The Irresponsible Reader - I Read (a lot) and then Rant, Rave and maybe Review

Million Dollar Demon

by Kim Harrison
Series: The Hollows, #15

eARC, 464 pg.
Ace, 2021

Read: June 3-7, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Million Dollar Demon About?

It hasn’t been all that long for Rachel Morgan, but for her readers, it’s been ten books (and 14 years) since Cincinnati’s Master Vampire was killed. When this book opens, Constance, the new Master Vampire is days away from arriving to take over.

But she’s already exerting her influence to make things difficult for non-Vampire Interlanders in the city. From bogus evictions, trumped-up charges, intimidation, and just about everything else you can think of. There’s a certain common denominator among many of these targets—they’re tied in some way to Rachel. In more than a few cases, Rachel herself is clearly the target.

The message delivered is very clear—it’s time for Rachel to get out of town. Otherwise, Constance is going to make Rachel’s life miserable—and she’ll also target Rachel’s friends and families, their friends and families, and anyone that looks like might be sympathetic.

One of Rachel’s demon friends mentions an idea—it hasn’t been used recently but there is an old demon office called the subrosa—essentially the demon equivalent of the Master Vampire (there are nuances that I need to let you read for yourselves). Rachel initially blows off the suggestion to take up that mantle and from that position she can take on Constance, save some innocents and perhaps the city. But she keeps circling back to that idea, and her allies keep trying to talk her into it.

As a quick aside—Jane Yellowrock has a tendency to do things like this, too (I just finished revisiting Raven Cursed and the two reminded me of each other). It might not be a bad idea when someone mentions you taking up a title/position that you’ve never heard of to ask a few questions before you think about assuming the title.

Add in the ongoing drama with Trent and the Elves, the Elves fluctuating power structure, the changing relations between Elves and Demons, the Demons internal problems, Rachel’s problems with the Demons (and Al in particular), and…well, all the stuff that we all thought were pretty well settled until last year’s American Demon showed us we were wrong. Basically, there’s a lot going on.

Constance

The idea that the ruling Vampires named Constance as the City’s Master is pretty troubling. She is, to put it simply, bat guano crazy. I don’t remember a lot about her predecessor, Piscary, but I remember he was nasty and cruel. But Constance is a monster. She’s the kind of character that UF heroes are supposed to be focused on taking down, I wish Rachel had been quicker to step up (although I do understand her reasoning). I’ve been reading Urban Fantasy for about sixteen years, and I’ve seen a lot of nasty vampires (and other creatures), and Constance has got to be in the running for the worst.

But I’ve got to tell you, by the end of this book, I was convinced that her #2, Pike, is likely the vampire that’s the real threat. I’m wondering what you think.

So, what did I think about Million Dollar Demon?

I liked it. I had a lot of fun in these pages. And for a series as long-in-the-tooth as this one is, that’s saying something.

I didn’t get as thorough in this post as usually do and/or intended to. I had a few more notes that I wanted to cover, and I actually deleted 5 paragraphs from this because it just ended up being too vague to be of use—or all that interesting. Almost everything that I really wanted to chew on falls under what I’d call a spoiler.

Because there is a lot going on here—after shaking up the status quo in American Demon Harrison establishes—or at least starts to—a new status quo. She’s ignored Vampires for quite a while, and that’s over (and we shouldn’t expect that werewolves won’t stay out of the spotlight, either). I’m not convinced she’s pushing Elves or Demons to the back burner any time soon, but they’re going to have company on the front. How she’s going to keep all these balls in the air at the same time? I have no idea, but it’s going to be fun to watch.

Million Dollar Demon was exciting, there was plenty of drama, a lot of good action, and some important character growth—and as I said, it was fun. At the end of the day, that’s all I ask for.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

On God and Christ by Gregory of Nazianzus: Classic, Orthodox, Passionate

By HCNewton

On June 13, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

On God and Christ,
The Five Theological
Orations and Two
Letters to Cledonius

by Gregory of Nazianzus, Translators: Frederick Williams & Lionel Wickham
Series: Popular Patristics Series, #23

