Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith

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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Grahame-Smith, Seth 
Summary: While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. Reveals the hidden life of the sixteenth U.S. president, who was actually a vampire-hunter obsessed with the complete elimination of the undead, and uncovers the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of the nation. 
Isaac's Review Abraham Lincoln is remembered as the president who steered the country through the bloody conflict of the Civil War. But his secret journal tells his past as a determined man on a quest for vengeance against the vampires- the undead creatures who robbed him of the ones he loved. The Civil War was nothing less than Lincoln's vendetta against the vampires and their slave empire of the South. The book chronicles Lincoln from early boyhood to his cut-short presidency- with plenty of unlikely twists along the way. It's very cleverly written- there are plenty of events in the book that have their roots in actual historical happenings. It's also pretty intensely gruesome and violent, so don't read it at night if you get creeped out by that kind of thing. I loved it. 
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Allies of the Night - Darren Shan

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Allies of the Night - Shan, Darren 
Summary: Algebra class, two old friends, and a creature with deadly hands test Darren's determination as he travels to Mr. Crepsley's home town to search for the murderous vampaneze.


Nicolas' Review:Darren Shan must go find the vampaneze lord before he turns a town to rubble. This is book eight in the series. You will want to start from the beginning of the series or you'll regret it.  I loved it.
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The Secret Tree - Natalie Standiford

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The Secret Tree - Standiford, Natalie
Summary: After Minty discovers a secret tree with a hollow trunk that holds the secrets of everyone in the neighborhood, Raymond, a new boy drawn to the tree and Minty start watching their neighbors.


Jace's Review The Secret Tree, by Natalie Standiford, is a book about a girl who lives in a town full of secrets. She realizes this when she stumbles across a tree in the forest where a ghost lives. People in the town place their secrets in a hole in the tree trunk, where the ghost will supposedly eat them. Anyway, this is a good book for all ages who enjoy thick plots, intense drama and mysteries. It is an intriguing, good book and that you would probably like it. I loved it.
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The Mad Mask - Barry Lyga

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The Mad Mask - Lyga, Barry
Summary: Twelve-year-old Kyle teams up with Mad Mask who, claiming super brain-power and superior superpowers, wants help building Ultitron, a robot that would rid Bouring of archvillain Mighty Mike and, perhaps, Mad Mask, as well.


Eli's Review The Mad Mask, by Barry Lyga was, I thought, a well written book. I would recommend it to kids of ages 10 and above. I think that it was funny, had a good plot, and had some very good twisty turns in the story. I especially liked Mighty Mike’s “mis-speech”, like when he said he was “fat” (fit) or when he messed up, he said, “Hoops.” It is the sequel to Archvillain, but I don’t think you have to read that first to see how funny The Mad Mask is. It is interesting to read a book from the perspective of the criminal master mind.  I loved it.
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Small Steps - Louis Sachar

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Small Steps - Sachar, Louis
Summary: Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on track, but when his old pal X-Ray shows up with a tempting plan to make some easy money scalping concert tickets, Armpit reluctantly goes along.


Eli's Review This is a good sequel to Holes, except it is about Armpit and X-Ray instead of Stanley and Zero. It is about a concert with counterfeit tickets, a guy who calls himself "El Genius," a doll with leukemia, a famous singer and a guy named "Habib". Holes was better but Small Steps was still a pretty well written book. I didn't love it, but didn't hate it either.
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The Whipping Boy - Sid Fleischman

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The Whipping Boy - Fleischman, Sid
Summary: A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.



Jace's Review It is about a naughty prince and a whipping boy. It was forbidden to hit a prince, so if the prince did something bad, the whipping boy got hit instead. The prince ran away and made the whipping boy come with him. They get captured by thieves and the adventures begin. It is good book and it is historical fiction. I loved it.
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Guest review: Norwegian Woods by Haruki Murakami | Japanese Fiction Week

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This post is part of the Japanese Fiction Week hosted on this blog.For more information about the week, head over here.


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Please welcome Laura from SisterSpooky for a review of Norwegian Woods and some of her thoughts on Japanese fiction.




