I’m not sure if this is due to a change in my outlook, or if it’s more because of the shift my life has taken over the past few months. Lately, my focus has been on school and work, and also….the adventures of Fatburger, Milkshake, Spare Rib, and Sweet Tea. (Yes, those are code names. No, I’m not making them up. Yes, it’s actually quite funny.) I haven’t had time to write or revise for months, but I did start a new story a couple of weeks ago, and I’m on the verge of revising the werewolf story again. I’ve been so focused on school, even reading has fallen by the wayside, much less blogging.

But I intend to remedy that. Along with the writing and revising. And reading. And working out. But still, no goals. Just…intentions.

What I’ve Read Recently:
Fury, by Elizabeth Miles
Dragon’s Oath, by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Sisterhood Everlasting, by Ann Brashares

Okay, so in reality, what I’m reading are all my textbooks from my classes. The new semester just started, and I’m eyeball-deep in homework assignments. Bleh. But no one wants to hear about Atoms First. Trust me on this. I don’t even want to read it, and I’m paying perfectly good money to suffer through take the class. Absorbing reading, it is not. So, yeah, not much actual reading going on around here. (No, I don’t think the 10 pages I read the other night of The Map of Time count, as my eyes kept drifting closed out of exhaustion—despite my desire to find out what was going on with Captain Derek Shackelford.)

But Fury was good. Awesome, even. A good, solid YA fantasy with a nice mythological twist and strong, likeable characters. Fair warning: this isn’t a standalone, so if you’re looking for a nice HEA ending wrapped up in a bow…keep looking.

Dragon’s Oath is a novella, so it’s a quick read, but it adds a nice bit of history to the House of Night world, with the story of Dragon’s origins, and how he fell inlove.

Sisterhood Everlasting…was wonderful. I love the whole series, and this was no exception. I stayed up far, far too late finishing it. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It really made me miss my friends from high school (there were four of us), and it also made me extremely grateful for the many wonderful friends I have in my life now.

The Map of Time is a Victorian England fantasy that combines a steampunk feel with time travel, H.G. Wells, and….men that tell lies. (Okay, the last bit is subject to change, as I’m not through with the book, but so far, two of the main male characters are liars. Rather grand, elaborate ones at that. And hey, as far as I’m concerned, men that lie=the devil. I’m just sayin’.)

Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble, Walkingstick Books

Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble, by D. Robert Pease is a middle-grade book filled with adventure, excitement, and a lot of fun.

A thousand years in the future, mankind has practically destroyed the Earth, wreaking havoc on its environment and animals before being forced to relocate to Mars and Venus while the Earth slowly recovers. The Zarc family is allowed to travel back in time to save two animals of every species from extinction, and bring them to new habitats on their ship, the ARC–Animal Rescue Cruiser—in order to repopulate the Earth when it is ready. To most people, the Zarcs are interplanetary heroes. To Haon, they are messing with things better left alone in order to steal the Earth from its rightful inhabitants: humans. And Haon will stop at nothing to prevent them.

Twelve-year-old Noah Zarc believes in what his family is doing, but when Haon kidnaps his mother and strands his father in the Ice Age, Noah, his brother Hamilton and his sister Sam are determined to rescue their parents, no matter what. After time-traveling to the Ice Age, Noah has a close encounter with a mammoth that attacks the ship, and befriends an Ice Age girl while Hamilton goes after their mother. He returns with word that Haon has kidnapped their mother to force her to create a nano virus that will destroy all animal life on planet Earth—and everything the Zarc family has worked so hard to save. So begins Noah’s quest to save his mother and the future of animalkind on Earth from Haon’s grasp.

Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble is an adventure-filled journey that jumps from present-day Earth to the Ice Age, Mars, and medieval Scotland. With plenty of advanced tech—from assassin bots to thermsuits to the ARC itself—the future looks like a pretty cool place to be, and Noah’s mission to save his parents, even in the midst of overwhelming danger, proves that things haven’t changed too much, even with mankind scattered amongst the stars. With the heaps of trouble Noah gets into, the prospect of more will keep the reader turning the pages in anticipation as Noah heads towards his inevitable clash with Haon—and discovers some astonishing things about his family along the way.

