an update of sorts

Just so people don't start to think I've abandonded the blog. December was hectic,, I read a bunch of books and caught up on reviews. These have been posted to the blog in a postdated format (so y'all will have to scroll down for them). I'm still working my way through a few of the books on my to be read & reviewed pile and will continue to post them here when I get them done...

However, I started classes again, so my updates will most likely end up being on Fridays when I don't have class time constraints.

I'm looking forwards to seeing what 2008 brings to read, and sharing it with y'all!

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

What's your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller ... whether they've read them or not, everybody "knows" those books. I'm talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, "Huh? Never heard of it?"

I don't know that I can recomend just one book. I tend to read alot and I tend to read a wide varietyof genre's and read a whole lot of unknown author's. In fact, since I started reviewing, I've been introduced to a lot of new and little known authors. So feel free to poke around the archives and see if you see anything that catches your eye.

One of the books that definately stands out though of the books I've reviewed in the last year was Sigourney's Quest by Gordon Snider, as well as Flight of the Goose: A Story of the Far North by Lesley Thomas.

But, I think caligula's advice is great. Visit your library and just look for something new to you to read, steering clear of well known author's. Try a book you wouldn't normally pick up. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Book Review: Bang Crunch by Neil Smith

Read & reviewed for Armchair Interviews

Bang Crunch is Canadian author Neil Smith’s debut collection of short stories. It contains nine short stories all about pretty ordinarily average people, who find themselves in rather unexpected situations. I didn’t know what to expect when I opened up the book, while snuggling up on my sofa, against the cold weather outside with a large mug of tea. What I found between the covers of this slim novel captivated me and left me wanting to read more by this extraordinarily talented author.

These are a few of the introspective stories in Bang Crunch:

Isolettes introduces us to a young set of parents dealing with the extremity early birth of their child. The story examines the frailty of the new life, and the struggle the young mother has with finding love for the incubator found, baby wrapped in tubes and sensors.

Green Florescent Protein is about Max, a teen struggling to cope with several new situations. He recently moved to a new home in Westmont. His mother, a wacky, sober ex drunk who talks to his father’s cremated remains (which are housed inside a curling stone), deciding to give herself a “life overhaul”. He also is struggling with a new feeling of attraction past friendship with his closest friend Ruby-Doo.

The B9ers What happens when a survivor of a benign tumor starts a support group for others in the same situation? The B9ers captures the struggle of a group of people trying to return to normal life after a close call. They don’t get the support and sympathy they need, since their tumors were not malignant, but still struggle along after surgery.

Bang Crunch Is a look into the life of a girl with Fred Hoyle’s Syndrome, which ages her a year a day.

Scrapbook Amy and her boyfriend struggle with the attack on a University German class that ends with the death of eight women. He was one of the survivors of the attack. This story delves into the what ifs? Why did this happen? The storry delves into the emotions of guilt and anxiety of being a survivor.

Book Review: Sidhe by D.M. Paul

Read & reviewed for Front Street Reviews

An elderly archeologist has found a rare cache of artifacts in the area thought to be where the Sidhe, otherwise known as the faerie race, where thought to have originated. The most intriguing of the finds is a staff. It is considered to possibly be one of the two legendary great staves of power. The artifacts have been taken to the multi-leveled city of Cloudview, to be authenticated by the Cloudview Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately, before the exhibit opens and the artifacts examined closely, the staff is stolen.

The thieves, Agents of the Sidhe queen, disappear with their stolen treasure into the wilds of the Park that composes the entire thirteenth level of the massive city.

Deep in the Park’s forests, elf scout Kestrel Greenleaf has discovered that something amiss. After discovering a trail of magic, she follows it to try and determine its source. Her travels take her to the realm of the Sidhe. The Faerie queen’s enchantment has assembled an army horde of enthralled monsters. Along with triggering the growth of the seed contained in the ancient staff. The staff, unknown to all but the Faerie queen housed a seed from the legendary First Tree. This is the magical tree that all life came from according to legend.

Kestrel returns to inform her elders of her findings. She finds herself being thrown together in a dangerous mission with Enob the High Wizard from Graylok, the sentinel Fox, and two agents from the Incantation Enforcement Agency Kase and Murdodox. Their mission is to obtain a branch from the poison trees in the heart of a vile bog, fashion it into an enchanted arrow, and pierce the young First Tree seedling before its roots take hold of the soil beneath the massive city.

