Looking for Your Next Book

I like reading Tim Waggoner books.  I'm never quite sure what I'm going to get, other than something that's bound to be a wild ride, unexpected turns, completely gruesome moments, and humor both bright and dark. Curious, I looked through some of the other reviews of this particular book and I see a real variety of ratings - from one star 'what is this crap' to five star 'this is fun' reviews, and I think that, more than most authors/books, Waggoner is an acquired taste. You really have to be in the right mood or the right frame of mind to dig in and enjoy. So I guess I'm always in the right mood for Waggoner. In The Atrocity Engine , the first book in a new series (yay!), Neal Hudson is a long-time employee of Maintenance - the secret organization dedicated to battling demons, creatures from all the different dark dimensions, and/or aliens trying to destroy the universe.  Whatever needs doing.  Neal has been with the organization for more than 20 years a...

 Humans have been on the planet Anjiin longer than history has recorded, working alongside the Anjiin. The Carryx have a reputation as the galaxy's aggressive species, capturing and enslaving other civilization's wherever they go.  When the Carryx come to Anjiin, they wipe out whole communities and round up survivors. Among those captured is Dafyd Alkhor - he'd been a member of a noted research team, and worked closely with a scientist he considered to be one of the most brilliant minds he'd ever encountered. Now Dafyd finds himself a pawn in a Carryx game of extermination.  The humans against the Anjiin - losing faction is subjected to genocide, the winners become trusted confidantes to the Carryx. Dafyd finds himself at the center of multiple conflicts - against the Anjiin, but also, against the Carryx (is it possible they are not the unbeatable enemy the galaxy believes?, but perhaps more importantly, against himself ... forced to do some unspeakable acts for the gre...

 A collection of short stories (Yay!) from one of the best urban fantasy authors out there? Wonderful!! I don't read a lot of magazines anymore so I rely on collections and anthologies to get my fix of short fiction. And since I have such a backlog of ARCs, I generally only read books of short stories when I get them as ARCs now. So getting a copy of Seanan McGuire's latest (and only second?!) collection of short works is truly memorable. There is not a bad story in this bunch. One wouldn't expect there to be, given that McGuire selected the collection, choosing "some of my best stories, and some of my favorite stories, and a few of my weirdest thrown in for good measure. It is the scope of me, and it’ll be a few years before we can do this again." Not only is there not a weak story here, I can't say that there was anything that stood out above the others - it truly is a marvelous, even collection. Of course most readers of Seanan McGuire know that she can wri...

I am not familiar with author Katy Kelleher but the idea of essays on "desire and consumption" sounded really interesting. Overall, though, I was underwhelmed by this collection. The most honest aspect here was in the introduction in which Kelleher writes: "Beauty and depression are two central factors of my life." And she goes on: Beauty gives light to the darkness; it gives me hope and a sense of purpose. But beauty isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. Beauty is also dark. Beauty is ugly. In all my beauty-seeking, I’ve never found an object that was untouched by the depravity of human greed or unblemished by the chemical undoings of time. There are no pure things in this world: everything that lives does harm; everything that exists degrades. Yet many of us are drawn to these pretty, depraved things. We want to possess and caress the very things that frighten us. She also notes: "I’m a fairly typical American middle-class woman, which means that I have feathered ...

 Matt Walker is a white cop with a bad temper. Drunk and stumbling around Harlem after a rough visit with a prostitute one night, Walker can't find his car and is sure that a Black man - a porter at the hotel - he runs into has stolen it. He threatens the man, pointing a gun at him, trying to make him say where the car is when the gun 'accidentally' goes off.  Walker isn't so drunk that he isn't aware of the trouble he'll be in, so he finishes the man off- killing him with another shot. Another Black porter is aware of what's happened and Walker kills him as well.  And still another man, Jimmy Johnson, is in Walker's way to a free and clear exit and Walker shoots him, too.  But Jimmy survives and when he wakes from his coma, he points the finger at Walker. But Walker was at least smart enough not to use his service revolver (which was tested after the allegation) so who are people going to believe? A New York cop or a Black man in Harlem? But Walker isn...

 Kate is the daughter of a cultist, a part of a group who once tried to create their own god from mis-matched body parts. Things didn't go well and the body parts were distributed among the group until they might be ready to try again.  Now, Kate, and her cousin Ethan, are ready to make that next attempt. But they'll have to journey through a bizarre, dark wonderland of odd and dangerous people to get there. It can be next to impossible to sum up a Tim Waggoner book.  He pushes boundaries (going beyond the 'acceptable') and ALWAYS brings us memorable characters. This novel is definitely no exception. The characters here are so much bloody fun. Mr Yes and Mrs No ... I don't think I'll ever forget them.   Combined with Waggoner's wit, wackiness, and wild storytelling, we're taken on truly horrific adventure. Waggoner, more than any horror writer that I've read, regularly takes the reader to a dark Wonderland, and I absolutely love the trip. Waggoner ma...

