Title:Dust

Author: Joan Frances Turner

Genre: Horror, Zombies, Post-Apocalyptic, Speculative Fiction

Publisher: Ace
Publication date: September 7 2010
Hardcover: 384 pages

Nine years ago, Jessie had a family. Now, she has a gang.

Nine years ago, Jessie was a vegetarian. Now, she eats very fresh meat.

Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. Nine years ago, Jessie was human.

Now, she’s not.

After she was buried, Jessie awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. Jessie’s gang is the Fly-by-Nights. She loves the ancient, skeletal Florian and his memories of time gone by. She’s in love with Joe, a maggot-infested corpse. They fight, hunt, dance together as one—something humans can never understand. There are dark places humans have learned to avoid, lest they run into the zombie gangs.

But now, Jessie and the Fly-by-Nights have seen new creatures in the woods—things not human and not zombie. A strange new illness has flamed up out of nowhere, causing the undeads to become more alive and the living to exist on the brink of death. As bits and pieces of the truth fall around Jessie, like the flesh off her bones, she’ll have to choose between looking away or staring down the madness—and hanging onto everything she has come to know as life.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did we get this book: Review copies from the publisher

Why did we read this book: Thea loves zombies and Ana has a new found appreciation for the creatures. When we first heard about the book, we both went: WANT.

Review:

First Impressions:

Thea: According to the marketing promo behind Dust, the novel promises to be…different than the average zombie novel. It promises to tell the story of life after death, from the walking dead’s perspective. It promises to make readers question what they know about life and death, through the eyes of a not-so-young heroine, named Jessie. These are a whole lotta promises for a debut novel to deliver, but deliver Dust certainly does. It’s a haunting, elegiac portrait of life after death, of relationships and emotions from the perspective of a character that is no longer human, but not a monster either. Dust is one of those books that gets better the more that I reflect upon it. I loved it. (And, I think that you should listen to me and not Ana, because she is wrong and I am right, and that is all there is to it.)

Ana: I had very much the opposite reaction to the book – the more I reflect upon it, the less I like it. It starts well enough but half way through the book, it loses its steam. The marketing promo, the blurb, the cover of my ARC (a letter from the marketing department) all tell me how different the book is going to be and I think that ultimately it does not deliver on its promise. I think that story-wise it doesn’t work that well and the basic themes of life and death and being human x being a zombie, were extremely heavy-handed. I didn’t like it.

On the plot:

Thea: Dust is the story of Jessie, or Jessica Anne Porter that was, a girl that was fifteen when she was killed in a car accident only to rise days later as a zombie. Fighting her way out of her cement sealed grave under six feet of dirt, Jessie finds refuge of a kind with a gang of other undead, that call themselves the Fly-By-Nights. After taking their brutal initiation of beating, breaking her bones and causing her to retch up a dark mixture of fetid, congealed blood (“Coffin Liquor,” as the zombies call it), Jessie becomes an official member of the gang, and she finally feels at home. Roaming the forest together for deer, possum and other wild prey, Jessie is respected by her fellow gang members as a fighter – even one-armed, as the book opens with Jessie finally losing her right appendage, Jessie is perhaps the fiercest fighter of the group. But then, something strange disturbs Jessie’s comfortable routine. First, there’s the strange blonde “hoo” (zombie slang for human) that stumbles into their woods, so far from the protections of civilization. Disoriented, sweating a strange, non-human, chemical smell, the girl seems like something caught between living and dead – not quite hoo, but not quite zombie either. Then, gang leader Teresa starts acting strangely, smelling eerily like the not-hoo girl from the woods. Something frightening is happening to the undead and living alike, and not a soul will be left untouched.

Well, what can I say about Dust? It is a haunting story that lingers with you long after finishing the novel. It is deeply unsettling, unique, and beautifully written. It is a story that is, more than anything else (and contrary to what Ana will tell you about romance or whatever) about people that have lived, died, and been born again in a cold, cruel world. Yes, they are flesh-hungry, but they aren’t “monsters” – at least, not any more than humans are monsters. From a plotting perspective, Dust is a quiet novel, a loving macabre ode to sinew and blood, of decay and the maggots and blowflies that feed upon the flesh of the dead. But instead of being gratuitous or overly gory for the sake of being gory, Dust is in actuality a beautiful, melancholy book – Ms. Turner manages to make the sight of dusty, parchment-thin skin beautiful, the warm blood and entrails of a fresh kill vibrant and delectable. Dust isn’t a book that aims to shock and disgust; rather, it simply is an honest recording of the life of Jessie and her gang.

Dust also is a mystery of sorts, and a book of discovery and reconciliation. There is the question of the cause and nature of the strange new infection that sweeps the forest, a biological mystery that unfolds beautifully and gradually over the course of the novel. The cause of the apocalyptic bacteria is insignificant though, really, as the more important, underlying theme is not on the macro but micro level – personal guilt, family loyalty and perceived betrayal. Though the idea of the microbe unleashed by humanity ultimately leading to the species’ demise is nothing new, Ms. Turner handles this aspect of the novel beautifully, creating a tempered, well-paced tale that I devoured whole in essentially a few short hours.

On the more technical, zombie-fan sort of stuff, I must say that I loved Ms. Turner’s take on the life cycle of the zombie, as I did the newly imagined method that they communicate with each other, although I will say that certain aspects felt underdeveloped (the strange, literal “danse macabre” and the way they hear thoughts in terms of music – or perhaps only Jessie does this?). Still, I loved their new, superior neuron-firing capable brains, and most of all, their perceived “superiority” to the idiot, stinking hoos. They aren’t superior of course – this is the beauty of Dust, with its flawed characters, laying bare the faults of both humanity and zombie, the difference between the two not so dramatic as one might suspect. I loved that the book doesn’t feel the need to explain everything explicitly, that Ms. Turner makes some unorthodox choices towards the end of the novel, too. And, contrary to the notion that Dust is romantic or some sort of cautionary tale, I will say that, in my opinion, this misses the point of the book. In my opinion, I didn’t find this book romantic at all (certainly not in the conventional, human interpretation of the word) and it certainly is not a factor in anything that Jessie chooses to do – take, for example, Jessie’s last huge decision to walk to the sands. If this were all about true love, wouldn’t she have dragged her true love with her? No. She goes by herself. Very, very late in the book (i’m talking the last 30 pages) there is, I guess, what can be interpreted as a romantic development, but Jessie isn’t exactly a romantic person. I didn’t see this relationship as a romance so much as it is a reunion between people that thought they would never see each other again. But this is all moot, and I don’t even want to spend any more time on this because the book is really not a romance, it’s only a teeny tiny 1% of the overall book, and it’s distracting from the main point:

Dust is above all a deconstruction of the zombie myth.

Instead of using the undead as a catalyst for human ugliness, it instead approaches zombies as people…that have died and been born again. It is their story, through one of their own’s eyes. It is not a cautionary tale about the evils of humanity or the presumptions of science or whatnot; to reduce the complexity of Dust to such an interpretation does the book a grave disservice. I’d liken Dust to a novel such as Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, which plays on the same human/inhuman blurry areas (but more on that in the character section below).

I will say, however, that Dust is a book that clearly is NOT for everyone. Take the ending, for example (which I think, as a zombie fan, is an homage to a cornerstone of scifi horror) – it’s a risk and understandably, not for everyone. But for me? I loved it.

Ana: Dust has a promising start and I loved the first half of the book: with gore and violence and a wonderful look at how Jessie lives now. I especially liked how zombies are still decaying and will eventually, and very slowly, go through what all dead bodies go through: all the stages of decay but with the different that it happens to the zombies whilst they are conscious. It is in fact the living dead in all their horrifying glory.

But is Dust really that different from the average zombie novel? I don’t think so. Sure, it is from a different perspective ,ie from the living dead themselves but at its core it still deals with fear, love and what it is to be human. THAT’s what bothers me the most about the book – that it promises a world of difference, but that it doesn’t deliver.

I will agree with Thea when she says that Dust is above all a deconstruction of the zombie myth but beyond that, is where we fundamentally disagree. I think that this deconstruction is not well done at all, it is heavy – handed and yes, with an underlying message. I think that the idea that zombies “are just people who died” is hammered over and over again in a less than subtle way. In trying to show the other side’s story, I believe the author did in fact a 360 turn going right back at the starting point – by making them just like humans only with a different diet. The more the story progresses, the more Jessie and her companions sound like humans and when the virus hits they even start to look like humans. Which brings me back to the point I am trying to make: the story to me is not unique, or original; it simply deals with flawed characters who can be as good and bad, as violent or not, as humans are. Perhaps that is actually the point. In which case, it is just another story that doesn’t have anything special to it, at least not for me.

It is also very predictable: I saw the resolution coming a mile away, I saw the identity of one the characters as soon as she walked into the novel and I saw the romantic development between Jessie and another character basically from page 1 and yes, there is romance there although not – I agree with Thea here – central to the story. And although I don’t think that the book is about messages, they are undoubtedly THERE : in what humans are capable of, what science is capable of, what people would do for misguided love. It is so there that at one point Jessie muses:

“typical human and no, I refused to start thinking of myself as one too. “Speaking,” I said, as coldly and calmly as I could muster, “as someone with a little actual afterlife experience? This isn’t hell. There is no hell. It’s just what your kind always do to the world in one form of another, so pull yourself together and keep walking”.