Can the intrepid group get the arrow made and make it past the Fairie Queen’s army in time to save the city of Cloudview?

Sidhe is author D.M. Paul’s third installation in the One Wizard Place series. He does a wonderful job of bringing characters we have been introduced to in the previous stories and introducing new ones to bring about a full fledged and strong group trying to save the city of Cloudview. Like the past two books Sidhe has a strong fantasy setting and a well written story. I enjoyed the chance to explore the magic enhanced Park level of Cloudview, which was only briefly mentioned in past books. The book was a nicely paced fantasy setting that both younger readers and older fans of the genre will enjoy reading.

Book Review: Mind Made by Amy Lignor

Read and reviewed for Front Street Reviews

Annie, is a writer and a single mother trying to raise her daughter in a world that is becoming increasingly full of heartbreak and despair of bad news from a war that has found its way into the homes of America via the nightly news. She is living in a small Hamlet in Connecticut , and spends her evenings writing after her daughter Shelby is asleep. One cold winter night, while working, she drifts off to sleep and wakes in a totally unknown place.

Annie finds herself brought together with three others, who are also as confused at being there as she is. Matthew, Dean, and Annie’s good friend Julie. They are confronted by a horrific apparition made of mist which tells the four that they have been brought into it’s world for a purpose. The four of them had been torn from their world to play a game and prove that humanity has a right to live. To win, they must help each other through four tests. The tests will all stem from the deepest fears of each of the four being tested.

As time passes, the four strangers find the bonds of friendship and love forming between each other. As they face the harrowing trials set for each of them by their captor, these bonds give each person the strength to face their fears, and to help the others face their own trials. The combined strengths that each person brings to the group, along with their individual differences Annie, Dean, Max, and Julie are able to push themselves beyond physical and mental limits to travel the harrowing road set before them.

With love, the four can find the secret to saving mankind from the evil imprisoning them, and change their lives in the process. Will they be able to face their personal demons and accept the prize offered, or will evil triumph and bring about the doom of mankind?

Mind made is a thought provoking look into a realm where nothing is what it seems. Author Amy Lignor brings her readers a fast paced thrilling story of self development, and survival. I personally enjoyed seeing the development of the group from strangers to friends, and the tentative love that flowers between the two couples. The book made me want to know what happens next, and left me with a feeling of “what’s next?” as it came to its conclusion. This is the second book I’ve read by the author that I’ve enjoyed reading. I look forwards to seeing more from her in the future.

Book Review: Prophecy: a novel by Paul Mark Tag

Read and reviewed for Front Street Reviews

In 1889, a poorly maintained dam failed, letting the waters of Lake Conemaugh rush across Johnstown, Pennsylvania and destroying the town. It was, one of the worse environmental disasters to befall the United States, and 2,200 people died in the flood.

Moments before the dam burst, a young woman entered the Trinity Lutheran Church in Johnstown, and put a bottle containing an extraordinary letter into the church’s safe. This letter reveals that the writer knew of the impending flood.

In 2009, a United States scientist has found the gene that could scientifically explain clairvoyant powers. In Russia, laboratory experiments done by their own scientists have also found this genetic mutation, the “prophecy gene” as it is dubbed. This gene, if made into a synthetic replacement could turn the world into upheaval. Letting powerful men and women buy the ability to see the future and manipulate it to their own advantages.

When the American scientist disappears, his friend Dr. Victor Mark Silverstein is thrown into a cyclone of intrigue after receiving a strange text message concerning the kidnapping. While trying to track down his friend Dr. Silverstein and his assistant Linda Kipling find themselves tangling in the spider web grasp of greedy and corrupt US senators, the CIA, and a Middle Eastern terrorist organization. All of whom are trying to find a present day carrier of the gene who can confirm that the gene exists outside of laboratory experiments. When the safe containing the letter written before the Johnstown flood is unearthed, it accelerates the race to control the “prophecy gene”.

The gene, if found could prove the right or wrong hands the ability to control the planet, and throw the worlds religions into chaos.

