Friday, October 29, 2021

Engines of Desire: Tales of Love and Other Horrors by Livia Llewellyn

Image of the road to Cthulhu's pyramid with pilgrims the caption reads Our Work Renews the World
Take Your Daughter to Work ★★★★★ 
Sex as something pleasurable, soft and warm, is a mammalian concept. In the cold salty dark of fathoms, it’s not even survivable. This short story built in scales and slithers to a chilling reimagining of Lovecraftian horror.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #5) by Ilona Andrews ★★☆☆☆

Black an white photo of The Fonz on water skis with a shark jumping behind him
“...surrounded by death on both sides, as if gliding through Armageddon.” 

This series has jumped the shark.

Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4) by Ilona Andrews ★★★★☆

Kate Daniels sitting with a gun and the caption reads I will kill him
Kate is nearly as annoying as in Book One but that’s my sole complaint. This was another excellent action oriented story with sexy time, conflict, an epic battle and extraordinary resolution. 

Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels #3) by Ilona Andrews ★★★★☆

Two fighters facing each other before a match
The first rule of the Beast Lord is no competing in the Kumite.

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews ★★★☆☆

an elegant blue and black image of kate daniels pulling out a sword with a lion in the background and a starry night
Serious bad guys, well paced action, epic battles, and thickening plot - what’s not to love?

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews ★★★☆☆

Drawing of Kate Daniels looking smug with two swords at her back and a white lion
“You’re not as funny as you think.” 
- Nick to Kate 

No Kate you really are not.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

The Long Walk by Stephen King ★★★★★

Image of the Stephen Kings the long walk tire contestants stumbling and falling across the finish line with the caption God's Gonna Strike You Dead
I walked all eleven hours of this audiobook and I highly recommend you do the same. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt ★★★★★

Kevin Spacey as Jim William in front of the palatial summer home with the caption My Living in Mercer House Pisses off All the Right People
All best sellers should be this good.

Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber ★★★☆☆

Image of a woman in hat with half her face in darkness the caption reads There are two sides to every woman.  One is rational, like a man, the other knows.
An ethnology professor specializing in primitive superstition stumbles upon his wife’s occult hobby. As Norman (for Normal?) loses his secular certainty his life unravels. 

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman ★★★☆☆

The Grim Reaper in the mist with skulls around
"I didn’t know how realistic a picture they had of their future. Their lack of a future, that is."