The Spindle's End

Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

2012-02-03T16:56:00.001-05:00

Heartless is the fourth and penultimate book in Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series. The final volume, Timeless, is due out in March of 2012. I've reviewed the first two volumes, Soulless and Changeless both here and at The Ranting Dragon, and Blameless is also up at The Ranting Dragon. You can now, at long last, read my review of Heartless as well.

Review: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Claire

2012-02-01T14:07:00.000-05:00

I'm starting February off not only with unseasonably beautiful weather, but another book review. The Clockwork Prince is the second installment in the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Claire. You can read more about it at the Ranting Dragon.

Cover Artist Feature #4: Scott Fisher

2012-01-31T08:37:00.000-05:00

Scott Fisher has been a professional artist for about twenty years, working on both children's book covers and illustrations as well as adult and young adult covers. He's also done some work for games like Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. His client list is impressive, and so are his colorful covers. I love his eye catching, unique styles. I also love the fact that he doesn't have just one specific recognizable style, like several other artists. While all of the covers below have similarities, they don't all scream their artists identity. There's subtle style variations between his covers which I appreciate. You can see more of his work on his website.

Review: Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

2012-01-30T15:57:00.001-05:00

Our fearless leader at the Ranting Dragon finally got his internet back, so I've got another review up for the reading. Take a look at Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan.

Cover Artist Feature #3: Michael Whelan

2012-01-23T12:43:00.001-05:00

If you read any speculative fiction at all, chances are you've read a book with a cover by Michael Whelan. He's been at it for over thirty years at this point, and his author list reads like a who's who of science fiction and fantasy, including the original covers for Anne McCaffrey's Pern Chronicles. He's won every major award for artists in his field that I've ever heard of, including this past year's Chesley Award from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA) for his cover of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, fifteen Hugos, and three World Fantasy Awards. And the list goes on from there. There literally may not be a more influential artist in his field...living or dead. Check out his website, and/or his art books and galleries for some more incredible eye candy.

Review: Snow in Summer

2012-01-17T19:15:00.000-05:00

New review! Check out Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen, over at The Ranting Dragon. I've had a fondness for Yolen's work since I was a tiny child reading Owl Moon, and I must not be alone because Yolen has published over 300 hundred books for children, young adults, and adults. And they're all good! Really, I'm in awe. You can also check out my review of Yolen's Except the Queen, written with Midori Snyder here.

Cover Artist Feature #2: Jody Lee

2012-01-16T19:49:00.000-05:00

If you're a big DAW fan, as I am, you'll certainly recognize Jody Lee's work. She primarily does covers for DAW's epic fantasy, and they are strikingly original. Perhaps more than any other artist doing SFF cover work, I can recognize her work from a mile away. She's been doing covers for nearly thirty years now, and is still working in acrylics and oils on canvas and/or illustration board. Lee hasn't done a lot of covers lately, but I'm sure you'll recognize some of the following.

You can see more of Lee's beautiful artwork here.

Young Adult SFF: Rant #1

2012-01-10T21:52:00.000-05:00

Over the next however long, I'm going to be posting some observations I've made about the current state of SFF young adult literature. A few months ago, I joined The Ranting Dragon as a reviewer, and asked why there weren't a lot of YA reviews on the site, since they were popping up in the monthly Anticipation lists. The answer was simply that while many of the staff agreed that the YA end of things were important, no one was taking the time to read any of it. Well, I thought that was a shame, and with one thing and another, I stepped up to the plate. It helps that I work at a library, and so can borrow these books without the need to buy a book I'm only likely to read once.

I first started reading YA literature back in the mid-1990s. Ancient history as far as the genre goes, I know. The very idea that teenagers a) read books voluntarily and b) aren't likely to read children's books anymore was a new one. I'm not sure why that was new, but it was. While books had been published for this age group for some time, it had just become something that got shelved on its own in libraries and book stores. These sections were small, and filled with a lot of Cynthia Voight, Caroline B. Cooney, and Lurlene McDaniel. Not that there is or was anything wrong with these authors, but there was a general lack of SFF. About the only authors who were consistently publishing SFF for young adults were Tamora Pierce, Tanith Lee and Patricia C. Wrede. I devoured everything I could get my hands on, and then ran out by the time I got to high school. And so I moved on to the adult SFF section, and made only occasional return trips to the YA section.

And then, in 1999, Harry Potter happened. Just after the fifth HP book released, Eragon was re-published by a major house. YA SF has never been the same, and not just in terms of page length. Were I making the journey from Children's to YA literature now, I would never run out of SFF to read. My journey from YA to Adult would not have been so soon, and would not have been made because of lack of age appropriate reading material. (Let's face it, reading Bradley's Mists of Avalon when you turn 14 will warp you a bit.)

Sadly, I think it would have been made out of boredom. Don't get me wrong, there are a number of wonderful YA authors out there (some of whom I've never stopped reading since my own teenage years). There's also a lot of trash mixed in. While I don't expect to like every book that's published, or even every book I pick up, I am depressed at the sheer amount of boilerplate going around.

Let's pick an easy place to start: Twilight. I know, I've made some of you shudder in fear, and others are about to tear my head off. In my opinion, Stephanie Meyer did one thing right with that series, and that was know her audience and know what literary devices, tropes, and archetypes work for that audience. People tend to forget that vampires had been a big deal long before Twilight. There was Buffy and Angel on the WB (which later became the CW), Anita Blake had been flirting with Jean Claude since 1993, and Sookie Stackhouse fell for Bill Compton in 2001. Major films include the Blade and Underworld series. I could go on. Meyer didn't invent the sexy vampire love interest, she just got rid of the majority of their ick factor and made them even prettier. Teenagers are filled with hormones and just discovering love and lust, so writing a romance ups your marketability factor. There's a long long standing trope of the good girl who falls for the bad boy, and bad boy makes good. Everyone loves the rebel. So when I read Twilight, I wasn't surprised that it was so popular, I was just utterly shocked and insulted at the incredible number of grammatical mistakes (really, who was so supposed to copy edit that book? 'Cause they didn't). In the further series, there is again a long-standing trope of having the female protagonist choose between two possible lovers. It's everywhere in Regency and Victorian era literature, and now it's everywhere in modern YA literature (don't worry, I have a whole post for that particular rant).