Paul Mark Tag’s second novel is a fast paced thrill ride of an adventure. The author makes use of his experience as a meteorologist with the Navel Research Laboratory to bring his readers an exiting story that takes a look into theoretical science and the consequences it can have on the world. I really enjoyed the realism and development of Prophecy’s plot and found myself savoring the book and trying to make it last longer. One thing I enjoyed was the fact that Silverstein and Kipling’s relationship as coworkers and friends is so developed. The author also does a wonderful job of bringing in the story elements that have been carried over from his first book Category 5 and explaining them in a way that doesn’t leave new readers confused, and also doesn’t bog down the plot.

Prophecy was a wonderful introduction to a new author for me. I look forward to reading Category 5, and future books by the author.

Author’s web site http://www.paulmarktag.com

Book Review: Tinna's Promise by Miranda Mayer

Read and reviewed for front street reviews

Tinna, a half-blood Thran from the south, has been following a wanderlust brought on, she believes, by the Gypsy blood running through her veins. Her travels have taken her through much of the empire, from the great plain to many of the great cities and now to the forested regions that are home to the horse loving Arak. Tinna finds a home in the village of Thamatock, and a friend in its young Wiseman Taneth.

When Tinna makes a promise to go get a new puppy for a young mistreated boy in the village, her travels take herself and Rhoa, a young woman she has befriended, from the small village of Thamatock to the larger city surrounding Hildercross Academy. There, they find a puppy and the next morning start their travels home. On their way, they witness the destruction of Hildercross by an attack of dragons. Tinna and Rhoa find themselves captured by those same dragons along with a Nimru, and the landlord of the destroyed town.

Tinna and Rhoa’s journey back to Thamatock becomes complicated when they discover the reason behind the dragon’s attack. Rhoa pairs up with the tree dwelling Nimru, Draphen and continues the journey home while Tinna travels to the city of Alterat to seek help from friends in finding the person behind the dragons and stopping them before every major city aligned with the high throne is destroyed. Will Rhoa and Draphen be able to safely navigate the tree paths of the Nimru and make it home? Can Tinna find the blackmailer that is causing all the mayhem and destruction, and stop him before he uses his power over the dragons to focus on the smaller towns and villages left alone on the continent? Finally, can Tinna keep her promise, and get the puppy back to Thamatock and both the boy who she made her promise to, and the Wiseman that she has realized she has come to love?

I was very surprised by this story. The premise behind the plot is a very simple one; a promise has been made, can it be kept even in the upheaval and turmoil facing Tinna. However, the story itself is full of adventure, and action, and friendship as Rhoa and Tinna travel across a strange and turmoil filled land. I really enjoyed being introduced to the empire that the story is set in, and wished there was a little more information about the rule of the land. The setting of the story was in my opinion the best part of the story. The descriptions of the cities and places Tinna and Rhoa pass through capture the imagination and made me feel like I was right there with the women. I loved the complexity of the world we are introduced to as the women travel across the country to get back to their home.

Book Review: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Muramaki

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is Haruki Murakami’s first collection of short stories since after the Quake (2002). It contains twenty – four short stories written between 1981 and 2005. The author mentions in his introduction, that his writing pattern alternates between novels and short stories, and never writing one type while working on the other. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is the first short story collection by Haruki Murakami that I have read. I’m a huge fan of his full length novels , and discovered during this reading, that my reasons for enjoying the author’s novels carries over to his short stories as well. I found this collection to contain whimsy magic. And a delightfully entertaining look at everyday life, and the emotions that power humans and their life experiences. Since the book has such a large amount of stories in its pages, it is hard to give each one a good look. Instead, let me tell you of a few favorites I have from the book.

Birthday Girl introduces the reader to the following idea; If you could have one wish granted, anything at all would you make it? The story is told by a woman recalling the strange events that happened on her twentieth birthday. While working on what was becoming a very disappointing birthday she stumbled into an extraordinary situation. While delivering an evening meal to the owner of the restaurant she worked at, she was given the choice of a gift that would change her life. He offered to grant her one wish.

In A “Poor Aunt” Story, the narrator tells a close friend how he wants to write a story featuring a “poor aunt”. In the process he wakes up one morning to find he has a poor aunt stuck to his back. Murakami explores what it is like for his writer to descend into a life where no one notices him, until one day she disappears. The story delves into human nature , and what drives us humans.

