Tag Archives: books

July 9, 2014 · 9:53 am

Review: The Bride Wore Size 12

The Bride Wore Size 12 (Heather Wells #5)The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I admit I’m a little disappointed…but that could be my own fault: it turns out I started a series on #5 (oops) and mistook the author for Jennifer Weiner (my bad). But congrats to Cabot’s marketing team! I picked up the book because of the title and because I had seen posters around, so not a total loss.

So, like I said, I came into this series at exactly the wrong point. But it is charming and fun and a nice little mystery to nibble on.

Basically, for those who are as lost as I was, this book is about Heather Wells, a nice enough girl who is about to get married at the end of the month to her tasty PI boyfriend. She works as a residence hall administrator at a college, and she really just wants to get through to the wedding… but the dead girl messes that all up. So Heather takes time out of her busy schedule to solve a murder, too.

I admit it: I only picked up this book because it had the word “bride” in it and, as a very recently married person, I was hoping to enjoy some fictionalized wedding stress. I wanted to see if all the crazy chaos that went into wedding-planning made it into a book.

…it didn’t. In drips, maybe, but really everything in the title is completely disregarded. Rubbish title, in terms of relating to the story at all. I mean, sure, it is periodically mentioned that “OMG Heather is a BRIDE!” but, let me tell you, I had a lot more panic going on in the month before my wedding, and I was, as my groom put it, not a bride-zilla but bride-chilla.

And I have no idea where the size 12 nonsense came from, aside from once or twice mentioning that Heather enjoys a morning bagel (unnecessary fat-shaming, excellent).

So I hated the title and the book wasn’t at all what I expected, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. It was fun.

I found it particularly interesting to see Cabot’s perspective on working in college administration, something I know about first-hand a bit. It’s not exactly a common career path, so I found that refreshing and interesting.

The murder and related sub-plot was a little transparent for my taste, but this is meant to be light reading, so I can’t fault it too much. Overall I thought it was charming, though I don’t think I care to step back into Heather’s world much more.

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June 12, 2014 · 9:58 am

Kids Aren’t Reading (Because They’re Reading All The Time)

Another day, another spate of articles bemoaning the state of today’s youth. This most recent is a bunching of studies that found that kids aren’t reading as much.

NPR put it this way: “Nearly half of 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure no more than one or two times a year — if that.That’s way down from a decade ago.”

GASP! The horror! Let’s trot out the motifs of the way this generation is RUINED FOREVER!

…but wait. It said “read for pleasure.” Hold the phone there. Perhaps there is another, different explanation beyond “the internet/video games/drugs/television did it.”

Terrifyingly, I’m now old enough to be considered part of the “adult” quotient, but I was in high school not too terribly long ago, and I can tell you something: there was a lot of required reading. And I like to read! I read all the time! But, during the school year, my reading fell to being mostly required reading.

And let me tell you, reading the Crucible for the fourth time in the same year (“to really understand the text” *gag*) gets really old and I would not consider that enjoyable!

So that’s me, a kid who loves reading and literally never leaves the house without a book. When I was 17, I wouldn’t necessarily have said reading was “pleasurable” either: I was maxed out, and, yeah, preferred to play video games or watch TV. How must it be for the kids who are ONLY exposed to school reading? They never get the opportunity to develop a fondness for reading because they’ve been conditioned to view it as work full of meaningless “symbolism.” (yes, I’m still scarred from “The Scarlet Letter.” Sometimes a tree is just a freakin’ tree, teach!)

In an increasingly technological society, I find it hard to believe that kids are not reading in general. We’re all reading and writing MORE than ever, with so much communication switching away from in-person or on the phone to texting, email, status updates, and online forums. It’s becoming MORE important, but that kind of reading and writing wouldn’t show up in these studies.

Essentially, I think the problem here is not with teens and reading for pleasure, but with the studies. I DO think there are probably plenty of things to distract kids from reading, but those things could be bolstered not by writing ominous-sounding articles about “kids today” but instead folding more “fun” books into required reading. As much as I loved “A Handmaid’s Tale,” would it kill school districts to allow some trendy stuff–maybe middle schoolers would really benefit from doing an analysis of “The Hunger Games” instead of a nonfiction book for a change.

What do you think? Should we be worried about teen reading levels?