The Silent Girl, by Tess Gerritsen
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Virals, by Kathy Reich
When Crickets Cry, by Charles Martin
Slow Love, by Dominique Browning
Iron Knight, by Julie Kagawa
The Secrets of Jin-Shei, by Alma Alexander
Let’s Take the Long Way Home, by Gail Caldwell,
Noah Zarc, by D. Robert Pease
Dust and Decay, by Jonathan Maberry

What I’m Reading Now:
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Ember and Ash, by Pamela Freeman
Fury, by Elizabeth Miles
Celebrations, by Maya Angelou
366 Celt: A Year and a Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore, by Carl McColman
Dragon’s Oath, by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Sisterhood Everlasting, by Ann Brashares

I was on vacation last week, so I got a lot of reading done, which is always a high point of any vacation to me. The Silent Girl, by Tess Gerritsen, is another enjoyable read in the Rizzoli & Isles series. Great mystery, touched by magic and mystique, that explores a long-ago murder in Chinatown that is somehow linked to present-day events. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett was a fantastic book. From the moment I read the first sentence, until I finished the last page, I was hooked on the lives of Abeline, Minnie, and Skeeter. Ms. Stockett paints such a vivid picture of Jackson, Mississippi in the midst of the civil rights battle, that I felt like I was there, living through it all. And I hated Hilly with a passion! What a horrible woman! On a side note, I saw the movie as well, and I highly recommend it to anyone. Very well-done, and does not suffer in comparison to the book.

Virals is Kathy Reich’s first venture into the world of YA fiction. Although tangentially connected to her adult books (the main character is Temperance Brennan’s niece), the books stands solidly on its own. With its slightly-creepy-yet-cool setting of a research island and another island inhabited solely by company workers and their families, Virals explores the evils of some men stoop to in the name of research and money, all centered on the lives of a group of teenagers who get caught in the midst.

When Crickets Cry, by Charles Martin, is another beautifully written book, about a cardiac surgeon who lost his beloved wife before she could receive a transplant, and the bond he forms with a young girl who needs a transplant of her own. This is a beautiful book that kept me up ‘til 2 a.m. so I could find out what happened! Slow Love, by Dominique Browning, is the story of a woman who loses her high-octane job as a magazine editor, and has to learn to live all over again, to a much slower tempo.

Iron Knight, by Julie Kagawa is not on the shelves yet, but I was fortunate enough to receive an e-galley, and will be posting a review closer to release date. But I will say that the fourth book in the Iron Fey series was just as good as the first three books.

The Secrets of Jin-Shei, by Alma Alexander was a book that surprised me. Set in a fictionalized version of China, it is about the jin-shei bonds—sort of a cross between friendship and sisterhood, only more—formed between a group of girls. It tells the story of their lives, as one of them grows up to be Empress, and the lives of the others become even more entwined.

Let’s Take the Long Way Home, by Gail Caldwell, is the true tale of the friendship that develops between Gail and Caroline, both writers and dog-lovers, and how Gail learns to face life without her best friend after she loses Caroline. This book made me cry. A lot. Twice.

Noah Zarc, by D. Robert Pease is a middle-grade fiction debut that combines time-travel, space ships, and high adventure into one adrenaline-laced story. I’ll be reviewing it in depth in the next day or so, as it was my pleasure to read both a first draft of this NaNoWriMo story, as well as the finished product. (It’s great to have writer friends, so you can see the beauty of a story’s evolution.)

Dust and Decay, by Jonathan Maberry, is a zombie story…but not your typical zombie gross-out tale of decaying flesh and overwhelming odds. It is a tale of survival and growth, of growing up and forming ties that will never be broken. There is some great humor in this story, and plenty of death and destruction as well.

Hydrothermal worm, courtesy of FEI and Philippe Crassous

…or not. This is actually an electron microscope picture of a hydrothermal worm. This morning, while I was procrastinating doing some research, I stumbled on this, and almost fell out of my chair. Wow! Has George Lucas seen this, because it looks like something out of Star Wars! Just sayin’ Pretty cool pic, though. Would be far more useful if I wrote SF.

