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Latest book roundup

Bought from Angry Robot Books:

  • The Guild of Assassins, by Anna Kashina. This is Book 2 of her fantasy series The Majat Code, about which I’ll be doing a (delayed) Boosting the Signal post to go up tomorrow morning.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • Lock-In, by John Scalzi. I was going to get this anyway, since I’d read the preview chapters that Tor.com posted as well as the novella that does some introductory worldbuilding for the story. But I went ahead and pre-ordered after seeing Mr. Scalzi’s recent post on the Amazon/Hachette developments, and someone giving him shit about it and cancelling their Amazon pre-order with him. I decided pre-ordering from Kobo was appropriate balance.

Bought from Dark Horse:

  • Spike: Into the Light, by James Marsters. This is a graphic novel purchase, and digital for that matter, but I’m counting it here since it’s a full graphic novel as opposed to individual comics. Wanted to grab this out of general interest in James Marsters actually writing the story. And I always did like Spike! It’s a story going into some of what happened to Spike after he got his soul back at the tail end of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

Bought in print when I was in Qualicum for De Temps Antan, from a tiny little bookshop there called The Mulberry Bush, where I had a delightful conversation with the proprietors along the lines of “Tell me about something awesome I can buy by Canadian authors”:

  • Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I heard about the movie version of this, of course. And I’m sure I could have grabbed a copy of this in local bookstores. But I hadn’t known the author was Canadian, and hey, the bookstore successfully pitched it. And I do like to have a bookstore successfully pitch me a book I haven’t read before.
  • The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick DeWitt. Again, Canadian author, and I liked the idea of the dark sort of noir-ish humor described to me as contained by this book.

105 for the year.

August 10, 2014 by
Books, Carina Press

Latest book roundup post

I’ve been reading a lot from the library lately, partly because Dara and I are having to sink a lot of money into rental property renovation, but also partly because it’s super-easy to check out library books on my newer Nook with the Overdrive app. But that said, I’ve made a few recent purchases regardless. Like I do. Here they are!

From Kobo:

  • The Gods of Gotham, Seven for a Secret, and Dust and Shadow, by Lyndsay Faye. These are mysteries, and I grabbed these because of Faye writing an excellent response on CriminalElement.com to the Slate article not long ago about why adults shouldn’t read YA. Faye’s response was pure gold and I resolved that I clearly had to read her books. Doesn’t suck either that Dust and Shadow is a Sherlock Holmes story. I’ve already read The Gods of Gotham as a library checkout, which confirmed that I needed to add Faye to my Buy list.
  • Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. SF. This one’s been getting a lot of buzz for being on the Hugo ballot, and it was at $1.99, so I thought I’d better grab it while that price was good.
  • A Rogue by Any Other Name, One Good Earl Deservers a Lover, and No Good Duke Goes Unpunished, by Sarah MacLean. These are all historical romances, the first three of MacLean’s four-book series about the owners of a gaming hell in London. The series has been getting some nice buzz since MacLean was interviewed last November on the Dear Bitches Smart Author podcast. And Book 3 of her series is up for a RITA this year. I find the titles kind of twee, but the series itself is fun. Read the first two as library checkouts, and then put MacLean on the Buy list.

Meanwhile, from B&N in ebook form:

  • The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell, by Mira Grant. Because MIRA GRANT, and also because woo, new Newsflesh story! If you haven’t seen Grant/McGuire’s own warning about this, do NOT read the summaries you may see of this novella on Goodreads or on any pages giving the book publicity. There’s a spoiler in ’em. Just go straight to the novella. Which is, as per usual, Grant’s excellent brand of zombie-ridden grim.
  • The Lady Astronaut of Mars, by Mary Robinette Kowal. I’d already read this but when Tor put it out for ebook purchase, I decided I needed to grab it. It’s a novelette up for a Hugo this year, and it’s a bittersweet little story about an aging astronaut having to choose between one last mission in space–and remaining at the side of her dying husband.

From B&N in print:

  • Shaman Rises, by C.E. Murphy. The final Walker Papers novel! Already bought in ebook, but this is me getting it in print. Because KIT.
  • The Jedi Doth Return, by Ian Doescher. Finishing up Doescher’s delightful adaptations of the original Star Wars trilogy into Shakespeare-style plays. Can’t wait to giggle at this one. 😀

And last but not least, from Carina in ebook:

  • Trancehack and Witchlight, by Sonya Clark. Sonya Clark is one of my fellow members of the Here Be Magic blog, and these are her first two books with Carina. They’re paranormal romances, but set in a futuristic timeframe, and they sound fun. Plus, I wanted to grab Trancehack while it was still on sale for 99 cents. Which ends TODAY, so if you think you might want to check this book out yourself, grab it fast before the price goes back up!
  • An Inconvenient Kiss, by Caroline Kimberly. Historical romance. Grabbed this one because the plot blurb sounds interesting, and the cover is beautiful. I approve of this recent trend in romance covers of the heroines in beautiful gowns.