Paperback, 172 pg.
St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002

Read: May 2-June 6, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

However, this illustration too was unacceptable to me. First, because it was quite clear what had set the sunbeam in motion, whereas nothing is prior to God to be his mover—he is cause of all and owns no prior cause. Second, because there is in this example a hint of those very things which are inconceivable in the case of God—composition, dispersion, and the lack of a fixed, natural stability. In a word, there is nothing to satisfy my mind when I try to illustrate the mental picture I have, except gratefully taking part of the image and discarding the rest. So, in the end, I resolved that it was best to say “goodbye” to images and shadows, deceptive and utterly inadequate as they are to express the reality. I resolved to keep close to the more truly religious view and rest content with some few words, taking the Spirit as my guide and, in his company and in partnership with him, safeguarding to the end the genuine illumination I had received from him, as I strike out a path through this world. To the best of my powers I will persuade all men to worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the single Godhead and power, because to him belong all glory, honor, and might for ever and ever. Amen.

What’s On God and Christ About?

It’s all there in the subtitle, isn’t it? There are five theological orations/sermons and two letters in the book, focusing on the doctrine of the Trinity—with a focus on the person of the Son, and the “begotten” nature. According to the Introduction, these come in response to Anomean teaching—frequently referred to as Neo-Arian, but that’s not wholly accurate (and apparently would be offensive to Anomeans). The Church would formalize the response to the Anomeans in the modification to the Nicene Creed at the Council of Constantinople.

In other words—these sermons and letters are part of what laid the groundwork for that Creed that Christians confess throughout the world each week, and are a great way to come to a fuller understanding of some of what that Creed teaches. This is one of the recommended works from The Trinity: An Introduction by Scott R. Swain that I read earlier this year, and I can easily see why.

Readability and Tone

If there is one God, one supreme nature, where can I find an analogy to show you? Are you looking for one from your environment here in this world? It is a singularly graceless, and not just graceless but a pretty well futile, notion to get a picture of things heavenly from things of earth, of things fixed immutably from this transitory element. As Isaiah says, it is “seeking the living among the dead.”

For just about every reader (at least we non-scholars) the idea of reading Patristics is fairly daunting—even if you’ve done it before and emerged relatively unscathed (and maybe even learned something or enjoyed it). Dealing with a Church Father on something as technical as the Trinity? That’s beyond daunting, we’re talking intimidation now.

But there’s a reason that these sermons have lasted since the Fourth Century, they’re useful, educational, approachable, understandable. The translator calls them “as much high art as high theology,” in his introduction. Which isn’t a bad description, really.

There’s passion, there’s a hint of humor—not to make light of the topic, or to inject levity to entertain—but to serve as an aid to understanding (and to illustrate the foolishness of his opponents). This is a man who cares about what he’s talking about—this is important to him, important to his opponents, important to his audience, and therefore it must be dealt with carefully, with precision, and clearly. All of which translates well to us today.

Sure, because it’s technical Trinitarian language, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to read—but it’s not that bad. I think a careful high schooler could handle it.

So, what did I think about On God and Christ?

How has he been begotten?—I re-utter the question with loathing. God’s begetting ought to have the tribute of our reverent silence, The important point is for you to learn that he has been begotten. As to the way it happens, we shall not concede that even angels, much less you, know that. Shall I tell you the way? It is a way known only to the begetting Father and the begotten Son. Anything beyond this fact is hidden by a cloud and escapes your dull vision.

I am so glad I picked this up—what a treasure. It’s something I’m going to return to in years to come. Both for personal devotional reading as well as for help with tricky Trinitarian theology. I really think this is the kind of thing that everyone should read, and encourage you to give it a shot.

5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Saturday Miscellany—6/12/21

By HCNewton

On June 12, 2021

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

This feels a bit more hodge-podge-y than usual, but hey, just one of those weeks, I guess. Hope you’re having a good weekend!

