Welcome to Smugglivus 2009!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today, on our first official day of Smugglivus 2009, we kickoff the festivities with our first guest, Joel Sutherland.

Who: Joel Sutherland, author of speculative fiction and horror. Joel was the very first author to contact us with a review query when we started the blog back in 2008 (the book was the wonderful horror anthology he co-edited, Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths) and one of the very first authors we ever had the pleasure of interviewing. Last year, we thought it was only fitting to have Joel open Smugglivus 2008 – and now it’s become something of a tradition!

Recent Work: Frozen Blood (an awesome psychological horror novel that was nominated for a Stoker – Superior Achievement in a First Novel – this year). Reviewed here by Thea.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Joel!

Joel:

Smugglivus 2009

This is easily my favourite time of year.

First, I’m a Christmas junkie. The magic of the season never fails to make me feel like a 3-year-old again. Of course, my wife likes to remind me throughout the year that I always act like a 3-year-old, but I like to think that I act like a very mature 3-year-old.

Second, my birthday is December 1—just enough time before the 25th that I was never shortchanged when it came to receiving gifts or having parties. I know that makes me sound a tad greedy and self-centred, but ‘tis the season.

Third, this is the time of year when most of the biggest movies and novels are released, and being a serious ‘phile’ of the cinema and ‘aholic’ of books, I’m as happy as a pig in you-know-what every time December rolls around.

But there’s a fourth reason to look forward to December now: Smugglivus. Last year, when I was asked to write a piece to kick off the first ever Smugglivus, I had no idea that it would become as big a deal as it has, or that it would be an annual tradition as pervasive as decorating a tree, leaving milk and cookies out for the Big Guy In Red, or watching It’s a Wonderful Life twenty-five times in twenty-five days. I know I’m not alone in my child-like joy when I first heard Ana and Thea plan on running Smugglivus every year for, well, as long as they’re smuggling books, I suppose. And knowing the two of them, I have no doubt that will be a very long time indeed. So remember, as you’re giving thanks this year for family and friends, food, presents, and either Edward’s well-coifed hair or Jacob’s chiseled abs (depending on which team you’re on), don’t forget to give thanks for The Book Smugglers, as well.

There’s a lot for me to give thanks for this year. My wife and I moved into our first house together and are now expecting our first child. (I can’t believe I resisted the urge to end that sentence with an exclamation point or two or three!!!) I got a promotion at work. And on the literary front, my first novel, Frozen Blood, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, and Scholastic purchased my proposal for a children’s non-fiction book (Become a Writing Wizard: Fun and Games for Creative Kids, coming out in August, 2010—watch for it!). My wife and I traveled in June to sunny Los Angeles (it was colder than Toronto) for the Bram Stoker Award banquet, and although I didn’t win, the weekend was packed with incredible highlights. Among the people I met were Richard Matheson (author of I Am Legend, he sat behind me at the awards dinner), Heather Graham (author of The Death Dealer, a quote from her appears on the cover of Frozen Blood), and Duke Henry the Red (a.k.a. actor Richard Grove, who should need no other introduction other than to say he played Duke Henry the Red in Army of Darkness).

High on that list of exciting people to meet was Thea, who came to the kickoff signing at Dark Delicacies Bookstore in Burbank. What a cool cat that Thea is, driving all the way to meet me (I learned that weekend that wherever you want to go in L.A., it’s a long way away) and to buy a copy of my book—even though she had already read an electronic version for review! If only all reviewers were so generous…

Karma is a wonderful thing, and Thea ended up winning a prize in a contest I ran this past summer for anyone who purchased/reviewed Frozen Blood. Her prize was to have her name appear in my next published novel (most likely a children’s horror book—with any luck I’ll have more info on that for next year’s Smugglivus!) as either a hero or a villain. I’m sure all you fellow Book Smugglers fanatics out there can guess which option she chose.

Guest blogger aside: Whenever I’m in your neck of the woods, Ana, we’ve got to meet for a photo op. And then I’ll be able to report on your cool cattitude to the blogosphere, too! End of aside.

When asked to be the first guest author for Smugglivus again this year, after all the hooting and the hollering and the gushing and the blushing (when complimented, my face takes on a nice shade of tomato), I decided that it was time for another contest. One that’s open to everyone and anyone who loves The Book Smugglers as much as I do.

