World in the Satin Bag

Post-Holiday Goodies: The Chosen Ones

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Pretty much since I became old enough to realize that playing with Star Wars toys is actually rather silly–along with buying more toys for the express purpose of playing with them, sound effects and all–I’ve asked anyone who might be getting me some sort of present to simply buy me gift cards or hand over cold, hard cash. Of course these days I only ask for book money, because that’s pretty much all I really buy aside from CDs and DVDs (the former more rarely these days primarily because I consider the music industry to have hit an all time low and I actually have pretty much all the classical works on CD already).So, putting the ramble aside, my fiance and I took to the downtown Santa Cruz streets to do a little book shopping (with a detour prior to that to a nice place in Felton). And here is what I discovered:I found this interesting book (Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick) at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Had a doomsday feel to it and I was in that mood when I saw it. So who knows, might be good.These were actually really good finds at Logo’s (a sort of used/new store that gets a lot of really fascinating titles from small and large presses alike). First is All the Windracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear. You’ll notice that it’s actually an ARC! Have no idea how it got into the store, or if it was supposed to be there, but I snatched it up quick. Second is Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. I’ve never heard of this book before, but something about its obscurity and the fact that it has received a lot of praise made me buy it. I was simply intrigued by it. While this is an old copy, the book has been re-released in a new edition.Next are two books I found at an antique store in Felton. I don’t know much about either, but they were cheap and up my alley, so I snatched them. They are: Rebel Sutra by Shariann Lewitt and The Days After Tomorrow edited by Hans Stefan Santesson.And lastly from my favorite major chain bookstore (Borders) I found these two interesting books. Unfortunately we showed up a lot later than we should have and missed out on what must have been dozens and dozens of boxes of cheap books. Still, these two books snagged my attention. The first is Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest by Matt Haig–what seems like a fun YA fantasy–and the second is Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler–a dark novel about the horrors of Stalin’s Soviet Union (fiction, I believe). There you have it. Not quite the load of books I had hoped to pull, but I think I bought too many books throughout the course of the year and thus ran out of options for interesting things to snatch up. Maybe I missed some good books, though. Feel free to make some suggestions! Seriously!

World in the Satin Bag

Post-Christmas Shopping Guide: Book Edition

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Christmas is over and you’ve got a handful of Borders, Amazon, or B&N gift cards to use (if you’re lucky). So what books should you buy with them? Well, here are my suggestions of a few titles you might want to consider in your post-Christmas shopping madness: The Golden Cord by Paul GenesseThis debut fantasy novel has everything you need to tickle those fantasy taste buds. Action, adventure, magic, and more. It’s all there to keep you entice from start to finish! Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn HaleNot all the books you buy this year have to be fun fantastic romps, do they? Some can be simply stunning quasi-fantasy stories involving the deeper meanings of relationships as they pertain to a society of clashing peoples: Demons and Inquisitors. If you’re into some tough love in the fantasy genre, then this is certainly a book you should consider. After all, nothing wrong with a book that makes you really think, is there? Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. BuckellZombies in space. That’s the line I’ve been pitching to people for this book and it’s just as important now as it was then. This book is the first in a series of loosely connected space opera novels by a fantastic Caribbean author. If you don’t like jumping into the middle of a series, however, consider snatching up Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, each equally unique and action-packed stories following some of the same characters. Spaceman Blues by Brian Francis SlatteryThink literary fiction meets pulp fiction (not the movie) meets science fiction. It’s different, it’s beautifully written, and it taps into all the little glimmers of gold in all those genres all at once. Or maybe you’re not into all that adult stuff. Well, how about some young adult fantasy? The 13th Reality by James DashnerA brilliant start to a brilliant new series. Magic, quantum physics (and don’t let that scare you!), strange individuals, and quirky fantasies, this is surely a good book to satisfy those urges for something to fill that Harry Potter void. Leven Thumps Series by Obert SkyeIf quirky is your thing, then the Leven Thumps Series is right up your alley. Nothing can be more strange than the world Mr. Skye has built for this young adult universe. Take Clover, a small, large-eared talking creature that can turn invisible and has what amounts to an endless void in which he stores various unusual things! Quirky? I think so, and fantastic! Or, if you’re into neither straight fantasy or straight science fiction or young adult fantasy, then perhaps you’re into alternate history. Ha’Penny by Jo WaltonIf you haven’t read Farthing, then I recommend you do so. But if you have, then Ha’penny is a well written and deeper continuation of an alternate world in which England and Nazi Germany made peace instead of duking it out. A terrifically despondent world and a story written like a 1930s detective novel! These, of course, are just a few suggestions I can make. If you don’t see anything here, however, you should consider checking out SF Signal’s enormous Mind Meld (part one, part two, and part three) on best genre works consumed this year! You can also find my reviews of the above books either in my Book Reviews label section, at Shelfari, or at Goodreads (feel free to add me as a friend at those last two locations). Happy shopping!