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 New exhibition shows Peanuts creator Charles M Schulz’s take on grown-ups—I would enjoy seeing this exhibition, while the one strip the article shows demonstrates that Schulz needed to develop things a bit more.
bullet Telegraph columnist wrongly claims literacy at the lowest level in UK history.
bullet Those Descriptions on the Inside of Book Covers Are Full of It: They’ve become meaningless mush—but they don’t have to be.—I think Farwell’s critiques are problematic, but I like the look at developing the descriptions for a book.
bullet How TV Shows Use Books as Props: From SCHITT’S CREEK to MAD MEN
bullet Shop Talk: Ace Atkins Writes on a 40-Year Old Keyboard and Doesn’t Believe in Word Counts—an interview with Atkins about his process—even if you’re not a fan of Atkins (which just means you haven’t read him yet), it’s worth a read. I love seeing how different authors go about things.
bullet FPTV: Ben Aaronovich & Andrew Cartmel introduce Rivers of London: Body Work (Deluxe Writer’s Edition)—I haven’t found time to watch this yet, but it looks good. Also, I need to get my hands on the that edition.
bullet Some Thoughts and a Problem—Many of us can identify with Bookforager here.
bullet Dear Authors – This Reader Wants More Courage, Complexity and Atmosphere—BookerTalk has a wishlist for authors/publishers.
bullet Pros and Cons of Audiobooks: My Experience So Far—FanFiAddict’s David S. discusses audiobook listening
bullet Musings on Mood Reading
bullet Lie About Your Age, Not About Reading Books—some good stuff about lying about reading and related ideas over at The Bookwyrm’s Den

This Week's New Releases That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Meat is Murder by Chris McDonald—the third Stonebridge Mystery finds the amateur sleuths investigating a death at an abattoir (not the routine kind, it should be stressed). I’ll be talking about it next week, hint: it was fun.
bullet Darling at the Campsite by Andy Abramowitz—an “adrift thirty-three-year-old” returns to his hometown for the funeral for his estranged brother and has to deal with baggage from his past.

As Close as I get to a “Review Policy”

By HCNewton

On June 11, 2021

In Books, News/Misc.

Thanks to BookerTalk for saying something today, I’d been intending on revisiting my “Read My Book” page, because I’m uncomfortable with the notion of “Review Policy.” It turns out that it’s been 14 months to the day since I did that. I think it’s a little better now, even if it seems a bit wordier than I’d prefer.

Below is what I currently have on that submission form—authors, is this helpful? Do you have any feedback? Book Bloggers—same questions: is this helpful? Do you have comments/suggestions?

You’ve written a book? Congrats! You want me to read it? First—thanks, I’m flattered. Second, I’m probably game*—if there’s a date you want it done by? Well…we’ll see what we can work out. Otherwise, it’s FIFO as I work it in with other things I have committed to/want to read.

I prefer Kindle-friendly books (well, I prefer hardcopy, but I know that’s a lot to ask, so we’ll go with Kindle-friendly). I can handle ePub. If you ask nicely, I might read a PDF (I don’t like the way they look on my e-Readers and have to spend time resizing every page so it doesn’t hurt my eyes—that’s time I’d rather spend reading), but I probably won’t. I’d very much appreciate it if you’d send a cover image with your book.

If you’re an agent, a publicist, a publisher and you want me to consider someone’s book—same rules.

I talk about this more on my About page, but, briefly, as far as genres go, with Fiction:
bullet I’m a Mystery/Thriller/Crime Fiction junkie
bullet I love Urban Fantasy
bullet I enjoy good Science Fiction or Fantasy
bullet I’ve even dabbled in Chick Lit (‘tho, honestly, I’m more comfortable in “Lad Lit”)
bullet I’ll take a decent Western.

On the Non-Fiction side, I admit I’m a bit more limited—if it catches my eye, though, I’ll read anything.
bullet I typically end up with Biography/Autobiography/Memoir
bullet Something with a “Soft Science” bent (I’m not opposed to a “Hard Science,” but this is a hobby, not homework)
bullet I’m also a Theology Nerd, of the Reformed Protestant variety—I’ll read some things outside that, but I won’t read any Non-Fiction attacking Christianity/Reformed theology (if you can do it in an interesting novel, I’ll read it).

If you make me laugh or chuckle in any of the above, that’s as good as “Up, Up, Down, Down” to get me on your side.

