Toi Thomas's Blog, page 118

WWW WEDNESDAYS 09

WWW WEDNESDAYS… is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading, where you share (1)What you’re currently reading, (2)What you recently finished reading, and (3)What you think you’ll read next.
Comments and shares are welcomed here, but please try to share with Should be Reading as this is their meme.
1. What are you currently reading?I’m still working my way through a field of books, but I’ve made loads of progress on all. I’m still reading Burning Bridges (The Bleeding Heart Trilogy) by Nadege Richards, The Perfects by Wendy Reaks, Childhood’s End by Author C. Clarke, and Embrace(Gryphon Series) by Stacey Rourke. I also foolishly started an epic time travel romance entitled The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
2. What did you recently finish reading? I finished Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It just took over…It’s that good, to me anywayJ.
3. What do you think you’ll read next? I’m holding off on Seraphina by Rachel Hatman for a while and am focusing on a few beta reads, but will be starting a Kindle Serial by Robert Kroese called Disenchanted . I don’t know much about it yet, but I think the idea of a serial and am giving it a go as soon as I finish one of the books above, which should be sometime this week.
What is your WWW Wednesday?
Check out what others are reading. Ticket to Anywhere. More to come.

Stacking The Shelves 09

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, and of course ebooks!*Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use Tynga’s official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!*You can set your post any way you want, simple book lists, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!*Tynga’s posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.* Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday to add your link so others can visit you.*Visit other participant’s links to find out what they added to their shelves.The information list above was taken directly from Tynga’s Reviews blog.It’s been two weeks so here’s what I got. A Life Earthbound (The Dryad Quartet) by Katie Jennings- ebbok Of Water and Madness (The Dryad Quartet) by Katie Jennings- ebook The Guardian's Apprentice (Beyond the Veil) by J. Michael Radcliffe- ebook The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka- ebook The Living Years by David Moore- ebook A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle, illustrator Hope Larson- hardcover On What Grounds (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 1) by Cleo Coyle- paperback Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos- hardcover
Just for fun!I will be sharing the comics, movies, live shows, and vinyl records I’ve added and or will be seeing at venues or theatres.  Please feel free to share and comment.*I’m having trouble getting into the 2ndseason of Once Upon a Time, but last week’s episode was really good.*I went to see Die Fledermaus at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk and had a wonderful time. It’s been too long since I’ve been to the opera.*Spent another wonderful day at the Zoo with my hubby just becauseCan’t wait to see what I have next week.

6 Sentence Sunday 10

This is a weekly meme hosted and originated by 6 Sentence Sunday. Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel -6 sentences from chapter 9.
He missed her so much and he didn’t even know why. He’d brought the clock into his room to add some temporary illumination and to keep him company in Mira’s absence. He convinced himself that she’d have to come back eventually, even if it was just to get her alarm clock. Deep down he knew that this whole notion was silly, but he just wanted to keep himself hopeful.
 Giovanni had never had any kind of a night light before, even as a child. The plain fact of the matter is that if you can see in the dark, you really don’t need a nightlight.
To participate, pick six (6) sentences from anything you like (it can be from a Work in Progress (WiP), something you recently sold, something you hope to sell or even something already under contract and available for purchase – and don’t worry, Six Sentence Sunday is for published AND unpublished writers ). Then post them on your blog on Sunday. That’s all there is to it!
Posts are for bloggers only, but comments are open to all. Please post a link back to Six Sunday, the “anchor” site, to let people know where you heard about the idea. You are not required to list the week’s posters on your post…And don’t be afraid to share the love by adding the hashtag #sixsunday to your tweets about Six Sentence Sunday. You can follow the official Six Sentence Sunday twitter at: https://twitter.com/6_Sunday.
*The informative content listed above was taken directly from the 6 Sentence Sunday website with a few paraphrases for ease of viewing and reading. Please review their FAQs for more details.

