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Isobel MacInnes is an archeology student. She's strong-willed and determined and she's a rising star with a bright future in archeology ahead of her when she touches an old box that has been handed down by chieftains for centuries and is transported to 13th century Scotland. Here is alpha male, Iain, clan leader who takes an immediate, protective liking to Isobel.  Isobel's aggressive nature is not unusual in the 21st century but in Iain's time it is quite unusual, but Iain seems to have great respect for a woman who can match his intensity. They are, they realize, soulmates. But in a cruel twist, shortly after recognizing that they are meant to be together, Isobel is whisked away once again, centuries earlier, now in Pictish-era Scotland. Here, Isobel meets Velloc, a Pict chieftain; an alpha male; and her new soulmate. It will take some time, but she will manage to get back (forward in time) to see Iain again, who will help her to understand a few things about that box

 This is EXACTLY what I want to read when I pick up a book of western fiction. U.S. Marshall for the Arizona territory Ed Frost, gets the drop on Tom Clay - a wanted murderer and member of the infamously nasty Clay family.  Locking Tom Clay up in the town jail, Frost sends a wire to Judge Barnes, the federal judge in Jessup and asks him to come and try Tom Clay. Tom Clay murdered Judge Barnes' daughter. But Barnes wires back that Frost needs to bring Tom Clay to the courthouse in Jessup. Frost knows that the entire Clay family will be looking to free the young gun, Tom, as does everyone else in the territory and Frost has trouble rounding up a stagecoach to hire that will bring the lawman and his prisoner to meet the judge. The only coach will to take the trip is run by a salty old woman, Sally Strong, and her wild beast of a man partner, Emmitt Wallace. Sally will charge Frost a hefty fee and he'll have to agree to her rules, but he has no other choice. Frost will create a div

 Back in the 1970's there were a series of books published called The Foxfire Books .  These were somewhat surprising bestsellers which, to quote the publisher "brought Appalachia’s philosophy of simple living to hundreds of thousands of readers." I still have a few volumes of these on my shelf, and the books are still available for purchase (which is pretty good after 40 years!). I mention them because Rick Wiebe's Bushcraft Whittling appeals on the same, though simpler, level. 'Simpler' because it's only focused on whittling/carving. My grandfather was an accomplished carver and I've done some carving of my own, but generally with very specific carving knives. What appealed to me about this book is the focus on using the tools at hand - specifically a standard pocket knife and an axe. I really liked the idea of whittling a spoon and/or a fork. I can see this being useful for those longer hiking or canoeing trips where you don't want to pack a wh

Ted lives in a run-down old house with his cat, Olivia, and sometimes with his daughter, Lauren. Ted has ... 'issues.' Could it be the obvious alcoholism?  Or is it something more? He sees a psychologist regularly, but rarely tells the truth. The woods behind the house hold secrets - secrets Ted is afraid will come to light when diggers and tractors wind they were behind the house and into the woods. The cat knows many secrets, and Lauren never leaves the house when she's there. Their awkward status quo is disrupted when a new neighbor, Dee, moves in on the dead-end street. Dee is the sister of a young woman who went missing years ago.  Dee is convinced that Ted, the man behind the boarded-up windows at the end of her street, is responsible and she'll do anything to prove it. I'm always on the lookout for a good horror novel and The Last House on Needless Street definitely fits the bill. Author Catriona Ward sets us up first with our main character, Ted. We can feel

* * *  I requested, received, and read a handful of graphic novels recently, and while I will be giving five stars to another one (I don't want to go into the lengthy explanation as to how my reviews are scheduled to be published), Geiger , by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson is my favorite of the bunch. Years after a nuclear war turned the planet into a hellish wasteland, only one man is able to live outside without wearing a protective suit against the radiation. He is a legend ... or maybe only a myth. He is referred to as Joe Glow or The Meltdown Man. But he's not a myth.  He is real and his name is Geiger. Geiger, who was an average human before the radiation rained down, has spent his life since the devastation waiting outside the bunker where his wife and children took refuge when he was caught by the blast. He is waiting for the time when they can come out of the bunker. Because Geiger can survive outside and he'll vigorously defend the area surrounding hi

