Book Banter -- Chimera

Title: Chimera

Author: Rob Thurman

Length: 331 pages

Genre: crime/sci-fi

Where Word Nerd's Copy Came From: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library

Plot Basics: Stefan Korsak's younger brother, Lukas, was abducted when he was a kid and he has spent the rest of his life vowing to find his brother. He's got the contacts too to keep up an unofficial search for a missing person, since he joined the family business -- a bodyguard for a Russian mobster in south Florida. When a contact finally spots a teenage boy fitting Lukas' description, Stefan will stop at nothing to rescue his brother and keep him out of his captors' hands. Only the Lukas he finds is less than enthusiastic about getting rescued and possesses a deadly talent that will keep them on the run.

Banter Points: So, it's not Cal and Niko, or Trixa, but it's a Rob Thurman book, so thumbs-up right there. While the exploration of family dynamics felt a little familiar (a la Cal and Niko), this book was cool because it was different from Thurman's other stuff. Rather than an urban fantasy book, this is pretty much a straight-up mystery/thriller with just a dash of sci-fi twist. It's nice to see an author go a very different route with a story. Plus, Thurman writes great action sequences and the chases and escapes pulled off by Stefan read like an action movie.

Bummer Points: According to Thurman's website, there may only be one more book in the Chimera-verse, which is a bummer of a slightly different sort. As far as the story-telling went, there were a few places were the plot skipped forward and back that felt a little jerky, but once Word Nerd got used to the style, it was fine.

Word Nerd Recommendation: If you are expecting kick-butt urban fantasy, you aren't going to find it here. However, if you just like good story-telling, no matter the genre, then check it out.

Book Banter -- Feed

Title: Feed

Author: Mira Grant

Length: 571 pages

Genre: sci-fi/horror

Where Word Nerd's Copy Came From: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library

Plot Basics: In the not too distant future, humanity has cured the common cold and cancer, but in the process, unleashed a virus across the planet that makes the dead not stay dead and compels them to feed on the living to spread the virus more. Humanity becomes isolated, and it's up to the bloggers to bring out the truth in a way that traditionally journalists no longer can. Brother and sister team Georgia and Shaun Mason get the blogging assignment of a lifetime -- covering a presidential campaign from the inside, which no blogger has done before. But the campaign takes them straight into a conspiracy as they dig for the truth about the virus that's wreaked so much havoc across the planet.

Banter Points: Can we say, zombie-pocalypse? That's exactly why Word Nerd read this book. After vampires, zombies are the next big undead thing to hit the literary market and Word Nerd hadn't really jumped on that bandwagon until now. The great part of this book is the double-meaning title that carries through the plot -- zombies feeding on people and the constant feed of the bloggers to promote the truth. No doubt, it's the recovering reporter in Word Nerd that made her like that twist. It's zombies and reporters and presidential politics.

The other great part of this book is that Grant doesn't hold back. Word Nerd won't say more because of spoilers, but know this: Nobody is safe in this book. Nobody.

Bummer Points: It's a trilogy. The story isn't done. Occasionally, Grant leaps ahead in the narrative, filling things in with telling, rather than showing. But, it's forgiveable because her actions sequences are top-notch. And there might have been a few tears shed over a zombie-pocalypse novel.

Word Nerd Recommendation: Feed is a fun read. It's not too scary on the horror end of the spectrum and will keep you turning pages.

Book Banter -- The Serialist

Word Nerd's again over at PopSyndicate, this time with a review of David Gordon's The Serialist.

Not to spoil the fun of reading the full review, but here's something to keep in mind: Word Nerd will put this book in her top 10 reads of the year.

Book Banter -- Dragon Haven

Word Nerd's over at PopSyndicate today, with her review of Robin Hobb's Dragon Haven.

Author Answers with Julie Wachowski

Give a hello to Julie Wachowski today as she tells us about her new book and the world of e-publishing as one of Carina Press's new authors!

WN: What's "In Plain View" about and where did you get the idea for this story?
WACHOWSKI: ‘What’s it about?’ is a tricky question!

I had friends and family over for a party recently and someone asked me, “So what’s your book about?”