I am by no means an expert on Japanese culture but it just fascinates me so.  I think I really just became drawn to the weird and wonderful beauty that was all around it. From the anime world of Pokemon (which was the first big thing to do with Japan that I remembered being obsessed with) to Manga and Cosplay that began to become more and more popular over the years as I attended comic cons around London and as I got older I began to explore more of the culture. I think the clash of the old and the new worlds made me fall in love with Japan.  I've never visited it but it's the one place in the world I want to see before I kick the bucket.  So when I started to find my love for books again during my university years I was given a book by a Japanese author that I want to shout about. I'd call this a review of sorts.Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami was a game charger book for me. I had been going along quite happily reading the same sort of books over and over again by American or sometimes English authors and then a friend gave me her copy to read and I think it quite possibly blew my mind. I'd say it's a book for an older YA audience only because of the issues of suicide and depression and references to sex but it was simply a wonderful book. It opened my eyes to books that were written by authors that don't come from a Western society and how their view on the world can be so different but the emotions behind the story are the same and raw like in any other culture.It's a story of a young man who is in love or thinks he is and trying to find himself in the world at a time when politics and society are shifting and he's struggling to understand where he fits in the world and how his life and the life of the girl he idolises changes. It strikes so many chords and I just loved how it related to the power of music in their lives; namely The Beatles and the power their music holds for them. I think that if you've read The Perks of Being A Wallflower and want something else with that kind of power in a book I'd suggest you get a hold of Norwegian Wood as soon as you can.It's made me want to try more Japanese authors and wondering what YA is like for Japanese readers and if it translates the same way the Western YA novels do. We all share the same feelings and have the same struggles so seeing it first hand in a book like Norwegian Wood made me want to try more. Thanks to the last Japanese YA week hosted by Portrait of a Woman I found so many more books to try and have Real World by Natsuo Kirino and Battle Royale by Koushun Takami on the TBR pile!If Japanese Fiction Week gives you anything then let it give you that brave push to try something new. You may find your new favourite book!~~~Thanks for your review and thoughts on YA, Laura! I have yet to read Norwegian Woods (though I did see the film) and I find it interesting that you compare it to The Perks Of Being A Wallflower!

Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto | Japanese Fiction Week

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This post is part of the Japanese Fiction Week, hosted on this blog.For more information about the week, head over here.
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Banana Yoshimoto is one of Japan's greatest contemporary writers alongside Haruki Murakami, and Kitchen is her début novel which became a best-seller in Japan. The English edition of the novel also includes the short story Moonlight Shadow at the end.
Kitchen is divided into two parts. The first part sees a young woman, Mikage Sakurai, lose the only member of her family she has left, her grandmother. She is completely lost and befriends Yuichi, a friend of her grandmother who works in a flower shop and who invites her to live with him and his mother while Mikage sorts out her life. Yuichi's mother, Eriko, was initially her dad before she decided to change sex and we get an interesting insight about what it's like to live as a transgender. Yuichi is also familiar with grief as his mother died when he was younger. The second part, still told from Mikage's point of view, sees Yuichi dealing with grief while Mikage has found a work she enjoys and is finally overcoming her sense of loss. They also both deal with their feelings for each other. The bond they share is quite unique and they're here for each other when they need it.
In Kitchen, Mikage and Yuichi realise that the world doesn't exist for their benefit and sometimes horrible things happen over which they have no control. I found the writing fascinating to read and how Mikage is seen coping with her loss. She concentrates on small things, her love of kitchens and cooking, while inside her a storm is raging. Why does everyone close to her dies? How can she survive if she is all alone? Does she still exist and is she still the same if the people who knew her the most aren't here to see her anymore?
The love and the sense of family she is given in Yuichi and Eriko's home helps her build herself back together little by little. It's always the small things in life which ground you and enable you to get on with your life. Mikage becomes increasingly passionate about food and cooking and is always preparing fabulous meals for Yuichi or Eriko, and later finds a job as an assistant to a cooking teacher. The passages with food and eating are amazingly woven into the story as a lifeline for the characters. Eating is what keeps you alive and the simple activity of preparing and eating a good meal is one of the best pleasures in life. Mikage is obsessed with kitchens (hence the title) and it is fascinating to read why it is her favourite place in the house. 

Moonlight Shadow is a beautiful short story about loss and grief and it is very fitting that it's published after Kitchen. A young woman named Satsuki loses her boyfriend in a car accident and is plagued by her grief and the feeling that she could have done something to prevent the accident. She grows closer to Hiiragi, her boyfriend's brother, who is coping with the death of his girlfriend who passed away in the same accident. Hiiragi copes by wearing his girlfriend's clothes to school. Both are lost and it is beautiful to read how a shared grief is a road you often have to walk alone. One morning, Satsuki meets a strange woman named Urura who introduces her to a mystical experience, which Satsuki believes is linked to her boyfriend's death. I won't spoil the experience but it is amazing. Moonlight Shadow also features food and Satsuki says how much she enjoys eating tasty food in the company of Hiiragi. 

Both stories show some of Banana Yoshimoto's trademark themes: loss, gender identity, love and friendship and the small pleasures of life. There is also an undercurrent of magical realism in both stories. Mikage and Yuichi have grown so close that they can (or believe they can, which is roughly the same thing) talk to each other in their dreams and thoughts. Satsuki gets to see something incredible and unique during the mystical experience Urura shows her. The magical aspect is only hinted and appears quite realistic since it's perceived as such by the narrators. The loss of someone close is terribly hard to deal with, and sometimes, a little hope - even if not explainable or actually real - is all you need to get you through another day.

I really loved both stories and I think they're fantastic short reads. The writing is beautiful and the emotional state of the characters is brilliantly portrayed. Even though the book is about loss and grief, the stories are quite hopeful and make you think about life in general and your place in this world. I will definitely be reading more of this author.

Note: You might want to read this book in the vicinity of a Japanese restaurant to order all the food you have been reading about!