Chains of the Heretic is the third book in a trilogy - keeping alive my unfortunate streak of reading a later book in a series without having ever read the earlier books. Captain Braylar Killcoin and his Jackal company have been sent to help the deposed emperor Thumarr recapture the throne. There are Imperial forces, however, intent on stopping the Jackals and Braylar's company will fight many battles in order to keep pressing on.  Unfortunately, they find themselves trapped in the Godveil, outnumbered, even for the Jackals. Braylar resorts to using some obscure magic to help his company get past an insurmountable attack, only to come up against something even more terrifying. For me, coming in on the last book in a trilogy, I found this to still be an accessible story.  The book manages to tell a complete story (it probably helps that this is the end of the trilogy) and I generally didn't realize that there was so much more to the story.  I did feel like there was a comfort a

Jeryon is a ship pilot.  He runs a trade route and is content to maintain a low profile and do his job. But when Jeryon encounters a dragon at sea he makes the decision to fight rather than run. Among the consequences for this action is that Jeryon will face a mutiny and he and another aboard the ship (Everlyn - a doctor of sorts) are given a 'captain's chance' and allowed to leave the ship in a small boat.  Jeryon and Everlyn wind up on a deserted island and revenge is all Jeryon can think about.   While exploring the island one day, Jeryon and Everlyn discover something that's never been seen by humans before - a dragon nest with a baby dragon hatching. They decide to raise the baby dragon themselves with the hope that when it is big enough, it will carry them off the island. Or at least that's what they decide together. Jeryon, clutching at his anger and desire for revenge, has additional plans for the baby dragon. A book about obsession and revenge can certainly

 It seems like there's no shortage of books about art ... 'how to' and 'help' books ... and I've read a few of them over the years and I stumbled on this Urban Sketching Handbook series quite by accident. But a lucky accident it was. I was so impressed with this book, as well as the other book in the series that I received at the same time ( Understanding Light ) that I immediately put all the previous books in my online wish-list and bought one that I thought might come in most handy. The book (and the series) isn't about teaching someone how to draw or sketch, it's about offering up lessons, tips, and techniques on how to improve one's drawing or new ways to look at things,  as presented by working urban sketchers. This particular volume focuses on panoramas and vertical lines. Vertical lines?  Why would that need separate attention? Because we tend to think of panoramas in terms of horizontal, sometimes forgetting the importance of the vertical l

 Maybe, if I start checking reviews on Goodreads before requesting a book, I might have saved myself a little time by NOT reading this graphic novel. It's been over a century since the fall of civilization as we currently know it and now different gang factions inhabit the great metropolises. Giala and her tribe live in the ruins of the metropolis when they are attacked by a group of slave traders. The men in Gaia's tribe are killed, the women taken captive, and the children quickly hidden in dangerous, abandoned buildings. Giala manages to escape. While dealing with grief at the loss of friends, she also plots to help those who were taken and may still be alive. There's a bunch of fighting. One of the many sad aspects to this books is that there is absolutely nothing new here.  Every pastiche you've read before about a post-apocalyptic future with men turned barbarian.   It's Mad Max in Manhattan and it's a mess. While we start out with some intriguing possibi

 Friday Fitzhugh is a young adult detective. She spent most of her free time with her best friend, Lancelot Jones - the smartest boy in the whole world - solving crimes and exploring the occult.  That is ... until she went off to college. But now Friday is back in town for the holiday and she immediately connects with Lancelot as something eerie is going on in their town. I'm really not sure what to make of this book. It took me awhile to appreciate the art.  It is highly stylized and it's not a style that I generally enjoy. Friday looks more like Edna Mode from The Incredibles movie than she looks like a teen girl. The art wore on my, though, and the further I got into the book, the less it bothered me. The story ... well, there really is no story.  Not yet.  This volume, which is a compilation of comic issues, is still all set-up. It's the introduction of the characters and the setting and how they all work together. But as far as actually doing anything or getting anywh

