Bob @ Beauty in Ruins
PLEASE NOTE: I'm rarely active here anymore, but please feel free to follow me on Goodreads, where I post regularly.
These are the chronicles of a book addict, a photo junkie, and an aspiring author, rewriting the very fabric of reality one page (and one snapshot) at a time. From the strange to the unusual; the abandoned to the abnormal; the haunted to the historic; the supernatural to the surreal; the forests of dark fantasy, the cemeteries of gothic horror, and the post-apocalyptic ruins of science fiction are the landscapes of my imagination.
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From the Shelf to the Page: This Week in the Ruins
A nice balance this week, with lots of reading, our usual features, and even a few special guests:
- WTF Friday review of Razor Wire Pubic Hair by Carlton Mellick III
- Interview with Interview with Alison Sinclair (author of Contagion: Eyre)
- Waiting on Wednesday with Gideon Smith and the Mask of the Ripper byDavid Barnett
- Horror Review of Car Nex: The Evil One by E.R. Robin Dover
- A to Z Challenge: W through Z
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.
Just one new addition to the shelves this week, but it's an exciting one. Aidan Moher is a blogger I've been following for years now over at A Dribble of Ink, so when he announced that he was self-publishing a collection of short stories, I was certainly intrigued. He'll be stopping by for a guest post on the 12th, and with his collection already in hand I'm hoping to have a review to run that week as well.
Tide of Shadows and Other Stories
by Aidan Moher
From Aidan Moher—Hugo Award-winning editor of A Dribble of Ink—comes Tide of Shadows and Other Stories, a collection of five science fiction and fantasy stories spanning adventure, comic whimsy, and powerful drama—from a star-faring military science fiction tale of love and sacrifice, to a romp through the dragon-infested Kingdom of Copperkettle Vale.
“A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes” is the story of a young man reliving the last moments of his fellow soldiers’ lives; “The Girl with Wings of Iron and Down” tells the tale of a broken family and a girl with mechanical wings; “Of Parnassus and Princes, Damsels and Dragons” introduces a typical prince, princess, and dragon—and a not-so-typical love triangle; “The Colour of the Sky on the Day the World Ended” follows a girl and her ghost dog as they search for a bright light in the darkness; and “Tide of Shadows” is about a soldier and his lover, a mother, and planetwide genocide.
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.
I've admittedly been all over the map these past two weeks, with more titles on the go than are probably wise, but I'm in the mood for a bit of everything . . . and that's what I'm enjoying. On the plus side, there's going to be a killer glut of reviews coming.
• Kingdom of Darkness by Andy McDermott
Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase are back in their latest archaeological adventure. These novels are pure pulp, a mixture of Indiana Jones, James Bond, Dirk Pitt, and Frank Martin (The Transporter), complete with insane chases, explosions, treasure, and a whole lot of fun.
• The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán
Anybody who thought I could sit on this until closer to the release date is crazy! It's a book that gets off to a rollicking, dinosaur-laden start, with some of the most inventive battles I've ever read, interesting characters, intricate conspiracies, and a biting edge to the narrative.
• No Return by Zachary Jernigan
This is a book that somehow slipped by me when it was first released, but the blurb for the upcoming sequel caught my attention. It's a different sort of fantasy epic, a violent, sexually-charged, apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy hybrid . . . and I'm enjoying it.
• Cattle Cult! Kill! Kill! by M.P. Johnson
This was going to be a WTF Friday read for this week, but too much travel, combined with the need to sit out on the back deck with a nice paperback (Kingdom of Darkness) conspired to push it out a week. Still, I'm anxious to see how Johnson follows up Dungeons & Drag Queens.
What's topping your shelves this week?