Sunday, February 26, 2012

NOW THROUGH MAY - MORE FREE KINDLE

Check out our schedule of free books on Amazon Kindle. Prime members can borrow free with no time limit!

SCIENCE FICTION SATURDAYS (1)
Saturday, March 3
Saturday, March 17
Saturday, March 31
Saturday, April 14
Saturday, April 28

THE MCKENZIE FILES
Barry K. Nelson
Military Science Fiction

Humanity's at war with a reptilian race called the Brelac, but a secret weapon - human Reploid clones programmed to serve the Brelac - have infiltrated the Protectorate. In a bid to turn the Brelac secret weapons against their alien masters, the Protectorate reprograms three captured Reploids who may be the only thing standing between humanity and total destruction.


SCIENCE FICTION SATURDAYS (2)
Saturday, March 10
Saturday, March 24
Saturday, April 7
Saturday, April 21
Saturday, May 5

ASSASSINATION ANXIETY
THE MCKENZIE FILES BOOK 2
Barry K. Nelson
Military Science Fiction


Humanity's still at war with the reptilian Brelac race. The captured and reprogrammed Reploids are now assigned to the Protectorate's Central Intelligence Division as a new team called the Silencers. Colin, Diane, and Kelly have proved themselves with their psionic powers, and now they must find out who - and what - is behind the devastating assassination attempt on President Drennan. If the separatist organization Vendetta is still at work with the Brelac, the Silencers might be humanity's only hope.


SUSPENSE SUNDAYS
Sunday, February 26
Sunday, March 18

BROADLAND SUSPENSE
THE BLUE LADY
Anthony Jude McGowne
Scottish Suspense

Seven Scottish lads rent a cruiser for a summer holiday on the Norfolk Broads, and get more than they bargained for when they have a run-in with smugglers.


SUSPENSE SUNDAYS
Sunday, March 4
Sunday, March 25
Sunday, April 8

ESCAPE CLAUSE
David Berardelli
Thriller Suspense

A construction field supervisor spots a woman in a bar that looks like the love of his life he let slip through his fingers seven years ago. Now he wonders if she's in grave danger. When he tries to find out, he finds himself in danger too!


SUSPENSE SUNDAYS
Sunday, March 11
Sunday, April 1

FATAL INNOCENCE
David Berardelli
Thriller Suspense

A hard-drinking, womanizing Orlando software king risks his empire after meeting a beautiful redhead in a bar. At first all he can think about is getting her in the sack. But bad things keep happening in his business and his home life, and he starts to wonder if this mystery woman is the source of all his trouble. A private detective hired to look into it starts suspecting this woman comes from the tycoon's checkered past and is out to get him. But can he find out the truth before she ruins the man? Or should he just step back and let it happen?


BLOODY MONDAYS
Monday, February 27
Monday, March 12

BLOOD AND SUNLIGHT Jamie Wasserman
Paranormal Romance / Horror

A young woman feels trapped in the doldrums of small hometown life as the reluctant girlfriend of a wannabe vampire - until she meets the real thing.


HOLDING BACK MONDAYS
Monday, March 5

Monday, April 2

HOLDING BACK THE DAY
Jamie Wasserman
Paranormal Romance / Horror

Claire's best friend and inspiration is her courageous and forthright grandmother Millie. Claire wants to be like her, but that's not such an easy task. When a charismatic boy named Jack comes to town, Claire realizes there's more to her grandmother than she'd ever guessed. Millie's harboring a big secret, and Claire suspects that secret is perennially mysterious Jack.


MADDENING MONDAYS
Monday, March 19
Monday, March 26
Monday, April 9
Monday, April 16

ANGEL'S ORACLE
Gary Bolick
Historical / Literary / Fantasy

Horrific events over a three-day Easter weekend in 1959 Mississippi convince an albino white man that he fits in better with the 'coloreds' than he does with his own 'white folk.'