But I’m open to reading just about anything as far as genre goes (you’ll have to sell me hard on a Zombie book, Romance or Self-Help), just:
bullet make your pitch interesting
bullet try not to let your form’s grammar/spelling make me question your writing ability (I don’t care how cool the book is, it won’t “peak” my interest—and yes, I’ve been told that multiple times)
bullet answer the questions I ask (“when” and “what” mean very different things)
bullet you should come across like someone nice to work with.
bullet If I say, “yes,” don’t hit me with a list of demands, you make me dislike myself for agreeing to read your book—resulting in a miserable experience for me (which makes it difficult for me to say nice things about your book).
bullet After a couple of problems in 2019 (one un-named author in particular) I’ve decided that if you start demanding things from me after I say yes, I’m going to not read/stop reading your book (even if I’m loving it at the 90% mark). It’s petty, but it’s my blog and I’m tired of not enjoying it. I’ve almost walked away from this entire thing because of rude authors, and I won’t put up with it anymore.

I do go out of my way to be fair and reasonable in what I say about a book—but I do give less than rave reviews frequently. I know many book bloggers won’t post negative—or even “meh”—reviews. I’m not one of them. There are two reasons for this: any review (I’m assured) on Goodreads, Amazon, or anywhere else helps your metrics no matter what it says; moreover if I spend the time reading your book, I’m getting a post out of it. I do prefer to like things, so you’re going to get a lot of slack from me.

Unless you specify otherwise, a few hours after posting here, I’ll cross-post to Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph (and other places you might want me to).

Creature Feature (Audiobook) by Steven Paul Leiva, Seamus Dever, and Juliana Dever ★ ★ ★ ★ A 1950s Monster Movie Comes to Life in a 1960s Midwest Town

By HCNewton

On June 10, 2021

In Audiobook, Fiction

Creature Feature

by Steven Paul Leiva, Narrated by Seamus Dever and Juliana Dever

Unabridged Audiobook, 4 hrs. 23 min.
2021

Read: June 8, 2021

What’s Creature Feature About?

It’s the early 1960s and Kathy Anderson has put her aspirations of Broadway stardom on hold in favor of a steady paycheck for a few years. She’s spent those years as Vivacia, the Vampire Woman—Chicago’s version of Vampira/Elvira, Mistress of the Dark—hosting monster movies on a local television station. But she’s had enough of that, it’s time to get back to being a serious actress. She quits and plans to head to New York and get back to the career she dreamed of.

But first, she heads home to Placidville. She plans on spending some time with her parents and the people she grew up around. When she arrives, her parents are acting a bit strange—actually, everyone (literally everyone) in town is acting strange. And everyone from her parents, to her parents’ friends, to random people she meets on the street, to the town’s hunky new mayor are major Vivacia fans. It’s almost too much for Kathy—but what puts her over the edge is her best friend’s dorky brother who keeps showing up to insist that something is wrong, and only he can help her see it.

The next thing that Kathy knows, she’s in the middle of something reminiscent of one of the movies from Vivacia’s House of Horrors, struggling to survive and hopefully saving the world as we know it.

Judging by the official description, that’s really all that I feel free to say—I had a few other notes along those lines, but…I don’t want to give anything else away. That’s enough of the setup, though, to pique your interest, I think. The tone is a tricky one—the threat is real, Kathy is in serious trouble—but the whole thing is told in a comedic tone. You’re supposed to find it silly while you’re hoping that Kathy susses out what’s going on, you chuckle when she’s running for her life.

The Audiobook Experience

As this post is part of the Audiobook tour, I should focus on that for a little bit. Which is great—because this is a great match of material and medium. I’d have no problem believing that this was written as an audiobook exclusively, it’s perfectly fitting.

A lot of that is due to Seamus Dever’s narration. He hits the tone just right—he’s close to going over-the-top without ever slipping into parody. It’s clearly funny material, but he plays it straight. Still, he sounds like he’s having fun—and it’s hard not to join in. And Juliana Dever nails the character of Kathy (and her alter ego).

At the same time, the approach to this audiobook still feels odd. Seamus handles almost all the voice duties—narration and every character’s dialogue that isn’t Kathy/Vivacia. Juliana handles only Kathy/Vivacia’s dialogue (and announces the chapters). I haven’t come across this way of dividing the duties before and it struck me as odd. But—after the first couple of minutes I got used to it, and it works.

I’m not sure that the special effects added much to the experience—maybe even detracted from it. In particular, the reverb/echo effect added to Juliana’s voice when she was reading Kathy’s thoughts, just got on my nerves. It’s only done a few times and doesn’t hurt things much, but it was distracting.

So, what did I think about Creature Feature?