Blind Willow Sleeping Woman is an excellent collection of short stories written by a master of literature.

I won !

Wow, I just found out I won a copy of Apparitions by Raven Bower

From the folks over at The Great American Book Giveaway

I would suggest if you haven't checked them out to take a moment to do so. They have some great titles get listed on a regular basis.

Book Review: The Bretton Katt Alliance: The Lorrondon Cycle Book One by Margaret Garside

Read and reviewed for Front Street Reviews

It is the year 2441. The two major powers in the galaxy are the Terrans and the Neorans. Currently it is a time of strife between the two races. Great civil unrest is occurring because of the Terran military leader Victor Bastian’s movement against Neoran populated planets in Terran Space. This leaves more and more Neorans fleeing for the safety of Neoran space as refugees with little to their names besides the clothes on their backs.

Anna Lorrondon-Helsak The chancellor of the planet Bowman secretly breaks the long term alliance with the Neorans. Unknown to anyone, she makes a new alliance with old enemies of both the Terrans and the Neorans. When she is approached by her old friend Russorin the Neoran representative she holds fast to her idea of neutrality for Bowman. This is despite Russorin’s predictions of bad things to come for both races.

With no other choice left to her, Russoran turns to the free city of Breton-Katt for help. The city, a center for learning and commerce, is the Neoran’s last hope for an ally in Terran space. There, she uncovers a web of murder and blackmail Helped by Rob Lorrondon Anna’s son Russoran needs to get the alliance made and stop Anna’s plan to annex Bretton –Katt into Bowman. She needs to keep Anna from handing the city over to its enemies. But, will they be able to do this without triggering an all out war?

Science fiction can be hard genre to write. With so many books written already, it is very easy to start sounding like a rehashed plot. I’m glad to say that The Breton-Katt Alliance is not one of these books. Margaret Garside introduces her readers to a society in upheaval. Her story takes place in a universe which holds inhabitants whose ideals and communities are struggling with the ideas of sharing their resources and land with outsiders. Led by the stronger opinions of their leaders, the universe as they know it has become an unstable place to live. I look forward to the next installment of the Lorrondon Cycle, and seeing what sort of resolution to the conflict that has been introduced, in this first book of the series, is brought into action.

Book Review: When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger, with Susan Katz, illustrated by David Kanietakeron Fadden

Read and reviewed for Armchair Interviews

Every culture has its own ways of celebrating the seasons. When the Shadbush Blooms shows young readers how the Lenape Indians (also known as the Delaware Indians) live according to the seasons.

The story is uniquely told from two different viewpoints. It is told by Traditional Sister and Contemporary Sister, each from her own time. These viewpoints show us how the traditions have changed, yet stay very similar. David Kanietakeron Fadden‘s paintings grasp life in traditional times and current times extraordinarily. His paintings draw the reader in, and make them feel as if they were there as well.

The young reader that I shared this book with had a great time comparing the similarities between the different times. She seemed to enjoy learning about the traditions of the Lenape and following the adventures of the girls telling the story through their year.

I found this an engaging look into the lifestyles of one of the native tribes of the United States. I enjoyed the way the book was presented, and found the additional information on the Lenape in the back of the book extremely informative. This is a wonderful example of multicultural writing that shows how people live close to the land and themselves during the changing seasons.

Book Review: An Ocean of Air by Gabrielle Walker

Read & Reviewed for front street reviews

Have you ever wondered about the air that surrounds us? What is it that makes it such an adaptable substance? How does our atmosphere help life on Earth survive? Who were the men that gave us a better understanding of the air around us?

In An Ocean of Air, author Gabrielle Walker attempt to answer these questions and more. She reasons that the Earth is at the bottom of an ocean of air. She peels away the layers composing our atmosphere, and uses stories of the men who experimented on air to show us how it works. From Galileo’s experiments done during his confinement to his villa at Arcetri (in Florence), after his running afoul of the Inquisition, through to the modern day rush to discover space An Ocean of Air provides the reader with glimpses of science’s progression of discoveries to some of the mysteries posed by the air we breathe.

Gabrielle Walker has written a fantastic resource for anyone who is interested in science. Her explorations of the past experiments done on (in) our atmosphere are engaging, informative, and not at all dry. She brings her passion for the subject matter out in the open during the course of the book.

