David - proud Gleeman in Branwen's adventuring party > Recent Status Updates

Miller told a story about hunting down a black market cheese operation.
"I actually remember that cheese shortage," Naomi said once Miller stopped talking. "Belt-wide. That was your fault?"

A world without CHEESE? This really is a dystopian nightmare!

"What kind of half-assed apocalypse are they running down there?" Amos said.
"Give 'em a break. It's their first."

Even though Amos was a scumbag in the prequel novella, he's become one of my favorite characters now! I'd tell him that, except I'm pretty sure he'd kill me for the scumbag comment!

Something in the back of his own mind started to shriek, and he forced it into silence. It was just a crime scene. They were only bodies.
Except they weren't.

Remembering what happened there before hit me right in the feels! :(

I took my father to Barnes & Noble the other day, and I had to laugh at how different our reading tastes truly are. Check out our book hauls, could they be any more opposite?!

She notched up her speed a little bit, then a little more, her terror overriding the pain. Now she was moving almost at a jog, heedless of the burning agony. The top of the hill was close. I'm going to make it!

Then she tripped.

Yep! That would totally be me in a life-or-death situation!

Carolyn was not much of a chemist. It took three frustrating days before she learned enough of the basics. It was another week before she completed a batch that tested to the purity she required and didn't kill any mice.

Awww, poor lab mice! :(
Here is one of the mice in happier times

She held up her second-smallest finger.
"What are you doing?"
"I think it's called 'flipping the bird'. Am I not doing it right?"
"Middle finger."
She adjusted. "Better?"
"Yeah, you got it."

You had the right idea, Carolyn, but your timing was just a bit off...

Hi, everyone. My Goodreads friend TL has asked me to get a prayer train going for her good friend's brother, who was in a severe motorcycle accident. Any prayers and/or healing energy and positive vibes you could send his way for a full recovery would be most appreciated. Thank you! 💜

https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...

"That's the risk in working to be a dangerous person," she said. "There's always the chance you'll run into someone who's better at it than you."

That's true. Even the most ferocious of hunters can eventually encounter a more terrifying opponent!

"I have to say, I'm more than a little surprised. You're so... mousy."
"It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for."

Very true! As a quiet one myself, I suspect we're the ones who enjoy the scarier parts of this book more than anyone else! XD

"And with Alicia's thing about clocks" - she smashed them if she saw them, Carolyn kept hers in a drawer - "it can be kind of difficult to tell one day from the next around here."

Alicia's reaction to clocks sounds a tad extreme. Then again, I've been tempted to destroy my alarm clock at times!

The closest anyone came to giving them trouble was the maître d'. His right arm was in a cast, and he apparently remembered Carolyn from an earlier visit. When she asked for a table of two, he screamed and bolted for the door.

Most people seem to have the same reaction to Carolyn and her friends

"They had cameras at the jail."
"Funny thing about that. They didn't work. The were fine when I was talking with you. But when the big guy showed up, them cameras just kinda magically broke."

That's not THAT suspicious. Cameras do weird things. Especially when I'm trying to take a nice picture!

The kid peeped at Steve's back seat. "Whoa!" Then to the driver, "Frank, that guy got a lion in his cab!"
The driver leaned forward. "Say what? Lean back, I can't-"
Steve thought to himself Maybe you should work harder on keeping a low profile, fugitive boy

Steve trying to be inconspicuous

"Heeere, kitty-kitty," he whispered under his breath.
The lion looked at him quizzically.
"Sorry, big guy," Steve said. "Bad joke."

*blinks* Saying "Here, kitty kitty" to a lion?! Was... was that a Kate Daniels reference just now?! :D

Gradually he came to understand that this particular nothing was all that he could really say now. It echoed down the grimy hallways and squandered moments of his life, the answer to every question, the lyric of all songs.

That's okay, book, I didn't really need that heart anyway! :(

Most of the librarians had a horror of the neighborhood dogs. But Americans, for some reason, seemed to love the furry little bastards. It was one of their unfathomable quirks.

Not cool, Carolyn, dogs are NOT "furry little bastards"! They are sweet and considerate!

...except maybe to other dogs!

She sighed. "It's called a reissak ayrial. Its essence is a mathematical construct, a self-referencing tautology, consecrated in the plane of regret. The reissak works because the target has the trigger because the reissak works. Do you see?"

Me trying to understand what she just said...

"But there is another way of killing. This is done when the lion hunts out of hate, rather than hunger. Those killed in this way are ruined forever. It is as if they were never born. The lion wishes me to inform you that this is how you will die."

Mental note: Don't mess with lions!

Dorn nodded his head with comical enthusiasm, looking for a moment more like a headbanger than an attorney.

That could be the greatest analogy I've ever heard!

"That gonna be a problem for you, defending him?"
Dorn shrugged. "What's to defend? The gun that killed Miner was in his hands. It had his prints on it." Dorn looked like he wanted to strangle his own client.
It ain't looking real good for the defense.

The defendant is looking pretty guilty

I've read "Interlude II" and it was just as disturbing as Kristen warned me it was! Is it wrong that I'm enjoying a book this horrifying so much?!

Proudly displaying my merch from one of my favorite book bloggers and GoodReading buddies, Ash The Bookworm!


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Jennifer shook her head. "Faint comfort is better than no comfort at all, you see? Her world is very cold, and this is the thing she warms herself over with."

I feel so bad for Jennifer. She's the most empathetic, yet all the other librarians keep her at arm's length. She's on a team but all alone

"What'd he do to you?"
"Ruined my silk dress."
"How'd he do that?"
"He got blood on it."
"Hmm. Did you try rinsing it with club soda?"
"Yeah, it was too far gone."

Umm... I think you may have missed a pretty big danger sign there, fella! May want to pay closer attention...

All that afternoon the other librarians filtered in. Alicia held the black candle, still burning as it had in the golden ruin at the end of time. Rachel and her phantom children whispered among themselves of the futures that would never be.

This book is so fascinating! Can't...stop...reading!

Carolyn rose and stood alone in the dark, both in that moment and ever after.

That was such a heartbreaking moment! This is one of those books that's going to make me feel stuff, isn't it... :'(

Starting my first ever buddy read with the incredibly kind and hysterically funny Kristen! I'm so happy to be reading this with one of my best friends in the universe! :D

He lunged at an invisible target, swung round and brought it down as though to cleave through a skull.
"I'm sure the Arillians will cower in fear."
Morgen dropped the sword with a clatter and looked up at the sudden voice.

How not to look impressive while handling a sword! 😂

No reading for me last night as it was the high school graduation of my nephew (and former Mini-Me), Ryan! As you can see, I'm his Mini-Me now! I think he grew another foot as this picture was being taken! xD

Congratulations on your graduation, Ryan, I'm so proud of you! :D