I think maybe the easiest way to think about this is as a short novel written by Ed Wood. But where Wood would be earnest and sincere in telling this story, Leiva is going for laughs. It’s a Classic B-Movie Monster story but told in a way where the goofiness is intentional and designed for laughs, not as a scare that misses its mark.

The characters are probably a bit more fleshed out than the genre requires, the setting is great, the execution is really well done—both with the text, but especially in audio production. I think if I’d read the print version, I’d be handing out 3 Stars for this, but the Devers took this to another level.

In the end, either version is going to keep you entertained for a few hours and make you curious about other things that Leiva has written. Give this one a shot folks, I think you’ll be glad you did.

4 Stars

My thanks to Let’s Talk Promotions and Psst…Promotions for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the audiobook) they provided.

Lizard Flambe: An EXCERPT from Creature Feature by Steven Paul Leiva

By HCNewton

On June 10, 2021

In Audiobook, Fiction, Quotations

Earlier this morning, I talked about the book, and now I get to give you a little taste—I hope it hooks you the way it did me.

from Creature Feature by Steven Paul Leiva

Those who survived the calamity-that-almost-was entered into a conspiracy of silence. No—let me rewrite that, ‘conspiracy’ is too jaundiced a word. They entered into a pact of silence for fear of causing mass hysteria, and worldwide panic, and general consternation, and rampant indigestion.

But now is the time to finally reveal the truth so long hidden from you. And now is the time to speak of the hero and heroine (if I may not be too politically incorrect in using the feminine) who in the summer of ‘62 not only saved our bacon—but the whole damn pork enchilada. And only I can do that because only I know the whole story.

And as it is a story of black and white, put on your black and white specs and take a good look as we……enter deep into a dark swamp thick with bald cypress trees standing on their cypress knees as murky and mucky water flows around and all the cormorants and whooping cranes and anhingas have run, flown, or darted away; all the ducks have ducked underwater; and even the bald eagles and various hawks have lit out for safer territory as monumental hand-to-hand combat between a good-looking, well-muscled, male human hero in khaki clothes and a nugly, giant, two-legged lizardman of some exceptional martial skill, disturbs the usual peace of the swamp. A high-pitched scream is heard as a gorgeous blonde with perfect makeup and a blouse missing some buttons, fears for the life of the male human she may or may not have had carnal relations with and, not incidentally, her own life as well while clinging to the knee of a bald cypress tree.

Finally, the male human hero gets the upper hand and manages to push the lizardman into a shallow part of the swamp with strange gasses hovering close to the water’s surface. From his belt, the hero grabs a flare gun and does not hesitate to send a flare straight into the water, right between the lizardman’s legs. Hellfire explodes all around the lizardman. It is a fire that one knows is red and yellow with white-hot heat, but here it is only illuminated shades of gray. The lizard‐man, confused by the searing heat and pain lets out an unearthly howl as he slowly cooks to death. The good-looking, well-muscled, male human hero in khaki grabs the gorgeous blonde with perfect makeup and a blouse missing some buttons, and holds her tight as three-dimensionally looking letters in two dimensions fly up from nowhere and smack against the screen spelling out ATTACK OF THE LIZARDMAN and THE END and MADE IN HOLLYWOOD U.S.A.

The broadcast of this early 1950s horror flick being over, the small studio at Chicago’s WAGO-TV station bustled and burst with color (colorful set, colorful language from frustrated technicians) as they switched to live to finish this episode of Vivacia’s House of Horrors. The beautiful Vivacia herself—pale of face framed by long raven’s wing (what else?) black hair and wearing a slinky and slick ebony satin dress with a plunging neckline (or décolletage if we want to bring a little lift to the thought)—lounged sensually on her huge, round bed with blood-red silk sheets (the producer had gotten the idea from Chicago native Hugh Hefner).

She looked directly into camera number one and held up what looked exactly like a barbecued lizard on a stick and said in her deep, silky voice, “Oooooooo—lizard flambe!” With a ravenous, anticipatory smile, Vivacia parted her lips, brought the lizard flambe to her mouth, and took a generous bite full of sexual subtext. She chewed, savored, swallowed, then said, “I love it!”

A snort and a whimper came from her side as a little hunchback man with a twisted face bounced on the bed next to her. “Would you like a little bite, Grossie?”

