New Scifi and Fantasy Releases: Week of July 18

It's another slow week for new releases but there are actually a number of books here that interest me. While I'm usually not much of an anthology reader, Lou Ander's compilation, Masked, and P. N Elrod's Dark and Stormy Knight both look pretty good to me. And while I haven't read Kage Baker's The Anvil of the World, her new release The Bird of the River makes me want to give this series a try.How about you? Anything here that you will be adding...

Random thoughts on Secret Doors

While scrolling through my Google Reader I came across a mention by The Bodacioud Pen of a secret library built by Holly Black , which immediately intrigued me. So of course I had to find out more and I followed a link to the blog The Steampunk Home which had a post about a library built by Holly Black that she hid behind a secret door, concealed as a book case.At first I thought "how awesome!" What would be cooler then having a secret room? But...

Audio Book Review: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

In my continuous quest to understand the wide popularity of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books, I decided to listen to the second book in the series, Fool Moon. In my review of Storm Front I had mentioned my several unsuccessful attempts to get through this book and how I finally decided to give the audio book a try, which I found surprisingly enjoyable. But even with my enjoyment of the Storm Front audio book, I still didn’t see what it is about...

Favorite Fictional Character: Chrestomanci

Favorite Fictional CharacterHosted by Ryan at WordsmithoniaIf you are a regular reader of my blog than you are likely to have noticed that I've been reading a lot of Diana Wynne Jones's books lately, and you might have also picked up on my great affection for one of her characters in particular, The Chrestomanci. Chrestomanci is actually the official title for the powerful sorcerer who is employed by the government to supervise all of the world's...

White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.Ever since, Cassel...

Free read for Ilona Andrews Fans: Curran: Volume I

Fans of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews will be delighted to hear that Ilona and Gordon are offering their readers some tasty tidbits to tide them over until the release of the next book in the series. Now hear Curran's side of the story...Ebook Description:This isn't a short story or a novella. This is a collection of scenes written by Gordon Andrews as a companion to our Kate Daniels series of books. These scenes illustrate the point of...