The Forbes 25 Reviewers - #8 Dan Schwent

Today's guest is Dan Schwent.  Dan posts at his blog, his book blog, Shelf Inflicted, and Dantastic Photos.

How did you discover Goodreads?
It was 2008 and I was pissing away an evening on MySpace when someone in the Christopher Moore group mentioned Goodreads being like crack.  She was right.  After staying up into the wee hours playing with it that first night, I've been cooking it on a spoon over an open flame every day since.

What have been your most memorable Goodreads experiences?
Hands down, that would be Lawrence Block liking my review of Getting Off enough to start sending me ARCs.  When your favorite living crime writer starts sending you free shit, you're probably doing something right.  #2 would be Kemper sharing a joke his wife told him that is now my favorite dirty joke of all time.  Honorable mentions go to having MAC accost me for talking shit on his Nolan character and drinking with Kemper at Bouchercon.

Name one reviewer not in the Forbes 25 that people should be aware of.
Since I came up with the questions, I should probably stick to one reviewer instead of mentioning the greater portion of the Shelf Inflicted staff and a few other people.  I'll go with Anthony Vacca.  At 23, he's so talented I just want to slap the shit out of him.

To hell with it.  I'd also like to mention the Shelf Inflicted staffers that will be at the top sooner or later (Stephanie, Nancy, Amanda, Brandon, Carol, Trudi, James L. Thane, Sesana, and Robert), and also ShovelMonkey , Jason Koivu, and Nikki.  And about a hundred other people.

What was your initial reaction to Amazon buying Goodreads?
Like I posted in a couple places, I felt like Peter Parker when Aunt May got engaged to Dr. Octopus.  I was pretty sure things were going get nefarious at some point but at least Aunt May was happy.  I'm not slitting my wrist over it but I'm not doing back flips either.  As long as they don't tamper with it, I'm cool.

How many books do you own?
Not nearly as many as I used to.  Less than 500, I'd say.  Since I know I'll be moving in the next year or two, I'm trying to lighten the load.  Also, I like having a ton of store credit at my local used bookstore.

Who is your favorite author?
All time, I'll go with Lawrence Block or P.G. Wodehouse.  Hot on their heels is George Pelecanos.  He's the guy, right now.

What is your favorite book of all time?
If I can count Stephen King's Dark Tower series as one book, that would be it.  If I can't, it would probably be Eight Million Ways to Die or Code of the Woosters.

What are your thoughts on ebooks?
I'm still devoted to treeware books but I recently invested in a Kindle to take advantage of all the ARCs out there and it's quickly paying for itself.  Ebooks cost too damn much for what you actually get.

What are your thoughts on self-publishing?
Self-published books are a crap shoot, emphasis on the crap.  I've read a couple good ones but most of them look like they have never been edited and/or have really bad formatting and lackluster covers.  If book itself doesn't look like a professional product, why should I take a chance on the story?

Any literary aspirations?
I've written seven books, six in NaNoWriMo events, but only the last two are ones I'm continuing to put work into.

Hungry for a better ending - The Hunger Games Trilogy

So, I'd been avoiding the Hunger Games for years. It has several strikes against it:
1. It's a young adult book
2. The enormous amount of hype
3. The fact that it appears on the surface to be a combination of two Stephen King books, The Long Walk and The Running Man

One winter night, I was talking about the Robert Crais book I just finished and my lovely girlfriend asked when I was going to start reading the Hunger Games. Monday, I said. She was making country fried steak that night. What else could I do? Lucky for me, the country fried steak and the Hunger Games were both great.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a dystopian future, Katniss Everdeen takes her younger sister's place as District 12's representative in the Hunger Games, a 24 person free-for-all broadcast on live TV. Will she walk out of the Games alive?


Suzanne Collins crafted quite a tale in the Hunger Games. From the start, I was impressed with her lead characters. Katniss's personality reflected her background nicely. She wasn't cutesy or even particularly charismatic when the story started and was definitely rough around the edges. Peeta's questionable motivations kept the story moving for much of the book.

