Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 21

February 16, 2016

Book News: HARRY POTTER Play Getting Published, SAGA Cat Comes Home, EXORCIST Comes To TV & More!

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A Discovery of Witches 

The bestselling trilogy by Deborah Harkness is now set to become a TV series.


Women’s Star Wars Shirts 

Because merchandising still insists only men enjoy nerdy, geeky stuff, it can be hard to find the right Star Wars gear. Look no further!



If You Love The X-Files


While the new season is almost done, here are 8 comics you’ll love if you’re a fan of the show.


[READ MORE . . .]


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Published on February 16, 2016 08:00

February 13, 2016

“The Witch Who Came in From the Cold, Episode 1: A Long, Cold Winter” by Lindsay Smith & Max Gladstone (Serial Box, 2016)




In the 1800s when you wanted to read Dickens, you didn’t simply get a copy of his completed book, but read his latest work in serialized form. Families would gather round and read aloud the latest “installment” of Dickens. In 1984, Tom Wolfe serialized Bonfire for the Vanities in Rolling Stone magazine. Stephen King serialized The Green Mile into six short books in 1996. Michael Chabon serialized Gentlemen of the Road in The New York Times Magazine in 2007.


And then there’s Serial Box, a new publishing concept looking to bring the dramatic tension and excitement of a weekly TV show to the written word. Readers can buy individual “episodes” or subscribe to the entire book and receive the next episode as it is released in their inbox or on their ereader. The serialized books are available in ebook or also on audio in approximate 90-minute episodes.


The year is 1970 and the Cold War is in full force as the USA and the USSR face off against once another and the world stands on the brink of all out war and possible annihilation. Our story begins in the bleak city of Prague, Czechoslovakia, on the edge of the iron curtain. A young student named Andula is being stalked by something not of this world, a magical construct, and she barely has any idea. An operative of the Consortium of Ice, Tanya Morozova, knows how important and powerful the girl is, as a host, and must do whatever she can to help her. The Consortium of Ice is in a long-standing battle against the Acolytes of Fire to harness elemental magic. Meanwhile, CIA agent Gabe Pritchard screws up a case in gaining a potential asset that has been six-months in the making, due to something that changed him in a previous mission in Cairo; now he needs to make good or face the consequences which will be more than losing his job.


The authors do a great job of setting the scene of this gloomy city in the heart of the cold war making it feel like a James Bond story of espionage, and then the magic comes into play in a subtle way, giving the story a whole new feel and dynamic. The readers do their part in giving the characters life and depth, using accents where necessary, and providing added tension to the dramatic story.


The first episode, “A Long, Cold Winter” does what it should: hooking the reader, answering a few questions, but also providing many more, wanting the reader (or listener) to continue with the next episode. This first episode is also free to read through the Serial Box site.


Originally written on February 10, 2016 ©Alex C. Telander.


To purchase a copy of The Witch Who Came in From the Cold, Episode 1: A Long, Cold Winter from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.


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Published on February 13, 2016 08:00

February 10, 2016

The Witch Who Came in From The Cold


The serialized novel is back! A publishing company called Serial Box is bringing back the concept of enjoying a whole book in broken up installments. Their latest title is The Witch Who Came in From the Cold.


Through a haze of cigarettes and vodka there lies a version of Prague where spies practice sorcery in their games of intrigue. While the world watches the bitter rivalry between East and West fester along the Iron Curtain, the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame continue waging their ancient war of magic. Kept to the shadows, this secret contest crosses the lines of politics and the borders of nations with impunity – the intrigues of spies may know clear sides but the battles of witches spill out over all. Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long line of Ice witches and sorcerers; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, suspicious allies at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself.



The fourth episode comes out February 17, but here’s the cover that was released today.


Spurred on by the mystic hitchhiker in his brain, Gabe decides to do a little digging of his own into the Host’s fate. But his interest in the missing student has not gone unremarked by agents of the Flame and the KGB alike . . . to say nothing of Tanya herself, who is determined to discourage this brash young American with a talent for dabbling in matters that don’t concern him.