100 for the year.

July 19, 2014 by
Books

Oh hey Carina is doing POD finally book roundup

It’s been a while since the last time I emptied the change jar, so I took it to the Coinstar machine at Safeway and found I had a whopping $77, woo! So I dumped it all into an iTunes code, and promptly bought myself a bunch of Tor titles I had on the To Read list–because I will happily buy from the iBooks store if the titles are DRM-free.

So here are the Tor titles I nabbed:

  • In the Garden of Iden, by Kage Baker. SF. Because I’d always heard this series was good, and although Ms. Baker has unfortunately passed away, I kept meaning to check this out.
  • Awakenings, by Edward Lazellari. Urban fantasy. One I’d seen buzz about on tor.com, and thought it sounded interesting.
  • A Darkling Sea, by James L. Cambias. SF. First contact story. Nabbed because this had an excerpt posted on tor.com, and the excerpt was interesting enough that I wanted to read the book.
  • The Highest Frontier, by Joan Slonczewski. SF.
  • Eyes to See, by Joseph Nassise. Urban fantasy. Nabbed because I thought the idea of the blind protagonist (who of course has otherworldly sight) sounded nicely creepy.
  • Three Princes, by Ramona Wheeler. Fantasy. Nabbed because AU involving a world where the Egyptian Empire remained a dominant power through most of history.
  • Silver, by Rhiannon Held. Urban fantasy. Nabbed because werewolves.

And meanwhile, I nabbed these from B&N:

  • Dangerous Refuge and Night Diver, by Elizabeth Lowell. Her two most recent romantic suspense releases, which I have already read as of this writing. Found them less interesting than many of her earlier works, although Night Diver actually surprised me by having queer side characters.
  • Maplecroft, by Cherie Priest (pre-order). Historical fantasy. Nabbed by pre-order because LIZZIE BORDEN. 😀

Nabbed from Amazon:

  • Steam & Sorcery, by Cindy Spencer Pape. Steampunk romance. Grabbed this (even though I already own it in ebook form) because it’s one of Carina’s first print-on-demand titles and I want to see what the output looks like, not to mention support the POD effort.
  • Per-Bast: A Tale of Cats in Ancient Egypt, by Lara-Dawn Stiegler. Nabbed because I know the author and she was offering the book for free on the Kindle over the weekend. Also because fantasy set in ancient Egypt, and cats!

Grabbed this from GreatBigSea.com:

  • Where I Belong, by Alan Doyle. Because ALAN DOYLE, and also because this is his forthcoming memoir, to be released in October! Pre-ordering straight off of greatbigsea.com because pre-orders are, indeed, love. And because GBS.com is guaranteeing signed copies, woo.

Lastly, picked these up from Dragonwell Press:

  • Lex Talionis, by R.S.A. Garcia. SF/mystery. Grabbed this because of featuring it on Boosting the Signal!
  • Mistress of the Solstice, by Anna Kashina. Fantasy. Grabbed this because I’d originally bought it when it was called Ivan and Marya and published by Drollerie Press. Wanted to grab a copy to support Anna Kashina’s re-issue of the book.

86 for the year.

June 16, 2014 by
Books

Because I have a new ereader and why not ebook roundup

Bought from Kobo:

  • Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson. Future dystopian fantasy/urban fantasy. This was actually bought from my original Kobo account, but only because I had gotten a tiny amount of credit on that account and I wanted to spend it. Which means this book won’t sync to my main Kobo library but OH WELL that’s okay. I have ways of getting around that. And I wanted this book because I’d been meaning to read it for ages, and because I really like the title.
  • Three Parts Dead, by Max Gladstone. Fantasy. I saw this series getting some buzz on tor.com, and the third book’s just dropped, so the first book as of this writing is available for $2.99.
  • Artemis Awakening, by Jane Lindskold. SF. Another one I saw getting plugged on tor.com, and since I’ve read and liked Lindskold before, I thought I’d given this one a try too.
  • The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. Lots of great buzz about this one all over the place. But really, you had me at “elves with airships”.
  • Circle of Shadows, by Imogen Robertson. Mystery. Book 4 in her lovely Crowther-Westerman series, which I’m quite looking forward to reading!

