In My Mailbox: November Ist, 2009

This is my first In My Mailbox post.  It's a cool meme from The Story Siren. You can find more information on it here: http://www.thestorysiren.com/2007/12/in-my-mailbox.html. I have so many cool books to tell you about, plus a neat non-book package that came in my battered mailbox during the last week and a half or so. After this I'll stick to what comes each week.

First, I used an Amazon gift certificate for the following books:
Be Mine Tonight (The Brotherhood of Blood, Book 1)by Kathryn Smith
The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1)by Vicki Pettersson
Legacy (Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles, Book 4) by Jeanne C. Stein
Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2) by Patricia Briggs
Embrace the Night (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 3) by Karen Chance

I've read Hunting Ground and Embrace the Night out of this last already, and need to review them.

I won a writing mini-pack from Eleni Konstantine, who's been having these cool interviews with writers on the value of critique partners and other words of wisdom. You can read them here: http://elenikonstantine.com/  I had to practically wrestle my daughter to the ground to keep the pen. I won because well, she's only nine and I'm bigger:)

Next, I bought these I bought on ebay for a good price.
Crimson City by Liz Maverick
Stray by Rachel Vincent
Skykeepers by Jessica Andersen

I've read Stray and Skykeepers so far, and loved both. Yes, they are my "Review or Die" list. (As fast as I read I need more motivation than just "To Be Reviewed".)

On Day 10 of  the Bitten by Books  contest, 31 Days of Dark Delights, I won When Ghosts Speak by author Mary Ann Winkowski. A note on this book: I've never been a fan of nonfiction paranormal books, so instead of reading and reviewing this myself, I had an ephinany. My son belongs to a small group called Zombie Defense and Paranormal Studies. Once a week they meet and discuss and/or debate all things paranormal. He told me about half the kids think zombies, vampires and such are cool, but not real. The other half believes some of these things could exist. I gave them the book to have their first book discussion. They will meet next week, and look it over together then discuss it. Cool, huh?

I joined PaperBackSwap.com, and the first book I chose was Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The series has been recommended to me SO many times that I had to get it started.  I finished the first book, but I think I will wait to review until I read more of the books, and get a good feel for the series.

My Goal This Week: Review Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series plus her anthologies.

~Moonsanity

The Zombie Today Show

Yesterday was a little depressing as I shared about a couple of eerie, yet sad authors, so today I've set that aside to share some zombie fun. That's right. I'm introducing you to The Zombie Today Show, and this cutie named Dylan:

You can visit him and his partner Roger McKnight, who is also a zombie. I know you will chuckle, and perhaps you'll fall on the floor laughing like any idiot  intelligent person would when they are confronted with zombies reviewing books.  Visit Dylan and Roger here: http://www.readersentertainment.tv/zombietoday/ for a good time. I'm still laughing:)

~Moonsanity

The "Weird Tales" of Robert E. Howard & H.P. Lovecraft

In the spirit of Halloween I wanted to explore the world of horror beyond Edgar Allen Poe, who as most of you know wrote in the 1800's. His writings have been an inspiration to generations of horror writers and poets. What about later writers? Who makes you shiver with fear? For me it's H.P. Lovecraft (his picture is to the left), who I discovered in college, and about the same time Robert E. Howard, of Conan fame. I don't think we can look at one, without looking at the other. They were close friends, and died about a year apart. Actually, many people confuse some details of their lives. H.P. Lovecraft actually died of cancer after checking himself into a hospital in March of 1937. Robert E. Howard committed suicide in 1936, planning to die before his mother who was laying inside their home in her sick bed, unconsious. When it was clear she would not wake up, and would soon die, he shot himself outside their home. She died the day after her son, and a double funeral was held. He had left this message on his typewriter:

“All fled, all done


So lift me on the pyre.


The feast is over


And the lamps expire.”

I've noticed over the years that people tend to confuse the two deaths, claiming that Lovecraft committed suicide, rather than Howard. I think this is because of the two, Lovecraft seemed more "disturbed" to those reading bits from his biography.

After reading both authors' biographies I was struck by the loss of these two creative, brilliant minds under such tragic circumstances. Through letters these two men reached out to each other. For many years they corrisponded and challenged each other. Lovecraft had a huge influence over Howard's writing, and vice versa. They continue to influence writers today, but they would never know the impact their writing had on fellow writers.

You can read some of the stories both authors wrote at different periods of their lives at the links below. Lovecraft is known as a horror writer, but didn't start out as one until he began writing for Weird Tales. Robert E. Howard wrote some fiction that I would call horror, but it best known for his fantasy books and tales.  He is often called the Father of Sword and Sorcery, which is another blog entirely.

