Category: Blog Series Page 118 of 230

The Friday 56 for 5/20/22: Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes

On May 20, 2022

In Currently Reading, Fantasy, Fiction, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56, Urban Fantasy

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Heroic Hearts

Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie Hughes, “Comfort Zone” by Kelley Armstrong

My faith in humanity has been tested by the sheer number of the last kind. Ghosts trapped in this realm by bitterness and a need for revenge. I’ve taken to humming “Let It Go” as my answer, which works much better on modern ghosts.

Then there are the ghosts who treat necromancers like an Internet connection. They want us to pop off an e-mail. Or check the stock market. Hey, you there, necromancer, can you tell me how the Cubs are doing this season? Can you tell me how my favorite TV show ended? Simple requests, easily completed, but once you start doing them, you never stop, and pretty soon, you have a dozen ghosts wanting weekly coffee dates, during which they watch you creep on their family and friends’ social media accounts.

Just say no. The mantra of necromancers everywhere.

WWW Wednesday, May 18, 2022

By HCNewton

On May 18, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

As I sat down to write posts for today last night, I kept getting distracted by Primary Election results—in Idaho, for good or ill, the Republican Primary election is more important than the General Election in November—state races are all but certain after it. So for every half-sentence I write, I end up spending 5 minutes looking at numbers—who knows what I’ll get written for today. At the very least, I cobbled together a WWW Wednesday.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading the fantasy novel The Traitor’s Heir by Anna Thayer and am listening to the very amusing This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor by Adam Kay on audiobook.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I grabbed the wrong book off the shelf last week, so the last book I finished was J.C. Jackson’s Conjured Defense and yesterday I finished Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, Marin Ireland (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the UF short story collection, Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie Hughes, and my next audiobook should be Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks, Jeremy Arthur (Narrator). I read that a few dozen times in the last century, and figured it was time to revisit.

Blank Space

Hopefully, you’re not as distracted as I am (unless you want to be)—what are you reading?

COVER REVEAL: A Long Way from Home by Brian W. Caves

By HCNewton

On May 17, 2022

In Book Tour, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Welcome to The Irresponsible Reader’s part in the Cover Reveal for Brian W. Caves’s A Long Way from Home! We’ll get to the (IMHO) impressive cover in a bit, but first, let’s read a little about the book, okay?

About the Book

The Watcher is a psychological thriller that will keep you hooked from the first page until the last…

What the reviewers are saying about A Long Way from Home:
A sleepy town in 1960s South Georgia, where to some residents, segregation is more important than catching a killer.

An ex-homicide detective from Chicago called to honour an old promise.

With a rising body count and a community guarding their secrets more fiercely than their children, asking questions could prove deadly for the outsider…

What the Reviewers Are Saying:

★★★★★ A book that grabbed me and took me back in time, it will enthral you

★★★★★ Outstanding! Caves has weaved a gripping story. I simply could not put it down

★★★★★ A powerful read

★★★★★ Thought-provoking and unmissable from the first page until the last

About the Author

I started out as an engineer, then an estate agent, followed by senior management roles in cable TV and telecoms. Spent a few years as a management consultant and now work in the language translation industry.

I have played music all my life. Classically trained on the clarinet from the age of eight until fourteen when my world took a quantum leap forward after hearing Jimi Hendrix and Voodoo Child on the radio. I thought, wow, I gotta do that. I dumped the clarinet and I picked up the guitar and have never put it down. I have played alongside topflight musicians, both live and in studios.

From a young age I read books like Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Black Beauty, Swallows and Amazons, then The Famous Five, Billy Bunter, Jennings and Derbyshire, Biggles, and Tarzan. Agatha Christie had a major impact as did Georges Simenon. I penned short stories at school – mostly adventure, but it wasn’t until I became hooked on American Crime Noir that my urge to write came crashing to the forefront of my mind. Reading Hammett, Chandler, Jim Thompson, Macdonald, and the master, James M. Cain had the same effect on my potential writing career as Hendrix had for my music.

Currently, having been further influenced by the greats of Southern literature, I write crime stories based in the Deep South as well as UK based dark noir crime set in the county of Northamptonshire where I reside. Throw into the pot crime and horror short stories and novellas and you’ll have some idea of what goes on in my head.

The Cover

A Long Way from Home Cover
There’s something about that cover that grabs you, right? I love the detail on the bird. This releases on May 27, but why not go order your copy today?

Amazon US ~ Amazon UK

My thanks to Red Dragon Publishing for the invitation to participate in this reveal and the materials they provided.

Book Blogger Hop: Negative Reviews?

By HCNewton

On May 17, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Heather @ MM Romance Reviewed:

Do you post negative reviews?*

* I don’t see 99% of what I post about books here as a “review.” I still see Reviews as something that a professional does, in a professional manner. I’m an amateur who writes in a very casual manner. But I know I’m pretty much alone in this point of view, so for the sake of this post, I’ll use the commonly accepted usage.

