Blog Tour Dates for Traveler by Arwen Elys Dayton

I'm participating in a blog hop for book 2 in Arwen Elys Dayton's Seeker series, Traveler.  So, next week I'll be posting my book review on Monday instead of Tuesday.  I'll update the links to go to the specific tour posts once they're up.  The giveaways are for books 1 and 2 of the series, US only, and the videos are 2 minute interview clips.

January 11 - Seeing Double in Neverland (review + giveaway)

January 11 - The Cover Contessa (video + giveaway)

January 12 -  Once Upon A Twilight (video + giveaway)

January 12 - Two Chicks on Books (video + giveaway)

January 13 - Take Me Away to a Great Read (review + giveaway)

January 13 - Lytherus (video)

January 14 - Supernatural Snark (video)

January 15 - Bookish Lifestyle (review)

January 15 - The Eater of Books (video)

January 16 - Adventures in YA Publishing (Q and A with author)

January 16 - Page Turners (review + giveaway)

January 17 - Winterhaven Books (video)

January 18 - A Dream Within A Dream (video + giveaway)

January 18 - Sci Fi Fan Letter (review)
January 19 - Mundie Moms (video + giveaway)

January 19 - The Reading Nook Reviews (review + giveaway) 

Shout-Out: Arcana by Jessica Leake

Amid the sumptuous backdrop of the London season in 1905, headstrong Katherine Sinclair must join the ranks of debutantes vying for suitors. Unfortunately for Katherine, she cannot imagine anything more loathsome—or dangerous. To help ease her entrance into society, Katherine’s family has elicited the assistance of the Earl of Thornewood, a friend and London’s most eligible bachelor, to be her constant companion at the endless fetes and balls. But upon her arrival in London, Katherine realizes there will be more to this season than just white gowns and husband hunting.

Through her late mother’s enchanted diary, Katherine receives warning to keep hidden her otherworldly ability to perform arcana, a magic fueled by the power of the sun. Any misstep could mean ruin—and not just for her family name. The Order of the Eternal Sun is everywhere—hunting for those like her, able to feed on arcana with only a touch of the hand.

But society intrigue can be just as perilous as the Order. The machinations of the fashionable elite are a constant threat, and those who covet Katherine’s arcana, seeking the power of her birthright, could be hiding behind the facade of every suitor—even the darkly handsome Earl of Thornewood.

With so much danger and suspicion, can she give her heart to the one who captivates her, or is he just another after her power?

Trip/Artifact photos

It occurred to me recently that I've got a large collection of trip and artifact photos from all over Europe that might be of interest to my readers.  For personal research I've photographed large quantities of the medieval and other collections of certain museums as well as taken detailed photos of structures.  I've been using the photos from my recent trip to France for a series of Cathedral posts, but I have so much more than that.

So, would you - my readers - be interested in posts featuring more of my personal photos?  I've got albums for sculpture, ivories (my personal favourite), stained glass, tapestries, items from daily life (which is smaller than my other collections), manuscripts, etc.  I also have several manuscript reproductions and could scan some of the images from those.  And it's not just Medieval stuff.  I've photographed some Greek and Italian ruins and artifacts as well.  My collection of Middle Eastern works is smaller, but I've got a fair collection of ancient Egyptian photos (I'd LOVE to visit Egypt one day).

Another option, rather than post the photos here, would be to tweet some of the images.

Here's a sampling:

Archivolt sculpture from the left portal of the West Facade of Santiago de Compostella Cathedral, Spain. 

Diptych with the Coronation of the Virgin and the Last Judgement

Elephant ivory

French, probably Paris, ca. 1260-70

The Cloisters Collection, 1970.324.7a, b 

Measure for the tithe

Made by Roger of Amiens

France, 13th C

Bronze

Provence of Milly

Musee National du Moyen Age Paris

(has fleur de lis symbol in the arches around the sides)

I could either write a piece about the item, its significance, etc. or simply post the photo with credits.

Interested?

Shout-Out: City of Light by Keri Arthur

When the bombs that stopped the species war tore holes in the veil between this world and the next, they allowed entry to the Others—demons, wraiths, and death spirits who turned the shadows into their hunting grounds. Now, a hundred years later, humans and shifters alike live in artificially lit cities designed to keep the darkness at bay....

As a déchet—a breed of humanoid super-soldiers almost eradicated by the war—Tiger has spent her life in hiding. But when she risks her life to save a little girl on the outskirts of Central City, she discovers that the child is one of many abducted in broad daylight by a wraith-like being—an impossibility with dangerous implications for everyone on earth.

Because if the light is no longer enough to protect them, nowhere is safe...

Video: Uncanny Valley

This is a cool documentary style video about gamers of the future who use virtual reality as a drug to focus their violent impulses and escape their dreary lives.  It was made by 3DAR.