What I can't get over is how many read-a-likes have been published since Twilight. Yes, you have a working model, but eventually you have to face the fact that you can't have twenty people all write the same book and have any one of them do especially well. You can only read the same book so many times, just as you can only eat the same meal so many times before you have to have something, anything else. Love story between girl and super-boy, with a few male distractions thrown in for her (but not him! although that would be interesting), is not so complicated or fascinating or important that it needs to be inundating teen girls' literature. Over and over and over again, I'm seeing references to companies like Alloy Entertainment, which package books. As in, someone comes up with a concept they think will sell, they hire a writer to do it, and sell the result (sometimes before it is finished) to a publisher. They then can also sell the film rights to the work. Alloy's credits include Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This is fundamentally different in many ways from a writer coming up with an idea, working out the kinks, and then selling it. For one, they get paid more if they do finally publish the traditional way, but it also starts out as something they love. A book-packager is also not as likely to do something completely new, they want to do the same thing but just a little different. Because if it sold well once, they bet they can get it to sell well again.

Now, I'm not advocating a return to only 'literature worth reading.' For one, I'm not entirely sure what that means, other than I am likely to be bored. What major literary critic thinks SFF is worth reading? But I would love to see less pre-packaged fluff, and a return to some creative home-cooked books with some soul to them.

What are your thoughts?

Review: Crescendo

2012-01-06T18:25:00.000-05:00

Another review of mine is up at RD: Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. It's the second volume in Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush series, a Twilight read-a-like. You'll be seeing more YA reviews from me in the near future, as I started in on a whole set of them for RD. It's been an adventure, and over the past two months I've read more YA in such a short span of time than I have in at least ten years. I'll be posting a round-up rant at some point about recent YA SFF literature, once some more of these reviews have been posted.

Review: Blameless

2012-01-05T17:06:00.000-05:00

My review of Gail Carriger's Blameless is now available at the Ranting Dragon. It's the third volume of the Parasol Protectorate. My review of Heartless will be up shortly, which will complete the published volumes in the series until Timeless is released in March.

Cover Artist Feature #1: Chris McGrath

2012-01-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

How many times have you picked up a book because you liked the cover art? Yes, we're told to 'never judge a book by it's cover' and yet we do it all the time, both consciously and subconsciously. Good cover art can make or break a book, and publishers and authors know this. It's a sad thing that so few of us know anything about the artists who package our favorite books so beautifully. So, I'm going to do an ongoing series of cover artists to give them some well deserved recognition. Feel free to contact me with any suggestions!

To start of, I'm going to feature a well known artist: Chris McGrath. Even if you've never heard his name, chances are if you read any SFF, you've seen his work. He started doing professional illustration in 2001, and he is especially known for urban fantasy covers. 2011 was a huge year for McGrath, with covers for Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Rob Thurman, and Kat Richardson, among others.

You can check out more of McGrath's work on his website.

It's that time again

2012-01-01T12:28:00.000-05:00

We're coming up on that fabulous and exciting time of year: awards season. Soon our televisions will be exploding with a host of Hollywood style spectacle showcases punctuated by speeches. In the book world, things are less flashy, but no less all encompassing. I thought I'd take a look at some of the different awards that are specific to SFF, and give you a brief who's who and what's what of the major awards. Who knows? Now you may know what all that stuff on an Author Bio really means! I'm also planning on trying to track these awards all the way through the year, so stay tuned for nomination announcements and the awards themselves. Also realize that book awards take up more of the year than movies or music. While some of these awards are in finale judging as I post this, others have not yet entered voting phases. Therefore, awards in the book world stretch from February through October. I'll be making an attempt to follow the results of the following awards:

Hugo Awards

Presented annually since 1955 by the World Science Fiction Society at each year's World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), the Hugo is one of the most prestigious awards in the SFF genre. The award is named for Hugo Gernsback, who founded America's first science fiction magazine in 1926. Nominations can be made by any member of WorldCon, and are accepted January through March. A shortlist of finalists is posted in April, and voting is open to all members until sometime in July. Awards are announced at a special awards ceremony at the convention. This year, WorldCon is at Chicon in Chicago, Ill. during the first weekend in September. Awards include Best Novel, Novella, Short Story, and many more.
James Tiptree Jr. Award

Awarded annually at WisCon in May for the previous year, this award recognizes SFF works that expand our understanding of gender. Founded in 1991, the award is named for Alice B. Sheldon, who wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr. for many years. The discovery of her real gender prompted a great deal of discussion as to the role of gender in writing. Recommendations to the award council are encouraged from the public through December, with the award, honor, and short lists all being released in May.
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

The Campbell Award honors authors who's debut work in SFF was professionally published in the previous two years (authors are therefore eligible for the award for two years). The award is named for John Campbell, longtime editor of Astounding Science Fiction (now Analog Science Fiction and Fact). While this award follows Hugo nomination and voting procedures and is presented at WorldCon, it is not a Hugo, and has only been around since 1973. Amusingly enough, as well as a niffty plaque, the winner is also presented with a tiara!
Locus Awards

Presented by Locus Magazine, these awards are voted on by the readers of Locus and are presented at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle. A recommended reading list is published in the February issue, with a finalist list of the top five finishers in each category published before the final announcement. This is also an older award, dating the to 1970s, and features several categories.
Nebula Awards

These awards are presented and voted on by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), a professional organization of writers in the SFF genre, and have been given out annually since 1965. Nominations are due by mid February, with finalists selected by a jury. The Nebula's are awarded in May at the Nebula Awards Weekend. Award categories are similar to the Hugo Awards, with the Ray Bradbury award specific to film, and the Andre Norton award specific to young adult.
Philip K. Dick Award

This award is presented by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society in association with the Philip K. Dick Trust with additional sponsorship by the Northwest Science Fiction Society. It rewards innovation in science fiction in the paperback market. Unlike many other awards, this award is strictly for new releases in the United States in paperback form. Works that had previously been released in hardback are ineligible. You may wonder why; Phillip K. Dick's novels were typically published first in paperback format, and only later were released in more expensive versions. Publishers provide copies of eligible books to a panel of judges, with nominees announced in January. The award itself is announced in April at NorwesCon. Like the Nebula, awards are presented for the previous calender year, and has been given since 1983.
Skylark