There will be a total of thirteen episodes and is available in both ebook and audio. Check out the trailer for the series:



 


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Published on February 10, 2016 05:00

February 9, 2016

Book News: Fear-Inspiring Reads, Books Based On Other Books, Surrounded by Neil Gaiman & More!

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Amazon the Bookstore

Through a stroke of marketing genius, Amazon has decided to open some physical bookstores, because there don’t seem to be that many anymore.


Be The Animal

Some kids’ books from the point of view of animals.


Books Based on Other Books

You may have seen your share of movies based on books. Well, here are some books based on other books.


[read more . . .]


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Published on February 09, 2016 08:00

February 8, 2016

Bookbanter’s Top 20 Reads of 2015

.1.
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Seveneves

Neal Stephenson

The research at times is mind boggling as he goes from complex aerospace technology to well calculated genetics to thought out sociology. He literally brings the human race to the brink of extinction.  [READ REVIEW]


.2.
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Bazaar of Bad Dreams

Stephen King

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is perhaps King’s best collection of stories since his debut collection Night Shift[READ REVIEW]


.3.
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Dead Ringers

Christopher Golden

What they have in common is a special house where bad things happened, where bodies were found that had been buried for a long time.  [READ REVIEW]


.4.
Sandman Overture

The Sandman Overture

Neil Gaiman

Dream travels to a place and time where he encounters the many manifestations of the sandman across the entire universe.  [READ REVIEW]


.5.
Aurora

Aurora

Kim Stanley Robinson

. . . humanity has specifically evolved to survive on Planet Earth, wherever they hope to travel to in the universe they will be landing on a planet or moon where they have not evolved and face high risk to become sick and infected . . . [READ REVIEW]


.6.
Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers

David McCullough

He doesn’t just tell the story of flight, but shows the full lives of the Wrights; how they interacted with each other and lived their daily lives. [READ REVIEW]


.7.
Fifth Heart

The Fifth Heart

Dan Simmons

Sherlock Holmes is in Paris on a foggy night and finds Henry James by the Seine about to commit suicide. [READ REVIEW]


.8.
The Fold

The Fold

Peter Clines

The problem is there have been a few anomalous readings, and one person who was visiting to check out the device, went through with no problem, then flew back home and apparently went insane, claiming his wife wasn’t who she said she was. [READ REVIEW]


.9.
Uprooted

Uprooted

Naomi Novik

The Dragon is an old wizard who lives in his tower, guarding and protecting the realm from the forest. Those who stray into the forest rarely ever come out alive; those that do come out changed, twisted, evil things looking to hurt and kill. [READ REVIEW]


.10.


Saturn Run

John Sandford & Ctein

Then the race is on to get a crew together and get them to Jupiter as quick as possible to find what out what’s going on. [READ REVIEW]


.11.
Stranger

Stranger

Rachel Manija Brown & Sherwood Smith

You’re either a normal human or a mutant who is “Changed,” giving you special powers and abilities. There are those who will respect you for being different and others who will despise you, even inside those safe town walls, so watch your back. [READ REVIEW]


.12.
The Best Team Money Can Buy

The Best Team Money Can Buy

Molly Knight

Just as they began the interview in his native Texas, Kershaw learned he had just gotten a new contract with the Dodgers for a record seven-year $215 million deal. But he still did the interview, even though his phone was vibrating nonstop. [READ REVIEW]


.13.


The Marvels

Brian Selznick

When he finds his uncle, he convinces him to let him stay in the wonderfully unusual house of Albert Nightingale which is kind of a combination of Hearst Castle and Winchester Mystery house . . . [READ REVIEW]


.14.
Living Years

The Living Years

Mike Rutherford

But Mike also has plenty of stories and anecdotes to tell and doesn’t hold back when it comes to commentary on “drugs and rock’n’roll.” [READ REVIEW]


.15.


