Catfight and Hell Kitten . . . Really? Really!

Hey y'all! I'm beginning to think there may be a lot of writers in my life (and I will confess that sometimes it seems as though there are too many, but I love them all). I'm fortunate enough to call many of them my friends. I'm also fortunate that when I don't have time to put together a quality blog post for you all to read, they seem to have projects they want to talk about.

So, cutting to the chase, Joshua Unruh has an amazing new project in the works that I will be editing, but he's asking for help from readers of all ages, shapes, sizes, and any other distinction you can imagine. I'll let him tell you the rest while I go work on that project that's been back burnered for far too long.

Oh, and while you're here, check out the artwork he sent me to show off a couple of new characters. Also, stay tuned to the end of this post for last-minute info Josh gave me regarding a contest!

Meet Catfight.

So here’s the deal: I love superheroes and have for most of my life. I will not apologize for this. I know that some of you are wondering why I’d have to apologize. If that’s you wondering, it’s probably because you are very young.

I mean, sure, these days superheroes are making bajillions of dollars on screens across America every summer. But back in the day, I got ridiculed when I had them folded in half and stuffed in my back pocket.

Right now you don’t believe me. And you shouldn’t because that statement was a lie.

Because I would NEVER fold a comic and put it in my back pocket! You keep those damn things in Mylar bags with cardboard backs so they don’t get wrinkled and tell yourself they’re going to finance your college education one day.

Anyway, I love superheroes. But they haven’t stayed as lovable as I’d like. I once read a quote on the internet that went something like, “comics used to be for above average kids, but now they’re for below average adults.”

That statement isn’t entirely true, but it hits close enough to sting. It’s not that there’s too much sex, it’s that there’s too much sexism. And it’s not that there’s too much violence, it’s that the tearing off of arms is celebrated. And it isn’t that all the characters are white…well, actually, it is that all the characters are white. Or all the ones you can name, anyway.

So I’ve decided to do something about it. Now, I can’t draw for crap, but I can write my ass off. So my plan is to serialize prose superhero stories, one a month just like comic books. These stories will star heroes who are women and maybe even (gasp) not white. The stories will be appropriate for all-ages, which is totally different than “for kids.” And if you can’t tell the difference, then you’re the one with the problem.

Most of all these stories will be about heroes.

Somewhere along the line, it became cool to be cynical. Like cynicism is the most reality based way to see the world. Like how you’re naïve or simple or childish if you see the good in people.

Well screw that. Cynicism is the easy way out. Looking for the good in people? Seeing the hopeful possibilities for the future? That is HARD. Damned hard. And we need more examples of it, even fictional ones. So I’m going to write some. And every kid who needs reminded of how worthwhile selflessness and optimism are should see somebody who looks like them making it so.

Say hi to Hell Kitten.

So that’s my grandiose plan. But I’m a working writer. I have to eat. So to make this plan work, I’m using Patreon. Patreon is like an ongoing Kickstarter. You pledge a certain amount of money, and you get dinged for it whenever I publish a story. You can set a limit, though, if I start getting too prolific.

And then, you know the best part? I release that story into the wild for anyone to read for free whether they were a patron or not. Why? Two reasons. First, because I’ve already been paid. Second, because I want people who need to see heroes that look like they do to read my stories. Giving the stories away seems a good way to make that happen.

If you think that sounds worthwhile, then please visit me at www.patreon.com/pulpdictionpress. There are goals to add new things into every story, which are like rewards for my readers. And there are rewards for those who patronize as well.

Superheroes are ordinary people who use their gifts to do the extraordinary. You can be that for me with a click of the pledge button. The cape and tights are optional.

Here's that last-minute contest information I promised you: Josh has a few copies of his already released teen female superhero book, TEEN Agents in the Plundered Parent Protocol, that he has pledged to sign. So here's what you do . . .

If you choose to pledge to Josh's Patreon project, simply return here and leave a comment saying you did so. Your name will be entered into a drawing to win a paperback of the TEEN AGENTS book in addition to receiving the new comics as they are released. He doesn't have a ton to go around for this blog tour, so your chances of winning are obviously based on how many participants there are.

Thank you, Josh, and Happy Reading everyone!