MONDAY'S MISTRESS
Monday, February 27
Monday, March 5
Monday, March 12

DOMINATRIX-ONLINE.COM
MISTRESS BLACKHEART: POLICEMAN'S PREROGATIVE
Dana Warryck
Humorous Erotic Romance

"You've been very naughty, and you must be punished!" A snarky online dominatrix meets her match and finally learns to love.


DYSTOPIAN TUESDAYS
Tuesday, February 28
Tuesday, March 13
Tuesday, March 27
Tuesday, April 3

THE NUMBERS
Aidan Watson-Morris
Young-Adult Dystopian Military

Eleven hates training and hates The Cliff. Eleven is just a number in the military's powerful and vast corps of elite soldiers trained from birth after passage of the Life Act. But Eleven wasn't one of the unwanted fetuses handed over to the military; he was an orphan, an experiment, like the ten others in his group. He hates the constant training and pain the goes along with it. He hates the idea that his life is dedicated solely to training to kill and training to die in the service of his country. But that is all he knows, and he has no choice. Or does he? Following a training accident with The Cliff, he is given books to read while recuperating. And a whole new world opens up to him ... a world that puts the seed of an idea in his head. Maybe he can actually beat The Cliff.


TALK TUESDAYS
Tuesday, March 6
Tuesday, March 20
Tuesday, April 3
Tuesday, April 17
Tuesday, May 1

TALK OF THE TOWN
Lucille Naroian
Contemporary Romance

A mystery writer trying to gain the respect her craft deserves runs afoul of a caustic talk-show host who hates mystery writers with a passion that engulfs them both. Yesterday they were strangers ... today they’re the talk of the town!


WATERY WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, February 29

BROADLAND SUSPENSE
THE BLUE LADY
Anthony Jude McGowne
Scottish Suspense

Seven Scottish lads rent a cruiser for a summer holiday on the Norfolk Broads, and get more than they bargained for when they have a run-in with smugglers.



PARANORMAL WEDNESDAYS (1)
Wednesday, March 7
Wednesday, March 21
Wednesday, April 4
Wednesday, April 11

COLORS
David Berardelli
Paranormal Suspense

After trying to help the victim of a hit-and-run, a young woman finds herself seeing odd colors around people when they're charged with emotion. As she probes deeper into the hit-and-run murder to help bring justice to the old woman and find out more about her strange new visionary power, a DEA cop comes to her rescue. She soon realizes someone very powerful wants to keep her quiet ... permanently. Can her gift keep her and those around her safe, or is she destined to end up dead like the old woman she tried to help?




PARANORMAL WEDNESDAYS (2)
Wednesday, March 14
Wednesday, March 28
Wednesday, April 4
Wednesday, April 11


STEPPING OUT OF MY GRAVE
David Berardelli
Paranormal Suspense

Sometimes ya gotta do the right thing - even when you're dead! A software company owner gets hit by a tricked-out truck and wakes up standing in his own grave. Once successful in life, he now has to learn the ropes of being dead. He soon finds out the afterlife of a ghost comes with its own perks, and he intends to use his for the greater good. His first 'project' is a street-smart teenage girl involved in a dangerous, desperate situation. But will all his newfound ghostly abilities be enough to keep her from becoming as dead as he is?





PARANORMAL WEDNESDAYS (3)
Wednesday, March 7
Wednesday, April 18

Wednesday, May 2
Wednesday, May 9
Wednesday, May 16 


DARWIN'S CHILDREN
Natasha Larry
Young-Adult Paranormal


Seventeen-year-old Jaycie Lerner's life is complicated enough being a black girl in a prestigious small-town Tennessee private school. But trying to act normal and fit in really gets difficult when her telekinesis and telepathy kick in. Jaycie's not just special, she's super-special. And with her great power comes great responsibility ... sometimes more than she can handle. But she's got her oddball family to help her - a super-strong and fast surrogate mom, a telepathic dad, a very persuasive godfather, and a new friend who's really hot - literally! Jaycie's just trying to get through every day and learn how to maintain control over her powers. But when trouble strikes, things really heat up fast, and literally get explosive. The good news is, she's got someone special looking out for her - at least she thinks it's good news...