The Hunger Games themselves reminded me of the Stephen King books I mentioned earlier and also Lord of the Flies. I never had the safety net feeling that I had while reading other YA fare like Harry Potter. The way the story was told in the present tense gave it an urgent feel that kept me turning pages until my bedtime had come and gone.

Any gripes? Just the usual curmudgeonly ones about it being the first in the series with a lot of dangling threads left to be resolved in the two subsequent books. It was an easy four star read.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the wake of The Hunger Games, insurrection brews, an insurrection Katniss has unknowingly become the symbol of. President Snow expresses his displeasure with Katniss in the only way he knows how. Can Katniss and the other victors of the Hunger Games survive the Quarter Quell?

Here we are, the middle book of the Hunger Games trilogy. In a lot of ways, it feels like a transitional book. In some others, it feels like a rehash of the first one.

I liked seeing how the Hunger Games changed the lives of Katniss, Peeta, and the rest of District 12. Katniss' relationships with Gale and Peeta both moved along. Seeing the other districts as the Victory Tour moved along was a nice bit of world building. I also liked that Haymitch's past was explored a bit. President Snow and his controlling of Katniss made my skin crawl. I can't wait until someone settles his hash in the third book.

Of the new characters introduced, I have to say Finnick is by far my favorite. The carnage level was ramped up significantly in the death match part of the story. The combatants were a lot more capable and the threats were much much worse. The nerve gas in particular is going to stick with me.

The growing unrest really makes this feel like a transitional book. It almost feels like the Empire Strikes Back at times. Instead of the whole "Ben, why didn't you tell me?" at the end, it's Haymitch.

Still, I didn't like it as much as I did the first book. It was a little been there, done that, especially in the end. Also, Katniss seems to have taken a step back. She seemed very strong in the first book but not so much in this one. Also, I know the whole Katniss/Peeta/Gale love triangle is supposed to be a big part of the story but Gale doesn't get developed enough for me to really care about him and Peeta's feelings for Katniss are a little on the unbelievable side given Katniss barely gives him the time of day most of the time.

Three stars, possibly 3.5.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After surviving two Hunger Games, Katniss finds herself as the face of a revolution. Can Katniss lead the rebels to victory against President Snow and the Capitol?

The Hunger Games trilogy comes to a conclusion in this volume, a conclusion that tends to polarize people. Without giving too much away, the ending was actually one of the parts of the book I liked the best.

The story coming out of the previous volume, Catching Fire, sees Katniss uniting the districts against the Capitol, primarily through propaganda films. Peeta, on the other hand, is used in counter-broadcasts by the Capitol in an attempt to undermine the rebellion. Issues are raised that leads Katniss to believe that Coin, the president of District 13, may not have her best interests at heart.

Sounds good, right? It was, for the most part. I liked that Collins didn't do all the expected things. Characters died left and right. Katniss assassinates someone. Katniss' choice in lovers is finally made for her.

My main gripe with Mockingjay is that Katniss has been on a downhill slide since the Hunger Games, going from being a capable fighter to someone that has meltdowns pretty consistently throughout. Even at the end, I still didn't care about either of her love interests. Cinna or Finnick would have made a better companion.

Conclusion:
So that's it for me and the Hunger Games. Overall, I'd give the trilogy a high three. I think Collins may have been better served to condense it into two books, though. Or even leave the Hunger Games as a standalone.  It was an enjoyable read but I don't think it deserves the level of hype it receives.  On the other hand, it has kids reading so I'm in favor of it.

Even More Big Sky Blues

Reviewed by James L. Thane
Four out of five stars


Beginning with Big Sky Blues in 1988, Robert Sims Reid wrote five police procedurals set mostly in the fictional town of Rozette, Montana. The three books in the middle of the series featured a detective named Leo Banks and these novels were bookended by two featuring Ray Bartell, who first appeared as a patrolman in Big Sky Blues and then as a detective in Reid's last book, Wild Animals, which was published in 1996. All five are excellent books that sound completely authentic, due in part to the fact that Reid is a very good writer and also to the fact that he worked for many years as a police officer in Missoula, Montana, which often sounds a lot like Rozette.

