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 Tula Bane is a young girl who is a part of a colonization plan. She is traveling with her family on a ship called Prairie Rose headed to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. The ship stops at a remote space station to take on supplies. Tula, a bit of an explorer and tired of being cooped up on the ship, goes off exploring on the station and sees the colonist leader, Brother Blue, off -loading supplies, and overhears him talking about the eventual doom of the colonists. The colonization plan is nothing more than a scam. There is no world to settle on.  The colonists are being sent to their deaths.  Bule discovers Tula hiding and beats her within an inch of her life and then abandons her on the station. Perhaps facing a worse fate - knowing what will happen to her family and to be left alone knowing no one else on the remote station. An alien, Heckleck, befriends Tula and teachers her how to survive on the station. Still, Tula misses the company of other humans, and when t...

 Daisy Castillo is a preteen girl embarking on a new (unwanted) adventure.  Her parents are divorcing and she's moving with her mom to a new home. There's an ancient forest near the new home and Daisy retreats to the woods and there she meets and befriends Calliandra, a magical half-tree/half-human creature. Calliandra is upset because her parents are missing somewhere in the forest. There is an evil force looking to destroy the ancient forest and Daisy knows she has to do everything in her power to stop the destruction of the woods.  She meets a local boy, Albert Mahoney, just a couple years older than Daisy but he already knows too much about being lost and lonely. He joins up with Daisy and Calliandra in the fight to stop the destruction of the woods. But all the threats to the woods aren't from mystical sources ... the three discover that there's a local logging company that is illegally cutting down the forest. This is something Daisy can possibly address d...

 What if young love lasted forever? Harry March is a 17 year old high school athlete madly in love with his sweetheart, Melanie Cosgrove. Melanie is a frail girl, always suffering and constantly on the verge of dying from a heart disease.  One day they both collapse at the football field, but when Melanie wakes up, she feels stronger than ever, and she rushes to Harry's side.  Their connection to one another is stronger than either of them ever thought. What neither of them know quite yet is that Melanie's heart has stopped and the two of them are now pulled into a centuries-old battle wherein they are the living embodiments of Winter and Summer. This is slowly explained to them by Jack Frost - currently represented by a 13 year old. Confused yet?  Don't worry, it only gets more confusing before becoming clearer. And that's one of the real charms about a Seanan McGuire novel.  Those of us who have journeyed with McGuire before know to have faith in that journey....

  Burning Questions is a collection of essays, speeches, book reviews, book forewords, and other non-fiction miscellany from the pen and wit of the incredible Margaret Atwood. Collected works starting from 2004 and on up through 2021, the range of material here is so vast it practically defies description. It is most fascinating to see the different ways in which Atwood talks to people.  In all cases, she appears to reaching out directly and speaking to a specific audience. But the way in which she speaks to them varies - not so much by year (the way the book is organized) but by audience.  To the audience reading an intro or a review, she speaks very differently than the way she does to an audience which she is addressing live.  This makes sense, of course. But even in her live addresses, she approaches differently depending to whom she is speaking.  Again, this makes sense but it's something that is really only noticeable because of the volume of work collect...

I really love this art book series! As I've noted before, in the review of one of the other books in the series, there is no shortage of 'how to' art books.  I've bought more than a handful myself, and rarely do I come away actually feeling enlightened in regards to a new technique or a new way of looking at something.  But I do come away from this Urban Sketching Handbook series feeling as though I've picked up something new. Spotlight on Nature , by Virginia Hein and Gail L. Wong, provides a number of tips and tricks for artists including the natural environment in their work. This isn't just about landscapes or drawings/sketches of flora, but the inclusion of natural elements in a sketch. The book isn't really for the beginning artist (though I think a true beginner will still pick up some valuable tips here) but for the artist with some general art skills looking to build those skills. Rather than spending entire chapters with detail explanations and ste...

 "Lesbian gunslinger fights spies in space!" That's the first sentence for the description of this book on Goodreads.  That's kind of all you need to know, but if you want just a little bit more.... Rig, a blue, bald, headscarf-wearing alien, is a gunslinger and a thief.  She's a badass who knows that no one is looking out for herself beside herself. She's fighting to stay safe in a universe that has three main factions fighting each other for territorial control.  They can all just go to hell as far as she's concerned. Until, that is, she gets a message from one of the factions that she used to belong to.  They want something - something they claim she stole from them - and if she doesn't return it, they're going to kill Rig's sister. Rig gets a little bit of help - from her librarian girlfriend (June) and a mysterious bounty hunter (Ginka) - and they will fly to the ends of the galaxy to keep both her sister, and tens of millions of innocent ...

