Category: Blog Series Page 126 of 230

Book Blogger Hop: Book Signings?

On January 28, 2022

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Have you ever attended a book signing? If so, who was the author?

Not as many as I’d like to–my corner of the world doesn’t really attract many authors I’m into, alas. But there’ve been a few:
bullet Lance Olsen, who was then Idaho Writer in Residence, at Borders bookstore. This would’ve been somewhere around 1996, I think.
bullet Cherie Priest was at Rediscovered Books in November 2011 for a reading/signing.
bullet John Scalzi did a reading/signing here in ’15
bullet A couple of weeks later, Shane Kuhn, did, too.
bullet I’ve been to a couple of signings/book releases/etc. for Devri Walls books.
bullet Craig Johnson was really entertaining when he did a reading/signing in 2018.

All in all, these are great ways to hear writers reading their work, hear their stories, and get your book squiggled in. Also, they are fantastic opportunities for me to fail at basic human interaction, you know, just in case I forget that I can’t handle that.

What about you?

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies

By HCNewton

On January 28, 2022

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction

I’m very pleased and excited today to welcome The Write Reads Blog Tour for the first in a Gaslamp Fantasy series, The Cruel Gods, The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies. I didn’t have time to read it, which is disappointing, because I’ve heard nothing but good things for a few months now about this book–but I wanted to take a moment to help spread the word about it with this Spotlight. After you read this, you should absolutely check out some of the posts about it at https://twitter.com/WriteReadsTours.

Book Details:

Book Title: The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies
Release date: October 13, 2021
Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Ebook
Length: 535 pages

Book Blurb:

When the saints fail, the sinners step up.

Cruel gods rule the steam-powered city of Chime, demanding worship and tribute from their mortal subjects. Kayl lost her faith in them long ago, and now seeks to protect vulnerable and downtrodden mortals from their gods’ whims. But when Kayl discovers powers that she didn’t know she had—and destroys a mortal’s soul by accident—she becomes Chime’s most wanted.

Quen’s job was to pursue sinners, until the visions started. Haunted by foreboding images of his beloved city’s destruction, Quen hunts soul-sucking creatures made of aether who prey on its citizens—and Kayl is his number one target.

To ensure Chime’s future, Kayl and Quen must discover the truth of Kayl’s divine abilities before the gods take matters into their own hands.

For a city that bows to cruel gods, it’ll take godless heathens to save it.

The Thirteenth Hour is the first book in The Cruel Gods series—a gaslamp fantasy featuring magical portals, gothic cosmic deities, quaint Britishisms, and steampunk vibes. This is an adult book containing strong language and mature themes that some readers may find disturbing. For a full list of content warnings, visit Trudie Skies’s website.

Book Links:

Amazon ~ Goodreads

About the Author:

Trudie Skies has been living inside fantasy worlds ever since she discovered that reality doesn’t quite live up to the hype. Through the magic of books, she wishes to share these worlds of hope and heroes with other weary souls. Living in North East England, Trudie spends most of her free time daydreaming about clouds, devouring whatever fantasy books or video games she can get her hands on, and chasing after her troublesome dogs, who would like to reassure you they are very good boys.

Her debut YA fantasy series, Sand Dancer, was published through Uproar Books. Trudie is now writing adult gaslamp fantasy with her new series, The Cruel Gods.

Author Links:

Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ BookBub ~ Goodreads

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

WWW Wednesday, January 26, 2022

By HCNewton

On January 26, 2022

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

Time for 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 very compelling Reconstruction by Mick Herron and am revisiting Burning Bright by Nick Petrie, Stephen Mendel (Narrator) on audiobook, which I remember not playing out the way I expected at all–looking forward to seeing if I should’ve picked it up on the twist earlier.

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished David Rosenfelt’s Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure and Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster, Angus King (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

Up next are a couple of things I’ve been wanting to get to for a while, and my library has come through for me: How to Save a Superhero by Ruth Freeman and my next audiobook should be Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach (Narrator).

Blank Space

What about you?

Saturday Miscellany—1/22/22

By HCNewton

On January 22, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I apparently had one of those weeks where I did more reading than blogging/blog prep, I didn’t realize it, but apparently, that was the case. STill did get a post or two up every day, and found some good stuff for this post, just not what I expected to produce at the beginning of the week. Oh, well. Read some good stuff, plugged away at a couple of projects I’m excited to share with you, and…well, I don’t know, there should be a third thing, but who has the energy to write a whole list?

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 Book bans are back in style
bullet For Booksellers, the Crystal Ball Stays Cloudy: Indie booksellers saw solid sales in 2021 but wonder what 2022 will bring
bullet 30 years of Harry Bosch—that’s a mind-boggling number
bullet Humor in Books, and Other Places, Too! An Interview with Armanis Ar-Feinial—I’m really digging this series from K. R. R. Lockhaven.
bullet The Deeply Personal Art of Organizing Your Books—Molly Templeton weighs in on book organization
bullet 5 Years of Blogging—Suckerforcoffe looks back on five years of blogging—no mean feat.
bullet What You Need to Know Before You Return a Book on Audible in 2022
bullet I read City of Lies…all of them—I don’t know how I left this off of last week’s list, but I’m glad I did, I’m a little short on material for this week. The Fantasy Inn’s Kopratic read every book called City of Lies around. Brilliant idea for a project

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or four) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Tales From The Bridge: All Things Sci-Fi Ep.27: A Conversation with Seanan McGuire—I’ve heard a few interviews with McGuire—she’s always entertaining, but she’s in rare form here. Great stuff.
bullet The Thriller Zone Nick Kolakowski, Pulp Thriller Writer—this was a good interview that inspired me to dip into the archives, the episodes with Ace Atkins and Tori Eldridge were worth noting, too. This podcast is going to be in the rotation for a while.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby by Ace Atkins—This is the tenth and final book in this series for Atkins, and he goes out strong in this story of Spenser protecting a politician from threats and harassment. I tried to get my post up about this yesterday, but it needed a little more time in the oven. Hopefully early next week.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Celeste L and Eweto Ovie who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!