And if you’re really looking for ways to procrastinate or, alternately, actually doing research, check out ARKive. The site is filled with tons of gorgeous pictures in the organization’s effort to photograph every species on Earth. Awesome mission.

I hadn’t really considered this option until recently, but now, indie publishing is starting to sound like an intriguing idea. I’m doing some research on the process and what’s involved, just to get an idea. I have one of my novels with several beta readers who don’t normally read YA paranormal, just to get a better opinion of the manuscript. And I’m weighing my options.

What do you think about self-publishing/indie publishing?

What I’m reading now:
The Silent Girl, by Tess Gerritsen
The Cure is a Forest, by Desi Di Nardo
Understanding World Religions, by Irving Hexham
Damned, by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dust and Decay, by Jonathan Maberry
Fury, by Elizabeth Miles

Quinn is, supposedly, the next-to-last installment in the Eve Duncan series. It was an excellent, fast-paced read. I’ve been reading this series for a while now, and while I’ll be sad to see it end, I can’t wait to find out how it’s resolved and what happens to the characters. Eve, Joe, Gallo, Catherine, even Bonnie, are all great characters that I’ve made an emotional connection to.

White Woman on a Green Bicycle….Truthfully, I’m not sure what to say about this book. It’s the story of George and Sabine, their marriage, and the history of Trinidad. It’s very vivid and evocative, and I enjoyed the descriptions of Trinidad. It also explores the lives of the characters when they first came to Trinidad as a newly-married couple, and also, years later, when they are in their 70s.

A Dance with Dragons, is, of course, the latest in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. It’s been almost six years since the last book came out, but fortunately, I only “discovered” the series two years ago. What can I say about this book? It’s typical for the series. Engrossing. Detailed. Action-filled. And, of course, Martin is not afraid to kill off major characters that are dear to the reader. As a writer, I am in awe of his ability to make his readers care about his characters. As a reader…man, I HATE when a character I love dies!

Writing means different things to different people. (And by “writing” I mean actually writing. By hand.) For some, it’s a necessary evil. For others, it’s just necessary. For me….well…it depends on what I’m writing. Grocery list, To-Do’s, definitely handwritten. Novel-planning, plotting, and brainstorming, are all done by hand, as is journaling. I think the physical act of writing ideas down links things together in my brain and allows me to make connections I wouldn’t have otherwise.

First drafts are computer-drafted, as are most forms of my communication (email, Facebook, texting). I am making an effort to handwrite letters, though. It’s just more personal. It does seem a little bit odd that the main creative portion of my writing (the “planning” stage, if you will), is something that I have to do by hand, but the actual writing is always on the computer. Hmmm…..

But I think handwriting is a skill everyone needs. Check out this link: Is Cursive Obsolete? What do you think? Is it obsolete?

What I’ve read (finished) in the last week:

The Goddess Test, by Aimee Carter
Iceberg, Right Ahead!, by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
Trial by Fire, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

What I’m currently reading:

White Woman on a Green Bicycle, by Monique Roffey
The Cure is a Forest, by Desi Di Nardo
Understanding World Religions, by Irving Hexham
Damned, by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin

The Goddess Test is a YA/fantasy about a girl who makes a deal with a stranger in return for saving a life, and she ends up becoming Persephone to his Hades. An interesting premise, with some funny moments, and excellent characterization. Pretty good read.

Iceberg, Right Ahead! is, of course, about the Titanic. Although short, there are some pretty interesting facts, and some of even cooler pictures of everything from the ship’s construction, to survivors, and the remains of the Titanic itself.

Trial by Fire is the second in the Raised by Wolves series. A YA werewolf book with an interesting twist: the protagonist is the alpha of a werewolf pack, but she’s human. With lots of problems. Honestly, I stayed up far too late finishing this book, since I just *had* to find out what happened!

Of the books I’m currently reading, one is nonfiction, three are fiction (two of which are fantasy), and one is poetry. I don’t normally read much poetry, but so far, The Cure is a Forest is full of compelling, nature-oriented poems that I’m enjoying very much. I, along with a huge number of other fantasy fans, have been looking forward to A Dance with Dragons for years, and I have to say that 100 pages in, it’s been worth the wait. (Still kinda dreading which one of the characters I love Martin will kill off in this book…)