Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 70
November 14, 2012
BOOK REPORT: Book News for the Week of November 11th
Some Stores Back, Many Still Struggling
While some bookstores are now open to the public, there are still others struggling after Hurricane Sandy.
As Sandy Loomed, the Book Industry Panicked
A great article on the Random House-Penguin merger from New York magazine.
Booksellers Resisting Amazon Disruption
With Amazon’s continue plans to put the rest of the bookselling world our of business, booksellers are doing they’re best to make their stand.
Staples’ Amazon Lockers
Staples stores in the US will begin installing Amazon lockers where they can pick up their orders.
“Ashes of Honor” by Seanan McGuire (Daw, 2012)
October Daye is back again in a new story in this sixth book in the series. A year has passed since Toby’s last adventures left her exhausted, wounded and barely alive, and someone close to her dead. Now she is focusing on training Quentin as her squire, doing her job as Sylvester’s knight and trying to make her life go by in a normal way, but her life is ragged and worn due to her decisions and what she’s done. Then there’s the question of Tybalt, the King of Cats, who’s a whole issue on his own.
And then she is asked to help once again, as a friend and fellow knight, Etienne, reveals to her that his daughter has been kidnapped. This comes as a shock to Toby, as she didn’t even know he had a daughter, but that’s because he’s kept secret about it, as she’s half-changeling — like Toby — and lives with her mother in the human world. Her name is Chelsea, and like her father, she can teleport. But because she is young and just coming into her powers, she is able to open doors and gateways that shouldn’t ever be opened; places that haven’t been accessible for centuries. She also can’t stop herself as she’s on the run from her kidnappers, but also because she can’t control her powers. If they don’t stop her soon, she’ll end up tearing Faerie apart.
Just another ordinary day of mayhem and adventure for Toby, though this time the stakes seem higher than ever. And she can easily identify with a half-changeling not knowing what is really going on and how to control her powers, and if this were to get out about Etienne, it would ruin him. Plus there’s Tybalt who keeps lending a helping hand and is always there when she needs him, and Toby really needs to work out what her feelings are about him. Just another ordinary day.
Originally written on October 24, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Ashes of Honor from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
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November 12, 2012
“Mortality” by Christopher Hitchens (Twelve, 2012)
With the passing of popular author Christopher Hitchens on December 15, 2011, the world lost a powerful voice in the writing world. It began for Hitchens on June 8, 2010 while on a book tour when he was brought down by extreme pain in his chest and throat. It was then that he was diagnosed with cancer, and began a rigorous series of treatments and chemo therapy to try to get rid of the cancer and bring him on the road to recovery.
It was a long hard struggle, and while at points Hitchens’ health did seem to improve, ultimately the cancer was too much for him. Mortality is a collection of his writings and award-winning columns published in Vanity Fair. They are his notes, thoughts and ideas, philosophies on life and his swiftly approaching mortality. They are unavoidably moving when one considers who is writing down these words, akin to Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture.
Some might be looking to see if this staunch atheist turned to some divine deity as the days of his life grew short, but there is little in here of that; it is more the words of a man who knows he will soon die, and what that means to him, his wife, his family, his friends. In the afterword, his wife recounts how he was always the one to have the last word, and now she is doing the job . . . and yet she admits, this isn’t really true, as every time she picks up a book from their great library, in the margins and on the blank pages, she finds Hitchens’ words everywhere.
Originally written on October 23, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of Mortality from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
November 9, 2012
“When Will Your Rise: Stories to End the World” by Mira Grant (Subterranean Press, 2012)
Mira Grant is the author of the popular and bestselling Newsflesh zombie trilogy consisting of Feed, Deadline, and Blackout. The stories in When Will You Rise: Stories to End the World were originally published on Grant’s blog leading up to the release of Deadline in 2011, with a new story posted each day. They are now collected in their entirety in When Will You Rise from Subterranean Press.
Anyone who has read the trilogy is familiar with the state of the world after the zombie uprising and how the main characters, Georgia and Shaun, lived through it and continued to survive. Readers have had hints here and there and some explanation of the past and when the uprising began in the summer of 2014. When Will You Rise tells those stories, of Shaun and Georgia’s parents, of the scientists working on a cure for the common cold, and those working on a cure for cancer and how the two ended up comingling in the atmosphere to turn everyone into ticking zombie time bombs: once you die you come back a zombie hungry for human flesh.