Guest review: Out by Natsuo Kirino | Japanese Fiction Week

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This post is part of the Japanese Fiction Week, hosted here.For more information about the week, head over here.
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Please welcome Nina from Death, Books and Tea for a review of Out by Natsuo Kirino.


Masako, Yoshie,Kuniko and Yayoi are four women working the night shift at a boxed lunchfactory. Each have no prospects, and all want to escape. Yayoi is the one whocracks, killing her gambling husband. She turns to Masako, who gets Yoshie andKuniko to help cut up the body. When the police come looking, all four havesomething to hide. But they've also got other enemies who want things-Satake,the night club owner with past convictions putting him at number one suspect, andJumonji, the loan shark who knows what they did. With these people, the police,and the things they're being asked to do, the four women can't really thinkabout getting out.
I am so gladthat I decided to read this on holiday-hours of time to just sit and read andsee this intricate story develop. I know I'm reviewing this for Japanese YAweek, but this cannot be classed as YA. Sex, rape and murder feature heavilyand the characters are at the youngest a twenty year old hostess. So now we've establishedthis as being not for younger readers (something I found out a little late), onwith the main review.
The only thingthat I really disliked was the very final rape. Although it added a bit ofcontinuity to the story, it was just a little too much. The other gore, rapeand violence was used as plot development. But that was rape for the sake ofrape. The start was a little slow. It just seemed to follow their normal lives,which I understand is useful, but it was a bit boring. Around the 50 page mark,the husband is murdered. And it goes quite fast from there.
All the maincharacter's personal stories are fully developed both before and during themain action. It's difficult for me, as a teenager at school, to get into the mindsof women and men in their thirties upwards. But it was really easy for me tounderstand their thinking.
The thing thatgot to me was how easily the women lied while being questioned by the policeafter the murder took place. For it to have been about a week since she killeda man, she lies, fakes tears, and gets on so easily that you wonder about thegirl you were introduced to and how she was changed so much by desperation. Masakoespecially is a very intriguing character. I liked reading about her, seeingwhat she'd decide next, and so on. She was definitely changed by the murder.
The quick paceand the style of the translation kept me reading. It's also reallyunpredictable, with some things crossing your mind as you read. They're so meanto the characters that you wonder if they really will happen. Then you dismissit. And then it happens.


Strength 5 tea(or 5/5) to a gritty look at the backside of Japan, the ordinary people livingthere, and the depths of the human psyche.
Thanks for hosting this awesome event!
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It sounds pretty awesome - I'm really looking forward reading it!

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit - Nahoko Uehashi | Japanese Fiction Week

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This post is part of the Japanese Fiction Week, hosted here.For more information about the week, head over here.
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Moribito is a best-selling fantasy series which has been adapted on screen, in manga form and on the radio. It is composed of twelve volumes but this review will only be about the first novel. The author, Nahoko Uehashi, is also teaching ethonology at a Japanese University.
Balsa is a spear woman and wandering warrior who tries to save people to atone for past mistakes. When she saves the life of Chagum, the Second Prince, she finds herself in the middle of old traditions and politics which will change her life. When it is suspected that the young prince's body is inhabited by a demon, the king sets to kill him. But Chagum's mother thwarts his plans by hiring Balsa to take Chagum far away from the palace and protect him. Because the knowledge has been lost in time, Chagum is falsely accused of having a demon in him. He was actually chosen to be the egg-bearer of a long forgotten god, in a journey which happens every hundred years. Chagum and Balsa have to face two deadly enemies: a mythical creature and the king's hunters.
Moribito is a lovely fantasy story which brings together fascinating characters and traditional myths. Balsa is a strong and impressive woman who was trained to be a warrior. She has an incomparable strength and set of skills which make her a deadly enemy. In a patriarchal society, she is different from most of the other women but she is highly respected. Torogai, an old woman who knows how to work magic, is also a strong female character and is stronger than several warriors. She also has a hilarious personality which helps diffuse the tension at times. Torogai's apprentice, Tanda (who is in love with Balsa), also helps protect Chagum. 
The world Nahoko Uehashi builds is filled with mystery as different people live on the same land and have different cultures and beliefs. The forgotten belief of the Moribito is part of the world where there is a parallel realm of spirits called Nayugu. Even though Chagum is set in the real world, he protects an egg in Nayugu until it hatches. The creatures of Nayugu are fascinating (especially, Rarunga, the nasty egg-eater) and inspired from Japanese culture.
The interesting part of Moribito is how much it could be compared to the real world. In this land which has seen a civilization overtake another, the cultural traditions of the previous people have been forgotten or hidden under the new civilization's. No one can remember what happened when other children have become egg-bearers and the old languages and traditions have all been forgotten. History isn't a factual and objective account of what happened, it's only what the victor wants history to remember. It's quite interesting to read those ideas in a book for young audiences, especially when the reader roots for Balsa and Torogai, who want all point of views and all cultures to be represented equally in the society.
Chagum doesn't choose to be the Moribito, the Guardian of the Spirit, and he goes through an angry phase where he keeps wondering "Why me?" and thinking how unfair life is. Through her similar experience, Balsa shares some words of wisdom to Chagum and changes his perspective on things. Life is often unfair and there isn't much one can do except accept his or her circumstance and get on with things. 
I have only read the first volume of this series and I am really looking forward reading the rest. It is a book which is not only an entertaining read for all ages, but also a book which illustrates brilliantly some ideas about tradition and how civilizations are created. 