Also known as the E. E. Smith Memorial Award, the Skylark is given out by the New England Science Fiction Association to a person the NESFA believes has contributed significantly to science fiction, both in their body of work and in their personal qualities. The Skylark is jointly named for E. E. Smith, "the father of space opera", and his Skylark series (first volume is The Skylark of Space, published in 1928). The award is decided by a membership vote, and is awarded at the NESFA's annual convention, Boskone, in February. This is also an old award, having been presented every year (with one exception) since 1966.
World Fantasy Award

Created in 1975 as a counterpart to the Hugo and Nebula, this award is targeted only towards fantasy works, and is given out at the World Fantasy Convention in October. Like WorldCon, the World Fantasy Convention travels around, and will be in Toronto this year. Winners are selected by judges, with some help from con attendees, and features similar categories to its science fiction counterparts. Unlike the Hugo or the Nebula, it always features a Lifetime Achievement award.

Re-organizing

2011-12-29T21:42:00.001-05:00

Updated the sidebars today. Mostly still some old friends, just in a new and potentially more useful format.

Also, my review of The Night Circus put that book in the Top Ten Debuts of 2011 for RD. You can read what I had to say about it, as well as the other nine wonderful debuts here.

Also, the Top Releases of 2011 will be released tomorrow. This is a totally separate list that does not include debuts. So if you're looking for something to read, everything you need is in two tidy lists.

Time for Some Cleanup

2011-12-26T23:08:00.000-05:00

Well, once upon a time I let this blog go. I had originally started it on some advice I'd read on the web from writers and agents that having a blog is a wonderful thing when you start sending out queries. While I was nowhere near that stage yet (and still am a long ways off), I thought gathering an audience would be a good thing to start on. Except that my blog, which was to support the fiction writing, began to take up a large amount of my time for said writing, which was defeating the purpose.

Fast forward a year and a half: I've moved twice, gotten a promotion, and stumbled across a wonderful site called the Ranting Dragon. It's a SFF review site that is submitted to by several people. They were accepting new guest and staff reviewers, and I thought this might be a nice thing. I can write reviews, still have an audience, but not have to keep a schedule, maintain the site, and all while having someone edit my work. I seem to have made the 'mistake' of telling them about my old blog, however, and now my staff bio links back here. So I suppose I should update once in a while, huh?

Don't get me wrong, I am NOT going to be updating regularly. You'll mostly see links to my reviews and articles when they are posted on RD, as well as any rants I feel like sharing. It'll be hit or miss, but I'll try to stay active. I will not be totally reposting the work I've done for RD, only posting links.

Anywho, on to the reviews posted over at the RD to date:

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

These last two are old friends. No one had written any reviews of Gail Carriger, so I rewrote mine to match RD's format. Reviews of Blameless and Heartless are making their way through the publication process.

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Changeless by Gail Carriger

Review: Triumph

2010-07-27T11:44:00.000-04:00

Triumph

by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer

I thought I’d break things up again with a review that’s not science fiction or fantasy. In fact, it’s not even fiction.

Triumph is Carolyn Jessop’s second memoir. The first, NYT Bestseller Escape, chronicled her life as a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, the largest polygamist sect of Mormonism. Jessop was born into the cult as a sixth generation member. She married at 18 a much older man with three other wives, and two more wives soon followed. She had eight children in seventeen years, and then left the cult in the dead of night with all eight children. She is the only woman known to have escaped with all her children, and she is the only one to have won full custody of them after she left. Escape not only chronicles Jessop’s own life, but also examines some of the beliefs and the culture of the FLDS. Upon the publishing of her first memoir, Jessop became one of the media’s go to people when they wanted to learn something about the FLDS. This means that when the state of Texas raided an FLDS ranch near Eldorado on suspicion of child abuse, Jessop was one of the people they called to try and understand what they just walked into.

This is where Triumph picks up: with the raid. The first half of the book chronicles the events that took place, from the phone call to CPS to late 2009. Jessop specifically talks about the challenges Texas faced in putting an additional four hundred children into its foster care system, as well as how the case eventually broke down, but how it has also lead to several criminal cases against several FLDS men. She examines the media circus surrounding the incident with a unique eye: she is someone who is now outside the cult, but who knows all of the major players within the cult. In fact, it is her ex-husband who is running the Yearning for Zion Ranch, and nearly everyone living at the ranch is in some way related to him. Jessop knows how the powerful adults all connect to each other, and shows how the cult used the public’s ignorance of them in their favor.

The second half of the book answers questions Jessop received after the publishing of Escape dealing with how she was able to mentally extract herself from such an abusive situation. Each chapter is a different piece of the puzzle, ranging from random acts of kindness from non-FLDS members to working out at a Curves gym. Most importantly, she presents her information in a way that can be useful to other people living in abusive relationships. Most of her techniques can be applied to other situations, which is important because her situation was truly bizarre.

Jessop ends the book by catching us up on her own life from 2007 to 2009, back tracking a bit to flesh out the information she gave in Escape about her initial problems after she escaped the cult. She talks about taking her ex husband to court for child support, as well as touching base on each of her children and how they are doing six years after leaving the FLDS.

Overall, this is an excellent book. While it is biased, it does provide a look into the FLDS that I was frustrated with not finding while the raid in Texas was playing out in the media. However, if you’re interested in more detailed information about the cult, pick up Escape and start there. The second half of the book dealing with how to pull yourself out of an abusive situation can stand on its own, but as many of the examples come from Jessop’s own life, a full understanding of those examples can be gained by reading Escape as well.

One of my early frustrations in reading Escape was that in 2007 there were very few books on the FLDS cult at that time. The only other one I could find was Lost Boy by Brent Jeffs, whose family was forced out of the cult when he was a teenager. After the raid in Texas and the media attention it generated, more books about the FLDS have been published, and they’ve also gotten a bit more marketing. They include Church of Lies by Flora Jessop, When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back by Stephen Singular, and Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Break Free of Warren Jeffs by Elissa Wall. I do intend to read these in the future. There are also several other books looking at different polygamist groups in the United States other than the FLDS.