PARANORMAL WEDNESDAYS (4)
Wednesday, March 14
Wednesday, April 25
Wednesday, May 2
Wednesday, May 9
Wednesday, May 16


UNNATURAL LAW
DARWIN'S CHILDREN BOOK 2
Natasha Larry
Young-Adult Paranormal


Seventeen-year-old Jaycie Lerner's psychokinetic power surge is over, but her problems are just beginning. With this much power unleashed, she's a danger to herself and others - especially her best friend and would-be boyfriend Matt Carter. But Matt's not willing to give up on her. Meanwhile, Allison Young, Jaycie's live-in trainer and surrogate mom, has problems of her own. She's lonely and having strange dreams, but all she can remember is a rose as her life and everything else descends into chaos.



DARK THURSDAY
Thursday, March 1

DARK CRESCENDO
Lucille Naroian
Contemporary Romance

At the funeral of her famous pianist husband, Joanna Reed Dalton is stunned to see her former lover, Nick Jordan. For the last three years of her loveless marriage to Steven, she has dreamed of being with Nick again - and finally, he's back. As a pianist in her own right, Joanna now has a chance to enjoy life. The question is, will Nick be a part of it - and will her father allow it? Joanna's bid for freedom and love could end in heartbreak or happiness. Tension and uncertainty build in a dark crescendo, with the outcome unknown until the final notes.


UNFORGETTABLE THURSDAYS
Thursday, March 8
Thursday, April 5

UNFORGETTABLE
Lucille Naroian
Contemporary Romance

A woman jilted and robbed by a con man, stranded on Cape Cod in a rain storm, and threatened by a Doberman, is rescued by the dog's owner, a famous playwright whose life is complicated by a Chinese housekeeper with a drinking problem, and a cross-dressing actor vying for the lead in his new play. These two put-upon individuals seem meant for each other, but will their personal secrets and mistrust keep them apart?


THRILLER THURSDAYS
Thursday, March 15

BROADLAND SUSPENSE
THE BLUE LADY
Anthony Jude McGowne
Scottish Suspense

Seven Scottish lads rent a cruiser for a summer holiday on the Norfolk Broads, and get more than they bargained for when they have a run-in with smugglers.


THRILLER THURSDAYS
Thursday, March 22
Thursday, April 12

ESCAPE CLAUSE
David Berardelli
Thriller Suspense

A construction field supervisor spots a woman in a bar that looks like the love of his life he let slip through his fingers seven years ago. Now he wonders if she's in grave danger. When he tries to find out, he finds himself in danger too!


THRILLER THURSDAYS
Thursday, March 29
Thursday, April 5

FATAL INNOCENCE
David Berardelli
Thriller Suspense

A hard-drinking, womanizing Orlando software king risks his empire after meeting a beautiful redhead in a bar. At first all he can think about is getting her in the sack. But bad things keep happening in his business and his home life, and he starts to wonder if this mystery woman is the source of all his trouble. A private detective hired to look into it starts suspecting this woman comes from the tycoon's checkered past and is out to get him. But can he find out the truth before she ruins the man? Or should he just step back and let it happen?



FANTASY FRIDAYS (1)
Friday, March 2
Friday, March 9

REALMS OF BELIAR
THE SWORD MYNDARIT
Andrew Arrowsmith
High Fantasy

In a world where magic is the norm, four young, inexperienced people find themselves chosen to save the benevolent Empire of old from destruction by the heartless Alliance. Along the way, they face dangers and tribulations, and get a little help from the gods and a talking sword.

