McGuire - InCryptid Flash Buddy Reads [Feb 2018]

[Choko]

Ch. 2.... Hahaha! Antimony has it right - it all went to hell just because Barbie Criptozoologist wants to "dance"!!! Hahaha!

Ch. 3... Wow, the mice must be so happy to have so many princesses and priestesses and g-ds in one place:):):)

[Choko]

Up to Ch. 7... How did they not find the mouse???

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Mia Michaels dances always ended up like that... the replacement contemporary instructor with the partially shaved head did more fun stuff... the emotional stuff is award fodder...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Now that I'm looking for them, this has so many flimsy plot questions...

Like if they did blood tests, why no comparison to cousin Healy... seems so obvious... those work for 2 generation gap, right?...

I feel like the whole point of this book was the Mork intel...

[Choko]

Iain wrote: "Mia Michaels dances always ended up like that... the replacement contemporary instructor with the partially shaved head did more fun stuff... the emotional stuff is award fodder..."

Sonya is awesome!!! I got to meet all of them when they came here and loved them all. And yes, Mia is such a drama queen:):):) But she does get what works to steer the audience.

[Choko]

Iain wrote: "Now that I'm looking for them, this has so many flimsy plot questions...

Like if they did blood tests, why no comparison to cousin Healy... seems so obvious... those work for 2 generation gap, rig..."

I thought the same thing - if they had samples on file from the grandma, or even from Mary Healy, if they make a comparison they will see they are from the same family group. They will come off as very close relatives. I was very nervous that this is why they were taking the blood, but no, it was about checking if she was human...

[Choko]

Up to Ch. 16... I sure hope Sam doesn't become her love interest, because something about a monkey -man is just not right... I have always had an issue with The Planet of the Apes also... Human but not quite... Ghhhhhrrrrrr! Gives me the creeps! Spider-humans freak me out too...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Too late... (view spoiler)[it's Sam... (hide spoiler)]

This one really doesn't hold up on re-read... I didn't think it would... I've been growing more critical of it this past year, in general... re-reading it just made the critiques more specific...

I'm hopeful things will shape up in book 7 tho... (view spoiler)[the deception is over with... even if Leo's character is a bit crazy/deluded...

I'm hoping the whole point was to gain insider information from Mork...

You should really sign up for McGuire's Patreon page... $1/month and you gain 12 short stories per year, including 18 month backlog, I think... I got some people to sign up in another group and they got all the old stories...

The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork tells the story of Mork & Mindy's plane trip... with interludes with Sam and Mary... some setup for Tricks for Free (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

WOOOO... I just stumbled on to great news in a random comment for Tricks for Free...

At a convention in 2016, Seanan McGuire stated that she plans for books 8 & 9 to be about Sarah (view spoiler)[ and Artee, obviously (hide spoiler)] and book 10 to be Alice (just like I hoped)

[Choko]

Ch. 18... Ooo nooo... You are right... Too late for my hopes. I hope his Asian features compensate for the monkey thing. I have always had a weakness for Asian guys, since I grew up on Shaolin Temple movies. So maybe he is cute...

[Choko]

About your news - that would be awesome!!! I love Sarah the most from the humanoid characters! And Alice is second. I guess she will find grandpa eventually 😁😎

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Update... guess we need to shift those books... book 8 is a 3rd Antimony book called That Ain't Witchcraft

Steven just told me over in the Tricks for Free comments... apparently she mentioned it in the Beneath the Sugared Sky signing Q&A I'm partway thru right now...

Already learned there is a 14th October Daye book contracted, with hopes for more... that series appears to be on a rolling 3 book contract now... because Seanan needs 2 books to wrap up the series at the publisher's whim based on sales... (view spoiler)[pretty sure the series ends when October finds the missing Lord and Ladies (Oberon/Titania/Maeve) (hide spoiler)]... not sure if you read that series...

................. this has been sitting unposted for so long you already commented on Kira's review with similar info...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

In the last 10 minutes of the signing video I linked earlier, she talks more about Sarah's books to come... Imaginary Numbers and Calculated Risks... and the difficulty of writing books about a character that doesn't see faces...

I think I saw a TV movie once with face blindness...