When introduced in Big Sky Blues, Bartell was party to a tragic incident that followed him the rest of his career. One night while Bartell and his partner were on patrol, and while Bartell's partner was investigating a suspicious situation in an abandoned building, a troubled person got the drop on Bartell. Bartell believed he had convinced the man to give up his gun and surrender, but as the man was about to do so, Bartell's partner emerged from the building, saw the situation from a distance, and shot and killed the man.

The incident has haunted Bartell for years and caused some of his fellow officers to question his judgment. But over the course of twelve years, he has risen to the rank of detective and has proved his worth to the department.

Now, a major slimeball named Merle Puhl, who lives in Rozette, is running for the U.S. Senate from Montana. Another gasbag, who used to be the President of the United States, is coming to Rozette to campaign for Puhl. This means that the Rozette P.D. will be working in conjunction with the Secret Service and other federal agencies to insure the safety of the former president. Bartell is detailed to work with the Feds.

The candidate, and hence the Feds, are particularly worried about an alleged eco-terrorist named Henry Skelton, an ex-con who lives mostly in the woods and simply wants to be left alone. Skelton is suspected of blowing up a helicopter belonging to a logging company that is raping the nearby wilderness. While there's no proof that Skelton committed the crime, the campaign has identified him as a potential threat and Ray Bartell is supposed to check him out. His clear, but unspoken instructions, are to make sure that Skelton is neutralized until the visit of the ex-president is over.

Being a good cop and a decent human being as well, Bartell is troubled by the lack of any proof that Skelton is guilty of blowing of the helicopter or that he constitutes any sort of a threat to the candidate, his campaign, or the former president. He attempts to deal with the situation in a way that ensures the safety and the rights of all of the parties involved, Henry Skelton included. This suggests to some people that Bartell might be a bit too soft to be a "real" cop, which echoes the charge against him from the case twelve years earlier.

In spite of the criticism, Bartell treads carefully between the Feds, his local bosses, the slimy pols and Henry Skelton himself. Inevitably, problems will result and the result is an engaging tale of a good man trying to do the right thing in a world that appears not to be much interested in the right thing.

Robert Sims Reid has created a cast of memorable characters and put them into motion in a setting and a story that has the considerable ring of truth. One can't help but empathize with a number of these characters, even though their interests and objectives don't always coincide. But, of course, that's the way the world often works in real life.

Sadly, after completing this book, Reid apparently did not ever write another. When asked in 2002 whether there might ever be another novel featuring Leo Banks or Ray Bartell, Reid demurred and suggested that the books were a lot of fun to write but that they didn't pay all that well. That was a tragedy on at least two levels: As good as these books are, and as much critical acclaim as they received, Robert Sims Reid is another of those authors who deserved much wider recognition and much greater financial success than he may have enjoyed. It's also a loss for anyone who loves crime fiction, because as much fun as these books might have been to write, they're even more fun--and more rewarding--to read.

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's A Kansan!

Man of Steel Asks If Superman Should Even Bother

Reviewed By Kemper

3 out of 5 Stars With Doomed Planets Orbiting Them

Clark tries to bring news fashions to Smallville.

As the most iconic of the super-heroes, it’s more than a little odd that Superman got left behind in the wave of comic book movies in recent years.  Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns in 2006 felt more like a homage to the Christopher Reeve movies than a genuine attempt to come up with a fresh film version, and it failed to live up to anyone’s expectations. So Superman was on the bench while Batman was revitalized in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy and Marvel steadily released a string of movies including their enormous hits with The Avengers in 2012 and Iron Man 3 earlier this year.