I kept thinking about “identity” and how what really differentiates zombies and humans is simply how each chooses to consume their food: zombies like it raw, humans like it cooked. At first, it seemed to be more than that: it seemed that there was going to be MORE that identified the zombies as separate entities– perhaps their aggressive culture, perhaps their danse macabre – but the former can be put down as another thing that is actually remnants of their humanity and the latter is never truly explored. I think this makes the book less complex and more simplistic, as a matter of fact.

But beyond that: the novel has problems with pacing as well with the second half dragging itself to a conclusion full of navel gazing. With regards to the ending: count me in as one that did not like it, but then again, I am not a horror-sci fi fan and probably failed to see as the homage that it possibly is.

On the characters:

Thea: Dust is one of those books that gets better upon reflection, especially from a character perspective. As with any book filtered through the perspective of a single character, there is a degree of unreliability – and I think that it is important to keep in mind that our narrator, Jessie, is a flawed character that sees what she wants to see, and interprets things in the way she wants to interpret them. Again, the important thing to remember about Dust is that it is a book about the life after death – about people that have lived and died, and have been reborn. As such, Jessie and her ilk experience emotions that are very human and familiar – and yet at the same time, they are not exactly human (which makes sense – if all of our life experiences contribute to how we see things and interpret the world around us, the effect is even more dramatic on those that have been killed and reanimated). And this is the main point of contention between Ana and myself, because Ana thinks that the emotions that Jessie feels are TOO human to be zombie, to which I ask, what then makes a zombie? Must they only be mindless creatures hungering for braaaaaains? And then I would ask, why this hate against the zombie? In other books featuring vampires or fairies or werewolves or angels, they all experience “human” emotions, and those are considered successes or acceptable, but when it’s a zombie this is a failure? It seems hypocritical to me. Zombie discrimination, I tell you! Again, this is Ms. Turner’s deconstruction of the zombie, by making them something other – not human, certainly not, but not so unfamiliar either. Not living, not dead, but something in between.

As a narrator and protagonist, Jessie is a mess of sharp edges, tough attitude, and strangely, vulnerability. Jessie’s narration is by turns funny, astute, and hard. Though she was only fifteen when she died, death and revival have a way of changing a body, both physically and emotionally. Through her memories, we learn about her less-than-ideal human life, and her final ability to find a home only beyond the grave. Her relationship with her gang, especially the tangled, complicated relationship with Joe, is fodder for reflection. Yes, Jessie feels emotions – remorse, love, hate, guilt, although I would argue that her brand of emotion is twisted and if human in origin, no longer exactly human in expression – and over the course of the book she grows and changes as a character, as do the other main characters in the book. And, unlike vampires locked in eternal youth, or zombies in films locked in eternal hunger, Jessie and her crew’s desires for food do not dictate who or what they are. They are not in permanent stasis, as each zombie has a life cycle of its own. When the shit hits the fan later in the book and both zombies and humans begin to change again, mutating from undead to..sort of living again, these emotions and needs morph as well. I think it’s a pretty awesome catalyst for character development, and an original way to take a look at the connection between eating, and (non)humanity.

“How many kinds of living and dead and living dead and dead living had I been in just these few months, these few days, after the stasis of plain old human living and dying? I deserved some kind of existential medal.”

As for the other characters, I thought they were all wonderfully handled and written, in particular ‘maldie Renee (lost and friendless and discriminated against for the fact that she was embalmed), the dustie Florian with his pacifism and insightful senility, the quiet and less aggressive (yet courageous) Linc, and of course, the manipulative, screeching electric guitar that is Joe. If there’s anything that will differentiate the zombie from the human, I think it is apparent in Jessie and Joe’s relationship, in which they crush each other’s bones and fight to the point of threatening each other’s deaths as a normality, but find solace in that rage. It is what by hoo terms we would call an abusive relationship, but our interpretations don’t really apply to the walking dead. Theirs is a tangled mess of hate and trust and love, and while there are glimpses of humanity and these characters (or at least Jessie) has some semblance of right and wrong, the zombie rulebook is completely different from the human one. It is this otherness that makes the deconstruction a success, in my opinion.

I will briefly address what I know Ana will bring up (based on our emails back and forth). I just want to say that I do NOT think the author assigns any moral judgements to her characters, to Jessie’s relationships, or to any aspect of the story. Jessie does have a sense of morality, although it clearly has changed since her time as a human (from a vegan animal rights activist to an animal huntress and zombie killer as one of the most fierce of the gang’s fighters, and in the end, eating anyone and anything – human, plant, inanimate object, friend, enemy – in order to survive). The presence of Jessie’s ability to make decisions based on her own concepts of morality does not equate to a moral message or judgement for the book, however. In my opinion, this just confirms how these biological changes effect the experience and perception of each character in this book. I think that it is important to remember that Dust is a book about what are by definition non-human characters, with vestiges of humanity – they remember who they were, certain things from their lives, and they feel emotions. But it is vital to keep in mind that they are creatures that have died and been reborn, their very brains rewired and reconfigured. They do not think in the same way that we do, as much as a twenty-year old thinks and behaves in the way that an eighty-year old would, and so for that reason their motivations may sit strangely with us hoo readers – but that, I think, is the point. There is no underlying message, no judgement or subtext that says that zombies are GOOD and humans are EVIL or any such nonsense. I urge everyone to please, please, for the love of all that is good in the world of literature, to try to step outside of your comfort zone and view Jessie’s world through the eyes of someone that is neither living nor dead, but someone caught in between.

Ana: What are zombies? I don’t know. They might not be all about braaaaaaaaaiins but I think it is clear that they are not simply “humans who died” either. They are “other”. And this is indeed the greatest point of contention between Thea and me when it comes to the book: I think that the book completely fails in capturing this “otherness” of these characters and fully exploring and developing it. I think that the zombies here are utterly familiar, completely humanised and to me that include human moral judgments as well or else Jessie would not mind eating humans; or else Jessie would not know that there is “right” and “wrong” and that her abusive relationship with Joe for example falls under the latter. That is definitely this awareness here and I honestly don’t see a complete re-wire of their brains. Dust might be a book about non-human characters but still so very human that they still have very human concepts of morality and emotions.

Jessie is very much still human, (even though she will tell you that she is not and I am agreeing on the unreliability of her narrative here), wanting to be loved and accepted which is in direct contrast to what happened to her when she was alive – she was neither loved or accepted when alive. Which is why she fell into the relationship with Joe – not because as a zombie she doesn’t care anymore, or her brain has been re-wired but because of her very human characteristics of wanting to fit in, be accepted. At one point she thinks:

“Even knowing then and later that I should have collected my strength and wits, turned around and left for good, no looking back. I stayed because of him. Like I said, I was fifteen”

and then:

“I hated that look. I hated that I could never even see the sorry part of it anymore, the part that really mattered, all I could see was how it was still always me that was wrong and him that was right. Always. No matter what.”

This reads as though it could apply to anybody. I would have loved to see the “otherness” or a true Zombie 2.0 story. To me, I just read another book of a character that had family issues and carried them to grave and beyond – with a bit of mystery on the side.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: Clearly, Dust is not for everyone. At times funny, at times painful, this reimagining of the zombie resonated for me, like the strings of the electric guitar or quiet plink of piano Jessie hears in her undead brain. It’s a strange book, but a memorable one for all that. A notable, if not favorite, read of 2010 for me.

Ana: Definitely not for everyone and above all, definitely not for me. Dust left me completely cold and underwhelmed.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

My right arm fell off today. Lucky for me, I’m left-handed.

In the accident that killed me I rocketed from the back seat straight through the windshield–no seatbelt, yeah, I know–and the pavement sheared my arm to nothing below the shoulder. Not torn off, but dangling by thin, precious little bits of skin and bone and ligament. I had a closed casket, I’m sure of it, because they never wired the arm or glued it or any other pretty undertaker trick. I managed to crawl back out of the ground without its help anyway, and of course after nine perfectly uneventful years of fighting and dancing and hunting and getting by fine with the left arm, the right finally shuffles its coil right on the banks of the Great River County Park’s not-so-Great River, smack in the middle of a meat run. Joe, my boy, my backup, was not sympathetic in the least….

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Dust has a pretty cool website, complete with extras such as the following book trailers (this one is hilarious, if not really having anything at all to do with the book):

You can see the other trailers HERE.

Rating:

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Ana: 5 – Meh

Reading Next: Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

Giveaway Details:

Courtesy of publisher Ace, we have FIVE copies of Dust up for grabs. The contest is open to addresses in the United States only, and will run until September 4th at 11:59 pm (PST). To enter, leave a comment here telling us what your favorite zombie novel is. Only ONE entry per person, please! Multiple comments from the same I.P. address will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the penultimate stop on the Official Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour:

Despite this coal mining district’s status as one of the poorest in all of Panem, District 12 has no shortage of guts or glory. For the first time since Haymitch Abernathy’s win decades earlier in the 50th Games, for the first time since the inception of the annual Games District 12 has had not one, but TWO victors emerge from the Arena – Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.