Rose Marshall died at the age of sixteen as she was on her way to her prom.  That was 60 years ago. Now she's a Hitcher ... a hitchhiking ghost who travels along the  crossroads. The man who killed her was Bobby Cross - once an up-and-coming movie star who sold his soul to live forever. Of course he didn't know that would mean forever driving in his car, fueled by the souls of ghosts he can run down - sending them to their final resting places. But the one ghost who's gotten away, was his first ... Rose Marshall.  All she needs to do is touch his car, and she'll be another victim, so for six decades, Rose and Bobby have played a cat and mouse game while he consumes more and more souls to stay alive forever. But Rose is approached by one of the grand spirits over seeing this twilight realm, and confesses to Rose that the crossroads are dying and along with it, Bobby Cross's protection. Finally Rose can get her revenge without fear of becoming fuel for his ghost machi

I have been a fan of Bruce Sterling's work since his first novel, Involution Ocean , was part of The Harlan Ellison Discovery Series (#4) and I've read nearly all his published fiction (and much of his published non-fiction) since then.  This collection of short stories is possibly my least favorite of his works. As the book's subtitle indicates, these stories are connected by location and culture. These are "The Italian Fantascienza Stories." But what is confusing here is that author Bruce Sterling takes on a different (Italian) persona and writes as Bruno Argento - who is also a character. My biggest disappointment is that the stories are so deeply intertwined with Italy that I feel like an absolute outsider. This is not my background or heritage, and that should be okay - I like learning about other cultures - but this is really Sterling's (or Argento's) love affair and I'm invited only to be an observer, not a participant. The one story that I enjo

It's possible that I'm one of the very few people who will read this book who has never read a Matthew Scudder novel before. I'm not sure that I've ever read any novel by Lawrence Block.  I've been wanting to read some of Block's work, and I've been in the mood for some 'hardboiled' fiction so I thought I'd give this a try. I'm glad I did. It should not surprise anyone that someone with Block's publishing history knows how to tell a good story. What was a surprise, however, was how effortlessly Block managed to combine the classic, hard-boiled detective fiction popular in the 1950's with the modern day world and modern P.I. Though I've never read a Matthew Scudder novel, I feel as though I got a pretty good handle on the character from these stories.  Starting with the first story in the collection, "Out the Window," we get a idea of Scudder's keen sense, and observation, his drive to find a conclusion, and that he&#

 Eleanor Arnason's novelette/novella Mammoths of the Great Plains is an alternate history story where mammoths survived into the last century and Native Americans led tours so that visitors can gawk and hunt.  The latter ultimately resulting in the mammoth extinction. The story is narrated by an Indigenous  family charged with preserving the mammoth. The story reads more like a short story than a novel (it's about things people do rather than about people who are doing things) and it's very direct. We follow along, learn about this alternate Native culture (not too different) and the women who save the mammoths, and we're done. The culture reflections are quite interesting and it's nice to see someone showing Indigenous People in a positive light. I was a bit underwhelmed by the story, although I liked what it was saying. This would be my same reaction to the interview with the author. I'll be honest - I don't know much about the author except that she'

Miriam has wanted nothing but to be a prima ballerina her whole life.  She has worked hard to reach her goal and now she is the prima ballerina for Lulli Dance Company. But as graceful as ballet is when watching it, it is demanding and unforgiving to the performers. Her years of hard work, extra practices, and pushing her body to get where she wanted to be have taken a toll and now all the injuries she's suffered over the years are adding up and weakening her body.  While practicing for the lead role in Swan Lake, Miriam badly injurers her ankle.  The doctors tell her that this, along with other sprains over the past few months, will require some significant time to heal and she is advised to consider not dancing any more before something truly catastrophic happens. But watching someone else dance her role is too much to bear and she leaves the hospital without a note from the doctor telling her it's okay.  She attempts to prove to the director that she's when when she aga

