December 2

Vote for the Black Quill Awards

Here are the nominees from Dark Scribe Magazine:
DARK GENRE NOVEL OF THE YEAR:

(Novel-length work of horror, suspense, or thriller from mainstream publisher; awarded to the author)

* Duma Key by Stephen King (Scribner)
* Generation Dead by Daniel Waters (Hyperion)
* Ghost Radio by Leopoldo Gout (William Morrow)
* Leather Maiden by Joe R. Landsdale (Knopf)
* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
* The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff (St. Martin’s Press)
* We Disappear by Scott Heim (Harper Perennial)

BEST SMALL PRESS CHILL:

(Novel or novella published by small press publisher; awarded to the author)

* Into the Cruel Sea by Rich Ristow (Skullvines Press)
* Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson (Medallion Press)
* Miranda by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
* The Confessions of St. Zach by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)
* The Shallow End of the Pool by Adam-Troy Castro (Creeping Hemlock Press)
* Veins by Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)

BEST DARK GENRE FICTION COLLECTION:

(Anthology or single author collection, any publisher; awarded to the author or editor[s])

* History Is Dead: A Zombie Anthology, edited by Kim Paffenroth (Permuted Press)
* Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)
* Killers, edited by Colin Harvey (Swimming Kangaroo Press)
* Mama’s Boys and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel (Apex Publications)
* Poe’s Children: The New Horror, edited by Peter Straub (Doubleday)
* The Number 121 to Pennsylvania by Kealan Patrick Burke (Cemetery Dance)

BEST DARK GENRE BOOK OF NON-FICTION:

(Any dark genre non-fiction subject, any publisher; awarded to the author[s] or editor[s])

* A Hallowe’en Anthology: Literary and Historical Writers over the Centuries by Lisa Morton (McFarland)
* Beauty and Dynamite by Alethea Kontis (Apex Publications)
* Book of Lists: Horror Edited by Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley (Harper)
* Horror Isn’t a Four-Letter Word by Matthew Warner (Guide Dog Books)
* The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi (Grand Central Publishing)
* Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead by Jonathan Maberry (Citadel Press)

BEST DARK SCRIBBLE:

(Single work, non-anthology short fiction appearing in a print or virtual magazine; awarded to the author)

* “Afterlife” by Sarah Langan (Horror World / Virtual)
* “Captain’s Lament” by Stephen Graham Jones (Clarkesworld #17 / Virtual)
* “Dust and Bibles” by Michael Colangelo (Chizine #35 / Virtual)
* “Teeth” by Stephen Dedman (Clarkesworld #18 / Virtual)
* “The Blog at the End of the World” by Paul Tremblay (Chizine #38 / Virtual)
* “Turtle” by Lee Thomas (Doorways Magazine #4 / Print)

BEST DARK GENRE SHORT FICTION MAGAZINE:

(Any print or online magazine that published primarily short fiction during the eligibility period; awarded to the editor[s])

* Apex Magazine – Editor Jason Sizemore
* Cemetery Dance – Editor Richard Chizmar
* ChiZine – Editor Brett Alexander Savory
* Clarkesworld – Editors Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke (current), Nick Mamatas (former)
* Doorways Magazine – Editors Brian Yount and Mort Castle
* Shroud Magazine – Editor Timothy Deal

BEST DARK GENRE BOOK TRAILER:

(Book video promoting any work of fiction or non-fiction; awarded to the video producer or publisher)

* Daemon / Production by Yossi Sasson (Author: Harry Shannon)
* Day by Day Armageddon / Production by Ivan Simoncini (Author: JL Bourne)
* Duma Key / Production by Scribner (Author: Stephen King)
* Ghost Radio (Trailer 1) / Production by William Morrow (Author: Leopoldo Gout)
* Sweetheart / Production by Circle of Seven (Author: Chelsea Cain)
* The Price / Production by Circle of Seven Productions (Author: Alexandra Sokoloff)

You have to register on the web page to vote and votes are due by January 25th, 2009. Vote here.