My Dad was bartending that day, which means I was feeling a little relaxed and philosophical. “It’s about how we are fundamentally altered by what we see. It’s about being a witness to pain.”

My friend pursed his lips. “Uh-huh. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s cool.”

I laughed! I was trying to answer his question. “It’s about a news videographer who returns the Midwest to care for her niece. Her first story is investigating the death of a man dressed in Amish clothes hanging from a tree--with porn at his feet.”

“Wow. Sounds good.”

As a writer, a mystery lets you play with writing about process. Working in television gave me a lot of specific knowledge about a process that I thought people would be interested in—how television gets made. Of course, I was (mostly) a good-girl, cream-puff on the job. So I invented Maddy. She got to say all the things I was thinking.

The death at the beginning of In Plain View came from a true event. A friend of mine used to run a small town newspaper in Michigan. She sent a reporter to follow up on a police scanner call. A man in Amish clothes hanging from a tree with men’s magazines on the ground around him. I found the whole image so disturbing—I knew I had to write about it.

WN:What kind of reader will this book be appealing to?
WACHOWSKI: Well, the auto-erotic suicide kind of eliminates the Amish niche, I’m afraid. Readers who appreciate a little humor and a taste of social commentary in their mystery will appreciate In Plain View.

WN: In a blog post, you lay out your life in the mystery books you've read, from Trixie Belden on. What is it about mysteries that you like so much?
WACHOWSKI: I believe all genre fiction is about satisfying basic needs of the human brain--whether it’s curiosity, a sense of mastery, pure endorphin rush or the soothing patterns of genre. Story is how the brain organizes itself. Stories give the brain the food it needs to survive and thrive.

Mysteries provide sustenance for the need for stimulation, curiosity, problems to solve. They also satisfy our emotional need for justice. One of the first sentences a kid learns to say is: “That’s not fair!” When the universe is particularly unknowable and unfair, I believe a good mystery recharges your mind. It helps you pick up and carry on creating the just world we all want to live in.

WN: You're one of Carina Press' new totally e-book authors. Did this take getting used to, that your name wasn't going to be on a tangible book?
WACHOWSKI: I’ve had the great good fortune to make a lot of professional writing friends, many of whom started their careers a few years before me. They were able to take advantage of the 1980-90’s boom years when Barnes & Noble and Borders were everywhere and books were great business.

That model has changed, like it or not. I recently heard Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries, speak about this. When she started out, she said there were over forty mainstream publishers she could send a book to—now there are seven. I’ve heard industry experts predicting there will be four major publishers when the current market contraction finally stabilizes. It’s a whole new world.

I love to hold a book in my hand. But it’s pretty clear that how we read—whether it’s our newspapers or our fiction—is being altered by technology. 100 years ago, the post office stopped delivering twice a day because of the telephone. 2000 years ago, Plato grumped about how no one would bother to remember long saga poems if people wrote everything down on scrolls. The world turns. Things change. E-books are the future of the industry.

I was excited by the announcement of Carina Press. Carina is the first major publisher to go after the e-market. As an off-shoot of Harlequin, the biggest guerilla out there in the genre marketplace, they have some real advantages. Harlequin is ahead of the curve on e-books. They already have significant online marketing presence. These people are social media artists! And I’d met Malle Vallik, the woman in charge of Carina, at a writing conference. She struck me as really smart and right on target with her taste in story.

As a business person, submitting my book to Carina was my opportunity to join the next boom wave. Now, all I have to do is teach my parents how to download.

WN: What's the best book that's captured your attention so far this year?
WACHOWSKI: You do know that’s like trying to pick your favorite flower in the garden? I’m kind of a PIA about this kind of question. Hmmm…here goes:

Essays: A Very Bad Wizard, Tamlar Sommers
Personal: Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, David Whyte
YA: The Underneath, Kathi Appelt
Mystery: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
Romance: The Forbidden Rose, Joanna Bourne

WN: What's next for you as a writer?
WACHOWSKI: I’m working on a re-write of a novel and a new screenplay right now. I wish there were 30 hours in a day!