Triumph is available in hardback and e-book editions. Escape is available in paberback, audio book, and e-book editions.

Myths about Library Funding and the Capitol Area District Library

2010-07-23T11:27:00.000-04:00

I’m going to ask for a bit of patience here today. When I first started this blog, I had no intention of dealing with the millage the library I work for is trying to renew, for the simple reason that I am extremely biased. However, on Wednesday our local paper ran an editorial in support of the millage. While the editorial itself was in support of the renewing the millage, some of the comments posted online were extremely misinformed, and quite frankly downright rude. In response to this, I’ve decided to post my own little piece of info about the library system in question itself, as well as information about the millage. Again, I am extremly biased. I am also NOT an employee who is high up (I'm actually all the way at the bottom). Some of the information below is observations from my own work experience, as well as taking a look at Board Reports and Budget Reports during my breaks. I will provide links at the end to what information I know is located on the web. Nothing in this blog should be taken to be reflective of anything but my own opinion, and should not be taken to reflect the opinions or political stance of the library itself.

I work for the Capitol Area District Library, which operates in Ingham County, Michigan. We operate all public libraries in the county except for the public library in the city of East Lansing. CADL was formed 12 years ago, as a way to combine all the public libraries under one umbrella, and thus save money in consolidation. All the communities in the county voted on the proposal to do this (and the original CADL millage), and all except East Lansing approved it. You might not understand how it saves money to have one giant library system instead of many smaller ones, but consider this: we all now have one Director. We have one Human Resources, Public Relations, Building Management, Financing, Information Technologies, and Processing departments instead of many. We maintain one singular website, and use one computer program to track our materials. We buy all of our materials together. CADL operates thirteen branches, so imagine duplicating all of those vital services thirteen times.

There have also been other positive aspects of combining. Because CADL is one system, we allow our patrons to check out materials at any of our branches with their library card. They can then return those materials to any other branch free of charge. They can also reserve an item at a branch and have it delivered to another branch, usually within twenty-four hours again, free of charge. This means that even though each library has control over its own collection (what’s ordered, what’s discarded), from our patrons’ point of view, CADL maintains one singular collection that is housed in thirteen locations. So patrons living in Aurelius Township can go to the tiny Aurelius branch library, and still have full access to the downtown Lansing Library without having to drive an hour to get there.

I saw some questions on the editorial about how money was allocated within the system, and how much each community got back of the millage it paid. And the truth is that almost the entire budget is centrally allocated. Employees are hired by and paid by CADL itself. Instead of saying that each branch gets this much money to spend on staffing, CADL takes a look at the size of the collection and the circulation numbers (in short, how much work needs to be done on a weekly basis) and assigns a number of hours to that branch broken down by department. Each branch has a head librarian, other librarians, library assistants, circulation clerks, and pages. Now, a theoretical example of why it’s not a set dollar amount could go something like this: the head librarian in Leslie has been at CADL since it started, and so has received a number of raises. The head librarian at South Lansing has only been at CADL for a few years, and has received only a few raises. Their base pay is the same, because they are doing the same job. But South Lansing is a busier library than Leslie. If CADL allocated staffing by dollar values instead of hours, the head librarian at Leslie at some point would have had to either accept a pay cap, or move to another branch with a bigger budget. This may not seem like a big deal, but CADL tries to maintain ties between the staff and the community they serve. Employees of CADL do not move between branches other than substitute shifts (someone is sick, on vacation, or there is a vacancy that has yet to be filled), or if they are moving up in the system (page to clerk, clerk to library assistant, etc). The building maintenance budget is also central, and doled out as needed. Otherwise, if a branch doesn’t need the money that was earmarked for that purpose, that money has not gone to waste. Conversely, if a library needs more money than was earmarked for it, it doesn’t go wanting. The only part of the budget that I know of that is allocated in dollar amounts per branch is the materials budget. And as I talked about above, materials are shared throughout the system, so librarians are only controlling what is shelved in their library, not what their patrons have access to.

A big point a lot of people are chocking in is even with the cut, the 1.56 mills CADL is asking for will generate $10 million next year. That seems like a lot to a lot of people, and it is. Far and away, the largest part of the budget is staffing. I can say from experience, that CADL employees have made sacrifices in the last few years to keep that cost from rising. We’ve taken less pay raises, and smaller ones. Those with health benefits are paying more of their own costs. Vacation time has been lessened. We’re also hiring fewer people to replace those who have left. We have restructured, moving people sideways within the organization in order to eliminate positions we no longer feel are necessary. But CADL still employs well over a hundred people (I’m not sure on the exact number, but it is large). We have also made significant investments in technology, both in the form of public use computers, wifi in ever branch, and more sophisticated and faster ways to track our materials through the system. Think about it this way: divide 10 by 13. If all those communities paid the same millage, but it was evenly split between them (which it wouldn’t be due to population distribution), each area would receive roughly $769,000 dollars. How far do you think you can stretch that?

Another assumption made by many people on the LSJ editorial comments is that CADL is only really supplying research materials, at which point people should either use the internet (more current) or school/university/college libraries. I think the mistake here is assuming that most of CADL’s circulation is in research materials, or non-fiction materials. It is not. Far and away, our circulation is based in children’s, adult fiction, and audio-visual materials. Most people come into CADL to check out novels/children’s fiction, movies, cds, and audio books. Of course, the next complaint would by why am I paying for other people to read books for entertainment? I think I’ll once again refer you to CADL’s Library Use Value Calculator. It is far and away cheaper to buy collectively than it is to buy everything yourself. If you were really interested in saving money, you’d vote yes on the millage and then use the library and save more money than you would have by voting no and not having a library. I’ll post this link, among others, at the end of this. For instance, my parents check out on average about 5 movies per week. They save roughly $1,000/year by borrowing from the library and not a movie rental store. The average CADL resident pays between $50-$80/year to CADL in the form of the millage.

The next assumption is that not everyone in Ingham County is paying for the library, and likely those saying this are pointing their figures at people like me, who are living in rental housing. But here’s the fact of the matter, I pay money to the agency who owns my apartment complex. They, as property owners, then pay all property taxes (including the millage) on the apartment I live in. They include this cost of doing business in my rent payment. So I do pay this millage, though it’s indirectly. I’ll also point out that the likelihood of my rent going down as a result of the millage failing is low.