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December 2

When did 11pm become late?

When I spent the day out holiday shoping. The good news is that I *think* it’s all done. The bad news is that web page updates and editing, and even getting the next round of subs ready to go has to wait until tomorrow at the earliest.

But I did find this at Walmart with the holiday Barbies.

That’s right. It’s an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds– Barbie being attacked by a flock of birds. Finally a Barbie I wanted. Unfortunately it was $35. I’m thinking of heading back to the January clearance to try to pick one up.

Oh, and I also took my laptop apart twice today. Once it even worked afterwards! (I had to put in a new CD ROM and after watching Dell techs replace so many motherboards I assumed I had to take the whole thing apart to change out the CD ROM. I didn’t, and the first time I ended up disconnecting the mouse and somehow gained two screws. Second time around I fixed all my own mistakes and finally got the comuter to recognize the new drive.

You never realize how attached you are to having a computer until something goes wrong.

But all is well now, and I’m so exhausted. Tomorrow I’ll post my favorite anthologies. (And yes, the yule shopping did include books, $50 worth.)

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November 26

Spent the day cleaning…

And cooking. We’re doing Thanksgiving tomorrow because Jason is off work, and so that our friends (who are our real family) can join us and still spend time with their family too. Plus it’s game day anyway.

Pictures of our delicious mud pie and the rest of my book buying guide will be posted later this week. When I’m not so tired I can’t think straight.

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November 25

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

Click to buy
Click to buy

Any Given Doomsday, for better or worse is best summed up as what the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton would be if all supernatural creatures (almost) were actually the spawn of fallen angels, left on Earth to challenge (aka slaughter) humankind.

The set up demands that readers accept the absolute existence of God and the Christian mythos, whereas most urban fantasies ask a reader to believe in the creature, but leave religion out of the picture. This can potentially bring Christian readers into urban fantasy, if they can get past the sex.

And the sex… is non-consenting. Definitely an aspect that will turn off many readers Elizabeth, the heroine, is drugged, and raped graphically multiple times within the book. This is completely forgivable (in the context of the story) because sex is vital to Elizabeth’s powers. While I normally avoid giving such blatant spoilers these I found particularly troubling.

The story itself starts when Elizabeth Phoenix finds her foster mother dying on floor of her home, attacked by something Elizabeth can’t explain. With a few cryptic words and a dark vision Ruthie passes something on to Elizabeth that lands Elizabeth in a coma. When she wakes up Elizabeth learns from her ex-coworkers, the Milwaukee PD, that her foster brother and ex-lover Jimmy is their number one suspect. Jimmy himself breaks the news that Ruthie passed her powers to Elizabeth, which makes Elizabeth obligated–for her own safety–to hunt down Ruthie’s killers. And Elizabeth isn’t just a seer, she’s THE prophesied seer, meant to be the most powerful one, a seer and a demon killer and the person who is supposed to lead the side of good in the war against the evil Nephalim.

Elizabeth’s complete lack of knowledge about the supernatural world does not set the story up in a good frame. Instead of being introduced to the rules of the magical world slowly it leads to the reader, like Elizabeth, to have no clue what’s going on, but being pressured to accept tension, and to see Elizabeth attacked with no real idea of how these things are important. The pacing is slow, the revelations convenient and Elizabeth herself is a much quieter, less dynamic urban fantasy character.

The pace is unsure, more than once a fact is hidden from the reader for effect, though the story is told in first person and Elizabeth herself already knows of it. Readers are never given a solid idea of the “rules” of magic and the paranormal because they seem cherry picked for effect rather than for character building. While all Nephalim are absolutely evil both men presented as love interests have Nephalim blood and Elizabeth herself may have (after all, she has everything else that might make her powerful, other than strength of personality).

Any Given Doomsday has action, but feels slow despite it, reluctant to participate in or commit itself to its own story. The similarities to other series and the Biblical/Apocalyptic set up could bring in a fan base, but many will find this book vapid and unsatisfying.

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