I dunno if the mentioned Alice book has that title or not, but I hope so: Spelunking Through Hell: The Sinner's Guide to the Underworld

I guess I should finish Sparrow Hill Road, if it's getting a sequel... it's a vignette book that's getting a sequel... I read half the book a few years ago and never finished... coming this summer: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown

I think those are technically connected to the InCryptid series... about Grandma Rose... the OTHER ghost...

[Choko]

Yeah, I read 🌹 's book... I am really not into purely ghost stories but it was not bad. Until I saw that video you linked to, I had no idea she wrote under a different name too. I watched the whole thing. She is very witty and quick. I was very impressed!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I listened to her Newsflesh series a few years ago... bloggers in the zombie apocalypse... not read Symbiont... rage zombie virus, I think...

I read part of the evil mermaid novella... but never went back and finished it (was on kindle)... should give that another go now that there's a follow-up full-length book...

This is the first time I've watched a full Q&A with her... I started another one where she spent a lot of time talking about her professional pokemon ranking... and some of her Patreon videos... but that's it...

[Sha]

WHAT SARAH IS GETTING BOOKS WHEN HOW WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN
//hyperventilates
omg

[Sha]

THIS EXCITES ME

[Choko]

I am very excited about this too! So the next book will be about Antimony and the two books after about Sarah... So cool!

I finished this book and I liked it, but I wasn't crazy about it like I usually am... I expected more from Antimony and even the mice couldn't really make it great. Funny, but from all the books up to here, I loved the first Alex book the most. Followed by 3Australia book. And I am usually all about the kick-ass girls...

[Sha]

InCryptid preference List

1. Verity Book#3 (it's the reality tv show format it tickles me also alice)
2. Verity Book #2
3. Alex Book #1
4. Antimony Book #1
5. Verity Book #1
6. Alex Book #2

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Glad I'm not the only one... I had such high expectations for Antimony... I hope with the Covenant of St. George silliness out of the way, I will like the next book more... (view spoiler)[based on the blurb for Tricks for Free and the name of That Ain't Witchcraft, it seems the continuation of Antimony's storyline is going to explore her magic more... Tricks for Free involves a cabal of wizards and an amusement park... should be interesting, given Seanan's love of Disney Land/World... (hide spoiler)]

If you watched the video, did you hear the woman that "loves the books, but hates how much time Seanan takes away from her writing for Pokemon, Overwatch, Disney visits, etc"... it was where she explained she writes 6-8hrs / day, 7 days a week, usually...

Before she even answered, I was thinking "What more do you want? She already publishes 3-5x as much as most authors I read..."

She was also on point with wanting October Daye to be longer than Dresden Files... October Daye started in 2009, the year Dresden Files #11 came out... here we are in 2018, waiting for October Daye #12 to release in 7 months, and Dresden Files #16 has already been a 4 year wait with no end in sight... of course, in order to ensure October Daye is longer requires 24 books... assuming Dresden ever reaches the Apocalyptic Trilogy...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

If we're ranking now

1) Verity 3: SYTYCD and Alice
2) Verity 1: Parkour
3) Alex 1: Frickens
4) Verity 2: Istas
5) Alex 2: Poor mouse
6) Antimony 1: Plothole Palooza (view spoiler)[ if you seriously question Antimony's ability to infiltrate the Covenant without them doing blood tests against the Healy-Price Covenant Members... (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Ha! You guys prefer the Verity books... Don't get me wrong, I loved all of them, except this last one, but I love Alex's science geekyness. Everything makes more sense in his books. I can actually picture stuff when seen through his POV.

[Choko]

I thought that lady 's question was just bold! She is one of the more productive authors who still give us quality work of those that are out there. And she is right - she gives us so much free stories, non of us should ever complain. I loved her explanation about the anthologies too. So many things make sense now, I had always wondered about how they choose the content and the length of the novellas.

[Sha]

ISTAS

I miss her.
I'm mostly rating books from memory. Chaos Choreography is definitely first but everything else has mutable rankings. Alex 1 for example was better than I remembered.

I'm glad to hear the covenant plot is being wrapped up tho.

