their bumbling phase, and we see a lot more of Rocky, who became even less of an interesting character when he stopped being a Red Ranger and just became a pointless character. Justin was a better Blue Ranger than him, and Justin’s primary purpose was to be an annoying kid that viewers could associate better with.

On top of this, we get Rito and Goldar, and Sprocket. Just too much comic relief for my taste. Maybe it was great for kids, but I just wasn’t a huge fan.

Still, beside these downsides, Zeo wasn’t terrible. I can’t really give it any compliments I didn’t give Mighty Morphin, but other than the image quality, it continues the trends set by the ending of Mighty Morphin, some of which I liked, some I didn’t. Billy remained in this season, although not as a Ranger, and of course the Gold Ranger saga was as epic as that of the Green Ranger during its run.

And then we shifted into Turbo.

I hate to be cliché. I really do. I’m not a fan of bandwagons. For this reason, it breaks my heart to talk about Turbo. Jason David Frank made a decision at the beginning of the series to leave, which causes the first third of the season to show the same footage of him driving a race car over and over as he does things like miss his friends’ graduation to practice racing. Unmorphed fights are less and less compelling without Tommy, and many of them center around Justin, which is just ridiculous. The villains are terrible and exist for comic relief, and I’m going to quote a Youtube comment I made around the midpoint of the series to show just how little Mighty Morphin fans have to look forward to in Turbo:

Jason, the original Red Ranger, gone at the end of Zeo. Zach and Trini, the original Black and Yellow Rangers, gone during the second season of Mighty Morphin.
Kimberly, the original Pink Ranger, gone during the third season of Mighty Morphin.
Tommy, originally the Green Ranger and the team leader ever since, effectively gone at the beginning of Turbo and completely gone a third of the way through.
Zordon, the original mentor and creator of the team, gone at the beginning of Turbo.
Ernie, the owner of the Youth Center and a major character from Episode 1, gone after a cameo in the Turbo movie.
Bulk and Skull, turned into chimps (the episode after I made this remark, they were turned back into bumblers).
Aisha, the second and second most interesting Yellow Ranger, gone at the end of Mighty Morphin.
Adam, a fan favorite, gone a third of the way into Turbo.
Rocky, the second Blue Ranger, gone during the Turbo movie.

You see where I’m getting with this? The utter lack of a badass sixth ranger- two part-time sixth rangers share that role, to varying degrees of success.

The plots got so ridiculous and the characters had such little connection in Turbo that the series felt the need to leave the planet Earth for Power Rangers: In Space. For once, such drastic action was demanded and justified.

Until next time, with Power Rangers: In Space!

Bill Silvia is a regular contributor at Fantasy & SciFi Lovin' News & Reviews. You can find more of his content at http://www.MiBreviews.com

Jim's best of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:33:00 +0000

I'm a bit of a list guy - I like making end of year lists of the best (and sometimes worst) of "things" - books, movies, etc. I've made it a habit of doing this for years at various other websites, but this year I thought I'd share it here. SQT already did her top 5 books of 2011 at The Happy Booker in case you want to check that out. Normally, I'd do a top 10 - but my reading (of books at least) was sorely lacking in 2011, and a top 10 would be half the books I read during the year - so I went with a top 5 instead for all categories.

Books:

1. Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller - I was highly anticipating this release and it didn't dissappoint. This is a completely approachable Star Wars novel for any reader, requiring absolutely no knowledge beyond a love of the films. The female Jedi lead character is alone well behind enemy lines, dealing with Sith overlords with a wide range of complexity and very distinct personalities. Click on the title for my full review.

2. Star Wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn - yeah, it's going to be a lot of Star Wars books, but to be fair this is the best Timothy Zahn Star Wars books in years. This is a tightly woven story, told almost like a spy novel set in the Star Wars universe and again completely approachable for any fan.

3. The Lost Fleet: Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell - I'm not sure if I should be more surprised that this series continues to be an amazing read even 7 books in, but it is and it garners the next spot on my list. This is a new jumping on point for the series, so anyone looking to give it a try need not go back and read the prior books (until you realize how great Dreadnaught is and then decide to start from the beginning).

4. The Rift Walker by Clay & Susan Griffith - this is the second book in this steampunk Vampire series, an excellent follow-up to last year's The Greyfriar (which was one of my top books in 2010). A kind of anti-Twilight with a no-nonsense female protagonist and an all-out open war between a humanity that's been pushed to the brink of extinction by the Vampire hoardes.

5. Star Wars: Ascension by Christie Golden - this is the 8th book in the Fate of the Jedi series - a series that really requires readers to have kept up with a number of prior series in order to enjoy it (New Jedi Order, Dark Nest, and Legacy of the Force to name a few). That said, if you're a long-time fan this is the penultimate novel in the series, with huge plot twists and big action squences, this book really delivered and got me excited for the finale coming out this year.