 Davis Holland, once a Delta Force member, is a Customs and Border Protection Agent. He and a local sheriff are called to investigate reports of an illegal border crossing, but as the pair search in the northern Minnesota woods they come across a gruesome scene of a mass murder. There is one possible clue to discovering what happened:  a small wooden chest precisely in the center of the scene. Holland is keenly aware that this is not a simple illegal border crossing ... some form of nightmare has entered his territory. When the wealthy cryptozoologist, Richard Severance, gets wind of the Northwoods trouble, he sends his special team to investigate. That team (Ben McKelvie, Lindsay Clark, and Alex Standingcloud) was recently fighting for their lives against a shapeshifter and now, still not 100% healthy they'll face a tougher, more dangerous threat. I had no idea what to expect as I went in to this book.  It had been a few years since I received the ARC (clearly no longer an ARC) so

The line was drawn a great many years ago, defining the separation between human and Xre space and for nearly 70 years this has been observed and respected with no cause for concern.  But now several reconnaissance drones have disappeared in this area.  There isn't much it could be other than a Xre ship that has crossed the line.   Captain Susan Kamala and her crew of the Ansari are directed to investigate and resolve the issue. Kamala knows that a resolution should be thorough, but at the same time, she should do whatever she can to avoid creating a full-fledged war. The investigation leads to a tense encounter and a new understanding (and respect?) of other life forms. I am typically not a fan of 'military' science fiction and I have seen that label applied to this book, but I did not find this to fall typically into that category. For me, this was a nice combination of military scifi and space opera.  I'm glad I gave this a chance based on my previous readings of au

Tempest Raj, aka "The Tempest," has gone home to California following an accident that has derailed her career as a stage magician. Tempest knows that the failed trick that nearly killed her was not due to neglect and proper vetting on her part, but rather the result of sabotage by her former stage double, Cassidy Sparrow. But convincing anyone else - even those she considered friends were quick to think the worst of The Tempest - would not be easy.  Now she's home, seeking comfort from those who love her unconditionally, and who make the best Indian home-cooked meals ... her grandfather. Tempest has grown up with magic and illusions - her father started and runs a company called Secret Staircase Construction which, as the name suggests, builds secret staircases and hidden rooms for customers who've always dreamt of having such a luxury. Tempest's father would like nothing more than to have his daughter join him in the company, but Tempest, who has dreamt of - an

Craig Foster is a diver who, with Ross Frylinck, dives regularly off the coast of South Africa without wetsuits or oxygen tanks.  His experiences with the beautiful underwater forests and creatures that dwell there led to the remarkable and much-talk-about film My Octopus Teacher . Building on the success and interest in My Octopus Teacher , Foster and Frylinck have put together a beautiful coffee-table style book packed with photos from their underwater explorations and a relatively simple, direct narrative from Foster explaining his journey. Some of that narrative includes Foster's reflection on some of the more traumatic moments in his life, such as his divorce and leaving his wife and son. But diving has been his refuge during times of despair and we get the notion that this underwater wild has been a life-saver for him and he passes that on to his son who completes a right of passage in Foster's own chosen world. While Foster's narrative definitely rounds out the book,

  It is Christmas Eve and young Noah is excited and ready for bed so that Santa can come while he's asleep, but he wants his favorite stuffed animal, an elephant named Fanfan, but Fanfan is missing! What Noah doesn't know is that Fanfan has snuck out of the house to join the other soft toys from around the world to visit with Santa in order to tell him what their child wants most of all. Will Fanfan get to the North Pole in time and tell Santa what Noah wants most of all? Will Fanfan make it back home to celebrate Christmas? This is a cute little picture book with a Christmas theme. And with the stress and hubbub that might exist in a household around Christmastime this book might just help a child who can't find their favorite toy ("it's not missing, it's gone to tell Santa want you want"). The book also answers another questions that might come up from time to time ... why doesn't Santa bring a baby sister or baby brother when that's what a child