Guest post: Zoe Marriott on her passion for Japanese culture

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This post is part of the Japanese Fiction Week, hosted here.For more information about the week, head over here.
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Today I am thrilled to welcome Zoe Marriott, author of the fantastic Shadows On the Moon, to Portrait of a Woman. She will be talking to us about her passion for Japanese culture and her favourite books.

I'm really not an expert on Japan. People think that I am because I wrote Shadows on the Moon, which is set in a faerytale version of Feudal Japan. I've been praised for the amount of historical detail included, and sometimes people assume I must have visited Japan many times. But the fact is that I've never been there even once, although it's my life's ambition to, one day. And I've barely scratched the surface of this fascinating culture. 


I actually kind of like it that way. It means I've got so much more to learn, and that's the best way to feel about anything you love the way I love Japan. Because I really do. If Japan were a person and not a country, I would totally be it's stalker (also, wouldn't he or she be *gorgeous*?). Japan's many years of conscious and careful isolation up to the nineteenth century have resulted in a wealth of music, art, folklore, shared images and dreams and history which literally have no counterpart in any other country. In Europe and the Americas, in Russia, even in the middle east, it's possible to trace a mythological figure from nation to nation, transforming as he goes, or find a hundred different versions of the same story. Even China shares some of this. All that stops when you hit Japan. The fairytales and under-the-bed monsters, the turns of phrase that the Japanese people take for granted are utterly new and alien and all the more breathtakingly lovely and terrifying for that! 


The only other country I can think of with this kind of unexplored culture is Australia. But the aboriginal peoples of Australia were slaughtered and oppressed by white settlers who tried their best to stamp out the history of the land they had taken by force. The surviving indigenous people resent appropriation fiercely (for good reason, since they are trying so hard to recover and conserve that culture themselves!). The Japanese, on the other hand, still have a dominant and evolving cultural identity within their own nation. This allows them to appropriate freely from the rest of the world in their own media, and so it seems fair to borrow a little of their culture in return, even as an outsider. 

The obsession started young for me. Really young. So young that I can't tell you how old I was, only that I was small enough to sit cross legged in front of the television set and not get yelled at because my head was in the way. It was a Sunday afternoon and I'm pretty sure it was raining, but that's pretty much the only stuff I can remember about that day because every other braincell I have is taken up with the glorious, amazing, life-changing thing I saw. Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Laputa - now known as Castle in the Sky.

It's the story of a little orphan girl who is abducted by ruthless and ambitious men who intend to force her to reveal the secrets of her ancestor's power - the power to command a mythical floating city filled with unimaginable treasures and weapons of unbelievable power. There's a sweet, innocent love story, and sky pirates, and a moment when this tiny, round faced child stands resolute before a man who shoots off both her braids because she refuses to give up her secret to someone who will abuse it.
I'm pretty sure I never recovered. I mean, Disney was all very well (and you'll have to pry my copies of Beauty and the Beast and Tangled out of my cold dead hands) but COME ON. I'd never seen anything like Laputa in my life before. Beautiful, funny, disturbing, tragic, terrifying, unique and bittersweet, it exposed me to emotions and images that stayed with me for life. The girl flinging herself from the plane in desperation. The pendant glowing with a beautiful and sinister glow and her featherlike floating process through the sky, peaceful and serene. The glowing crystals in the underground caverns. The strangely lovely and mournful robots and their bird-like mechanical voices. The great city fallen to ruins, all covered in giant trees the size of skyscrapers and thick, jewel-like moss. When my brother tracked down a copy of this on DVD for me for Christmas one year (back before it was widely released in the English speaking world) I cried all over him. Not the reception he was probably going for. But it meant that much to me.


I think I've spent the last twenty-odd years of my life searching to recapture that feeling - the feeling of diving headfirst into a magical and unexplored country - again. Once I figured out who'd made Laputa I tracked down every other film he'd ever made and devoured them. Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Nausicaa, My Neighbour Totoro, The Cat Returns. And when I ran out of Hayao Miyazaki I moved onto Paprika and Millenium Actress by Satoshi Kon. All these are a great place to start exploring this powerful artform and beginning to gain an inkling of how fascinating Japanese culture is.