From Barnes & Noble:

  • Revenant, by Kat Richardson (pre-order). Urban fantasy. This is, I believe, the final entry in the Greywalker series. I’ve got to get caught up!
  • Skin Game, by Jim Butcher. Bought for obvious Because Dresden Files DUH reasons. Got to get caught up on these, too.
  • Sparrow Hill Road, by Seanan McGuire. Actually bought this twice, because Dara wanted it in print, and I picked up the ebook. But since the trade paperback was for Dara, it’ll count only once on my tally here!

71 for the year.

June 3, 2014 by
Books

Because pre-ordering books is love ebook roundup

Shaman Rises

Shaman Rises

I need to open this post with saying that WAUGH THE WALKER PAPERS ARE ENDING *sniff*. Why, I remember back in the day when Kit was throwing the manuscript for Urban Shaman together!

And now look at it. Book Nine. How gorgeous is this cover? Thank you, Kit, for delivering us a hell of a ride. I look forward to seeing how you’re going to wind it up, and what you’ll throw at us next!

Meanwhile, picked up lately from Carina Press:

  • In the Black, by Sheryl Nantus. SF romance by a fellow Here Be Magic member, as featured on Boosting the Signal! She had me with citing Firefly as an influence!
  • It Had to Be You, by Delynn Royer. Period mystery set in the 20’s. Looking forward to checking this out.
  • Goddess Born, by Kari Edgren. Historical romance with a character descended from the goddess Brigid–and who possesses the power to heal. For obvious reasons, I’m partial to healers!
  • Court of Conspiracy, by April Taylor. Also historical, but with more of a fantasy bent from the sound of it, with a big helping of mystery as well.
  • Embrace and Crucible, both by T.D. Wilson. Because every so often Carina does, in fact, publish straight-up SF, and I make a point of supporting that, as you know!

From Barnes & Noble:

  • Time for Love, by Emma Kaye. Another recent Boosting the Signal featured book. ‘Cause if I like the sound of ’em well enough to boost their signals, chances are I’m gonna wanna read ’em, too. And this one’s time-travel romance! With heroines disguised as boys on board a ship! Woo! 😉
  • Shattering the Ley, by Joshua Palmatier. Pre-ordering this, the first of his new series that seems like it ought to be an SF novel with its cover, but it’s not! It’s fantasy! And having read some of Mr. Palmatier’s best work, I’m ON BOARD. Gimme.

From Kobo:

  • The Twelve Kingdoms: The Mark of the Tala, by Jeffe Kennedy (pre-order, received today!). This is fellow Here Be Magic member Jeffe Kennedy’s first fantasy novel!
  • Shaman Rises, by C.E. Murphy (pre-order). The FINAL Walker Papers book, bought for general obvious MUST HAVE THE KITBOOK reasons as stated above, and pre-ordering because Ordering Things By Kit is Love. And a present to Future Me, who will see this book show up in her Kobo library and be all WHAT BRILLIANT PERSON DECIDED TO PREORDER THIS? And THANK YOU, PAST ME!

And from Smashwords, last but not least:

  • Cycling to Asylum, by Su J. Sokol. Grabbed this because the author approached me in email after I read her short work of SF set in Quebec, and so I had to nab this. It’s future dystopian SF, in which an American family flees worsening conditions in the States to take refuge in Quebec. Looking forward to reading this one quite a bit!

63 for the year.

May 27, 2014 by
Books

Multi-lingual OH hey I got ebook credit! book roundup

If you’re a regular buyer of ebooks, you may be aware that a lot of the ebook vendors have had to issue credits to customers because of a court settlement pertaining to ebook pricing. I’ve gotten credit now from both the iBookstore AND Barnes and Noble, and should have something from Kobo showing up eventually, too!

The fun part? My credit from B&N was substantial. So I breezed through a lot of books that’d been sitting on my wishlist for a while, mostly things I’d previously owned in print, and which I wanted to replace with ebook versions!

From B&N:

  • The Witness, Whiskey Beach, Dark Witch, and Shadow Spell, by Nora Roberts. Assorted romantic suspense and paranormal romance, on general principles of “Because I like Nora Roberts”!
  • Prior Bad Acts, Dark Paradise, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, The Alibi Man, Dark Horse, Magic, Deeper Than the Dead, and Secrets to the Grave, all by Tami Hoag. A bunch of Hoag that had previously been in my collection in print, plus some newer stuff I haven’t read yet.
  • Storm Kissed, by Jessica Andersen. Book 6 of her Night Keepers series, which I am sadly behind on! Paranormal romance.
  • And last but most assuredly not least, Circle of Shadows by Imogen Robertson, Book 4 of her Crowther and Westerman series. Historical mystery. Yum.