And, while other districts have shed light on everything from music to the romantic entanglements of The Hunger Games books, we District 12 Tributes bring you a look at the reason why these books are so resonan. We’re talking about the reason for the revolution, the symbol of defiance against the Capitol, the Mockingjay herself. We give you:

I am the mockingjay, The one that survived the Capitol’s plans. The symbol of the rebellion.

~ Catching Fire

A child of the Seam – one of the most dangerous and poorest areas in one of the country’s poorest districts – Katniss has had to fend for herself and for her loved ones from a young age. Following the death of her father in the coal mines and her mother’s subsequent breakdown, Katniss was forced to provide for her family, or starve. At twelve years old, Katniss started to put her name into the dreaded reaping lottery in exchange for tesserae:

Say you are poor and starving as we were. You can opt to add your name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tessera is worth a meager year s supply of grain and oil for one person. You may do this for each of your family members as well. So, at the age of twelve, I had my name entered four times. Once, because I had to, and three times for tesserae for grain and oil for myself, Prim, and my mother. In fact, every year I have needed to do this. And the entries are cumulative. So now, at the age of sixteen, my name will be in the reaping twenty times.

~ The Hunger Games

But even the meager tesserae was not enough to keep Katniss’s family fed and warm. To survive, Katniss learned to become an expert with her bow and arrow, sneaking out beyond the district’s fences to illegally hunt for food (and then to sell or trade some of that food for other goods on District 12’s black market).

For the 74th Hunger Games, when Katniss’s younger sister’s, Prim Everdeen’s, name was called at the Reaping as the female tribute from District 12, a horrified Katniss volunteered to take her younger sister’s place in the Games. Alongside the male tribute, Peeta Mellark, Katniss defied the Capitol by surviving the Arena not once, but twice – managing to stir up a rebellion in her wake.

So, why do we love Katniss so much?

1. Because she’s brave and stubbornly loyal – when her sister is called, Katniss steps in to take her place without a thought in her mind except to protect her family. Throughout the first book, her loyalty to her best friend Gale and her memory of her family is a driving force in the Arena.

2. Because she’s badass – the only Tribute to receive a score of 11 out of a possible 12 using her skills with a bow and arrow, Katniss is has mad skills hunting and trapping. Her survival in the Arena – in the Quarter Quell and the first Games – is testament to that ability to survive, and her determination to fight.

3. Because she is cunning and utterly capable – Badassness only gets one so far, and in order to survive the Games and the Capitol’s machinations, Katniss has not only had to be skilled; she’s also had to be smart, even ruthlessly so, to keep herself and those she cares about alive. Whether that means putting on a girly facade, hiding quietly in the background, or even killing, Katniss does what needs to be done.

4. Because, underneath it all, she has grown from completely clueless, to empowered and in control – in The Hunger Games and to a certain extent in Catching Fire, Katniss was completely clueless of her own worth and effect on people. (See revolution.) But by Mockingjay, she comes full circle – acting for herself, and taking control of a life that has been out of her hands for so long.

Over the course of the two books, Katniss has gone from a girl struggling to keep food on her family’s table to a Hunger Games tribute, victor, celebrity, and leader.

Regardless of where your loyalties lie concerning the romance, at least we can all agree on one thing: Katniss Everdeen is one awesome heroine. In a sea of bland, damsels in distress, existing simply to serve as arm candy for sparkly vampires, the calculating, defiant Katniss, bow and arrow in hand, stands triumphant.

“The question is, what are you going to do?”

It turns out the question that’s been eating away at me has only ever had one possible answer. But it took Peeta’s ploy for me to recognize it.

What am I going to do?

I take a deep breath. My arms raise slightly — as if recalling the black-and-white wings Cinna gave me — the come to rest at my sides.

“I’m going to be the Mockingjay.”

~Mockingjay

About Mockingjay:

The next and final stop on the Official Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour is at Beth Fish Reads on Monday, August 30th. Make sure to stop by for the chance to enter another awesome giveaway!

Also make sure to check out the official Hunger Games Facebook Page for more HG goodies, and for a list of the other stops on the blog tour to date. You can read our reviews of The Hunger Games HERE and Catching Fire HERE (a review of Mockingjay will be up shortly) – and for those diehard fans looking for what else to read now that the trilogy has come to a close, you can check out our post on Tor.com listing 10 helpful post-Mockingjay recommendations.

Finally, before the giveaway, we’d like to give a gentle reminder to every exuberant Hunger Games fan. Mockingjay officially hit stores on August 24th, and has begun receiving rave reviews. However, in all the excitement we’d like to remind everyone to please be respectful of your fellow readers – please remember to spoiler tag or refrain from spoilers altogether.

Giveaway Details:

For our stop on the tour, we have twenty-five Mockingjay iSkins up for grabs! (Please note, these are just the skins – not the actual iPod/iTouch/iPhones) The contest is open to addresses in the United States only, and will run until September 1 at 11:59 pm (PST). To enter, leave a comment here telling us why YOU think Katniss is an amazing heroine. Only ONE entry per person, please! Multiple comments from the same I.P. address will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

In order to avoid another site meltdown, we ask that all new entries complete the form below. The same rules apply, and earlier entries will be fed into the same spreadsheet to select a winner. Good luck!

“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guests are Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, writers of the lovely and fun MG novel The Familiars. The book tells the tale of 3 familiars – magical animal companions – the cat Aldwyn, the blue jay Skylar and tree frog Gilbert and how the fate of their loyals (magical human companions) and possibly of the whole land depend on them. The novel releases in early September and is also soon to be made in a major motion picture, produced by Sam Raimi. We are delighted to have the authors here today talking about their influences and to give away two copies of the book.

Without further ado, Adam and Andrew, everybody!

Sometimes, you don’t realize how someone influences and changes your life until years later. When I was in seventh grade, I had an English teacher give me an assignment to write the first ten pages of a sequel to Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth. Now, I knew very little about Chinese farmers other than what I had read in the book. But it didn’t seem to matter. Over the next few nights, I felt as if I was Wang Lung with new plights, hardships and victories. By the time I had finished the assignment, I felt as if something special had happened, as if the story had written itself.

A week later, the teacher handed back the graded paper. There, on the top, was a bright red A+ from a teacher who wasn’t even keen on giving As. It was a boost of confidence, an affirmation that I could write creatively and convincingly. It felt great.

Then, I went to my next class. Science. And I let the paper slip from my mind.

Eight grade. Ninth grade. Tenth grade. Didn’t think about it.

Then to college. Other things occupied my thoughts.

It was in my junior year, when I was starting to consider being a writer,that I thought back on that paper. And her bright red A+.

“I could do this,” I thought to myself.

I never got to thank my 7th grade English teacher for her encouragement and that assignment. So, I will now.

Thank you, Mrs. Winer.

–Adam Jay Epstein

*******

I grew up in the early 1980s in one of those idyllic suburban towns with only one movie theater – the kind that played the same movie for up to a year at a time. When I was just 4, that movie was “Star Wars.” It had been re-released in theaters in 1981, and it was not just the first movie I ever saw on the big screen, but the second and third and fourth, too. To further my obsession, I also collected every last action figure and vehicle from the “Star Wars” trilogy that I could get my hands on. I remember my mom even bribing me to take swimming lessons with the promise of a Boba Fett Slave 1 starship. And taking medication for chronic childhood ear aches always went down a little easier with a new x-wing fighter or Jabba the Hut palace.

My favorite hobby as a kid was playing shows with my action figures. I spent countless hours in every corner of the house with a Han Solo in one hand and a Darth Vader in the other. That’s where my imagination was born, I think. Making up stories about good guys and bad guys, jedi knights and evil lords. It wasn’t just “Star Wars,” either. I had superheroes, GI Joes, and WWF wrestlers joining the living room adventures, as well. Then I started translating those epic tales to paper, in the earliest days without using quotation marks for dialogue!

I guess I’ve always been drawn to hero’s journeys. Whether it’s Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Harry Potter, or Peter Parker, the possibility of even the most ordinary everyman becoming extraordinary is a timeless and irresistible tale. And “The Familiars” is a story not so different: about the unlikeliest of heroes rising up against insurmountable odds and finding greatness within them.

–Andrew Jacobson

About the authors: ADAM JAY EPSTEIN spent his childhood in Great Neck, New York, while ANDREW JACOBSON grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but the two met in a parking garage out in Los Angeles. They have been writing for film and television together ever since. This is their first book.

Adam Jay Epstein lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jane, their daughters, Penny and Olive, and a black-and-white alley cat who hangs out in their backyard. Andrew Jacobson lives with his wife, Ashley, and their dog, Elvis, four traffic lights away.

About the book:

Running to save his life, Aldwyn, the street-wise orphan cat, ducks into a strange store. Moments later Jack, a young wizard-in-training, comes in to pick out his familiar – a magical animal companion. Aldwyn’s always been clever. But magical? Apparently Jack thinks so—and Aldwyn is happy to play along. Anything to get out of town!

Once home with Jack in Stone Runlet, Aldwyn thinks that he’s got it made—a life of ease with a boy who loves him. He just has to convince the other familiars—the know-it-all blue jay Skylar and the friendly tree frog Gilbert–that he’s the telekinetic cat he claims to be.