FANTASY FRIDAYS (2)
Friday, March 16
Friday, March 23

THE MAKING OF BERNIE TRUMBLE
Robert J. Wetherall
Contemporary Fantasy / Alternate Reality

A young man, born into a world where women rule, stuggles to find himself through an odyssey of mishaps and adventures.


LAST FLIGHT FRIDAYS
Friday, March 30
Friday, April 6

LAST FLIGHT HOME
Robert J. Wetherall
Contemporary Romance / Corporate Intrigue

Born to fly, a teenage Nebraska girl soars to the pinnacle of the global airline industry. An engaging saga, crisply told with breathtaking flight sequences and riveting emotional conflicts.


LAST DAY OF THE MONTH
Wednesday, February 29
Saturday, March 31

LAST FLIGHT HOME
Robert J. Wetherall
Contemporary Romance / Corporate Intrigue

Born to fly, a teenage Nebraska girl soars to the pinnacle of the global airline industry. An engaging saga, crisply told with breathtaking flight sequences and riveting emotional conflicts.


IDES OF MARCH
Thursday, March 15

THE MAKING OF BERNIE TRUMBLE
Robert J. Wetherall
Contemporary Fantasy / Alternate Reality

A young man, born into a world where women rule, stuggles to find himself through an odyssey of mishaps and adventures.


APRIL FOOLS' SUNDAY
Sunday, April 1

THE MAKING OF BERNIE TRUMBLE
Robert J. Wetherall
Contemporary Fantasy / Alternate Reality

A young man, born into a world where women rule, stuggles to find himself through an odyssey of mishaps and adventures.








TAX DAY SUNDAY
Sunday, April 15
THE MAKING OF BERNIE TRUMBLE
Robert J. Wetherall
Contemporary Fantasy / Alternate Reality


A young man, born into a world where women rule, stuggles to find himself through an odyssey of mishaps and adventures.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

FIVE DAY FREE KINDLE - America's Galactic Foreign Legion

All of the AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION series is now on the Kindle Select program, available for free borrowing by Kindle Prime members. In addition, we are offering for those of you who have not sampled this series yet, a continuous-run Five-Day FREE Kindle promotion schedule for the remaining books in the AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION series that have not already been offered free under this program. The schedule is as follows...

Monday, Feb. 20 - Friday, Feb. 24...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 3: SILENT INVASION
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

The saga of compulsive gambler turned legionnaire continues as Joey Czerinski deals with the clever machinations of the Arthropodan Empire trying to take control of planet New Colorado. It's not just a case of a spider that sits down beside her - Little Miss Muffet and the Galactic Foregin Legion have to deal with spiders, spiders everywhere, and the wolves are literally at the door. But with the usual politically-incorrect aplomb, Czerinski and his Legion pals struggle through more serendipitous surprises in this third installment of the miles-of-smiles military space opera.


Saturday, Feb. 25 - Wednesday, Feb. 29...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 4: DEMILITARIZED ZONE
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

The New Gobi Desert on planet New Colorado is hot-hot-hot, and when Major Joey Czerinski and his platoon are ordered there to check on Arthropodan spider military activity, Czerinski finds it hard to believe the spiders are just building a swimming pool. The spider commander is a royal pain in the rear, and Czerinski's cowboy diplomacy doesn't help the situation. Tit-for-tat one-upmanship escalates the conflict, making the DMZ explosive. A juvie militia leader rises from the dust to complicate things, and with Walmart, McDonald's, and chupacabra thrown into the mix, the absurdity never stops. Czerinski handles it all with his usual politically-incorrect aplomb in this fourth installment of the giggles-and-belly-laughs military space opera.