Some of the subject matter in the book, I was already familiar with. Galileo’s air experiments, while not as well known as his beliefs that the earth rotated around the sun – heretical ideas back during his lifetime, are still taught in physics classes. I did find some nee to me scientists while reading An Ocean of Air. I particularly found Marconi’s “wireless” device and its impact on the shipping field, and the resulting discovery by Oliver Heaviside of the electrical layer in the atmosphere (called the Heaviside layer) which made Marconi’s device work fascinating to read about. The book is presented in a well laid out manner, its facts are not to in depth nor or they simplistic making this a great book for anyone with an interest in the atmospheric sciences.

Book Review: Silk by Alessandro Baricco

Read and reviewed for Armchair Interviews.

In 1861, the journey to obtain silk was a treacherous one. Due to an epidemic that infected most of the European stocks of silk worms the men who buy the eggs of the worms were forced to travel further from home to replenish their stock.

Hervé Joncour is one such man.

Hervé Joncour is a buyer and seller of silk worm eggs for the silk mills in the French city of Lavillediea. Every year his travels take him away from home to Egypt and other African ports to buy the stock of his trade. Because of the epidemic, he is forced to undertake a dangerous and desperate journey over half the known world to buy healthy eggs from Japan. It is a dangerous and desperate trip. Travel, since the Suez Canal ha not been completed, takes months to get to Japan from France. Once there, Joncour is smuggled into the country as Japan’s ports are not yet open to foreigners. The price he will pay if caught taking silk worm eggs out of Japan is his death.

There he meets a woman, the mistress of his host. They do not touch, they do not speak to each other, and he can not read the letter that she gives him. Once Joncour hears what it says, he becomes a man possessed. When in France with his wife Helené Joncour is a man changed by the Orient. While in Japan he is trying to find ways to meet his host’s mistress without raising the suspicions of the townsfolk, and their lord.

Silk is an enthralling love story. It is haunting in it’s telling of two star crossed lovers fated to meet but never to act upon their love. It is told with simplicity and a moving plot that transports its readers to France in the late nineteenth century.

This edition of Silk is a movie tie in with the upcoming release of the film adaptation of the book (September 14, 2007). It has a new translation from its original Italian by Anna Goldstein. Silk was originally published in 1996 as Seta, with its first translation to English in 1997.

an update of sorts

As if I haven’t enough to read, what with trying to get caught up on the reviews I owe, I just received the two books I won during the Summer’s Hidden Treasures contes over the weekend.

The Halifax Connection by Marie Jakober
Wanderlust: a Social History of Travel by Laura Byrne Paquet

They both look amazing. I’m making myself get some writing done before cracking either of them open.

So, since I’ve been absent from the blog for as long as I have, I have quite a few reviews to add. I’ll be adding them probably every other day until I get caught up.

Also, I’ve got some really good looking books heading this direction, so keep checking back for the new stuff! There are some really cool books coming out/just out recently!

Book Review: The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose

Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

Josh Ryder did not believe in reincarnation. That is, he did not believe until the day of the bomb exploding in front of a church, that he was standing near, in Rome. From that point in time, his life would be forever changed.

As he recovers from the wounds he obtained in the blast, he starts to experience new sensations. Over and over again he is visited by the slight scent of jasmine and sandalwood, and brief flashes of light. These are also accompanied by images that seem to be intimate memories. Memories that are decidedly not his own.

Rather, they seem to be the memories of a man long dead. They belong to Julius, a high priest during a time of great unrest in ancient Rome. He is trying to keep his fellow priests and the Vestal Virgins they protect to survive when the many varied religions practiced in the Roman Empire have been outlawed in favor of Christianity.

Josh turns to the help of his uncle, and the Phoenix Foundation to try and make sense of the baffling images that have plagued him, despite the physiological tests that say nothing is wrong with his mind. The Phoenix Foundation works with children. More specifically, they work with children who are struggling with their own past life memories. Josh, is drawn into the foundations work himself adding his talents to the foundation’s staff, he helps with the regression therapy, and takes photos of the children. Trying to capture the light aura he sometimes sees around a child with an old soul.