It’s real simple: post a comment to this blog entry, and three winners will be selected at random by Thea and Ana. I’ll email each winner a free e-book version of Frozen Blood, and I’ll even create characters for all three—yes, all three—to appear in my next novel along with Thea. The choice to be a good guy or a baddie is yours (insert gentlemanly guffaw or evil laughter here; again, your choice).

I’d like to close as I did last year (it doesn’t count as plagiarism if you plagiarize from yourself, does it?):

From this Bosmad* to you, Merry Smugglivus to all, and to all a dark and stormy night!

*Dictionary definition of ‘Bosmad’:
[boh-smad]
-noun, plural -s
1. a Book Smuggler Addict.
2. esp. a completely obsessed, sad, sick addict when it comes to books, who loves a blog written by two self-described completely obsessed, sad, sick addicts when it comes to books.
3. often seen wearing upper torso apparel emblazoned with the numeric code ‘4 8 15 16 23 42’, or some other geektastic insignia.
Origin:
2008-9; prob. var. of bahsmied, novelomaniac, from Middle Low German.
Related forms:
Bo-smad-i-an, adjective

Thank you, Joel!

Giveaway Details:

All right folks, you heard the man! Joel is graciously providing THREE lucky readers with an e-copy of his Stoker Nominated (and really damn good) horror novel, Frozen Blood, PLUS each winner will become a character (either good or evil, based on your preference) in Joel’s upcoming book. The contest is open to EVERYONE and will run until Saturday, December 5 at 11:59pm (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here. ONE entry per person, please! Duplicate and/or multiple entries will be disqualified. Good Luck!

Smugglivus has arrived!

As you know, Smugglivus is our end of the year celebration leading up to our blog-o-versary on January 7th. And in true celebratory spirit we have invited authors, publishers and bloggers to look back at 2009 and talk about their favourite reads, to rant if needed, to say what they are looking forward to reading in 2010 and more: it IS all about the love for books and reading!

And we kick-off the event tomorrow, with a great line up:

We start with horror writer Joel Sutherland as he officially opens the event.  Joel Sutherland was the first author we interviewed for the blog and the person who opened last year’s Smugglivus celebration, so it is now part of the Smugglivus tradition to have Joel kick-start the event. This year we’ll hear more from Joel, including a very cool contest too!

On Wednesday, it is UF/YA author Jackie Kessler’s turn to talk about her fave reads of 2009 and what we can expect from her in 2010. Her post is followed by Thea’s review of Gateway by Sharon Shin

On Thursday, Melissa Marr , writer of the YA Wicked Lovely series lists her favourite reads of 2009, followed by Thea’s review of Spellspam (with an autographed giveaway) by Alma Alexander.

On Friday, we have a chat with YA/Fantasy author Alma Alexander and Thea posts her final review of the WorldWeavers’ trilogy with Cybermage (again, with a giveaway).

Finally on Saturday, Kathryn McKenna, Simon and Schuster UK’s Children’s Marketing & Publicity Assistant talks about what we can expect from the publisher next year. We follow her piece with our first Smugglivus Flash Giveaway.

So, folks, buckle up and let get this party started!!

Ana here, to wish you all a Happy Sunday! What are you doing today? Me, I am fulfilling a childhood dream: I am going to see Bruce Springsteen today at Hyde Park! Hooray! I simply can not wait!

Before I leave though, a few bits and bobs to take care of:

Giveaways:

The 5 winners of the Namaah’s Kiss giveaway are:

Sarah M
Sarah Kay
Carol
Danielle
Kristen

The winner of the Don’t Tempt Me giveaway is:

Roxy!

Congratulations!!You know the drill: Please send your snail mail address to: contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com, and we will send you the books ASAP.

This week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, I will be reviewing Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh, her new exciting installment in the most excellent Psy/Changeling series.

On Tuesday Nalini Singh is our guest for the day, talking about Inspiration and Influences. This is when you get a chance to win a copy of Branded by Fire in a Flash Giveaway (because we just know how anxious you all are to read it – as you should be!)