The Bloody North

Well, we've done it again. Tony Healey wrote it; I edited it, and now it's available for your reading pleasure. The first title in Tony's The Fallen Crown series, The Bloody North, is now live on Amazon. It's also only 99 cents for the e-book right now, so grab it! Anyhow, Tony has a bit more to say on the subject, so I'll let him do the rest:

ON WRITING 'THE BLOODY NORTH'

My first exposure to fantasy was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. I saw the old BBC adaptation of it (which I still think stands head and shoulders above both the animated movie and the more recent Disney motion picture) and then found a copy of it in paperback at a car boot sale. I was about nine at the time. I spent months afterward trying to track down copies of all the others. I succeeded, never paying more than about fifty pence for each one. Eventually I had all seven Narnia books lined up on my shelf, each one from a different edition.

A year or so later, I found a box set containing all seven, with cover art to match their respective BBC adaptations. I used that as my excuse for reading them all again from scratch. I still have that same box set now.

In my teens, my uncle loaned me a copy of Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster, and I proceeded to bug him for the other five, tearing through them at a rate of knots. A few years back, I had the honour of having a short story of mine published alongside Mr. Foster. In that anthology (see: Resistance Front by Bernard Schaffer, Alan Dean Foster, Harlan Ellison, et al.) I dedicated my story to Alan, thanking him for Spellsinger.

If the work of C. S. Lewis had introduced me to fantasy as a genre (at the age I was when I read it, I honestly didn't pick up on all of the religious notes – it was just a good story), then Spellsinger showed me you could take traditional fantasy and inject it with facets of modern life.

From a very early age, we'd had three films on VHS I'd constantly watch, over and over again. The first was The Goonies – recorded off of the TV with commercials included. The other two were Watership Down and The Lord of the Rings.

After reading Spellsinger, my mind turned to those two cartoons I'd watched as a small child. So I read my way through Watership Down, and then tackled The Lord of the Rings at about the same time as The Fellowship of the Ring came out at the cinema. With Watership Down, I got to see world building on par with Narnia, but done in an entirely different way. Set in the world of rabbits, with their own language, their own beliefs, their own mythology. I found it completely fascinating.

The Lord of the Rings was a slog most of the time, but I have happy memories of the experience. It was a long work to tackle in my teens, but I managed it, just about. A recent attempt at a reread failed miserably. I simply lost interest. A lot of that comes from the books I am used to reading now as an adult. They're faster, more concise. To my mind, Tolkien's opus is a must-read for anyone. But I don't think many will delve back in for a second go. It's a huge undertaking. The Lord of the Rings is a classic work of fantasy that truly established a gold standard for the genre at the time. And there have been many attempts by other writers at recreating Middle-Earth in their own work, to varying degrees of success.

Coming out of my teens, The Dark Tower series and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter were hugely influential to me. What Stephen King accomplishes with The Dark Tower is something he has tried often and succeeded at rarely. That is, telling a long story and holding the reader's attention from start to finish. Some – novels like The Stand and IT – have worked brilliantly. Others . . . ugh. But for whatever reason, The Dark Tower grips you from the first tantalizing sentence ("The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed . . .") and never lets go. It's a little crazy, it's a bit of a mash-up of multiple genres and sources, but that's okay. You take it in your stride. The Dark Tower is King's greatest work. A rich, hugely entertaining epic.

The very same can be said for Rowling's Potter series. I read them one after the other (luckily the last, The Deathly Hallows, was just coming out as I finished The Half-Blood Prince). My habit with those was to sit on the kitchen floor at night, cup of tea by my side and read into the early hours. I lived in a house with six other siblings at the time, so really the kitchen at night was about the most peaceful place for reading.

She did a fantastic job of world-building, of plotting each book out so that it was its own self-contained story, yet progressed the overall plot piece by piece. Readers were literally spellbound (forgive the pun) by the interactions between the characters and the relationships that developed along the way. By the progression of a plot that grew steadily darker and darker – and by what had happened in the past, before the books take place. Certainly the greatest, well-rounded character of the series is not Harry Potter himself, but Severus Snape. Dumbledore's machinations become somewhat omnipresent by the end, whereas Snape comes into his own in what is a truly heartbreaking series of revelations.

