Barnes & Noble Begins to Cooperate!

TA-DA!

Announcing, as requested, real, stamped-by-B&N-with-approval NOOK files of the Nuala series! You can follow these links to admire them, "Like" them, or cheer them on from the sidelines. Or add them to your Nook library on-line.

Yes, the DRM-Free Book View Cafe books that work just fine on NOOK still exist and are available at BVC, among other places. But these are for people who want that B&N new ebook smell.

http://bit.ly/soQMe6
http://bit.ly/vTqjPu
http://bit.ly/voxwkk

May they sell well at their new home away from home.

We now return you to your regular station.

WE GOT TWENTY REVIEWS!

You are the most awesome folk! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I do not know if they are going to sell more books, but we have tried. Nuala fans, if the books start selling well enough, I have an idea for a sequel to Hidden Fires. It could happen. But I still would like to make a living at this, so:

1) Finish Allie #3 and submit to NYC, with backlist
2) Lay out outlines for Urban Fantasy/curse book, submit to agent
3) Tweak BLIND TIGER and bring it out for the public (yes, Mary, with a map!) as an ebook from Book View Cafe
4) Release a couple of short stories as e-shorts

But first -- I'm going to put up the soup recipe, having had some requests.

Book Review -- Dead of Light by Chaz Brenchley

Dead of Light by Chaz Brenchley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Ben Macallan finally left home, it was a relief for everyone. "I’m disinvesting" he told them, and did not plan to return. Ben is the odd man out in his family, the only one with no recognizable "talent." A clan that runs a city and beyond using an arsenal of magical "talents" (think small scale Mafia) doesn’t need any dead weight cluttering up the scenery.

But then one of Ben’s cousins is murdered, ruthlessly and painfully. Evidence suggests that the murderer also possesses magic - powerful, corrosive magic. Ben has been a decent student at university, but the chief lesson here is, you can’t turn your back on family. As the murders continue, Ben notices that it is those perceived as weakest who are being picked off first. And if he doesn’t figure out what’s going on fast, odds are good he’ll soon be a corpse himself.

This is my first book by Chaz Brenchley, but it won’t be my last. The man has enormous depth as a writer, giving us a searing portrait of a young man who has never lived among normal people, and has no idea how relationships are carried out. His family ties are shaky at best, and when breakthrough is finally achieved, and he discovers that he has an unknown form of talent, he scarcely knows what to do with it.

It’s possible that a skilled reader of suspense will see where the book is going earlier than I did, but I was so caught up in the protagonist’s POV I arrived at the answer when he did. This book also has horror aspects - the deaths are not soft-pedaled, and I confess to jumping over some of the details. But if you like your fantasy mixed with strong characterization and suspense, with a dollop of genuine horror (and the magic may be the least of the horror, in the end) then you must try a Brenchley novel!


I discovered this as an ebook at Book View Café.
View all my reviews

Macrobiotics 101 -- Ginger Butternut Squash Soup

By popular demand, here's what I was up to the other day. This recipe is not from a macrobiotic cookbook, it's from Food Cures: Breakthrough Nutritional Prescriptions for Everything from Colds to Cancer by Readers Digest. But the principals of macrobiotic cooking hold for this soup -- use the freshest ingredients you can get, organic if you can, in season if possible, and chow down on a magnificent nutrient-fest! This soup contains ginger and turmeric, both known for having inflammation-fighting properties.
( Goodness Awaits you! )

I have frozen one ball jar of this, but don't know how well that will work. We'll see. Eat it within three days or so for optimal taste and nutrients. So far this book has been quite interesting. This is my first soup from it, but I will be trying some of the others, too.

And, to be a little holidayish...Straight No Chaser!

If you haven't heard this wonderful A Capella singing group -- if you haven't heard about how a college reunion became a shot at a music career -- then watch and learn.

I'd picked up a copy of their first CD for my parents, but for various reasons Mom & Dad never got it. I just listened to Holiday Spirits and it reminded me how fantastic this group is. The man who started SNC chose his fellow singers well. Every voice is a standout, and that bass sets my heart a-fluttering. He holds up the entire platform and makes it look easy. They all make it look easy. But I can tell you it's not, it's talent plus hard work.

When I have money again, I'll be adding their other CDs to my collection. And if they come to Austin, someone tell me, because I want to go!

Here's the original 1998 video that went viral.

And here's the story of how they reunited and got together again (the short version...)

I'm making another soup, so simple and yum, my own recipe -- roasted sweet potato.

Partridge in a big pear tree, y'all --