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June 5, 2014 · 9:59 am

Stephen King at His Worst

I’ve been reading Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew. (Pro tip: It may not be a great idea to read horror when you’re going through a stressful time! The more you know!)

It’s taking me awhile. I picked it a) because it’s Stephen King and I feel like there’s a lot I can learn by studying him, b) my fiance brought me the book when I didn’t have one to read, and c) I figured hey, short stories! Perfect for when I’m busy!

I sort of forgot that I don’t read Stephen King generally because he writes horror. …The subsequent nightmares reminded me, don’t worry.

Anyway, so I’ve been reading this book. And you can tell he’s talented, even though many of his successful books, including On Writing, hadn’t been written yet. But the really interesting thing, to me, is the prologue. He writes about how he likes to write short stories, how he got started with them, selling a thing or two to a magazine (back in the day when mainstream magazines bought fiction to publish) to keep his family afloat. He writes about how it’s been harder, since he started in on novels, to find time for the shorts.

And–critically–he talks about how the contained stories aren’t really “winners.” (He specifically calls them “losers” and then details why, and why you should read on anyway.) I don’t know if that’s an author’s critic chewing away at him or what, and I haven’t read enough of his works overall to know for sure but… I believe him.

Some of the stories don’t really work. Some are dalliances with other genres and then remember they’re supposed to be horror so make a sharp and weird turn at the end, like The Jaunt (science fiction), The Wedding Gig (1920s crime intrigue) and The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands (maybe Poe-sian or Doyle? I dunno, it just didn’t work). Some are clearly horror but are so undefined that it’s hard to be frightened, like The Raft, which read like an episode of Supernatural, except those guys would have killed the monster somehow.  Then there are those where you can see the ending coming from a mile away, like the charming wish-fulfillment fantasy Word Processor of the Gods.

Nevertheless, I feel like I’m learning a lot from these “losers.” (I mean, they were still published, some of them twice, so they aren’t so bad, really). King is great at giving his characters baggage; everybody has issues of some kind. This makes his people relatable. I think I can work on that in my writing. I also feel like I know the general landscape of Maine, even though I’ve never been anywhere near it; he does a great job mining his geography for detail, and maybe I need to work on embracing Texas in my writing more. His word-choice manages to have depth without ever feeling too out of reach for a general audience, and it feels like you’re getting to know him.

But the biggest lesson, perhaps, I’ve gotten so far? Failure doesn’t always mean the end.

Skeleton Crew was published in 1984. In 2007, the first story in the book became a movie: The Mist.  I haven’t seen it, but it seems like it stays pretty true to the text…with a critical and gut-wrenching change to the ending.

23 years later, his “loser” became a success–or at least a pretty good movie, with a slight change. It has a rating of 7.2 stars on IMDB right now. That’s not so bad for a “meh” story, is it, Stephen?

Twenty-three years seems like a long time to wait, but it does give me hope. (Though I’d prefer things come along a tad faster.)

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May 27, 2014 · 9:55 am

Review: Local

LocalLocal by Ryan Kelly

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, I swear I did.

The art is gorgeous and has depth despite being exclusively in black and white. It’s evocative and distinctive. Plus the main character has freckles-you don’t see that a lot in comics.

And my fiance recommended it to me, and most of the time that means I’m going to love it.

But I just don’t “get” Local. Or rather, by the time I did “get” it, I didn’t care anymore.

Local is an indie comic that I read in large trade form: I’m not sure if it originally debuted as individual single issues, but I pity the reader who tried to follow the story that way if it did. The idea is basically 12 loosely tied together short stories generally but not always revolving around Megan McKeenan. It’s billed as a “coming of age” story, and supposedly the stories are told sequentially by year, with Megan aging a year between each.

But it’s a mess to follow. You can’t tell that time is jumping around, and because the place IS ALSO jumping around (one of the central themes is moving around and trying to become “local” in new cities), it feels completely disjointed. Oh, and if that’s not enough jumping for you, you also jump around with point-of-view characters, including one section that focused on the lead of a band that is never again mentioned.

So. Supposedly it’s a coming-of-age story for Megan, but it comes across as a jumble. Ignoring all the non-directly Megan stuff, you’re left with the portrait of an extremely screwed up girl. Between bad luck and poor choices–and poor choices which, I feel, vastly outstrip “normal teen experiences” with their horribleness–her life is one catastrophe after another. I just want to buy her a sandwich and direct her to a counseling center.