Recently, I found myself browsing the kindle store for something new to read when I came across The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I got the sample, devoured it in one sitting, and bought the rest of the book.

The next day, I found myself in town buying the whole trilogy in paperback and proceeded to read them one after the other. Abercrombie takes the conventions of the genre and turns them on their head. First of all, he does away with the stilted writing of the past and brings his contemporary voice to Fantasy – complete with swearing, sex, and some of the most complicated characters I've ever come across. Each and every one of them broken in some way.

Glokta, broken in body but not in spirit. Logen Ninefingers, broken inside as he tries (in vain) to turn away from the man he used to be. These two characters begin the story broken and end up whole by the end (though not necessarily better people as a result) whilst the character of Luthar begins whole and is steadily broken first in body, then in spirit. Abercrombie writes a kind of fantasy that critics and readers alike have come to coin "Grimdark." I guess it had its beginnings in the work of Robert E. Howard way back when, and I reckon there were the seeds of it in the dark deeds that went (mostly) unseen, in the background, throughout The Lord of The Rings. If Aragorn and company spent the majority of those books fighting nameless, faceless hordes of Orcs with little repercussions for their deeds, Abercrombie makes every kill resonate.

Men fight men, with all the horrific slaughter and detail involved. And when the fight is over, when most of them have died, the survivors are left with their guilt and their shame and their hurt. Left to deal with it all on their own.

It's no wonder, in Abercrombie's fictional setting, that Logen turned out the way he did.

But what some reviewers of The Blade Itself have criticized it, and its sequels, for is its lack of hope, and I have to disagree there. I found plenty of hope in The First Law trilogy. It's there, trust me. What Abercrombie does is to counter-balance these moments, these flashes of characters achieving the positive, with the darkness. If a character is winning in one chapter, the next time we meet them, their luck has taken a turn for the worst.

Is that fair? Probably not. But is it realistic to what we experience in real life?

Yeah.

I took a similar approach in The Bloody North, by having a character consumed with grief to the point where he'd almost stopped living. He just existed – until, that is, his company is slaughtered in front of him and he's left on his own. What ensues is a bloody path of vengeance as Rowan comes to terms with all that he's lost and his quest to destroy the man who took it all away from him. Along the way we get to know some of the world in which The Fallen Crown series takes place.

This just the first small chapter in a truly epic story. If you think The Bloody North sets the stage, well . . . wait till you read Book 2. Boy, oh boy, is it going to blow your socks off.

Next level doesn't cut it.

Thank you, Tony.

Happy Reading!

It's All Over Now But the Tears . . .

It's really difficult for me to believe, but this serial that Tony and I began working on about fourteen months ago is finally done. Originally, it was to be released in twelve parts over the course of sixteen months, but I think Tony got restless to work on other projects, so he wrote, then had me edit, the last three segments in one go. Your benefit? No more waiting to see how it all ends. No more teasing. No more . . . just, no more. I'll miss working with Captain Jessica King and her crew, but I doubt it's the last any of us has seen of her, or them.

That said, I figured now would be a great time to revisit Chapter One of the first segment. Oh, if you want more, Far From Home 1: Legend is free on Amazon, as always. You'll also find Far From Home: The Complete Series finally gathered in one book which amounts to about 700 pages. If you're looking to grab the paperback rather than the Kindle, Tony was making a couple of corrections to the formatting and it should be available any day now.

If you haven't been following the series, but waiting for it in one whack, grab it now. If you HAVE been following, you are in for an ending that surprised even me. But I'll shut up before I spoil it and just let you start here:

Far From Home 1: Legend

Chapter One

Battered and bruised, the Defiant slowed on its approach to Starbase 6.

Commander Jessica King occupied the captain's chair. She’d hoped that one day she would get to sit in such a chair as Captain of her own vessel. She never once thought that the privilege of doing so would come at such a cost. It filled her with no joy to carry out her role as Acting-Captain in Andrew Singh’s absence, especially so considering he was lying on a mortuary slab two decks under her feet.

"Starbase has made contact, sir," Ensign Boi reported from the comm. station.

King nodded. "Okay Ensign. Patch me through."

She waited a few seconds for the connection to be made. "This is Commander Jessica King, Acting-Captain of the Union Starship Defiant."

