Review - The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

Hounded, Hexed, & Hammered

I LOVE this series.  I may not know a whole lot about the various pantheons mentioned in these books but it doesn’t really matter.  Mr. Hearne takes you on a roller coaster ride and keeps you laughing.  I heartily recommend.  I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series.

People can be such jerks.

Okay that isn’t news. I’m not even sure why it is bothering me more today than usual.  There is such hatred and bigotry out there that I feel so damned depressed.  A so called Christian kills children in Norway.  Amy Winehouse dies and there are assholes saying she deserved it because she wouldn’t go to rehab. Redneck idjits that live in the same town as I do say in public with a straight face that if we allow gay marriage the next thing will be folks wanting to marry their livestock.  I just don’t get how people can be so small minded.

Review – Hidden Talents by Emma Holly

Emma Holly has done it again!  My only complaint is that the book was too short.  I want a sequel soon please.

Emma Holly writes sizzling hot romance.  With Hidden Talents we are introduced to Resurrection, NY America’s only supernatural friendly town and its werewolf police force.  The characters were believable even if their world is different than ours. 

Action, adventure, romance what more could you want except more.   

Politics and Passion

Facebook and the internet have allowed me to observe some of my favorite authors outside of their work.  I find it amazing that they come from a wide spectrum of politics and passion from right wing conservatives to liberal PFLAG mamas, Christian, Pagan, and Jewish.  I’m not sure but there may even be a Muslim in there.  The point is they all have passion.  They believe in something.  What I find really amazing is that only rarely does their real life philosophy enter their work.  There are the exceptions of course but it is still fun to watch.  

It’s in the details

Just how much detail does an author have to give before it just adds clutter?  I know of an author that puts so much detail into her work that I’d be willing to bet I could pick the lead characters out of a line up.  The imagery was terrific.  The story sucked.  I have a problem when reading historicals in that I really don’t give a crap what they wore to the third ball unless it has some bearing on the story.  If the author is trying to set the stage then describe one or two outfits not what they wore every time they go out.  For goodness sake some folks change two and three times a day!  Patricia Cornwell tells a terrific mystery but I could honestly give a crap about what they ate for dinner and whether the wine was a good pairing unless it pertains to the story.  Yes some scene setting is needed especially when world building and it is fun to know what folks are wearing and eating but some folks just go overboard.  What do you think?

My TBR shelf

Some women buy shoes, some buy jewelry, others spoil themselves with spa days and mani/pedis and the like.  For me it is books.  My TBR shelf now has about 75 books on it and that doesn’t include the number of e-books I have waiting on me.  I think I may have an addiction.  It could be worse I guess.  When does it become a problem?  How many books do you have on your TBR shelf?

On E-Readers, Free Books & Reviews

As a techie I’ve had an e-reader for years.  First on my p.c. then on my PDA and last year for the holidays I received a Nook. (I refuse to get dragged into the whole ebook v paper/ink debate.  I love them all) One of the things I love most about e-readers is the wide array of material out there and it is getting better all the time.  I’ve found some of my favorite authors when they were just starting out because they self-published their book in an e format.  And there is a veritable smorgasbord of free reads out there in most every genre.   

Recently I had an opportunity to download and read the first three books in the Laws of the Lycans by Nicky Charles for free from Smashwords.  At least I hope it is the first of many more to come.  Ms. Charles asked only that you review the books somewhere in return.  I’ve read some of those reviews and am appalled at what some folks consider a review. 

This is my review for:

Laws of the Lycans - book 1: The Mating, Laws of the Lycans - book 2: The Keeping, and Laws of the Lycans - book 3: The Finding  

From the title you can assume this series is about Werewolves and you would be right but basically these are romances with added difficulties.  As with any romance the crux is the characters.  In The Mating I kept putting it down because both lead characters were acting like idiots.  Then I realized that if I didn’t like them I wouldn’t care.   In the second book The Keeping the lead male started out really unlikeable.  He redeems himself but it took a long time to do so.  The third book, The Finding, was perhaps the best of the three but that may be because it didn’t have to do the world building that the first did.  I like that this is a series and should be read in order. I like keeping in touch with the characters from previous books.  I hope Ms. Charles will continue this series. 

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/charliej

Thoughts on being a parent of a gay child

When my children were born I prayed that they would be happy and healthy.  I did not pray that they would be happy, healthy and heterosexual. 