On Wednesday, it’s Novella Day when Thea reviews two stories in the Strange Brew anthology: Seeing Eye by Patricia Briggs and Death Warmed Over by Rachel Caine

On Thursday , it’s Thea’s turn again with the review of Darkness Calls by Marjorie Liu. Word on the Book Smugglers’ grapevine is that it’s even better than the first in the series The Iron Hunt (which Thea really loved!)

Finally,on Friday I will be reviewing a book that first caught my attention because of its beautiful cover and after reading it, became one of my favorites of the year so far. It is the YA novel Eyes Like Stars by debut author Lisa Mantchev. While you wait for our review, just have a look at the book’s awesome website: Theatre Illuminata

Upcoming:

We have a Very Special Event upcoming! Our very own Young Adult Appreciation Month – from July 19th to August 16th, we will be talking about this genre that we love. This is a teaser of some of the books we will review:

Plus, a lot of interviews with authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Diana Peterfreund, Karen Mahoney, Lisa Mantchev and others plus guest posts by YA bloggers and YA editors, and of course, giveaways. We are super excited – what about you?

Other news:

Joel Sutherland , writer of Frozen Blood (reviewed by Thea here) is running a cool contest with loads of possible prizes on his blog to celebrate his nomination for the Bram Stoker award.

Kaaron Warren, author of Slights, the horror novel that Thea considers one of the best of the year, is doing a countdown for the release of the book. In Slights, a character writes a story within a story, in the margins of library books. Kaaron is counting down to the release by writing a bit about each book the character writes in (because of course, each book was not picked at random!) . Check it out here: Kaaron Warren’s Livejournal

And that’s it from us today,folks!

~Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Happy Sunday, everyone! Another huge basketball game on the line, so everyone send some good thoughts the Lakers’ way.

Giveaway Winners:

We held THREE giveaways this week, and it’s time to announce the lucky winners. Drumroll please…

We had over 210 entries for all Demon’s Lexicon contest – THANK YOU to everyone that entered! We asked people to comment by answering the question, “Who is your favorite character?” and the entries are very interesting, with loads of book recommendations. We highly recommend you check them out.

Without further ado, the five winners of a copy of Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan are:

And the grand prize winner of the goody bag, containing the audio book, a sterling silver knife charm, and character quote bookmarks is:

The lucky (or perhaps unlucky!) winner of Night’s Rose and The Frog Prince ARCs by Annaliese Evans is:

And the two lucky winners of our Flash giveaway of paranormal romance titles are:

Phew. You know the drill. Winners, please send an email to contact AT the book smugglers DOT com with you snail mail address. We will get your winnings out to you as soon as possible! Thanks again to everyone that entered – and if you didn’t win this time, don’t feel too bad. We have plenty more giveaways coming up very soon…

The Stoker Awards 2009:

This weekend, the annual Bram Stoker awards were held in Burbank, California. On Thursday, yours truly (that’s Thea) headed out to Dark Delicacies to pick up some great books, and to meet some of the nominated authors. Although I didn’t get to stay very long (since 1: I am a ginormous stuttering pansy when it comes to meeting authors, and 2: the Laker game was on), I did finally get to meet honorary smuggler and author Joel Sutherland! We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Joel, and have read and reviewed both his edited anthology Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths as well as his Stoker nominated first novel Frozen Blood, so it was great to finally meet him in person!

Joel didn’t take home the award, but he was up against some very tough competition, and I have the utmost confidence in him and his future work! Here are the official winners for 2009:

NOVEL: DUMA KEY by Stephen King

POETRY COLLECTION: THE NIGHTMARE COLLECTION by Bruce Boston

Good thing I picked up a copy of The Gentling Box while at Dark Delicacies…

Other Randomness:

In other bookish news, we have participated in our very first Book Carnival online! You can check out the other paranormal entries HERE.

New trailers have been released for Tim Burton’s film Nine and for the new Scorsese flick Shutter Island.

Ooooooo. We likey.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Thea reviews Alex Bell’s sophomore effort, Jasmyn.

Tuesday, Ana reviews The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes.

On Wednesday, Thea tackles Slights by Kaaron Warren – the first title from brand spankin’ new Harper imprint, Angry Robot. (On a shallow note, isn’t this a fantastic cover?!)