Thursday, March 1 - Monday, March 5...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 5: INSURGENCY
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

If dreams really do come true, then habitual-gambling legionnaire Joey R. Czerinski is stuck in a friggin' nightmare as his tour of duty in planet New Colorado's New Gobi Desert drags on. The alien Arthropodan Empire continues secretly supporting spider terrorists on New Colorado, and to fight back, the Legion also supplies the human rebel faction with armaments. But things get out of hand as independence from all rulers - Galactic Federation or Arthropodan Empire - starts looking better and better to a combined insurgency made up of both spider and human rebels. Czerinski finds himself teaming with unusal allies to try and keep things under control as the politically-incorrect humor explodes in this fifth installment of the military space opera.


Tuesday, March 6 - Saturday, March 10...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 6: CULTURE WAR
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

The conflict escalates as the Arthropodan Emperor declares war on American culture and orders all American merchandise and cultural influences banned north of the DMZ. Things get out of hand, as usual, when Colonel Joey R. Czerinski and his miscreant band of legionnaires fumble the ball. Czerinski overracts and alienates those closest to him, and through it all, the laughs keep coming.


Sunday, March 11 - Thursday, March 15...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 7: ENEMIES
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

Even the paranoid have enemies - as Colonel Joey R. Czerinski well knows, being paranoid and having many enemies. Some of those enemies he actually calls friends. Snipers on rooftops and scorpions from space - the source doesn't matter, they're still enemies that have to be dealt with. And Czerinski deals with it all in his usual way - by cheating and lying and alienating everyone around him - as the laughs continue.


Friday, March 16 - Tuesday, March 20...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 8: ALLIES
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

A treaty makes the humans and spiders allies, but before anyone can enjoy peace, the scorpions reappear with a vengeance. Col. Czerinski and his miscreant band of legionnaires help the spiders battle the scorpions. The Legion’s serendipitous screw-up convinces the scorpions to surrender. A new alien species makes an appearance, and a feared nemesis returns, putting everyone on alert as the laughs continue.


Wednesday, March 21 - Sunday, March 25...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 9: SCORPIONS
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

The Scorpion Queen takes a special diplomatic tour of planet New Colorado, with a secret recipe - er, plan - in mind for the surviving Mantidae. All she has to do is find them. Amid a buffalo drive, Czerinski falls victim to a mysterious illness with a nasty green rash that threatens his life. The Mantid matriarch makes a final bid for vengeance against the scorpions for decimating her race. And, in a strange turn of events, Czerinski gets a new CO as the laughs and absurdity continue in this ninth installment of the seriously screwy science fiction space saga.


Monday, March 26 - Friday, March 30...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 10: PEACEKEEPERS
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

With Colonel Manny Lopez now in charge, Captain Joey R. Czerinski and his ragtag band of legionnaires are sporting blue peacekeeper armbands and helmets to head off hostilities between the scorpions and the spiders on planet New Colorado. But with nukes and an old foe making a return appearance, America's Galactic Foreign Legion has a full plate - as long as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut keep their doors open, and Czerinski handles it all with his usual paranoid aplomb. The absurdity continues in the tenth installment of the seriously screwy science fiction space saga.


Saturday, March 31 - Wednesday, April 4...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 11: CEMETERY CITY
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

Colonel Lopez returns to planet New Colorado with an agenda - mining rare metals used in communications and weapons technology on which the USGF is so dependent. The only problem is, the ore vein is located across the border in Arthropodan territory. But Lopez has a plan to get around that little technicality, and it involves Major Joey R. Czerinski's chain of cemeteries. The spider commander takes offense at the Legion's claim-jumping, and Lopez gets caught in the middle of the fracas as the absurdity continues in the eleventh installment of the seriously screwy science fiction space saga. 