A biography of Franz Kafka told in minimalist, illustrative form. I was really thrilled to get this book.  I'm a tremendous fan of the work of Franz Kafka and, many decades ago, I had read through his collected letters and diaries. Getting a new work out there, to reach a new audience - especially those who enjoy or prefer graphic novels - seemed really ideal. Unfortunately this book just doesn't work for me. The biggest issue for me is: is this a graphic novel?  I don't think it is. It is a heavily illustrated, short biography.  There is one drawing per page (with the rare exception when there are two small drawings) and the drawings don't help tell the narrative but rather pick a moment from the narrative to re-tell. It's more akin to the illustrating of a children's book.  Except that this isn't for children. Who this book is targeted toward becomes my other problem with the reading.  It's not for kids - Kafka's life is not a children's story!...

Iðunn is trying to find out why she's struggling so much and is constantly feeling fatigued. She rotates through doctors, feeling hopeful when she finds a younger, female doctor who doesn't relate her problem with 'female' troubles. But no matter what she tries, from changing her diet, to getting more exercise, to vitamins and sleeping pills. Nothing seems to be helping her and no one is able to make a diagnosis that makes sense. One night Iðunn wakes up after having fallen asleep with her smart watch on and discovers that somehow she put on 40,000 steps. She keeps this to herself but tries setting different traps and notes to see if she's actually doing something at night. Nothing she does reveals what's happening at night, but increasingly she wakes up to discover some unsettling things about her - bloodied face, black eyes, her body covered in dirt. It gets to the point where she fears going to sleep and won't allow herself a social life, until she meet o...

 Wow.  Really, just ... wow. Author Lev Grossman (of The Magicians fame) takes on a classic legend with his new look at King Arthur, the knights of the roundtable, and all the usual, familiar characters whom we've read about in other versions of the legends. Grossman brings us into the story with a new knight, Collum of the Out Isles. Collum is a wide-eyed teenager, a bastard child who comes from nothing and thus has everything to gain and nothing to lose. Skilled with a sword he sets out to join King Arthur and, hopefully, become a knight of the Roundtable. He needs to prove his skill along the way, taking his first life, which is disturbing to him, but he did everything he could (he feels) to avoid the situation and in the name of Arthur he did what he had to do. But when he arrives to King Arthur's court, Collum discovers a kingdom in ruins and Arthur himself dead, with the few surviving knights (names Collum once thought of with respect and awe) lost and floundering, tryi...

 Why do I not do a better job of reading Mary Robinette Kowal? Of the three novels I've read by her, I've given two of them 4-1/2 star ratings (a solid five stars [as opposed to a rounded-up five stars] is pretty rare from me). This collection of short stories really showcases Kowal's writing talent and creativity. This collection really shines and reminds me that I need to be more aware of her work when it is coming out. This is a strong collection of short works.  Typically, any collection of short stories will have one or two that don't have the impact or don't seem as strong as the whole.  Though a collection by one author is generally stronger than an anthology of different authors (if the reader likes the author in question). All of these stories were strong and enjoyable.  A couple stood out for me as being particularly enjoyable. First was "Body Language" - a talented puppeteer works with a good AI to help resolve a kidnapping. I'm definitely p...

After returning from Vietnam, now looking for work, Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear take a job in Alaska working for an oil company, riding shotgun with researchers and oilmen. They come upon a monster of a polar bear who appears to be badly injured, likely making him even more of a threat than a 'normal' polar bear. About the same time they encounter the bear, a storm approaches and their journey back to the safety of a base is in danger if they don't get moving.  But the death of one of the party, from the dangerous ursus creates the delay they'd hoped to avoid. From the storm, an old, abandoned ship, stuck in the ice flow, appears.  At first it seems like a godsend - a place for shelter and refuge - it also happens to be filled with highly valuable furs from ages past - but Walt and Henry's party aren't the only ones taking shelter from the storm in the ship. When Henry goes missing, Walt's mission takes on a whole new importance, but he's way o...

I only just learned, as I went to grab the cover of the book to post on the blog, that this book is a follow-up to another volume ( The Lemon Man ). This definitely explains some of the questions I had (or at least I hope the previous volume would explain some of my questions). But as to what, exactly, he does, is addressed pretty directly. Patrick Callen is a hitman.   Every year the prisons release a dozen or so killers back onto the streets. The average life sentence is about eighteen years. Not much of a life sentence. That’s where I come in. I get paid to kill these scumbags. I’ve been a hit man for ten years and that’s what pays the bills. It’s no nine-to-five job, far from it, but I’m the best in the country at it. Now, ask yourself the question, if someone close to you got hurt, abused, or murdered by some lowlife, wouldn’t you want them dead? Good at what he does, with no emotional tie to those he bumps off (or tortures), he gets around by bicycle and, because of his ...

The descendants of God's fallen angels still live among us, though they've managed to keep a low profile and their heritage out of the public eye for a millennia. But now someone has discovered their secret - and not just anyone ... a notorious serial killer knows who they are and has selected them as his next targets. A series of grisly murders brings the FBI (Agent Michael Childs) to New York, but the oddest thing about the murders might not be what ties the victims together ... that they all have twelve fingers and twelve toes ... it might be that one of their best leads is a Marine Sniper ...who was killed in Syria. Or perhaps it's what Michael Childs learns about himself. This is one of the more original fantasy/mysteries that I've read in quite a long time.  It is books like this that really had me enjoying reading whatever Angry Robot published for a few years. Author Patricia A. Jackson hooks us right from the start, jumping right into the surface mystery (the i...