My daughter is gay.  I am not sure that we didn’t know it quite early on but as I worked in a non-traditional role and encouraged her to try everything we had nothing concrete to point to.  She was the opposite of me in just about every aspect.  She was the “good child”.  She is good at music and math.  She is petite and good looking.  So I may have just sloughed off any hints as that’s just who she is.  And I would have been right. 

As the “good child” she aimed to please.  Up to the point where she actually got engaged to a boy from her circle of friends.  That broke off while she was at college and she came out.  At first we thought oh she’s bi-curious or it’s just a phase.  I am pretty sure this time was the most hurtful for her.  She felt as if she was failing us in some way when in fact we were failing her.

I look at this young woman and realize that all I’ve ever wanted was for her to be happy and healthy.  My love for her is not contingent on who she loves.  Goodness knows I’ve made some poor choices in that regard even if it was more socially acceptable.  I am extremely proud that she knows who she is and is comfortable in her own skin. 

Books vs Graphic Novels

What follows is a conversation I had on Goodreads regarding

Troublemaker: Book 1 (Alex Barnaby #3) byJanet Evanovich (Author), Alex Evanovich, Joëlle Jones (Illustrator)

I DO NOT like graphic novels. I DO like Ms Evanovich and enjoyed the Barnaby & Hooker books. I was looking forward to a continuation of the story but this was what was offered. I purchased it depite my misgivings. Not only is it a graphic novel it only contains the first four chapters. At these prices I think I'll skip the rest. Let me know when you bring them back to book format. For the price of four chapters of graphics (Oh lets just call them what they are Comics) I can get the whole story in words and let my imagination do the drawing.

Jack Baur

What's wrong with calling them comics? There's nothing wrong with comics, and in fact that's exactly what they are. I understand your resistance to the form, but your derision seems kind of extreme. AND what would you think about the fact that Evanovich originally conceived of this whole series as graphic novels? I don't mean to be challenging, but as someone who is personally very interested in comics in general and professionally interested in promoting comics in libraries, I'm really curious about your reaction.

I did state that I didn't like comics or graphic novels at the start. My reason is that if an author is good (and Ms Evanovich is) I can picture the characters in my imagination. Have you ever read a blog where folks try to cast a story? It is amazing the different ways people see the same character. It is all about imagination. I don’t have any problems with comics in libraries. To each their own. As for the proposition that Ms Evanovich conceived of this whole series as graphic novels if she hadn’t published the first two as novels we wouldn’t be having this discussion. I simply wouldn’t have picked it up. But she did and for the price of a fifteen chapter novel I got a four chapter comic book. Price is an issue

He did not reply.  I now see some of my favorite authors doing the graphic novel thing and I still don't get it.  Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher & C. E. Murphy to name a few.  I guess I will vote with my dollars and let those who enjoy that kind of entertainment have it.  As for me I still want the whole novel and my imagination.

Books vs Movie

How many books have been translated well to the screen? How many, if any, surpass the book? I love books. They force me to use my imagination. When an author describes a character I get a picture in my head of what that character looks like and how they dress and act. Rarely does the description make it to the screen. However that doesn't mean that all movies from books are bad. Some adaptations have stayed fairly true to the authors intent. Then you have those that take the book and vomit out something using the characters names and perhaps some of the situations from the book but that’s about as close to the book as they get and put a disclaimer saying based upon the book by so & so. Right or wrong it just is. Sometimes they actually put out something fairly entertaining. My question is should directors and screen writers be forced to stay as close to the original as possible?

About me and this blog

I have been reading for entertainment since I was a child.  When I was much younger I was often an impertinent child deserving of punishment (according to my parents).  One of the favored forms of punishment (after the obligatory spanking) was to take away my television watching privileges.  There was a 3 year span where I was not allowed to watch television at all.  The best thing to come out of all this was that I needed to find other ways to entertain myself.  I escaped into books.  Not the type that would further me in school mind you but anything that would spark my imagination.

I am not a writer.  I have no wish to be a writer.  I never graduated from college and wouldn’t know how to deconstruct a sentence for all the tea in China.  I am a reader.  I plan to post my thoughts on various books, authors and whatever else strikes my fancy on this blog. 

Feel free to comment but please try to be polite.  I go by the axiom that opinions are like assholes everybody has one and they all stink with the exception of possibly mine.  I believe in the open exchange of ideas and you may even convince me to change my mind if not we will have to agree to disagree.