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The Friday 56 for 12/16/22: Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Sacrifices

Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz

“You know they’re chock-full of demons, right?”

“I don’t know that. This is the twenty-first century. We tend to be extremely careful about calling aberrant behavior demonic possession when it might simply be mental illness.”

“Seriously? Under these circumstances?”

“None of them appear to have any history with the occult, that I can turn up, let alone the kind of lengthy history that results in end-stage possession . . .” Elliot spoke quickly and precisely, dressed it all up with technical-sounding jargon, but a note of uncertainty clung to her voice like a parasite, sucking the life out of it.

WWW Wednesday, December 14, 2022

So…this week may turn out to be nothing but things I’ve already composed or that I can quickly plug a couple of things into—that brain fog thing is hitting me hard anytime I do something more strenuous than turning a page or pushing a remote button. So, here’s today’s plug ‘n play post.

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 Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz (7 years after I bought it!) and am listening to The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz, Rory Kinnear (Narrator), the new Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery, on audiobook.

SacrificesBlank SpaceThe Twist of a Knife

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Olivia Blacke’s Vinyl Resting Place, a fun cozy, and Junkyard War by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator) on audio, which wasn’t cozy at all.

Vinyl Resting PlaceBlank SpaceJunkyard War

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Pet by Akwaeke Emezi—I have no idea what to expect out of this, I am going solely off of a recommendation. My next audiobook should be the third installment in the Pentecost and Parker series, Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood, Kirsten Potter (Narrator).

PetBlank SpaceSecrets Typed in Blood

Hope you’re having a better—and healthier—week. Reading anything good?

The Friday 56 for 12/9/22: Radio Radio by Ian Shane

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Radio Radio

Radio Radio by Ian Shane

He picks up the box to indicate that his ten years at this company could barely fill a cardboard box. “My last bit of advice that you’re going to ignore is to not give these bastards a reason.”

This is the best bit of advice he’s given me. It doesn’t sound so stupid when it comes from someone who’s not in an authoritative position. “Yeah,” I say softly. “Thanks.”

Tony makes his move to the door. “Hey, Tony,” I say, stopping him at the threshold.

“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna miss you, man.” Tony chuckles a bit. “No, you won’t.” He smiles at my seemingly transparent attempt at comfort. “But thanks for saying so.”

I walk to the doorframe to watch him walk away from the station for the last time. I felt a subtle sense of loss as I saw him turn the corner. It’s the sort of loss an FBI agent might feel after putting away a mob boss that was the subject of a three-year probe. He was a worthy adversary. We were like Eliot Ness and Al Capone, Dr. Richard Kimble and the one-armed man, Batman and The Joker.

WWW Wednesday, December 7, 2022

It’s time for this week’s 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 just started Radio Radio by Ian Shane and am listening to Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry on audiobook.

Radio RadioBlank SpaceFriends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man, and have already started recommending it to everyone. I also finished the satisfying Stone Cold by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator) on audio.

The Spare ManBlank SpaceStone Cold

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Her Name Is Knight by Yasmin Angoe (and yeah, I said this last week, but other library deadlines reared their head) and my next audiobook should be the trilogy ending Junkyard War by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator).

Her Name Is KnightBlank SpaceJunkyard War

What about you?

November 2022 in Retrospect: What I Read/Listened to/Wrote About

In November, I managed to wrap up 22 books with a total of 6,940 pages (or the equivalent). With one exception, I really liked them, giving them an average 3.8 stars (including 4 books that are strong contenders for my year-end lists). All in all, it was a great month for what I read—even if the numbers were on the low end for me. I’ll take that trade off.

On the production side, I’m less happy. But regular readers can count on me saying that regularly, so I won’t dwell on it. But I got to do a Q&A with Marshall Karp this month—so honestly, I’m more than fine with that side of things.

Anyway, here’s what happened here in November:
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to

The Veiled Edge of Contact Discount Armageddon Kestral's Dance
4 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
Gardens Terry's Crew Less
4 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Screwed NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority Desert Star
4 Stars 4 Stars 3.5 Stars
All These Worlds Theft of Swords Missing Pieces
3.5 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Druid Vices and a Vodka A Hard Day for a Hangover The Excellencies of God
3 Stars 4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Dead Lions The Mututal Friend Bully Pulpit
5 Stars 2 1/2 Stars 4 Stars
Wistful Ascending The World Record Book of Racist Stories Little Ghost
4 1/2 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars
Aether Powered
3 Stars

Still Reading

Faith & Life In the Fullness of Time Low Anthropology
Bookish People

Ratings

5 Stars 1 2 1/2 Stars 1
4 1/2 Stars 3 2 Stars 0
4 Stars 11 1 1/2 Stars 0
3.5 Stars 3 1 Star 0
3 Stars 3
Average = 3.8

TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps

Audio E-book Physical Goodreads
Want-to-Read
End of
2021
9 45 42 144
1st of the
Month
7 46 45 147
Added 3 2 6 1
Read/
Listened
3 1 9 0
Current Total 7 50 42 148

The math on that e-book column doesn’t work right, even I can tell that, but I’m not going to find the time to figure out where I went wrong.

Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 13
Self-/Independent Published: 9

Genre This Month Year to Date
Children’s 0 (0%) 4 (1%)
Fantasy 9 (9%) 26 (10%)
General Fiction/ Literature 3 (14%) 19 (8%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 7 (32%) 105 (42%)
Non-Fiction 1 (5%) 25 (10%)
Science Fiction 4 (18%) 27 (11%)
Theology/ Christian Living 2 (9%) 40 (16%)
Urban Fantasy 3 (14%) 42 (13%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) 0 (0%) 2 (1%)

Review-ish Things Posted

Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th), I also wrote:

 

Enough about me—how Was Your Month?

November Calendar

The Friday 56 for 12/2/22: Aether Powered by James T. Lambert

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Aether Powered

Aether Powered by James T. Lambert

…if I figured it out myself, I could make even more. Build flying cars. Hell, sell conversion kits to make regular cars fly! Airplanes without wings, no airports, and a lot less fuel. Replace Boeing. Why think small? Replace NASA and build ships that go to the moon without fuel. Mars in days instead of months. And no weight limits.

Carol must have seen my eyes glaze over. “Snap out of it! You aren’t Henry Ford. Hell, you’re not Ford Fairlane! You know nothing about manufacturing, venture capital, entrepreneurship, or even patent law. Yeah, someone could turn this into a multi-billion-dollar industry, but you are not that guy. Take the money and run.”

WWW Wednesday, November 30, 2022

It’s time for WWW Wednesday. Which is a relief—none of what was on my full (but easily fulfilled) checklist last night was able to be checked off. So at least I can get something that’s not a rerun up today, right? Who knows, I might be able to get something else wrapped up, but I’m not counting on it at this point.

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 Aether Powered by James T. Lambert and am listening to Bookish People by Susan Coll, Alexa Morden (Narrator) on audiobook. I’m intrigued by and am enjoying one of them. I’m tolerating the other (sunk cost fallacy beats me again). Time will tell if that changes.

Aether PoweredBlank SpaceBookish People

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Chris McDonald’s Little Ghost, his newest series debut, and The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar on audio, which gave me pretty much exactly what I expected.

Little GhostBlank SpaceThe World Record Book of Racist Stories

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Her Name Is Knight by Yasmin Angoe, the first in a series I’ve been curious about for a bit. My next audiobook should be Stone Cold by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator), because it’s been too long since I spent time with Joe Pickett.

Her Name Is KnightBlank SpaceStone Cold

Are you reading anything promising right now?

The Friday 56 for 11/25/22: Dead Lions by Mick Herron

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Dead Lions

Dead Lions by Mick Herron

She said to Ho, “You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to.”

As an interrogation technique, thought River, this lacked bite.

WWW Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Here on the Eve of Gluttony Day (or whatever we’re calling it this year), I’m going to take a moment and see to this week’s 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 Dead Lions by Mick Herron (and spending a good deal of time berating myself for putting this off for so long) and am listening to The Mutual Friend by Carter Bays, George Newbern (Narrator) on audiobook (and am wondering if it’s worth the time).

Dead LionsBlank SpaceThe Mututal Friend

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Darynda Jones’ A Hard Day for a Hangover—which is as fun as its predecessors—and Druid Vices and a Vodka by Annette Marie, Cris Dukehart (Narrator) on audio—and that ending really surprised me.

A Hard Day for a HangoverBlank SpaceDruid Vices and a Vodka

What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne for a tour next week and my next audiobook should be The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar to raise my blood pressure (and give me a few chuckles).

Wistful AscendingBlank SpaceThe World Record Book of Racist Stories

Are you especially thankful for any reads this week? (or are you suffering through a turkey?)

The Friday 56 for 11/18/22: Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Theft of Swords

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

The room was unused.

Hadrian remained silent near the window as Royce moved across the room to the door. He watched as the thief’s feet tested the surface of the floor before committing his weight. Royce mentioned once how he had been in an attic on a job when he hit a weak board and fell through the bedroom ceiling. This floor was stone, but even stones sometimes had loose mortar or contained hidden traps or alarms. Royce made it to the door, where he crouched and paused to listen. He motioned a sign for walking with his hand and then began counting on his fingers for Hadrian to see. There was a pause, and then he repeated the signal. Hadrian crossed the room to join his friend and the two sat waiting for several minutes in silence.

Eventually Royce lifted the latch with gloved hands but did not open the door. Outside they could hear the heavy footfalls of hard boots on stone, first one set, and then a second. As the steps faded, Royce opened the door slightly and peered out. The hall was empty.

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