I’ll end this by saying a few facts about the millage itself. It is on the August 3 ballot. It calls for a straight renewal of the current millage, and is strictly for operational costs. The operational millage accounts for 90% of our budget. The millage calls for 1.56 mills, which will generate less than when this millage was originally approved in 2006. TIFAs, or Tax Increment Financing Act, will be taken out of the millage, because CADL does not have the ability to opt out of them.

I’ll wrap this up with some links:

Capitol Area District Library

CADL Use Value Calculator

Lansing State Journal Editorial Endorcement of CADL

Ingham County August Ballot The CADL Millage is near the end of the page. This is the official language of the millage to be voted on.

Support CADL The official website of the campaign being run by Libraries Now.

Ballot Language and TIFA Explanation

Review: Chimera

2010-07-20T09:53:00.000-04:00

Chimera

by Rob Thurman

Chimera is Rob Thurman’s latest release. It’s her seventh book, though it was actually written just after her debut novel. It’s so far a stand alone, and does not tie into the alternative universe that hosts the Cal Leandros books or the Trickster books. Like her earlier books, however, it is an urban fantasy.

Chimera features the first person narration of Stefan Korsak, a first generation Russian-American working for the Russian mafia in Miami. Stefan is not terribly interested in the mafia, he’s instead using the money and the connections to look for his younger brother Lukas, who has been missing for ten years. And one of his leads just struck gold. Stefan rushes off to the rescue, only to find that Lukas is terribly changed. He’s been made over into a killer that’s been designed from his DNA on up.

If you’re familiar with Thurman’s work to date, you won’t find many surprises here. Stefan, especially at the beginning of the book, sounds a lot like Cal without the severe self deprecating humor/self-hate. And since Trixa in Trick of Light has the same general flavor, it feels like you already know Stefan when you pick up the book. Which is a shame, because as the book progresses you realize that Stefan is a deeply different character underneath the surface snark. However, Stefan undergoes an incredible amount of character growth during this book, which hasn’t been a feature with the other two characters mentioned above.

Also familiar is the overarching theme of brothers. This book is about the relationship between Stefan and Lukas more than anything else. Forget the great escape and the dash across country to find information and safety; this is all about Stefan and Lukas getting to know each other and coming to trust each other. It’s about these two characters remembering and relearning what it is to be a brother, even what it is to care about another human being.

So those are the strong points of this book: deeply crafted and endearing characters that undergo deftly executed transformations. The weak points: this book starts really slow. The first sixty pages are Stefan setting the stage. Except for a few minor blips of action to establish that yes, he’s in the mafia, nothing happens. Second, a lot of the action in the entire book feels rather superfluous. Yes, these points are important to help the brothers grow together, but there is a feeling of randomness to them rather than the feeling that they are driving towards something. And, as I mentioned earlier, the fact that the main narrative character is so close in style and temperament to Thurman’s other two narrative characters. Part of me really wants her to stretch herself but then, this is the book she wrote while she was shopping Nightlife to publishers.

Chimera is available in paperback and e-book editions. I’d recommend it to fans of Thurman’s earlier work, or fans of the Dresden Files, Ann Aguirre, Carrie Vaughn, Patricia C. Briggs, or urban fantasy buffs in general.

Review: Lightborn

2010-07-13T11:24:00.000-04:00

Lightborn

Book #2 of the Darkborn Trilogy

by Alison Sinclair

Lightborn is the second book in the Darkborn Trilogy by Alison Sinclair. The final volume, Shadowborn, is scheduled to be released in 2011. The first volume is Darkborn, and was recently reviewed by me.

In this installment, Sinclair expands the reader’s view of her unique world by introducing three Lightborn characters (the previous book followed three Darkborn characters. For more information on the world, please see my review of Darkborn). We had already met Floria White Hand briefly in the previous book, and now she becomes a main character. We follow her into the ruling court of the Lightborn, where she introduces us to Fejelis, son and heir to the prince, and the rebellious mage Magister Tammorn. Darkborn Lady Telmaine also returns to keep us abreast of developments on the other side of sunset. The other two main characters from Darkborn, Dr. Balthasar Hearne and Baron Ishmael di Studier do not appear in this book, being offstage preparing for the third book. I’m sure when we see them again, they will be chock full of useful information.

Floria White Hand is a valued and trusted guard and food taster for the Lightborn prince, and when he is assassinated in a bizarre fashion, she becomes a suspect. Being unable to prove her innocence, and having far too many political enemies, she claims asylum from the Darkborn. Before leaving, however, she gives Fejelis the advice of hiring Magister Tammorn to investigate his father’s death because Tammorn is as far removed from mage politics as it is possible to get. Fejelis and Tammorn work on finding out who killed Prince Isidore while keeping Fejelis alive through another round of attempted assassinations.

Meanwhile, Lady Telmaine is in the Darkborn court trying to master her neglected magical skills enough to keep the Archduke and his brother, the spymaster, alive. More assassination attempts here, and yes, all these people trying to kill other people are in fact connected. In any case, things do not go well for Telmaine (this being the second book of three, nothing should go right). However, all the important people survive and get enough clues to move on to the showdown in book three.

If you are still under the misconception that these books are fantasy romances, I shall further disabuse you of the notion here. There is not a single romantic line in this book, unlike the hint of one in the earlier book. Lots of action, lots of politics, lots of intrigue, and of course, lots of fantasy.

My only complaint about this book is that the Lightborn court is really glossed over. We’ve had an entire book to figure out how the Darkborn politics and society work, but the Lightborn do not get equal billing. Part of this is that they are, by force, more familiar to us because they have the same set of senses we do. However, there’s a lot of socio-economical and geo-political stress in this society, and we get barely a taste of it and how it all came to be. The need for space to explain all of the action has taken precedence over world building, and while the book works well, I’d still like some more background.

Lightborn is available in trade paperback, and e-book editions. I would recommend this book to fans of Sharon Shinn, Mercedes Lackey, Gregory Frost, and N. K. Jemisin.