Interview 04

Greetings, humans, half-breeds, and everything in between. This week I had the pleasure to interview my new friend, Paula Stiles. She has been visiting the ECS as a guest and sharing loads of interesting insights into her work. Be sure to look around and see what she has to offer. Here are the results of our interview. A good time was truly had by all and here’s how it went down. Hi there Paula! It’s so awesome to have you here at the ECS Universe. Don’t worry about the darkness, your eyes will adjust.
 So tell me who is Paula Stiles?
I'm just a random citizen of the world. I've done a PhD in medieval history. I've been a Peace CorpsVolunteer in Cameroon. I've run a rescue squad. I've trained horses. I'm trilingual, have studied ten languages, and I really know my Latin. If there's an esoteric skill out there that only five other people in the world have, I'm all over it.
Talk about being a Renaissance Woman, you give new meaning to the term “well rounded.” I am pretty excited about what you have to share. Everything you’ve done in life, I’ve only dreamed about.
So whacha got for me today?
The Mighty Quinn is about a guy, Quinn Bolcan, who leaves Vancouver in a hurry after his growop's busted, ends up accidentally defusing a nuclear bomb on the Vermont border, and soon faces an entire state's worth of folklore. Werebikers, zombie suicide bombers, elemental demons, low-rent sorcerers, fairies, vampires, ghouls, Homeland Security, Champ...they all want a piece of him.
Wow, you don’t play around. This story sounds intense. It’s a good thing I just picked up my copy; I don’t want to miss out on this.
So who’s staring is this 2 dimensional script read of The Mighty Quinn?
Quinn has two major characteristics. One is that he's a nice guy who just can't win in life. Having a flexible approach toward law and order probably doesn't help. The other is his ability to suck up heat, and other kinetic energy (including magic), which he accidentally acquired in a card game not long before the book starts. This complicates his life considerably.
I bet it does. I hope you don’t mind if I geek out a bit, but I love stories that creatively find a way to mesh science, fiction, and magic together. I’m already looking forward to the videogame and film versions of this book (fingers crossed J).
Past, present, future, is there a rhyme or reason to your writing?
 
NaNoWirMoI'm sitting in front of the computer, sucking on peppermints to avoid overeating,
listening to Duran Duran, Melissa Etheridge and Holst's The Planets (<=listen)- specifically, “Mars, the Bringer of War.” Because it's badass.


This month, I'm working on my NaNoWriMo project, which is an historical murder mystery set in medieval Catalonia. Trying to, anyway. I'm way behind on my Innsmouth Free Press writing because I was working the early voting and election polls in my county last month and through November 6. I'm making myself write a little bit of the novel every night until I catch up with the other stuff.

 That’s cool. Sometimes listening to music when I write is a distraction, but when I get stuck on something, I find just the right song to inspire the moment. I passed on NaNoWriMo this year, but started a short story yesterday in honor of I Love to Write Day.
What author(s) has most influenced your writing? Why or how? Leigh BrackettOh, Lord, so many. There are modern sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers like Leigh Brackett, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Joanna Russ, Tim Powers, Samuel R. Delaney, Charles Saunders, and Tanith Lee. Then there are older classic writers like Hemingway, Lovecraft, Chandler and Hammett. Then there are older writers still like Poe and Melville. And even older writers like Homer. And Shakespeare. And the King James version of the Bible.
Mostly, it's in ideas and characters, though I really like writers who experiment with tense and POV. And, of course, you'd have to be tone deaf not to be influenced by Shakespeare's language. Or, for that matter, Chandler, Hammett and Hemingway's.
I agree, some writers can’t be ignored. Even if you don’t love their work, you have to appreciate it. I also agree that it’s more about ideas and characters sometimes than the writing styles.
Who’s brain are you just itching to scratch?
It's probably an obvious one, but I'd like to interview Gaius Julius Caesar. I think he's always been misrepresented as a tyrant. He comes across in his biographies as ruthless, yes, but also smart, charming, progressive for his time, and remarkably flexible when it came to changing battle conditions or showing mercy to enemies (though he didn't always do that). Also, he seems to have connected especially well with women and the lower classes – which may be why all the aristocratic male writers of his time complain about how evil he was when he wasn't any worse than any of them!
Good choice and I love the logic behind it. I have to admit, that I would probably be too intimidated to interview Caesar if I had the chance, but I’d totally stick around to watch you interview him.
Who is so you and why?
IMDBCurrently, I guess that would be Dean Winchester from the show, Supernatural. He's a natural smartass who is loyal and stubborn and speaks his mind. The whole universe can grind him down and he'll claw himself back out of whatever hole it puts him in. He proves you sure can't keep a good man down, especially one with such a bad reputation.

