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This is a really tremendous book for school-aged readers! Samantha (Sam) really wants to be a drummer. She takes drumming seriously and even though some of the other drummers (all boys) are better than her right now, she's hoping that with some practice and determination, she will make the jazz band.  All she needs is more practice. But there's no way her parents will ever be able to afford a drum set.  She practices in her room with a collection of books and notebooks and other items from her room, each set up and representing a drum or cymbal from a drum kit. Sam really wants to beat the boys out of a spot in jazz band, but then word comes from her middle school band teacher that due to budget cuts, band is being cut from the curriculum for the next year. This is devastating for Sam.  Band in school is the only way she'll ever get the drum lessons she so badly wants. Unless... Pete Taylor is the best drum teacher in town.  Some say he even has TWO drums sets in his...

  Simon Kovalic haven't even had a chance to breathe and recover from their teammate's betrayal in the last mission when he and his team are assigned their next job - a heist. They are going to have to steal a relic that may belong to an alien race, and maybe, just maybe, provide the knowledge to give the Commonwealth a leg-up on the Illyrican. To do this, they are going to have to steal this artifact from a gangster who is expecting them. To help them out, they are assigned a new crew-member, Specialist Addy Sayers, who is an ex-com with a quick temper. Working together will be essential to completing this mission, but how can they trust this un-trustworthy newcomer, especially in light of what happened with their last crew member? This is some really fun space opera. Author Dan Moren gives us a clever set of characters - most who work well by themselves but have to find a way to trust their teammates in order to survive - no easy feat, given how Moren sets these characters i...

It's been awhile since the Smoke Eaters were given their walking papers and the New United States Army has taken control of policing the country- or what's left of it. North America has become a dystopian society with great cities, such as Chicago, in complete ruin due to the dragon activity. Guiellermo Contreras is a private in the New United States Army (NUSA), and as the low man in the company he is assigned to some community relations and doing some show-and-tell with the local children. What Contreras only comes to learn is that NUSA is more of a mercenary organization, intimidating the local communities into supporting them and providing them with resources. NUSA is also looking for Smoke Eaters (those who are able to breathe while in a room full of smoke and tend to be dragon fighters). This has caused the Smoke Eaters to go into hiding. When the NUSA division that Contreras is with makes an attempt to harm a local child because they suspect the youth of having Smoke Eat...

I know nothing about Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, but the description of these short stories sounded like something right up my alley. "Italian Gothic tales of obsessive love, mysterious phobias, and the hellish curse of everlasting life."  Yes, this sounds fascinating to me. And best of all ... I really enjoyed these stories. Writing roughly around the same time as America's favorite macabre storyteller, Edgar Allen Poe, Tarchetti shows a great deal of versatility here with these works - from the dark an eerie stories that would rival Poe or Lovecraft, to the humorous to the absurd. It was fun not knowing what i was going to get next with each story. Though with the first major shift in story genre, I did go back to make sure i had opened the correct book on my Kindle because it wasn't what I was expecting. Unlike a lot of Western literature from the 19th century, which I often find to be onerous to read, Tarchetti was extremely approachable. His tone was generally quite ca...

Simantov and Bitton are detectives with the Soothsayer task Force who are looking to make sense of a series of strange crimes and disappearances. What the team of mystics agents come to learn is that there's a battle brewing in the heavens between the Daughters of Lilith and the Nephilim and humans are getting caught in the crossfire. But more dangerous is that this may be signaling the beginning of the apocalypse. I really appreciate the opportunity to read works from other countries.  While humans are pretty much the same wherever we go, the way in which we look at things and how we allow outside forces to affect us does differ. Sometimes that can be reflected in art and literature. There is, here, what I presume to be a mythology that is Israeli (I know nothing about this culture, history, or its mythology). On the surface, I was quite interested in reading this and getting something new. But as I admit I know nothing about this, I don't know where common mythology of the c...