Book Banter -- Our Lady of Immaculate Deception

Title: Our Lady of Immaculate Deception

Author: Nancy Martin

Genre: mystery

Length: 310 pages

Where Word Nerd's Copy Came From: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library

Plot Basics: Roxy Abruzzo is trying to make a living through architectural salvage -- so when the great Hyde family mansion goes up in flames, she'll take what's save-able to resell to others in Pittsburgh's upper crust. Even if that means some things end up in her truck that shouldn't. But when Hyde heir, Julius, ends up shot to death, Roxy is on the short list of suspects. She's got stolen property that's too hot to unload and she's got family drama coming out her ears -- both with her own teenage daughter and from the Hyde family trying to put their wealth back together.

Banter Points: Word Nerd was a fan of Martin's Blackbird Sisters mysteries, so seeing a new series was exciting. And the book is funny. Martin's got a great eye for the difference between people in economic brackets and how they will behave in the same situation.

Bummer Points: The book was funny, but Word Nerd can't say she really like Roxy Abruzzo. Roxy was just a little to harsh for her... too crass, too into men who aren't good for her, too much of a fixer for everyone's problems but her own. Maybe Martin will take her to the point of changing her life, but the stories likely wouldn't be funny then, so Word Nerd kind of doesn't see the story headed that way.

Word Nerd Recommendation: Roxy reminds Word Nerd somewhat of Stephanie Plum, though not quite so clumsy. Fans of Evanovich's light mysteries could very well find a new heroine to love in Roxy Abruzzo.

June 2010 Bibliometer

Word Nerd did some number-crunching over her holiday weekend and came up with June Bibliometer readings.

June 2010:
6 books
2,501 pages
averge 83 pages/day

YTD 2010:
38 books
13,580 pages

Happy Fourth of July

E-Book for a Good Cause

Word Nerd doesn't often pass on this type of story, but she thought this one was interesting. As e-books become part of the literary culture, author Paul Levine is using the e-book of release of one of his novels in a good way -- to give back.

Rather than Word Nerd summing it all up, Levine explains it himself.

Jake Lassiter and the Four Diamonds Fund, by Paul Levine

In the United States today, one in 300 children will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. All of us have friends or family members who have fought that grueling battle. These days, with great advances in medicine, there's a increasing chance the fight has been successful.

Yet, progress seems excruciatingly slow for those on the front lines.

A few years ago, one of my dearest friends, the godfather of my son, lost his daughter Margaux to Ewing's sarcoma, a rare but vicious bone cancer. The survival rate for Ewing's sarcoma that metastasises is a disheartening 10 per cent.

Ten per cent!

In this age of medical miracles, how can that be?

After Margaux's death at age 14, I dedicated a book to her. Such a feeble gesture. I wanted to do more. Still do. Here's how.

Twenty years ago this month, my first novel, “To Speak for the Dead,” was published to a decent amount of fanfare. The legal thriller introduced the world to Jake Lassiter, a linebacker-turned-lawyer who seeks justice but seldom finds it. The book facilitated my career change from lawyer to novelist and has always held a special place in my heart. Now, good old Jake can help a cause that's also dear to me.

I will donate all proceeds of “To Speak for the Dead” to the Four Diamonds Fund, a charity that pays for treatment of pediatric cancer patients at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. In addition to providing world-class medical care, the Fund supports research in immunotherapy, carcinogenesis, and several other fields I can barely spell, much less understand.

In basic terms, the Fund helps sick kids. I don't know a more worthy cause.

I'm hoping that the e-book will sell for years, bringing enjoyment to readers and support to a life-saving cause. Hoping, too, that others will be moved to directly contribute.

Here's a little background about the Fund. In 1972, a 14-year-old boy named Christopher Millard was an aspiring writer. Or rather, he was already a writer. He'd penned a mythic tale about “Sir Millard and The Four Diamonds,” in the tradition of Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot. What are those Four Diamonds? Wisdom. Courage. Honesty. Strength. All are needed in our daily lives, especially in children's battles with a dread disease.

You have probably figured out that Chris wrote the story while in the throes of cancer. The diamonds of his story were allegorical. The quest was for life itself. After a three-year battle, Chris died, but his memory lives in the name of the Fund established by his family.