World in the Satin Bag

Twitteriffic Stuffs

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Here’s my random twitter nonsense for the day: 00:53 New blog post: Twitteriffic Stuffs tinyurl.com/8sskmm # 00:53 New blog post: Merry Christmas From WISB tinyurl.com/8pau5z # 09:44 @Mulluane @SheilaRuth yeah, probably a better idea to talk to the publisher… # 09:44 @Mulluane You’d probably contact the marketing people. # 09:45 @SFDiplomat Do you have a link to the PKD thing? # 09:45 Merry Christmas everyone! # 10:08 @tychoish Chinese is always good, my friend. # 11:45 @Fantasy_Art If it’s buried good and well in my tweet, I’ll just ignore it. If it’s REALLY important, though, I’ll always respond. # 13:16 We’re about to start on Christmas dinner! Or tea as my fiance calls it, because she’s from Yorkshire and they call dinner tea there… # 13:16 And yes, it confused the heck out of me when she kept saying "I’m going to have some tea." # 14:18 I just joined the scifi_writers Twitter Group tgr.me/g/scifi_writers and you can too. Please Retweet. # 14:24 I just joined the sffauthors Twitter Group tgr.me/g/sffauthors and you can too. Please Retweet. # 14:25 I just joined the writers Twitter Group tgr.me/g/writers and you can too. Please Retweet. # 14:26 I just joined the writingblogs Twitter Group tgr.me/g/writingblogs and you can too. Please Retweet. # 14:26 And yes, that is enough spam tweets from me! # 14:37 Tomorrow’s order of the day: Book shopping. # 14:37 Borders, Santa Cruz Bookshop, and Logo’s! We don’t have a B&N, unfortunately, but those three stores are all downtown and all awesome! # 14:38 @ediFanoB I’m going to go through all those book reviews eventually. Plan to make a hug list of blogs to link to and subscribe to! # 15:14 @ediFanoB I assume you speak German, right? I wish I could read German. Some of my posts were picked up on German sites. # 15:21 I think I’m going to do a bit of writing once I finish these two book reviews. I’ve got a story to submit to WOTF and "Door" to finish. # 15:29 @johncramer Re-tweeting is when someone takes a twitter post and re-posts it on their own twitter (at least that’s what I see it as). # 18:10 @Fantasy_Art Well I’m relatively new to twitter so I think the tweet was only a few days old and I don’t recall if I got a response. # 18:11 We’re watching 10 Things I Hate About You because the fiance has yet to see it and it’s a relatively funny movie. No science fiction, tho # 19:38 @tobiasbuckell I knew it. After all those doctors poking you you’ve started to de-evolve back into a neanderthal! # 19:39 @tobiasbuckell Quick, read something highly intellectual to get your human brain back! # 19:39 @KenMcConnell What book would that be? # 19:42 @Mulluane I am not a nut! I’m a rare form of grain, thank you very much! Nuts aren’t nearly as useful as I am! # 19:48 @Mulluane Yes, I am rare and wonderful. # 19:49 @Mulluane Yeah, but being well done just is a good thing. Comes with age and all that. # 19:57 @Mulluane I didn’t know you had a readers gizmo on facebook…send me an invite on FB! # 20:01 @Mulluane Thanks. Don’t know why I’m not a part of it already…but want to be! # 20:03 @Mulluane Aha, so if I’m a part of it you have nothing to complain about! Ha! # 20:11 @Mulluane Well I am now! # 20:12 @Mulluane I just need one more to get my feed…having problems getting it though… # 20:28 Hey Twitter: Join my blog network on Facebook! Please…pretty pretty please. is.gd/dvSM # 20:51 @Mulluane Oh, whoops, I need 20 for stats 😛 # 20:51 @Mulluane What’s really sad? # 20:53 @Mulluane Well that certainly is sad! # 21:18 I’m looking forward to tomorrow when we go book shopping! # 21:24 @Mulluane Not sure, to be honest. Just sort of going to see what deals there are, etc. # 21:35 @Mulluane Will do. I’ll probably blog about all my book purchases over the holidays, since that’s what I’m getting out of my xmas money! # 23:22 @Mulluane Nope, constructive advice is always good. # Thanks for not exploding. Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

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