Career of Evil

Robert Galbraith

Thinking it a possible gift from her fiance, she opens it up and discovers a woman’s severed leg inside. [READ REVIEW]


.16.
Saga Volume 4

Saga Volume 4

Brian K. Vaughan

Alana is an actress in an underground entertainment outlet known as the Open Circuit, but there is a lot of stress and strain forcing her to take a drug to cope. [READ REVIEW]


.17.
Finders Keepers

Finders Keepers

Stephen King

The question is should Pete turn in what he has found to the authorities, or perhaps use the money to help his family who are in deep financial troubles and at risk of divorce? [READ REVIEW]


.18.
Solarversia

Solarversia

Toby Downton

The year is 2020 and Solarversia is an MMORPG like no other. It lasts an entire year, as players complete puzzles and obstacles, leveling up and traveling to new places around the planet. By the time the game officially begins, there are 100 million players. [READ REVIEW]


.19.


The Sculptor

Scott McCloud

After having a conversation with a deceased family member he strikes up a deal with death and is able to create art with his bare hands. [READ REVIEW]


.20.


A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

George R. R. Martin

In some ways, these stories are on par and perhaps a little better than the lengthy books, for they are simpler, more straightforward and Martin seems to be having more fun in this world when it’s not tied up with the giant, overwhelming series. [READ REVIEW]


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Published on February 08, 2016 05:00

February 7, 2016

“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” by George R. R. Martin, illustrated by Gary Gianni (Bantam, 2015)




In addition to the main events in his Song of Ice and Fire series, Martin has also written a couple of novellas set a century before the events of the series about a fledgling hedge knight. They’ve been published in anthologies, but are collected here for the first time, with some great illustrations by Gary Gianni.


In the first story, “The Hedge Knight,” readers get to meet Dunk for the first time, who is burying his late lord and master whom he was apprenticed to. Before the man died, he knighted Dunk, as was his right. Now Dunk spends his days traveling from town to town in search of jousting tournaments in an effort to earn some coin as well as notoriety as a mystery knight. Along the way he also gains a most unusual squire in Egg, a young boy whose head is completely shaven; he also belongs to a very interesting family.


“The Sworn Sword” features the unlikely duo dealing with an issue involving a river during a very hot summer where Dunk meets a vivacious young redhead. In the final tale, “The Mystery Knight,” Dunk and Egg once again find themselves at a jousting tournament, but there is a lot more going on here than just a number of knights titling at one another.


In some ways, these stories are on par and perhaps a little better than the lengthy books, for they are simpler, more straightforward and Martin seems to be having more fun in this world when it’s not tied up with the giant, overwhelming series. Though the fun is also in reading familiar names and knowing the important people in history they will become. As for the illustrations, they are numerous and appear on almost every page, giving life and vitality to the entertaining book that is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.


Originally written on December 4th, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.


To purchase a copy of The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.


You might also like . . .


A Game of Thrones Dangerous Women Tuf Voyaging



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Published on February 07, 2016 11:00

“The Sandman: Overture” by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by JH Williams (Vertigo, 2015)

Sandman Overture


Twenty-five years ago the world was introduced to one of the most important comic series ever created and it launched Neil Gaiman’s career. Gaiman put the series to bed some years ago, but now on the quarter-century anniversary he returns to tell a tale he’s had in his imagination since he began the series, as he says in his introduction. It is a story he has wanted to tell for a long time and now readers finally get the chance to enjoy it.


Fans who’ve read Sandman know of the Endless: Delirium, Desire, Despair, Destiny, Death . . . Dream. They know the events – eventual catastrophic ones – of the comic book series. But in The Sandman: Overture, readers get a prequel of sorts. At the beginning of the first Sandman volume, Preludes & Nocturnes, Morpheus is exhausted and has apparently been through a great ordeal and this is that story.


Dream travels to a place and time where he encounters the many manifestations of the sandman across the entire universe. Here a meeting will be conducted and decisions will be made. And then Dream will go on a journey with some unusual companions and meet some family members he didn’t expect to see anytime soon. Again, decisions and choices will need to be made that will affect the entire universe.


