ELITIST BOOK REVIEWS

I’m not sure what I expected going into this novella. I mean…look at the cover. It’s weird, kinda creepy, and automatically makes me want to read the story. Subterranean Press was kind enough to send over a copy of the exceptionally strange novella by Jonathan Carroll, TEACHING THE DOG TO READ. It didn’t disappoint.
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K.J. Parker has been one of my favorite authors for quite some time now. Her books, in my opinion, are brilliant fun and have oodles of engaging characters put into absolutely awful predicaments. Even though she overwhelmingly shies away from all things “magical,” there’s plenty within the “fantasy palette” developed by each book that I feel completely satiated at the end of each reading. She makes me laugh, and as I’ve repeatedly found, making a reader laugh can cover a multitude of sins (if there are any). If you’re up on your game in regards to her publications, you might also have noticed that Ms. Parker is NOT A MS. Completely took me by surprise as, when speaking of authors from across the pond, I’ve tended to like the works of more female authors than their more masculine counterparts (with a few exceptions). Never thought I’d see the day honestly. But still, Tom Holt writes the books the same way whether he uses that pseudonym or not. So I’m still happy.
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Not only did this series get a major upgrade with the last book (hardcover, anybody?), but we also heard that SyFy had picked it up for a 10-episode series (which begins to air this December), and they also started writing for series two of the SyFy series last month. That’s June. Six months before the series even premieres! Just freaking cool. Still, I’m already itching for book six, Babylon’s Ashes. Although, we’ll get a new novella (The Vital Abyss, Oct 1st) in just a few months, and then the tv series in December, so the time between now and then should just fly.
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Alison Quinn has known her share of disappointments. Being rich, a countess, and beautiful means men only see her for what she can give them, and not for the talented woman she is. But who needs a man when she has an estate to run and works as an editor at her father’s printing business? Certainly she doesn’t need to work, but her passion for books and the printed word outweighs a life of leisure.

However, being a countess obligates her to the request of the Queen, and she is summoned for a six-month stint as a companion to the Dowager. Now Alison finds herself living the very life she was trying to avoid: dressing in gowns, embroidering, attending musical events, and even dancing at the occasional party. Dating a man is one thing, but that doesn’t mean Alison can’t enjoy a good dance. And who should ask her but the Crown Prince Anthony, who is definitely handsome…but also a notorious rake, whose unsavory comments cause a very public altercation. The Queen forces them to be seen together to prevent court gossip. But, surprisingly, Alison begins to think that Anthony may be the one to prove her wrong, and that all men aren’t the same.

One would think that’s where the story ends. But one would be wrong.
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It’s been a while since I sat down here and wrote a review, so you can expect a small deluge from me in the near future. I’m a huge fan of space opera in all genres and forms. I don’t know a lot about John C. Wright, but receiving THE ARCHITECT OF AEONS excited me, and made me want to read this. I’ve never read any Wright, so I was ready to experience a new to me author.

Well.
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From Dark Regions Press, we have a great novella from one of my favorite authors, Joe Lansdale. PRISONER 489 (Amazon) is short, sweet, and a terrific read. While I simply adore Lansdale’s Westerns, I’m an even bigger fan of his writing.
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THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS (Amazon) is not exactly a title that reaches out and grabs you. No? I mean, when was the last time you actually saw the word “slow” in the title of a book? Okay, there was SLOW APOCALYPSE (EBR Review) — not my favorite. Or there was also SLOW BULLETS (EBR Review) — not half bad. Or “silent” for that matter? Hmm. THE SILENT LAND (EBR Review). Maybe this is turning out to not be the best analogy…) Let alone both in the same title? Hah! I don’t know of any others.
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Lizzie Borden is the town pariah of Fall River because she’s suspected of hacking her father and stepmother to death with an axe. Certainly she was acquitted at trial, but there’s more to the story than anyone knows. Well… her sister Emma knows, but she’s not telling. And together with their inheritance from their father, they buy a house outside of town, name it Maplecroft, and begin to research in privacy to discover what really happened.

Cherie Priest takes the original Lizzie Borden story (Wikipedia) and presents to us a alternate explanation of their parents’ deaths. What if the illness the Bordens experienced wasn’t simple food poisoning? What if it were something much more sinister? What if it were related to their deaths?
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After the gripping events of book 2, BLOODSTONE (EBR Review), it’s now fifteen years later and Seth is the dun captain–a responsibility he never expected, knowing his brother Conal would inherit. Now Conal is gone, but Seth has his son Rory, whose ability to manipulate the Viel–the barrier between the Sithe world and the human world–makes him the prophesied Bloodstone, and the very person Queen Kate NicNiven wants for her own purposes.

Unfortunately teenagers will chafe under restrictions, even knowing it’s best for their well being. When Rory sneaks into the mortal world and discovers Hannah, half-Sithe, half-mortal, he brings her back to the dun.
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