And yet, despite the repeated failures of her life, we’re supposed to believe that things more or less all work out in the end for her. I’m finding that very hard to believe, though the final story tries hard to make it sound like she has finally seen her problems and they just sort of got better.

The “lesson” I got from this story is “life sucks and then you die.” Which…just isn’t my kind of thing to read for pleasure. Your results my vary.

No, Megan’s story is tragic at best, an overdramatic moral tale at worst.

But the art is beautiful, so if you’re feeling existential and/or you are an impressionable teenager, Local might be for you.

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May 22, 2014 · 9:34 am

Seeking: Summer Beach Reads

I’m going on vacation soon (soon, but not soon enough! I’m too excited to wait!!) and it’s not my typical thing. Normally I’m a plan-every-minute sort of gal, but this time we’ll be relaxing on a beach, swimming lazily, maybe exploring the local area if we get ambitious, and drinking ourselves under the table (woo all-inclusive resort!).
And I hate to admit it but I’m really anxious that I’ll get bored of relaxing.
But, thanks to the wonders of technology, I’ll be able to bring as many books as I care to via a well-stocked Kindle.
Except I don’t know what to read.
I like to read a lot of things, but I gravitate toward the contemplative, heavy stuff. And that’s just not going to work for the beach and the “vacation” sensibility. I need to lighten up.
I liked In Her Shoes and The Secret Life of Bees, but those sorts aren’t my usual repertoire and I’m not sure what to look for. I would almost categorize Leviathan Wakes–a sci-fi epic–as this sort, because it was engaging and could be read on a “lighter” level, but that’s an unusual fit.
So, here’s what I’m looking for: light but engaging stories available digitally. No horror or gritty fantasy (looking at you, Game of Thrones). Genre fantasy/sci-fi is good but only if it is a bit original (ex. I read The Black Unicorn and it was TERRIBLE).
Can y’all help me out? Recommend anything amazing?

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May 13, 2014 · 10:26 am

Review: Sex Criminals

Sex Criminals, Volume 1: One Weird Trick (Sex Criminals #1-5)Sex Criminals, Volume 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny. Poignant. Beautiful. Oh, and it has sex in it.

It’s pretty rare that my fiance reads a book then says, “OMG, you HAVE to read this.” So it was a big deal. And I devoured it. This comic is gorgeous and probably deserves the “Comic of the Year” banner the New York Times gave it (though Saga, Volume 1 really can’t be forgotten).

This comic answers a question everyone has asked themselves at some point: “If I could freeze time everytime I had an orgasm, what would I do?”

…Of course everyone has asked that question.

For Suzie and Jon, the answers vary, but when they meet and discover they aren’t alone in this crazy ability, they decide–of course–to rob a bank.

In other words, Sex Criminals is a totally run-of-the-mill story.

Just kidding. It’s irreverent, but it’s also fairly deep. (Spoilers to follow, but really you should read this comic anyway and most of this stuff is introduced right away.)

When Suzie’s dad is killed in an act of random violence when she is 10, she struggles to cope. Her mom is barely holding herself together, and Suzie is left to process it all on her own. She finds solace in the quiet of the bathtub, where the running water can erase sound and leave her to just “be.” Except…the water under the tap feels [em]really good[/em]…and time stops.

Suzie struggles to figure out puberty and this ability (can everyone do this? Why don’t any of the books explain this!?) all alone, and uses what she calls “The Quiet” (this time-frozen thing) to work out her feelings. She grows into a smart girl who loves libraries, and is desperate to save her local library, even if it means buying up every book, one at a time.

That’s how she meets Jon. They have an instant connection; even reading about it feels like reliving the Best First Date Ever. And then, when they have sex… woah. They discover, finally, they aren’t alone in this ability. And then they hatch a plan.

Can I just stop for a minute and talk about the art? Man, this kind of book is why comics/graphic novels need to exist. You just couldn’t get the same effect in reading about how Suzie’s elementary classroom had a motivational poster that says “Reading is Sexy” and get the same kind of laugh I did when I noticed the derpy frog poster in the background of an otherwise tragic scene. There are visual clues like that everywhere, and it is just …amazing. And Suzie and Jon look like real people. Praise be to Chip Zdarksy for drawing a woman with kick-ass HUMAN proportions! It’s so refreshing.