Review: Insatiable

2010-07-08T11:17:00.000-04:00

Insatiable

by Meg Cabot

Insatiable is Meg Cabot’s newest adult book, and marks her entrance into the paranormal romance field. As you might have heard, Cabot is a prolific author who is best known for her young adult Princess Diary Series. Her works for adults are mostly romances.

Now, paranormal romance is a big thing these days. Paranormal romance with vampires is even bigger. And it seems that this subgenre has gotten so big that it’s developed its own tropes. Cabot has taken full advantage of that in Insatiable, which is quite simply a very straight forward example of paranormal vampire romance. However, don’t let that make you think that it’s not worth picking up.

The main character is Meena Harper, a dialogue writer for a daytime soap opera living in Manhattan. She becomes very upset when the network not only passes her over for a promotion, but decides to introduce a vampire story line into the soap to hopefully appeal to a younger and larger audience. Now, Meena has some issues with this because she wanted the promotion and the person who got is an idiot, but also because she really hates vampires, calling them monster misogynists on several occasions. And, as you might know by now, no self respecting heroine in a paranormal romance is just your run-of-the-mill gal. She has to have some special power, and Meena’s is the ability to know how people are most likely going to die. Now, she’s figured out that what she sees does not always come true; if the circumstances around the death change (for example, the doomed person never shows up to the appointed time and place), then the death may not occur. But, no one really listens to the crazy woman who thinks you’re gonna die, so most people end up dying anyway in the foreseen fashion. It also makes it hard to find a steady date when you’re constantly telling them what to do to stay alive. Something about having your blind date tell you that you need to be on Lipitor for your cholesterol just takes away the romance somehow.

Next up, we need our love interest. He needs to be a vampire. Check. He needs to be really pretty. Double check. And since we’re being over the top and this is a romance, he needs to be wealthy and aristocratic and European. Check, check, and check. Of course, he needs a name as well, and that’s Lucien Antonescu. When Meena meets him she, duh, falls head over heels in love with him. It doesn’t hurt that she can’t see how he’s going to die, because he’s already dead. Almost a Sookie Stackhouse moment here. And yes, she does figure out at some point that he’s a vampire, and we therefore move smoothly into the part of the story where our lovers have some relationship issues.

And, paranormal romance grew out of urban fantasy, which centers on mysteries. Here, we have a murder mystery du jour of a series of young women found dead in New York parks, covered in bite marks and missing all their blood. Hmm…Paranormal romance and urban fantasy also love to have a contrasting love interest to tempt the heroine away, and so our (not-so) friendly (not really) neighborhood vampire slayer with lots and lots of issues shows up to catch the killer (who Lucien is also after, dead bodies being bad for business). Alaric Wulf, true to form to his archetype, has a whole bag full of bad boy issues to work through.

Now, at this point all I’ve done is highlight just how archetypal this book is. I don’t think you can get away from it unless you’ve never been exposed to vampire romances before and have somehow been living under a rock where Twilight can’t find you. However, the book redeems itself in a few ways. First, it is self aware of what it is, and the heroine isn’t exactly happy to have found herself in it. Cabot can therefore make a lot of jokes about the vampire phenomenon in pop culture that other authors haven’t been able to, right down to poking fun at her own book within itself. Second, Cabot’s gone back to the old school vampires and gotten rid of the sparkles and the every vampire must be pretty thing. Her vampires are a lot closer to what you see in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, minus a few of the more encumbering traits like having to sleep in coffins. Even though they are based far more firmly in old folktales, they come off as refreshing when set next to the vampires that we find in so many other popular books. Finally, this is just a very well written book. It’s very nicely paced, with engaging, well rounded, and believable characters. A lot of paranormal romances (or romances in general) I’ve read don’t go to the lengths Cabot has to give their main characters depth, and Cabot has even done so with the supporting characters. More importantly, everything is consistent.

In short, you’re not going to pick up Insatiable for its plot. You’re going to pick it up either because you already like Cabot’s work, or because you want something light, fun, and with great characters. Or, perhaps, because you just love paranormal romances in general and this happens to be a very good example of the genre. Insatiable is available in hardcover and e-book editions.

Review: Darkborn

2010-07-06T13:00:00.001-04:00

Darkborn

Book #1 of the Darkborn Trilogy

by Alison Sinclair

Darkborn is the fantasy debut of Alison Sinclair, though she has previously published several science fiction novels. Darkborn is also the first book in a trilogy, the second of which, Lightborn, was recently released and the third of which, Shadowborn, is scheduled to be released in 2011.

Intrinsic to the book is its world building: eight hundred years ago, a particularly strong mage named Imogene and her accomplices cursed all of humanity. Half of them would become the Lightborn, who gained enhanced eyesight, but for whom shadow was lethal. The other half became the Darkborn. They gained the ability to generate sonar (called sonn) along the lines of what bats use, and for whom light is lethal. They are also completely blind, having no further need for their eyes. For the most part, except in the capitol city, the Lightborn and the Darkborn live completely separated, as their living conditions are lethal to each other. In the capitol city, they use many of the same streets and other infrastructure, alternating with sunrise and sunset.

This first book follows three Darkborn characters, Lady Telmaine Stott Hearne, her husband Dr. Balthasar Hearne, and the Baron Ishmael di Studier. When the book opens, Lady Telmaine is at a society function in the country with her family, at which she meets Baron di Studier for the first time. At the behest of one of Telmaine’s cousins, he escorts her and her two daughters back to the city, where they find Dr. Hearne under attack by thugs, who then seize the opportunity to kidnap the elder Hearne girl. It turns out that a few days previous, Balthasar helped a society lady bear illegitimate twins in secret. These twins, however, were obviously strange, and the thugs want the two babies, who have already been sent to fosterage. The rest of the book follows the Hearnes and di Studier as they try and figure out why these babies are important and get the Hearnes’ daughter back.

Darkborn has for some reason has been slipped into the paranormal romance subgenre, which I think is another fine example of marketing gone awry. Telmaine is fiercely attached to her husband, though she and di Studier clearly develop some feelings for each other. There is not, however, any hint of courtship or the idea that Telmaine might either have an affair or outright leave her husband. Instead, this is an action adventure with political intrigue thrown up on a heroic journey frame. Honestly, I like it better for it not being a romance.