When Will You Rise is an excellent compendium to the trilogy, filling in gaps and histories that the original three books all but gloss over. Fans of the series will not be disappointed, and for those wanting a small taste of what the series has to offer, to whet their appetite, When Will You Rise is a perfect start.
Originally written on September 25, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of When Will You Rise from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
November 7, 2012
BOOK REPORT: Book News for the Week of November 4th
Book News for Week of November 4th
Booksellers’ Post-Storm Posts
Get the booksellers viewpoint on Hurricane Sandy and how they weathered the storm.
Booksellers Storm Back
Learn which bookstores were open the day after Hurricane Sandy and how they did it.
Penguin Random House
It is now official that Random House and Penguin Books, two of the publishing giants and so called “Big Six,” are forming a joint venture.
Sony’s Virtual Book Club
Sony has started a new virtual book club, featuring a new book each month with an online meeting through their site, an interview with the author and more.
November 6, 2012
“Kyra” Ebook Giveaway on Charla’s Book Shelf
For those interested, there’s an ebook giveaway going on right now for 5 copies of Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus over on Charla’s Book Shelf. Anyone interested in getting a free ebook, more info, and entering the giveaway should go here.
November 5, 2012
“V Wars” by Jonathan Maberry (IDW, 2012)
V Wars is an interesting effort edited by Jonathan Maberry, bestselling author of Patient X and The Dragon Factory, bringing together a number of authors writing their own stories set in the same world where there are vampires. Sometimes characters cross over, and occasional plot lines are intertwined, but for the most part each author is writing their own, individual story. The result is a book that while not as cohesive as a complete novel written by a single author, features a number of interesting viewpoints in a world where vampires begin to take over.
Maberry’s own story, “Junk,” which continues in a number of parts, sets the stage for V Wars with the first of the infected from his perspective as he deal s with the changes of becoming a vampire and the growing lust and hunger that can only be satiated by fresh blood. It is unclear how or why certain people first turned, but it is thought to be a virus affecting “junk DNA.” In this world your heritage matters when you become a vampire, as all the folklore and history of vampires is true in a sense; the vampires we are all familiar with from Bram Stoker are for those with a Romanian heritage, while people of Russian descent are their own kind of vampire, and Native Americans yet another.
V Wars features stories from the likes of Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, Keith Decandido, Scott Nicholson, and more. It is a book that is certainly an interesting experiment with some impressive ideas and aspects that will leave you chilled to the bone.
Originally written on September 25, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
V Wars is an interesting effort edited by Jonathan Maberry, bestselling author of Patient X and The Dragon Factory, bringing together a number of authors writing their own stories set in the same world where there are vampires. Sometimes characters cross over, and occasional plot lines are intertwined, but for the most part each author is writing their own, individual story. The result is a book that while not as cohesive as a complete novel written by a single author, features a number of interesting viewpoints in a world where vampires begin to take over.
Maberry’s own story, “Junk,” which continues in a number of parts, sets the stage for V Wars with the first of the infected from his perspective as he deal s with the changes of becoming a vampire and the growing lust and hunger that can only be satiated by fresh blood. It is unclear how or why certain people first turned, but it is thought to be a virus affecting “junk DNA.” In this world your heritage matters when you become a vampire, as all the folklore and history of vampires is true in a sense; the vampires we are all familiar with from Bram Stoker are for those with a Romanian heritage, while people of Russian descent are their own kind of vampire, and Native Americans yet another.
V Wars features stories from the likes of Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, Keith Decandido, Scott Nicholson, and more. It is a book that is certainly an interesting experiment with some impressive ideas and aspects that will leave you chilled to the bone.
Originally written on September 25, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of VWars from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
November 2, 2012
“A Book of Horrors” Edited by Stephen Jones (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012)
When British author Stephen Jones set out to bring the anthology that would become A Book of Horrors together, his goal was to make the world realize that the concept of the horror story and the ability to frighten and terrify readers in a number of ways is still alive and well, contrary to what the likes of sparkling vampires, hunky werewolves, and all the other former denizens of the world of terror that have now been romanticized have shown. Jones does just this in A Book of Horrors.
