Pages

Dec 17, 2010

Deck The Halls

Just finished and blurbed The Priest, it's by a new author Gerard O'Donovan and if you like Tana French you're going to love O'Donovan.  Out in March full review then.  I am currently trying to get finished before Christmas,


Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, which is cracking so far and I don't see it letting up.

The Trigger Episode by Tom Straw, this guy wrote both Nikki Heat books and although I'm only a couple of chapters in I'm enjoying it.

Finally
Secrets of People Who Don't Get Sick, an impulse buy, the blurb intrigued me. 25 cures people swear by. These provide measurable health benefits and can be backed up by scientific studies.

I'm also about to tempt fate by writing the blurb for the back of my book jacket and the acknowledgements for the inside page.

As this is the last post of 2010 I'd like to thank all of you for your comments, tips and store based discussions.   We'll  have more in 2011.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Dec 8, 2010

Fated by S. G. Browne


Continuing the idea that Greek Gods and even Angels walk amongst us like a kind of cosmic police force, Fated take the concept and runs with it.  Fate, Destiny, Chance, Karma, Truth, Justice etc all immortals walking around in man and woman suits all working for the man upstairs, who prefers to go by ‘Jerry’

Fate who goes by the unlikely name of ‘Fabio’ isn’t allowed to interfere in the lives of his humans, isn’t allowed to push them onto Destiny’s path (she won’t thank him for increasing her workload) and he sure as hell can’t fall in love in with a human.  Fabio thinks the boss won’t notice as he’s buried in paper work and getting ready for his next ‘act of Jerry’ but Jerry is omniscient after all.

I’ve been laughing out loud at some of the characterizations in Fated, Destiny’s a slut, Truth has magpie tendencies, Sloth’s a narcoleptic, Karma likes to get drunk in restaurants, speak of the Devil has a whole new meaning and Death has changed his name to – get this – Dennis.  Fated is an indie band kind of a book, a word of mouth recommendation.

Dec 7, 2010

Top Ten Books of 2010

Looking at the list there's a little more non-fiction than there was two years ago and that's not a bad thing. 

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd
Good Thief's Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
Packing For Mars by Mary Roach *
Blind Descent by James M. Tabor *
Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
God of the Hive by Laurie King
Warlord by Ted Bell
Sleeperwalkers by Paul Grossman
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson *
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

* are non fiction.

Thoughts on The Priest

So far this arc ticks all the boxes, set in Dublin (love Irish crime stories), police procedural (check), creepy serial killer(check), start of a series (check), breakout talent (check).  Out in March full review then.

Dec 5, 2010

Reading, Re-writes and a plea for an arc

Just finished reading Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, Winged Obsession by Jessica Speart and I'm about to start The Priest by Gerard O'Donovan - new writer looks great. 

The feedback on my second draft ms for Thunderball was good I've made a list of suggested changes and whittled it down to about 10 pages worth which doesn't sound much but when one line says re-write this entire scene I'm looking at about another three months worth of work.

Finally if you are reading this and you work for Harpercollins I'm putting this out there.  There is an arc for the new Noah Boyd novel, Agent X. I know the store had one but it vanished before I got a chance to get my hands on it.  I loved The Bricklayer and I really, really want to read Agent X before February.  If you can help get in touch.