Thursday, Ana takes on the new, highly anticipated release from THE Loretta Chase, Don’t Tempt Me! AND on Friday, we have an interview with Loretta herself, so stay tuned!

That’s it for now. Until next time….

Hello, good morning and welcome!

Another week ahead of us and plenty of cool things to come but first….

A Couple of HUGE Announcements:

We have just received some AMAZING news! Joel Sutherland, speculative fiction author extraordinaire, has made the final ballot for the 2009 Stoker Awards. His psychological horror novel, Frozen Blood is up for Superior Achievement in a First Novel (along with David Oppegaard’s Suicide Collectors, another author we’ve read and interviewed here). We’ve read and loved Joel’s short story work, in Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths and The Beast Within, and were blown away by his fantastic debut novel effort with Frozen Blood. And so, we offer our sincere heartfelt congratulations to this new author, and have our fingers, toes, and any other appendages crossed for Joel!

For those interested in giving Joel’s hopefully soon-to-be-award-winning horror novel, it is now available online at Amazon.

In other spectacular news, debut author Carrie Ryan has announced that the movie rights to her zombie young adult novel The Forest of Hands and Teeth have been purchased!!!! Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly tidbit:

Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent has just closed film rights on Carrie Ryan’s YA novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Nevins, who brokered the deal on behalf of Jim McCarthy at Dystel Literary, sold the book, which Delacorte Books for Young Readers published in March, to Seven Star Pictures (K-11, forthcoming). Nevins said the book, a zombie thriller set in colonial times about a girl who lives in a religious community in the woods and is equally worried about a zombie invasion and her planned marriage, is in line to “do for zombies what Twilight did for vampires.” Supposedly Seven Star is developing the project for an-as-yet-unnamed A-list starlet, and fast-tracking the project with a first draft of the screenplay already in the works.

Hell. YES.

As The Forest of Hands and Teeth is already one of Thea’s favorite reads of 2009, we couldn’t be more excited for Carrie and for the film. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading Carrie’s evocative, haunting, soon-to-be-a-hit-movie debut, go forth and do so. Immediately.

Contest Winner

The winner of our recent contest: Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert is

Jo, congratulations! Please send your snail mail address to contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com.

This week on The Book Smugglers

On Monday, Ana will be rambling about her reviewing process in another piece for our series Smugglers Ponderings.

On Tuesday, Ana reviews Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch

On Wednesday, Thea reviews Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro

On Thursday we will review Strange Angels,the new YA book by Lili St.Crow

And finally on Friday, we will do a joint review of Pride, Prejudice and Zombies:

And finally, a piece of advice:

GO WATCH STAR TREK – WE BEG OF YOU, FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS SACRED AND HOLY.

We can’t even begin to tell you how much we loved the movie and how it is made of awesome. We loved the storyline, the science made sense, the surprises (!!!!!!!) and above all, the acting. Every single one of them was spot on: Spock and Kirk more than anyone else. There is this one scene….no, we shall not tell, but know this: it kicks ass. Plus, Young!Kirk? HOT!!!

That’s it for today folks: we leave you with this message:

Another Sunday, another stash! (No football though)

News, News, News

We have just learned that Joel Sutherland and Mike Stone have BOTH made the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award!!!!!! Joel’s debut novel Frozen Blood (our review HERE; interview with Joel HERE) has gotten a nod in the “Superior Achievement in a First Novel” catergory, while Mike’s collection Fourtold (our review HERE; interview with Mike HERE) has been honored in the “Superior Achievement in a Collection” category.

We have read, reviewed and loved both works and are so thrilled that Joel and Mike’s talent are being recognized by the horror community. A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU! And we will keep our fingers crossed that you will both make the final ballot and officially become nominees.

For anyone (especially active HWA members) who might be interested in reading Frozen Blood or Fourtold for consideration, please check out Joel’s and Mike’s blogs.

Speaking of authors, The Deadline Dames website & blog is now up and running! Noted urban fantasy, paranormal romance and YA authors Rachel Vincent, Devon Monk, Jackie Kessler, Jenna Black, Keri Arthur, Lilith Saintcrow, Rinda Elliot, Toni Andres, and our very own Karen Mahoney make up the femme fatale team that runs the blog. They offer awesome giveaways, writerly advice, and just some damn insightful commentary on writing and publishing in general. Make sure to stop by and say hi to the Dames.