The foundation is asked to visit an archeological dig site outside of Rome. The tomb being excavated is thought to hold an ancient treasure. Inside, is the well preserved body of a vestal virgin and a box containing what is thought to be the memory stones.

As Josh visit’s Rome for the first time since the accident, and the dig site, his memory flashes become more frequent, with an urgency he finds he can’t ignore. His wages, coupled with the visions that he has been witnessing, tell him to save a woman named Sabina, and the treasures she carries. But in this time of no one seeming exactly who they are, the question remains; who is Sabina land can Josh save her before she dies again?

The Reincarnationist is M.J. Rose’s ninth novel. It is, in this reviewer’s opinion also her strongest one. The story grabs onto the reader’s imagination and easily transports them into a story packed with intrigue, passion, and mystery. Fans of thrillers and fans of historical fiction will find things they like in this complicated plot which spans the centuries.

Author Interview with Amy Lignor

Amy is the author of the books The Heart of a Legend(reviewed earlier this year), and Mind Made (review to be posted here soon). I recently had a chance to do an interview with her for Front Street Reviews, and thought I would share it with my readers here as well.

1. If you could give your book to one person who would it be and why?

Stephen King. And, oddly enough, not because he’s a famous author, but because I read a non-fiction book he wrote called, “On Writing.” This was at a time when I was ready to give up on the whole ‘dream’ because of rejection letters and non-belief in the fact that I really wasn’t cut out to be a writer – that I didn’t have the talent necessary to do this for a living. His book inspired me to continue, and I would love him to read any of my books. It would be a huge thrill for me.

2. What is your writing procedure?

It’s been said that there are two kinds of writers. The first, are able to sit down in front of a computer and just write, off-the-cuff, with no notes, no outlines, just the very basic idea of what they want to say – and then let the story unfold. I’m the other type. I need to have an outline prepared, even though I know that when I ‘get’ into the book, things have a way of going in a different direction. Because I use historical places a great deal, I also do a lot of research regarding the scenery, the people, all the way down to the imports and exports of the town, to make sure that I do the location justice.

3. What advice would you give new writers?

This is such a “form-letter” answer, but my advice is to write. Write as much as you can. If you have a limited amount of time due to work, family, etc., like I do – try with all your might to set aside time in the evenings after everyone has gone to bed, and write. Oh, and don’t take every agent and every publisher rejection to heart. Most of the time, guys, no one read your query letter in the first place. All it takes is one acceptance.

4. You’ve worked in the publishing industry as an editor, has this affected how you write?

The only thing I really took from being an editor was, of course, spelling, grammar, and structure of sentences (and I’m still learning.) Manuscripts, above all, have to be clean. Even if the story is outstanding and has never been seen before, if your letter or your manuscript is filled with mistakes, no agent or publisher will touch it.

5. Your books have very different styles; did you find yourself favoring one over the others?

I love the historical adventure stories that I’m currently doing. They give me the blank canvas needed to insert romance, science fiction, fantasy moments, historical figures, mystery, suspense - and still keep a modern-day tale going strong. I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself into one single genre. I am partial to combining everything I can into one, and making the story one you can’t put down. The suspense has to be there for the reader to continue.

6. What made you pick your subject matter for Heart of a Legend?

I moved to New Mexico about five years ago. Here, of course, Billy the Kid is a legendary figure. However, I was visiting his “grave” up in Ft. Sumner and I came across Paulita Maxwell in the cemetery. This led me on a quest of my own. There were many women in the Old West that were a HUGE part of history but they were overlooked for the popular male outlaws. I wanted Paulita’s story told because she WAS the heart of the legend and her voice, her struggle deserved to be heard.

7. You have very a very descriptive writing style when it comes to the locations your characters are in. Does your place to write in have an inspirational view?

I love this question, because I actually don’t. I wish I did. I have a very dimly-lit area with a window that looks out on practically nothing of interest. But, I have had the opportunity to see much of the U.S. and I always keep those pictures locked firmly inside my mind. I haven’t, unfortunately, gotten to see the historical places in Athens, Rome, etc. that I’m currently writing about, but I can see them through the windows in my mind. (And, of course, Google helps a great deal). I think without scenery, without the ability to make sure that your reader is standing beside you in a beautiful or, in some cases, eerie, setting – then the reader won’t really FEEL what’s going on with the characters. They won’t care.

