[COVER ART] Katherine Allred’s CLOSE CONTACT & Kylie Chan’s EARTH TO HELL (AU)

Cover for Katherine Allred’s Close Contact, and the Australian cover for Kylie Chan’s Earth to Hell.

[REVIEW] Frostbitten – Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong
Frostbitten (Otherworld, Book 10)
Random House (US & CA: 29th September 2009); Hachette Orbit (UK: 1st October 2009; AU: November 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Elena Michaels and the American Pack know that recent emigrant Reese Williams is being framed by his allies. Running from Elena makes it hard to tell him, so she follows the Antipodean to Alaska, a state no stranger to wolves…and perhaps not to werewolves and other beasties, either. Soon Elena discovers traces of new scents – other breeds of animal. But tracking down who’s responsible for the missing girls, the dead Pack member, and who knows what else requires more than one wolfy investigator. It’s time to call in the Pack.

Elena and Clay Danvers are on this mission without their three-year-old twins, who are with their grandfather and his lady friend. And these are no ordinary kids – they jump out of a second-storey window and escape with nary a scratch. This examplifies why I generally don’t connect with mothers as lead characters – because the kids are always precocious. No child is average; they’re super-smart and physically gifted, too. Is there wish fulfillment going on? Of course no parent wants to admit that their kid is kind of stupid, but in fiction stupid children don’t exist…well, they don’t if their parents are the protags.

Also, no one in this series really seems to have a full-time paying career. Elena sometimes writes for Canadian Press. Clay sometimes gives anthropology lectures. Jeremy sometimes does art. Jaime sometimes tours. Really, Hope Adams seems to be the only person with an everyday job that she actually does. How the others can afford to keep a roof over their heads, bills paid and food on the table is beyond my tiny comprehension. Supernaturals are loaded? Well, bugger me.

Danya Podrova is minor, but his surname confuses me. If the Ukrainian naming system is anything like its Russian counterpart, his surname should be Podrov – without the A. If he had a sister, she’d be Podrova, but not a man. I may be wrong, but if I’m right, this mistake has passed over quite a few heads on the way to publication. Who’s the right person to contact to see about getting this changed in a future edition?

Frostbitten is definitely the best of the latter Otherworld novels released. The witches/sorcerors/demons books have never really grabbed me the way the werewolf ones have. And considering that the last Otherworld book I read was the disappointing Men of the Otherworld anthology, Frostbitten is the perfect book to re-engage readers who may have fallen off the wagon. Not only that, but the new species of animal featured here are bloody fascinating, and there are some fantastic new characters, too. Reese is Australian, and is keeping his past a secret. He’s a buff, blond, twenty-year-old who looks like a surfie and has a name to match. (Generally, his name should be spelled Rhys, the Welsh way, but you know what surfers and bogans and whatnot are like with their spelling…) And we meet another Canadian – Morgan Walsh is a Newfie. Also cool is news of a Russian Pack, and expect to see Noah Albright return.

And protag Elena is awesome. Okay, so I question her taste in men, because Clay’s always pissed me off, but other than that, she’s pretty darn cool. She’s Canadian, and so provides a refreshing viewpoint, though she spends most of her time in the US. However, sometimes it seems as if Canadians are looked down upon by their more popular neighbours: One advantage to being a Canadian journalist is that Americans don’t expect you to know the rules. Nah, I think journalism’s pretty the same internationally, except in some censored countries. Also, you know this is the US when Elena purchases a weapon, and… the leftist humanitarian in me was appalled, while the warrior in me, heading into battle, was happy that she didn’t need to fill out paperwork and wait six weeks for a license. Turns out she didn’t need the weapon after all, but like that’s ever stopped anybody purchasing one…

Cover Art Survey

This survey came via one of the loops I’m on. Thought I may as well share my answers with you, too.

I’ll give you my demographics, too, so you can see where I’m coming from, and perhaps why my opinions are what they are.

23 years old, Celtic-Australian female in suburban Victoria. Am a reader, not an author. Not really into romance as a genre – I prefer it as a subplot rather than the main event.

1. What kind of covers do you like? I prefer photography, or illustration that looks close enough to resemble photography. I’m easily distracted by pretty colours, swirly things, prisms throwing rainbows, pretty cityscapes, gorgeous international architecture, etc.

2. How much detail should be on them? Maybe three things maximum on the front cover – character, setting and symbol. I’m happy to have a very detailed setting, but would prefer more anonymous character models.

3. Do you prefer characters or symbols, and why? Symbols. Would rather see something ABOUT the character, rather than the character his/herself. So pretty much symbols win by default

4. What don’t you like on covers? I’m so over mantitty and clinch covers, and arse/boobs shots. I guess when you’re exposed to something so much, you become desensitised, and that’s pretty much the stage I’m in.

5. What would you prefer in digital artwork? Characters, or something to do with the story? Character faces are fine, but see my above note about T&A/naked torsos. So I guess I would prefer something to do with the story, but surely there’s room on the cover for both character and something that fits the story.