Trying to come up with a new spin on Superman that would satisfy old fans and the mainstream movie audiences was a tough gig.  It’s natural that Warner Brothers and DC turned to Nolan as a producer to get Superman back into theaters, but the choice of Zach Snyder as director seemed risky since he flopped with his previous comic book film, Watchmen.  With a story from Nolan and veteran comic book movie scripter David Goyer, Snyder has presented a new version of Superman that keeps the familiar elements but tweaks them so that we get a revised origin story that also delivers plenty of action.

On the planet Krypton scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) have rebelled against a long-standing breeding program and had a son, Kal-El, via a natural birth.  Unfortunately, Krypton is doomed thanks to short-sighted government leaders who have done some kind of strip mining of the planet’s core.  Fanatical General Zod (Michael Shannon) leads a coup attempt in an effort to save the planet, but he and Jor-El clash over Zod‘s plans for the future.  Jor-El steals data vital to the breeding program and puts it in the spaceship with his infant son and sends him to Earth where the yellow sun and lower gravity will give him incredible powers.

Kal-El is found by the Kents and raised on their Kansas farm as their son Clark.  Jonathan (Kevin Costner) worries that the world isn’t ready to find out about his adopted alien while Martha (Diane Lane) tries to help Clark adjust to his powers.  As an adult Clark (Henry Cavill) tries to hide his true nature with a nomadic existence of menial jobs and fake names, but his need to help people sometimes threatens to reveal him. 

While Clark is following up on a clue to his origins he crosses paths with intrepid reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams).  After Lois sees enough to know there‘s something special about him, Clark flees and wonders if the time has come to reveal himself to the world.  Lois starts tracking down Clark by following the rumors of a mysterious savior who has appeared over the years.

General Zod has some anger issues.

However, Clark’s decision is complicated by the appearance of General Zod and some of his followers who demand that Kal-El be turned over to him or he’ll start attacking Earth.  

While the familiar origin story is still here, it’s the additions and alterations that make it interesting.  We get a fuller picture of Krypton that we ever have in the movies, and it’s an intriguing bit of world building that had me wishing for a prequel  with Russell Crowe’s adventures as Jor-El.

In order to focus on the Superman elements, not much is done with the traditional Clark Kent secret identity lore. This is less about Superman trying to come to terms with who he is and more about him trying to decide whether he can trust people enough to try and help them.  Jonathan’s belief that the world would collectively freak out over the revelation of an alien with super powers echoes strongly within him, and Clark has little reason to expect the best of people since he's been treated like an outcast by almost everyone except his adopted parents.  

This was an interesting way to play it because we know that Superman is the epitome of a hero so there’s no point in trying to make us think that he doesn’t want to try and use his powers for good.  Instead the question becomes whether people really deserve his help, and if the revelation of a super-powered alien might do more harm than good.  Clark has to decide if he can trust humanity enough to change their world, and that’s an original question for a super-hero flick.

Aside from the character drama, there’s also plenty of action.  As is befitting of a Superman movie, the segments of him fighting Zod and his henchmen or performing other super-powered acts of heroism are epic and downright bone rattling.  The battles take place from Krypton to a small town in Kansas to the Indian Ocean to outer space to the streets of Metropolis and there’s plenty of property damage wherever they occur.  Whether it’s trying to save men from a burning oil rig or learning how to fly, the special effects are generally eye popping although there are a few scenes where CGI figures become obvious and the sheer scale of the action starts to overwhelm the viewer.  

Geez, you guys.  Get a room already.

Anchoring all of this are good performances from a very strong cast.  Cavill is a real find with an ability to make Clark feel all-too-human yet also projecting the bigger than life image needed when he puts on the Superman suit.  Amy Adams is more than just the typical damsel-in-distress that Lois usually is, and the script gives her important things to do.  Costner and Crowe really stand out as the two father figures who instinctively grasp all the dangers and opportunities that Clark/Kal-El has in front of him.  While Michael Shannon goes a little over the top at times, he’s playing the villain in a comic book movie so that isn’t the worst thing in the world.  It also helps that Zod actually sees himself as fighting for something so that he’s got a motivation beyond just being the crazy bad guy.

