Life, Interrupted

Sleeping Hedgehog is an on-line journal that talks about wonderful arts, often books, that may have a pagan touch. It's the sister publication to Green Man Review. I am delighted that the books were well-received.

"“…once in a very great while I find something I wish I’d read thirty years before it was ever published.”

“…These books do not let you rest. Allie is constantly in heart-thumping danger, being tested by benevolent and evil forces, by her human teachers, by human enemies, and by adult-sized moral questions, though she begins at age eleven. The pioneer setting simply takes it for granted that everyone, of every age, must meet every challenge as it comes with whatever tools they have”

This was on all three Night Calls books.

I have noticed a flurry of (mostly happy) reviews for Night Calls, Kindred Rites, and even four for the latest, Spiral Path. Thank you, everyone who has taken a moment to write a review at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, Powells--anywhere reviewing happens.

Writers try not to nag about reviews, but I can tell you that a stack of fan letters is what made the entire series of the Atevi stretch from three books into its current number. Because thoughtful, happy fans let people know they love a book, more books happen. My agent can't show up with a stack of fan letters, but editors can and do check a writer's back list to see how fans are responding to a story. They check places like Amazon.

I hope to write a fourth Alfreda novel some day, along with a bunch of other books. Your writing a short, thoughtful review helps prove that there's a demand for my work. It doesn't have to be huge, you don't have to recap the story. My favorite review remains a snip from a review for Kindred Rites, that actually mentions an incident in Night Calls. HappyBookWorm wrote:

"...Parts of her books are genuinely creepy. I don't think I'll ever look at a loose post in a field the same way - much less disturb one!"

There were a couple more lines, but this says it all, in a special way. If you want to share Allie with more people, a good review always helps.

For those of you waiting for me to write something else? I've started something else. ;) But whether you are reviewing my Night Calls books or my Nuala books, thank you.

You are helping!

As part of my climb back into publishing, there will be a Night Calls POD. To get it out faster, I'm working with a friend who can format more quickly than I can. This means I won't have her system to add later reviews easily.

So if you have spotted a good review that you want to be sure I've seen, or authors, if you want to add your two cents about Night Calls? Now's the time. Let me know today if you can!

Seventeen years of reviews actually filled the Amazon text box. Good heavens. #FeelingBlessed

For more choices...

After first harvest, it's back to the Audible list and an editing job.

Work, work.

Honestly, I'm so excited I must sound like Seanan McGuire, so please forgive--I was hoping to attract some good library reviews for Night Calls, and thanks to Abe Books, I have discovered that they reviewed Night Calls when it first came out from HarperPrism, back in the day. Abe Books had a snip up:

"The underlying horror...builds slowly and inexorably to an exciting climax. Nordic superstitions and spirits combined with unusual ways to combat the supernatural make this a unique read for horror fans."

Rochelle M. Bilz, Voya, October 1996

Here's hoping it is accurate, so I can use it for the POD cover.

Wheeee!

I think I need to hit the library in search of back issues of VOYA and Locus. There might be some good Kindred Rites reviews out there, in the mists of time. We now return to regular life!

http://bit.ly/NightCalls

A thoughtful review of Fires of Nuala has appeared over at Amazing Stories Magazine online.

Keith West liked it!

"This is a book that should appeal to both male and female readers. There’s action, intrigue, and politics to appeal to fans of sf thrillers, while the relationship between Darame and Sheel will be a plus to those who like their fiction with a dash of romance. While men typically prefer the former and women the latter, the truth is that most normal, healthy adults have aspects of both in their personalities albeit to different degrees. The amazing thing is that Kimbriel manages to balance both so that the joining of the two, action and romance, is nearly seamless. Many have tried to pull this sort of book off in the past, but few have succeeded. Kimbriel makes it look easy. She hasn’t written a book for men or a book for women. She’s written a book for mature, intelligent adults who like thoughtful science fiction with action, intrigue, and fully realized characters the reader wants to spend time with."

If you haven't checked out Amazing Stories Magazine online yet, this is a great excuse to stop by and check it out!

Here's the link!

Thank you, 6_penny!

Thank-you, Antonia and Troyce!

A new review showed up at Amazon while I was out of town. So kind, that someone took a moment out of their busy life to do that. If I could get the reviews of the Nuala books up to twenty for each, they'd show up in searches more often.

Can't do anything about it so I'll go post a review at Goodreads. And check to make sure the book is over twenty reviews at Amazon.

Spreading happiness!

A new urban fantasy by suricattus requires dropping everything else, once I get my hands on it. And joy, it was worth the wait!

Pack of Lies by Laura Anne Gilman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Pack of Lies is the second of the Paranormal Scene Investigations, as the publisher calls the urban fantasies about Bonita Torres, Talent (that’s a human magic-user to you) and now a PUPI, a Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigator. That unaffiliated part is important, because Bonnie, her team mates and two bosses are trying to create something that has never existed before – people who evaluate the Facts of a magic crime, taking no side.

Eight months into this grand experiment, there are a few people who grudgingly admit their skills might be useful, people (and I use the word loosely) who are deeply suspicious of the idea, and people who bitterly appose their venture and are doing everything they can to undermine it.

In this novel, what appears to be an open and shut case of an attack upon a fatae (non-human, thinking, magical creature) and his human, Talented companion is not only not simple, it may be related to a slow simmer of bigotry bubbling up in the stew of magic-users. The human Council (heavy hitters who follow certain laws and regs) distrusts the lonejacks (the independent magic-users,) the purebloods are suspicious of the part-bloods and mixed-bloods, and the fatae suspect the humans are out to exterminate them – and a few probably are. Gilman does an excellent job of introducing all these concepts, never interrupting the flow of the story.

This is not a shoot-em-up fantasy racing along at a breakneck pace. Gilman uses multiple POVs, some only to introduce new, key players in the game. There is a lot of introspection and stream-of-consciousness – possibly too much for people who want the plot to move, who want to know where the potential romances are going, who expect to rip through a book a day in their quest for Another Good Story. You’re going to get a very good story here, but although it does not lag at all, it is, well, thick in spots. Characterization is intricate, and on one level the reader will realize what is going on before the characters do. Old tropes are used in new ways, with new intensity or with a light touch that makes this New York City a unique place on the fantasy scene.

This book is not as violent as the Retriever books tended to be, although it is as dark in its own way. Bonnie and her cohorts are all twenty-somethings, and the things they learn about magic, and about human nature, hit with force because the first lessons are often the hardest.

If you enjoy the CSI style of story, if you like urban fantasy, if you like strong characterization, chances are you’ll like this book. Don’t read it as a straight romance (although a strong attraction is being fought in here) and don’t expect the crime to be tied up in a bow. Nothing is that simple in a Gilman novel, and her fans wouldn’t have it any other way.




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