The Friday 56 for 1/21/22: Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2022

In Currently Reading, 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:
Nice Dragons Finish Last

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

“…believe it or not, I don’t normally get into back-alley brawls with strange men.”

“Well, if anyone deserved breaking your ‘no slamming people into walls’ streak over, it would be Bixby’s idiots.”

“I only got half of them,” he reminded her. “You did the other. Credit where credit is due.”

Marci laughed. “If by ‘credit’ you mean ‘assault and battery charges,’ then I guess you’re right.” She shook her head and turned to flash him a warm smile. “You know, we make a pretty good team.”

Julius felt that smile all the way to his toes.

Book Blogger Hop: Books Per Month?

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

What is the average number of books you read per month?

You’d think I’d know that, wouldn’t you? I had to do a tiny bit of research for this. I could’ve gone back about a decade in coming up with this number, but that felt like overkill. I figured a look at the last three years would fit my current habits best (and was easiest to get the data from, which helped). But just the raw number looked boring, so why not make* a chart?

* Have my spreadsheet make a chart, after it did the math for me.

What about you?

WWW Wednesday, January 19, 2022

By HCNewton

On January 19, 2022

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

So the holiday Monday threw me off a little bit, it feels like I’m getting this ready far too early in the week. Hope you’re all having a good one, it’s time for 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 fiftieth Spenser novel, Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby by Ace Atkins. I’m also listening to a little-known novel, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (Narrator) on audiobook—have you heard of it?

Blank Space

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Sally Hepworth’s The Good Sister; A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape by Joe Pera, illustrated by Joe Bennett; and Dark Queen by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator) on audio.

Blank Space

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be a book that I’ve meant to read for years: Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt. My next audiobook should be Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster, Angus King (Narrator).

Blank Space

Hit me with your Three W’s in the comments! (no, really, do it!)

Saturday Miscellany—1/15/22

By HCNewton

On January 15, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 Americans Reading Fewer Books Than in Past—pretty sure this is news to no one. Still depressing to see.
bullet Book bans in schools are catching fire. Black authors say uproar isn’t about students.
bullet The 23 most popular books of the past year, according to Goodreads members—huh.
bullet Have We Forgotten How to Read Critically?—Um, yeah?
bullet Ace Atkins bids Robert B. Parker’s Spenser farewell
bullet The Future of Robert B. Parker’s Sunny Randall—I meant to include this last week, but it fits the theme of the previous item.
bullet Some Books That Inspire Me—On the eve of his first novel’s publication, Adam Shaw talks about some books that got him to that point.
bullet Maybe Reading Goals Are Good, Actually—Templeton has some good ideas about reading goals for a self-described “free range reader”
bullet How BOOK IT! Made Reading Delicious—from Mental Floss
bullet Bookish Bucket List—Now this is a good idea…
bullet Misrepresentations of Autism in Fiction—good stuff from The Coycaterpillar Reads.
bullet StoryGraph vs. Goodreads – The Good & the Bad
bullet The importance of book reviews

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Jackals by Adam Shaw—Jack Dotson returns to his hometown for a funeral and has to deal with the past he tried to leave behind—and doing so may cause trouble for the rest of his life. (oof, that sounded lame…go read the link, it’s better when not summarized in a sentence)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Rabhya Maini who followed the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger!

The Friday 56 for 1/14/21: Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

By HCNewton

On January 14, 2022

In Currently Reading, Fantasy, News/Misc., Quotations, Seanan McGuire, The Friday 56, Wayward Children

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 (and a little bit of 57) of:
Where the Drowned Girls Go

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

The matron narrowed her eyes. “Can scarecrows talk?” she repeated, tone clearly implying that there was only one right answer, and it wasn’t the one she expected from Emily.

…Silence and blending into the background were Cora’s forte. She was good at it. But she was also a hero, and heroes didn’t stand idly by while someone smaller was victimized.

“Scarecrows don’t talk,” she scoffed, loudly enough and clearly enough to guarantee she would be overheard. The matron stiffened. Cora acted like she hadn’t noticed, continuing blithely, “They’re just straw stuffed into old potato sacks. If scarecrows could talk, that would mean straw could talk, and if straw could talk, grass would be able to talk, and no one could mow their lawns.”

Book Blogger Hop: Bookish Art?

By HCNewton

On January 14, 2022

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Penelope @ The Reading Devil:

Do you have any bookish posters or artwork on your walls?

Yes, some. I should really have taken photographs here, but it’d be better to go look at the art at the links instead–I know what my photographs look like 🙂

On my walls are:
bullet a pair of Dresden Files prints by Mike Kuloda
bullet a print from Bearded by Jeremy Billups
bullet a print by Gene Mollica of Atticus, the Iron Druid (signed by Kevin Hearne)
bullet I also have a nifty print from No Country for Old Gnomes> signed by Delilah S Dawson, Kevin Hearne, and the artist (but I can’t read their name)
bullet a print by Chris McGrath of The Brightest Fell (October Daye) cover art
bullet and a mash-up of things like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ready Player One that my daughter painted for me a few years ago.

I’d get more, but I’m about at the point where I have to decide between space for bookcases and space for art. So something’s gotta give. (although I saw three prints while getting links for the artists I almost bought today, so…)