Darkborn is well written, and by the end of the first quarter of the book I was fairly comfortable with the idea that all of the characters were blind and were using other senses to interact with each other and their surroundings. It’s very deftly handled, right down to figures of speech: darkborn never say that they ‘see’ anything, because they can’t. They never say ‘I see’ when they mean ‘I understand.’ The culture, and the various levels of society and how they speak and interact are also well developed. I have read other reviews that complained that there could have been more world building and an expansion of the politics involved in the plot. I can agree that there is a lot of room for expansion, as there are times when the plot has more slam/bang action than perhaps was necessary, however I don’t feel that there are any gaping holes that Sinclair forgot to fill. This is a relatively short book, at 352 pages (well, short for a fantasy novel), especially considering how complicated the plot is. So yes, she could have added another 100 pages to flesh things out, but overall those pages weren’t strictly necessary, and would have been detrimental in the subgenre it was marketed for.

Darkborn is available in trade paperback, mass market paperback, and e-book editions. I would recommend this book to fans of Sharon Shinn, Mercedes Lackey, Gregory Frost, and N. K. Jemisin.

Happy Independance Day

2010-07-01T16:18:00.000-04:00

Also known as the Fourth of July in these parts. I'm off preparing for the epicness that is this weekend, and so will leave you with the Muppets. Enjoy yourselves, and try not to let any stray fireworks blow you up.

Libraries of the Twenty-first Century

2010-06-29T10:17:00.001-04:00

There have been a lot of libraries in the news lately. If you haven’t been aware, like all public services, libraries are potentially on the chopping block in communities where tax revenue or even overall population is down, and the government needs to shrink accordingly. Most libraries are facing budget cuts in a time when demand on its resources is high, and many are being closed.

There’s also been a drastic change since the advent of the internet in how a library operates and what services it offered. The last time you walked into a library, did you notice something missing? How about that big case of file drawers, known as the card catalogue and a source of endless frustration? Nearly all libraries have (or are in the process of) changing over to digital databases which can be searched in a number of ways. Throw yourself back to elementary school, and you’re attempting to do a short paper on penguins. So you walk over to the card catalogue, and open up the drawer labeled P, and you hope something with penguins in the title is there. You then check for Antarctica under A. And so on. You then take your meager findings over to the shelf, and examine the books nearby whose titles don’t start with P or A for something useful. Maybe you only find three books, which if you’re in elementary school, are likely plenty for your needs. If you’re a college graduate student however…it’s time to get creative. Under the electronic catalogues, you can search by author, subject, keyword, title, format, and a whole host of other things depending on the creativity of the database designer. You can also search the catalogue from home, or anywhere in the country or even the world. But while these catalogues are infinitely more powerful than their predecessors, they’re also more expensive to create and maintain.

Let’s add in the fact that most public libraries now keep public computers with internet access. As the internet becomes more and more important in our daily lives for everything from gathering information to filling out job applications, the gap between those with internet access and those without will become insurmountable for those on the bottom. Except, of course, for the areas where you can walk into your public library and take care of all your internet needs with tax dollars you’ve already paid. Those dollars, I should add, are likely less than the price of a computer and twelve months of internet. On the flip side, computers and internet access are new costs for libraries to cover. Many also offer free computer classes, ranging from turning on a computer, to advanced word processing, Excel, and Photoshop.

I could go on, but I think you get my point. In closing, I’ll leave you with a few links to explore:

On Monday, Diane Rehm of NPR’s WAMU 88.5 did a show entitled ‘The Changing Role of Libraries.’ It is available to listen to online. Listen here.

The Huffington Post ran an article last week about what a library meant to a town in New Jersey, how they used it, and how they saved it. Read about it here.

And finally, there’s a wonderful advocacy group called Geek the Library. They’ve got a lot of information up about what libraries across the country do, their impact on communities, and how they are funded. Learn more here.

Lind Salad and News

2010-06-24T13:26:00.000-04:00

Charles Stross just turned in his latest project “Rule 34” to his agent. He’s stated that is a near-future science fiction set in a theoretical 2023. Perhaps well see it in about two years. Read more about the book and it's developement here.

Spectra is celebrating its 25^th anniversary by selecting feature books by the year they came out (one for each year). They’re up to 1997, and have thus far featured books by Lynn Flewelling, George R. R. Martin, Isaac Asimov, Robin Hobb, Margret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Arthur C. Clark, Raymond E. Feist, among others. There’s a new post every day, so check back in! See all installments thus far.

Soulless by Gail Carriger is now available in audio format. She is also contracted for books 4 through 6 of the Parasol Protectorate with Orbit. Sample chapter available.

There’s a new Conan movie in the works, and the first still was released on Monday. In the lead role is Jason Momoa, of Stargate: Atlantis not-quite fame. Eye candy this way.

Casting for the HBO version of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is progressing. IMDB puts the first episode airing sometime in 2011. See the full list here.

DucKon

2010-06-22T14:40:00.002-04:00

So, I was out at DucKon this weekend, and thus there is no new review for you this week. I met some lovely people, attended some wonderful panels, and a fantastic writing workshop. I especially enjoyed the panels by Steve Miller, though I was disappointed that his wife Sharon Lee was constantly scheduled opposite him. Jennifer Stevenson offered a “Find Your Voice” workshop for writers that was incredible. If you are a writer and ever get a chance to take this workshop, do so without hesitation.

Other than that, my brain has been whirring away on writerly (rather than readerly) things. This, with the tripling of my musical excursions over these next six weeks, means things will slow down here a bit. My apologies.

Summer Reading Recommendations

2010-06-17T11:20:00.000-04:00

It’s summer, and at the library that means it’s our busiest time of the year between summer reading programs and people checking out things to read/listen to/watch on their vacations. In this spirit, I’ve decided to take a look at some midlist books and recommend them for summer reading, regardless of whether you are going anywhere this summer or not. If you’re confused, a midlist book is one that has not made the New York Times Bestseller list. They don’t receive a lot of publicity, and their authors eek out small livings rather than the mega fortunes of J. K. Rowling and Danielle Steel. I assume you’ve filled your wish list with blockbusters like the new Dresden Files installment by Jim Butcher, and Paolo Baciagalupi’s The Wind Up Girl because everyone’s been talking about them. Well, here’s a list of lesser known books that are just as good to add to your list.