I'll be honest ... what got me interested in picking up this book is the note that this book is "the follow-up to Chuck Wendig's Unclean Sprits ."  Now, I haven't read Wendig's Unclean Spirits , but I am a fan of Wendig's writing, so this very much caught my interest. Being a god isn't what it used to be.  Worshippers. Sacrifices. Having one's way with the mortals. But without recognition and worship the gods' abilities to be gods, begin to fade.  Enter Louie "Fitz" Fitzsimmons.  As an orphan child, Fitz always thought he could see and hear people who weren't really there. This only got worse as he grew older and he's turned to getting as high as he can to hopefully cancel out his strange visions.  To pay for his drugs, Fitz works as a drug runner for the mob where he tries to stay clean so as not to bring down the wrath of the mob on himself. But in the Heavens, a war has raged with a new crop of gods kicking the old gods ou...

Irene is a Librarian, which is to say that she is a spy for the Library - gathering special books from other locations, including alternate worlds and realities. Irene has been doing this for a number of years and is now teaching an assistant, a Fae, the ins and outs of being a Librarian. Due to Irene's success as a spy, however, there are many, many others out there looking to assassinate her.  She and her assistant, Catherine, only narrowly escape an assassination attempt (it doesn't hurt that Irene's boyfriend, Kai, is a Dragon) and Irene decides that Catherine might as well learn this part of being a Librarian first-hand. A good defense is knowledge and Irene and Catherine (and Kai) will do what they do best being Librarians ... research. They must uncover who it is who is looking to have them killed, and why. But in doing so, Irene will have to dig into her own past, which is something she has avoided until now. This is the 7th book in the Invisible Library series, and...

1976. Communication is lost with the astronauts of Apollo 18 after a moonwalk and commander Bob Cartwright utters the words, "That shouldn't be here."  A few days later a rescue mission is in place when Mission Control recognizing the unmistakable reentry burn of a capsule.  Communication is still out. But when rescuers arrive to the capsule in the ocean, they discover three bodies, burned beyond recognition from the heat of reentry due to a failed heat shield. The mystery, then, of Cartwright's last words will remain a mystery unless, or until, another mission is sent to the moon. But 36 years later, the sons of Bob Cartwright learn that the bodies in the capsule ... the body they buried ... didn't actually belong to their father or the other astronauts on the Apollo 18 mission.  But this new information was never meant to be uncovered and now the Cartwright boys are on the run, looking to protect themselves while searching for answers. Despite the space/NASA ele...

The Florida panther was all but extinct, but with a little help from Texas and some dedicated individuals, the Florida felines have made a comeback. Author Craig Pittman details the rise, fall, and rise again not just of the Florida panther, but also the people who were put in place to protect the Florida state animal. Starting with the slightly unusual story of how the panther came to be the state animal, Pittman follows the plight of the panther and how human development and expansion has taken away the panther habitat and forced the cats to either live in smaller and smaller areas or begin moving into human territory. Unfortunately it's not an uncommon story. But what is surprising is how the people who were put into positions to protect the panther threw them under the bus ... almost literally ... in favor of money and development. But a few individuals stood tough and fought for the panthers and, as they saying goes, thought outside the box. Some of the panthers' plight ca...

When is the death of a child beautiful? When it's a story written by Maggie O'Farrell. It is 1585 and the woman Agnes settles with her husband in Stratford.  They have three children - a daughter, Susanna, and then fraternal twins, Hamnet and Judith. Her husband is gone more often than not, to London, where he works with some players. In 1596 the boy, Hamnet, dies at age 11.  Agnes would like to curl up and disappear in her sadness, but still has her daughters to care for.  Her husband has been virtually estranged from the family, living and playing in the larger city, where he has even gained attention from royalty.  But word gets to him of something bad having happened and he hurries home to learn of his son's death.  Grief hits him, just as it did Agnes at the time, and the reader experiences a parents grief over the loss of a child for a second time. Four years later, Agnes sees her son's name as the title of a play, Hamlet , written by her husband. So often...