And then there’s the colors! You’ll just have to see it to know what I mean, but The Quiet is really transcendental art. It’s gorgeous.

Sex Criminals is definitely a book for an adult…well… it might also be a book for a teenager who is still figuring out that whole sexuality thing, though the cover alone might freak out the parental types. While sex is important to the story, it is always tasteful and the art is never more than PG-13, though the brash and totally careless way the characters talk about sex is definitely going to be a turnoff for some readers (don’t worry; the sex acts described in the high school are all made up. I think.).

This really a science-fiction/Bonnie-and-Clyde/coming-of-age book and … it’s just great. True, author Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarksky may have come up with the concept as a way to tell as many sex jokes as possible, but I can’t blame them for that, and I can’t wait to read more. And see more.

(This book only got 4 stars because I think the pacing may be a little uneven. We’ll see. There was one section that, while still pretty to look at and which gave me a giggle, made me really glad we bought the volume rather than the individual comics. That story was…a tad thin.)

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April 29, 2014 · 9:53 am

Review: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line

The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Veronica Mars, #1)The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

TV and movie screenwriter Rob Thomas may bring the noir novel back–and that is a wonderful thing.

“The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line” is the first in what may be a series of Veronica Mars books that follow after the TV show AND the recent movie (Rob would be a fool if there weren’t more!). If you’ve never seen either the show or the movie, here’s the rough notes: Modern noir/murder mystery with all the basic elements but replace the solitary and case-worn older male PI with a 28-year-old petite blonde and a penchant for snarky comebacks. What isn’t there to love about this?!

[Full disclosure: I was one of the folks who Kickstarted the recent movie. I didn’t discover the TV show until about a year and a half ago, though, so I wouldn’t consider myself a super-fan or anything. It’s a darn adorable show and I enjoyed the movie. Plus I got a cool T-shirt. But I wasn’t planning on buying this book: it was loaned to me by a friend who not only had never seen or heard of VMars in other incarnations, but didn’t know about the Kickstarter stuff.]

NOTE: Don’t read this book OR this review any further if you want to see the movie but haven’t. The novel will spoil a bunch of the movie for you, in a very casual way. So see the movie first for optimum flow!

Things are a bit tense for Veronica on the open of the book. Her dad is still recovering from his serious injuries–he’s doing well, but isn’t back to himself and isn’t allowed to work–and though Veronica has been manning the PI desk while he’s gone, there haven’t been any cases. Money is starting to look tight, and Veronica’s decision to drop her whole career path and life to return to the private investigator life in Neptune is starting to look questionable at best. (For once, though, Logan isn’t at the heart of some scandal; he’s tucked away doing important military things and is barely in contact.)

But when first one, then two college girls go missing while spring-breaking at Neptune, the city council wants them found…and don’t trust corrupt and/or stupid Sheriff Lamb to keep ruining Neptune’s image. Veronica goes on the case–forcing her to face straight-on her father’s understandable fears for her safety.

It’s a great mystery, and unlike some others, I didn’t see the result coming at all. The story has all the same snap and zest as the show/movie, and it felt like returning to a beloved but slightly changed town. Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised me so much, but Rob Thomas is excellent with dialogue. It’s like he’s somehow channels 20-something women today, which is pretty crazy. The non-dialogue bulk of the story is solid, even though there are some minor things a long-form writer (versus a screenwriter) would have done differently (that’s probably something only the really devoted reader will notice, however). It’s a lot of fun and would make the perfect summer read. I can’t wait for there to be more.

But… well, I couldn’t give it 5 stars because of a plot decision that is both minor and a major spoiler, depending on your perspective. It never felt plausible and threw off my feeling that this was a realistic concept.

SPOILERS BELOW
It seems like a complete betrayal of readers for Veronica’s estranged mother to also just “happen” to be the step-mother of one of the missing girls. I mean, really? First, that the daughter would have selected to go to Neptune for spring break instead of ANYWHERE else. Second, that she would then go missing. Third, that her missing persons case would have some seriously hinky twists to it?

