Book Recommendations for Your Holiday Shopping 2018

If you have some last-minute shopping to do for the holidays, I am happy to recommend the following books for the teens (or YA-loving adult readers) on your list: The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton: Set in a fantasy world based on antebellum New Orleans, young women known as Belles are blessed (cursed?) with the ability …

Book Recommendations for Your Holiday Shopping

Been a while since I’ve done book reviews, and since it's early December, seems like a good time for some gift recommendations. If you’re looking for gift suggestions for teens (or if you like YA yourself) check out these: The Court of Five Series by Kate Elliott This is a three-book fantasy YA series, the …

Mini Book Reviews, March 2017

Been listening to a lot of great audiobooks lately, so it’s time for more mini reviews! The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas I don’t read a lot of contemporary YA novels, indeed, I rarely read contemporary novels of any kind. I’m just a sci-fi/fantasy kind of reader. But having heard so much about it …

Mini Book Reviews – September 2016

Time for some mini book reviews! All the following reviews are for the audiobook versions. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir I’m very, very picky about the kind of fantasy novels I choose to read. I don’t like too much magic or tons of fantastical creatures. World building has to be complex but …

Book Review: Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray

MINOR SPOILERS ONLY FOR THE BOOK STAR WARS: BLOODLINE, BUT THERE ARE SOME MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: In a recent blog post about The Terminator, I cited Ripley from Alien as the first modern film action heroine—and she is the first who was the protagonist. But it’s Star Wars' Princess …

Mini-Reviews of Books I’ve Recently Read

It’s been a while since I’ve done some book reviews, so here are some books I’ve read recently that I have particularly enjoyed. Since I have little time to read, I mainly listen to audiobooks while at work, so these are all reviews of the audiobooks. All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane …

Julie & Julia And The Lives Of Writers

Very busy getting the house ready to go on the market this weekend–no time to write a new post! Hope you enjoy this one from the archive.

MOON IN GEMINI

I recently watched (again) the charming movie Julie & Julia. It stars Meryl Streep as television chef and cookbook author Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell, who wrote a blog about making every recipe in Child’s book Mastering The Art Of French Cooking over the course of a year.

The movie alternates between telling the stories of both women. Child and her husband are living in France during the 1950s when she decides to learn French cooking. This eventually leads to a partnership with two French women to write a cookbook specifically for Americans, and, of course, her cooking show and status as America’s first celebrity chef. Julie Powell, frustrated with a job she doesn’t like and feeling directionless in life, decides to start a blog about cooking, which eventually leads to a book and movie deal.

As Julie cooks the recipes and writes about them…

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Book Review: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

I am a huge fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, his epic tale of the first 100 colonists on Mars. (Still waiting anxiously as of this writing for the TV adaptation. Hello, hello--any news on casting yet?) I've read some of his other books, but none of them have captivated me in quite the …

10 Things I Love About This Character: Ellie Linton, The Tomorrow Series

Last year I wrote an article about the "strong female character" which was very well received. (It was even featured by WordPress in their "Freshly Pressed" section.) Since then, I've been thinking about doing a series devoted to individual characters that I consider "strong." This series will not be limited to female characters--I will include …

5 Things That Bug Me About Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian Fiction

Dealing with some family issues so I have no time to write something new this week. I am reaching into the archives and reblogging this post. Hope you enjoy and that I’m able to post something brand new next week!

MOON IN GEMINI

First, let’s define post-apocalyptic and dystopian:

Post-apocalyptic refers to a work of fiction that deals with a global disaster so profound there are few survivors. It may include a period of time leading up to the disaster, or it can take place years afterwards, but mostly it’s about the immediate after-effects of a disaster–war, environmental disaster, plague. The disaster can have a fantastical element, like zombies or vampires, or a sci-fi one, like an alien invasion.

Dystopian usually takes place far into the future. It may be post-apocalyptic or not. Society has in some way changed profoundly, most noticeably the system of government.

There is some disagreement over the definition of dystopian. Some believe it should only be defined as societies where people believe they are living in an ideal society, when in truth it has some oppressive or horrific element to it.

I think it’s O.K. to…

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Movie Review: The Divergent Series: Insurgent

MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR THE MOVIE INSURGENT: I enjoyed the first movie in this series, Divergent. Based on the first novel in Veronica Roth's dystopian YA series, it boasted good casting, energetic direction by Neil Burger, creative envisioning of Chicago after an apocalypse, and a tight screenplay. All these elements helped make it a decent, …

Book Release Day: Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After

Happy Halloween and Happy Book Release Day for Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After! Blurb: When it comes to fairy tales, there are plenty of things that go bump in the night. Things so morbid and grotesque, so sinister and diabolical, they haunt your imagination; warnings from generations past that still manage to …

Cover Reveal: Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After

Last year I took part in Project REUTSway, a writing competition that had writers twist classic fairy tales with horror elements. Two of my stories--"Earlobe" and "Deadman's Ball"--were chosen for an anthology entitled Fairly Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After. Today is the cover reveal! Blurb: When it comes to fairy tales, there are …

A TV Adaptation of Your Favorite Book is in the Works! Time to Panic!

This past week, two TV projects based on books were announced: Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars), is in development at basic cable channel Spike. Stephen King's time-travel novel, 11/22/63, is in development at the streaming service Hulu TV. May I take a moment to express how much I …

Pop Culture Roundup April 2014

1. Stephen Colbert will replace Dave Letterman as host of the Late Show. Dave Letterman announced he would retire in 2015 and people barely got time to speculate about who would replace him. It was quickly announced that comedian Stephen Colbert, host of The Comedy Channel's Colbert Report, would be the new host. It was …