Like a lot of big blockbuster movies, Man of Steel goes on a bit too long and should have wrapped up its ending faster.  Some Superman fans probably won’t like the changes to the traditional story, and some viewers may be put off by the big sci-fi elements that sometimes distance us from the quieter character moments.

Still, this is the first Superman movie that really felt as big as a Superman movie should, and it manages to get across genuine moments of awe and wonder worthy of a comic book while still providing relatable characters and dilemmas.

The Forbes 25 Reviewers - #9 mark monday

Today's guest is mark monday.  mark also posts at Shelf Inflicted and Hypnos.

How did you discover Goodreads?
an ex-friend sent me a link.

What have been your most memorable Goodreads experiences?
getting to know a lot of interesting and/or nice people. watching various meltdowns while snickering unkindly to myself. and of course the very best thing for me about Goodreads has been getting introduced to a lot of really memorable books.

Name one reviewer not in the Forbes 25 that people should be aware of.
for horror fiction, Shawn Garrett
for literary fiction, Joselito
for fantasy and science fiction, Kate Sherrod.

What was your initial reaction to Amazon buying Goodreads?
worry & concern. that has since faded.

How many books do you own?
hard for me to say. hundreds? thousands?

Who is your favorite author?
also hard to say. maybe a toss-up between Jack Vance and Joyce Carol Oates.

What is your favorite book of all time?
and also hard to say. very hard to say! changes all the time, depending on mood. right now maybe Paul Scott's Raj Quartet

What are your thoughts on ebooks?
i like the feeling of an actual book in the hand. that said, i love the convenience of ebooks and the availability of many free classics & obscurities on Project Gutenberg.

What are your thoughts on self-publishing?
it's nice that publishing is so easy now and i've read a few interesting self-published books. but unfortunately the popularity of self-publishing also means that a lot of crap gets "published".

Any literary aspirations?
only vague ones.

The Diviners. Not that divine.

THE DIVINERS

Libba Bray

2012 Little, Brown Books 

Reviewed by Carol

Recommended for: I don't.

Read 2013 
One and a half stars

"Ms. Bray, I have an idea for your next book."
"Yes?"
"Well, the researcher who worked on The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York left some notes lying in the library, and someone I know swiped 'em."
"Perfect setting! What should we make it about?"
"Hmm, not sure. Let's come back to it."
"Okay. Target audience?"
"Well, you have some cred in Young Adult, and the field is on fire. If we make it about a 17 year-old and her friends, we can draw in the pre-teens and the twenty-somethings, no problem."
"Excellent. We'll need a romance. Women love romance."
"I guess we can do that two-guys-competing for the same woman situation that was so popular in The Hunger Games. If we make it into a series, we can draw out the romantic tension over a couple of books."
"Sounds perfect. Do you have a plot yet?"
"Well, that Harry Potter book was a huge hit and made a ton of dough. Superheros and the like are the rage. What if we say the group of friends has special powers?"
"I don't know, that sounds like a lot of work. Just how special do they have to be?"
"We can just make it mysterious and say they are learning about it, so it doesn't have to be anything really thought out. I can put one of the interns on it for the second book."
"Cool. And the antagonist?"
"Stick with that H.P. thing and say there's this really, really evil guy trying to come back to life, and they are trying to stop him from bringing about the end of the world. That'll probably draw in horror fans too."
"Perfect. Draft it out and let me know when you are done."