Thursday, April 5 - Monday, April 9...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 12: THE ARK
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

General Lopez returns once again to planet New Colorado with another top-secret mission for Colonel Joey R. Czerinki and his trusty (or not so trusty) legionnaires. A huge spaceship has been detected deep underground, right under the desert oasis of croc-infested Caldera Lake. Czerinski's task is to reach the ship and strip its technology before the Arthropodan Empire finds out what's going on. But as soon as the Legion arrives and starts digging around, the spiders come right behind to start their own tunneling. It's a race against absurdity and a battle of witlessness as the two teams squabble - while progress (Walmart, a couple casinos, Starbucks, and Taco Bell) pop up around them. Tourists, hearing of an ancient ark discovered deep beneath the sand, flock to Caldera Lake by the busloads, hoping to see this new wonder in the twelfth installment of the seriously silly science fiction space saga. Bonus story VAMPIRE IN THE OUTFIELD included at the end - first time in print!


Tuesday, April 10 - Saturday, April 14...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 13: SALESMAN FROM MARS
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

The zany humor continues with a new star in this thirteenth installment of the screwy military space saga. Born salesman Donald Crisp is down on his luck and short of money. When Crisp accepts a loan from the USGF recruitment ATM, he ends up - of course - enlisted in the United States Galactic Federation Foreign Legion. Oranges for scorpions, semi-sentient penguins, biting Blue Lizards, ghosts from the past, and cheating at cards make life interesting as Crisp chills at the South Pole, then makes a splash in Caldera Lake - all the while, watching out for the Grim Reaper!


Sunday, April 15 - Thursday, April 19...

AMERICA'S GALACTIC FOREIGN LEGION
BOOK 14: EMBASSY WAR
Walter Knight
Humorous Military Science Fiction

The Butcher of New Colorado returns to the spotlight, assigned to protect the lavish new USGF Embassy while acting as a spy for General Lopez and the CIA on the spiders' home world of Arthropoda. Amid riots and sports betting on exhibition basketball games, Czerinski finds trouble has followed him across the galaxy. An old foe makes a surprise visit and wrecks his office. A war ensues over turkey dinner, leaving the scorpion embassy in shambles. Following that debacle, Czerinski and crew get a plum assignment back on New Colorado, guarding a volcano in desert-isle Quenaudenville as he tries to figure out what no-good mischief the spiders are up to now. And just when things couldn't be worse, his terrorist ex-girlfriend shows up with their delinquent son, Joey Jr. This time the loony legionnaires go off the reservation with a game-changing detour!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – Starfire Angels Book 1

STARFIRE ANGELS (DARK ANGEL CHRONICLES BOOK 1)
Melanie Nilles, Prairie Star Publishing
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Free Kindle edition
Reviewed by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

I always begin a new book with great hope and expectation. The premise of this story – that angels are here on Earth, but they’re aliens, complete with impressive wings – is an interesting one that I hoped would be done well. However, the author delved into it with a heaping helping of teen angst – symptomatic of many young-adult novels that sacrifice story for the constant banter over ‘he loves me, he loves me not.’ That’s not to say the romantic aspects of the story weren’t engaging, because they were. But there were other issues with the story that caused me not to enjoy it nearly as much as I’d hoped.

The story opens with seventeen-year-old Raea Dahlrich, a senior in small-town North Dakota, trying to fit in with her friends and be ‘normal,’ despite the constant teasing she gets from bullying schoolmates who make fun of the bizarre turquoise gem-like shards imbedded in her hands. Amazingly (and I use this adverb to express my utter astonishment at how this whole aspect of the story is presented and accepted by all the characters without question), Raea has never had this disfigurement checked into by a doctor. In fact she has never seen the inside of a doctor’s office her whole life. Which begs the question ... how did she get the necessary inoculations to be admitted to public school?

Anyway, her aunt and uncle have raised her since her mother and stepdad mysteriously died in a tornado. Her geeky friend Josh is obsessed with reports of a ‘Dark Angel’ who, over the last several months, has been rescuing people in the area. Now a nosey reporter is on the story – just when Raea wakes up from a bizarre dream about her late mother flying – and finds that she herself has sprouted a huge set of wings during the night. Elis, the foreign-refugee(?) student that lives with the old lady next door creeps her out – until she realizes he’s really, really foreign and can sprout wings like hers. And her aunt is in on this secret the whole time, but (again, amazingly) never bothered to tell her any of this. Without giving away the whole story, suffice it to say there is a whole lot of stuff going on in this story. There’s an offworld war being waged to protect/steal the crystal shards that have a telepathic effect on the ‘keepers’ of the crystals. Raea must learn to use her powers as a keeper of the crystal to prevent the bad guys from stealing it.