8. Both Heart of a Legend, and Mind Made have strong romantic overtones flowing through the story do you consider love to be an important aspect of a person’s everyday life?

Actually, no. Sounds terrible, I’m sure. For the two first books I wrote, it just so happened that the romance between the specific characters was what brought out the loyalty, etc. that they needed to survive the situations they were placed in. I think that respect – more than deep-heated romance – is essential to believing that the characters are a true team. You route for them. Sparks of chemistry are always good, too. They make the readers come back for the sequel.

9. What’s next for you?

I have two series, actually, that I’m currently working on. The first is a trilogy called The Angel Chronicles, which are based on an angel/warrior team who are born in Heaven and placed on Earth in the bodies of the recently deceased to finish what they began. Going from 1800’s Ireland, through the Gilded Age of the early 1900’s. The next project I’m involved with is a historical/commercial fiction series. The main character is the Head of Research for the NYPL. She’s joined by an almost obsessed “adventurer/billionaire” who is searching for some of the most elusive artifacts known to mankind. Each book is a puzzle within a puzzle to be worked out, leading the reader on a roller-coaster ride through ancient places, a killer’s mind, and more. We’re also working on a screenplay for The Heart of a Legend, which is very exciting.

10. I just heard the good news that you’ve been signed on for a new series. Congratulations. Would you care to tell us a bit about it?

Thank you. It’s been a long time coming, but I am very lucky to have been signed by a top agent who saw the new series I spoke about above as something that had to be in the marketplace. The first book is called, 13, and the follow-up is titled, The Sapphire Storm. I’ve just begun the third which is tentatively titled, The Heroes Companion. I can’t wait to be able to share them with readers.

book review: The City of Ember

“In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark. The only light came from great flood lamps mounted on the buildings and at the tops of poles in the middle of the larger squares. When the lights were on, they cast a yellowish glow over the streets; people walking by threw long shadows that shortened and then stretched out again. When the lights were off, as they were between nine at night and six in the morning, the city was so dark that people might have been wearing blindfolds.”
-The City of Ember, Chapter 1, page 4.

When the city of Ember was first built, its builders left a plan for its inhabitants to find when they needed it most. Unfortunately, the box it was housed in was moved early, and the one person who knew of the importance of the box passed suddenly away before telling a successor about the box. Thus it was shuffled away, and lost to time.

In the city of Ember, everyone has a job to help keep the city functioning smoothly. The children of Ember attend school until age twelve when they join the workforce. On assignment day Lina Mayfleet, who want to run through the streets of Ember as a messenger, draws a job down in the pipe works. Meanwhile, her classmate Doon Harrow, who wants to learn how things work and fix things, draws a job as a messenger. Lina and Doon decide to trade jobs rather than being stuck with a job that they hate for the three year work period.

The city of Ember is becoming more and more unhappy. The generator providing the electricity for the city is failing more and more often. Leaving the city plunged into darkness for longer instances before it can be fixed. Supplies from the store rooms are running low. The mayor is a corrupt and greedy individual who is more concerned with his plan to keep his own life comfortable than with trying to find a solution for the survival of Ember and the people who live in the city.

When Lina finds the fragments of an ancient document, she convinced Doon to help her decipher it. They discover it contains instructions that seem to lead out of Ember. Can Lina and Doon find out where they lead, and convince the other members of the city to follow them before they run out of supplies and electricity for good?

The City of Ember was written for the young reader, however adult fans of children’s fantasy will find this an enjoyable story as well. Jeanne DuPrau has created a wonderfully intriguing world where sunlight does not exist. The story has high spirited main characters who believe in a good cause, and run up against obstacles that might make most people stop trying. I’ve seen a lot of web sites devoted to questions about the book for teachers to include it in their class curriculum. It was also announced earlier this year that a film version of the book is being filmed with a planned release of next year.

Book Review: Flight Volume 4

Read and Reviewed for armchair interviews and submitted to the Hidden Treasures summer reading contest.

Flight 4 is the fourth book in the flight series. These books are anthologies of stories told through the use of comic format. Each of these collections showcase young, innovative artists, with the intent to create stories that are fun to read for both the seasoned fan of comics, and those readers new to the format.