 It's been a couple of years since the assault that tore Beartown and Hed apart. Some people are trying to move on, while others fight to hang on to what life was before everything fell apart.  A tempest blows and brings with it some change.  A local is killed as a result of the storm and a stranger and a hero roll into town with the promise of making a winner from one of the most skilled local hockey players. But not everyone is looking to move on.  At least one person is hanging on to some of the most devastating events of the past, letting hatred and anger fester and grow. Life doesn't stop in the event of a tragedy, and sometimes that's a tragedy in itself because people need the time to recover. Once again Fredrik Backman shows us that he understands people ... he understands what it means to be human and he can show us so many different sides, the dark and the light, the frustrations and the dreams, of humanity. Not since Shakespeare has one writer consistently...

WARNING - POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD When Leonardo da Vinci was just past the apex of his career and Michelangelo Buonarroti was still just a young. upstarting sculptor looking to make a name for himself, the two both lived and worked in Florence, Italy at the same time. Michelangelo is still in awe of the famous master when both men look to be given a famous block of marble (famous for its poor quality and previously botched attempts at getting a figure from it).  Da Vinci, in Storey's telling, is resting on his laurels, relying on his name and reputation to help him succeed. However, part of his reputation is that he is very slow in finishing his projects (if he finishes them). Da Vinci is not pleased when the upstart Michelangelo gets the marble and he, Leonardo, needs to quickly find another commission in order to pay his bills and stay in Florence.  He connects with a wealthy man who appears to appreciate Leonardo's genius in all things, including his military planning...

 When a star dies it must be replaced and a star is replaced when a god mates with a human and the human gives birth to a star. A new star is needed and the Sun God is looking for a human to provide the mortal womb. The Sun God has selected the village of Endwever to provide Him with a Star Mother.  A sacrificial human to give birth to a star.  It is truly an honor to be a Star Mother - but it is also generally a one-time event as a human woman generally doesn't survive the monumental event. Girls are paraded before the Sun God and He has His eye on the young girl from a simple family, and it's clear that while the family is honored to be selected the young girl is nervous. Her sister, Ceris Wenden, offers herself, keeping the honor of selection in the family. Ceris has always felt like an outsider with no clear direction for her life, so to volunteer to be a Star Mother makes sense to her. Ceris is remarkable in more ways than simply volunteering to give birth to a new s...

There have been a few books and 'tell-alls' from people (specifically women) in the porn industry, but few, if any, come from someone who worked as a high-profile Hollywood actor prior to making the conscious decision to start working in porn.  Maitland Ward was a teenager when she worked on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and a young woman when she was cast in the role of 'The Girl Next Door' Rachel McGuire on the successful Boy Meets World series and in the film White Chicks . But Maitland quickly ran into casting issues - as in, no one wanted to cast her in anything ... especially anything beyond the cute arm-candy girl - and she got frustrated with The Industry. She continued to interact with fans at conventions and found she really enjoyed doing cosplay.  Her fans seemed to really like it as well, which is not surprising since she leaned toward the more exploitative cosplay (ie dressing as Slave Girl Leia from Star Wars ). Each time she did this, which ...

Shade Nox is wielder of blood magic - a Bloodwizard, known as the Black Witch by most. Her intent is to create a Veil over her community to protect them from all sorts of danger, especially the Unseen. But no one has raised such a Veil in over a hundred years. Also, Veils are controlled by the Brotherhood - a coterie that doesn't like others creating Veils - especially witches. To create blood magic, witches (and wizards) must draw blood using a blade made from a special gem or mineral material. Shade wears obsidian daggers on her hips and she's highly skilled with them, able to draw blood and wield magic with the best of the Bloodwizards. Shade doesn't lack for confidence, as evident by her plans to raise a Veil unlike any ever raised in living memory, and she's created more than a few enemies in her time, and she'll need to watch her back while she's forging ahead. Fortunately she's got a friend, Raiden, who is dedicated to Shade - but their affections for...