February 25

Rot

zombieherding

I’m pleased to say that Skullvines is moving Rot up to publication this summer! So I’m starting to put into action some of the stuff I’ve been doing to promote it. You saw the flyer in my last post. Here’s the query that sold the book (and it also functions as a pretty neat blurb).

Rot is a no-pause, desperation-filled, stand out zombie novelette. There are no Romero flesh eaters here, only anger-driven souls trapped in their bodies against their will by bereaved loved ones who can’t let go. Plus zombie herding. (Zombie milk available by special arrangement only.)

In a world where some people can will away death itself, Silver Springs Specialty Care Community caters to the undead, a safe place to lock risen loved ones away for the people who don’t have the power to control dead, but aren’t quite ready to let go. Dean, retired from the military and looking for an easier life, runs security at the zombie herding farm, but he quickly learns that dark injustice is not unique to war.

There’s a rotten core to Silver Springs. Now Dean and a quickly decaying corpse named Patrick are on the hunt for the woman they both love and lost to a lucrative business that specializes in greed, zombies and never having to say goodbye.

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February 24

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Guest Review by Jason Lush

Click to buy
Click to buy

One hundred and ninety pages of political masturbation disguised as a supernatural suspense story. Of the three main characters we have; Dorian Gray, who is a brainless puppet the personifies vanity; Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the fabled portrait and represents the sorrowful conscience; and Lord Henry Wolton, who is the quintessential 19th Century fop whose sole purpose in the book is to act as Wilde’s voice on politics, religion and homosexuality and as a driving corrupter of everyone else in the book.

The pacing is horrendously slow, the chapters devoted to explaining Gray’s hobbies and the pictures of his ancestors in his hallway don’t help with the lousy pacing. The whole story could have been condensed to a 30 page novella and would have been enjoyable.

And, as a side note to the posthumous Mr. Wilde, forty is not old and hideous.

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February 23

Jeff Vandermeer’s Booklife

Jeff Vandermeer put up the cover and preface for his book Booklife on writing methods and well, writing life. It’s poised to become a new staple in a writer’s library.

And apparently there’s a quote from me in it. I’m a sporadic reader/commenter on Jeff’s blog, so I can only assume I said something there that he liked. It looks like I’m going to have to buy the book to find out what the quote was.

And *coughcough* you should to.

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February 19

Pride by Rachel Vincent

Click to Buy
Click to Buy

ISBN: 978-0-7783-2649-6, $6.99

Pride is the third book in Rachel Vincent’s werecat series and like the ones before it, it begins in the middle of a mess and ends with the characters looking forward to the next challenge.
Faythe Saunders is on trial for accidentally infecting her ex-boyfriend and being forced to kill him in self defense. There are three judges and two of them have problems with her father’s liberal choices in running his pride–like his decision to let Faythe be the first female enforcer ever. The job that finally pulled Faythe into feeling like her pride valued her for more than the (potential) contents of her uterus is why she encountered her ex in the first place. As for the third judge in her trial, well, her uncle is technically on her side, but even he doesn’t believe she can partial shift, which means he’s not convinced that the infection was an accident at all.
However, the trial for Faythe’s life is put on pause when Elias Keller, a bruin (werebear) who cares for the neutral land that the prides have gathered in for Faythe’s trial, storms in angry at all the cats causing trouble on his land. The pride cats and Elias quickly put two and two together, realizing that not only are the mysterious noisy werecats not from any of the visiting prides, but they’re probably also responsible for the two missing hikers the humans in the area are searching for. Things continue to grow more tangled when Elias brings in a tabby cat he believes to be Faythe, but in fact is a thirteen year old girl no one’s ever heard of before.
Faythe has to prove herself useful, out maneuver one of the judges who is plotting not just against Faythe but also against her father and save the girl, from her past and the future the old fashioned alphas want to manipulate her into.
Even though this is part of a running series it would be easy enough for new readers to pick up the story, and the world, so far. Despite it’s size Pride is fast paced with lots of action, both emotional and fight scenes. And unlike a lot of other urban fantasies that feature kick ass heroines, in this one the drive Faythe feels to be recognized and respected as a real person, not just a breeder, is integrated to the plot, as is the gender skewed world view that fuels Faythe’s fight. Pride is definitely recommended, especially to women who are tired of princesses who need to be saved or women who’s sole purpose is to be swept off their feet, impregnated and plopped into a Donna Reed role.
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