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Books & Stories -
Books
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Wednesday, 05 May 2010 09:11 |
 Visit Kimberly Pauley's Official Website Here
Order Still Sucks To Be Me from Amazon Here
Overview: Mina, teen vampire, is being forced to give up her former life and all that she has known. The Vampire Relocation Agency is changing her name, school, and location. As part of the program she must give up her whole former life and start living a completely new life. There was even a funeral that was held, which of course Mina was not allowed to attend!
Mina isn't so ready to give up her former life and move on. Right before leaving her vampire boyfriend has decided to go off to Brazil in an effort to locate the family that abandoned him when he was young. Mina's best friend Serena, is going through a life crisis of her own. Her parents are divorcing and for some reason she is finding crazy death symbols left behind by her car.
While relocating to a small town in the middle of Louisiana, Mina is learning to deal with being a vampire and her not so great new life. A gorgeous teen vampire has noticed Mina and taken a liking to her. Meanwhile, her family is forcing her to start liking her life in the small down.
Although life may be somewhat dull, Mina's life takes an adventurous tone when Serena shows up on her doorstep. Meanwhile, Cameron the vampire teen of the small town has a few lurking secrets of his own that will be revealed.
Format: Still Sucks To Be Me, is a YA Teen book that has vampire, humor and a bit of romance/high school life adventure story. It is the sequel book to Sucks to Be Me. It stands at 304 pages. It will be released May 11, 2010 by Mirrorstone.
Analysis: I know what everyone is thinking, "Oh no not another teen vampire book". This is far from the typical teen vampire book that seems to be hitting the shelf recently. This book is filled with humor, great characters, and a fast moving plot that doesn't revolve around teens falling in love and having forbidden love.
The thing that stands out about Still Sucks To Be Me is the humor. Kimberly Pauley knows how to balance the jokes and side comments with the plot. It's not filled with forced humor, instead it comes across as natural. The humor comes at just the right time to bring a little relief to the story, while making the plot still run. It just is amazingly paced. There were plenty of times that I found myself laughing. This is a really light hearted vampire novel.
The characters are great. Mina is the main character and the story is told from the first person point of view. She acts like a typical 17 year old with humor, concerns about friends, and school but not over reacting and believing that the world is coming to an end. There is just something about Mina that really attracts the reader to her and will cause for a great read. The supporting characters are all very strongly portrayed throughout the novel and really realist in their conversations, expressions, and actions.
The fact that it contains vampires in a non-sparkly, non-violent way is really something that is rather unique to YA books lately. There is teen romance but nothing that resembles Twilight or other vampire books. This book is really about the humor and just having a fun, great read.
Still Sucks To Be Me is a sequel and while the first book would make sense to read before this one, it isn't necessary. I didn't read the first book and had no problems with understanding previous plots and characters. Though there is a referral to the character Raven that would be best understood if the first book was read.
The only weakness of the book for myself was the small sections of text messages or emails. This makes up less then 2% of the book but I detest reading online chat conversations that have "whre r u". As a YA book this can be expected and I'm glad that it wasn't overdone, but I still cringed a little when it did come up.
In the end, I loved Still Sucks To Be Me, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It was a real surprise for myself. Every page was a delight to read and I'd really recommend giving this a try to any lover of YA novels that enjoys a bit of humor and a decent plot. Kimberly Pauley is a very gifted and talented author that will bring a smile to any readers face.
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Sports -
Articles Football
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Tuesday, 04 May 2010 15:10 |
Our weekly look at the risers and fallers in Fantasy Football. UP Asmir Begovic bounced back from shipping five goals at Chelsea with a well-earned clean sheet against Everton - well done to anyone who snapped him up for just 1.00 following the mauling at Stamford Bridge. Heurelho Gomes also starred in goal for Spurs. ... |
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Books & Stories -
Books
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Tuesday, 04 May 2010 09:11 |
 Visit J.A. Pitts Official website here
Order Black Blade Blue from Amazon here
AUTHOR INFORMATION: John A. Pitts is a BA in English and a Masters of Library Science from University of Kentucky. He is also a graduate of the Oregon Coast Writers Workshops with Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. He also loves practicing martial arts. He has previously published short stories in magazines such as Fortean Bureau, Talebones magazine and a couple of DAW anthologies as well.