Nice. I love bad boys who are good guys or sort of. I like characters that tip toe that line. He’s the kind of guy I’d write about in a story, but in reality I’d stay away. I’m a wimp.
What’s your ideal reading spot for your next highly anticipated read?
I'm currently reading a paperback I picked up in a used bookstore in an airport a few years ago.
My next highly anticipated read will be Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley.
 It's pretty fascinating to read about women in that period. I like to read books about very ancient history, the origins of things, and Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest – if not the oldest - civilizations out there. Egyptian women did not have the same opportunities as men, and their worth was heavily tied up in their fertility, but they were also much freer and better treated than other women in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East.
 This sounds like a read I may have to pick up. Thanks for the tip. I love history, but oddly enough, I sometimes forget about it.
What was your favorite book or story, pre teen years?
AmazonStar Wars or Star Trek. Book? Either Tolkien or Narnia, though I was also really fond of Watership Down . Sorry, I know that's like every other geek out there who grew up in the 70s.
Don’t be sorry for appreciating a work that influenced a generation. From one geek to another, I like Star Wars first then Star Trek. I leave the true blue Trek love up to my dad…
Now this where the questions get a little kooky; are you ready?
 Go for it.
Alright then, here we go.
If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
That's kind of tough. Don't they all get boring after a while?
Maybe Bull Durham, because it's such a rollicking story about life. Or maybe Forrest Gump. Or Casablanca. Or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I know what you mean. If I could only choose one, I might decide to have none at all, but I love movies. I hadn’t considered Forest Gump, even though it’s a great film. I guess it would be nice to have a movie that made references to many other times in history and had a varied sound track.
What makes you geek out?
Astronomy, history, archaeology, paleontology, and all the speculative genres.
Wow, that’s a first for me, but I like it. I can only imagine what insights into the world you must have knowing so much about its history. That’s pretty cool.
 So what’s testing your patience right now? IMDB
Well, the new Bond film [Skyfall]is already out, but I haven't seen it, yet. And I really want to see it, but I have to wait until after Thanksgiving.
Ahhh! I’m totally with you. I haven’t seen it yet, but my hubby and I are waiting until Thanksgiving so we can take my father-in-law to see it…I may have to sneak out to see it on my own before then.

When the soundtrack of your life is playing in your head, what songs express your glee and what songs bring out your rage?
I really like hard rock, blues, Motown, classical (especially Russian composers), metal, some pop (especially pop and folk music from different countries), soundtracks, some techno, older country. Opera and jazz aren't favorite genres, but I do have favorite songs in them, especially swing like “Sing, Sing, Sing” (<=listen). I used to be a college DJ, so I've actually been exposed to a fair bit of music.
WikipediaNot fond of most rap or sappy college emo alternative stuff. And I cannot stand Björk.    
Yeah, Björk is “special” and emo is irritating sometimes, but I can see why some like it. I love old/classic music like you’ve mentioned as well as classical. I like Jazz, but again, understand why some don’t. I actually have “Sing Sing Sing” on vinyl. I have to admit that I’m a product of the Hip-hop generation so I do like rap, but it is pretty sad to see the state of it these days. So much of it just isn’t any good anymore.
What’s the most fun experience you’ve ever had?
I like to say that the most fun is still coming up. Why go through life feeling as though you already peaked?
But so far, I guess I'd say it was my two years in Peace Corps.
I see your point. Maybe I’ll reword this question to my next guest as “to date”; surely there are more good times to be had. I bet the Peace Corps is something you will never forget.
 Remind me again how I was lucky enough to meet you?
Tracie McBride from Dark Continents introduced us.
Oh yeah, that’s right. She found me on LinkedIn in the Book Marketing group and then we got this party started.
Not that you can see into the future, but in your opinion, what does the future hold?
Hopefully, I'll be making a decent living as a writer by then (I'm making a living now, but I wouldn't call it “decent”). I could be back in Vancouver. Or on the Outer Banks. It's hard to say. I have goals, but I've learned the hard way not to be rigid about long-term ones.
Well, it seems you have pretty good outlook on things in the past, present, and in the future. Thank you so much for sharing with me this week and taking the time to let me and my followers get to know you.
Ok, humans, half-breeds, and everything in between, that’s all for today. For more from Paula Stiles, check out these great links:
The Mighty Quinn http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984893105
GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16051626-the-mighty-quinn
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/QuinnBolcan