The Call of Cthulhu
by H. P. Lovecraft
http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/thecallofcthulhu.htm

He
by H.P. Lovecraft
http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/he.htm

Spear and Fang
By Robert E. Howard
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0607951.txt

In the Forest of Villefére
By Robert E. Howard
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0607931.txt

I hope you enjoy a little eery reading this week!

~Moonsanity

A Vampire Haiku

I had mentioned that VampChix is having a cool scavenger hunt this week. Today is a guest blog by Ryan Mecum, author of Vampire Haiku and Zombie Haiku. Our challenge is write a vampire related haiku. I took up the challenge and composted the following:

Draws me in slowly
His natural charisma
Staying despite fear

Hold your applause. I haven't written haiku since high school. I may start doing so now that I'm on a roll. Perhaps, I'll write Werewolf Haiku next:)

~Moonsanity

Halloween Goodies For Readers

It's Halloween week, and for fans of Paranormal fiction there are a lot of goodies out there for the taking.

The first one I found today and just finished reading. It's a cool little short story from Christina Dodd. This story takes place after the last Darkness Chosen book, Into the Flame. IF you haven't read all four books you'll want to save the short story until you do because it has spoilers. You can read it here: http://www.christinadodd.com/paranormal_scene_wilder.html

Writerspace is hosting the 2009 Halloween Mash Chat. It's on Wednesday, October 28th from 8 pm to 11 pm Eastern Time in the Writerspace Readers Chat Room. You can register here: http://www.writerspace.com/halloween/. They have authors galore and prizes too!

Kim Harrison is throwing her Annual Halloween Costume Contest! Category winners received a signed cover flat of a Hollows book. Grand prize winner is pulled from the category winners, and will receive a signed ARC of BLACK MAGIC SANCTION. All the details on entering are here: http://www.kimharrison.net/Halloween09.htm Isn't that fun?

VampChix are having a Vamp Bash this week! It's a scavenger hunt with author interviews and prizes through Friday the 30th. Vamp fun for all:) It's here:http://vampchix.blogspot.com/ (I'm multi-tasking and doing their hunt as I type this. *snicker*)

~Moonsanity

Musical Interlude: Lacuna Coil

I'm heading out to my inlaws for the weekend, books in hand, and a notebook to jot down any fiction ideas I have while there because I won't have internet. Yikes!

My little musical interlude today is from an Italian band called Lacuna Coil. This video has a paranormal feel. It's a little creepy, a little Goth...



~Moonsanity

It's Been a Good Day...

Today I received two awards today; which are the first ones I've received. Two in one day makes for a good day folks. The first one is the Blog With Bite Top Reviewer Award. I'm so pumped about this because the book review I wrote was my first one with them, the first one on this blog and it was for Covet by J.R. Ward, which I loved. I'm taking this as a sign that I should get in gear and start writing reviews for all the books I've read since Covet!

The second award was giving to me by Book Whisperer. You can visit her blog here: http://book-whisperer.blogspot.com/. She gave me The Honest Scrap Award, which is for those bloggers who write from the heart. The rules: pass it along to seven bloggers and then list 10 honest things about yourself. Thank you SO much for giving me this award!



Let's do my list first because I'm a list person:

1. I'm turning 50 this summer, and a part of me really hates that I will be that old. I don't feel old, but 50 seems more traumatic for me than 30 or 40 did.

2. I would rather read than watch television.

3. I own boxed DVD sets of ALL seasons of: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly.

4. I buy wine based on how cool the bottle looks

5. I hate reality television. ALL reality TV, even American Idol. Sorry folks:(

6. I don't like talking on the phone or texting. I'd rather email.

7. I like space around me. A lot of space. We have ten acres, and most of it is straight back from my deck sliders. I used to feel closed in when we lived in the city. Here, just knowing I have ten acres of my own space makes me feel less stressed.

8. I love wearing my husband's t-shirts after they are all worn and comfortable. I'm wearing his black AC/DC tee right now.

9. I love books. Old books, new books... I have a 6 foot tall monster of a bookshelf of garden and herb books, plus another large book shelf of fiction that I'm currently reading or going to read. Then there are the plastic tubs in the basement with more books. Yes, I'm addicted.

10. When I was a new writer on my college internship I LOVED doing feature articles for the small town newspaper I worked at. Once I interviewed the president of the local La Leche League (back in 1981) and I quoted her as saying "You can't prop a breast!". This freaked out my family and they still make fun of me when it comes up. I thought it was funny, and still do:)

It's so hard for me to pick winners of awards, and I'm suppose to pick seven. Instead, I would be thrilled to offer it to any of my commenters who have blogs and haven't received this award yet. It would help me get to know you better, and you DO touch my heart just by leaving a comment for me.

~Moonsanity