Today’s Werd Count: 1243
Total Werd Count: 25341
Kickassery: Lots of tension.
Jackassery: Me and choreographing a fight in water.
Fave Werdz: Actually, I’d prefer we stop meeting this way. It means one of us is working hard at not being killed. We’d probably never, ever have to see each other again if they’d just stop trying to kill us.
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Hi there - I went on an unexpected hiatus due to my husband’s health. As of today, things are back to regularly scheduled programming.
Thanks for your patience.
FEAST OF FOOLS
Rachel Caine
Series: Morganville Vampires, Book 4 (Young Adult)
NAL Jam (Penguin Books) [June 3, 2008]
Claire Danvers is a 17 year-old college student who lives and goes to school in Morganville, a small town where vampires and humans coexist. Feast of Fools opens with a group of vampires invading the Glass House where Claire lives with her boyfriend Shane, her friend Eve and Eve’s newly turned vampire boyfriend Michael.
Among this group of new vampires is Mr. Bishop, who is Amelie’s father. Amelie is Claire’s sponsor and the Founder of Morganville. Just the mere mention of Bishop’s name sets all of the other vampires on edge. Shortly after his arrival, invitations for a masked ball are delivered and it would seem almost everyone in Morganville except Claire was invited, including her boyfriend Shane.
Claire is also an apprentice to a vampire named Myrnin who is one of a group of vampires that are kept in cells because they are for all intents and purposes insane. She is helping out with drug research to correct the problem with these vamps. The effects of the current drug are temporary and once it wears off, the insanity returns. But it would seem since everyone she cares about is already going to the ball that Myrnin is the only one left to help her save her friends from Mr. Bishop. But is he someone she can rely on?
Even though I haven’t read the previous three installments of the Morganville Vampire series, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it can be read as a stand alone. Ms. Caine provides enough back-story and information that you understand the how the story reached its current place and the relationships of the characters without being pulled out of the current story with info-dump.
RATING A- The characters are all well-drawn and believable. The plot is fast paced with twists and turns you do not expect that should keep young adults and adults alike entertained. I liked this book well enough that I am going to look into picking up the previous three installments and would definitely read it again.
Feast of Fools is available now. The next installment in the Morganville Vampire series, Lord of Misrule, will be released January 6, 2009.
Also posted at Urban Fantasy Land
Lisa Trevethan, *headdesk*
Today’s Werd Count: 1025
Total Werd Count: 23838
Kickassery: I got her to the door.
Jackassery: Fighting my demons.
Fave Werdz: I could very well be the cat with no more lives left living on borrowed time.
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23,838 / 85,000
(28.0%) |
Today’s Werd Count: 1075
Total Werd Count: 22702
Kickassery: Firewasps, Killer Jasmine Flowers and a Glaistig..
Jackassery: Trying not to drive myself crazy overthinking my description at this point
Fave Werdz: biohazard green
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22,702 / 85,000
(26.7%) |
As of Monday, June 2, I am no longer contributing to Urban Fantasy Land. It was a decision that I wrestled with and agonized over and I wish it could have ended differently. I am, however, now reviewing for Bitten By Books, so some of my reviews will be cross-posted here and there.
Unfortunately, I do not know what the fate of UFL is as I don’t own the blog. I truly hope that all is well with the owner.
ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE
Jeaniene Frost
Series: Night Huntress, Book 2
Avon [April 29, 2008]
One Foot in the Grave, the second installment of the Night Huntress series, starts four years after Halfway to the Grave left off. Cat is now a special agent, has a team of her own and is not just slaying vampires for vengeance but for the government.
Cat’s first assignment is to kill a vamp named Liam Flannery. Turns out this particular vamp is special to Bones and because sentiment stops her from killing him, the huntress becomes the hunted. It’s a decision she may not live to regret.
At a most unexpected time and place, Bones reenters her life and is single-minded in his determination to have her back. Cat struggles with her feelings for Bones, ghosts from both of their pasts and revelations from the present as danger mounts and the clock ticks.
One Foot in the Grave is fast-paced and well-plotted with the snappy dialog and combustible chemistry we expect between Cat and Bones. The revelations from Cat’s past aren’t just for shock value, they make sense and move the storyline forward while putting an exclamation point on some past events in Halfway to the Grave.
I need to say that I expected Bones to be a lot more pissed off when he caught up with Cat after four years, especially with the way the first book ended. But, that said, his lack of reaction wasn’t enough to make me dislike the book, it was simply too much fun. One Foot in the Grave and Halfway to the Grave are in stores now. The third installment of the Night Huntress series, At Grave’s End will be released January 29, 2009.
Rating: B+
Lisa Trevethan, *headdesk*
Also posted to Urban Fantasy Land
Today we have an interview with Tate Hallway, author of the Garnet Lacey series of books. Welcome Tate!
*headdesk*: For those that may not be familiar with your books, could you tell us a bit about The Garnet Lacey series and about yourself?
