5. Learn Me Good by John Pearson - This truly was the funniest book I read all year. I laughed all the way through it and was dissapointed that it had to end. John has mentioned that he might be working on a sequel. I hope he does, because I will be the first in line to buy it!4. Color Me Grey by J.C. Phelps - Maybe it's the fact that we're from the same little state of South Dakota, or maybe it's just that Jean writes a really great book. I loved this one. It had a great plot and was so well written. I've yet to read the rest of the series, but I've been told they were just as good, if not better. I plan on finding out in the next few days.
3. Equilibrium by Imogen Rose - Honestly, I need to include the whole series in this post. The Portal series is a fabulous story and it has certainly won its way into the hearts of all the teenage girls in my house. Many have said that Portal was a great book and Equilibrium was an awesome book. I have to agree. Imogen seems to outdo herself every time she comes out with a new book. I'm hoping that Quantum is as good as I expect it to be.
2. NoHeart by Ronnell Porter - Vampires, voodoo, monsters? Who could ask for more. I loved this book. It was both fun and exciting. A good mystery is one you don't figure out right up to the end, and this one gave nothing away. Highly reccomended.
1. Flaming Dove by Daniel Arenson - While I really enjoyed all the other books, this was truly my favorite. From the moment I started reading it, I could not put it down. While the religious overtones might not be appealing to all readers, I found myself intrigued by it and couldn't help but adore this tale.
Since we are constantly reviewing our favorite kindle books, I think it's only logical that we give you our opinion of the kindle itself. My K3 was delivered yesterday afternoon. Prior to its arrival, the only time I got a chance to play with one was a few moments at Target on Christmas Eve. You heard me right, the first time I've ever held a real kindle was six days ago. To say that I was immediately hooked was definitely an understatement.
Seventeen-year-old Alice Bonham's life feels out of control after she meets Jack. With his fondness for pink Chuck Taylors and New Wave hits aside, Jack's unlike anyone she's ever met.
Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan obsessed with John Hughes and Jim Henson. In between making collages and drinking too much Red Bull, she writes young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance. For more information on Amanda and her books, visit her blog.
LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES is a collection of 25 100-word shorts that range from darkly comic to downright terrifying and wrong. Some shorts feature ghouls and monsters while others are simply about people behaving very, very badly. Which is scarier? Find out in this sick and twisted collection.
The battle of Armageddon was finally fought... and ended with no clear victor. Upon the mountain, the armies of Hell and Heaven beat each other into a bloody, uneasy standstill, leaving the Earth in ruins. Armageddon should have ended with Heaven winning, ushering in an era of peace. That's what the prophecies said. Instead, the two armies--one of angels, one of demons--hunker down in the scorched planet, lick their wounds, and gear up for a prolonged war with no end in sight.About the Author:
Daniel Arenson is an author of fantasy fiction, from epic to dark and surreal.
Like many writers, he began his career writing short stories. He sold his first story, "Worms Believe in God", in 1998. Since then, dozens of his stories and poems have appeared in various publications, among them Flesh & Blood, Chizine, and Orson Scott Card's Strong Verse.
Five Star Publishing, an imprint of Gale, published Daniel's fantasy novel Firefly Island in 2007. His second novel, the dark fantasy Flaming Dove, was released in 2010.
For free stories, novel chapters, and writing tips, visit http://www.danielarenson.com/.
Dawn's Review:
There are good books. There are really good books. And then there are the books you can't tear yourself away from. This is one of those books. Daniel's descriptions so vivid and alive that you feel like you're right there. I loved it from the first few sentences and enjoyed it to the end. There are very few books that can hold your attention through every single word, but this one can. It is an amazing story that I plan on reading again and again.
Passion turns to envy. Love to murder. One way or another, everyone is spoilt.
For those of you who didn't win, you can still get Nancy's book for the low price of 99¢ on Amazon Kindle.
Craig Lancaster, author of the widely praised 600 Hours of Edward and the forthcoming novel The Summer Son to be released by AmazonEncore in early 2011) wanted to do something for others this Christmas season, so he wrote a fantastic holiday-themed story, “Comfort and Joy,” to sell on Amazon and Smashwords for $1. LANCASTER: I thought my "Jingle Balls" solution might have been a little reach, but I was 12 years old once, and it's something I might have come up with.
He managed to write the (approx.) 5,500-word story in just 24 hours.
LANCASTER: The idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while, and it's easily adaptable to a holiday angle. Short-story productivity, for me, comes and goes, and for whatever reason, I've been in a fertile period. I'll sit down in the next couple of days and knock it out. The funny thing is, I've never really written fiction on a deadline, but I have one now: I've pledged to send this story to the in-boxes of donors by Dec. 15.
He made good on his pledge; “Comfort and Joy” is available at Amazon and Smashwords right now (click a link to buy a copy – you can always come back here when you’re done), and it will stay there indefinitely with the proceeds continuing to benefit Feeding America. And, as promised, it’s only $1. “But why not charge more to give more?” we wondered.
LANCASTER: Two reasons. The first is the greater-volume-at-a-lower-price idea. The second is that I hope this isn't the be-all, end-all of people's giving. A few folks have written to me and said, "I want to give more than a buck," and my response has been this: "Send me a buck. Send your local food bank, or some other charity there at home, as much as you feel like you can give."
INSIDE THE WRITERS’ STUDIO: What made you choose this particular charity?
LANCASTER: I've been reading a lot about how stressed food banks are. Times are hard, and charitable giving is down. And since (I hope) donations will be coming in from all over, it didn't seem quite right to roll whatever money is generated toward the food bank where I live, though it certainly could use the help. So I figured that Feeding America, with its national focus, made sense.