Review 05: by Paula Stiles

King, Stephen. Danse Macabre. New York: Berkley Books, 1981. 437 pages.
If I had to choose one non-fiction book about horror (which is silly, but go with me on this), Stephen King's Danse Macabre would be my pick. Yeah, it's dated (almost 32 years old now). No, I don't agree with everything he says, especially the part about horror always being reactionary. Yes, he wrote it during his coked-up days. Yeah, it's mostly limited to American and some English works (He reallyloves Gothic horror).
But, for all its faults and limitations, Danse Macabreis a very good, comprehensive overview of a very broad and messy genre - horror. Even more important for me as a writer, it's an overview from the viewpoint of a writer of horror. King gets more into the nitty-gritty of the writing business in On Writing, which is sort of a sequel to Danse Macabre crossed with a painfully honest autobiography, but, for understanding the themes of writing horror, you really need to begin with Danse Macabre. Danse Macabre is all about horror. If these two books were the only two King ever wrote, he'd still be very well remembered in the genre, indeed.
I want to point out that Danse Macabre, like Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, works best if you don't succumb to the author's persuasiveness and treat it like a bible that is the end-all and be-all of discussions about horror. That way, you waste much less time arguing with King about stuff you don't agree with him on and appreciate the points he does make. For example, I don't agree with him at all that horror is always reactionary and always ends with normality restored - though I'm willing to forgive many of his dated attitudes just for his paean to Mary Shelley, and her influence on the genre, alone. I think that reactionary type is Hays Code-era horror that only applies these days to certain subgenres (like, say, the slasher movie). I think it's entirely possible to write an effective horror story that is subversive, progressive, and that ends with everything a huge mess. Nor does the monster always have to die at the end of the story.
However, what King does that is so useful to the horror writer, budding or otherwise, he lays out early in the book in two chapters, “Tales of the Hook” and “Tales of the Tarot.” The first chapter talks about basic storylines and themes in horror, and what they mean, “inside” versus “outside” horror, the Appollonian (logical) versus the Dionysian (chaotic, id-like) conflict inside us, and so on. The second discusses character types – specifically, monster types. King's idea is that of a Tarot deck that includes archetypes of things we fear: the Ghost, the Thing without a Name, the Vampire, the Werewolf, and the Bad Place. In talking about classic Gothic stories, King shows how most horror falls into these archetypes. But I think my favorite of his many summings up about horror is this one about the dreaded “bad end”: “Death is when the monsters get you.”
I think one of the best things about Danse Macabre is that King doesn't claim or pretend to know everything about horror. For all that it's full of literary analysis, this is a very personal book, Appollonian meeting Dionysian and having a big party. I guess that's why On Writingworks so well as an impromptu sequel, even though it has a very different structure and approach. Danse Macabre is an important book about horror, its history and its structures, that every horror writer should read.
But don't worry - it's still good, dark fun for all that.
Bio: Possessing a quixotic fondness for difficult careers, Paula Stiles has driven ambulances, taught fish farming for the Peace Corps in West Africa and earned a Scottish PhD in medieval history, studying Templars and non-Christians in Spain. She is the author of horror novel, "The Mighty Quinn,[http://www.amazon.com/The-Mighty-Quin...]" co-written supernatural mystery novels, "Fraterfamilias [http://www.amazon.com/Fraterfamilias-...]" and the upcoming “Confraternitas,” and non-fiction medieval history book, "Templar Convivencia: Templars and Their Associates in 12th and 13th Century Iberia [http://www.amazon.com/Templar-Convive...]." She is Editor in Chief of the Lovecraft/Mythos 'zine/micropress Innsmouth Free Press [www.innsmouthfreepress.com]. You can find her at: http://thesnowleopard.net.