Penn State students have contributed an astonishing $61 million to the Fund through their annual dance marathon. This year's event raised $7.8 million alone. The motto of “Thon” is “For the kids.” And that, too, is the dedication of “To Speak for the Dead.”

Even if you don't own an e-reader, you can download the book to your laptop or desktop. So, if you'd like a “breathlessly exciting” read (Cleveland Plain Dealer) or a “genuinely chilling” one (Washington Post), please give it a try. For a limited time, the book is only $2.99. Purchase information here: http://www.paul-levine.com/content/jake-lassiter.asp.

One last thing. If each of us can contribute - just a bit - of courage, wisdom, honesty, and strength, maybe we can reach the goal of Conquering Childhood Cancer.

For more information on the Four Diamonds Fund, click here.

Book Banter -- Naamah's Curse

Title: Naamah's Curse

Author: Jacqueline Carey

Length: 567 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Plot Basics: Moirin is miles from her Alban home in Ch'in, and missing the other half of her soul -- which is inside her peasant-boy lover, Bao. Desperate to be re-united to him, she sets off alone across the get Ch'in wildnerness and the northern Tatar steppes. The reunification is a lengthy process that pits Moirin and Bao against a zealous priest, determined to convert her, and then against a warlord and his army of assassins and an evil queen with an enchanted gem that bends mens' wills to her.

Banter Points: Word Nerd has mixed feelings about this book. She liked it, but there were parts where it seemed desperately slow. All of Carey's books are these grand sweeping epics and it's impossible for them to be all action, all the time because of that scale. The action sequences in this book were great and the thing that kept me reading was how Carey propelled things with Moirin's impatience to be reunited with Bao.

Bummer Points: That said, it was kind of slow. Moirin had to meet and talk to all kind of people in all these different locales. Word Nerd's hoping that book three in this series will be good, that two was kind of the boring middle bit.

Word Nerd Recommendation: The Naamah series, so far, just hasn't been as good to Word Nerd as the six books in the two Kushiel trilogies. That said, Carey creates a lush world that's fun to visit from time to time. It's likely worth sticking with the series to see what happens next.

We have Winners!

Thanks to all who entered the contest for Sean Munger's books.

Word Nerd is pleased to announce the winners.

The grand prize trilogy set of all three Giamotti books goes to.... Gothika!

The e-book version of the first Giamotti book goes to S Penney!

Please email your contact info to Word Nerd at bkwarner at gmail dot com and you'll get your prize!

Word Count Meter

The Word Count meter says Word Nerd's half done writing her current WIP. Yes, another one. Except not, really.

It's the NaNo2009 manuscript and the WIP from about 2006 come back around again.

It doesn't feel very half done, actually.

But, hopefully, the word count meter will continue to tick upwards. It is fun to update the progress.

For the record, the goal for June is to hit 50,000 total words and July will be 70K.

Book Banter -- The Whiskey Rebels

Title: The Whiskey Rebels

Author: David Liss

Genre: Historical fiction

Length: ~500 pages

Where Word Nerd's Copy Came From: Her personal collection

Plot Basics: Late 1780s America -- the Revolutionary War has been one, the country is expanding and an investment craze is underway as the new Bank of the United States is formed. Unconcerned with banks, Ethan Saunders a spy during the war, would be content to drink his days away, disgraced now as a supposed traitor. But when the woman he would have married asks for his help, Ethan stumbles into a plot that he can't let go. Someone, it seems, would sink the Bank before it gets off the ground, financially ruining his young country. Ethan puts the spy craft he knows so well to work to unravel the conspiracy.

Banter Points: Word Nerd heard Liss on a panel at Bouchercon 2009 and put this book on her TBR list. She's getting more into historical fiction and the Revolutionary War period and shortly thereafter has always been a time that interested her. While she vaguely remembers reading about the Whiskey Rebellion during AP American History in high school, not remembering the details didn't hurt this story at all. What makes this book is how amazingly modern the plot is -- it's about stock market and people betting against investment futures... the same kind of scheme that's got guys on trial today. Ethan is a great voice for telling this story as he is not a man of means or power, but doesn't want to see money sink his country.

Bummer Points: Word Nerd took this book as her airplane book on vacation and it's not really a good airplane book. The plot is fascinating, but sometimes Liss descends into long explanatory passages that don't do much to make the time go by when feeling stuck in a window seat at 30,000 feet.

Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like historical fiction (of the non-romantic kind) this is a good read. Also, an interesting mystery-style book all built around greed, not murder.

Varied Voices -- Sean Munger

Say hello today to Sean Munger and stick around after his blog to find out about how you can snag some copies of his Giamotti books.

Why I Will Never Have A Life Without Giamotti

By Sean Munger

One of the great—and terrible—things about writing is that what you write never really goes away. Just this month (June 2010) the new ebook version of my science fiction novel Life Without Giamotti has been released, marking another milestone on what I can hardly believe has been a twenty year odyssey with these stories and their eponymous main character.

Life Without Giamotti was first published in paperback form by Buffalo Fetus Productions in 2006, but the story and the character of Giamotti have been around for much longer than that. In high school I had the curious idea for a character, a sort of darkly intelligent and devious biker who becomes sentient, realizes he is a fictional character and sets about trying to bring himself out of his novel and into reality. From the beginning the character of Steven Giamotti seemed different than any other character I’d created. He is not just devious; he has a total lack of human emotions and the capacity for empathy, making him capable of true evil. He isn’t just arrogant and ambitious, he’s megalomaniacal. And I quickly learned over the various early drafts throughout the 1990s that he had his sights set a lot higher than I appreciated at first. Becoming a real person in the real world was only a first step. Ultimately he wanted to become God: omniscient, immortal, and all-powerful.

The story of how Giamotti sets out to do exactly that finally jelled in Life Without Giamotti, but there are so many facets to his journey that the leftovers from the sixteen years of labor on the first book quickly became the two sequels, All Giamotti’s Children (published in 2008) and Giamotti in Winter (published in 2009). Now, after three novels, twenty years, and Giamotti’s adventures across time and space ranging from the American Revolution to the swanky nightclubs of Manhattan in the 1950s, it feels like the whole thing is starting over again with the publication of the ebooks. The first ebook is already out, available from Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/life-without-giamotti/11179131) and the others will be released in digital format soon.

Buffalo Fetus Productions, working through the web-based printer Lulu, has proven to be a terrific option for the publication of the Giamotti books. The publishing business has changed radically in the last ten years, with traditional brick-and-mortar publishing houses struggling to adapt to a new environment largely defined by technology and with multiple new ways to access books. Life Without Giamotti is a very unusual book with a non-linear narrative, complex characters that drift in and out of the plot at unpredictable times, and deals with a lot of mind-bending metaphysical concepts that go pretty far beyond traditional science fiction tropes—not the kind of stuff traditional publishers are likely to take a chance on. The rise of technology-based book presses like Lulu have suddenly made it possible for tiny publishers to capture niche markets, and that makes all the difference with non-traditional books like the Giamotti trilogy. I never set out to be on the New York Times’ bestseller list, but I’m amazed that the story of Life Without Giamotti has found its way from my laptop in suburban Oregon to bookshelves across the Americas, in Norway, in Germany and all places in between. The books have been read at both poles of the Earth: I once got an email from someone reading Life Without Giamotti at a research outpost in Greenland, and a copy of All Giamotti’s Children can be found in the library at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. All in all, that’s pretty satisfying.

I proclaimed myself “done” with Giamotti when I finished All Giamotti’s Children in 2009. A year later I wonder who I was kidding. Even as I move on to other projects—my new book, The Valley of Forever, which is not part of the Giamotti saga, will be released sometime later this year—I know that Giamotti, being omniscient and all-powerful as he is, will never leave me. I wrote him to be immortal, and for better or for worse, he probably is. With the ebook versions giving him another lease on life, I’m sure he’ll be around for quite some time to come.

So -- now it's your turn. Sean talked about how he hasn't been able to let go of the character of Giamotti. What character from your reading has stuck with you over the years?

Post a comment and you could win! We've got two prizes this week -- first, the whole Giamotti trilogy in print for the grand prize winner and second, a e-book copy of Life Without Giamotti for the runner-up. The contest is open to everyone, even if you've won something here from Word Nerd before. Contest ends on Tuesday, June 29.