One of the things that put this at the top of my mind was seeing a plea from my friend Carol Buchanan on Facebook that people not buy her books as gifts but instead donate to their local food bank. She said she'd eat whether the books are bought or not. Others -- many, many others -- are not so fortunate.
This effort is nothing like the NPR fundraising drive—there’s no dollar amount in mind, no set goal (“I have no expectation here,” Lancaster says. “If it's five bucks, it's five bucks.”), but he does hope to turn this into an annual effort, one that involves more writers contributing to a holiday-themed anthology.
LANCASTER: Say, 15 or 20 holiday-themed stories, from a wide variety of genres, all with the aim of putting some food on the tables of people who badly need it. Wheels are already turning for next year: an anthology, from writers across the traditional and indie spectrums. Zombie Christmas, romance Christmas, bizarro, whatever. I think if I were to get people on board in, say, July, we'd be able to offer all kinds of options: individual stories, the entire collection, e-book, short POD run.
IWS: Do you think you might choose different charities in the future?
LANCASTER: I haven't even thought about that. I'm pretty passionate about food banks. They're chronically understocked, and it's one form of charity that is completely without political overtones.
IWS: Have you ever donated to/worked in/needed a food bank?
LANCASTER: I've pulled a few shifts stacking boxes and such, and I'm a reliable bring-a-canned-good-to-whatever-event guy, but I've never done it on a consistent basis. One of the things I hope to do, beyond the holiday season, is become a lot more involved with that sort of thing on a local level.
IWS: That sounds like a perfect New Year’s resolution. Speaking of the new year—your upcoming novel, The Summer Son, will be released in January. Tell us about it.
LANCASTER: It's a multi-decade father-and-son story. Mitch Quillen and his father, Jim, have been largely estranged for nearly 30 years, and the breach stems from a violent summer when Mitch was 11 years old. In the present day, they've been thrown together again and they try to work through the distance between them. All the while, Mitch is reliving that long-ago summer in the form of a note to his wife, whom he's kept away from that part of his life, in an effort to reconcile his own failing relationship with her. It's a story about the things we experience and how those things shape us -- and how those same things get interpreted in different ways by other people who were there.
IWS: Final question. Fruitcake: yay or nay?
LANCASTER: You know, I'd love to say yay, just to be the contrary bastard I tend to be. But I cannot. Fruitcake is a nay. It's a nay to the 100th power. It's a nay that pushes at the outer edges of the space-time continuum. It's the nay that keeps on giving. Let's face it: Fruitcake sucks.
Thank you for allowing us to post our interview on your blog site and spread the word about Craig Lancaster's effort. - Kris & Kel, IWS
America 2040. Three Species. Divided Lovers. The Race is on for Planet Earth.
No Lady and Her Tramp is reminiscent of the TV show Married with Children - minus the children and in a different setting.
No Lady and Her Tramp will have you rolling in the aisles as you follow the exploits of the residents of President Park, the trailer park to top all trailer parks.
Beth Ann Dixon buys herself a computer and decides to write a steamy erotic novel. Her husband, Billy Ray, can't do much of anything right, not even shoot a gun. Janet Higgins is the resident Peeping Tom - and Troy Finkmyer is the guy we all love to hate.
Everybody gets into the act and there are showdowns all over Grapevine - Grapevine, Kentucky that is. Shirley Snodgrass is the local gossip columnist for the Grapevine Gazette and records it all in her column, 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'.
You'll laugh, you'll cheer, and you may even shed a tear as you read No Lady and Her Tramp by Kristie Leigh Maguire and Mark Haeuser.
Imogen's Review
This is not a book I would have normally picked up (I normally stick to YA fantasy), but I am so glad I did! It's amazing where the pages of a book can take you. In this case, right into the curious lives of the residents of President Park Trailer community-their actions carefully chronicled by the local gossip columnist and busy-body, Shirley Snodgrass, because as she says, "Inquiring minds want to know!"
About Kristie Leigh Maguire
Kristie Leigh Maguire is the author of Second Chances, Affairs of the Heart: Desert Heat and Cabin Fever (Collector's Edition), Desert Heat, Cabin Fever, Emails from the Edge: The Life of an Expatriate Wife, From the Far Side of the Sun, and co-author of No Lady and Her Tramp, as well as a contributor to several anthologies.
She was voted Best Up and Coming Author of the Year and her novel Desert Heat was voted Romance of the Year by the Affaire de Coeur Magazine Reader/Writer Poll. Her novels Cabin Fever and No Lady and Her Tramp placed in the Top Ten in the Preditor & Editor's Poll. Her novel Affairs of the Heart: Desert Heat and Cabin Fever (Collector's Edition) was an Amazon.com Number One book in Sensual Romance.
Kristie Leigh Maguire and her husband have lived all over the United States and many foreign countries while following his career. While living in Japan, she found it very difficult to find books to read that were written in English. This situation was intolerable as she was an avid reader and had been known to resort to reading cereal boxes if nothing else was available. Have you ever tried to read a cereal box written in Japanese? It was not a pretty picture. Ms. Maguire began writing her own books just to have something to read. She discovered a new passion in writing.
Although Kristie Leigh Maguire is originally from the South and will always remain Southern at heart, she now divides her time between her homes in Nevada and in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. During her expatriate years she lived in St. Croix, Aruba, Thailand, Japan and three times in Saudi Arabia and visited many other countries.
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Susanne's love for Star Trek took her to Los Angles in the late '80s. She is best known for her 'based in part' contribut...
