Shelf Reflections

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Click image to purchase from Amazon It’s not often that I read a book that makes me not only enjoy the story, but also makes me wish to meet the author.   When an author truly enjoys the process of taking readers through his or her story, it shows.   Hounded is just such a book, and Kevin Hearne is one of the most exciting new authors to come along. The last of the Druids, Atticus O’Sullivan, has carved out a life for himself and his wolfhound Oberon in the Arizona desert.   He runs an occult bookshop and keeps a low profile—the Celtic god Aenghus Og wants the magical sword that Atticus possesses.   And a warning from the Morrigan indicates that Aenghus is coming with murder on his mind. Atticus can’t defeat a god by himself, even with an enchanted weapon.   On his side are a vampire, a werewolf, and a woman possessed by a Hindu witch.   But there are wild cards in the mix as well.   The local coven of witches ...

Click image to purchase from Amazon Zombies are one of fiction’s hottest commodities lately, but the genre is changing to encompass more than just horror.   A few novels have cropped up that feature sympathetic zombies, or at least a story from a zombie’s point of view.   And now, the inevitable has happened: a zombie love story.   Warm Bodies follows a zombie as he struggles with his feelings for a young living woman. The zombie known as “R” has only vague memories of his previous life.   Most major details—his profession, his interests, even his own name—are lost to him.   When he consumes a living brain, however, he gets flashes of that person’s life and imbibes their life force.   Even so, R is more aware than many zombies in his enclave. One day, he and his hunting party attack a group of human scavengers, and as R eats the brain of a young man, he gets stronger memories than he’s ever experienced.   On to...

Click image to purchase from Amazon I remember when I first picked up H. Beam Piper’s novel Little Fuzzy , back when I was a teenager.  It’s not a long book, and it’s not a complicated book, but it’s a memorable tale of first contact and its repercussions.  I read all the other Fuzzy books that were written and always wished that there had been more.  Now, my wish is granted.  John Scalzi enters the world of the Fuzzies with his respectful –and amazing—reboot of the series, Fuzzy Nation . Jack Holloway is an independent contractor mining sunstones on Zara XXIII, content to live alone with just his dog.  The discovery of a huge sunstone vein seems on the verge of cementing his fortunes, but fate intervenes in the form of an adorable little invader in his home: a catlike biped with golden fur and a startling intelligence.  Jack thinks that this “fuzzy”, as he calls it, might be sentient.  But if they are, the company that holds the contract to explo...

Click image to purchase from Amazon I’ve been following Seanan McGuire since her first October Daye novel came out a few years back.   The series offers a comprehensive world of Faerie and a flawed but likeable heroine, so I always look forward to new stories.   Late Eclipses is a strong addition to the overarching plot and makes some major changes to the main character as well. Toby is still recovering from her confrontation with Blind Michael and getting used to having a roommate—May, her Fetch, the one who’s supposed to signal Toby’s demise.   But before long, events take a turn for the worse again, when Toby learns that Lily, the Lady of the Tea Gardens, is extremely ill.   Since Undines don’t get sick, this is cause for great concern. All evidence points to the involvement of Toby’s enemy, Oleander de Merelands, the woman who cursed her to her fourteen year exile in the form of a fish.   But there are other forces m...

Click image to purchase from Amazon Greek mythology provides a wealth of story material that can be readily adapted to a modern setting.   And while I do appreciate when authors draw from mythic traditions other than the Greeks, I can’t deny the appeal of a retelling of one of the classics.   (I still own a very ragged and well-loved copy of D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths .)   It’s a pretty good bet that I’ll like most any retelling, but The Goddess Test is one of those rare novels that I couldn’t put down. Kate’s mother is dying of cancer, and at her request, she and Kate move to Eden, where her mother grew up.   Although Kate would rather spend as much time as possible with her mother, she re-enters high school.   There she meets the loner James, and the dating couple Dylan and Ava.   Ava’s jealousy of Dylan’s attention to Kate leads her to play a cruel prank on Kate—but when it backfires and Ava is fatally injured, an eni...