Sunday, April 12, 2015

2015 Reading Challenge: The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

I won an ARC from a Goodreads Giveaway and am very grateful for the opportunity to provide my honest feedback.  I love books about books and books about carnivals and circuses and this is a particularly good one about both.  

This dark love story crosses generations and tells the story of an unforgettable family and their possible curse.  The characters are memorable and interestingly flawed, the settings (both the traveling carnival and the aged beachside town) are evocative, and the story sucks you in.  I found myself staying up late to read just a few more pages and having whole chapters go by before I could put the book down.  This wasn’t a quick read, not dense but complex and rich, sometimes a bit slow paced, but always compelling.  

I would recommend it for fans of The Night Circus (because it has that dark circus type setting) and The Shadow of the Wind (for the awesome book about books angle).

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Netgalley Reviews - Aftermath Lounge by Margaret McMullan

Aftermath Lounge is a beautiful and subtly tragic book about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.  It is composed of multiple stories following several different characters and their experiences leading up to and after the storm.  

The focus of these stories is on the lives of the characters, not as much on the storm itself, and the insight into their lives is touching and deep.  The characters are believable and relatable and I became invested in their stories and well being.

I would recommend this book for fans of contemporary fiction, particularly those with an interest in the south and Gulf Coast regions.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Netgalley Reviews: Daughters of Shadow and Blood Book One: Yasamin

Daughters of Shadow and Blood Book One: Yasamin is a grown up vampire story that tells the story of one of the brides of Dracula.  The story’s premise was interesting, and I found myself drawn into Yasamin’s world, wanting to know more about her and how she became entangled with Dracula.  

That being said, I found the pace of this book rather slow and was sometimes confused by the jumps in time that the author utilizes to tell the stories of the novel’s two main characters.  I also found myself wanting more from Yasamin’s story: more detail, more character building, more history.  The adventures of both characters are at times nail bitingly tense, but I didn’t feel as engaged with the characters as I would have liked.  

Overall, this book is worth a read for fans of vampire fiction or thrillers such as The Da Vinci Code.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Netgalley Reviews: The Girl at Midnight

I received a free advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Couldn’t put this one down, got it done in a day.  This is a good young adult fantasy for mature readers and fans of The Grisha Trilogy and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series.  

Like Daughter of Smoke and Bone, this one features a strong female protagonist, fantastical creatures, and magic, all set in a world just slightly askew from our own.  The Girl at Midnight is full of exciting action and memorable characters.  I can’t wait for the next book!

Monday, March 2, 2015

2015 Reading Challenge: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

As a child, I used to love to ride my bike past the houses on my street in the early evening and look into the front windows to catch glimpses into my neighbors’ lives.  The Girl on the Train tells a grown up and darkly twisted version of my childhood story, centered around a daily train trip.  

None of the characters in this book are likable, but they are all very realistic and well developed.  All of the story’s narrators are unreliable, each offering little snippets of experience and insight, but none revealing too much at once.  The Girl on the Train is delightfully suspenseful and I was surprised by the twists and turns it takes.  

I would recommend this book to fans of dark suspense and, though I haven’t read any of Gillian Flynn’s novels, many others have recommended The Girl on the Train to her fans.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Q&A With Greg Hickey, Author of Our Dried Voices


Q: How did you come up with the details and dates in the chronology?

A: I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted the colonists to be like before I started the  chronology. Writing the chronology became a matter of getting from the present day to the Pearl colony several hundred years in the future, while simultaneously addressing the question of how the great wealth of humanity’s intellect could produce a society that lacked even the most basic capacity for critical thought. Even today, humans have already cured diseases that were deadly or incapacitating less than 100 years ago. Technology has made the world smaller and easier to navigate. I tried to carry these strands of progress to their complete realization, which is a world without the problems that have plagued humankind throughout our existence. So all the dates and details are just my thoughts on the possible extensions of human progress, colored by the hopeful belief that human beings are capable of such intellectual feats.

Q: How has your experience as a forensic scientist influenced your writing?

A: Not very much in regards to Our Dried Voices, simply because I wrote most of the novel before I even began my graduate work in forensics. I’ve drawn on my knowledge of forensics and very brief experience with trial law in my second novel, which I am currently editing.

However, I have no plans to write a forensic crime novel, in the vein of Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs.

Q: Do you have a muse or consistent source of inspiration?

A: Books in general. I get so many ideas from reading, and even find myself unconsciously drawing on the language of whatever author I’m reading at the time.

Q: In Our Dried Voices, technology and automation have rid humanity of the need for creativity and original thought.  How do you think present day technologies contribute to society as a helper or inhibitor of these characteristics in the real world?  Do you see present day technology as a threat to humanity’s creativity?

A: Like many other things, I think the benefits of technologies depend on how we employ them. Obviously, endeavors to cure disease and alleviate world hunger are admirable pursuits. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to worry about such hardships. But I think we should question how much we want our technologies to do for us. Do we want our cars to parallel park themselves, or even drive someday in the future, or is there value in learning and practicing these skills ourselves? The problem in the colony of Our Dried Voices is that the colonists lose all the skill and intellect that made these technologies possible. I think humans can be endlessly creative, and technology can play an essential role in this process, but maintaining that creativity will require a concerted effort.

Q: Are you planning a sequel?