Read the rest in Creature Feature by Steven Paul Leiva–or listen to the audiobook Narrated by Seamus Dever and Juliana Dever–to see what happens from here.

Thanks to Let’s Talk Promotions and Psst…Promotions for this excerpt!

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Creature Feature (Audiobook) by Steven Paul Leiva, Seamus Dever, and Juliana Dever

By HCNewton

On June 10, 2021

In Audiobook, Book Tour, Fiction

Today I welcome the Book Tour for the audiobook for Creature Feature by Steven Paul Leiva and narrated by Seamus Dever and Juliana Dever. Following this spotlight post, I have an excerpt (from the text version) here in a bit, and then I’ll be giving my take on the audiobook. But let’s start by learning a little about this here book, okay? Oh, and be sure to check out the Giveaway of the audiobook below!

Book Details:

Book Title: Because You’re Mine by Luna Miller
Narrators:
Publisher: Magpie Press (print edition)
Release date: September 21, 2020 (print edition), April 13, 2021 (audiobook)
Format: Paperback/Ebook/Audiobook
Length: 158 pages; 4 hours and 23 minutes

Book Blurb:

THERE IS SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENING IN PLACIDVILLE!

It is 1962. Kathy Anderson, a serious actress who took her training at the Actors Studio in New York, is stuck playing Vivacia, the Vampire Woman on Vivacia’s House of Horrors for a local Chicago TV station.

Finally fed up showing old monster movies to creature feature fans, she quits and heads to New York and the fame and footlights of Broadway.

She stops off to visit her parents and old friends in Placidville, the all-Ameican, middle-class, blissfully normal Midwest small town she grew up in.

But she finds things are strange in Placidville.

Kathy’s parents, her best friend from high school, the local druggist, even the Oberhausen twins are all acting curiously creepy, odiously odd, and wholly weird. Especially the town’s super geeky nerd, Gerald, who warns of dark days ahead.

Has Kathy entered a zone in the twilight? Did she reach the limits that are outer? Has she fallen through a mirror that is black? Or is it just—just—politics as usual!

About Steven Paul Leiva:

A Scribe award-winner, receiving the praise of Ray Bradbury and the Oscar-winning film producer, Richard Zanuck, Steven Paul Leiva is no stranger to the business of telling a good story. Author of several novels, and with a writing-style that lays hard on the satire, this Hollywood-escapee doesn’t pull punches when it comes to politics.
Need to know more? Follow him on Amazon or Goodreads, or check out his blog here: http://emotionalrationalist.blogspot.com/p/about-steven-paul-leiva.html

About Seamus Dever:

Seamus Dever is best known to television audiences as Detective Kevin Ryan on ABC’s Castle. He played Sherlock Holmes in the Audie Award-winning “Hound of the Baskervilles” with LA Theatre Works and has 10 other radio plays with them and the BBC. He is the voice of the villain John Seed in the hit video game “Far Cry 5” and originated the DC Comic’s bad guy Trigon on “Titans.” Dever has performed in over 80 plays and has 300 hours of television to his name. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Juliana.

About Juliana Dever:

Juliana Dever is a professional actor, writer, and world traveler. She’s best known for her role as Jenny Ryan on the globally popular show Castle. Recently you may have seen her brilliant performance in “Stalked by My Husband’s Ex” on Lifetime. Having traveled to over 60 countries, her award-winning travel blog CleverDeverWherever.com (named Best Independent Travel Blog in North America) helps readers find unexpected experiences in unusual places. She curates adventures through former communist countries and Frommer’s listed her tours as a trend that will shape travel.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My thanks to Let’s Talk Promotions and Psst…Promotions for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the audiobook) they provided.

WWW Wednesday, June 9, 2021

By HCNewton

On June 9, 2021

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

It is the 160th day of 2021, also known as June 9. That gives us all a mere 205 days to wrap up things up for the year. Time’s flying. (and based on what I haven’t accomplished this week, I’m going to need every one of those days to write up the books I’ve read up to today)

Also, 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 Penny Black by Rob Parker and have just started listening to The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe, narrated by Emily Janice Card and Stefan Rudnicki on audiobook–I’ve read this three times, and can’t wait to revisit it.