PLOT SUMMARY: Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most adults in their twenties: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for a low-budget movie, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group.
When the lead actor breaks Sarah’s favorite one-of-a-kind sword, it sends the director into fits. Sarah agrees to repair the blade to avoid reshooting previously filmed scenes. One of the extras claims to be a dwarf and offers to help her at the forge. That’s when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as he claims? Why does he want her to kill a Portland investment banker? And what is it about that homeless guy that has her on edge?
As if things weren’t surreal enough at that point, Sarah’s girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase… “I love you.” Black Blade Blues is about forging an existence in a world that is much different than one expects. Oh, and there are dragons too!
FORMAT/INFO: Black Blade Blues is 397 pages long divided into Seventy-five chapters. It marries Norse mythology with the contemporary settings. Narration is in the first person for Sarah Beauhall. This book has a self-contained plot line, but is the first book in a new series which has been contracted for a total of three books.
April 27, 2010 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Black Blade Blues via Tor.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Black Blade Blues is the debut novel of John Pitts, it features a world where Norse mythology has come alive in the Seattle area. Sarah Beauhall is the main protagonist of the story and is an amateur blacksmith who’s trying to earn extra money by serving as a prop manager for various movies. As prop manager her creations get a chance to be featured in the movies. Sarah has an interesting life; she’s from a small town and is into medieval warfare role play and heavy metal. She's also in love with Katie but appears to be in a bit of denial over it.
The story begins when J.J. the main actor breaks an ebony blade and Sarah has to re-forge it for the shooting requirements. This small act begins a new chapter in her life and also kicks off this story. She meets Rolph an extra on the set who share more than a passing interest in Sarah’s smithy skills and the ebony blade which she re-forges. He informs her about its Nordic origins and how the re-forging heralds her as a warrior. Katie begins to hint that maybe he is really a dwarf from legends.
The tale then kicks off as various elements of Norse mythology start appearing in Sarah’s world. Sarah also gets upheavals in her personal life when Katie tells her she loves her. Also at the same time others start taking interest in the blade (which has been named Gram by Sarah) these others include Dragons in mortal forms that see the re-forging as threat to themselves. The story then veers off as Sarah’s façade begins to crumble and she faces choices about herbad worduality, her life as a simple blacksmith and destiny as the wielder of Gram. Sarah manages to upset everyone with her behavior but still manages to hold on to her blade which then leads to a climatic showdown with the perceived antagonists. The showdown leads to various events of which most are Pyrrhic and further set into motion events which I’m sure will be explored in further books
John Pitts has created a fascinating character in Sarah. The use of the first person point of view gives readers a more intimate look into Sarah's thoughts which help gain a clearer understanding of the story and settings. However this form of writing also served as a double edged sword because it didn't really endure me to the character of Sarah. The reason being is while I could understand Sarah's struggles and find them admirable, as a person I found her to be a bit immature.
The writing is clear and gives us a fair view of the world and characters that inhabit it. The story is not something entirely new and has been done before, the twist here being that the main character is a woman blacksmith and a lesbian with identity issues.The pacing slows down when Pitt shows us Sarah's troubles and the ending is a bit drawn out. Although the ending is drawn out it does contain a slight twist that might spruce up the reading for veteran readers. There is complete plot resolution by the end of this book and the stage is set for the further (mis)adventures of Sarah.
This book was a highly anticipated book for myself and it could be that this played with my experience of this book. My expectations might have been a bit to high for what was essentially delivered. Black Blade Blues is a good debut but does have some plotting issues, which I hope the author can overcome. I'd recommend this book to those urban fantasy fans that are looking for a different kind of protagonist. Overall a good debut which promises to bring a nice read involving questions of life, identity and love with a bit of off kilter sense of humor.
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