UNCANNY VALLEY (2015) from 3DAR on Vimeo.

Story Review: The Witch Who Came In From The Cold: A Long Cold Winter by Max Gladstone and Lindsay Smith

The city is Prague, occupied by Russian forces during the Cold War.  An American CIA agent sits down to make his final recruitment pitch to a target after 6 months of developing.  Meanwhile, two Russian KGB agents and witches, wait for a sorcerous elemental construct to make its appearance.

This is the first episode of the first season of a new serialized novel by Serial Box.  Each ‘episode’ is meant to take about 40 minutes to read and act like a TV show episode, able to be enjoyed on its own while contributing to a larger story.  Other writers for this series are: Ian Tregillis, Cassandra Rose Clarke and Michael Swanwick.  This series runs from January 13th 27th* until April 27th, with an episode being released each week. ** (please see note below for correct pricing information) Individual episodes cost US$1.56 including both text and audio, and subscriptions are available (with billing each week).  Serial Box has two other series underway, Tremontaine and Bookburners.

“A Long Cold Winter” is 23 pages long and sets up the characters, setting and plot for The Witch Who Came In From The Cold.  Prague has a high number of intelligence agents attempting to recruit the populace, and specific targets with access to useful information.  There’s a bar at the intersection of powerful ley lines, which are important for magic.  There is also a good number of interesting characters: Tanya and Nadia - agents working for two powerful organizations, Gabriel Pritchard - something unexplained in his recent past is causing him serious problems now, and Jordan - the bar’s owner, who knows things.

There are no answers here, just a lot of fascination introductions and questions.

Corrections:
* The release date for the series has been moved from January 13th to 27th, and will now run until April 27th instead of the 13th.

** I apologize for my error in reporting the pricing.  Individual episodes are $1.99 not $1.59 and is for either text or audio, available from several retailers.  If you want both text and audio it is $2.99 and only available via their website and app.  The $1.59 pricing I saw on their website is the subscription price, which includes both the text and audio (again, available only through their website or app).

Blog Stats for 2015 + Resolutions for 2016

Last year I managed to read 44 novels, 4 history books and 5 'other' (one psychology book, two graphic novels, one collection of fairy tales, and one short book on Arthurian myths).

Of the novels I read 22 were by men and 21 by women.  One book was an SF collection with mixed authors.

Going through my list I've had some trouble categorizing things, so I've categorized them here where I've linked their reviews on my review pages.

science fiction = 24
steampunk/weird west = 3
fantasy = 12
urban fantasy = 3
horror = 2

I should note that none of the urban fantasy took place in the modern day, though the books in question don't quite fit in other categories either.

I didn't do so well with the non-Western works.  I read one book by a Japanese man (All You Need is Kill), one by a South African woman (Black Dog Summer), and one by a Norwegian man (172 Hours on the Moon).

While I read several books with POC protagonists, I only managed a few by writers of colour.  So again, I could do better there.

My reading resolutions for this year are mainly to get rid of some of the backlog of books on my shelves.  I cleared out several titles last summer and fall, but there are a lot more I need to get through.  This may mean fewer reviews, as reading 50 pages of several books to see if I like them takes time that I could otherwise spend reading a review title, so I'll have to see how my timing works out.  I may start a 'your mileage may vary' series, where I mention books I've tried that for one reason or another just didn't grab my interest, so you know what I'm up to and can decide if the books are of interest to you (the reason I put down a book may be what makes you pick it up).

The down side of this, of course, is that there aren't many non-Western or POC authored books there, so I'll have to pick my other reads carefully if I want to increase those numbers.  I'm enjoying the different perspectives I get from them on SF/Fantasy and the world itself.

There were several books that came out last year that I really wanted to read and didn't have time for. I'm hoping to sneak a few of those in.

My January schedule has already been booked with reviews of books I received copies of in December or earlier.  I've only one of those left to read, after which I'll likely read a few older titles with sequels coming out soon.

So many books to read, so little time.

Speaking of time, I'll try to make a buffer of history based posts for Fridays so there are fewer gaps. While those posts are fun to do - and I learn a lot by doing them (hence why I'm doing them) - each one takes at minimum 3+ hours.  The cathedral posts take longer, mainly because I've been modifying/correcting my floor plan and sculptural program diagrams, which is very time consuming. But I'd like to finish off the French cathedrals I took pictures of last summer, do more medieval plant posts, and maybe start a feature (when I'm really pressed for time) where I simply show a picture or two from my collection (I've been to a lot of museums and medieval, etc. sites so that could be fun). I also want to get through more of my history book collection - which keeps growing.

Here's a toast to 2016, may it be a wonderful year with a lot of good books and good times.