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Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany
Like many readers, I had a difficult time falling in love with the play that continued the story of the both the original and next generation of wizards from the Harry Potter universe. Since I hadn’t read anything in script form in over a decade, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out…
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Review: A STUDY IN SABLE by Mercedes Lackey
I was excited by both the return of Nan and Sarah in Lackey’s Elemental Masters series and the introduction of this universe’s version of Sherlock Holmes and the Watsons. The aspect of this novel that I was most impressed with was that my brain never once tried to “cast” my mental images of the characters…
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Review: “Clay Tongue” by Nicholas Conley
Disclaimer: I received an ebook version of this novelette from the author in exchange for an honest review. The gorgeous cover to this novelette is a perfect match for the beautiful language and sweet story contained within. This short tale is well worth checking out for a quick escape.
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Review: ALL-NEW WOLVERINE VOL. 1: THE FOUR SISTERS by Tom Taylor
To be fair, I haven’t read any of the original Wolverine graphic novels, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into with a female version of the iconic Marvel character. As played by Hugh Jackman, Wolverine has consistently been my favorite part of the X-Men on screen. So I had high hopes for…
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Review: “No One On Earth” by Jennifer Loring
Disclaimer: This review is of a novella that is part of the Starstruck Holidays anthology; due to time constraints, I am only able to review one installment of the anthology at this time. The author and I attended the same graduate program and have assisted each other with promotional work in the past. She provided me…
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Review: CLOAK OF WAR (Empress Game #2) by Rhonda Mason
Disclaimer: I attended the same graduate school program as the author and consider her a friend; however, I purchased my hardcopy version of this novel for full price. Often, middle books in a trilogy act as placeholders. Things happen, but mostly just to get the characters from point A (the exciting first installment) to point…
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November Wrap-Up & December Goals
Even though I didn’t complete the full NaNoWriMo madness this month, I still got a lot done! November Wrap-up: I successfully wrote 30k words in 30 days for my mini-NaNo attempt! I’m now at 70k total words on book 4. Book reviews completed: Snowed by Maria Alexander (5 stars) Articles of the Federation by Keith R.A. DeCandido…
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Author Interview with Sheri Queen
Today I’m taking a break from NaNoWriMo panic productivity to feature a new release from fellow urban fantasy author Sheri Queen! I haven’t read this novella yet, but so much about it intrigues me. It’s both an installment in a multi-author project and acts as an introduction to Queen’s own universe, the Sleepy Hollow Hunter series.…
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Review: FROM A HIGH TOWER by Mercedes Lackey
I was thrilled that Lackey once again broke the mold with this installment of the Elemental Masters series. Some things were the familiar, such as a modern (well, Victorian-era) retelling of a traditional fairy tale featuring a strong heroine with elemental magic powers. However, like in Blood Red before it, this novel also transported us outside…
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Review: NO TIME LIKE THE PAST (Chronicles of St. Mary’s #5) by Jodi Taylor
After devouring five books in this series, two things are fairly obvious to me at this point: Jodi Taylor is a hell of a researcher/historian. She has also embraced a major facet of writing time travel and run with it rather than fight against it — Once again, this novel had two major climaxes. One…
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Review: CAPTAIN MARVEL Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More by Kelly Sue Deconnick
This was another book picked up by my husband in his quest for graphic novels about women heroes by women authors. I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but I didn’t grow up on comic books, so I’ve been going into all the movies blind. I figured this would be a great…
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Review: ARTICLES OF THE FEDERATION by Keith R. A. DeCandido
Reasons why you should read this book: You are a fan of political dramas that involve multiple main characters dealing with crises and scandals. The television show The West Wing is your favorite of all of those. You are curious about the inner workings of the Federation, a major government in the Star Trek universe,…
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Review: SNOWED by Maria Alexander
Disclaimer: The author and I share a publisher, and I helped proofread this novel before publication. If I had not been reading this novel on an expensive electronic device, I’d have thrown it across the room when I got to the ending. But not because it was a bad book. On the contrary, this book…
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Review: A TRAIL THROUGH TIME (Chronicles of St. Mary’s #4) by Jodi Taylor
It’s hard to be a fan of time travel stories without also acquiring some familiarity of the alternate universe trope along the way. Jodi Taylor switches up her world a bit as Max receives the full effect of her second chance. But there are still enough similarities to our original St. Mary’s Institute of Historical…
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Guest Post: Cara McKinnon on Alternate History
I’m pleased to host author Cara McKinnon today for a discussion on alternate history. And it’s a special occasion! Today marks the release date of the second novel in her Fay of Skye series, A Theft of Magic. I’m a huge fan of the alternate history version of Victorian England McKinnon has created, as evidenced…
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Review: ESSENTIAL MAGIC (Fay of Skye #1) by Cara McKinnon
Disclaimer: The author and I attended the same graduate school program and participate in group promotional tours for our books. However, I purchased my hardcopy version of this novel for full price. For a person who doesn’t claim to be a “romance book” reader, I seem to keep lucking out with some amazing speculative fiction…
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Review: A SECOND CHANCE (Chronicles of St. Mary’s #3) by Jodi Taylor
You could read this as another installment of a series that only brings you time travel adventure (and misadventure). And if you read the book that way, or if that was all you were looking for, you’d still be in for a great ride. On the surface, this book doesn’t bring anything to the fuller…
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Review: A SYMPHONY OF ECHOES (Chronicles of St. Mary’s #2) by Jodi Taylor
There’s always a vague worry when picking up the second book in a series that it won’t quite measure up. That the first amazing novel was a flash-in-the-pan fluke, sucking up all of the author’s creativity and leaving only the dregs of inspiration for future installments. Luckily, I loved A Symphony of Echoes at least…
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Con Report: DogCon 5
It’s kind of crazy to think that it’s been 5 years since I’ve been involved with Raw Dog Screaming Press. There are other dates to mark that anniversary that might be more “official,” such as the date my first book with them was announced (at DogCon 3), but I quietly mark the beginning of this…