It's a little bit strange that this is a new book because it feels a lot like something I might have read in the 1970's. People have left Earth to establish colonies - the colonies are based on their cultures, and of course the Americans and the Middle Easterners got into a war and blew each other up, leaving a lot of refugees. Lost in that war was the American technology for lightspeed travel. Currently, anyone traveling between the colonies travels in standard relativity time.  This means that a trading ship might visit a colony, then head off for another colony and so on, and while only a year passes for those on the ship, it's 24 years for those on the colonies. The Hadjj are a family-owned trading ship.  The entire family stays together on the trading ship because it's the only way to grow up with your family. The captain of the Hadjj makes a contract with a young, poor couple to commit their children in marriage - the captain's son, Adem Sadiq, and the couples...

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK What is it about Conan the Cimmerian that he endures and still engages readers? I'm glad that there's still interest in reading his adventures. This book contains two stories: "People of the Black Circle" and "The Frost-Giant's Daughter." People of the Black Circle, was adapted by Sylvain Runberg and illustrator, Jae Kwang Park, and "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" was adapted (writer and artist) by Robin Recht. "People of the Black Circle" (or "The People of the Black Circle") is often considered to be one of the most iconic Conan stories due to a more in-depth look at magic and the magicians of the Hyborian worlds. The story centers around a princess who hopes to enlist Conan's help to defeat the Black Seers of Yimsha, who have recently killed her brother, the king of Vendhya. But Conan has recently lost some of his men, killed by soldiers of Vendhya, so Conan takes things into his own hands (as he u...

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK Imagine a world where a social media platform has such power as to determine who should like whom, who has enough social rank to get the better jobs and even determine someone's credit score simply based on their social rank. In the graphic novel, Averee , it's not just students who are on their phones constantly, checking their status on the powerful app, Ranked. You can be awarded points for good behavior, but just as easily you can find points stripped away for not conforming. When Averee's rank plummets overnight, she quickly finds herself hassled at school, not allowed to park in the structure closest to school but one a few blocks away that allows for lower Ranks, and her mom even loses her job. This is devastating for the teen, but fortunately she's got a best friend, Zoe, who's already bottom ranked because she refuses to give in to an app-based lifestyle. Add one cute guy, Luke, who's willing to risk his Rank because he likes Averee, ...

  GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK It is the late 1800's and the Klondike Gold Rush is on. A stunning, elegant woman of some means arrives  in Woodsburgh, a small mining town close to the Canadian border. This was once home to the Swanson Mine, but it's been closed for awhile - ever since a terrible accident caused the loss of many, many lives. Lady Hellaine clearly doesn't fit in. Her dignity, grace, and beauty is a sharp contrast to the poor citizens who are more likely to be doing something illegal than making a legitimate life. The town's other lady - Lady Swanson - doesn't trust the new-comer (who doesn't seem to have any real reason to be there). And something dark is happening in town. An unknown creature is attacking townsfolk who let their guard down, then wreaking havoc on the bodies. Is there a connection between what's happening to the people and Lady Hellaine's arrival? I started off really getting into this book.  The art is delicious and the first part ...

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK Putting the 'graphic' back in 'graphic novel.' Married couple, Dan and Cathy, love each other very much. Dan will do anything to make his wife happy. Cathy wants to live the Swingers lifestyle.  Dan isn't convinced of this and Cathy is aware of Dan's reticence and she's willing to take it slow to get him acclimated to the world. Dan works hard to remain positive, even despite Murphy's Law - if something bad can happen, it will.  He thinks at one point: "How can I say no to this woman? I love her so much. I'm upset, but I'm sure this has happened many times in the swinger lifestyle." I'm not going to define what happened - if you're interested, you should read the book. But I do wonder ... if something 'bad' happens, even if it happens a lot due to the lifestyle, does that make it okay? I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. The artwork by Yishan Li is nice.  It's got a modern style to...