Audiobooks:

1. Thorn and Talon by Dan Abnett - I get to listen to a lot of these Black Library audiodramas, and while there have been a few duds this year, the vast majority were great - starting with this one featuring Eisenhorn and Ravenor - two of the most popular characters in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

2. The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley - a fantastic cast propel this into the realm of listening to a radio show of old. This has great production values which might not mean anything if the story backing up wasn't also excellent.

3. Garro: Legion of One by James Swallow - a quasi-sequel to a prior audio book, it also stands alone nicely and features the usual fantastic audio work I come to expect from these WH40K entries. Warriors who no longer have legions of their own find themselves working together against an undead army bent on their destruction.

4. 007: Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver - I'm a long-time Bond fan, though I've found the books outside of Ian Fleming's originals to be somewhat lacking. That all ended with Deaver's entry though - this felt like a real James Bond book, with all the right touches to make this fan happy. Though only performed by one reader, since he is an actor I never felt like I was only listening to one person as he performed the various roles.

5. Red & Black by James Swallow - a different sort of WH40K audiobook - not as action-packed as these things normally get, it also features warrior women as the main protagonists. It winds up feeling very different from most other entries in this series, which is half the reason I liked it so much.

Graphic Novels:

1. Starborn - this was a new series launched by Stan Lee (of Marvel fame) and Boom! Studios, taking what I thought was a pretty unique idea of a writer who discovers the science fiction stories he's been writing are all actually true - and that the aliens have come to Earth to kill him. I can't wait to continue with this series in 2012.

2. Avengers Prime - what happens when you mix one of my favorite brands in Marvel with one of my favorite artists (Alan Davis)? Why you get my second favorite comic of the year! This is mostly a Thor geared story (which works out well for anyone who enjoyed that movie), but also highlights Iron Man and Captain America as well. It's a good story featuring some different locales from the "nine realms" and despite fitting in current Marvel continuity nicely, it's also very new reader friendly (as you'll find most things in this whole list are).

3. Superman: Earth One - a surprising science-fiction take on Clark's origin, this is very new reader friendly, but more than that, it may actually be one of the best versions available.

4. Knight Errant: Aflame - the comic book prequel to the novel above, it's not necessary in order to enjoy the novel, but it's a great story and the best Star Wars comic I read all year.

5. Avengers vol 1 - I almost put Secret Avengers vol 1 in this slot, but despite an artist I'm not that fond of (John Romita Jr) I found this Bendis' written story of the remorming of the Avengers after Siege and almost immediately winding up in the future to face down one of their long time foes to be the more compelling story with an epic scope. I think if Secret Avengers had maintained a more cosmic/scifi vibe past it's first volume, I might have gone that way instead. Both worthwhile reads.

"Touch of Power" by Maria V. Snyder-- Fun but Simplistic

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Avry of Kazan has lived the last three years in hiding thanks to the belief that healers like herself are responsible for the plague that has ravaged the Fifteen Kingdoms. With her healing talent comes a compulsion to heal the sick and Avry has barely been able to stay ahead of those who would collect the bounty for her capture as she fights an irresistible urge to heal sick children wherever she goes.

But Avry faces an unexpected fate when she is kidnapped so she can heal a plague stricken prince-- one that Avry fears will destroy the fragile peace that currently exists within the Kingdoms.

Avry soon finds she is trapped between two unattractive options. She can either agree to heal the prince, and die in the effort, or she can try to stay ahead of the band of mercenaries that are now on her trail. Avry's choice becomes increasingly complicated as she learns more about the political machinations that led to her capture and her feelings grow for the leader of the group of men who hold her captive.

Touch of Power is an exceptionally readable book. It zips along at a brisk pace with a good mix of adventure and inventiveness to keep it interesting. But I have to admit to being a little disappointed overall. I haven't read a book by Snyder in awhile, the last being "Poison Study," but I remember enjoying the story and thinking it had a well developed mythology. And in some respects "Touch of Power" has some of the same elements but only in a sketchy fashion.

Avry is the only character that is given any kind of a substantial history-- even her love interest is more of a set of characteristics than a well developed person with a fully realized history. Mostly the characters are presented in quips of dialog that make them likable but rarely elevates them beyond the roles they are meant to fulfill. Avry comes to love and respect her companions and there are plenty of sweet moments along the way, but I never felt a real personality was assigned to more than one or two characters.

But the most curious thing to me was the lack of detail to the world presented in "Touch of Power." Much of the story takes place in the forest but the sense of atmosphere that seems inherent to the setting is lacking. The descriptions consist of little more than the occasional pile of leaves or rocks. As the book progressed I found myself paying attention to how much detail was present and realized that I couldn't visualize the setting. On the whole I felt like there was a pervasive feeling of superficiality to the book that kept me from really connecting to the story.