Well, I’m an, ehm, pleasingly-plump forty-something Scorpio witch living in the capitol city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, with five cats and five fish and my soon-to-be-five year old son.
The Garnet Lacey series started with Tall, Dark & Dead (Berkley Trade, 2006) and it follows the exploits of a reed-thin, thirty-something Aquarius witch living in the capitol city of Madison, Wisconsin, with a cat allergic to magic and a vampire boyfriend.
Dead Sexy (2007) continues Garnet’s adventures adding a dash of ex-boyfriend, sexy FBI agents, and frat boy zombies. The third book is available now, Romancing the Dead (2008), and there might werewolves and ghouls, oh my!
I’ve been toying with different themes for ye old blog lately and I’ll bet you’re wondering why I settled on this one. Well, it’s because the sprite in my current WIP is based on the butterfly that is used in the theme. I’m hoping it will serve as inspiration and possibly give my story some momentum.
Hope you like it. I know I do.
Meet Jeaniene Frost! Jeaniene answers some questions in a Saturday Seven interview about her Night Huntress Series, on writing, vampires and more.
*headdesk*: For those that aren’t familiar with your books (because they are languishing in Outer Mongolia or under a rock) could you tell us a little bit about the Night Huntress series?
My series is about half-vampire Cat Crawfield, a vampire slayer with an attitude who teams up with a Master vampire named Bones to stop a bigger evil. Cat has to navigate a world filled with ghouls, vampires, ghosts, meddling mothers, murderous fathers, and a government organization that won’t take no for an answer. The series is dark, humorous, and sexy, depending on what situation Cat’s gotten herself into.
*headdesk*: The character of Bones in one word equals: yummy! How did he come to life? Is he an amalgam of different influences or was he a fully formed character from the get go?
Bones came to me in a dream. I knew he was English, a vampire, and a hitman (but one who only kills the evil members of human and undead society). The rest developed from asking myself how he had gotten to be those things 
.
*headdesk*: I love the anecdote in your bio where the 5 yr old Jeaniene explains in church that a cross is what keeps vampires away. What is it about vampires that drew you to write about them over other creatures and what are your own personal spins on the age-old mythos?
I can’t say what drew me to vampires, since I’ve loved them since forever, so I don’t remember what initially drew me to them. When I set about to write vampires, I took everything that had ever annoyed me about their myth and changed it (if only I could change annoying things in real life as easily). My vampires have no aversion to crosses, sunlight, running water, or wooden stakes. They do stay frozen in appearance at whatever age they were changed over, they can live indefinitely, and they need blood to survive, but those were about the only “traditional” things I brought over when I created my brand of vampires. Oh, and they’re not soulless or inherently evil. My vampires, like humans, have a choice whether to be good or bad, so there are both vampire heroes and villains in the Night Huntress series.
*headdesk*: I find the story of how you became published inspiring. Do you have any advice for new or aspiring writers?
Write. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. Read a lot. Be prepared to revise your novel, because revision is part of the process. Then, once you’ve polished your novel, gotten a second - or third - constructive critical opinion on it from someone who’s not afraid to bruise your ego, revised, and polished again, start agent hunting. A good agent is invaluable when it comes to getting the right publishing contract.
*headdesk*: Who/What are some of your favorite things to watch or read when you have the chance?
For watching TV, I like TORCHWOOD, because it’s wacky and paranormal. Since I’ve always been fascinated by the Elizabethan era, I’m enjoying the show THE TUDORS and seeing the lead-up to that time in history. I watch a lot of the History channel, too.
For reading, I’m a big paranormal romance / urban fantasy fan. I do read the occasional historical, horror, or literary novel, but I love novels that are fun, sexy, dark, and supernatural, and UF/PR usually has all that in the same book .
*headdesk*: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Smackdown - Vampires: (Un)Dead Trope or The Neverending Treasure Trope? Discuss.
I am SO biased when it comes to this topic, of course. I love vampire novels, so to me, they are the neverending treasure trope. Vampires are flexible in a way few other creatures are (in my opinion). You have novels where vampires are mindless evil drones, or bloodsucking super villains, or scientific mutations, or alluring sexy heroes/heroines, or a combination thereof. There are so many variations on the vampire myth that a writer really has freedom to add their own spin on things, even though it all falls under the “vampire” heading. As a reader, I never tire of a well-written vampire novel, however the vampires are showcased in it.
*headdesk*: Can you tell us what other projects you are working on?
Right now I’m in the middle of revising book three in the Night Huntress series, and working on the outline for book four. After that, I’ll be writing an anthology story featuring a prequel on Bones, the vampire hero in my novels. After that, I’m intending to start on a completely different book unrelated to the Night Huntress series. But yes, it will still be a paranormal. I can’t seem to stop writing about what goes bump in the night .
Thanks so much for the interview! It was fun.
Thank you Jeaniene! You can find out more about Jeaniene and her books at her website:
Lisa Trevethan
*headdesk*
Also posted at Urban Fantasy Land