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What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished the second in the revitalized Hollows series, Kim Harrison’s Million Dollar Demon and the comedy/horrorCreature Feature by Steven Paul Leiva, narrated by Seamus Dever and Juliana Dever on audio.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

My next book should be the 3rd Stonebridge Mystery, Meat is Murder by Chris McDonald. My next audiobook should be Ink & Sigil by Kevin Heane, Luke Daniels (Narrator) to prime the mental pump for the sequel here in a couple of weeks.

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Are you reading anything good?

The Last 10 Books Tag

By HCNewton

On June 8, 2021

In Book Tag, Books, News/Misc.

The Last 10 Books Book Tag
It’s been ages since I’ve done a Tag, I need to do more of them, I enjoy reading and assembling them. This one caught my eye. I’ve seen this on various blogs—like Booker Talk and Lou’s Book Stuff—but can’t seem to find the creator, so I can’t credit them. I’d like to if anyone knows who did it.

The last book I gave up on

Well, that’s easy, I just posted about that a couple of weeks ago, The Writer’s Library. But I have an easier time DNFing audiobooks, it seems, I’ve done that a couple of times in the last year. The last time I DNFed a book I was reading was back in 2017, Wrath of an Angry God.

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The last book I re-read

I’m working through a couple of series as re-reads on audiobooks, the most recent of these was Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator), the last book I re-read was Robert B. Parker’s Ceremony (if that feels like splitting hairs, it kind of is. But the act of sitting down with a book to re-read feels different to me than putting on an audiobook while I drive or work.)

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The last book I bought

I can’t remember which was technically last (I didn’t tie a red thread around either of them), but I picked up these two most recently: The Curious Reader: Facts About Famous Authors and Novels | Book Lovers and Literary Interest | A Literary Miscellany of Novels & Novelists edited by Erin McCarthy & the team at Mental Floss and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Illustrated Edition by Douglas Adams, Chris Riddell (Illustrator).

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I’m both a little shocked and a little proud that it’s been more than two weeks without buying a new book.

The last book I said I read but actually didn’t

Wow…I don’t remember, it’s been so long since I’ve done this. Probably something for a class in the last century. More recently I might have confused a book’s title with a previous one in a series (fairly certain I’ve done that in conversation about John Rebus or Fiona Griffiths books).

The last book I wrote in the margins of

I can only do this with a clear conscience in math or language textbooks, I get the arguments for people doing it to books, but it just feels wrong to me. So, that would be Learn Biblical Hebrew by John H. Dodson (didn’t help me enough, either).

Learn Biblical Hebrew

The last book I had signed

2020 probably made it hard for all of us to get one signed, but I was able to get Devri Walls to sign a copy of her most recent novel, Venators: Legends Rise.

Legends Rise Autograph

The last book I lost

As I’ve been unpacking my books after my move—and taking the opportunity for the first time in years to really organize them, I’m finding a lot of holes that I know shouldn’t exist. Sure, I have a few boxes yet to be unpacked, but I’m worried about some of these missing books. I could list a few here, but the two books that are bugging me more than some of the others are Solomon vs Lord and Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine. I don’t know why the gap on the shelf there bugs me more than some others, but it really does (and yes, I’ve left gaps just in case I find some of these MIA books).

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The last book I had to replace

That’d be the aforementioned Ceremony by Robert B. Parker. I have no idea what happened to the paperback I bought back in the late 1980s. Just all of the sudden, it wasn’t there, and I needed it for the re-read. I didn’t have time to go shopping/have something shipped, so I got an ebook. After decades of reading it in paperback it didn’t feel right (was still a great read, it just felt strange. See Garth’s comments about the studio for Wayne’s World).

The last book I argued over

Actually argued? Nothing’s coming to mind…

Matthew Hanover and I discussed the ending to Matthew Norman’s Last Couple Standing a little and had divergent takes on the ending—I think I owe him a response, but I was waiting to finish my post about the book and work it into that. Months later, it’s one of those books I haven’t posted about.

I know my friend Paul and I have disagreed about how much we appreciate Johnson’s Depth of Winter and Herron’s Slow Horses. Although, The Jigsaw Man could be a reasl source of conflict, as soon as he finishes/DNFs it.

The last book you couldn’t find

Shrug

I’m not sure what the difference is between this and the above question about being lost. I guess it has to do with wanting to buy a book/read a book, but you can’t find a copy anywhere?

