When you’re choosing a new book to read, what genres do you find yourself exploring? Do you stick primarily to one, or do you branch out? I encountered the titled question in the newsletter of my friend and fellow author, Al Macy, and my first thought was I hadn’t considered genre hopping “dirty” before. I do…
Today, I’m happy to hand my blog space over to one of my favorite authors, Anne Marie Andrus (I wrote about her first book here). She has a new book coming out soon, and I had the good fortune of reading it early. Neener neener. It’s full of suspense and love and vampiry goodness. Don’t…
When we fiction writers put pen to paper or finger to keyboard or, I dunno, bloody toothpick to cocktail napkin, we are likely writing a story that 1. We enjoy in our heads enough to write it into reality, and 2. We hope others will enjoy as well. Lifelong readers have come to expect certain…
Hey, look at that! It’s Day Z, the last day of the A-Z challenge. I hope the past month has offered some interesting titles to add to your list. Our final Bookbag title, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, is a unique way to end the series. It features Zinzi, a young lady living in a…
Today’s Bookbag title is a sci-fi thriller that combines time travel, mind reading, and good doses of humor. Yesterday’s Thief by Al Macy is the first part of a series, all featuring a private investigator named Eric Beckman. This book is set in 2020, when self-driving cars, medical technology that allows for super-fast recovery, and…
I know, Extracted by R.R. Haywood doesn’t technically start with X, but considering the number of books that do start with X is basically none, I adopted Goodreads’s guideline for its alphabetical reading challenge lists. You only need an X in the title. And I wanted to read one I would probably enjoy. Side note…
We’re taking a step back from fiction today and into a different world, one that pokes fun at the bad writing we’re all guilty of from time to time. Wretched Writing: A Compendium of Crimes Against the English Language by Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras is a collection of writing snippets from various authors (though a…
Today’s title is a super crazy popular one that I picked more because I didn’t have any other V titles than because I thought it could use the exposure. Because it doesn’t. If Anne Rice’s Vampire books aren’t iconic yet, they’re pretty damn close. The Vampire Lestat is the follow-up to Interview with a Vampire,…
Today’s Bookbag title is the third part of a trilogy. I loved all three parts of the IA series, and I could have written about any or all of them, but since I and B were occupied with other books, IA: Union by John Darryl Winston gets the honors. Set in an urban area called…
Today’s Bookbag book is one I read a looooong time ago–so long ago I bought the ebook so I could refresh my memory. The good news is I probably could have written this post without the refresher, which makes me feel good about my brain. This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti takes place in a…
Allison Maruska 