Camp Fire Ghouls

*Warning* The author of this post is still coming off a Girl Scout Cookie binge and her brain is clouded with sugar. There will likely be no enlightening, entertaining or otherwise worthwhile material in this post. If you keep reading, you do so at your own risk.

That said, I figured since my last blog was in February, I ought to at least put up something. It's embarrassing. In self-defense, however, I have been extremely busy with working two, three and sometimes four jobs, running back & forth to the doctor's office, and trying to keep my juvenile delinquent out of jail. That's a full-time in itself. Most days, I'm too tired to breathe, much less write.

Anyway, in the interest of at least something book related, I read Karen Miller's EMPRESS last weekend. Jury's still out. The main character was not particularly likable through most of the book--in fact, I even began to despise her--yet I kept reading. I felt the author too often went with the cheap emotional shocks, yet I kept reading. I was annoyed by much of the language, yet I kept reading. Most likely, I will even read the sequels, because I still want to see what happens. How's that for a rousing review? Lol

Apart from the aforementioned drawbacks, I still found the overall story interesting, the pacing on target, and the secondary characters very well drawn.

From the back cover:
"In a family torn apart by poverty and violence, Hekat is no more than an unwanted mouth to feed, worth only a few coins from a passing trader. But Hekat is not born to be a slave. For her, a different path has been chosen. It is a path that will take her from stinking back alleys to the house of her god, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak."

I think I'll try Ms. Miller's MAGE books and see if I like them better. Have any of you read those? I'd be interested in your opinion. Also, your opinion of EMPRESS if you've read that too. Or heck, just make some recommendations - what's the last thing you read that you really enjoyed? I'm re-reading Christopher Moore's LAMB, because it's one of my favorites.

I Spy Sci-Fi

These items from recent news highlights:

Residents become ill after meteor crashes - http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070918/sc_afp/peruhealthoffbeat

Britain approves creation of hybrid human-animal embryos for research - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070905/sc_nm/britain_embryo_dc

Don't you see the makings of sci-fi/horror there?

Anyhoodles, just finished a really good book last night. A MANKIND WITCH was fun, but was not on the level of this one. Once more, I accidentally brought home the last book of a series, but since I was desperate, I went ahead and read it. I didn't really need to read first two to understand the third, but I'm going to go pick them today just because I loved this guy's writing style. Here's an example where he describes a hunter's dog from a demon's point of view:

That dog, potential insanity on four legs, can be as calm as a dreamless sleeper until danger drops from the trees and then his placid, near-human smile wrinkles back into a snapping wound machine. The crafty beast learns to lunge for my brethren's unprotected areas--wing membrane, soft belly, groin, or tail. I, myself, witnessed that hound tear of an attacking demon's member, slip through its legs, and then shread a wing to tatters in his escape. He has an uncanny sense of certainty about him in all situations, as if in each he is like a dancer who has practiced that one dance all his days. Wood reads Cley like a book, understands his hand signals and the subtle shifting of his eyes. There is no question he will die for the hunter, and I am convinced he will go beyond death for him--a guardian angel the color of night, muscled and scarred and harder to subdue than a guilty conscience.

Doesn't that just perfectly capture the essence of dogs?

The book? THE BEYOND
The author: Jeffrey Ford

Surfin' Saturday

My original intent to post was to give a hard time to those of you who haven't updated your blogs in a week or so, but then I noticed that my last post was nearly a month ago. (those who live in glass houses...) Hence, I've decided to just give a quick book review.

Just read A MANKIND WITCH by Dave Freer last night. As I read it, I was thinking, hmm... this reminds me of Charles. (Sword fights, fantasy creatures, a bit of romance interwoven into the plot.) :)

I found the book in the Sci-fi section of the library, though I'd hardly call it science fiction - more fantasy/adventure. I didn't even expect to enjoy it--and I'll reveal my bias here--because the cover looked as if it were geared more toward males. Teenage males, in particular. Nevertheless, I liked the title, so I brought it home. (Notice my thoughtful reasoning.)

The book is part of the "Heirs of Alexandria Series" (which I didn't discover until I got it home - also includes collaboration with Mercedes Lackey and Eric Flint) but it can stand alone. In spite of a few anachronisms, a typo and a couple of areas of awkward pacing, I enjoyed it. If you'd like to actually know what it's about, you can go here because I'm too lazy to type all that in. :)

Ok, now that I've updated my blog, what are the rest of you waiting for? Stop selfishly living your real life and understand that there are those of us out here who have no lives, thus must live vicariously through you. Where are you Avery? Susan? Jon? There were a couple of others, but they've posted this past week. Stewart, you're on thin ice. I know it has only been 4 days, but in the Cult of Sternberg, that's like 2 weeks to the rest of the world. Sid's been slacking a bit lately too.