Guest Post 01: P. Stiles

New England is an old part of the country. European settlement there goes back to the 1600s. Not just Cape Cod, Plymouth, or Salem but also the Dutch colony of Upstate New York (Ichabod Crane country). Native American tribes like the Iroquois Confederacy were so well-organized that their political ideas contributed to the U.S. Constitution. The Amish in Pennsylvania were not the only non-anglophone group who came to the northeastern part of North America, seeking religious freedom from the Reformation. My great-grand-something uncle, Martin Van Buren, was the only American president who was not an anglophone. His native language was Dutch, the lingua franca of large sections of Upstate New York into the 19th century.
When I visited Salem one year, around Halloween, I discovered a rather disturbing truth about my ancestry. As the guide was talking about how the witch trials had spread throughout the then-massive Massachusetts Bay Colony, how reparations for the Salem Witch Trials could never be done because the descendants of both sides were so intermarried by this point, I realized she was talking about me. Not people like me – me. I was one of those descendants.
This was what I had in mind when I wrote The Mighty Quinn. I wanted to write from inside the experience of a native New Englander of how-far-back-do-you-want-to-go? But from the perspective of an outsider so that I could introduce the reader to all that through his eyes.
It's not as though horror has never been set in New England. It used to be quite a common setting for Gothic. There's Lovecraft, of course, and tales about Salem. Washington Irving's satirical “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was written about the Dutch country of New York and Shirley Jackson set “The Lottery” in my home state, Vermont. The oft-told tale of the poor bastard who keeps driving through a town he can't quite seem to leave appears to derive from Upstate New York, as well (very understandable if you've ever driven down those back roads in the fall). And Stephen King has carved out his own Maine-sized niche whose subtext I'm not quite sure readers from outside the region entirely grok.
But most of these tales either make the horror quaint (Irving) or portray people from Northern New England, especially Vermont, from an outside perspective. Vermont was off the edge of the world where dragons lurked and Vermonters were the Other to the Gothic writers. Half the time, some dude like HPL would have us engaged in a cannibal cult in a cave dug under a hill (Great fun!). Considering the way our road system is set up, I can see their point...almost. But it's still annoying.
But Vermont has a very strong culture that a lot of outsiders don't know about. It's not all harsh weather, pretty scenery and maple syrup. Where I grew up, people were proud of being native Vermonters (called “Woodchucks”), as many generations back as they could trace. Many Vermonters are of French Canadian/Native American (like my great-grandmother) or Italian (stonecutters who immigrated to Barre) descent. I grew up down the street from two dairy farms and there was a large dichotomy between the poor farmers and the rich interlopers from other states.
We have an interesting history. Some of the most important naval battles of the War of 1812 were fought on Lake Champlain, because the lake is a seaway that connects the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Hudson River. The Underground Railroad went right up through the Green Mountains during the Civil War and our Revolutionary War hero, Ethan Allen, was a drunk.
We strongly believe in the town council as the backbone of governance and I grew up learning the ins and outs of it through a student government in school. Northern parts of Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, and Maine are the “North Country.” When I was a kid, we called the people who came from points further south to ski and leaf-peep, and treated us like servants,“flatlanders.” Strangely, despite southern Quebec being flatter than southern New England, we didn't call the Québecois that, but we did have a love-hate relationship with them and the official notices like state highway signs in Vermont are all bilingual in English and French.
The nearest large city was Montreal. If we wanted to hit the big city to party, we went over the border to an entirely different country. New York teenagers came to Vermont to drink because we were the final state to give in to Reagan's arm-twisting about raising the drinking age (We also voted to impeach Bush II). We went over to Plattsburg in New York to get weird stuff like nose studs. The only good rock station was CHOM-FM, which played music that was banned south of the border, stuff like Frank Zappa and the Mothers.
In short, we were Vermonters and we were proud of it – and nobody else either knew or cared what that meant. When I wrote The Mighty Quinn, I wanted to change that a little bit, introduce some of our quirks to the world. Hopefully, I have.
Bio: Possessing a quixotic fondness for difficult careers, Paula Stiles has driven ambulances, taught fish farming for the Peace Corps in West Africa and earned a Scottish PhD in medieval history, studying Templars and non-Christians in Spain. She is the author of horror novel, "The Mighty Quinn,[http://www.amazon.com/The-Mighty-Quin...]" co-written supernatural mystery novels, "Fraterfamilias [http://www.amazon.com/Fraterfamilias-...]" and the upcoming “Confraternitas,” and non-fiction medieval history book, "Templar Convivencia: Templars and Their Associates in 12th and 13th Century Iberia [http://www.amazon.com/Templar-Convive...]." She is Editor in Chief of the Lovecraft/Mythos 'zine/micropress Innsmouth Free Press [www.innsmouthfreepress.com]. You can find her at: http://thesnowleopard.net.

