March 2010 – Page 2 – Michele Lee

Writers Workshop of Horror edited by Michael Knost

Woodland Press, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9824939-1-5
Available: New

Imagine a college writing class where each day a new, experienced writer shuffles in, lectures the class on a new aspect of storytelling and writing, then walks away without another word, leaving the budding writers to digest and utilize the information as they like. Or perhaps two writers walk in, one interviewing the other, leaving students privy to what seems like intimate, insider knowledge. This is Writers Workshop of Horror, a comprehensive collection of essays on the writing process, each with a different style and voice, all merely suggesting to the reader how things might be done. It is a quiet relaying of information and experience, with no distractions, no argumentative interruptions and no demand to follow exactly in the teacher’s footsteps.

Writers Workshop of Horror has a lot to offer to new and even experienced authors, without the drama or distraction of a traditional writing class or workshop. Each author’s voice comes through with strength and clarity. Priceless information and experience, not just for horror writers, but for writers in general, sits on these pages. More helpful than most how-to writing books out there (as long as you can tolerate sometimes gruesome examples of storytelling concepts), this book is an essential resource for all libraries wishing to support writers, whether hobbyists or pros. Highly recommended.

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March 12

U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills by the Department of the Army

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com
Lyons Press, 2009
ISBN: 9781599219097
Available: New

A disturbing trend in zombie fiction is the role of the military in the zombie uprising. It seems to play one of two roles, either the perpetration of the disaster, or bungling idiot failure. Rare is the book that shows the military in a vital role. With this book, which should be a shelf resource for any writer wanting to do more than fiddle about with zombie tales, perhaps that will change.
U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills gives zombie fans an explicit, precise look at how the military is prepared to handle all threats, even the forces of the undead. The detail is elaborate, including the best defense strategies based on the number of of men, first aid, equipment specifics and detail on effective communication. This book is both a parody (complete with figures and tables featuring the moaning hungry dead) and completely serious. A valuable addition to zombie based libraries, especially for writers, one has to wonder why the military has this particular kind of foresight.

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March 9

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

ISBN: 9780441018369
I purchased this book.

Mercy Thompson book 3

This review contains spoilers for earlier books in the series.

Last time, Mercy was kidnapped, magically drugged and brutally raped. Bone Crossed picks up only a week later with Mercy still struggling to deal with her trauma, her newly exposed feelings for pack alpha Adam and now with area vampire queen Marsilia, who knows Mercy killed one of her own, decidedly pissed off at her. Though Mercy knows little of her own kind, being the only skinwalker (natural coyote shifter rather than an attack survivor like most other weres) currently known of, Marsilia knows what the walkers are, having been part of the Frontier-Era war between walker natives and European vampires.
Apparently nothing can kill vampires like a walker, so decades ago the vampires eradicated them. Once willing to let Mercy live as long as she wasn’t killing vampires and she remained useful, Marsillia now has declared war on Mercy, because Mercy was the one who fouled up Marsilia’s plans to make more demon-possessed vampires. But Mercy’s new position in the pack as Adam’s mate complicates things, so instead of attacking Mercy directly Marsilia goes after her friends and allies.
When Stefan, Mercy’s friend and Marsilia’s vampire, shows up, near dead and nearly mad with hunger Mercy is sure Marsilia sent him to kill her. Struggling to fight panic attacks and trying to form a healthy relationship with people around her Mercy also finds herself having to face down people who not only want to victimize her again, but who are willing to use her’s friend to re-victimize her.
Bone Crossed is full of emotional realism, even if it’s also full of vampires, fairies, ghosts and shape shifters. Characters who were already real before now deepen from fleshy and familiar to true friends of readers traveling with them.
The emotional turmoil is also balanced with action, manipulation and a complicated enough plot to prevent the book from coming off as sheer emotional angst over past events. Mercy is the definition of the plucky survivor, tough, but not immortal, snarky and defiant, but not suffering from Mary Sue Syndrome.
Bone Crossed is a good read, definitely not the place in the series to start, but a satisfying addition to the series. This series continues to deliver, creating a more complex world, but not one muddled by world rules violations, or mid stream changes in style or personality. Bone Crossed will both sate readers and keep them looking for more.

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March 5

Black Jack Derringer #1: Ace of Spades by Karen Koehler

Black Jack Derringer: The Ace of Spades is like one of those little four-piece Whitman’s Samplers. You end up with a good idea of what the story’s going to be, but it’s over and gone just when you’re really ready for more.

Wild Alice West is not a woman for breeding or homemaking or any of the other things the Wild West-flavored land called the Skillet considers women good for. She’s a bounty hunter, plagued by a bit of bad luck, a mouth that constantly gets her in trouble, a society that can’t respect her and the fastest shot she’s ever met. (She’s humble too….)

Full Review at DarkScribeMagazine.com

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March 5

Kid Tails

After much consideration I’ve decided to split BookLove into two. All reviews of adult books will continue to appear at BookLove. My reviews of kid books, as well as kids’ reviews of kids books, will appear at the new site Kid Tails which remain PG rated so that if kids surf onto the review site they won’t find Coraline reviewed side by side with a paranormal erotica novel.

Kid Tails is also open to submissions (unpaid) of reviews from kids and grown ups alike (especially from teachers and librarian and classes who want to talk about their favorite books). Here’s the dish:

Kid Tails is a book journal site for kids and kid books! By focusing only on kids and kids books we can keep our site clean and kid friendly.

We are looking for YOUR opinion about books. We accept reviews from all ages (including grown ups), from students, parents, teachers, librarians and whole classes!

We will try to post a new review every Monday (and increase our rate as we get more reviews). You can email reviews to ZombieMichele@gmail.com Please include your name & age (for children’s reviews), name (for adult review), the site the review first appeared on (if the review is a reprint), or your teacher’s name and class (if it’s a class review).

All books reviewed should be for Young Adult audiences or younger. We would like at least two to three lines for a review telling us what the book is about, whether you liked it or not and what the best part was (also please tell us if this book has a theme, like Christmas, or spring, or vampires). Adults are welcome to add comments about the appropriateness of the book for young audiences and how well it could be integrated into teaching plans or parent-child reading sessions.

We will also post reviews of books we have already reviewed (because this will give different opinions or show grown ups which books kids like the best).

Questions and comments can be sent to ZombieMichele@gmail.com.

Thanks and we look forward to reading with you!

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