A: Not immediately. I know the end of the novel definitely leaves room for a sequel, but I’ve got a couple different projects planned next. However, I can imagine myself writing an Our Dried Voices sequel someday.

Q: What is next for you, writing wise?  Do you have any current projects you’d like to talk about?

A: I’m currently editing a novel entitled The Friar’s Lantern. It’s a gamebook, or choose-your-own-adventure book (yes, just like the ones you used to read as a kid, but slightly more grown up). It’s about fate and free will and features a philosophy problem called Newcomb’s Paradox and a murder trial in which you are a juror.

Q: What are a few of your favorite books?

A: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, 1984 by George Orwell, Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, The Plague by Albert Camus.

Q: Are you a vegetarian?

A: No. I think there are important nutrients to be found in animal proteins. That said, I believe more humane farming methods also produce a healthier product, in contrast to factory farming.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your process?  Do you have a regular writing routine?

A: I’m big on outlines, which I think comes from my experience as a philosophy major in college. Outlines help me map out philosophical arguments, and in writing fiction they help me structure my stories. Usually by the time I’m actually ready to write a complete piece, I have a pretty good idea of where I want things to go. After I’ve finished a first draft, I will go through several rewrites, each one focusing on a few different aspects of the work, including overall content, sentence structure and word choice. And I always like to read my pieces aloud at least once so I can hear the flow of the words.

Q: What do you think it is about the sub-story in Our Dried Voices that made it the one story that
remained to the people of the colony?  What inspired the sub-story?

A: I think all people have a strong sense of home, and the idea of going home is so universal across humanity as to withstand the test of time. The colonists certainly share this idea of home, even if they can’t articulate it. They remain very much bound to the confines of their colony, unwilling to explore the meadow beyond the rudimentary fence, or even sleep in a different bed despite the uniformity of the barracks-like sleeping halls. The sub-story is based on another very well-known homecoming story, which I have only shared in my monthly e-mail newsletter. For now, I will leave that secret to the imagination of my readers.

About the Author:
Greg Hickey was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1985. After graduating from Pomona College in 2008, he played and coached baseball in Sweden and South Africa. He is now a forensic scientist, endurance athlete and award-winning writer. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Lindsay.

About  the Book:
In 2153, cancer was cured. In 2189, AIDS. And in 2235, the last members of the human race traveled to a far distant planet called Pearl to begin the next chapter of humanity. Several hundred years after their arrival, the remainder of humanity lives in a utopian colony in which every want is satisfied automatically, and there is no need for human labor, struggle or thought. But when the machines that regulate the colony begin to malfunction, the colonists are faced with a test for the first time in their existence. With the lives of the colonists at stake, it is left to a young man named Samuel to repair these breakdowns and save the colony. Aided by his friend Penny, Samuel rises to meet each challenge. But he soon discovers a mysterious group of people behind each of these problems, and he must somehow find and defeat these saboteurs in order to rescue his colony.
(234pp, ISBN#9781940368931)


Purchase at:Amazon $2.99 Kindle, borrow on Kindle Unlimited or $12.53 Paperback (Prime Eligible)
or  Scribe Publishing, in Print $10.00

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Our Dried Voices by Greg Hickey

In Our Dried Voices by Greg Hickey scientific achievements and advancements lead to a utopian society where everyone’s needs are automatically provided for and creativity, thought, and language are no longer needed.  

The book’s main character, Samuel, evolves a great deal through the book, as does the plot.  The build up is slow and steady, becoming more complex as Samuel’s thinking evolves.  I enjoyed the book and couldn’t put it down once I started it.  The timeline at the beginning is fascinating and made me wonder at how the author came up with it.  It’s interesting to think of the achievements listed there and how they would affect our world.

There is not much discussion of technology in the book, mostly just scientific development, but I wonder how the author envisions our modern media landscape as a factor in the devolution of humanity.  There is definitely a sense of warning in the book, as the Earth becomes uninhabitable due to environmental issues, war, and overpopulation and these themes, along with their consequences, are handled philosophically throughout the novel.

I would recommend Our Dried Voices to fans of dystopian fiction and philosophical fiction.

Check in tomorrow for a Q&A with the author himself!


About the Author:
Greg Hickey was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1985. After graduating from Pomona College in 2008, he played and coached baseball in Sweden and South Africa. He is now a forensic scientist, endurance athlete and award-winning writer. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Lindsay.

About  the Book:
In 2153, cancer was cured. In 2189, AIDS. And in 2235, the last members of the human race traveled to a far distant planet called Pearl to begin the next chapter of humanity. Several hundred years after their arrival, the remainder of humanity lives in a utopian colony in which every want is satisfied automatically, and there is no need for human labor, struggle or thought. But when the machines that regulate the colony begin to malfunction, the colonists are faced with a test for the first time in their existence. With the lives of the colonists at stake, it is left to a young man named Samuel to repair these breakdowns and save the colony. Aided by his friend Penny, Samuel rises to meet each challenge. But he soon discovers a mysterious group of people behind each of these problems, and he must somehow find and defeat these saboteurs in order to rescue his colony.
(234pp, ISBN#9781940368931)


Purchase at:Amazon $2.99 Kindle, borrow on Kindle Unlimited or $12.53 Paperback (Prime Eligible)
or  Scribe Publishing, in Print $10.00