Out Sick

This post is a little late, but what do youe expect when sickness brings you down. I made it into work, but barely. I crashed when I came home, so no post today. I have many books to share and will include them in next week's Stacking the Shelves. It's time for more rest. Hope to be back in good form by moring.

6 Sentence Sunday 09

This is a weekly meme hosted and originated by 6 Sentence Sunday. Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel -6 sentences from chapter 8.
As I laid there staring up at the stars, I heard this moaning and wailing sound that seemed to be coming from all sides of me. It spooked me out to say the least. I grabbed the bat that I carried with me for protection and stood up staring into the darkness.  I couldn’t see anything, but I knew something was there and it was in pain. Then suddenly he came straight at me, holding out his arms in blind hysteria, calling out, ‘Help me, help me please.’ I screamed like a little girl, with my heart pounding, and panting like a dog.
To participate, pick six (6) sentences from anything you like (it can be from a Work in Progress (WiP), something you recently sold, something you hope to sell or even something already under contract and available for purchase – and don’t worry, Six Sentence Sunday is for published AND unpublished writers ). Then post them on your blog on Sunday. That’s all there is to it!
Posts are for bloggers only, but comments are open to all. Please post a link back to Six Sunday, the “anchor” site, to let people know where you heard about the idea. You are not required to list the week’s posters on your post…And don’t be afraid to share the love by adding the hashtag #sixsunday to your tweets about Six Sentence Sunday. You can follow the official Six Sentence Sunday twitter at: https://twitter.com/6_Sunday.
*The informative content listed above was taken directly from the 6 Sentence Sunday website with a few paraphrases for ease of viewing and reading. Please review their FAQs for more details.

Review 04

Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card
I give this book a solid 5.
This is the story of an earth on the brink of, yet another, alien invasion that the humans refuse to be unprepared for.  While the people of the world are at peace for the most part, everyone holds their tongues and hopes for best, knowing that the savior the planet seeks will probably be someone’s child.  This is essentially a military drama that takes place in the presence of intergalactic  space travel, about the conditioning of super smart children, who will grow up to be the heroes of the future.
The reason I am so enamored with this book is because it points out all the obvious truths, people refuse to acknowledge, in a way that’s easy to accept and almost comforting. This is one of those stories that points out, just how far “the human” is willing to go to preserve itself as a species, with or without politically correct means. I know this all sounds vague to someone who hasn’t read the book, but trust me, this is how it is.
People question and debate as to whether there are hidden meanings in such children’s classics as The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, but there are no hidden meanings in this story. The reader is immersed in world of juvenile hormones and aggressive needs for praise, but that’s just the surface. From page one, readers get to know Ender and his internal struggles, as well as, his exterior battles, and begin to relate to this “child” in a way they wish they could relate to their co-workers, families, and friends.
Anyone who knows anything about me or has followed me for half a second knows that I’m a proud geek, so when I come across a story like Ender’s Game, I’m ready to put my geekness to the test. This is a great story for three reasons. It has “an old wise man” or mentor, a loner/outcast “super” hero, and something that’s never been done before happens. Whenever a story has all three of these traits, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a 5 in my book (Thank you George Lucas).
I like the fact the when Ender’s Game comes to an end, the story feels complete, but there is no big stretch to seeing that there could be and is more of the story to tell. This book seems like a children’s book, but there is so much more to it. The whole family could appreciate it, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Before there was the Hunger Games, there was Ender’s Game.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/433878875

WWW WEDNESDAYS 08

WWW WEDNESDAYS… is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading, where you share (1)What you’re currently reading, (2)What you recently finished reading, and (3)What you think you’ll read next.
Comments and shares are welcomed here, but please try to share with Should be Reading as this is their meme.
1. What are you currently reading?I’m working my way through the field of books. I’m still reading Burning Bridges (The Bleeding Heart Trilogy) by Nadege Richards, The Perfects by Wendy Reaks, Childhood’s End by Author C. Clarke, Embrace (Gryphon Series) by Stacey Rourke, and have added Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, but I’m blasting through it pretty quickly.
2. What did you recently finish reading? A Discovery of Witches (All Souls #1) by Deborah Harkness.
3. What do you think you’ll read next? Just got a copy of Seraphina by Rachel Hartman so that may be my next read.     
What is your WWW Wednesday?