This is a dangerous question, there have been a few books lately that fall into that category, but in trying to answer this prompt I’ve done another search and have found every one of them. I almost spent $70 in trying to answer this (but have resisted the impulse to complete the purchase). I’d better stop before I get in real trouble.

As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.

Morte Point by Rob Parker: Things Go From Worse to Worse to Much Worse for Bracken

By HCNewton

On June 7, 2021

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

Morte Point

by Rob Parker
Series: Ben Braken, #2

Kindle Edition, 218 pg.
Lume Books, 2020

Read: May 21-25, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I’m…enjoying myself.

Some people like collecting beer mats. Some like keeping tabs on birds, bugs, animals… whatever. Some like walking, running, going to the gym. We all get our kicks from somewhere. I’m open enough to enjoy all the above. But I’m never happier, nor more focused, than when I am getting shit done while the chips are down. Now, floating between the shallow rocks off the Atlantic, using my wits, guts and training to elude a mysterious force, I am in my element; my absolute, unrelenting element.

What’s Morte Point About?

Something is about to happen at Morte Point, he can’t get into details with Ben, but his police contact and his entire agency have been waved off from it by a higher power. Which just means it’s time for something unofficial to happen—enter Ben Bracken, the former soldier, escaped convict, and patriot on his one-man crusade to take on the criminals that England’s justice system can’t handle.

With only a couple of details given to him, Bracken finds his way to the North Devon coast just in time, retrieves the item he was sent for—and then has to spend the next few days eluding armed men of various skill levels, government officials with differing priorities and ethics, and nature red in tooth and claw—and a few other hazards.

Can he survive long enough to do the right thing with what he retrieved? Is there a right thing to do with it? Is Ben on his own enough, or will he have to find allies to get the job done?

Does Parker Have Something Against Ben?

The number of things that go wrong for Ben in the first 40% of this novel is pretty astounding. And by “go wrong,” I generally mean “inflict some sort of injury” to him. He’s being hunted by a group with numbers, resources, and determination; he cannot make contact with anyone he can trust; and he’s injured repeatedly (to varying degrees of seriousness). It’s bad enough that if you didn’t know there were two more books published (with one imminent), you’d start to wonder if the last half of the book was going to get a different narrator. It’s like Parker was angry about something and took it out on Ben.

Things to lighten up for him—which isn’t to say that the rest of the book is easy, the problems continue, just less frequently (but they’re of a higher degree of seriousness).

A Step too Far?

I sleep the sleep of a man who knows he has done wrong. I sleep a sleep that is deep, yet forced, unbroken yet tormented, as my subconscious pretends that what I did hasn’t happened at all. And if it did somehow happen, surely it is not time yet to wake and face it.

Not long after the physical hazards lighten up, the moral and psychological ones become more pronounced. Ben has certain ideas about what kind of person he is—so does the audience at this point. Ben takes a couple of actions that are truly disturbing, and may (should) haunt him. It certainly looks as if they will.

A lot of this kind of “wandering one-man army” type characters don’t seem to think much about their acts of violence for very long, and it seems like Ben might be an exception to the rule—and I think we need more like him. One of these morally questionable acts is fairly justifiable for a fictional action hero, but the other (the one prior to this tormented sleep)…I don’t know He has a hard time letting himself off the hook for it, and I’m pretty much with him on that one. I’m curious to see if later books see him shying away from that kind of thing.

So, what did I think about Morte Point?

Parker’s writing is crisper; while outlandish, the plot seems more grounded; on the whole, the action scenes are more convincing and exciting (although the destruction of the floating nightclub in A Wanted Man tops anything here); the characters are better fleshed out—and, when applicable, more chilling. Generally speaking, Parker took what he did in the previous novel and improved it—exactly as one would hope to see. Parker barely establishes a status quo before he proves that he’s willing to blow it all up—a gutsy move this early in a series.

However…

I can’t quite put my finger on it but something about this didn’t work as well as A Wanted Man. I think objectively, it’s probably a better novel, but subjectively, I’m not as enthused about it. I’m still diving into the next one in a day or two—I want more Ben Braken, I just also want a bit more out of the books. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a thrill ride full of action, adrenaline, and morally complicated choices? Morte Point will deliver.

3 Stars

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