****************************************
Try as I might--summer afternoon, comfy deck chair, an open-ended day just made for endless reading--I was unable to enjoy The Diviners. Libba Bray did a tremendous amount of research on the roaring 20s in New York. The trouble is, she wanted to share all of it. This is a elaborate setting badly in need of characters and plot. Someone took their cardboard cut-outs from the "Young Adult Paper Doll Book" and inserted into the pretty-flapper-Great Gatsby-land. There's the Ingenue who thinks she's experienced. The square but supportive friend. The emotionally reserved uncle (includes one bonus secret past). The charming, rakish thief. Young quiet intellectual male hiding secret affection. The earnest detective. The possibly-scary elderly ladies living next door. The religious black woman. [SPOILER: The little boy speaking mysterious truths. The runaway wife. The gay piano player (aren't they all). The revival-tent preacher. END SPOILER]. About the only one of interest is the Poet-cum-Numbers runner.

Plot is straight out of "innocent-investigates-murder" only it took until page 80 to get the first murder. Up until then we're treated to extensive description of our heroine drinking, partying and sassing. Gee, I wonder if her experiences will help her grow up? By the time we find a dead body, I had been up and down out of my chair about eight times, looking for other things to entertain me. [SPOILER: When Ingenue investigates haunted mansion with her best friend--while serial killer is on the loose--is anyone shocked? When Unc Will is hauled away in chains, is anyone surprised? I can just tell someone is going to be kidnapped and used in an awful ritual before special powers save the day. END SPOILER] When I got to the second young man romancing our heroine (oh, it's not a spoiler--this is a modern young adult book), I was ready to stab myself.

I tend to read for three things: plot, character and language. Usually at least one can sustain me through a book, but that just didn't happen today. Characters here lack subtlety, dimensionality and interest. Plot was so routine that absolutely nothing about it surprised me. Language that is mostly defined by 20s vernacular and only devoted to creating the setting. There's not even a wider philosophical ideas here to create the illusion of a thoughtful approach. Belief creates reality, yada yada, except when it doesn't. Bray breaks narrative character in a couple sections to lecture the reader on 1920s racism. How educational!

Redeeming factors: ability to create a sense of place in time in America. Mostly. Mostly the movie perception of it, actually, of flappers and haircuts and kids on the corner selling newspapers and sneaking alcohol everywhere. Okay, so it mostly succeeds at writing Great Gatsby scenes.

One and a half stars--it completely missed me, even though it should have been a three star at least, given the sassy female, the fantastical elements, the description of period New York--all ingredients that usually appeal to me.




Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0...

The Forbes 25 Reviewers - #10 Kemper

Today's guest is Kemper.  Kemper posts at Shelf Inflicted and Kemper's Book Blog.

How did you discover Goodreads? 
Back in 2007 my wife told me about this new website that let your rate and catalog your books. She also told me that the users can write their own reviews and make friends, too. I think my exact response was "Why would would I want to do any of that crap? I just want to keep track of my books."

What have been your most memorable Goodreads experiences? 
Meeting Dan at Bouchercon, Stephanie meeting my niece and doing a caricature of her, the epic troll battles, the Matt Scudder reading trend and the on-going Amazonpocalypse freak-out.

Name one reviewer not in the Forbes 25 that people should be aware of:
Amanda. She's too busy educating America's youth to post as much as the other Goodreads junkies, but there's nobody who can rant as well while making me laugh.

What was your initial reaction to Amazon buying Goodreads? 
Denial. Followed by anger, bargaining, depression and now acceptance.

How many books do you own? 
Somewhere between 10 and 10,000. I can't narrow it down any more than that.

Who is your favorite author? 
At the moment, Lawrence Block.

What is your favorite book of all time?
 If I'm limited to one, probably Lonesome Dove.

What are your thoughts on ebooks? 
There's a lot I like about the idea. Easy access to books and no storage problems. I've tried reading on them a little, and it doesn't bother me. While I'll probably get one eventually, I also think a battered paperback will always be my preferred word delivery system.

What are your thoughts on self-publishing? 
Love the concept but haven't really tried many authors doing it.

Any literary aspirations? 
More than my talent supports.