It all felt too contrived. I am all for more drama and intrigue with Veronica’s mother, and we did get some interesting character development out of the situation, but for a first novel in what will hopefully be a series, it felt like Rob threw that in merely to play “rehash all the important characters from Veronica’s past.”

There was no reason for her mom to make an appearance in this. No plausible explanation, even, for the scenario to come up. Maybe if this had been a later novel I could have accepted the “amazing coincidence” of Lianne being involved in a case Veronica had to solve, but this was just a little too much for me and it felt trite.

Overall, this is a really fun book and I hope to see more. The noir genre is old and had been pretty musty. A feisty and smart gal like Veronica may be exactly what it needs to come back to life.

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April 15, 2014 · 10:07 am

Review: The Penelopiad

The PenelopiadThe Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading The Song of Achilles, I has a ken for more. I came to the right place with The Penelopiad by the outstanding Margaret Atwood.

Much like The Song of Achilles, the Penelopiad is a retelling of a classic tale from a new perspective. The Penelopiad, you might say, is the companion book to The Odyssey: the story told by Queen Penelope to match Odysseus’ epic.

In The Odyssey, just in case you’ve forgotten, the hero Odysseus is just trying to get home after 10 hard years in the Trojan War. But he’s pissed off Poseidon, making water travel difficult, and he gets into one scrape after another for 10 whole years. When he finally gets home, his wife and kingdom are beset by “suitors” after his money, so he tricks the suitors then defeats them with his skill with the bow that only he can string. Then, because he’s pissed, he kills all the suitors: all 110 of them or so.

A mere footnote in the story, however, is the death of 12 maids: they are accused of having been raped by the suitors (or having had sex with, depending on your view) and are forced to clean the hall of their spilled blood. Then, Odysseus and his son Telemauchus hang the maids. Odysseus retakes his throne and lives out his life.

The Penelopiad turns everything on its head. All of Odysseus’ grand achievements are thrown into question, and the 12 hanged maids form a Fury chorus to chant and sing out the story. Penelope is given shape beyond her “loyalty,” and is finally rewarded for her cleverness, her patience, her skill in running a kingdom all alone for 20 years and fending off the suitors.

This book was an eye-opener for me. I’d read the Odyssey, of course, but I don’t think I even noticed the maids, much less worried about the absolute unfairness of their plight. While I did think of Penelope a bit more, I didn’t reach beyond the story I was told: I took her loyalty at face-value as it was presented.

Until The Penelopiad threw off the covers. There was so much MORE to find in this story! The 12 maids, mere teenagers at best, were punished for something they had no control over: slaves can’t tell a prince “no.” Of all the people Odysseus killed, only the maids hadn’t really done anything to deserve it. They are literal pawns in this story.

Penelope is barely more, yet Atwood saw how much potential was in Penelope, and her relationship with Helen, the most beautiful–and most bitchy–woman in the ancient world. Penelope is there, plodding along in Helen’s shadow, trying to get by and having to work three times as hard, while Helen prances about and starts wars with the toss of her pretty little head. No wonder Atwood’s Penelope has some bite to her!

I got to meet Margaret Atwood, actually, and had her sign this book for me. Even though this was not the first of her books I discovered, this was the one that most rocked my world. During her presentation, she talked about this book, and how the injustice of the maids really stood out to her.  From snippets and bare mentions in the original text, she crafted this whole lush, emoting world for these women: it’s remarkable.

This book is a delight. Classics fans will get more out of it than someone new to the tale, but the story structure is enchanting regardless. It’s a lesson in deft storytelling and a joy to read. I only wish it were longer.

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April 10, 2014 · 9:55 am

Review: The Song of Achilles

The Song of AchillesThe Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I nearly double-majored in Classics, and the most enjoyable class I took in college was a Classics/Archaeology crossover class where we read classical texts then watched movies based on them to pick them apart for historical accuracy.

But that kind of knowledge is fairly niche now, and I don’t get a lot of opportunities to think about Homer and the Greek gods anymore.

Going back, though, is extremely satisfying. Anyone with more than a passing interest in The Iliad needs to immediately pick up this book — even if your only exposure to the tale is what you gleaned from “Xena: Warrior Princess” and the movie “Troy,” you’ll enjoy this book.

