US cover for Robin Wasserman’s Wired. Am still waiting for Crashed to be released here in Oz. Really enjoyed the first novel, Skinned. Fiction needs more mechs, y’all.
P.S. Maybe this isn’t the final cover, but I found it on Amazon nonetheless. Check out the tagline right above the title 
Liz Maverick
Crimson & Steam (Crimson City, Book 8)
Dorchester Love Spell (US: 29th December 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
It’s bad enough human journalist Jill Cooper has to witness her vampire lover Marius Dumont marry someone else in the name of political harmony, but worse is the virus that kills one of Crimson City’s vampires…and is having a radical affect on Marius, too. To obtain the cure, Jill must willingly infect another vampire, or win the race against time by studying the papers of a young inventor in 1850s London.
At first Jill is so desperate that she’s bloody annoying. Admittedly, she’s having a rough time but she acts like life without love is not worth living. That’s right, all the single ladies – put your hands up! But keep reading, because the rest of the book more than makes up for Jill’s melodrama.
Though set in an alternate (or even futuristic) Los Angeles, with all the royalty, corsets and whatnot it seems rather Victorian, so it’s not a shock to switch to 1850s England. In fact, the steampunk sub-plot is the most fascinating part of Crimson & Steam. There are clear parallels between Jill’s and Charlotte’s troubled relationships, but Charlie still has her dignity.
The Crystal Palace hosts the Great Exhibition that rose engineer Charlotte visits weekly. A tempest prognosticator seems innocent enough, but not even its creator could predict its dire consequences. I still have questions about the device and how it works, and Crimson City’s geography with its strata is bloody confusing, even though we’re told who goes where. More memorable, however, are the crafty mechs.
The government conspiracies, and political divisions between the vampires/humans/werewolves, may seem tired, but the science and steampunk are winners. Totally glom-worthy, Crimson & Steam gives one much to think about, and hope for future instalments. Add to this the mind-bending concepts of her futuristic novels, and Liz Maverick stands above other authors treading the well-worn paranormal path. Can’t wait for her next innovative novel!
Here’s the Canadian cover of Kelley Armstrong’s Waking the Witch, and the dirt-encrusted character looks somewhat creepy.
UK cover for Kat Falls’s Dark Life. The US edition was okay, but this UK one has more colour and more action – and thus more to my liking
Laurell K. Hamilton
The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2)
Penguin (US: 2nd August 2005; CA: 29th September 2009); Hachette Headline (UK: 3rd September 2009; AU: November 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Anita Blake can raise the dead, and is usually willing to pay the price (killing a chicken). However, the older the zombie, the higher the cost, and to meet overtly wealthy Harold Gaynor’s requirements she’ll have to make a human sacrifice. Anita may be known as the Executioner, but there are some things a self-respecting animator won’t do, no matter how many millions are offered to her. And no matter how much she’s tortured.
There’s a good reason readers have fond memories of these early Anita books – they’re bloody good. This, the second in the series, may be fifteen years old, but it’s aged rather well. The content is fascinating, the characters are suitably annoying and/or creepy, and Anita has toy penguins. Not a shag in the novel, though she admits her lust for an emopire who wears a really hideous shirt, Jean-Claude, but he declares her lust is “desire”. Vampires are habitually up themselves, so this should come as a surprise to no one.
And it’s nice to see Anita strike up a new friendship-of-convenience of sorts. Private investigator Veronica Sims may not be good enough for her, but prostitute Wheelchair Wanda is more than just someone from whom to get dirt on Gaynor. Speaking of Harold, he is one sick bastard, but still not the scariest character in the story. That honour is reserved for Dominga Salvador, for whom with much power comes…well, that woman is seriously effed in the head, and not in a “diagnosed mental illness” way, but rather “she’s totally sane and gets her jollies off these horrible things”. Just wait ’til you meet the monster – some broken pieces should never be put together…
The Laughing Corpse does seem somewhat slow, but so do all the other LKH books I’ve read. Still, I pretty much read the last half in one sitting, and it’s an absolute cracker. Quality novels like this make me feel all the more disappointed that the series later jumped the shark.
International cover for Kylie Chan’s White Tiger. And by “international”, I mean USA, Canada and UK. Because the trilogy was realised in Australia a few years ago, and thus had a different cover.
New Zealand author Maree Anderson issued me with a very vague topic (something readerly or writerly), and a certain episode of Family Guy I watched during the week inspired my topic choice.
And no, it didn’t involve Stewie asking, “How are you going on that novel?”
Lexxie Couper
Death, the Vamp and His Brother
Samhain (US: 1st June 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse is at Bondi Beach to claim a life, but lifeguard Patrick Watkins doesn’t make it easy for her. Death, aka Fred, hasn’t met anyone like him before, and there’s a valid reason for that: Patrick is one of a kind, and his vampire brother Ven has an important role to play, too. Pestilence, the First Horseman, plans to bring about the Apocalypse, and Fred can’t fight this battle alone.
The Disease is suitably evil, but his bone throne is unique. Amy Mathieson is an addict too far gone to save herself, but can she save others? Ven and Patrick struggle to adjust to their new situations, but Fred still has a delightful sense of humour.
The resourceful Lexxie Couper has come through with paranormal beasties new to me: namely a nikor and a q’thulu. The clever author has also managed to exploit my unintelligence, making me wonder if the Prophecies within this novel can also be found in religious texts regarding the Apocalypse. I haven’t been this enthused to learn about the Revelations since Madonna’s “Justify My Love (The Beast Within Remix)”!
Here we have:
-Ann Aguirre’s Hell Fire (UK)
-Karen Kincy’s Other
-Yolanda Sfetsos’s Better Off Alone
-R. J. Anderson’s Wayfarer (US/CA)
I have no idea what Better Off Alone looks like, because it’s so dark and maybe my computer settings are too low. I can see a zigzag design at the top…and that’s it. Note to Damnation Books: Please lighten up your art so eejits like me can see it properly, please. Many thanks.
Wayfarer will be published as Rebel in the UK et al, which has a completely different cover.
Posted in Ann Aguirre, Cover Art, Karen Kincy, R. J. Anderson, Yolanda Sfetsos
Tagged Better Off Alone, Damnation Books, Hell Fire, Other, Rebel, Wayfarer
Twitter is easy for those of us who can get straight to the point, and fast. But I’ve been following far too many people on Twitter lately that it’s all become too much. So now I’m much more likely to read your blog than your Twitter. But since people have been cutting down on their blogging to do short Twitter updates instead…
I’m not capable of changing people or starting a revolution, but I am willing to help out. Want me to guest-blog for you? Contact me at TezMillerOz at gmail dot com with your website link, how you know me, and what you’d like me to blog about for you. If someone else has already claimed that topic, you’ll have to choose again. Then I’ll email my guest blog back to you, you put it on your site, and let me know when it’s up.
I don’t offer contest prizes; just my eejit ramblings. I won’t bribe you to read, so if you do choose to read without a possible prize on offer, that proves that you’re awesome 
My inbox awaits you…