Magnificent Corpses: Searching Through Europe for St. Peter's Head, St. Claire's Heart, St. Stephen's Hand, and Other Saintly Relics
Anneli Rufus

Reviewed by Sesana
Four out of five stars

Publisher Summary: 

Holy relics -- the bodily remains of saints and other sacred figures -- were for centuries the most revered objects in the Western world, at center-stage in Europe's great churches and cathedrals. Today some relics have been shunted to side chapels and dark crypts, yet many continue to draw prayerful pilgrims, as they have for centuries, seeking solace, inspiration, and signs of miracles. In Magnificent Corpses, Anneli Rufus recounts her visits to 18 of Europe's most significant relics. With an engaging mix of history and personal narrative, Rufus tells their secret stories and, along the way, revisits with a fresh eye the compelling accounts of the saints whose physical bodies the relics represent.

My Review:

Don't read this expecting a glowing hagiography of the saints depicted here. Rufus is not a Catholic, and makes no attempt to be particularly reverent. But neither is she disrespectful, in my opinion. But consider the source: her lack of belief was a selling point for me, somebody interested in the subject who was happy to see a book that dispensed with breathless accounts of poorly attested to miracles. And I, for one, would have a tough time with a book that glossed over how closely the bodies of supposedly incorruptible saints resemble Egyptian mummies, or didn't mention some of the troubling similarities between a lot of female saints.

What Rufus does deliver is a series of trimmed down biographies of the saints, and what happened to their bodies after death, and her impressions of what it's like to visit the relics today. Which means that in one section, she might be talking about the graffiti in the street outside, and in another what a bored child says in the middle of a visit. It certainly isn't to everyone's tastes, but I liked that it gave a more complete sense of her experience than simply describing the gilded angels would have done.

This is one of those books that's ideal for a coffee table. The sections are short, easily and quickly read, and it can be put down and picked up at will. I read it more or less straight through (with a few small detours) because I was hooked. Alas, there are no pictures. Anyone with enough morbid fascination to want to see what Rufus saw will either have to go to Europe themselves or try to google pictures. And let's face it, the number of people interested in this book who won't have that morbid fascination will be very small indeed. And so I am off to google.

Also reviewed at Goodreads.

Meet Miriam Black

Today's booktalk is brought to you by Trudi, that crazy Canuck librarian who continues her fervent canning in preparation for the zombie apocalypse. 

***

Miriam Black is a damaged -- you could even argue deranged -- anti-heroine who isn't a very nice person. She's pretty fucked up actually, and she's just as likely to rob you as she is to spit in your eye. She fills her days (and nights) with booze and sex with strange men. She's a champion of letting the expletives fly. Miriam has enough personal demons and closet skeletons to fill a soccer stadium. And they hunt her. They torment her. And no matter how much she runs, or how far, they are always just at her heels nipping away. While her jagged edges and self-destructive tendencies might not make her very warm and sympathetic, I still find her to be extremely dynamic and interesting. Her choices matter to me and I've become very invested in how her story is going to end.

This series has a pulpy, modern noir sensibility firmly planted within the urban fantasy realm (and I couldn't stop myself from falling in love). I can gobble the Miriam Black books down as if they were piping hot, greasy cheeseburgers with a triple chocolate shake on the side. Yum! Yeah, you really have to suspend disbelief, there might even be a few dubious plot holes, but goddamn, as a dark heroine with a grim gift Miriam kicks ass. She's a viper, a scrapper, a take-no-prisoners and no bullshit kind of gal, morally dubious, who is just beginning to figure out what the right thing to do is.

Blackbirds (Miriam Black #1)
Chuck Wendig
Angry Robot, 2012

 

Our first introduction to Miriam is Blackbirds. Notice the cool cover art, something the awesome publishing house Angry Robot is quickly gaining a reputation for, along with their kick-ass catalogue of books. Seriously, you have to check them out.