Then, after the sky lights up with an omen, the unthinkable happens. Jack and the other young wizards are captured by the evil queen of Vastia. Together Aldwyn, Skylar and Gilbert must save them—but how?

On their thrilling quest across the land, the familiars will face dangerous foes, unearth a shocking centuries old secret, and discover a mysterious destiny that will change them all forever.

You can read more about the book at the website The Familiars.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

We have TWO ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) of The Familiars up for grabs. The contest is open to ALL, and will run until Saturday, August 21st at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here letting us know which animal would you pick as a familiar. ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON, PLEASE! Multiple comments will be disqualified. We will announce the winners in our Sunday stash. Good luck!

Title: Dark Life

Author: Kat Falls

Genre: Post-apocalypse, Dystopia, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Scholastic (US) / Simon & Schuster (UK)
Publication Date: May 2010 (US) / August 2010 (UK)
Hardcover: 304 Pages

The oceans rose up, swallowing up the lowlands. Earthquakes shattered the continents, toppling entire regions into the rising water. Now, humans live packed into stack cities. The only ones with any space of their own are those who live on the ocean floor: the Dark Life.

Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea, helping his family farm the ocean floor. But when outlaws attack his homestead, Ty finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life . . . secrets that threaten to destroy everything.

In her debut novel, Kat Falls has created a breathtaking world where the deep can be dangerous, the darkness can be deadly, and sometimes it takes extraordinary power to survive.

Stand alone or series: First book in a planned series

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher (UK)

Why did I read this book: What can I say? I love a good post-apocalypse novel – and apocalypse by way of global warming seems to be the soup du jour. Ever since I first read the blurb for Dark Life last year, I’ve been eager to read and review it – and with YAAM ending, I finally put my foot down to get it done.

Review:

Dark Life is the story of Ty Townsend, a teenager born and raised on the sea floor, four hundred-plus feet beneath the surface. After the world’s temperature rose, the ice caps melted, permanently changing the climate and topography of the planet with twenty percent of the (former) United States’ eastern seaboard submerged under new sea-level. With so much land gone, humans faced two choices – to cram together in strictly limited land residences, or to move to the sea floor. Those pioneers of underwater habitation – Dark Lifers – enjoy all the space they want, but face incredible hardships. The Commonwealth (which has instigated marshal law for decades) controls the flow of supplies to underwater districts such as Ty’s home, Benthic Territory, and can revoke it at will. A band of raiders, led by the fearsome criminal Shade has been terrorizing Benthic Territory, intercepting ‘wealth shipments of supplies and wreaking havoc. The Commonwealth issues an ultimatum to those in Benthic Territory – either they catch the raiders on their own, or else all supplies will permanently dry up, their already high taxes will go through the roof, and land ownership rights revoked.

An enraged Ty – just two years from getting his own land – resolves to do whatever he can to help catch the raiders. But, he has his own hands busy with Topsider Gemma, whom he stumbles upon in deep water. A runaway orphan determined to find her missing older brother, Gemma and Ty’s paths intersect in strange and unforeseen ways – both work together, with the fate of the underwater colony, and more, at stake.

Dark Life is Kat Falls’ first novel, and it is undeniable, action-packed FUN. Fast-paced, wonky and imaginative, I thoroughly enjoyed this science fiction-type underwater romp (even if it really strains the limits of belief). The first thing to say about Dark Life is how adeptly Ms. Falls urges the plot along – I’m talking Rachel Caine-style non-stop action and wonder. And, as I’m a sucker for a briskly plotted sci-fi thriller, this translates to Thea-crack. From a plotting and writing perspective, Dark Live is unabashedly Over-The-Top, and I mean this in the best possible way. Like, the way that Avatar is ridiculously over the top. Or Aliens versus Predator is ridiculous and over the top. Or Lost could be ridiculous and over the top. Dark Life has a ridiculous amount of twists and reveals, which leaves me one very happy camper (or is it diver?). The setting is wonderfully detailed and aesthetically awesome, evoking a sort of Avatar-under-the-sea meets The Abyss with bio-luminescent life (I can definitely see how this book will translate to the big screen). and I loved the divide between those in Ty’s underwater world, and those in Gemma’s topside realm. Of course, as the descriptions are filtered through Ty’s narrative and the majority of the story takes place in the ocean’s depths, it’s strange to see how humanity chooses to cling to its crumbling, crowded and polluted relics when such beauty, space, and life is available underwater. Through Ty’s lovingly detailed descriptions, Benthic Territory comes to lush, vibrant life.

And, with narrative in mind, the characters of Dark Life are solidly written as well. As a protanonist, Ty’s voice is honest and self-assured, painting a heroic character – even if he does lean towards the too good to be true category. As his foil, Gemma makes up for Ty’s goodie-goodie tendencies with her brashness, her tendency to stick her foot in her mouth, and her pushiness. Needless to say, the two make a good pair. (My only quibble lay later in the book as Gemma’s tendency to get abducted at the worst possible instant – there are at least three pivotal instances of this in rapid succession) Then there are the supporting characters of Ty’s family (how I LOVE Zoe), a scarred Doctor, and a ruthless gang leader. I won’t say much for fear of spoilers, but they are all wonderfully written.

Of course, there is the minor problem of believability. The idea of deep sea living is as foreign and irresistible as outer space, facing many of the same challenges. Granted, this is not a hard science fiction title and Ms. Falls is not a marine biologist or engineer – but Dark Life does push the boundaries of credulity. Tropical fish, humans and livestock walking around at 400 feet underwater, traipsing to the surface and back at will without nitrogen buildup in the blood (not to say anything about getting up to the surface from 400 feet below on a single breath at the end without massive embolisms)? These technical issues said, Ms. Falls does subscribes to the George Lucas/Gene Roddenberry school of physics – and as with Star Wars or Star Trek (or, since the esteemed Mr. Zemeckis is involved, Back to the Future), the rules of physics sometimes don’t need to apply if the rest of the world is as compelling as Ty’s happens to be. Plus, that’s not to say that there aren’t any technological gadgets in place to aid the suspension of disbelief – I love the idea of “Liquigen” (filling the lungs of divers, allowing them to breathe and not suffer any ill effects of pressurization) and the jellyfish-like homes, just as love the idea of terrafarming the bottom of the ocean using superheated water from black chimneys and bacteria. Oh yeah, there’s also the idea of “Dark Gifts” and how water pressure stimulates other parts of the brain, leading to talents like dolphin sonar and other superhuman abilities. Yeah, these things are impossible. But, so what? For the sake of the story, even though I’m at the outer limits of credulity, I’m willing to push skepticism aside because Dark Life is that much fun.

Wildly enjoyable with a plot that won’t quit and a highly imaginative scope, Dark Life is a winsome first novel from Kat Falls. And I, for one, hope to return to Ty’s world very soon.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper. Maybe even the Statue of Liberty. But there was no sign of the old East Coast, just a sheer drop into darkness.

A ball of light shot past me — a vampire squid, trailing neon blue. The glowing cloud swirled around my helmet. Careful not to break it up, I drifted onto my knees, mesmerized. But my trance was cut short by a series of green sparks bursting out of the gorge. I fell back, every muscle in my body tense. Only one fish glittered like an emerald and traveled in a pack: the green lantern shark. Twelve inches long and deadly as piranhas, they could rip apart something twenty times their size. Forget what they could do to a human.

I should have seen them coming, even this deep. I should have known the squid had squirted its radiant goo to divert a predator. And now my helmet’s crown lights served as an even brighter beacon. With a jab to my wrist screen, I snapped them off, but it was too late — I couldn’t unring that dinner bell.

I pried a flare gun from my belt and fired into the midst of the electric green frenzy. Two heartbeats later, light exploded over the canyon, shocking the sharks into stillness, eyes and teeth glittering. Quickly, I scooped the anchor of my mantaboard out of the muck and hauled myself onto it. Lying on my stomach with my legs dangling, I twisted the handgrips and took off, making serious wake. If my lungs hadn’t been filled with Liquigen, I would’ve whooped aloud.

Not that I was in the clear. As soon as the flare died, the sharks would be on me like suckerfish on a whale. I thought about burying myself in the thick ooze of the seafloor. Bedding down with the boulder-sized clams had worked before. I chanced a look over my shoulder. Sure enough, the darkness twinkled with stars — vicious little stars, shooting my way.

Tilting the manta into a nosedive, I flicked on the head beams, only to have the light reflect off metal. A sub! I crashed into it and toppled, boots over helmet. The manta’s handgrips tore from my fingers as I slammed onto my back. Sliding down the sloped hull, I grappled for a hold without luck until my feet hit the bumper and I stopped short. My guts took longer to settle.

Without a rider, the manta would shut off automatically; I’d have to find it later. Right now, I needed to take cover. But why was this little rig sitting on the seafloor without a light on to announce its presence? Was it a wreck? If so, it hadn’t sunk that long ago. The polished metal hull was barnacle free.

I scuttled along the bumper until I found the circular door to the air lock. The panel cover dangled from one hinge with pry marks scoring its edge. I hesitated, wondering about those marks, when suddenly the hull gleamed with emerald light.