Yet.. For all my critiques "Touch of Power" is a very entertaining book. It's clear that Snyder's strength lies in her ability to hit the right emotional chords to move the story. There's conflict-- but not in excruciating abundance-- and the resolutions follow a satisfying, if predictable, path. There are some bits of mystery and a nice dose of magic that give it a sense of originality. I feel like it's structured to appeal to female readers who can tap into the emotional content while leaving out the logic and detail that would draw in a wider audience-- which left me with a sense of enjoyment, but not fulfillment.

3 out of 5 stars.

Waiting on Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Haley) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:59:00 +0000

This is a blog meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine to spotlight upcoming books. This week we're featuring picks chosen by SQT and Jim.

Jim's can't wait to read selection is:

The Taken by Vicki Pettersson
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: 6/12/2012
Pages: 400

He’s a fallen angel. She’s a rockabilly reporter. Together they must solve a deadly string of murders plaguing the mortal and the immortal worlds. Griffin Shaw used to be a PI, but that was over fifty years ago when gumshoes hoofed the streets . . . and he was still alive. Now he’s a Centurion, an angel who assists other murdered souls through their journey to the afterlife. But while Shaw might be an angel … he’s no saint. Haunted by the mysterious events surrounding his own death, he seizes a chance to wreak some vengeance when he witnesses a deadly attack on journalist Katherine “Kit” Craig. Joining forces, the unlikely avengers take to the streets, hunting a killer whose trail of bodies stretches across Las Vegas and into an immortal netherworld. It is a dangerous trek that lead them into the darkest corners of Sin City and into the heart of an evil conspiracy extending beyond the lights of the Strip that could destory them both. But destruction isn’t the only threat Griffin faces. The closer he gets to Kit, the more he finds himself bewitched by her mortal charms. Can he resist falling under her spell? And does he want to?

I'm not normally much of an Urban Fantasy reader, but I did read two entries in Vicki Pettersson's Signs of the Zodiac series, which I enjoyed. This combination of old school detective novel with angels has me intrigued.

SQT's can't wait to read selection is:

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Pages: 576

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

I adored "Fire" (though I still have to read "Graceling") and was really taken with the world Cashore created with this series. I look at "Bitterblue" as a great opportunity to read "Graceling" in anticipation of the next installment!

2012 Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (SQT) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:47:00 +0000

I've was never a big believer in New Year's resolutions until about two years ago. Unhappy with my weight after two kids I finally resolved to do something about it and over the course of a year and a half I lost 50 lbs. I don't mention that fact for bragging rights (though I am modestly proud of myself) I mention it because it taught me that sometimes the beginning of a new year is a great time for reflection. It might sound trite because the improvements we strive to make at the start of the year are things we should address all year long. But there are few landmarks that are as effective as the start of a new year and, like two years ago, I have reflected on a few things that I'd like to improve in the coming year.

Spend More Time Writing While Wasting Less Time on the Internet-- I don't know about you, but I have serious Internet ADD. I log onto the net with the best intentions of sitting down and writing a blog post and end up web-surfing for waaay too long (I'm embarrassed to talk numbers) while still not accomplishing my goal. The inevitable outcome of this is that my productivity has declined in virtually every area of my life-- just ask my laundry pile. The real silliness here is that I will bounce back-and-forth between the same few sites to see if anything new and interesting has popped up and usually end up staring at the same page over and over. To accomplish this I am effective immediately instituting time limits on how long I can stay on the net.
Write More Fiction-- I'm horrible about getting in ruts. A few years ago I wrote several short stories and liked the sense of accomplishment that came with that. But I got lazy over time (that *&^%$ Internet ADD again) and pushed the story writing off to the side. To accomplish this I am going to schedule a solid time every day that will be set aside only for this.
To Be a More Well Rounded Reader--This year has been the year of the book club and it has been a good thing for me. I am not one to broaden my horizons if I can help it and having a group of women insist that I read books I'm positive I'll hate has been surprisingly enriching. It turns out that I have my own brand of literary-snobbery that causes me to dismiss anything I'm not interested in as an Oprah book and it has made me overlook some extraordinarily good books. I will admit that I have read a few stinkers this year too, but that would have happened even if I had stuck to my own genre. To accomplish this I am going to pick authors within my own comfort zone (generally scifi or fantasy) but choose titles that I have previously chosen not to read because I didn't believe they were to my taste.
Be More Organized--This is probably going to be the most difficult for me to accomplish. I am not a naturally organized person. I rarely plan my blog posts in advance and usually end up staying up far too late to finish my reviews (it's 12:33 am right now). I used to have an incredible memory, but age and children have robbed me of the few bits of self-monitoring that I was once capable of. To accomplish this I am going to learn to embrace lists-- I've already started writing down ideas for blog posts and it has already come in handy.

So that's my list. I'm stopping at four resolutions because I think it's a doable number and just those few things could make a huge difference in providing some structure to my occasionally chaotic life. What did you resolve to do this year?