Life and Things
A mostly slow, boring week. I started using my camera more, and exploring different shots. I enjoy the photography, but I’ve still got lots to learn about what makes a truly good picture. The best thing about the week was seeing Les Miserables at the Orpheum on Wednesday. This is still my all-time favourite play. Sad to say, I know most of the words to most of the songs. I wanted to sing along! This cast did a good job with the barricade scenes. They weren’t quite as good as from my first show, but I think that biases me 😛 That first performance will always be the best in my mind. This is a play to send shivers down the spine with the force of its energy. Our next play is Phantom of the Opera.
Enjoyable posts of the past week from others
5 Things I Did (Before I Was Published) to Become a Better Writer/like Paper Fury/ Cait
Children of Blood and Bones by Tomi Adeyemi: Deserving All the Hype/ Beware of the Reader/ Sophie
Is There a Proper Verb Tense for Writing Reviews?/ Another Book in the Wall/ Kelly
Posts of the past week ICYMT
Music Monday: 8/13: The Confrontation
WWW Wednesday: August 15, 2018
Tour: Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount
Review: Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount
Review: Crystal Healing and Sacred Pleasure by Vanessa Cuccia
I Love Characters: Best Friends
Books read, reviewed, and posted/scheduled the past week
Hunters by Josh Tierney & Miguel Valderrama, 2*
Seto Utsumi by Kadzuya Konomoto, 3*
Snowy: A Leopard of the High Mountains by Milisava Petkovic & Xuan Loc Xuan, 3*
Improper Cross-stitch (Sampler II) by Haley Pierson-Cox, 4*
Just the Right Size by Bonnie Grubman, 4*
Lady Mechanika Vol 4: Clockwork Assassin by Joe Benitez & MM Chen, 4*
The True Tale of a Giantess by Anne Renaud & Marie Lafrance, 4*
Wild Buildings and Bridges by Etta Kaner & Carl Wiens, 4*
Creature by Hunter Shea, 5*
Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton, 5*
If All the World Were… by Joseph Coelho, 5*
Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount, 5*
Favourite Read(s) of the Past Week
Current Read
‘FBI Special Agent Jeff Rinek had a gift for getting child predators to confess. All he had to do was share a piece of his soul . . .
In the Name of the Children gives an unflinching look at what it’s like to fight a never-ending battle against an enemy far more insidious than terrorists: the predators, lurking amongst us, who seek to harm our children.
During his 30-year career with the FBI, Jeff Rinek worked hundreds of investigations involving crimes against children: from stranger abduction to serial homicide to ritualized sexual abuse. Those who do this kind of work are required to plumb the depths of human depravity, to see things no one should ever have to see—and once seen can never forget. There is no more important—or more brutal—job in law enforcement, and few have been more successful than Rinek at solving these sort of cases.
Most famously, Rinek got Cary Stayner to confess to all four of the killings known as the Yosemite Park Murders, an accomplishment made more extraordinary by the fact that the FBI nearly pinned the crimes on the wrong suspects. Rinek’s recounting of the confession and what he learned about Stayner provides perhaps the most revelatory look ever inside the psyche of a serial killer and a privileged glimpse into the art of interrogation.
In the Name of the Children takes readers into the trenches of real-time investigations where every second counts and any wrong decision or overlooked fact can have tragic repercussions. Rinek offers an insider’s perspective of the actual case agents and street detectives who are the boots on the ground in this war at home. By placing us inside the heart and mind of a rigorously honest and remarkably self-reflective investigator, we will see with our own eyes what it takes—and what it costs—to try to keep our children safe and to bring to justice those who prey on society’s most vulnerable victims.
With each chapter dedicated to a real case he worked, In the Name of the Children also explores the evolution of Rinek as a Special Agent—whose unorthodox, empathy-based approach to interviewing suspects made him extraordinarily successful in obtaining confessions—and the toll it took to have such intimate contact with child molesters and murderers. Beyond exploring the devastating impact of these unthinkable crimes on the victims and their families, this book offers an unprecedented look at how investigators and their loved ones cope while living in the specter of so much suffering.’
‘She is Hettie Alabama — unlikely, scarred, single-minded, and blood bound to a revolver inhabited by a demon.