But all these are, to a greater or lesser extent, fantasy. You can pick up a lot from fantasy, but let's say you'd like to start with something a little down to earth. How about trying one of of my ultimate all-time favourite mangas? The Flower of Life by Fumi Yoshinaga. Readily available in English, it's a four volume 'slice of life' series about a diverse group of friends and acquaintances (and their teachers) in the first years at Japanese high school. It's a poignant, touching, hilarious and wonderful portrait of how it feels to be young, with the constant rush to grow up doing battle with a nostalgia for fragile innocence which is inevitably slipping away. It's also beautifully drawn, and a great introduction to manga conventions, like reading from right to left.
Or perhaps you're in the mood for a romance - with a paranormal twist? How about Fruits Basket? It's a long running (now complete) series about a family who bear an ancient curse: they turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac when someone of the opposite sex hugs them. The story follows the misadventures of a young girl who gets mixed up with them by chance, grows to love several of them in different ways, and tries to help them overcome the curse. It starts out cute and fluffy and gets gradually darker, and is like a masterclass in subtle characterisation, presenting easy stereotypes to the reader and slowly peeling back the layers to reveal the contradictory, complex, real person beneath. Don't watch the anime though; it cuts off with a nonsensical ending nothing like the manga and left me very frustrated. 
Not keen on paranormal? Then how about just plain old hilarious? Ouran High School Host Club (again, a long running series that is now complete) is probably one of the the best mangas I've ever read. It freely mocks and subverts normal shojo (that's girl's manga) tropes while at the same time squeezing laughs out of them. Haruhi - a poor, out of place, genius scholarship student at a prestigious school full of the superrich - stumbles into the middle of a group of bored, privileged kids who run a 'host' club to amuse themselves. The tables turn constantly. One minute Haruhi is beliguered and bullied by the rich kids, the next they're scrambling to impress Haruhi. The anime for this is also superb, though it cuts off waaaay before the manga finished, so be prepared.

For shounen - that's 'boy's manga' - my recommendation is Bleach (which is also a very decent anime, if you skip the filler arcs where they were waiting for the manga to catch up and just shoved any old nonsense in there). It's a great, action-packed manga about Shinigami, Japanese soul reapers, and a young human boy who ends up accidentally taking on some of their powers and - well - kicking monster ass with a huge-ass sword. Can you ask for more? Neither the manga or the anime are complete though. I'm personally freaking the heck out over current developments, so be warned.
Now for a few recommendations in one of my favourite manga and anime categories. Yaoi. That's gay romance featuring blokes. Hyouta Fujiyama is a brilliant mangaka in this field - her books are sweet, funny and feature some of my favourite art. Spell, Lover's Flat, Freefall Romance and Ordinary Crushvols. 1 and 2 are a good place to start, if you can get them. Fumi Yoshinaga, the author of The Flower of Life, that I mentioned above, also dabbles in this field. She wrote Moon and Sandals vols. 1 and 2 and The First Class is Civil Law vols. 1 and 2, brilliant works about learning to accept other people for what they are, if you wish to be loved the same way in return. Lily Hoshino is another mangaka whose art is breathtaking. I love My Flower Bride, My Flower Groom and Love Quest. Another favourite is Little Butterfly, by Hinako Takanaga, which is three volumes, but available in an omnibus edition - a truly epic, and yet completely down to earth story of the transformations caused by true love. For anime in this field? If you can find a copy of Winter Cicada - the story of two young Samurai on opposite sides in the Japanese civil war, who fall in love - you're in for a treat, although you should have tissues handy. LOTS of tissues.
Some of these are available on Amazon or even in your local bookshop. For others you might need to go to specialist manga and anime sellers, or buy secondhand. But I promise that you will be well rewarded! Exploring Japanese culture is a journey which I don't think I'll ever come to the end of, and the more people who are travelling with me, the more fun it will be.
Zxx

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Thanks Zoe for this post! I now have quite a few books (and anime) to track down on Amazon!

You can stalk Zoe:www.zoemarriott.com
The Zoe-Trope Blog
YouTube

Deadline, by Mira Grant

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Deadline
Mira Grant
Orbit: 2011


If you haven’t read Mira Grant’s novel Feed (review), stop right now and go read it. I’m a big fan of Feed and becoming a fan of Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy, but a central point of Deadline hinges on the ending of Feed and I can’t talk about Deadline without talking about that.

So.

Mira Grant told the story of Feed primarily through the narrative voice of Georgia Mason, a “newsie” blogger in a post zombie apocalypse world. The world had stabilized into something we might recognize, but, well, zombies. In my review of Feed I wrote that “As the first in a stated trilogy, I can’t wait to see where Mira Grant takes us with the next two novels – especially given how she ended Feed.”


How she ended Feed is that Georgia was purposefully infected by Kellis-Amberlee, the virus that causes zombification, and as she begun to amplify (i.e., she was turning into a zombie), she was shot and killed by her brother Shaun. Shaun then took over the narrative duties and finished out the election coverage (they were the first bloggers to follow a presidential candidate on the campaign trail, a campaign that led them into a very nasty political conspiracy, plus zombies, you can’t forget the zombies).


Deadline picks up a year later with Shaun semi-coping with Georgia’s death, running their news organization, and was having a slight break from reality as he was hearing her voice and carrying on conversations with his dead sister. There was an uneasy stability in his life until Dr. Kelly Connolly from the CDC arrived at their headquarters and pointed them at a larger conspiracy within the science community regarding what is really going on with Kellis-Amberlee. As the CDC is a semi-autonomous organization since the Rising, this is more than a big deal.