"Please state your prefix number," a mechanical-sounding voice said on the other end.

"T.U. zero-one-one-three-eight," she said.

There was a brief delay, and then the voice announced that they were cleared to dock. "Docking bay three. Please do not exceed standard thruster speed."

"Close channel," King said.

She looked ahead at the large circular space station. It was a tall centrifuge at the centre, with spokes extending to a wide outer ring. Along the ring were enough docking bays to accommodate up to twenty vessels. There were several ships already docked, all much larger than the Defiant. That wasn’t to say the Defiant was a small ship.

But she was old.

At one time the Archon Class vessels had been the backbone of the fleet. Now they were relics twenty years past their sell-by date. If the system-wide war between the Union and the Draxx didn’t still rage on, they’d have been decommissioned and retired already.

Still didn’t stop us holding our own in a fight, did it? King thought. She might be old, but she’s got it where it counts.

"Banks, I think I can leave the parking in your capable hands?" King asked as she got up from the captain's chair.

Lieutenant Kyle Banks swiftly worked the controls across the front helm console.

"I’ve got it covered," he said.

"Good. Then I will be below decks," she said.

The bridge crew looked up from their stations, but when she looked around at them they hurried back to their assigned duties.

King walked toward the exit. Insulation and wiring had erupted from the ceiling during the battle and hung like copper intestines in places. She ducked beneath it on her way out, her feet crunching on bits of broken plastic and glass.

On her way to her quarters she passed the scorched carcasses of burned-out conduits, pipes that were still dripping onto the deck plating from leaks that hadn’t yet been attended to.

The ship had taken a beating, it was true. She was proud of the crew, and of the ship itself, for pulling through. They hadn’t run away from the battle like cowards. They faced the danger and hit back with what they had.

Several crew saluted as she strode past them. She quickly saluted back.

It lifted her spirits, despite all that had happened, to see the crew still going about their duty as they were meant to. The men and women she passed looked tired, dirty, some of them injured. But they carried on with grim determination and a sense of duty. King walked with a determined gait, showing the pride she felt for her crew.

When Jess got to her quarters she headed straight for the shower to freshen up quickly before her debriefing. She knew that Admiral Grimshaw would want to hear the full account of what had gone on despite having a copy of her report already on his desk. He would demand to hear it first-hand from someone who was knee deep in it all. The fleet had lost a brilliant Captain, and there were questions that must be answered.

In her quarters, she got out of her dirty uniform. Standing in front of the mirror in her tiny bathroom she looked tired, beaten.

Her temple carried a long cut from when a Draxx missile had hit the side of the Defiant, sending her flying against a bulkhead. Dr. Clayton had yet to treat it properly.

Her eyes were red, ringed with dark, puffy circles. During the journey to Starbase 6 King had done her fair share of grieving for Captain Singh. But she knew there would be more to come at some point. That loss was an open wound. Over time it might heal a bit, but never enough so you didn’t know it was there.

She stepped into the shower and tried to wash the difficulties of the last week away. But they were in there with her. She stood under the stream of the water, bowed her head, her hands up against the tiles. She started to sob. In the shower no-one could see her. No-one could hear her. In the shower she had privacy to give freedom to the grief.

King could still see him lying there on the deck, dying in her arms. She could still hear his final words . . . 

The mangled mess of his legs. The blood pooling from his mid-section. His face grey, washed-out. Tears streamed down her face.

Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Please don’t go, please."

Captain Singh shook his head slowly. Smiled. "Jess . . . We each have our time. My own is at an end . . ."

"No . . ." she managed to say.

Singh reached up, stroked the side of her face. "Now it is your turn to do as much as you can with the time you have . . ."

He smiled again, then his eyes seemed focus on something far away. The light in them faded. Singh’s hand fell away from hers and the sound of his last breath issued slowly from between his lips.

"No . . ."

She felt the thud of the ship as it jutted up against the docking bay. She came back to reality, regained her composure and set about washing herself, then got out of the shower.

She walked to the comm. unit on the wall, pressed the button that opened a direct line to the bridge.

"Bridge," she said. "Equalise the pressure seals and reduce all systems to idle status. I’ll meet all senior crew members at airlock four in fifteen minutes, so be sure to have your stations locked down. Please inform Chief Gunn and Dr. Clayton to be there also."

