"Waiting On" Wednesday: Witch House by Edward Lee

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:Witch House by Edward Lee:Many witches were burnt, hanged and tortured in seventeenth-century New England, including notorious coven-leader Evanore Wraxall and her incestuous father. Not all of them died. Now, on a trip to Wraxall House...

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EXPLORATION: Schoellkopf Power Station (Part 2 - The Payoff)

For the first part of the exploration, showing how we got down to the plant (and what we found along the way), please check out Part 1 - The Approach.As I said then, I'll let the photos speak for themselves . . .The roar was awesome. It looked as if the whole gorge wall had opened up like the side of a skyscraper down it came. Rocks and masonry burst into the air splitting into thousands of pieces and pelted the river like shrapnel. And a few...

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eBook ARC Review: Carpathia by Matt Forbeck

THE FACTS: The Titanic struck an iceberg late on the night of April 14, 1912. The unsinkable ship actually sank rather quickly, taking only about 3 hours to send more than 1,500 passengers and crew to a cold, watery grave. While the Carpathia did come to its rescue, picking up over 700 survivors from the lifeboats, they didn't arrive until almost 2 hours after the Titanic slipped beneath the waves.THE FICTION: No significant departure...

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Monday Morning Musings - Genre News Wrap-up

I tend to read a lot of genre sites over breakfast (Coke Zero & Pop Tarts again this morning), so I thought I'd get in the habit of sharing the more interesting tidbits once a week.Rather slow on the news front this morning, but here are a few highlights:Flavorwire has an interesting piece on 10 Great Magical Books for Adults, inspired by JK Rowling's announcement that her next novel would be for adults.Topless Robot has some news on Johnny Depp's post-Dark Shadows project, this time bringing Kolchak the Night Stalker to the big screen.Tor...

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Freedom to Read Week

For an astounding 28 years now, the Book and Periodical Council and its Freedom of Expression Committee have organized Freedom to Read Week (FTRW), a national event that reminds Canadians to remain vigilant in protecting our right to free expression. Even in the 21st century, schools and libraries are still asked to remove books and magazines from their shelves, while other books are regularly banned at our borders.This year, Freedom...

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TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.Question of the Week: Activity!!! Take a picture or describe where you love to read the most...Right here - down by...

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eBook Review: Heaven's Shadow by David S. Goyer

In my mind, there are generally 3 ways to approach the good ol' first contact story:1. Make it about the mystery, embrace the unknown, and keep the aliens under wraps and off the page. Tease us, but save the aliens for the big reveal (or don't show them at all).2. Go all-out with the monster angle, use the readers' fears against them, and exploit the very nature of being alien. Tease the readers for a bit, then allow the monsters to explode from...

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Due to publisher restrictions Promo codes are not allowed for this product

I was working on a review when I realized the post was becoming more about pricing and publishing than the book itself, so I decided to separate the rant from the review.Simple question - why is it publishers are allowed to dictate how I spend my money online?Really, if I can use a 30% off coupon to buy the hardcover edition of a book in-store, why the hell can't I do the same with the electronic version online? It's the same book, from the same publisher, and it's the same money, from the same wallet. I've never once walked...

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eBook Review: Seventh Star Singles by Michael West

Last month I was fortunate enough to win a giveaway over at Book Den (a belated thanks to Jen for the contest!), picking up all eight Seventh Star Singles, courtesy of Seventh Star Press. Never having read anything from the publisher, I quite liked the idea of getting a chance to sample their authors in short-story format, but the first two stories randomly picked from the bunch just didn't grab me.Fortunately, I didn't give up on the publisher,...

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"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King:For those discovering the epic bestselling Dark Tower series for the first time—and for its legions of dedicated fans—an immensely satisfying stand-alone novel and perfect introduction to the...

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eBook Review: The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan

Michael J. Sullivan's The Crown Conspiracy (available as part of the first Riyria Revelations omnibus, Theft of Swords) is a welcome throw-back to the heyday of quest-driven adventure fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that I have already started in on Avempartha, despite my usual habit of allowing a little distance between books in a series.It's a story that reminds me, at different times and in different ways, of Fritz...

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VBT Review: inSyte by Greg Kiser

Greg Kiser`s inSyte is an engaging novel with an intriguing premise that stumbles a bit in its narrative execution, but which still provides for an entertaining read.The story starts out as a straightforward military thriller, with a pair of Navy SEALS pinned down by enemy fire, outnumbered, and cut off from any hope of rescue. After a brief lull, the story takes an interesting twist into the paranormal, with one of those SEALS discovering the...

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TGIF - Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow Friday is a blog hop that is designed to provide some much-appreciated exposure to the bloggers participating, and to expand their following. Hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read, each of whom feature a chosen blog for the week, it's an interesting way to get to know one another.Question of the Week: I like unique names for characters and am looking forward to coming up with some when I start...

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Release Date for A Memory of Light Revealed!

Tor has revealed the release date for A Memory of Light, the final instalment of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Saga . . . and it's much further off than Brandon Sanderson's updates had led us to hope:January 8, 2013For those of you keeping track, that's almost 23 years to the day from the original release of The Eye of the World on January 15, 1990.Personally, I had been hoping for an October 2012 release, since most of the books...

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"Waiting On" Wednesday: Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer:On the eve of a secret military operation, an assassin's bullet strikes President Seth Jerrison. He is rushed to the hospital, where surgeons struggle to save his life.At the same hospital, researcher Dr. Ranjip...

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EXPLORATION: Schoellkopf Power Station (Part 1 - The Approach)

The Schoellkopf Power Station is one of those almost mythical locations that have obsessed me since my early childhood days. Every time we drove\along the Niagara Parkway or took the Rainbow Bridge over to Niagara Falls NY, it called to me. I could see the ruined architecture clinging tenuously to the wall of the escarpment, the darkened tunnels leading to hidden wonders I could only dream of . . . and the sheer, seemingly unclimbable...

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ORIGINS blogfest

Okay, this is a really cool idea. Co-hosted by DL Hammons (Cruising Altitude 2.0), Katie Mills (Creepy Query Girl), Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish (Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment), the idea is to post your own origin story:Tell us all where your writing dreams began.  It could be anything from how you started making up stories as a child, or writing for the school newspaper, or even what prompted you to start a blog....

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well. Hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey, it's a weekly meme with the added incentive of contest for those who visit 10 or more of the participants and leave a comment telling her how many you visited.The idea of the meme is to first post the book(s) you read last week, and then the book(s) currently being read...

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