[Sha]

I love the Istas shorts. And Istas herself really. Gothic Lolita monster werebear. What's not to love?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Not sure if the covenant plot is wrapping up... it's so vast... but (view spoiler)[Antigone's infiltration (hide spoiler)] is over... I assume the (view spoiler)[wizard Cabal (hide spoiler)] will help negotiate a peace of some sort... maybe make Verity's claim real... relegate the Covenant to Eurasia...

[Sha]

i have no idea what you are talking about i have not read the book yet.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sorry... I was just talking about Magic for Nothing and the blurb for Tricks for Free.. I thought you'd read everything released...

Blurb: (view spoiler)[ Penance, noun:
1. Punishment for past actions.
2. An attempt to pay for what can’t be bought.
3. See also “exile.”

Antimony Price is on the run. With the Covenant on her tail and her family still in danger, she needs to get far, far away from anyone who might recognize her—including her own mice. For the first time in a long time, a Price is flying without a safety net. Where do you go when you need to disappear into a crowd without worrying about attracting attention? An amusement park, of course.

Some people would call Lowryland the amusement park. It’s one of the largest in Florida, the keystone of the Lowry entertainment empire…but for Annie, it’s a place to hide. She’s just trying to keep her head down long enough to come up with a plan that will get her home without getting anyone killed. No small order when she’s rooming with gorgons and sylphs, trying to placate frustrated ghosts, and rushing to get to work on time.

Then the accidents begin. The discovery of a dead man brings Annie to the attention of the secret cabal of magic users running Lowryland from behind the scenes. They want the fire that sleeps in her fingers. They want her on their side. They want to help her—although their help, like everything else, comes with a price.

No plan. Minimal backup. No way out. Annie’s about to get a crash course in the reality behind the pretty facade. If she’s lucky, she’ll survive the experience. (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Makes sense... I think they probably will close her arc in the next book:)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I started the short stories this morning... this is probably gonna be a longer buddy read... I'm reading them on my breaks at work... I read The Flower of Arizona this morning, from Westward Weird... it sucks that this is one of the only 2 Jonathan Healy & Francis Brown shorts not available for free from the site...

If you don't want to get the anthology, the story is (view spoiler)[Jonathan goes to Arizona with an Aeslin mouse on a train... watches Francis perform in circus act involving throwing knives on horseback... confronts her about a series of murders connected to the traveling circus... gets derailed when the mouse pops out and talks... confirms her innocence... teams up with her to monster hunt... finds a Questing Beast nearby (snake/cougar chimera-hybrid)... kills it... confronts the circus owner who was planning to sell admission to view the Beast... Francis kills HIM to save Jonathan... and ends with Jonathan and Francis getting on a return train to Buckley Township, Michigan... (hide spoiler)]

The 2nd short story picks up on the return train ride...

[Choko]

Iain wrote: "I started the short stories this morning... this is probably gonna be a longer buddy read... I'm reading them on my breaks at work... I read The Flower of Arizona this morning, from [book:Westward ..."

You are awesome!!! Thank you for the summery:) I will check if I have the anthology, but I don't think so... Let me wake up first though:):):)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Only 7 of the stories are paid... 2x Jon & Fran... 3 of 4 of the Antimony stories, the first Istas story... and the evil Cuckoo story from Urban Enemies... plus however many patreon stories there are...

[Choko]

I just got the new one!!! When are we going to read it???

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I set up a wider Buddy Read for that next tuesday, where Sha and JJ are joining us: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I have a thread in another group with some enthusiasts, as well:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

(That's Girls, Guns & Grimoires, the group Veronica moderates)...

[Choko]

Ooo, cool! I will do your thread😀 next week. I had no idea V had a group. Good for her! I love that girl!

[Sha]

Ooooooh that group has an interesting title.

I'll join the buddy read as soon as I get there book.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... it caught my eye when some new friends joined it last year... Veronica runs the Monthly Reads Plan and 6-month UF Bingo threads over there...

I followed Veronica into thie group 6 months ago, and I've seen people like Delitealex go from here to there, as well...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I read One Hell of a Ride this morning, and part ofNo Place Like Home

I think my copy is missing something at the start, or bad editing... Francis is complaining about boredom and Jonathan makes a random statement about the location of the Aeslin Mice...