My primary concern after finishing Feed was how well Grant was going to be able to carry the story along with Shaun as narrator. Georgia was so much the heart of Feed that I worried that the shift would grate and not serve the story. I need not have worried. There is a certain similarity in the first person perspectives of both Shaun and Georgia, though there is a difference in the focus of each character and also in Shaun’s propensity to threaten violence. Regardless, Deadline is a smooth reading novel that damn near demands that one continues to turn the page to find out what happens next. It’s a good feeling and I could not get enough of it (even though I still missed Georgia as a narrator).

One thing that Mira Grant does very well is craft an ending that leaves the reader wanting more and wanting to know more. Feed’s ending was a natural ending point for the story and while there may have been more stories to tell in that world, Feed was done. Deadline does not have that sort of an ending. Deadline ends with a moment which causes the reader to exclaim “what the…” and where the ellipses are followed by one’s favorite exclamation or curse. Despite that, the conclusion *is* foreshadowed and set up – even Grant did something the reader didn’t exactly expect. Like with Feed, I’m not talking about it here. Unlike Feed, I’m not completely sure that Grant did the right thing, but I have personal bias regarding what happened. I’ll have to explain that in a follow up post.

That’s a little bit long winded to say that Deadline feels like half of a much longer novel and the ending served more to set up Blackout than it did to really conclude the story of Deadline. If the presumed primary storyline was Shaun’s investigation of the CDC and if there really is some sort of a conspiracy with the current investigative science behind Kellis-Amberlee; that storyline has not been resolved. Or, it has, but not in a way that fully satisfies that storyline.

Readers can pick up Deadline and follow the story just fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m a proponent of starting at, well, the beginning and moving on from there. But, if you enjoyed Feed (and I very much did) and were somehow on the fence about Deadline – don’t be. It’s almost as good. I say “almost” because Feed’s ending was a bit stronger and also just personal preference in the narrator. I can also see how some might prefer Deadline as Grant opens up the world a bit and also does some nasty stuff to set up Blackout. Either way – Deadline was a fantastically enjoyable novel filled with zombie delights.

W - Whoops

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So. Totally forgot about W. Even though I had gotten way far ahead in my planning for this fest I was writing the week ahead on the weekend. And last week I got the Alien Death Plague. So this week I've been playing Catch Up. Thought I was doing pretty darn good. Stupid W.

Looking back in my notes I think I had a blog planned for Whiskey, which can't be right because this is my "Writing" day. So you know what. I'm calling it! I got nothing. Mainly cause I'm still kinda stupid from being sick. And secondly, stupid W.

So here's some pictures of some Wombats! First a cute cuddly baby one! Awwww. Don't you just want one of your very own!

I want to snuggle with your brains!

But then you find out that they grow into THIS......!

Wombats are taking over your Couches!!

I love Wombats. Though you gotta wonder about who named the poor things. Were they drunk?

X - oXtail

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Please tell me you have had braised Oxtail.

This is a little different then Osso Buco, which most people have had...hopefully. Oxtail is, as you could surmise, Beef. *duh*. Osso Buco is Veal. Yes. The age matters. Quite a lot.

My main point here, though, is the whole dish. The Braised Oxtail. The beauty behind what it's like to take something that is quite literally a piece of Tail (!) and turn it into one of the most glorious most complex (aside from consomme) flavor stories (god I hate that term, but there it is) in the whole culinary world.

I Love Staub.

It's so deceptively simple. You sear the meat in a cast iron pan. You know the kind, Le Cruset or Staub make beautiful pots for this. You have to sear in the flavor. And then build from there. Every level adding on from the one below it. The onions and bacon. The tomatoes and wine. The Herbs and garlic. Everything added at just the right moment, to create a balance yet add their interest.

And then you slow braise the hell out of it. Pushing the flavor into the meat for hours on end. Forcing one of the cheapest cuts of meat to taste like gods gift to kings. So hearty. So fulfilling. So wonderful with either a beautiful Bordeaux or a zippy Gewurztraminer.

This kind of food is what I could happily eat every day of my life.

And weigh a whole lot more then I do.

I'd like to thank...

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Squeeeel!

I got my first blog award! It's very exciting!

It's this one:
 
I was nominated by the lovely Amanda from  Drama, Dice and Damsons! 
Very cool! Thank you! I shall be paying it forward within the next couple of days...as soon as my schedule calms down enough for me to spend more then 5 seconds on here. I just wanted to make sure I said thank you!
SO Thank you! Now...back to work...tomorrow's a killer..gah!

Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn (audio)

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I finished listening to this yesterday. I actually had only a little bit left to go and just hadn't turned it on to listen to in a while. And that was my biggest problem with the book, which was totally my problem and nothing to do with the book itself: I spread out the listening over too long a period of time. So I know that I enjoyed the book but I don't remember a lot of what happened at the beginning and I didn't really get into the rhythm of the story. It's probably one I'll need to read/listen to again to make sure I caught everything. Hence my very vague post here about it!