I slammed the entry button. Like a dilating eye, the hatch opened and seawater filled the small chamber. Plunging into the air lock, I whirled to see sharks streaking toward me from all sides. I hit the interior button whole-handed. As the hatch clinched shut, the sharks plowed into it like mini torpedoes. From inside, they sounded like Death pounding at the door. I slumped against the chamber wall and grinned. Nothing put a buzz in my blood like escaping predators.

How many rules had I just broken? Visiting Coldsleep Canyon alone: forbidden. On nothing but a mantaboard: absolutely forbidden. Exploring a derelict sub: off the sonar screen. But now I had to take cover until the sharks left. It was the smart thing to do. The safe thing. Not that my parents would ever hear about the sub or the sharks. With a gang of outlaws roaming the territory, they had enough to worry about.

When the last drop of seawater disappeared through the grated floor, I tipped back my helmet and inhaled. The air was rank but did its job: The oxygen-infused liquid in my lungs evaporated. Switching on my flashlight, I opened the next hatch and stepped right into someone else’s nightmare.

Blood dripped from every surface in the gear room — walls, benches, lockers. . . . Wet and glistening, it puddled around the prospecting tools that littered the floor. I slowed my breath as if that would lessen the metallic tang that now filled my nose — a stink that conjured up the blood-slicked deck of a whaling ship. Some fisherman butchered something big in here, that’s all, I told myself. A sunfish or a marlin. Nothing to panic about. Except . . .I edged farther into the room. No matter how hard it thrashed, a dying fish couldn’t have emptied the weapons rack, let alone ripped it off the wall.

Circling the overturned rack, I panned my light across the open lockers — all ransacked — and tugged at my suit’s neck ring. Usually my helmet didn’t bother me when it hung off the back of my diveskin, but now its weight choked me. The sharks outside weren’t doing my nerves any favors, either, knocking along the sub’s hull, looking for a way in.

As soon as the sharks stopped tapping, I’d head up to the sunlight zone and hunt for dinner like I should have been doing all along. But the tapping didn’t stop. If anything, it grew louder. Worse, I realized it wasn’t the sharks tapping at all, but . . .

Footsteps.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: We by John Dickinson

Giveaway Details:

We have FIVE copies of Dark Life up for grabs, courtesy of the UK publisher. The contest is open to ALL, and will run until Saturday, August 21st at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here letting us know what your “dark gift” would be (i.e. dolphin-like sonar, electric eel-like shock capabilities, superhuman swimming speed, whatever!). ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON, PLEASE! Multiple comments will be disqualified.

Good luck!

Title: Zombies vs. Unicorns

Authors: Team Unicorn edited by Holly Black – Kathleen Duey, Meg Cabot, Garth Nix, Margo Lanagan, Naomi Novik & Diana Peterfreund; Team Zombie edited by Justine Larbalestier – Libba Bray, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, Carrie Ryan & Scott Westerfeld

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (Simon & Schuster)
Publication Date: September 2010
Hardcover: 432 pages

It’s a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths–for good and evil–of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Stand alone or series: Stand alone collection of short stories (although some stories fit in established universes for other series’ – i.e. Carrie Ryan, Diana Peterfreund)

How did I get this book: ARC at BookExpo America 2010

Why did I read this book: Did you SEE that author list? Although I’m not really a huge anthology fan or unicorn lover (Diana Peterfreund’s killer unicorns the exception), I am always down for a zombie collection. Not to mention, we got to meet the lovely Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black (as well as Scott Westerfeld and Diana Peterfreund) at BEA this year as they were signing galleys for Zombies vs. Unicorns. Put all that together, and there was no way I was going to miss out on reading this promising anthology.

Review:

An anthology is a tricky thing to put together – there are almost always a few gems, sparkling ever-so-brightly (not unlike a unicorn’s pretty, pretty sheen) and there are some stinkers (not unlike a zombie’s dessicated stench). The general trend of Zombies vs. Unicorns, I am happy to report, is toward the positive. While there were a couple of stories I could have done without, overall, I was entertained by and pleased with the quality of the stories in this collection. Mostly.

Here’s my take on each of the stories.

“The Highest Justice” by Garth Nix (Unicorn)

A strong start to the anthology, Garth Nix writes probably the best self-contained short story in the whole book. Featuring both a zombie AND a unicorn in the same story – on the same “side” too (I think this counts as breaking the rules) – “The Highest Justice” is a fantasy tale about a grieving young princess, her unfortunate (zombified) mother, poisoned at the hands of her treacherous father and his twisted lover. And there’s justice too. This one is a bit old school (Garth Nix is one of my favorite authors from childhood, and reading this new story reminded me of how much I love his style of fantasy and writing), and I mean that in the best way. A phenomenal start to the book – well done, editors, for beginning with this one.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Ayala Dawn Johnson (Zombie)

This short story, one of a surprising – refreshing! – many that feature a same-sex romance, is a frustrating mix of AWESOME and not-so-awesome for me. I loved the sardonic, mac-and-cheese loving voice of teen infected protagonist Grayson. The food comparisons alone are wonderful, and I loved the very real, astonishingly deep relationship portrayed between him and the delectable Jack. Lust, hate, revulsion, love all rolled into one complicated package of emotion, fueled by violence (and set to a killer soundtrack), the overall characterizations and direction of the story is brilliant. The ending line is EPIC. But, there were some stylistic choices that irritated the crap (brains?) out of me. The story is divided into different mini-chapters, alternating the realtime storyline with Grayson’s little asides about his past – and, for the most part, the little asides (in my opinion) were largely unnecessary, dragging down the irresistible momentum of the actual story. Plus, the cheese factor in the asides was high – the “Dirty Harry” chapter in particular, with cringe-worthy rules such as, “Use your brains! Or someone else will eat them for you” didn’t do anything for me, not really flowing well with the heavier, more dramatic tone of the story. But again, just my opinion. Overall, another winner.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“Purity Test” by Naomi Novik (Unicorn)

I have had Naomi Novik on my shelf for a while now, but have yet to read her Temeraire books. As such, “Purity Test” was my first introduction to the author, and I was thrilled to finally try some of her work… but, unfortunately, this was one of the few duds (for me). Working the humor angle with a trapper-keeper unicorn on the hunt for a certain young woman, “Purity Test” as its title suggests plays on the bond between virginity and unicorns. Unfortunately, the dialogue felt kitschy, the jokes pretty bad, and the story (though well-executed), ultimately forgettable.

Rating: 5 – Meh

“Bougainvillea” by Carrie Ryan

My favorite story of the anthology. I adored The Forest of Hands and Teeth and thoroughly enjoyed The Dead-Tossed Waves, so I was thrilled to discover that “Bougainvillea” fits in the same universe, albeit at a much earlier time. Alternating between past and present (or “Then” and “Now”), “Bougainvillea” follows Iza, a young woman on the island of Curacao shortly after The Return. Daughter of a ruthless – but effective – leader, Iza struggles with her own sense of worth, her relationship with her father, the growing threat of pirates offshore, and the ever present Mudo surrounding them all. Iza’s is a beautifully crafted, bittersweet character arc (this is right in Ms. Ryan’s wheelhouse) and I loved it from beginning to end. Especially the end. “Bougainvillea” provides valuable insight to The Return and Mary and Gabry’s world in TFOHAT and TDTW, also provoking some interesting questions, too.

I would LOVE to see Iza’s journey continue in another story or book…whaddya say, Ms. Ryan? Pretty please?

Rating: 10 – Perfection

“A Thousand Flowers” by Margo Lanagan (Unicorn)

If “Purity Test” was kitschy and plays with the technicalities of virginity and its connection to unicorns, “A Thousand Flowers” takes that virginity connection and perverts and twists it beyond recognition. Ms. Lanagan is not one to shy away from gritty, less-palatable elements and she explores the darker, more complicated side of sexuality (this is the author of Tender Morsels we’re talking about, after all). Ms. Lanagan’s work might not be for everyone, certainly not for the faint of heart, but this is an author with a gift for storytelling as she interweaves magic and wonder together with the uglier side of human nature. Is “A Thousand Flowers” a little sensationalist and exploitative? Yes. But it also is an effective, brutal explication of female sexuality and “virtue.” I’m not really sure if I particularly liked this story, but it’s certainly thought-provoking and memorable, to say the least.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“The Children of the Revolution” by Maureen Johnson (Zombie)

This story was my first exposure to Maureen Johnson’s writing – I’ve been dying to read something by her ever since her awesome keynote speech at Book Blogger Con earlier this year. Funny, charming, incredibly witty – these are the words I would use to describe the lovely Ms. Johnson. And, just as I hoped, “The Children of the Revolution” was similarly enchanting (well, you know, in a more slimy, guts and brains and raw sinew kind of zombie way). Following a college freshman duped into following her stoner boyfriend out to the UK for a study abroad program only to learn that said program is essentially slave labor and said boyfriend is a grade-A jackass, “The Children of the Revolution” also pokes fun at Hollywood celebrities and their penchant for truly insane religions. Little adorable toddler zombies. Sponge Bob. How could I not love this story? Ms. Johnson’s voice is wry, flippant, and totally winsome. I’ll be back to sample her other work, very soon.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund (Unicorn)

This story, along with Ms. Ryan’s and Mr. Westerfeld’s, were my most highly anticipated stories of this collection, and I am happy to report that Diana Peterfreund once again delivers. “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” might sound like a playful, lighthearted title, this is a surprisingly moving story about a girl struggling with her terrifying new-found abilities, her family expectations, her relationships, and, of course, a baby killer unicorn. One of the longer stories in the bunch, “Baby Killer Unicorn” actually feels like more of a novella than a short story. I love that protagonist Wen is markedly different from the other female leads in this collection, and in fact from Ms. Peterfreund to date – she’s not as rough as Astrid (of Rampant) or as assured as Amy (of the Secret Society Girl books). Wen is quieter, religious (which stands out in a sea of usually agnostic/atheistic or religion-free genre stories), and confused – but when she does stand up for herself, it’s an awesome, empowering feeling.