6. Links to covers you do like, both digital and ‘normal’. http://judyyork.com/collections/Fantasy3/imgs/5.jpg This is my favourite cover of all time, done by Judy York for Marianne Mancusi’s Razor Girl. Love the colours, love the setting, love the look of the character – of course, you need great writing to inspire a great cover commissioned just for the book. Think it has elements of both digital and normal. http://www.stygiandarkness.com/store/images/L_a_flash_of_hex.jpg This is Timothy Lantz’s cover for Jes Battis’s A Flash of Hex. This is illustrated, I think, but may also have digital elements. I love the smoke, the colours and the glowing things. http://samhainpublishing.com/graphics/1316.jpg And as for straight digital art, I recently found this gem by Kanaxa for Nicole Kimberling’s Happy Snak. It’s got the right balance of character, setting, and swirly colours. The font is also a good match for the genre.

[REVIEW] Evil Cats – Elia Anie

Elia Anie
Evil Cats
Hachette Headline (UK: 3rd September 2009; AU: November 2009)
Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

A growing trend in novelty books are those whose contents were originally distributed in regular installments on the Internet. But whilst I Can Has Cheezburger relies on photographs, Elia Anie’s Evil Cats: When Fluffy Cats Get Mean is illustrated, with virtually no text.

In real life, the most evil cats get is basically trying to usurp your place in the household – they couldn’t be arsed doing anything more strenuous. The felines in this book, however, have a wide array of weapons at their dispense, as well as an immature sense of humour. Like the lion alpha in South Park‘s zoo whose comedy only went as far as “pull the thorn from my paw”, these evil cats fart a lot, and wizz on stuff. But there’re cleverer things in here – some drawings so intelligent that a few completely went over my head. (Not that it’s difficult to stupefy me…)

While it’s a nice little way to spend twenty minutes, the Australian RRP of $19.99 seems enormous. Make it $10, and more consumers will be likely to purchase it. But by all means, borrow it from the library, or have it on your coffee table for guests to flick through.

[COVER ART] Kat Falls’s DARK LIFE

US cover art for Kat Falls’s Dark Life.

The 1st 13 Books on My To-Be-Read Pile – Thursday 22nd October 2009

Subject to change, if my other library reservation comes in, or if I get more ARCs or review copies.

1. Kelley Armstrong’s Frostbitten (library) [currently reading]
2. Kelly Meding’s Three Days to Dead (ARC)
3. Laurell K. Hamilton’s The Laughing Corpse (review copy)
4. Kim Harrison’s Every Which Way But Dead
5. Kim Harrison’s A Fistful of Charms
6. Trisha Telep’s The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance
7. Karin Slaughter’s Fractured
8. Karin Slaughter’s Genesis
9. Tess Gerritsen’s The Bone Garden
10. Tess Gerritsen’s Keeping the Dead
11. Kim Harrison’s For a Few Demons More
12. Kim Harrison’s Where Demons Dare
13. Mo Hayder’s Ritual

Tez on TV

Allow me to explain.

The Australian publisher of the Vampire Academy series was calling for readers to send in their thoughts of the series in a snappy quote. I cut-and-pasted a snippet from my review of Book 1.

VA HQ sent out their weekly newsletter today: “The new, improved and super cool VA TV ad appeared on Monday night on GO! during Vampire Diaries…Big congrats to Tez, Belinda and Erin whose quotes feature proudly, there were some awesome submissions so the field was tough.” So not only did my words get on TV (oh, FOXTEL standard definition, when will you get GO! to us?), but the field was tough.

And though my name was first in the newsletter, it was last on the TV ad – “Tez, Melbourne” is me Watch the 30-second ad:

[COVER ART] Shade – Jeri Smith-Ready

Cover for Jeri Smith-Ready’s Shade. Cover by Jon Pack.

Respect My Authoritah!

Saw snippets of this on Channel 10 during the MotoGP coverage. Colin Edwards is a hoot – “respect my authoritah!”

[REVIEW] Extras – Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld
Extras (Uglies, Book 4)
Simon & Schuster Pulse (AU: November 2007; UK: 4th February 2008; US & CA: 28th April 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Aya Fuse wants to be popular and famous, for creating a feed well worth kicking. Infiltrating the mysterious Sly Girls could be her big break, but whilst mag-lev surfing with the group Aya discovers a much bigger story – shape-shifting cylinders she’s sure are missiles. But why are they hidden in the mountain? Who’s responsible? Is only Japan at stake, or the world at large?

I should’ve loved this, and whilst I did enjoy it, Extras didn’t quite wow me. Perhaps this futuristic world is somewhat too high-tech for my eejit brain. There’s a lot to enjoy here, which is a great escapist piece. But as soon as Tally Youngblood enters the picture…It’s been years since I read the three earlier books in this series, and my memory is atrocious anyway, but Tally really pisses me off here. She’s kind of a bitch. But I rather like the Japanese characters and intriguing future.