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 Wren Southerland is probably the best healer in the Queen's Guard but she's been a bit reckless with her magic so she's constantly in trouble with her superiors. When she receives a letter from a lord asking for her help to cure a servant, she only sees the opportunity to redeem herself and improve her name.  But she arrives she discovers that nothing is as she imagined.  The patient is actually the lord himself and he's the sworn enemy to her kingdom. Wren is deep in snow-covered mountains and it is impossible to leave. During the time Wren and the lord, Hal Cavendish, are stuck together a romance between them blossoms. But a love between them could bring complete devastation to both their kingdoms. If ever there was a book that one would label a gothic romance, this is it. There's the forbidden romance, the exotic location, magic, and a young woman going through a slough of emotions. Author Allison Saft does a tremendous job providing some moody atmosphere and c...

This is a post-apocalyptic story. Darkness is everywhere and has been that way for ten years. In that ten years, Val Riggs has seen nearly everyone she knows become 'infected' and changed shapes into hideous, grotesque creatures. Val now works as a 'ferryman' - driving an eighteen-wheeler big rig, transporting people and goods through the eternal night.  It's a dangerous job as there are those who see transporters as opportunities for fresh flesh and merchandise. There must be something special about the current passenger load as Val is now up against one of the most dangerous men she's ever faced.  A man all in black who seems every bit as capable as she is in navigating the darkness. But Val is racing the clock as well as the man in black as someone she loves is in the early days of the infection and she's learned that there's a Sanctuary that may be able to help ... if she can get there. This book is very, very ... average. The first chapter (or issue...

 Mabel Seeley was a mystery writer who published a few novels beginning in the late 1930's through the early 1950's. The Chuckling Fingers was first published in 1941.  In it, the Heaton family (Minnesota lumber tycoons) experience some strange goings-on at their remote estate (called "Fiddler's Fingers") along the shore of Lake Superior. Ann Gay has received a letter warning her that her cousin and friend, Jacquelin "Jacqui" Heaton, may be in danger. Jacqui is newly married to Bill Heaton and Ann wants to make sure everything is okay. Ann arrives to the Heaton estate to find tensions everywhere and minor, but irritating incidents occurring - acid has burned a hole in Bill's suit, a bed has been set on fire, and even Ann is not able to escape the incidents as her robe is cut to ribbons.  Jacqui, meanwhile, appears to be unstable and all the evidence to the incidents points right to her.  But Ann suspects something else may be behind this. I'm no...

 In the 1970's I was a huge fan of Michael Moorcock, specifically his Elric series, but anything he wrote was gold in my hands. I have been reading a little Moorcock lately and was very happy to get a look at this. This book is part of the PM Outspoken Authors series. I've read and reviewed a couple of these now.  Each one seems to have a short story or novelette, followed by an essay or non-fiction article, and then an interview with the author. This is no exception. The story, "Modem Times 2.0" features Jerry Cornelius, an urban adventurer who is part of Moorcock's greater Eternal Champion concept. The story is a time-hopping adventure as it spans the post-Obama presidency era in the United States to London in the 1960's. The story was 'okay' at best. It feels dated. Even though Jerry Cornelius is living in the modern world he's still carrying around his 60's/70's attitudes. The essay "My Londons" has Moorcock reminiscing about ...

 Four women have made it to the final of a reality television dating show (ala The Bachelor ). Their prize? A sleazy bachelor who doesn't seem to want to choose any of the women before him. Their destination for their final? A mysterious island in the Pacific Northwest. Each contestant represents a classic stereotype and each has their own reason for being on the show (it's no secret really that it's not to hook up with the bachelor). Living alone in the woods on the remote island is Patricia, who watches as the female contestants primp for the camera and prepare for whatever contests the TV producers come up with for them.  But the cast and skeleton crew left on the remote island may need reclusive Patricia's help if they are to survive into the next round. I requested this book because I was in the mood for something light and fun, and with the television filming as a background I really thought I might get into this. And I did, a little bit. The characters really are...

We all have something we're afraid of.  Spider, snakes, even public speaking are common phobias, but for high school student Zadie Lu ... she's afraid of her own shadow. Zadie sees shadows in a very different way than most people. She sees shadows around her small town that move in ways shadows should not move, and she gets the sense that the shadows are watching her.  Possibly even trying to kill her. But shadows don't act on their own ... do they? It's tough enough being a teenager in school, but when shadows make you jumpy you become easy prey for other school kids. It doesn't help that Zadie's already an oddity because her brother died recently and she's also trying to deal with grief. And just what are her parents doing to help? Nothing, it seems like, except living in denial. When the shadows start talking to her, and claiming something very disturbing, Zadie needs to talk it out with someone and goes to the school counselor.  Except the school has jus...

Thirteen year old Molly's father has just died, which is a lot for a young girl to take in, but her uncle arrives with some surprising information - Molly has a brother.  Molly's parents split up just after she was born and her mother (who has also passed away) took the older child and left Molly with her father. Her father had never been much of a provider and Molly learned to fend for herself. She has also learned that there is some sort of family business that this older brother she's just learned about is currently running. Since she needs money to survive she figures she'll go and demand half of everything - or part ownership of the business. The brother, Dustin, isn't too thrilled to be learning about Molly but ultimately takes her in as she shows she can handle the work.  The family business ...?  They run a funeral home and are cemetery caretakers for supernatural creatures and right now there's a wizard raising the dead and ruining the eternal slumber f...