"Aye aye sir," a voice reported back to her. It was Lieutenant Banks.

Jessica closed the channel. Again she stood in front of the mirror.

Now she looked better. Not great, but better. Less tired and dishevelled. More like a woman. It felt good to be washed, wearing a clean uniform.

"Let’s get this over with," she told her reflection.

**********

Tony Healey is a born and bred Brightonian. He is married and has three daughters. 

For the latest on Tony's various projects, visit his site www.tonyhealey.com

Happy Reading!

We're Expanding!

I am crazy excited about this. I've gone on numerous times and talked about my job as the Head of Editing Services for the Kindle All-Stars organization, but nothing makes me happier than to say that we've built up enough of the business end to warrant pulling in a few associate editors to carry some of the workload. The details are below.

PROFESSIONAL EDITING SERVICES

Reliable, Affordable, Invaluable

• Suffering from one-star reviews?
• Readers complaining that your book was not proofread?
• High rate of return?

The single biggest complaint authors receive from readers is that their books are not properly edited. Let the Kindle All-Stars turn your book into the professional product it needs to be in order to compete. 

There is a glut of free books on Amazon right now, as well as .99 wonders that are leaving readers confused and desperate for quality reads. The simple fact is that if your book has not been professionally edited, it is not ready for publication. 

• What About the Cost?

Of all the investments you should make in your book, editing is the most important. There are multiple services out there that provide varying qualities and costs, but at the KAS we offer a pre-arranged fixed price and a proven track record.  

KAS editors will help your individual voice to shine through during the initial draft and provide a final proofread to make sure your book is publication-ready.

Contact Laurie Laliberte at KindleAllStars@gmail.com today to take the first step toward making your book a best-seller.   

For a current list of books edited by the Kindle All-Stars, see below.

Laurie Laliberte is the Head of Editing Services for the KAS. Read her essays about Editing to get a better idea of what to expect here and here.

SIMPLE FORMATTING FOR KINDLE AND NOOK

By Tony Healey:

"Burial" (Mar 2012) -- edit, proofread

"Dark Orb" (April 20112) -- edit, proofread

The Stars My Redemption (May 2012) -- edit, proofread

Double Feature (June 2012) -- edit, proofread

tutti frutti (July 2012) -- edit, proofread

Far From Home: Legend -- edit, proofread still in progress

By David Hulegaard:

"The Night Shift" (Jan 2012) -- edit, proofread

By Kindle All-Stars:

Resistance Front (Dec 2011) -- edit, proofread

By Laurie Laliberte 

"Fear of the Dark" (Apr 2012) -- edit, proofread

Quick Crochet for Kitchen and Bath (June 2012) -- edit, proofread

Strange Kisses (June 2012) -- edit, proofread

By Jon F. Merz:

Zombie Ryu (July 2012) -- proofread

By Shaina Richmond:

Safe With Me: Complete Collection -- edit, proofread still in progress

By Richard Roberts:

Wild Children, first edition (Oct 2011) -- final proofread

By Bernard Schaffer:

Guns of Seneca 6 (Oct 2011) -- proofread, minor editing

Ancient Rituals (Jan 2012) -- edit, proofread

Superbia (Jan 2012) -- edit, proofread

Codename: Omega (March 2012) -- edit, proofread

Superbia 2 (March 2012) -- edit, proofread

Simple E-book Formatting (May 2012) -- proofread

Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 (July 2012) -- edit, proofread

By Susan Smith-Josephy:

Two as-yet unnamed short story collections -- edit, proofread still inprogress

By William Vitka:

Infected (coming soon) -- proofread, minor edits

Emergence -- edit, in progress

2011 The Year of the Paranormal

I'll admit it; I'm a paranormal junkie. I have been since the first ghost story I read when I was probably about six years old. So it only made sense that the year I decided I needed to get back into reading I did so by tearing through series after paranormal series. I talked about it in several posts over the past twelve months, but since this is supposed to be my reading recap for 2011, I'll touch on the highlights one more time.