One beef I had with the story was the peculiar formatting or sometimes lack thereof, that ran paragraphs together and didn’t differentiate between internal thoughts and regular narrative, making it extremely hard to follow – especially when Raea’s stream-of-consciousness arguments with herself over which boy she likes seemed a bit psychotic. Especially hard to reconcile was the peculiar way the author decided to denote conversations in the alien language of the Inari (winged people). Also confusing was why the Inari would have any conceivable reason to be able to retract their wings at will. Presumably that ability would have been an evolutionary development arising from some survival need. But on their home world, everyone has wings, so ... I am stumped for an answer. I can only assume that this ability arose by design because the author needed to invent a way for the main character and other Inari hiding out on Earth to ‘blend’ with the human population.

But these complaints are all minor when compared to the one detracting issue near the end that I found really disappointing. It stretched the believability factor to the breaking point and totally ruined the story for me.

WARNING – POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

Bad things happen to people all the time in real life. And sometimes it’s necessary for an author to have bad things happen to characters, even main characters in a story, in order to have the characters deal with those issues. Sexual abuse is one of the issues I feel does not belong in a young adult novel unless that issue is a main component of the overall story with a necessity for it to be included in the story. To add a rape – or even the question of it – into a story as a device to provide an anger quotient high enough to prod another character into enacting violence against the perpetrator when the death of one’s parents wasn’t enough to enrage him ... well, what can I say? It was really hard to swallow. There was no ‘on-scene’ violence against the victim, but there was a lot of angsting about ‘did he or didn’t he.’ And that’s where the author totally lost me.

Okay, come on now. Really? A seventeen-year-old girl who presumably hasn’t ever had sex before, and is uneasy even holding hands with a boy, is sexually violated while unconscious and of course doesn’t remember any of the atrocity. But later on, when she regains consciousness, she has no idea anything has been done to her. Like ... immaculate consexion? Rape with no sexual side-effects is pretty unbelievable, especially when the victim was a virgin. Granted, she’s not exactly human. But she is close enough to pass as human, and her mother married a human. So it would be safe to assume that anatomically she is similar to human – at least as far as sexual activity is concerned. And yet she has no idea whether anything untoward happened. So, not only does she wonder if the boy she likes actually likes her, she wonders if the boy she used to like actually violated her. That just boggles the mind. My only assumption was that her rapist wasn’t exactly ‘up to the task.’

All snide kidding aside, this kind of treatment of a serious issue sends an unrealistic and confusing and inappropriate message to teen readers – that sex has no other side-effect but guilt and shame. What about the physical evidence? What happened to it? Sure, this is fiction, but since when is that an excuse to just ignore reality and pretend that readers won’t notice?

Adding this kind of cringing emotional issue to the end of a story that, up until that point, had no hint of sexual attraction beyond ‘oh, he’s so cute,’ just totally unbalanced the story and ruined it. All for the sake of giving someone the final justification for killing the bad guy. If the author had thought about it, I bet she could have come up with some other scenario that worked much better than pulling out the ol’ rape card. I was so disappointed in this story that, despite its okay beginning and some suspenseful moments and an enjoyable budding relationship, I gave it a ‘2’ for effort. It would have gotten a ‘3’ except for the last part that totally ruined it for me. Seriously, I would not recommend this book to anyone and won’t be reading the rest of the series. Read it if you want to waste your time and end up feeling uncomfortable and a bit angry afterward.