While I loved the story overall, what didn’t quite work for me, however, was the question of time frame. First, the integration of unicorns into modern society sits strangely. In Rampant, the existence of unicorns isn’t really something people take as fact – but in this short story, a jump has been made where unicorns are commonly known of (they are on the news, for example) and universally feared. Also in terms of time frame, Flower/Flayer (titled killer baby unicorn)’s growth and Wen’s caring for him felt rushed and abrupt.

That said, this is one of the strongest unicorn pieces in the book, and one of the keeper memorable stories in the collection.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“Innoculata” by Scott Westerfeld” (Zombie)

My second favorite story of the book, “Innoculata” proves to me, yet again, that Scott Westerfeld is the bees knees. Once zombies have taken over the planet and only a handful of humans remain in a basically safe enclosure, equipped with food, water and shelter, what else is there to do? “Innoculata” is a story about a rarely examined side effect of the zombie apocalypse: boredom. I love the idea of completely random inoculation (and the idea of the cowpox/smallpox explanation); I love the characters (a F/F pairing this time!); I love the idea of apocalypse survivors on a weed farm led by a former DEA raider; I love the action-packed awesomeness of it all.

Another gem of a self-contained story.

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

“Princess Prettypants” by Meg Cabot (Unicorn)

Ahh, Meg Cabot. How I loved this story – my favorite Team Unicorn entry of the whole bunch. “Princess Prettypants” (truly awesome name) pokes fun at the Lisa Frank type of unicorn:

On Liz’s seventeenth birthday, she gets an honest-to-goodness unicorn from her crazy Aunt – one that literally farts rainbows and is named “Princess Prettypants.” Seriously. What begins as the worst birthday ever turns into a sweet revenge tale, with the help of one really, really pretty unicorn. Hilarious, smart and just…cool, written with Meg Cabot’s trademark wit and verve, “Princess Prettypants” is absolutely delightful.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

“Cold Hands” by Cassandra Clare (Zombie)

Cassandra Clare’s take on zombies is slightly different than the usual “no room in Hell”/pathogen/demonic possession sort of deal – in this story, one town is plagued by a curse that brings deceased loved ones back to life as zombies. These aren’t the eat-your-brains types of zombies; rather, they are the forlorn undead that only want to be with their families and lovers. Because the undead will follow those loved ones wherever they go, no one from “Zombietown” (as Lychgate it is known to the rest of the world) is allowed to leave. That doesn’t bother Adele so much, however, because she has her true love, James, who also happens to be the next Duke of Lychgate, by her side. But when James is killed by his Uncle, their love is tested to its limits, as James returns to claim his place, and to be with Adele.

A solid entry, I liked how earnest and romantic this story was as both Adele and James are tragic characters. Although the time period felt a little oddly anachronistic (Dukes? Really?) and the overall story leaned towards the melodramatic, I finished the story feeling basically satisfied and entertained.

Rating: 6 – Good

“The Third Virgin” by Kathleen Duey (Unicorn)

I’m not going to lie, this story was a near DNFer (“Did Not Finish”). Maybe it’s because the story is so exposition-heavy, and almost entirely internalized for the majority of the tale, from the perspective of a unicorn. Most likely it’s because “The Third Virgin” is yet another unicorn story dealing with the unicorn-virginity connection – which is unfair to Ms. Duey and her story, because had this been placed earlier in the anthology, I probably would not have had such a hard time getting through it. I’ll schedule it for a reread later, but I simply could not get hooked with the slow moving plot, and the lackluster voice of the narrating character. At this point, I think I was a little unicorn’d out.

Rating: 5 – Meh

“Prom Night” by Libba Bray (Zombie)

Well, talk about going out with a bang. “Prom Night” is one of the more haunting stories in the collection, by virtue of that ending. I loved the moral quandary this particular story posed – which is something that none of the other entries attempted. Even though the world has turned into kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, what is the moral thing to do? Did the teens of “Prom Night” do a terrible thing by sending their infected parents beyond their walls? At what point does the veneer of civilization begin to wear thin?

Libba Bray’s closing is a fitting end for a pretty one-sided showdown. Sorry Team Unicorn – from where I’m sitting, Team Zombie is the clear victor.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

On the Introductions…

The book and each story are prefaced by quick exchanges between editors Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier – and while I enjoyed this quippy rapport, and the general idea of a zombie-unicorn throwdown, my only quibble is that after a while, these introductions felt a bit repetitive and the teeniest bit self-serving and silly. I’m absolutely certain that it was a blast to write and work on this collection together – but as a reader, the introductions seemed to be more fun for the authors than perhaps they will be to their audience.

That said, overall, Zombies vs. Unicorns is a solid anthology, and well worth checking out. I definitely recommend it – especially for the zombie or unicorn lover.

Overall Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Dark Life by Kat Falls

Giveaway Details:

And would you look at that? We’ve got TWO copies of Zombies vs. Unicorns up for grabs. The contest is open to addresses in the US and Canada and will run until Saturday August 21 at 11:59pm (PST). ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON – multiple entries from the same IP address will be disqualified. Entry is simple – just let us know which team floats your boat – zombies? Or Unicorns?

Good luck! We will announce the winner on Sunday in our weekly Smuggler Stash.

Can you feel it in the air?

Is it so close you can practically taste it?

It is almost here! We’re talking about the official release of the third and final book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay! To celebrate the release of the book, it is with deepest pride that we announce our participation in the Official Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour, as tributes from…

That’s right, folks. We are the official tributes from Katniss and Peeta (and ok Gale too – whatever!)’s district. The blog tour will cover 13 stops over the course of the month, each with an exclusive giveaway and unique editorial concept. We are stop #12 on the tour, and will be posting our giveaway (and extra goodies about District 12) on Friday, August 27.

While you wait on tenterhooks for Mockingjay’s release and for the tour to begin, you can get your fill of more Hunger Games goodness by visiting the Official Facebook Page where the official tour schedule, giveaway info, gifts, polls, samples, and more will be posted!

If you haven’t yet checked out the awesomeness that is Suzanne Collins’ dystopian YA series, make sure to check out our reviews of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. For now, we leave you with a simple message.

That is all.

Title: Early to Death, Early to Rise

Author: Kim Harrison

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: May 2010
Hardcover: 240 Pages

Seventeen, dead, and in charge of heaven’s dark angels—all itching to kill someone.

Madison Avery’s dreams of ever fitting in at her new school died when she did. Especially since she was able to maintain the illusion of a body, deal with a pesky guardian angel, and oh yeah, bring the reaper who killed her to his untimely end. Not exactly in-crowd material. It’s amazing that her crush, Josh, doesn’t think she’s totally nuts.

Now Madison has learned that she’s the dark timekeeper, in charge of angels who follow the murky guidelines of fate. Never one to abide by the rules, she decides it’s time for a major change to the system. With the help of some unlikely allies, Madison forms a rogue group of reapers who definitely don’t adhere to the rules of the heavens.

But as she grapples with the terrifying new skills that come with being a timekeeper, Madison realizes she may not be prepared for what lies ahead—unless she gets some seriously divine intervention.

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in the ongoing Madison Avery series

How did I get this book: Review copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: Are you kidding me? I *love* Kim Harrison. Her ridiculously fast-paced and action-crammed books are insanely addictive – it’s for that reason that the Rachel Morgan/Hollows series is among favorite UF series’. And, I am ecstatic to report that her YA books, following a dark time keeper named Madison Avery, fits the same mold. I loved Once Dead, Twice Shy, and could not wait for this second book.

Review:

Seventeen year-old Madison Avery has the job of a lifetime – well, several lifetimes. Tricked into a state of dead limbo with her human body nowhere to be found, Madison has inherited the role of Dark Timekeeper – that is, she is one of two diametrically opposed humans with the power to discern the fabric of time. As Dark Timekeeper, Madison technically works on the side of “Fate”; her job is to identify “marks” and to scythe their souls before they commit whatever heinous evil deeds they are destined to commit. At every step of the way, the Light Timekeeper will try to thwart her efforts, as they believe in the power of human choice (even if those choices lead to mass murders or other atrocities).

But here’s the rub – Madison might be working on the side of Fate, but she believes in the power of choice, too. Dedicated to make a difference and to find a balance between the two opposed ideals, Madison will try to find a different way to deal with “marks” (that don’t involve giving them a ‘get-out-of-death-free’ card in the form of an infallible guardian angel like the Light Timekeeper would do, or preemptively scything – killing – the mark’s soul). Madison’s first official mark as Dark Timekeeper is the biggest test of her young (un)life. Not only does she have to find her target before ruthless Light Timekeeper Chronos does, she also has to convince the mark to change his mind about committing his crime AND she’s got to do it working with two angels that just can’t get along, Barnabus (a “fallen” light angel for his trust and belief in Madison’s desire to change the way things are done) and Nakita (a dark angel that has become something…more, because Madison allowed her to experience true, mortal fear).