The first book in an epic, magic-clad series featuring the Wild West reimagined as a crosscultural stereoscope of interdimensional magic and hardship, The Devil’s Revolver opens with a shooting competition and takes off across the landscape after a brutal double murder and kidnapping — to which revenge is the only answer. Hettie Alabama, only seventeen years old, leads her crew of underdogs with her father’s cursed revolver, magicked to take a year off her life each time she fires it. It’s no way for a ranch girl to grow up, but grow up she does, her scars and determination to rescue her vulnerable younger sister deepening with every year of life she loses.
A sweeping and high-stakes saga that gilds familiar Western adventure with powerful magic and panoramic fantasy, The Devil’s Revolver is the last word and the blackest hat in the Weird West.’
Next Up (maybe)
Building a Trade Empire by Paul E Horsman
High Merchant by Paul E Horsman
Fascinating New Yorkers by Clifford Browder
Hiding by Jenny Morton Potts
Everything Under the Sun by Jessica Redmerski
Devil’s Standoff by VS McGrath
Burn Up: Secrets of Mylin by Joe Klingler
The Royal Order of Fighting Dragons by Dan Elish
Reckoning of Fallen Gods by RA Salvatore
Book Haul
‘Science and technology have starring roles in a wide range of genres–science fiction, fantasy, thriller, mystery, and more. Unfortunately, many depictions of technical subjects in literature, film, and television are pure fiction. A basic understanding of biology, physics, engineering, and medicine will help you create more realistic stories that satisfy discerning readers.
This book brings together scientists, physicians, engineers, and other experts to help you:Understand the basic principles of science, technology, and medicine that are frequently featured in fiction. Avoid common pitfalls and misconceptions to ensure technical accuracy. Write realistic and compelling scientific elements that will captivate readers. Brainstorm and develop new science- and technology-based story ideas. Whether writing about mutant monsters, rogue viruses, giant spaceships, or even murders and espionage, Putting the Science in Fiction will have something to help every writer craft better fiction.
Putting the Science in Fiction collects articles from “Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy,” Dan Koboldt’s popular blog series for authors and fans of speculative fiction (dankoboldt.com/science-in-scifi). Each article discusses an element of sci-fi or fantasy with an expert in that field. Scientists, engineers, medical professionals, and others share their insights in order to debunk the myths, correct the misconceptions, and offer advice on getting the details right.’
‘A sweeping historical novel about a dancehall girl and an orphan boy whose fates entangle over an old Chinese superstition about men who turn into tigers.
When 11-year-old Ren’s master dies, he makes one last request of his Chinese houseboy: that Ren find his severed finger, lost years ago in an accident, and reunite it with his body. Ren has 49 days, or else his master’s soul will roam the earth, unable to rest in peace.
Ji Lin always wanted to be a doctor, but as a girl in 1930s Malaysia, apprentice dressmaker is a more suitable occupation. Secretly, though, Ji Lin also moonlights as a dancehall girl to help pay off her beloved mother’s Mahjong debts. One night, Ji Lin’s dance partner leaves her with a gruesome souvenir: a severed finger. Convinced the finger is bad luck, Ji Lin enlists the help of her erstwhile stepbrother to return it to its rightful owner.
As the 49 days tick down, and a prowling tiger wreaks havoc on the town, Ji Lin and Ren’s lives intertwine in ways they could never have imagined. Propulsive and lushly written, The Night Tiger explores colonialism and independence, ancient superstition and modern ambition, sibling rivalry and first love. Braided through with Chinese folklore and a tantalizing mystery, this novel is a page-turner of the highest order.’
‘The stranger stood in the doorway, smiling as if he knew her. His blue-green eyes were transfixing: strange, luminous – like the sea on a cloudy day. Faye felt a sense of shifting, like standing on wet sand as the tide washed in, burying her deeper and deeper…
Faye Morgan – beautiful, independent and lonely – runs her family’s small shop of magical curiosities like her mother and grandmother before her. She longs for an escape, unaware of the dark power that flows through her veins…
When Faye casts a spell into the sea one cold morning, her call brings her to the attention of the wild and impulsive faerie king Finn Beatha. Finn pulls Faye into an intoxicating new world, both magical and treacherous… and as bewitching as Finn himself, who seems to command every part of her when he’s near.
As Faye’s passion for Finn grows, so does her fear that she might be there for some darker reason… and that she could be trapped in Faerie forever. Is there something in Faye’s past connecting her to this place, to Finn? And dare she find out more when every moment draws her further away from her old world?
A gorgeously sexy and action-packed read, perfect for fans of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Amy Bartol and A Court of Thorns and Roses. You’ll never want to put this book down!’
Aww thanks for the shoutout! Great wrap up! ❤️