Y - You

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Where would we as writers be without You, our audience? 
I know it sounds rather corny. Or maybe too "Deep Thought". But seriously. What are we writing for? I know for me, personally, there's a mix of reasons. The main one being simply that I must. But if I'm honest...I want to entertain. I want to have my story be told. I want someone, anyone, to pick up my book, read it and say "Huh! That was good! Where's the next one?" Just like I do with Jim Butcher. God Forbid that man ever stop writing...

Steampunk Dirigible...AWESOME!

I can't imagine ever Not writing. It's interesting the different reactions of people when they discover I write. Though I think that may be partly the fault of the genre in which I've chosen to write. Try explaining Steampunk to someone who doesn't even like Fantasy..."So, it's like if Tesla...you know who Tesla is? No? Hmmm. Do you know what a Tesla Coil is? No? Oh yes, they're still on Earth. They travel back and forth between 2012 and 1922.  But the 1922 is a different reality. It's as if a bunch of evil scientists had escaped and run rampant and taken over the world with their experiments. Oh, and there's dirigibles. No. Not everyone is an Evil Scientist. No the dirigibles don't all crash and burn like the... Look. It's Science Fiction. Not Real. TIME TRAVEL doesn't happen. That I know of. Ever seen the show Warehouse 13? YES?! That's Steampunk!! Good Christ...I need a whiskey..."
Yes. I did basically have this conversation. I doubt this will be my audience.
But I did want to take a few moments and welcome all my New Followers from the A - Z Blogfest!! Thank you for joining my craziness! I hope you enjoy my world!

Z - Zabaglione

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Do you have eggs, sugar, Marsala wine, a pinch of salt and some fresh berries?  If so then YOU could possibly be capable of making one of THE most fantabulous desserts ever to grace the taste buds of your tongue.

Make this! Now! It's low fat...I Promise...

It's so simple. I've always been curious to know if this was one of those dishes that came from a "Panic" state. Where the chef at the time had Nothing...and a certain someone super important, say the King of France, was coming for dinner...and Crap! There's a war on! Can't just go out to the local Whole Foods and get me some Tiramisu. Ooo! But I've got some giant ass eggs, a bunch of sugar, and more Marsala wine then God. Hmmmm.  Ambrosia was Created! You do need the berries though. It's kinda too much without the berries. Oh. And Champagne. I've found real Champagne actually does taste better with this. Not the Sparkling Wine. I have no idea why.

Could be that the first time I made Zabaglione was for a very crazy, full on, no -holds- barred wedding. For 300. I tried to talk them out of it because this is a dessert that has to be made on the fly. You *Can* have it cold...but they wanted it old school. (Of course). Warm. Fresh. "The way Gramma used to do it!" And when you're shelling out over $200,000 for your big day...who was I to say no. So the crew and I made Zabaglione for 300 crazy drunken French and Italian wedding revelers. Over a mix of fresh black berries, black raspberries, red raspberries, strawberries and brunoised kiwi fruit. Kill me. It was beautiful. And Hell.  But, they served it with Real Champagne. Which they also served to the kitchen staff. (These clients were not assholes :) And I'm telling you now. If you ever get the chance...This is one of the finer things in life.

Zabaglione. Warm over fresh, seasonal berries.  With a Real Champagne Kicker.

More Lashings

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Welcome to May! Which is not April! Which means....*dramatic pause*...the A - Z blogfest is over! Phew. As fun as it was, and I did have fun...ah the memories...I'm glad it's over so I can get back to my regularly scheduled crazy.

That being said. I have the first page of my current WIP, or more honestly my only WIP being critiqued over at mainewords by Marcy, as well as at In High Spirits by Dianne. Scary stuff!

Blogfest hangover

There's a lot of useful stuff being said in the critique and comments so go over to their sites and check it out!

Also...wanted to say hi and thank you to all my new followers! Welcome!

And...that's about all I have time for...silly work...getting in the way of my writing..Blast. Go over to one, or both, of those other sites and leave me some helpful suggestions. Any comment is a good comment!

Unless it's for penile enlargements.  I really don't need those. Thanks though.

I'd like to thank...

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Squeeeel!

I got my first blog award! It's very exciting!

It's this one:
 
I was nominated by the lovely Amanda from  Drama, Dice and Damsons! 
Very cool! Thank you! I shall be paying it forward within the next couple of days...as soon as my schedule calms down enough for me to spend more then 5 seconds on here. I just wanted to make sure I said thank you!
SO Thank you! Now...back to work...tomorrow's a killer..gah!

Brain Harvests

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Blargh!

It seems that, of late, I only have so much brain to go around. Which means that my blog suffers a great deal. Sorry followers. As I know that you hang on to my Every Word!

The fun and exciting things that I am up to?

We are putting in no less then 8 raised beds so that we will not starve to death (a la Romantic Medieval Style) in the middle of the brutal Maine Winter. Hopefully the veggies behave better then they have been the past couple of weeks. I'm going to have to re-plant the spinach, beets, and other such greens as the weather we've had lately hasn't really allowed them to grow.