Meanwhile, from the iBookstore, from which I don’t usually buy books unless they’re DRM free, I scarfed:

  • Servant of the Underworld, Harbinger of the Storm, and Master of the House of Darts, all by Aliette de Bodard. Aztec-mythos fantasy from Angry Robot. Sounded like a change of pace, and since Angry Robot is delicious DRM free goodness, decided to pick these up.

MEANWHILE! Picked up in print, ordered directly from Lulu since this is the only way of getting this book:

  • Le québécois en 10 leçons, by Alexandre Coutu. I’m given to understand that this is an excellent reference source for Quebecois French, and I’m quite looking forward to digging into it. 😀

And last but most assuredly not least, a book which gets special mention since I learned about it from this post on OffQc, a blog I follow for daily tidbits of information about the Quebec language and life in Montreal:

  • Ah shit, j’ai pogné le cancer, by Maude Schiltz. This is an autobiography by a cancer patient in Quebec, in which she presents the story of her diagnosis and how she dealt with it. As a cancer survivor myself and a student of Quebec French, I pretty much had to read this. I love her title, because YEAH. And I’ve had the pleasure of chatting briefly with the author on Facebook as well, and was delighted by how happy she was that her book made it out of Quebec and into the hands of an Anglophone. She uses a lot of humor in her story, and she seems like an awesome lady in general. So if any of y’all have enough French to be able to read something in that language, consider checking this out too.

This puts me at 37 books acquired so far for the year.

March 28, 2014 by
Books

Going back to Canada second week in a row book roundup!

Because I haven’t done one of these in a while, and because I’d like to clear out my list of Stuff I Really Need to Get Done before I scamper back up to Canada tomorrow for Le Vent du Nord goodness, here’s a roundup of recent book acquisitions!

From Amazon:

  • Stronger Than Blood, by Genevieve Griffin. Urban fantasy YA, as I’ve posted about before. I don’t normally buy ebooks from Amazon, but for this, I make an exception.

From Barnes and Noble, because I was in the mood to augment my French ebooks collection and because I’ve got credit to blow on the B&N store:

  • Luna: La cité maudite, by Élodie Tirel. Fantasy YA, in French, as I’ve posted about before. I already had a print copy of this, but I wanted an ebook copy, in no small part because getting a print copy of this book means I have to order it from Quebec, and I’d be sad if I lost it or spilled anything on it!
  • Gaïg 1: La prophétie des nains, by Dynah Psyche. Again, fantasy YA. Grabbing this because it’s by the same imprint that does Élodie Tirel, and I’m interested in the apparent main character on the cover being a female dwarf. (Yes, folks, if I have to stuff an entire extra language into my head in order to read me some fantasy featuring a female dwarf, I AM PREPARED TO DO THAT. However, not all of us are language nerds. Hey, US fantasy market, step up to the plate here, won’t you?)
  • Rivière des morts, by Esther Rochon. Not sure whether to call this fantasy or horror, given that as I understand it, there’s some Lovecraftian mythos fun going on in here. Can’t wait to tackle reading it! And, this is another book I have a paperback copy of, but again, reluctant to let it out of the house for fear of damaging it or losing it, ’cause ordering books from Quebec is spendy!
  • Sentinels: Lynx Destiny, by Doranna Durgin. Paranormal romance. ‘Cause I’ve liked the others in this series so far, and hey, Doranna Durgin is pretty much auto-buy in these parts.

Directly from Gary Botting, as a “from one author to another” gift at the De Temps Antan show at the Rogue:

  • Chief Smallboy: The Pursuit of Freedom, by Gary Botting. This is a biography about a chief of the Cree, Bob Smallboy, and a part of Canadian history with which I am unfamiliar. It should be an interesting and informative read!

And again from Barnes and Noble, this time in print:

  • Half-Off Ragnarok, by Seanan McGuire. Urban fantasy, book 3 of her Incryptid series. Because Seanan.
  • A Turn of Light, by Julie E. Czerneda. Fantasy. Already have this in ebook, but Ms. Czerneda is definitely on my list of “must have in both formats” authors.

Lastly, from Angry Robot:

  • Blades of the Old Empire, by Anna Kashina. Fantasy. Astute readers may observe that this is the book I featured last week on Boosting the Signal!
  • The Thief’s Gamble, by Juliet E. McKenna. Fantasy. Because I need more fantasy novels by women!

17 for the year so far.

March 7, 2014 by