Steampunk has exploded this past year, with the overnight successes of Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate Series and Cherie Priest’s Hugo nominated Boneshaker. However, in keeping with my aim of sticking with midlist books, I’m going to point you in the direction of Dru Pagliasotti’s Clockwork Heart. It’s a steampunk romance set in an original world, and has a bit of fantasy thrown in. Set in the city of Ondinium, flying courier Taya witnesses a suspicious cable car accident during a routine errand. With the help of the Forlore brothers, she sets out to unravel what happens. What made this book stand out for me was interesting characters with complex reasons for their actions, as well as a highly stratified society and the resultant class tension. The Clockwork Heart is available in paperback and e-book.

Misty Massey’s Mad Kestrel is a fun debut for those who enjoy epic fantasy. The main character is Kestrel, a rogue mage working as a privateer. When her captain is arrested for piracy, she takes control of the ship and sails off to rescue him. I’m hoping at some point that she writes a sequel, as there’s a lot of space in this world to work with/in. Mad Kestrel is available in trade and mass market paperbacks.

Paranormal/urban fantasy is huge right now, but a lot of it has been drifting into the realms of romance and outright smut. Granted, many of the leading authors in this genre make a lot of money and sell a lot of books doing that, but in a long running series such things tend to bore me after a while. The reasons why are a blog (or two) in and of themselves, so let’s move on to my recommendation for this subgenre: Rob Thurman’s Trick of Light. Thurman is best known for her (yes, her) original series starring the Leandros brothers. Trick of Light is set in the same alternate universe, where pucks are used car salesmen and valkyries are museum curators, but instead stars Trixia and takes place in Los Vegas, not New York. This is also not the Los Vegas you know from CSI and Ocean’s Eleven. Action takes place off the strip and away from the tourists, which was a twist I enjoyed. Trixia is playing a long game of revenge for her younger brother’s death, and as part of that is searching for the Light of Life to use as a wedge in angelic/demonic information brokering. The plot twists delightfully, because Trixia is never upfront and honest about anything, and keeps you guessing as to what is going on in her head throughout the entire book. Trick of Light is available in paperback and e-book, and its sequel, Grimrose Path will be released September 7.

Jim C. Hines has wonderful series going starring none other than Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty as you’ve never seen them before. He draws on the darker, original stories rather than the Disney version, and sets his tales after the original stories end. He keeps things fairly upbeat and tongue and cheek, however, and has fast paced plots that keep you interested. His princesses are pro-active, and more likely to save the prince from danger than to be saved themselves. The Stepsister Scheme and the Mermaid’s Madness are available in paperback and in e-book, and the third book, Red Hood’s Revenge, will be out on July 6 of this year. If you like Mercedes Lackey’s Five Hundred Kingdoms Series, but maybe don’t really like the romance sub genre, these are a good bet.

Links for 2010-06-12 [del.icio.us]

2010-06-13T00:00:00-07:00

Magical Words Writing Fantasy
Writing tips and publishing advice for aspiring novelists.
Writer Beware Blogs!
Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America with additional support from the Mystery Writers of America, shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. We also provide industry news, advice for writers, and a special focus on the weird and wacky things that happen at the fringes of the publishing world.
odysseyworkshop
Odyssey Workshops Blog
Sturgesia
the blog of writer Matthew Sturges
Rob Thurman Official Website
Fantasy, abandoned by reason, Produces impossible monsters...so do I
Far Side of Lazy
Far Side of Lazy Thurmanuclear Writer, Werewolf Superhero, Mortal Enemy of Man....
The Internet Home of Anton Strout
Fantasy author Anton Strout was born in the Berkshire Hills mere miles from writing heavyweights Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville and currently lives in the haunted corn maze that is New Jersey (where nothing paranormal ever really happens, he assures you).

He is the co-creator of the faux folk musical Sneezin’ Jeff & Blue Raccoon: The Loose Gravel Tour (winner of the Best Storytelling Award at the First Annual New York International Fringe Festival).

In his scant spare time, his is a writer, a sometimes actor, sometimes musician, occasional RPGer, and the worlds most casual and controller smashing video gamer. He currently works in the exciting world of publishing and yes, it is as glamorous as it sounds.
Alison Sinclair
Welcome to the (reloaded) website of Alison Sinclair, author of SF novels Legacies (1995), Blueheart (1996), and Cavalcade (1998), and fantasies Darkborn (2009), Lightborn (forthcoming in 2010) and Shadowborn (forthcoming in 2011). Here you will find information about my novels and other writing, my irregularly-updated blog in its latest incarnation, and my lifestream of tweets, bookmarks, photographs, and what have you.
Official Site of New York Times Bestselling Author Laurell K Hamilton
Welcome to the Official Website of #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Laurell K. Hamilton.
Mercedes Lackey - The Official Website
If you've found this site, you've either made a mistake in looking for a fine German automobile, or your idea of proper transportation is a pure white, blue-eyed horse that talks to you in your head, a shape-changing dragon, a hot racecar employing technology that isn't exactly "off the shelf", or a basket hung between two magnificent gryphons.
Meg Cabot - bestselling author of The Princess Diaries, Airhead ...
Dexter Palmer
DEXTER PALMER lives in Princeton, New Jersey. He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University, where he completed his dissertation on the work of James Joyce, William Gaddis, and Thomas Pynchon (and where he also staged the first academic conference ever held at an Ivy League university on the subject of video games).
Epiphany 2.0 | Author N K Jemisin
N(ora). K. Jemisin is an author of speculative fiction short stories and novels who lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to writing, she is a counseling psychologist (currently specializing in career counseling), a sometime hiker and biker, and a political/feminist/anti-racist blogger.
BlakeCharlton.com - Med Student, Novelist, Essayist
Debut novelist and medical student, Blake Charlton is a new face in both fields working to establish a dual career in fiction and medicine.

Currently, Blake is writing fantasy novels, science fiction short stories, and academic essays on medical education and biomedical ethics.
Welcome To The J.V. Jones Website