I'm also watching our Thirty tomato plants like a hawk because I have a sinking suspicion that they have The Blight. We've tried planting tomatoes for the past 4 years. We were successful once. The other three. Blight. This year I think is the last year. It's frustrating and time consuming and really just insulting to put all that work in...then BAM.  Blight.  Stupid Tomatoes.

We've put in grapes, strawberries, a kiwi vine, buttercup squash, cucumbers (which the army of slugs that I feed on a regular basis immediately destroyed...), and bush beans. We have yet to plant potatoes and shallots. Those will go in around the 4th of July or so. According to my Grandfather, that's the best time.

So.

What with all that stuff going on. All my 'free' time is put into writing! Priorities! I haven't forgotten you My Blog Followers! It will all calm down soon. Soon my time will be a bit more...um...well...that's a lie.

Ok. I'll be here! Sporadically! I promise! How's that?

Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

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Twilight - Meyer, Stephenie
Summary: When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.


Stacy's Review This book was an action packed book.The first 20 chapters are a little boring but as you get into the book it gets more interesting.
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Traitor - Andy McNab

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Traitor - McNab, Andy 
Summary: Determined to become a soldier, but unable to get into Officer's Training School because of family history, Danny Watts must find his grandfather, Fergus Watts, an army hero and notorious traitor, and soon discovers that a dark enemy is fast on his trail who also has a bone to pick with Fergus. 

Riley's Review This book is about a boy in the SAS and he has to find his granddad. His granddad is a traitor to the us and he escaped from jail. This book is fully Scifi and has action pack reading. I loved it. 
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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - See, Lisa
 Summary: A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language. 


Jade's Review This novel shares the joys and hardships of growing up in a Chinese family. The story revolves around Lily and her Laotong, or best friend, Snow Flower. The story carries you through their lives as you experience their happy moments and the downfalls of their lives. Throughout these many hardships, they always have each other, until the truth comes out... This book is an advanced read and I would recommend it to someone who can handle the deep connotations of this novel. It is extremely emotional and worthwhile to read. I love it. 
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Inheirtance - Christopher Paolini

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Inheritance - Paolini, Christopher

Summary: Not so very long ago, Eragon -- Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider -- was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders. Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And  
                       if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances. The Rider and his    
                       dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil 
                       king and restore justice to Alagaesia? And if so, at what cost? This is the
                       much-anticipated, astonishing conclusion to the worldwide bestselling Inheritance 
                       cycle.

Emily's Review 
This book was amazing! Inheritance is the last book in the Inheritance cycle, which follows Eragon Shadeslayer and his path as a Dragon Rider. Inheritance keeps you on the edge of your seat and has a well-crafted, complex plot. Its 849 pages is no small amount, so if one does not like long books, I don't suggest this one. However, Inheritance is worth the time one must put into it, and its many complexities and air of professionalism make for a good read. The New York Times calls it "An authentic work of great talent." I have to agree. It's the last book in the Inheritance Cycle, so I would suggest reading Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr before Inheritance. I loved it.

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No Talking - Andrew Clements

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No Talking - Clements, Andrew 
Summary: The noisy fifth grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest. 



Isaac's Review  The book is funny because the students are in a competition to see which gender keeps quiet the longest. In order to understand the beginning, the reader should know that it starts out with a boy not talking. I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either. 
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Ahh Spring

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In Maine this means several things all at once.

Mud. Mud comes to mind immediately. Black flies. Mosquitoes...

But for me...The Farm Stand is open! Thank what ever freaking deity you may hold holy!
Seriously.

Or sauteed. Or grilled. Or baked. Tasty goodness!

Don't get me wrong. I love Winter Squash and baked potatoes. Hell. I grew up in The County of Maine. I think they'd probably 'disappear' me quietly if I stopped eating potatoes. But a girl can only take so much. I need the fresh, warmed by the sun veggies. Granted, the pickings are slim right now. But I don't really care! Salad is back on the menu! With Fiddleheads! Steamed to perfection then just a dash of freshly ground pepper, kosher salt and a bit of cider vinegar.

Oh. And another thing that I'm very super excited about. The Winery's are opening! Sweet. Around here there is an abundance of local winery's. Some good, some great, some...lets call them young. Two of my absolute favorites are The Cellardoor. Beautiful place in Lincolnville, ME. Looks very much like Italy. And their wines are done quite well. They have a white called Perfect Stranger that goes with absolutely everything. Meats, fish, desserts, breakfast. Turkey. It's amazing.

The other place, opening on Mother's Day...very apropos...is Sweetgrass Farm Winery and Distillery. This one I'm more excited for their Distillery then their Winery, to be honest. Their Three Crow Rum is amazing. It tastes like melted, toasted brown sugar. The Peach Smash is a perfect end to a summer's evening. And I cannot say enough about the Back River Gin. Stellar. They even make their own bitters! Just incredible.

Go. Taste. You will wonder why you haven't before! Bring your student driver with you to drive you around...