One might be hesitant about what to expect when a writer returns to the opus that made him so well known after a quarter century. Will it be a captivating original story or a quick thrown-together thing to milk an already successful series? Fortunately it is the former, and Gaiman shows he had a least one more important story to tell in the Sandman universe that has earned itself a spot next to the other volumes of this popular series.


Originally written on January 13, 2016 ©Alex C. Telander.


To purchase a copy of The Sandman: Overture from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.


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Published on February 07, 2016 08:00

February 6, 2016

“Career of Evil” by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland Books, 2015)




Cormoran Strike is back with a new case to solve, only this in addition to being of a usual garish and repulsive nature, is a lot more personal. It all begins when his assistant and now admitted partner receives a special package at the office. Thinking it a possible gift from her fiance, she opens it up and discovers a woman’s severed leg inside.


It’s a personal attack on Cormoran, through his assistant Robin Ellacott. Their other cases soon start disappearing when word gets out and they know they need to find who’s behind it all before they go out of business. Strike comes up with four potential suspects from his past, and while he’d like to keep Robin locked up in a safe place, she won’t hear of it and refuses, as he knew she would.


Strike gets the police involved and gives them everything he’s got on the suspects. The police want to focus on a particular man that the private detective thinks isn’t involved, leaving the other three potential murderers for Cormoran and Robin to deal with. In their most intense and tolling case yet, they have to track down where these suspects are now, since it’s been years since Strike last checked in on them; find out what’s been going on around them and find out who the likely killer will be.


The case forces Cormoran and Robin to understand their unique dynamic as partners and how much they care about each other, while their respective girlfriend and fiance rarely see them, straining their relationships. Galbraith shows another side to the characters in this case that hits a lot closer to home, as the reader gets plenty of their personal lives, as well as their professional ones, making them feel like real people. Readers will be just as hooked with this third installment and wanting more.


Originally written on February 3, 2016 ©Alex C. Telander.


To purchase a copy of Career of Evil from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.


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Published on February 06, 2016 08:00

February 5, 2016

“The Bazaar of Bad Dreams” by Stephen King (Scribner, 2015)




To date, Stephen King has published seven short story collections, proving that the prolific writer is still a big fan of the short form. This latest collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, has perhaps one of the more horrifying and chilling covers to grace the front of a book in some time. But this makes sense, since many of the stories in the pages of this collection are both chilling and horrifying. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is perhaps King’s best collection of stories since his debut collection Night Shift.


The anthology kicks off with “Mile 81” where there is an old abandoned vehicle at a defunct rest stop that has a tendency to absorb everything that touches it; one might even say eats. In “The Dune” a man can see people’s futures written in the sand. “Morality” is the story of the collection that really makes you think, as a couple must decide whether they will perform a certain act for a large amount of money, and whether their relationship can survive because of it.


What happens when you die? King decides to present his thoughts in “Afterlife.” In “UR” an ereading device has special powers. “The Little Green God of Agony” is a story about pain in its many forms and if it had a physical presence, what it would look like. “Obits” is a story about a journalist who causes bad things to happen to people when he writes their obituaries. The collection also features King’s novella “Blockade Billy” in its entirety, about an old baseball player who had certain “abilities,” as well as King’s most recent short story published in the summer of 2015, “Drunken Fireworks.”


For those wondering why so many readers love everything King does, the many great stories in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams makes it easily convincing. The anthology has a little bit of everything: ghost stories, psychological thrill rides, captivating thrillers, and moving stories of fiction. You will not be disappointed.


Originally written on January 17, 2016 ©Alex C. Telander.


To purchase a copy of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.


You might also like . . .


    


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Published on February 05, 2016 08:00

February 4, 2016

A Quick Update

So through the rest of the week and over the weekend, you’ll see a number of reviews published on Bookbanter, which is all part of the lead up to Bookbanter’s Top 20 Reads of 2015. I’m moving the big post to Monday morning, so that I can get all the reviews up that are mentioned in that post. This is the first time I’m going to get the “best reads” post up with reviews on every book mentioned, which I’m pretty happy about.


So be ready.


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Published on February 04, 2016 11:00