I have no desire to become a comic book letterer but I've been reading comic books (and graphic novels) for a long time and lettering was one of the few art forms in the comic book business that I didn't know much about. Until now.   As professed by the title, this is indeed The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering .  Author Nate Piekos notes that there isn't a real guide book for comic lettering and his hope was to provide a useful resource with this books.  He succeeds magnificently.  This is a very detailed 'how-to' book with step-by-step instructions for creating and placing the letting in comic books. From the best software to use, how to best fit words in a word balloon, to how to choose or create the looks of the word balloons. I was surprised at how much work is involved on the letterer's end. There is a lot to bear in mind - though it undoubtedly becomes second nature as the letterer gets more experience. 'Little' things, like where to place ...

An accident aboard the International Space Station has the ground crew ordering the evacuation of the station's three astronauts. As a last minute decision, American astronaut Walli Beckwith decides to stay aboard. To repeated orders to return to earth she only replies with a Bartleby-like, "I prefer not to." Walli has been an outstanding astronaut and prior to that she was at the top of her class at the Naval Academy and a successful fighter pilot. Taking the space station hostage is totally out of character for Walli.  She goes about doing general maintenance and daily upkeep on the station and prepares for a live (a few second delay) public announcement detailing her reasons and what she wants to see happen before she returns to earth (where she will certainly be facing lengthy prison time as the ISS truly is international and other countries have already indicated they wish to try her. What Walli wants is for the United States to lead and international agency (such as...

STAR TREK WEEK Author/artist John Byrne just keeps getting better and better with these Star Trek photomontage graphic novels!  For those who haven't seen any of my other reviews of the Star Trek: New Visions series, the idea is that the author writes new stories featuring Kirk, Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise, and uses stills from the series, manipulated and photoshopped, sometimes with people and items never seen on the television show, and sometimes bringing a guest actor back.  When done well, it definitely gives the sense of seeing/reading a new story right from the television screen.  And it is being done well.  This is perhaps the best of the series to date. This book features the following stories: "The Hollow Man" - Spock gets a private message and takes off in a shuttle, loaned from a nearby space station.  He visits Tau Beta IV where he encounters Leila (from "This Side of Paradise"). There she introduces Spock to her husband, Alan Becker. But ...

STAR TREK WEEK  There are many aspects of the television show Star Trek that have become iconic but is there anything more identifiable than the starship Enterprise ? This self-published book by N. Datin McDonald gives some background and historical reference to the building of the original Enterprise model(s) used for the filming of the Star Trek television series. N. Datin McDonald is the daughter of Richard C. Datin Jr who was the model-maker who built the original Enterprise . McDonald has access to Datin's files and supplies, which is immensely helpful for the dedicated Trek fan who is always looking for a new piece of information or support. However, when you are working on a project in the mid-to-late 1960's - purely as part of your everyday job  - why would you ever think to save every scrap of paper or drawing or model scrap?  At the time Datin was working on the Enterprise , he had no reason to suspect that the television show would have such incredible succe...

STAR TREK WEEK It is the third volume in the Star Trek: New Visions graphic novel series, this one featuring comic book issues #'s 6, 7, and 8. Author and photoplay artist/manipulator John Byrne has begun to refine the process and found ways to add new characters to the stories, broadening the scope of the stories. The first story, "Resistance," is the weakest of the three here.  It's an 'internal' story, meaning all the action takes place aboard the Enterprise with no special guests. In the story, Kirk and crew face off against a powerful, Doomsday Machine-like entity with the very strong suggestion that it is the Borg. Mostly I was a bit bored by the story and I executed an eye-roll at the end. I don't mind when a franchise like Star Trek draws on past precedent to include storylines or characters that have gone before.  It's actually quite fun. But I do have a problem when trying to presage a storyline or characters. We know that Picard and crew w...

STAR TREK WEEK Not too long back, I re-read and reviewed the first original Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die! by James Blish, who was a recognized name to us Star Trek fans for his book adaptations of the original episodes. For those of us who couldn't get enough Trek in our lives (remember, kids ... no streaming television to watch whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, and VCRs were cumbersome beasts owned only by a few schools) this was a joyous occasion.  Suddenly, with the publication of Spock, Messiah! (was an exclamation mark going to be required in all Star Trek novels?), co-authored by two men whose names were not familiar to Star Trek or science fiction readers - Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr. Suddenly the Trek world opened up. There could be any number of new stories featuring our intrepid Captain Kirk and his crew, and anyone could be writing them. Spock, Messiah! focuses on Mister Spock, of course, who, after heading down to a planet (Kyros) as...

STAR TREK WEEK  Last summer I read and reviewed the first volume in author/artist John Byrne's Star Trek: New Visions graphic novel series.  It is set up like a comic book/graphic novel but using manipulated photos from the Star Trek series (like the old 'Fotonovel' books) to tell new stories. In this collection, Byrne stretches his character-creating, giving us some familiar faces (familiar if you're a fan of the show), though not always the more recognizable guests, as well as creating some new characters.  I liked that Byrne sticks with the 1960's style. In the short "Robot" our guest is wearing a very 'mod' outfit that would easily have been in fashion on earth circa 1969. Something Byrne is able to do is to give us aliens that are truly alien in appearance.  We see this nicely in "Cry Vengeance" in which Kirk encounters a very alien race that has also had a run-in with the Doomsday Machine. There's a Harry Mudd story and Tri...