Monday, February 13, 2012

BOOK REVIEW CORNER – The Hunger Games


THE HUNGER GAMES
Suzanne Collins
Young Adult Futuristic Dystopian
Paperback version reviewed
Review by Willa Kaye Danes, author at Penumbra Publishing

I had heard many wonderful things about this book, but avoided for a long time reading it because of the subject matter, thinking that it certainly wouldn’t end well. When I finally did get the opportunity to read THE HUNGER GAMES, after having read many short and rather ho-hum, even disappointing novels billed as young-adult, I found it difficult to believe THE HUNGER GAMES is a young-adult novel. It certainly doesn’t fit in the category of ‘ho-hum,’ and it doesn’t rely on paranormal or supernatural bells and whistles as a crutch to build character and suspense. Told in first-person present tense through the female protagonist Katniss Everdeen, THE HUNGER GAMES made an immediate and lasting impression. Upon reading the first couple pages, I devoured this book (pun intended). And my eagerness to finish it in no way was diminished by the knowledge that it would have to end, because the ending held up to my best expectations, even though it certainly paved the way for the sequel.

In case you haven’t read the more than 4,000 customer reviews on Amazon (the majority of them glowing), I will briefly summarize the plot. However much I wish it to be true, this review can in no way give proper praise to this book.

In the not-too-distant future, sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen lives with her mother and twelve-year-old sister Prim in District 12, what was once part of Appalachia in former United States of America, but is now one of the cordoned-off and policed areas of Panem, carved out after a quashed rebellion. In this future, people in outlying districts don’t fare too well. Food is rationed and scarce for the outlying districts, and only the relatively well-to-do can afford heat and food enough to ward off Mr. Death. People are afraid to speak their mind for fear of being overheard by those evil bastards in Capital City.

In Capital City, the streets might as well be paved with gold when compared to the living arrangements of Kat and her family and most others in the outer districts. But after her father dies in a coal mining accident, Kat carries on the illegal task of ‘poaching’ – hunting in the unfenced forest outside the district to bring game home for trade and to feed her family. She and her hunting partner, an eighteen-year-old boy named Gale, have forged an alliance that benefits almost everyone in the district with extra food, and profitable trading eases the rules that would otherwise be imposed by the resident Peacekeepers.

Once a year, Capital City ‘reminds’ the other districts of their transgression of failed rebellion with the hugely promoted fanfare of The Hunger Games. Each district is required to furnish one girl and one boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the survival game, which is to the death, with only one winner. That victory ensures the winner of an easy life and benefits of more food and other extras for the winner’s district. Kat has put in extra entries for herself in the lottery in exchange for extra portions of food and heating fuel for her family throughout the year. She waits tensely to see whose name is chosen for this year’s games. When her sister’s name is called, she immediately volunteers to go in her place.

Words fail me in trying to describe how absolutely perfect this story is. It is not simply the story itself, but the unique blend of plot, character development, and beautiful economy of words that all worked wonderfully together to make this an entirely believable and absorbing read. Many an author gets blinded by the light of a well-turned phrase, but Ms. Collins stays true to her writing task in that the writing skill remains invisible so the reading pleasure can be fully realized.

It has been, as I stated before, a very long time since I have read a young-adult novel-length story that was so emotionally moving without being over-dramatic or maudlin. Kat is the perfect heroine – tough and emotionally distant, yet in her own way caring and respectful of life. The way her attitudes and beliefs are pitted against the very fabric of the opulently excessive society that created the situation certain to cause her death is a stroke of writing genius. I am eager to see it repeated in the next installment of this trilogy, and can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of this series. Also I will be standing in line to see the movie version of this story and compare it to the graceful success of this book.

This is the kind of story that any author would be grateful and proud to have written, and it is an excellent example of superb writing. I have no idea how much careful and judicious editing was involved to create the final product, but for any author hoping to write well, no matter what the genre, I offer this book as a learning experience and enthusiastically recommend it to all readers. This is how it’s done!