New Releases: Mar. 28 – Apr. 3, 2011

Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward

Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, warrior cloth as her brother: A fighter by nature, and a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of Chosen females, there is no place for her on the Far Side… and no role for her on the front lines of the war, either.

When she suffers a paralyzing injury, human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello is called in to treat her as only he can- and he soon gets sucked into her dangerous, secret world. Although he never before believed in things that go bump in the night- like vampires- he finds himself more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks both his body and his soul.

As the two find so much more than an erotic connection, …

Explore This! La Jolla (San Diego, California)

Today, we are heading west and getting ready to “Hang Ten”. And this is kind of exciting for me because, before today, I had never heard of La Jolla. So, why am I featuring it? Well, the inspiration for today’s locale comes from Susi Sunshine; she recommended La Jolla to me as it was the setting for Jill Sorenson’s book, Crash Into Me. With elements in the book including famous surfers, romance, and murder, it looks like this is the perfect place for it all to happen.

La Jolla, nicknamed Jewel City, is in the northwestern part of San Diego. It is called “affluent” and one look at these pics will reinforce its nickname and its desirability to the rich and famous.

A hotel in the city.

Genres 101: Today’s Lesson "Punk"

Today, I’m going all out Punk…I’ve dyed my hair green and spiked it, now we’re really ready to rock! Oh, wait….wrong Punk. In our last talk, I mentioned “Splatterpunk” which was a subgenre of Horror, but there is a separate part of the Speculative Fiction category that encompasses many other Punk types. It seems it started out with the term “Cyberpunk“, thought up by Bruce Bethke in the early 1980’s, which blends cybernetics with the punk music of the originating time. It’s essence is about a type of technology that has become highly evolved, for example blending humans with computers and usually occurring in a dystopian society. The first thing that comes to mind here are those scary, crazy Cyborgs in Star Trek….Yes, I’m a trekkie and a trekker (and I know the difference, lol). There are a bunch of movie versions of this genre …

New Releases: March 14-20, 2011

Steel by Carrie Vaughn

It was a slender length of rusted steel, tapered to a point at one end and jagged at the other, as if it had broken. A thousand people would step over it and think it trash, but not her.

This was the tip of a rapier.

Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.

The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate’s life is bloody and brief, and …

Explore This! Saint Petersburg, Russia

Today, our travels take us to a place that has always fascinated me. Thanks to Joy Preble’s new novel, Haunted, the second book in her Dreaming Anastasia series, I was inspired to revisit Russia during the time of Tsar Nicholas II. Though the Joy’s novel takes place in modern times and in New York, the story of the Tsar and his doomed family is one that is very sad and still fairly recent in history.With elements like the suspicious character of Rasputin, the illness of the young son, the deep affections of the Tsar and Tsarina, and of course, the mystery surrounding Anastasia, it has all the workings of an amazing work of fiction.

But, the story of the Romanovs and their ultimate tragedy is all too real. …

Genres 101: Today’s Lesson "Horror"

I want to thank everyone for the awesome feedback on these posts! It’s fun learning and sharing the info with you!

For the next little while, I’ve decided to stick within the Speculative Fiction category because there just so many levels, that I feel it needs special attention. Today, I want to focus on Horror. The first thing that comes to mind, for me, under this title is Stephen King. For me he embodies the dark, scary stories that are synonymous with horror. What I was surprised to learn through my research is that a) horror , though created long ago, was a genre revived in the eighteenth century, largely with a female audience in mind and written by women and b) one of my fave types of literature, the Gothic novel, also falls within the realm of horror.

New Releases: February 28- March 6

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She’s never known any others of her kind. Until now. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—one that her father’s people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help…

Falconer and the Death of Kings by Ian Morson
Captured by a Highlander by Julianne MacLean
Scones & Bones by Laura Childs

Explore This! Meiringen, Switzerland

Today, our world tour takes us to Meiringen, Switzerland. I must admit, before looking into this area, I had never even heard of Meiringen!

When I think Switzerland,  I think Geneva, mountains, skiing and just a general sense of peace. What I’ve never associated with it though is Sherlock Holmes! But, it is the famous detective that has brought me to this scenic destination, which, of course, I had to share with you.

Meiringen is the home of an apparently fantastic Sherlock Holmes museum, complete with items from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s own study and a re-enacted set up of Holmes’ environ (this is according to Graham Moore, author of The Sherlockian.)

A statue of Holmes, truly a larger than life figure in popular fiction for over a …

Genres 101: Today’s Lesson "Fantasy"

Thanks to the inimitable pattepoilue, our new feature has a better name: Genres 101. I hope everyone is seated comfortably, with pencil and paper ready, as we begin the first in our series of lectures (ok, I might be stretching that a bit but just go with me, k?) on the definitions and applications of genre names.

The main common denominator in all of these seemingly similar, imaginative, genres is that they all fall under the “Speculative Fiction” label. I mentioned before, that for Spec Fic, I always think of the question “What if?” as the determining factor in placing a book in this category. But there are so many answers to that question, that we must break it down separately. Today’s lesson will cover all (most?) things under the realm of “Fantasy.”

For me, I’ve always linked Fantasy and Science …

New Releases: Feb. 14 – 20, 2011

Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who’ve been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she’d turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on …