Blackbirds is a crime novel in that there is a lot of criminal acts taking place and a lot of vivid descriptions of violence and physical trauma. Miriam's is an unusual problem -- at the touch of skin-on-skin she can foresee the time and circumstances of a person's death. Such intimate foreknowledge is a heavy burden to bear, especially since Death and Fate cannot be foiled. The only control Miriam has over these situations is to maybe be there right at the moment of your destined demise to relieve you of your money and credit cards (you don't need them anymore, right?)

She's pretty much come to accept her powerlessness. It has made her cynical, entirely dysfunctional, and dangerous. Then she meets Louis -- a hapless, widowed truck driver who only has a month left to live. His death involves torture and would be considered gruesome even by mob standards -- and this is what Miriam knows: her name is the last word that falls from his lips. The mystery becomes how do we end up at this point, and despite knowing better, will Miriam be able to cheat / beat Death this time? Will she even try?

"You want to make a change...so cosmic you're unwriting death and kicking fate square in the face, then you best be prepared to pay for it." -"With blood," Miriam says. -"With blood and bile and voided bowels."

The other woman in this story -- Harriet -- is one of the creepiest, most memorable characters I've read in a while. Like the best noir classics, it becomes all about the damaged women and the choices they make. It is they who drive the story, and men like Louis are just along for the ride.

Blackbirds ends on a solid note, so that you can take as much enjoyment out of the first book as you can without needing to read on the series. But my best bet is, once you meet Miriam you're gonna want to stick around for awhile.

Mockingbird (Miriam Black #2)
Chuck Wendig
Angry Robot, 2012

In this second installment, Miriam's visions get her tangled up in something much more sinister and unholy than she could ever imagine. Shacked up in a trailer park, Miriam feels trapped and suffocated. Her feet are getting itchy and she wants to hit the road again, to resume her shiftless (and violent) life.

Miriam visits a private school for wayward girls to determine whether the hypochondriac English teacher is really dying from cancer. While on this errand Miriam learns that one of the students is going to die a horrible torturous death six years from now at the hands of a masked man with a sparrow tattoo. Miriam's inadvertent discovery puts her onto the trail of a serial killer, placing her own life in serious peril. With her usual potty mouth, rude inappropriate humor, and feisty fighting skills, Miriam makes several return visits to the private school, and with each visit uncovers more girls who will meet bloody, untimely deaths unless she can figure out a way to stop it.

I really warmed up to Miriam in this sequel. We get to see more of her vulnerable side, and to learn more about her past, her relationship to her mother, and the tragic events that bestowed her precognitive curse on her in the first place.

What's next for Miriam? I for one cannot wait to find out. Book 3, Cormorant is set to become available later this year.

Chuck Wendig is a pretty cool dude. You can find him at his website: terribleminds
Or follow him on Twitter: @chuckwendig 
  
Chuck Wendig has a new book out right now called The Blue Blazes.  Check out Brandon's review!

The Forbes 25 Reviewers - #11 Manny Rayner

Today's guest is Manny Rayner.

How did you discover Goodreads?
My friend Jordan recommended it to me. She has a lot to answer for.

What have been your most memorable Goodreads experiences?
The Celebrity Death Match Tournament.

Name one reviewer not in the Forbes 25 that people should be aware of.
David

What was your initial reaction to Amazon buying Goodreads?
Unhappy, but it was inevitable.

How many books do you own?
As many as our apartment will hold - lost count.

Who is your favorite author?
Tie between Gustave Flaubert, Anthony Powell and E. Nesbit

What is your favorite book of all time?
Tie between Madame Bovary, A Dance to the Music of Time and The Enchanted Castle

What are your thoughts on ebooks?
A necessary evil.

What are your thoughts on self-publishing?
People should buy more copies of What Pooh Might Have Said to Dante! It's better than the books I've published through so-called "real" publishers.

Any literary aspirations?
Another review collection coming out soon, a serious book hopefully sometime next year.

Stop the presses!
Manny's new book, If Research Were Romance and Other Implausible Conjectures, is now available at finer bookshops everywhere and Amazon.com.