I decided I needed to read at least 30 books in 2011 and set out to do just that. It quickly became apparent that I would easily surpass that goal, so I increased it. When I hit 30, I raised the goal to 50. When I hit 50, I raised it to 75. Then I threw my hands in the air and began increasing by five books every time I hit the number. When I hit 100, I gave up and coasted for the rest of the year. My final, official total is 117. I have to admit, though, there's a whole lot of trash (and pure smut) I chose not to include, so the real total is over 150.

A few qualifiers in the interest of full disclosure: 

1.  If something I read is on Goodreads and became part of my 2011 reading challenge on their site, it is numbered here (even if it's just a short story). A few books that have numbers haven't been released yet, but they will be "real books" by Goodreads standards eventually. If an item is not listed on Goodreads, it doesn't have a number. By the end of the year I stopped caring so much what Goodreads thought and won't use their challenge as a gauge in 2012.

2.  Somewhere along the line I faltered a bit, so not everything is listed in the order in which I read it. Some things simply slipped through the cracks and I added them at the end because they needed to be included. 

3.  I actually began reading on 12/25/10 and finished on 12/26/11. The reason I included that last book is that I only read a few chapters, about 30 pages, on 12/26.

My Top Picks

I wanted to be able to do a top five or even top ten list, but I found it virtually impossible to choose between some titles and actually place them. Instead, let me give you the favorites as a group. If you click on the book title you'll find my Goodreads review (if I've written one):

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

--You simply can't read one without reading all three. I didn't place the other titles on this list, but this trilogy is my top choice. (BTW, all three reviews are the same.)

Wild Children by Richard Roberts

--This was a huge surprise by an independent author. I met Richard when his story was first accepted into the Kindle All-Stars project and he sent me Wild Children to beta read. My reviews on Goodreads and Amazon say it all.

The Kensei and Parallax by Jon F. Merz

--My two favorites by my favorite living author. Jon's probably tired of hearing that one, but it's the truth. (I hate to admit he's in danger of being dethroned by a young'un; keep reading.)

Guns of Seneca 6 by Bernard J. Schaffer

--I was one of the proofreaders on this book but took on the task because I really wanted to read it. I ended up reading it twice and loved it both times. (The second time around was after the final edits were done.) I mean, how could a browncoat not absolutely love a story about space cowboys?

Infected and Emergence by William Vitka

--The story behind my reading of these two will end up getting a blog post of its own, right before Infected is released. That story is a long one. You won't find my reviews because neither book is available yet. Infected will be out in June of 2012 and Emergence is still going through the editing process. Still, I'm the editor on this project and I can tell you it deserves all five of its stars even before those edits are done. Vitka could be the guy who knocks JFM off the top of the mountain.