There are books that are bad. Those need to be recognized as such. There are books that don’t appeal to a reader for whatever reason. Those should be acknowledged and discussed—hopefully with an eye to the positive as well as the negative. It’s okay not to like things. I personally think it’s a little strange how much some people enjoy not liking things, but that’s not for me to judge. I tend to prefer liking books, life is more enjoyable that way. But sometimes I just can’t. And that’s good. That’s the way it ought to be in this world of differences.

If I invest the time to read something, then you’d better believe I’m going to write about it—I need stuff to write about to keep this thing going.

Less pragmatically, I write to help me think about a book–and if those thoughts end up in a negative place, then I’m going to write a negative post.

But more importantly, if readers of my posts are to take me seriously when I say, “I think this is good,” or “I recommend it.” They should know that there are things I don’t think are good, things I don’t recommend. It’s easier to gauge how much weight to give a positive take on a book when you know how they react dimly to something.

Sure, I get that some bloggers don’t want to do anything negative—either because they’re inherently or deliberately encouraging, they think there’s too much negativity in the world already, or they’re firmly in the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” camp.* I get it, I understand it, and support their decision. Still, when deciding if I’m going to read a book I’m on the fence on, they’re not likely to sway me.

* Back on my personal blog years before I started this one, I posted a response to the Spider-Man “One More Day” storyline that consisted of 3 pages of line breaks to make it very clear how much there was that I couldn’t say anything about. Sticking to the letter of the law, but trashing the spirit.

And, as almost always comes up in a discussion like this—sometimes someone will read a negative post that I or someone else writes and say, “I can see where they might not like X, but it sounds interesting to me.” I know I’ve read books that other bloggers have trashed because of something they said.

Do you promote those reviews if you post?

I’m not sure that I promote posts at all—I know I ignore Facebook’s repeated suggestions to pay for promotion. Do I share them on social media sites? Sure–I tweet the links and post them on Facebook. I post the reviews to Goodreads, StoryGraph, Hardcover, LibraryThing, and whatever other bookish sites I’m using/trying. If that counts as promotion, then yes I do. Why wouldn’t I?

What about you?

Saturday Miscellany—5/14/22

By HCNewton

On May 14, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Without really intending to, my wife and I have apparently started a collection of dragon figures on books (I know I should more properly call them bookwyrms). One day I’ll take and post some good pictures of them, but today is not that day. I need a name for one of them–we’re a little tired of saying, “that red one we got in Lincoln City.” So, hive mind: suggestions? I tend to prefer something faux-Latin.

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet A school district in my town this week ignored their book review procedures and voted to ban “forever” over twenty books–go ahead and do that if you must, but do it right (and “forever”, really?). Raise a hullabaloo about Banned Books, the expected groups in the area are responding.
bullet Upset by book bans, teen starts forbidden book club in small Pa. town
bullet Leah Jeffries is Annabeth Chase—Rick Riordan is not pleased with some online reaction to the cast announcement for the Percy Jackson show and takes a firm stand.
bullet Q&A with Jackson Ford, author of The Frost Files—to commemorate the publication of the 4th Frost Files novel this week.
bullet Does genre matter?: When rules help and when they hinder, and how the editing process shapes genre.—One writer’s take on genre, I’d be curious to see how others approach this.
bullet All Possible Plots by Major Authors—you’ll get at least two grins from this list (probably more)
bullet How to have a comfortable read in bed—this piece from the Guaridan in 1978 holds up pretty well
bullet What a Hobby Feels Like—this isn’t about reading/books/etc. per se, but it’s a good piece and I think some of it applies.
bullet Thoughts on returning to book blogging.—were I to step away from this, I’d imagine I’d feel many of the same things
bullet Do I stand by my old reviews? Looking back on SEVEN YEARS of book blogging!—This is a brave idea.
bullet Other Bloggers Talk About 458% Traffic Increase… I’ve Yet To Get That—Pass Me That Book talks about traffic
bullet Lie About Your Age, Not About Reading Books

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater—I haven’t bought/read a Pinkwater book since the 80s, but I’ve been seeing advertisements for this everywhere, I’m going to have to give it a shot.
bullet A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford—Teagan Frost is back, what more needs to be said?

The Friday 56 for 5/13/22: Right Behind Her by Melinda Leigh

By HCNewton

On May 13, 2022

In Currently Reading, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Right Behind He

Right Behind Her by Melinda Leigh

“I can’t decide if he’s a great actor or truly impulsive. Did he insult that man thinking he could get away with it here?”

“No.” Matt considered Shawn’s expression after the fight. “He wanted that fight. The big guy reacted exactly the way Shawn intended.”

Bree frowned. “Why? Why would he want to get the hell beaten out of him?”

“By going to the ER, he avoided spending a night in jail.”

Bree sat back.

Matt continued. “He looked pleased with himself.”

WWW Wednesday, May 10, 2022

By HCNewton

On May 11, 2022

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

It’s the middle of the week, the day where I figure out just where I am and what I’m doing next and tell you about it. It’s a good exercise and for at least 15 minutes I feel like I have a handle on things. It’s a little thing I like to call WWW Wednesday! (I like to call it that because that’s its name, I’m funny that way)

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Easy enough, right?