The collection opens with a new story from Stephen King, “The Little Green God of Agony,” about a man who has suffered much and continues to be in constant agony from a debilitating accident he had some time ago and is still recovering from. His physical therapist believes he just isn’t working hard enough to recover fully. But another man believes otherwise, and he plans to bring this little green god of agony out of him. “The Man in the Ditch” from Lisa Tuttle begins with a woman in a car sighting a dead man by the side of the road and goes from there. The book also features a new and original tale from John Ajvide Lindqvist , bestselling Swedish horror author of Let the Right One In. “The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer” has the same feel of many of his other works, with the hard, cold landscape of Sweden, the importance of family and how it deals with loss, and what it means to live in the house where a murderer killed himself.
A Book of Horrors will be enjoyed by any horror fan, and by anyone looking to give the genre a try, as the stories range from monster to ghost to psychological; all kinds of horror are available for the reader in this collection.
Originally written on September 27, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of A Book of Horrors from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
October 31, 2012
BOOK REPORT: Book News for the Week of 10/28
Penguin House?
Publishing giants Random House and Penguin Group looking at possibly merging.
Amazon Author Rank
Amazon has now created an author ranking of their bestselling authors.
The Rising Price of Ebooks
An interesting article on the rising prices of ebooks and how this isn’t affecting sales.
New Westeros Maps
For fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series who’ve been wondering exactly what the world looks like and what the layout of the terrain is like, look no further.
[CONTINUE READING . . .]
October 29, 2012
Hurricane Reads
We interrupt our regular scheduled posts of book reviews and book news to bring you some recommended “hurricane-related” reads. And this isn’t just for those on the eastern side of the country who are hopefully wrapped up and warm and looking for something good to read, but anyone around the globe looking for some inspired reading.
And this may be the point where you choose to start reading ebooks, as many of these titles will be easily acquired through ebook sites. But remember the downside: if you’re using a self-lit ereader, you’re good to go, but if you’re using your computer and you’re in the path of the bad weather, you may loose power.
Enough chit-chat, on with the recommended lists from some truly great sites.
Hurricane Mysteries
Down in the Flood by Kenneth Abel
Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews
Tricky Business by Dave Barry
Twisted by Jay Bonansinga
Jesus Out to Sea (short stories), Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
The Killing Storm by Kathryn Casey
Nobody Knows by Mary Jane Clark
Died Blonde by Nancy Cohen
Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor
Skeletons of the Atchafalaya by Kent Conwell
The Sentry by Robert Crais
Trojan Odyssey by Clive Cussler
Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey
Murder on the Tropic by Todd Downing
First the Dead by Tim Downs
Tubby Meets Katrina by Tony Dunbar
House of Storm by Mignon Eberhart
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Hurricane Season by Mickey Friedman
Murder at 28:10 by Newton Gayle
Baptism in Blood by Jane Haddam
Dead Man’s Island by Carolyn Hart
Stormy Weather by Carl Hiassen
Dark Rain by Mat Johnson
Damaged by Alex Kava
Acts of Nature by Jonathon King
Murder on the Yacht by Rufus King
Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
Getting Old is a Disaster by Rita Lakin
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Storm Track by Margaret Maron
Toros & Torsos by CraigMcDonald
Hurricane (aka Murder in the Wind), Cape Fear (aka The Executioners), Conominium by John D. MacDonald
Island of Bones by P.J. Parrish
Bloodman by Robert Pobi
Rebel Island by Rick Riordan
Raw Deal by Les Standiford
Proof of the Pudding by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Murder Unleashed by Elaine Viets
The Eye of Anna by Anne Wingate
(Taken from with more at Mystery Readers Inc.)
Hurricane Lit
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
Typhoon by Joseph Conrad
A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 by R. A. Scotti
Lunatic Wind William Price Fox
Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester
(Taken from with more at The Daily Best)
Recommended Hurricane Reading
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
“The Storm” by Kate Chopin
The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick Dewitt
(Taken from with more at Polics & Prose)