• The Official List (complete with MPAA-style and 1-5 star ratings)
• 117. The Monster in My Closet (PG)--Wil Wheaton--*****
• 116. Hunter (PG)--Wil Wheaton--*****
• 115. Hob Lesatz for Hire (PG)--Joshua Unruh--*****
• ----Brushstrokes (R)--Richelle Mead--*****
• ----City of Demons (R)--Richelle Mead--*****
• 114. Running Red (PG-13)--Keri Knutson--****
• 113. Frosty the Hitman (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 112. Emergence (R)--William Vitka--***** (no release date yet)
• 111. Way of the Warrior (PG)--Bernard J. Schaffer--*****
• 110. The Ripper (PG-13)--Jon F. Merz--***** (pre-release--due Jan 2012)
• 109. Infected (R)--William Vitka--***** (pre-release--due June 2012)
• 108. Resistance Front (R)--Kindle All-Stars--*****
• 107. Wicked Games (NC-17)--Jill Myles--****
• 106. The Doll House: Emerald (PG)--Richard Roberts--****
• 105. The Doll House: Lapis Lazuli (PG-13)--Richard Roberts--****
• 104. Safe with Me, Part 6 (NC-17)--Shaina Richmond--****
• 103. Beast (PG-13)--Tony Healey--****
• 102. The Doll House: Inventory (PG)--Richard Roberts--****
• 101. Succubus Revealed (R)--Richelle Mead--****
• 100. Guns of Seneca 6 (PG-13)--Bernard J. Schaffer--*****
• 99. Wild Children (PG)--Richard Roberts--*****
• 98. Women and other Monsters (R)--Bernard J. Schaffer--*****
• 97. Changes (R)--Jim Butcher--*****
• 96. Turn Coat (R)--JimButcher--*****
• 95. Noble (PG)--David Hulegaard--****
• 94. Slow Hands (NC-17)--Leslie Kelly--****
• 93. Safe with Me, Part 5 (NC-17)--Shaina Richmond--*****
• 92. Safe with Me, Part 4 (NC-17)--Shaina Richmond--****1/2
• 91. Safe with Me, Part3 (NC-17)--Shaina Richmond--****1/2
• 90. Safe with Me, Part2 (NC-17)--Shaina Richmond--****1/2
• 89. Safe with Me, Part 1 (NC-17)--Shaina Richmond--****1/2
• 88. Small Favor (PG-13)--Jim Butcher--*****
• 87. White Night (PG-13)--Jim Butcher--****
• 86. Proven Guilty (PG-13)--Jim Butcher--****
• 85. Dead Beat (PG-13)--Jim Butcher--****
• 84. Blood Rites (R)--Jim Butcher--*****
• 83. Death Masks (R)--Jim Butcher--****
• 82. Summer Knight (PG-13)--Jim Butcher--****
• 81. Grave Peril (PG-13)--Jim Butcher--****
• 80. The Shepherd (PG-13)--Jon F. Merz--****
• 79. Fool Moon (PG)--Jim Butcher--****
• 78. Beyond the Veil (PG)--Brian Rathbone--***
• 77. Foreplay (R)--Jill Myles--***
• 76. Parallax (R)--Jon F.Merz--*****
• 75. Storm Front (PG)--Jim Butcher--****
• 74. The Magicians (R)--Lev Grossman--*
• 73. Samson's Lovely Mortal (NC-17)--Tina Folsom--****
• 72. Succubus Shadows (NC-17)--Richelle Mead--*****
• 71. Succubus Heat (NC-17)--Richelle Mead--*****
• 70. Succubus Dreams (NC-17)--Richelle Mead--*****
• 69. Succubus on Top (NC-17)--Richelle Mead--*****
• 68. Succubus Blues (NC-17)--Richelle Mead--*****
• 67. Real Vampires Have More to Love (NC-17)--Gerry Bartlett--*****
• 66. Real Vampires Hate Their Thighs (NC-17)--Gerry Bartlett--*****
• 65. Real Vampires Don't Diet (R)--Gerry Bartlett--****
• 64. Real Vampires Get Lucky (R)--Gerry Bartlett--****
• 63. Real Vampires Live Large (R)--Gerry Bartlett--****
• 62. Real Vampires Have Curves (R)--Gerry Bartlett--****
• 61. Mockingjay (R)--Suzanne Collins--*****
• 60. Catching Fire (R)--Suzanne Collins--*****
• 59. The Hunger Games (R)--Suzanne Collins--*****
• 58. The Surgeon (R)--Tess Gerritsen--****
• 57. Raising the Dead (PG)--Mara Purnhagen-****
• 56. Grave Illusions (PG)--Lina Gardiner--****
• 55. Reaper (PG)--Rachel Vincent--****
• 54. Crave (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--****
• 53. Covet (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--****
• 52. All in Time (NC-17)--Ciana Stone--***
• 51. An Unwanted Hunger (NC-17)--Ciana Stone--****
• 50. The Enchanter (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 49. Enemy Mine (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 48. The Kensei (R)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 47. Naked Heat (PG-13)--"Richard Castle"--****
• 46. Interlude (PG)--Jon F. Merz--****
• 45. Red Tide (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 44. Rudolf the Red Nosed Rogue (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 43. Kiss Me Deadly (PG-13)--Michele Hauf--***
• 42. Slave to Love or The Infiltrator (R)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 41. The Courier (R)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 40. The Price of a Good Drink (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 39. The Syndicate (PG-13)--Jon F. Merz--****
• 38. The Destructor (R)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 37. Lover Unleashed (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 36. The Invoker (PG-13)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 35. The Fixer (R)--Jon F. Merz--****1/2
• 34. Beasts and BFF's (PG)--Shannon Delaney--**
• 33. Remedial Magic (PG)--Jenna Black--***
• 32. Anthem (PG)--Ayn Rand--***** (reread--read it for the first time in 1984)
• ----Fondly Farenheit (PG-13)--Alfred Bester--***
• 31. Dead Drop (PG)--Jon F. Merz--*****
• 30. Cat Calls (PG)--Cynthia Leitich Smith--****
• 29. Father Mine (R)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 28. Catching Caroline (R)--Sylvia Day--****
• 27. Lover Mine (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 26. Lover Avenged (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 25. Lover Enshrined (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 24. Lover Unbound (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 23. Lover Revealed (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--****
• 22. Lover Awakened (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--****
• 21. Lover Eternal (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--*****
• 20. Dark Lover (NC-17)--J. R. Ward--****
• 19. Beyond the Highland Mist (NC-17)--Karen Marie Moning--**
• ----Petticoat Influence (PG)--P. G. Wodehouse--****
• 18. Shadowfever (NC-17)--Karen Marie Moning--*****
• 17. Dreamfever (NC-17)--Karen Marie Moning--*****
• 16. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--***
• 15. Faefever (NC-17)--Karen Marie Moning--*****
• 14. Bloodfever (R)--Karen Marie Moning--*****
• 13. Darkfever (R)--Karen Marie Moning--****
• 12. The Host (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--****
• 11. Kitchen Confidential (R)--Anthony Bourdain--****
• 10. No Cure for Cancer (R)--Denis Leary--****
• 9. House of Dark Shadows (PG)--Robert Liparulo--*****
• 8. The Blood That Bonds (R)--Christopher Buecheler--****
• 7. Midnight Sun [partial manuscript] (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--*****(read it twice)
• 6. The Bite of Silence (NC-17)--Mary Hughes--*
• 5. Heat Wave (PG-13)--"Richard Castle"--****
• 4. Breaking Dawn (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--****
• 3. Eclipse (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--****
• 2. New Moon (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--****
• 1. Twilight (PG)--Stephenie Meyer--****
• Here's the rating system:
• *****--Almost Perfect (probably made me cry)
• ****--Definitely Worth the Read
• ***--Meh
• **--Pretty Bad
• *--Don't Even Bother