Returned

Word Nerd has returned from a lovely vacation out East -- Providence and Newport RI, and Cape Cod, MA. Lovely, lovely places.

She'd happily take a summer home out there if anyone's got some spare millions lying around that they would like to funnel her way.

Coming up this week on Word Nerd:
-- A review of David Liss' "The Whiskey Rebels"
-- A guest blog and contest with author Sean Munger
-- And more!

Word Nerd is...

... somewhere in this general vicinity.

She will return to regularly scheduled blogging the week of Juen 21.

Book Banter -- Speak No Evil

Title: Speak No Evil

Author: Allison Brennan

Genre: Romantic suspense

Length: 412 pages

Where Word Nerd's Copy Came From: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library

Plot Basics: The body of a woman is found on a San Diego beach, wrapped in garbage bags, her mouth glued shut. Detective Carina Kincaid suspects the victim's evasive, older ex-boyfriend as the killer. When Sheriff Nick Thomas comes in to town to support his brother who's accused of murder, he begins to think the case has the markings of a potential serial killer. As killer strikes again, Carina and Nick try to outwit the killer and not let their growing feelings for each other get in the way of the investigation.

Banter Points: Allison Brennan is like reading candy for Word Nerd. It's not as delicious as a really good meal, but it tastes good while you're eating it. Her books aren't the highest quality literature, but there's something appealing about them from time to time. She's got broken characters (the sheriff with the knee trouble, the cop with family baggage) and a generally compelling plot.

Bummer Points: Word Nerd has to suspend a great deal of disbelief for these books. Not because of the prevalence of serial killers and cops with baggage, no, for the romance. Cuz... dashing sherff and sexy cop are going to go get all horizontal in the middle of a murder investigation.

Word Nerd Recommendation: It's like that bag of M&M's you want. Read it and don't feel bad about it every so often.

Book Banter -- Dragon Keeper

Word Nerd tackled Robin Hobb's latest -- Dragon Keeper -- over at Popsyndicate.com.

Check out her review there.

Winner the Second --CJ West/End of Marking Time Contest!

There is another winner to announce this week on Word Nerd!

Thanks for all the comments about brain-bending readings in anticipation of CJ West's new book, "The End of Marking Time."

And, as promised, one lucky commenter has won a copy of CJ's new book. The magic hat -- or in this case, drinking glass of winning -- produced the following winner:

christinebonner2 who commented about how much she likes Lee Child's Reacher books because it's unclear whodunit until the very end.

Christine -- e-mail me your shipping address at bkwarner at gmail dot com and I'll pass it along so you can get your copy of End of Marking Time.

Don't forget, if you didn't win, check out CJ's virtual launch party tomorrow, June 10, where CJ's got a great contest of his own announced.

Book Banter -- Secret Society Girl

Title: Secret Society Girl

Author: Diana Peterfreund

Genre: Chick lit/mystery

Length: 291 pages

Where Word Nerd's Copy Came From: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library

Plot Basics: Amy Haskel, Eli University junior and editor of the literary magazine, is sure that if she gets tapped into one of the school's secret societies it will be Quill & Ink, the haven for the literary set. But when she receives a summons from the school's most infamous secret society -- Rose & Grave. There's just one problem with this -- Rose & Grave doesn't take girls and Amy discovers that such a change is going to shake up the whole notion of secret...

Banter Points: A few years ago, Word Nerd interviewed Diana Peterfreund back when Secret Society Girl debuted and thought the book sounded fun. Last week or so, Word Nerd spotted the 4th one in the series on a new book shelf and she suddenly remembered this series and thought she'd check it out. And what fun it was. Word Nerd started reading on Saturday afternoon/evening and finished the book Monday morning because it was just a hoot. Reminiscent of Megan McCafferty, Secret Society Girl is just a fun read all around with a quirky and loveable protagonist. And who doesn't love the idea of secret societies? Amy is a great narrator with a strong voice. The chapters are punctuated by Amy's lists which give great insights into how she thinks.

Bummer Points: Word Nerd's got nothing. It was a delightful read.

Word Nerd Recommendation: If you are looking for a fun read with an engaging main character that manages to be a page turner without involving serial killers, Secret Society Girl is it.