Achilles, the hero of the Iliad, is “the best of the Greeks,” and yet the Trojan War lasted 10 years as men fought for land, power, and the rights to the most beautiful woman in the world. But the original text provides very little insight into the life and character of this man.

That’s where The Song of Achilles comes in, telling Achilles’ story through the eyes of his most beloved, the footnoted and glossed-over Patroclus (laughably called Achilles’ “cousin” in the modern interpretation; sure, we believe he went to his death on behalf of his “cousin,” Hollywood. Suuuure.)

Tackling Greek myths for a modern audience is pretty tricky work: how do you remain faithful to a story format conceived thousands of years ago?

But Madeline Miller more than manages: her writing is deft, loving, and honors both human skill and god-gifted powers. You’ll believe the gods–tricky, unreachable, unassailable in their pretty deceptions–really do intercede into a human war, and you’ll also see how a change in the wind could be interpreted as a blessing from the gods.

The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is nuanced, taking them from their time as children together up through and beyond Patroclus’ death. Their love as a couple is potent and poignant, and I sometimes had to stop reading to clutch the book to myself, hoping that, maybe, this time, Patroclus wouldn’t have to die.

Despite the homosexual relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, I wouldn’t call this a necessarily LGBT work. This is a Classics piece, and will be best loved by those who love the Classics. The text itself is vague on whether or not they would, by modern terms, be considered gay: do they love men–any men?–, or do they merely love each other? I’ll not spoil it, but Patroclus and Achilles both have moments where the rigidity of a sexual category are questioned.

The perhaps most incredible part of this story is how a demi-god manages to live when he knows, with complete certainty, that his early death is assured. How can you live a full life knowing you will not be able to grow old? What kind of person would chose the allure of glory and fame over life? The portrait of Achilles here painted is a believable structure of such a man.

I can’t wait for Miller to tackle The Odyssey next! (I hope she does!)

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April 1, 2014 · 10:17 am

World Destruction Reading List

Reddit’s r/books thread recently had a conversation about best dystopian novels. There were a lot on the list I hadn’t heard of, and I have a particular love for dystopias (I’ve written two and a half, so far!).

So, for my benefit and yours, here’s a compilation of the crowd-sourced dystopian titles (plus some that I didn’t find on reddit), in no particular order, you should read:

  • Earth Abides, George R Stewart
  • The Passage, Justin Cronin
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
    • Doctor Bloodmoney, Philip K. Dick
  • Foundation, Isaac Asimov
  • Oryx & Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam – trilogy by Margaret Atwood
    • A Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
    • Positron, Margaret Atwood
  • Never Let me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
  • A Brave New World, Aldus Huxley
  • 1984, George Orwell
  • A Canticle for Leibowitz
  • Wool, Hugh Howey
  • Swan Song, Robert R. McCammon
  • Wastelands anthology, John Joseph Adams
  • Y The Last Man,  Brian K. Vaughan (comics)
  • The Walking Dead,  Robert Kirkman (comics)
  • Lucifer’s Hammer, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  • The Road, Cormac McCarthy
  • I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
  • Ashes, Ashes, Jo Treggiari
  • Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
  • The Giver, Lois Lawry
  • Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
  • The Postman, David Brin
  • This Perfect Day, Ira Levin
  • Day of the Triffids, John Wyndam
  • World War Z, Max Brooks
  • The Stand, Stephen King
  • Plague Year, Jeff Carlson
  • The Genesis of Shannara, Terry Brooks
  • The Deluge, Mark Morris
  • Robopocalpyse, Daniel Wilson
  • Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi
  • We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
  • Emberverse series, R.M.Stirling
  • Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde
  • Noughts and Crosses, Malorie Blackman
  • The Tripods, John Christopher
  • Mortal Engines, Phillip Reeve
  • The Children of Men, P.D. James
  • The Hunger Games trilogy,
  • Dog Stars, Peter Helle
  • The Last Policeman, Ben H Winters
  • Idlewild; Edenborn; and Everfree, Nick Sagan
  • The Maze Runner, James Dashner
  • The Time Machine, H.G. Wells

Undead Rising coverFor a new way to destroy the world, buy Undead Rising: Decide Your Destiny, available in print and on Kindle. Your choices shape the story! When you die in the book, sometimes you rise again as a zombie, unlocking new adventures.

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