Flight 4 continues this tradition. Out of the series, the stories in this anthology really make the reader think about their story lines, and are quite introspective. The stories included cover a wide range of subjects. The book contains twenty-five stories by twenty-six talented artists and storytellers. The book is a collection of short stories that are varied in multiple styles and tones from each other.

A few of my personal favorites from this Flight collection are: Food from the Sea by Amy Kim Ganter, The Window Makers by Kazu Kibuishi, Dinosaur Egg by Raina. Each of these stories plays with the ideas of the power of imagination, the joy of finding your own strengths and weaknesses, and the fun of discovering new things and ideas. I’ve been a fan of the Flight collections since reading Flight Volume 3. I’m most impressed with this current collection and look forward to future flight collections.

Because, as the folks over at Flight Comics believe, reading comics should be fun, Flight 4 is defiantly a fun and thought provoking comic collection.

The artists who contributed stories to the book are: JP Ahonen, Graham Annable, Neil Babra, Bannister, Vera Brosgol, Scott Campbell, Pascal Campion, Joel Carroll, Cleo Chiang. Phil Craven, Ryan Estrada, Michel Gagné, Amy Kim Garter, Thomas Herpich, Azad Injejikian, Kazu Kibuishi, Jon Klassan, Sarah Mensinga, Fabio Moon, Ovi Nedelcu, Andrea Offermann, Lark Pien, Dave Roman, Israel Sanchez, Raina Telgemeir, and Joey Weiser.

Publisher: Villard Books
Publishing date: July 2007
Web Site: http://www.flightcomics.com/

Book Review: Sigourney's Quest by Gordon Snider

Read and reviewed for Front street Reviews, and as part of the Hidden Treasures contest.

Sigourney Phillips’ life has taken a turn for the worst. Her husband has left her for a younger woman. Her fifteen year old daughter, Debbie is acting up and siding with her father on everything related to the divorce proceedings. Sigourney finds herself retreating into her research and teaching, and becoming more and more unable to comprehend the depth of the anger and feelings of losing everything important that are becoming a firm part of her every day life.

Then, she receives a phone call that changes her life. Her close friend Martha has passed away and willed Sigourney an ancient manuscript and a diary belonging to Martha’s great grandmother Anne Hopkins. The diary tells the tale of Anne’s travels into Tibet in 1899. Her journey takes place five years before the first recorded contact with Tibet by Englishman Colonel Younghusband in 1904. In a letter that Sigourney finds enclosed with the diary, Martha tells her friend how Anne saved the manuscript during her travels. The manuscript is a very valuable one, which was written during the time that Buddhism was being established in Tibet that sets down the teachings of Buddha. Anne received it from a monk in Llasa, who entreated her to take it with her, out of the country before the Chinese could destroy the holy relic. Martha’s letter further explains that Anne’s spirit has contacted her, and that Sigourney must secretly smuggle the manuscript back into Tibet and return it to the monastery it originally came from.

In quick succession, Anne finds herself taking a leave of absence from the University, leaving Debbie with her father, and flying across the planet to join a tour group traveling into Chinese controlled Tibet. As she gets closer to her destination, Sigourney finds her path becoming more dangerous as the Chinese are alerted to her presence and the fact that she might be bringing religious contraband into the country with her. Sigourney is forced to face many obstacles along the way, and finds herself helped and making friends with the Tibetan people she encounters on her travels. Along her journey Sigourney finds healing for her troubled soul and hope that she will make the monastery, and get out of Tibet and into Bhutan under the Chinese government’s radar.

Gordon Snider has written a story that team with adventure, danger and hope. He strives to show his readers a land that is climatically harsh, but populated with a culture that is friendly, and warm. A people who live their lives steeped in the mysticism and ceremonies of their beliefs. He brings attention to how the Chinese government is trying to subvert the Tibetan’s way of living and turn Tibet into just another part of communist controlled China. The author wrote Sigourney’s quest as a fictional way of trying to record the culture he fell in love with while visiting as a photographer during the 1990’s. This book is a protest to the Chinese control and a testament to the resilience of the Tibetan people.

Book Give Away Winner

Let's give a warm round of applause to the winner of the Through the Eyes of a Survivor book draw.

Congratulations to ResQgeek.

I hope you enjoy the book. I'll email you shortly.