Honorable Mentions

J.R. Ward--The Black Dagger Brotherhood series

--This is a hot and steamy series about a group of badass vampires. Right up my alley. Technically it's paranormal romance, but it's definitely not chick lit.

Richelle Mead--The Succubus series (Georgina Kinkaid)

--This one's a heartbreaker the whole way through. It's true paranormal romance. Bring Kleenex.

Stephenie Meyer--The Host

--This is the book that made me wonder whether Stephenie Meyer is a writer to watch out for. The Twilight series is definitely not her best work; this is.

Jim Butcher--The Dresden Files series

--I was a Dresden fan before I spent the summer of 2011 reading this entire series. (Okay, I still haven't finished Ghost Story.) I'm hooked.

A Look Ahead

Since I've become so involved with other writers, I find myself with less time for recreational reading. Therefore, I decided that rather than give myself a number goal for 2012, I would create a reading list with specific authors and titles on it. I love the Russians, so many of the titles are by Russian authors, but others are by authors who've influenced those with whom I've been working.

In no particular order, here's the unofficial list for 2012 (from 12/26/11 to 12/25/12):

Jim Butcher -- finish Ghost Story and Side Jobs

Elmore Leonard -- Pronto and Riding the Rap

Neil Gaiman -- Coraline

Richard Matheson -- I Am Legend

H. P. Lovecraft -- Collected Works (it's only 2400 pages-I can do that, right?)

Edgar Allen Poe -- finish Complete Works

Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- Crime and Punishment

Leo Tolstoy -- War and Peace (I'm determined to finally do it this year, maybe audio version)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- re-read Faust

Anton Chekhov -- still undecided

Vladimir Nabokov -- finish Lolita

Mikhail Bulgakov -- The Master and Margarita

David K. Hulegaard -- The Jumper, Noble (revised), and Bloodlines

Jeff Bennington -- Twisted Vengeance

Richard Roberts -- Sweet Dreams Are Made of Teeth

Franz Kafka -- re-read The Castle (maybe)

George R. R. Martin -- A Game of Thrones

Talk to me:  What's on your 2012 reading list?