This second full-length Madison Avery book is, in a word, fantastic. Kim Harrison is at her best with this engaging and surprisingly thought-provoking series. While Madison’s personal life (and death) was much of the fun, lighter impetus behind the first short story and the first novel, in Early to Death, Early to Rise, things take a more serious, thematic-centric turn. One thing I love about Kim Harrison’s books (both her fantasy novels and in her Hollows series) is how she builds upon prior storylines and expands her universes with each additional novel in the series – and Early to Death, Early to Rise continues in this tradition. In Once Dead, Twice Shy, we learn that there is an ancient game, a realm of angelic interference beyond our human perception, run by two opposing sides – Light and Dark (not to be confused with “Good” and “Evil” or “God” and “The Devil” or anything nearly so simplistic). In Early to Death, Early to Rise, this division is examined more closely, and the lines and roles of the Light and Dark timekeepers become wonderfully blurred. At this novel’s heart is the age-old dilemma: Free Will or Fate? (In the huge gaping maw that the absence of LOST has left in my life, I have an even larger appreciation for books that try to tackle this dichotomy) Ms. Harrison handles the question effortlessly, avoiding some simplistic black or white answer for a combination of the two in shades of gray where destiny and choice mingle and coexist. In addition to the thematic depth, there’s also an expansion on Madison’s story – just how she became Dark Timekeeper (Chronos’ intervention) and what her limitations are since she’s not exactly alive anymore. There are some interesting developments, and underlying the larger, central storyline, there are Madison’s doubts about being able to actually do this job, and the slow-simmering plot seed of her need to find her human body and become fully alive again.

Madison’s character goes through a lot here in this second book, developing and growing as a heroine. She struggles to find balance in a world set on polarized opposites, and she learns that while something sounds great in theory, putting compromise into practice is a much harder thing to do. There are also smaller, quieter moments in this book that won me over – there are moments of lightheartedness intermingled with sadness, lending a genuine quality to Madison as a narrator and a real person. Her inability to eat, for example, is wistful and funny – but it also means that Madison has to continue lying to her father (she can’t exactly out and tell him her body is a corporeal one, and as such she cannot eat food). Little things like that.

As for the other characters, they too grow and change – which is a big deal for immortal, supposedly immutable characters. Barnabus has undergone the most dramatic shift, falling from Chronos’ right hand man to join Madison’s quest (and seriously, who doesn’t love Barnabus?!), but Nikita makes an awesome sidekick here. My only minor criticism of the characters are how familiar a few of them are. Nikita is SO Ivy and Grace reminiscent of Jenks (for those of you that have read the Rachel Morgan books), but does it matter when I love Nikita’s dark, tortured edge or Grace’s awful limericks? I’m willing to overlook those similarities because, well, these characters are so damn compelling anyways. Even the singleminded Chronos (ahem, Trent Kalamack?) works wonderfully because of how convinced he is that his way is the ONLY way. In fact,the only character that took a backseat here was that of Madison’s would-be boyfriend, Josh. But…that’s ok, because not everything has to be a love story (at least, in my mind, it was perfectly cool).

Overall? Early to Death, Early to Rise is yet another winner from Kim Harrison – even better than Once Dead, Twice Shy, and with tantalizing implications for the future. I cannot wait for the next book! Absolutely recommended.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Thanks to Harper Teen’s Browse Inside feature, you can read the first 70 pages of Early to Death, Early to Rise for free! Check it out:

Additional Thoughts: I am a sucker for extras, so check out the trailer:

Also, this year Harper Teen returns to its “Supernatural Summer” event – including book tours, giveaways, and a TON of awesome extras. I highly recommend you check it out, along with some of their other exciting YA titles.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Passing Strange by Daniel Waters

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

We have TWO copies of Early to Death, Early to Rise up for grabs! The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada ONLY, and will run until Saturday July 31 at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here letting us know where you fall on the spectrum – Light Timekeeper (choice?) or Dark Timekeeper (fate). ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON – multiple entries from the same IP address will be disqualified. Good luck!

Title: For The Win

Author: Cory Doctorow

Genre: Thriller, Young Adult, Speculative Fiction

Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: May 2010
Hardcover: 480 pages

In the virtual future, you must organize to survive

At any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual “gold,” jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world’s poorest countries, where countless “gold farmers,” bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.

Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of “General Robotwalla.” In Shenzen, heart of China’s industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.

The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power—including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister’s people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once—a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all.

Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation.

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I have a love-hate thing with Cory Doctorow. On the one hand, I think he’s brilliant – I love his politics, his biting wit, his stance on DRM (die! DIE!), and I think he’s an altogether incredibly smart (if a little out there) dude. That said…when Cory Doctorow writes fiction, his characters all sound just like…Cory Doctorow. Little Brother was fascinating and highly educational (and what can I say, I agree with Doctorow’s political stance, so I ate the book up) – but from a purely objective, reviewer’s standpoint, I can’t exactly say that he writes Great Fiction. When I heard about For The Win, I was immediately intrigued though. As an Economics grad that enjoys video games and grew up in southeast Asia, this book basically has my name all over it. Of COURSE I eagerly scooped it up.

Review:

For the Win is a smart, action-packed novel following some very smart internationally dispersed gamers as they navigate the complicated and lucrative virtual MMORPG world, as well as the economic repercussions these games have in IRL. There’s Wei Dong (real name, Leonard), an American fascinated with China, and a gamer that has worked his way into a Chinese raiding guild. There’s Mala – aka General Robotwala to her army of followers – Indian village girl, but with an uncanny knack for attack strategy, and unbeaten…until she comes across a Singapore gamer that calls herself Big Sister Nor. Nor tries to recruit others like Mala to stand together against The Man (in this case, the corporate entities that own the games) – to unionize and to outsmart the limitations of the system and the ruthless corporations that will stop at nothing to shut these rogue gamers down.

There’s no denying that there is something eminently readable about Cory Doctorow’s writing (fiction or otherwise), and For The Win is no exception. Just as with Little Brother, FTW is an incredibly informative, action-packed romp starring some shockingly intelligent individuals. Yeah, it’s a bit bloated, the characters simplistic in their renderings (cool brave gamers versus the old evil corporate minions), but so far as entertainment value goes? FTW delivers. If Little Brother reminded me of a supercharged and politically revelant version of Hackers, FTW is (as one apt amazon reviewer put it) the literary equivalent of a Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer movie – a whole lot smarter, naturally. FTW has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer (much like the afformentioned Bay and Bruckheimer) – but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a fun book to read.

And, as with any Doctorow work, it’s also a goldmine of information. And on that note I feel obligated to say – Cory Doctorow is the KING of info-dumps. It’s gotten to the point where he doesn’t even attempt to disguise them – periodically throughout the book, Corey Doctorow speaks directly to the readers to explain different things (gamer arbitrage, for example). That’s not a bad thing – I think these points are really interesting, and he does a great job explaining the applications of economic principles without being dry or boringly erudite. But is this the stuff of great writing? Not exactly. And, it’s also an incredibly polarizing style of writing – because should a reader not subscribe to this author’s particular flavor of kool-aid, it’s game over. (lame pun not intended) (seriously, I apologize for all the lame puns of late)

Bottom line: FTW is fun. It’s smart and rousing and wonderfully informative. I liked it a lot…but it’s probably not gonna work for everyone. You decide.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Additional Thoughts and Giveaway Details:

So, anyone familiar with Cory Doctorow beating away at the down with DRM drum knows that he is an advocate for digital FREEDOM. And, in that spirit, EVERYONE is a giveaway winner – because EVERYONE can download For The Win, gratis. Completely free (and I’m not just talking some crappy PDF copy – we’re talking open source, remix it however the hell you want to in whatever format you want to awesomesauce).

BUT for those a little more old-school (or those without e-readers), we’re also having a giveaway of ONE print edition of the book. To enter, simply leave a comment here letting us know what your online game of choice is. The contest is open to EVERYBODY, ANYWHERE, and will run until Saturday 31 July at 11:59pm (PST). Good luck!

Reading Next: Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison

“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guest is the esteemed Jonathan L. Howard, author of the delightfully comic and macabre Johannes Cabal books. Jonathan’s books (Johannes Cabal The Necromancer and Johannes Cabal The Detective) chronicle the Faustian titled character, Johannes Cabal’s adventures – dealings with Satan, running a honest-to-goodness carnival of souls, jumping across zeppelins and all other kinds of whatnot. Thea is a newly converted Cabalian (yes, that is what we are calling fans of the Jo-man), and when we received word that Jonathan would be willing to write us an I&I post, we were thrilled.

Ladies and gents, please give it up for the knowledgeable, Dr. Who-lovin’ Jonathan L. Howard!

