From the Shelf to the Page: This Week in the Ruins

10:05 am 26 October 2014

Here we are, nearing the end of October,and the end of our Halloweird Creepfest. A lot of activity haunting the ruins this week, including:

Review of Figures of Fear by Graham Masterton [this week's must-read title!]
Halloweird Creepfest feature with Krista Grabowski
Waiting on Wednesday horror-themed feature with The Secret Lives of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost
Our first Tough Traveling feature, talking about the Elves of Tolkien, TSR, Kay, William, and Brooks
Review of A Stake In Murder by Donald Allen Kirch

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Stacking The Shelves and Mailbox Monday are a pair of weekly memes that are about sharing the books that came your way over the past week, and which you've added to your shelves - whether they be physical or virtual, borrowed or bought, or for pleasure or review.

As much as I've been trying to cut back on the review requests, what with everything else going on in my life lately, Backlash by D.L. Thomas is one I couldn't resist. Seriously, he had me at "a modern day combination of Indiana Jones and MacGyver, leads a team on an epic treasure hunt."

Martha Wells is an author I've been meaning to read for years, so when Lauren from Skyhorse Publishing offered up a paperback copy of Stories of the Raksura, I knew it was finally time. It's being promoted as a book that probes "the politics of gender and inequality . . . feature strong, compelling female protagonists," which is a cool bonus.

Finally, I'll admit to being disappointed when I got turned down for an ARC of Blue Labyrinth on Edelweiss, especially since I had the pleasure of interviewingDouglas Preston & Lincoln Child last year, so I was exceptionally pleased when Sonya from Grand Central offered up a copy. I have the digital copy all loaded, but will likely wait for the hardcover winging my way before I dive in.

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is another weekly meme, this time focused on what books are spending the most time in your hands and in your head, as opposed to what's been added to your shelf:

• The Deep by Nick Cutter
Slow going on this one. Great atmosphere and genuine chills, and while I am enjoying it, the story is extraordinarily dark, doom-laden, and depressing . . . unrelentingly so.

• Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson
A real-life exploration of lives and civilizations found, quite literally, in the ruins of history.

• Willful Child by Steven Erikson
Taking a break from Malazan, Erikson offers up an entertaining spoof of the whole "mankind-exploring-space-for-the-good-of-all-species-but-trashing-stuff-with-a-lot-of-high-tech-gadgets-along-the-way" overblown adventure.