I remember a great deal about my infancy, which is to say my life before I went to school. It astonishes me when people tell me that they cannot remember a thing before they were six or seven, when I can recall so much. I remember the late Victorian or Edwardian end of terrace house I was born in, and its long garden. It was demolished to make way for a bland pair of five storey blocks of flats, but the fact that there was room for two gives some idea of just how long that garden was. It ended with an earthen bank with some small trees and shrubs to mark the boundary. It was on that bank that I first managed to eat a whole ice lolly without dropping any. As I say, I remember a great deal about my infancy.

I remember the house, and I remember how quiet it was. My father was at work, my brother and sister at school, and my mother was busy around the place keeping it tidy, but I remember the quiet. I couldn’t read, and the only books I remember were not mine. I’m not sure I even had any books. I remember the Children’s Encyclopedia Britannica in twelve volumes plus index and two annual addenda for 1965 and 1966, assorted Ladybird books including one for science experiments, a larger book about technology (it was the ‘sixties, the era of “the white heat of technology” when people were excited about science rather than celebrities), and a thick, battered copy of all the Grimm’s Fairy Tales that I never remember having a cover. I couldn’t read, but I could pore over the pictures in all of these; rockets and goblins, submarines and dragons, fractional distillation columns and lonely towers in the forest. They were all equally wonderful, all – as far as I knew – belonging to a single world.

I wanted to read. There is a photograph of me in the back garden, sitting on a sun lounger and studying the newspaper intently. It was taken without my knowledge, snapped surreptitiously by my mother, presumably because I looked so cute, sitting there, pretending to be daddy. The thing is, I remember that day, and I know I wasn’t pretending to be anyone. I was trying to read by sheer force of will, staring at the words until they would give up their meaning. But they didn’t. I had to wait until I went to school to learn how to perform that miracle. At least I wasn’t lacking in motivation; I picked the skill up very quickly.

Television consisted of three channels, and none broadcast much during the day. At lunchtime the BBC transmitted “Watch with Mother,” which I usually watched by myself. That’s not to say anything against my mother; parenting then encouraged independence at a much earlier age than now, and anyway, just how many episodes of “Andy Pandy” can a woman reasonably be expected to sit through? Not that I was a fan of “Andy Pandy.” I liked watching “Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men,” but I disliked “The Woodentops.” Spotty Dog was forever hiding behind the fence, and it always took the other puppets forever to find him, despite the obvious forest of strings rising from behind the fence and up into the painted heavens. It was also the only place Spotty Dog ever hid, and the Woodentops’ inability to remember that frustrated me greatly.

Years later I discovered that Bill and Ben were voiced by Peter Hawkins, who also voiced the Daleks and the Cybermen for “Doctor Who” in the ‘sixties. Things like that make me happy.

Sometimes BBC2 would transmit “Trade Test Transmissions,” just to have something to show during the day. It’s unimaginable that the modern BBC, hedged around with regulations to prevent it showing anything that might be regarded as advertising, used to blithely transmit short films produced by major multinationals well into the ‘70s. They were interesting though, not least because they were often scientific. I learned how the stained glass windows for the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (aka “Paddy’s Wigwam”) were manufactured. I learned about the safety protocols for storing inflammable spirit aboard tankers. I watched, fascinated, footage from the Brussels’ World Fair of 1958, full of mechanical contrivances for a better world.

So, when I watched “Stingray” and “Thunderbirds” and “Doctor Who,” it was difficult to say where fact stopped and fantasy started. It was all wonderful and so exciting, fairy tales and scientific romance mixing into one – rockets launching from Woomera and Tracy Island, the TSR-2 racing Fireball XL5.

But, alas, time passes. All too soon I grew up, and put such childish syntheses aside.

Bollocks I did.

When I am travelling by train, looking all moody and artistic as I watch the countryside go by, I am in all probability imagining giant robots stomping around the hill tops while Lovecraftian horrors mine up from the Earth’s core. The North Sea under a stormy sky is a dramatic sight in itself, but at least part of me is watching Godzilla wading ashore beneath the lightning.

Somewhere, Rapunzel is dropping Flying Monkeys with her Barrett XM500 as they assault her tower. Somewhere, a blue goblin is comparing mobile ‘phone specifications. Somewhere, Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, is… Oh, hold on. That’s what I’m supposed to be writing at the moment.

Jonathan L. Howard is a game designer and scriptwriter who has worked in the computer games industry since the early nineties, notably co-scripting the first three Broken Sword adventure games. He lives near Bristol with his wife and daughter.

Thank you, Jonathan!

Now, for the giveaway…

The Giveaway:

Courtesy of the publisher, Random House, we are giving away SIX copies of Johannes Cabal The Detective. The contest is open to ALL and will run until July 17 at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, leave a comment here letting us know who your favorite necromancer or detective is. Only one entry per person please – duplicate or multiple comments (and we COUNT ISPs) will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.”

Today’s guest is awesome author Jackie Kessler, writer of Urban Fantasy, Comics (she is part of the Buffyverse CANON) and Young Adult books (her YA debut Hunger will be coming out in a few months). She also pens the Icarus Project Series, a superhero series written in collaboration with Caitlin Kittredge. The new book in the series Shades of Gray (Shades of Night in the UK), comes out tomorrow in the US. Ana is a huge fan of the series and has reviewed both books.

To celebrate the release of Shades of Gray we invited Jackie to talk about some of her Inspirations and Influences:

I Blame Neil Gaiman
By Jackie Kessler

Back in the early 1990s, I thought I was done with comic books. Seriously. Firstly, they were expensive, and without my dad to bankroll my sequential-art habit, all of my cash had to go to textbooks and Ramen noodles. Secondly, I was getting a little fed up with many of the storylines and some of the art. I thought I’d had enough of Good versus Evil in illustrated form. If I really wanted, I could watch Michael Keaton as the Batman again and call it a day.

And then, something happened that changed my life. Multiple choice time! What was the event that changed my life?

A) Lightning hit a row of chemicals in beakers, and all those electrified chemicals spilled on me, giving me super speed and the uncanny ability to wear a skintight red outfit and manage to look slender.
B) I was bitten by a radioactive spider, giving me the proportional strength, etc., of a spider (yuck).
C) I discovered, when I took off my glasses, that I had super strength, was able to fly, and had a weird allergic reaction to kryptonite.
D) My roommate plunked down a copy of SANDMAN #23 on my bed and told me I had to read it.

If you guessed A, B, or C, bless your geeky heart. Sadly, no, I still have no super powers (unless you count selective hearing, but I consider that an art form more than a super power).

When my roommate gave me SANDMAN #23, he* insisted that I stop everything and read it. I told him, rather wistfully, that I didn’t read comic books anymore. And he said, “This isn’t just a comic book. It’s amazing. You have to read it.” So partially to shut him up, I read it.

And then I went out and immediately bought A DOLL’S HOUSE graphic novel collection.

And then I got my hands on every back copy of SANDMAN that I could find. (And afford.)

That one story — from its dynamic writing to the incredible art to the way Morpheus spoke in dialogue balloons made of awesomesauce**— was enough to rekindle my love of all things comic book. I still limited myself in terms of what to buy (see the above about me being insanely poor), but man, there was nothing like looking forward to hitting the comic book shop and seeing what the new week would bring in terms of spandex, capes, and anthropomorphic personifications.

It also paved the way for my professional crush*** on Neil Gaiman. I devoured his work. I read GOOD OMENS (coauthored with Terry Pratchett, and still one of my favorite books of all time, right up there with Christopher Moore’s LAMB), eagerly sought out rare chapbooks, found the occasional HELLBLAZER, and so on. When I was in the hospital with my first child, I had AMERICAN GODS to read during those rare minutes when I wasn’t nursing or sleeping. I waited on a looooooooooong line to have Neil sign my ENDLESS poster (framed, hanging in my home office). I registered for the Fantasy Matters convention when I heard he was one of the keynote speakers and was second on line for autographing (I actually gave him signed copies of HELL’S BELLES and THE ROAD TO HELL. He gave me a kiss on the cheek.**** I definitely got the better end of the deal.)

Why am I a writer? I blame Neil Gaiman. On that framed ENDLESS poster, he’d written: To Jackie: Dream On! And my dream was to be a novelist. He gave me permission, you see. He made the dream not some ephemeral thing, not this fleeting notion, but rather an actual goal. There’s a reason why Neil is one of the people I acknowledge in BLACK AND WHITE: he got me to stop thinking about writing as something lofty. Thanks to Neil, writing for me became a passion…one that I’ve been fortunate enough to also make one of my professions.

So even though Morpheus doesn’t wear spandex (thank God) and the notions of Good versus Evil in SANDMAN are like nothing I’d previously read about in the Justice League or the Avengers (and didn’t see with superheroes until Moore and Gibbons’ WATCHMEN and Miller’s THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS), Neil Gaiman got me to love comic books again. And I’m forever grateful.

* Yes, my roommate was a guy. Okay, technically, he was a suitemate. There were five of us. But really, “suitemate” doesn’t flow as well as “roommate,” and if this is the part of the story that’s concerning you, then you’re missing the point.

**** I still haven’t washed that cheek.

From Gaiman-fangirls to another: thank you, Jackie!

And now, for the giveaway:

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Courtesy of the author, we are giving away 1 signed copy of Shades of Gray.The contest is open to ALL and will run until Saturday June 26 at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, leave a comment here answering who is your favourite Superheroine or Supervillainess. Only one entry per person please! Good luck!