In book news, information about the sequel to the smash hit dystopian YA novel The Hunger Games has been officially released! Catching Fire will be in stores on September 8, 2009–and apparently it’s gonna be a doozy. If anyone’s planning on attending BookExpo America in NY this May, ARCs will be handed out!

We loved The Hunger Games and eagerly await the release of Catching Fire this fall.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

We have got a helluva week planned for you–are you ready?

On Monday, Ana and Katie (aka Bubbles and Blossum) team up for another Powerpuff Review–Victoria Dahl’s contemporary romance, Talk Me Down. Will they love it or hate it? Will they agree? We shall see.

On Wednesday, we bring you yet another Guest Dare! Graeme of Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review will be here, giving us his review of Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman! (Yes, we realize this will be the third review for Preludes and Nocturnes on The Book Smugglers…if you read the Sandman, you will understand the obsession!).

There’s a twist though! Graeme graciously accepted our Dare, but then he turned around and Dared us back (that dirty rat)! So, on Wednesday while Graeme’s over here, we will be over at his blog giving our joint review of fantasy novel The Briar King by Greg Keyes! Make sure to stop by and say hi to us.

On Thursday, Ana will have an early ARC review for The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor.

But the really big news is…

The Big Cheese:

You may have recalled that in last week’s stash, we alluded to a certain established, popular author. On Friday, Thea will have her review of Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs! That’s not all though–we will also be giving away ONE copy of the book (the giveaway will run for the weekend).

But wait–that’s STILL not all. The review and giveaway marks just the beginning of our Patricia Briggs coverage. On February 8th, Thea will hold an in-person interview with Patricia Briggs herself–and we’ll have another giveaway (details to be announced)! So stay tuned dudes.

Also, Patricia will be on tour during February, promoting Bone Crossed! If you can, try to check her out at a city near you!

February 3
University Books
7:00PM
Seattle, Washington

February 4
Third Place Books
7:00PM
Lake Forest Park, Washington

February 5
Powell’s Books (Beaverton Store)
7:00PM
Portland, Oregon

February 6
Borderlands Books
7:00PM
San Francisco, California

February 7
Mysterious Galaxy Books
2:00PM
San Diego, California

February 8
Barnes & Noble (Bella Terra)
2:00PM
Huntington Beach, California

February 9
Borders (Waters Place)
7:00PM
Ann Arbor, Michigan

And that’s all folks!

~Your friendly neighborhood Book Smugglers.

Title: Frozen Blood

Author: Joel Sutherland

Genre: Horror

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

Why did I read this book: When we contacted Joel to participate in Smugglivus, he graciously agreed and offered us a review copy of his first novel, Frozen Blood! As Joel was our very first review request here at The Book Smugglers (for Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths), it seems like a wonderful way to come full circle on the year with Frozen Blood. (Plus, I really enjoy Joel’s short fiction and could not wait to see what he would do with a full length novel!)

Summary: (from JoelASutherland.com)
Summoned to her abusive father’s funeral, Tara Stewart drives alone through the pitch-black night from Charlotte to Ottawa, haunted by the ghosts of her past. She hasn’t spoken to her family in years, and the last place she wants to be is in the company of her vindictive twin sister and her shady brother-in-law.

And then the hail begins to fall.

Barely making it to Ottawa alive, Tara falls on the icy driveway and is dragged inside as she loses consciousness. Her sleep is troubled and plagued by nightmares, and she awakes in the middle of the night to see her late father standing at the foot of her bed, warning her that she’s in great danger. Her sister has drugged her, and plans to do much worse.

Outside, the hailstorm is still raging. Reports on the news suggest that it is a worldwide catastrophe.

Now prisoners in their own home, the three estranged family members must try to survive the worst storm in modern history. But Tara must also survive the voices in her head, the ghosts that haunt her father’s house, and the family she’s trapped inside with. They want something of hers, and they’ll do anything to get it…

And the hailstorm shows no signs of dying anytime soon.

Review:

Tara Stewart is, quite simply, a mess. Recovering addict & alcoholic, Tara also is afflicted with a long and twisted family history of abuse, blame and guilt. Frozen Blood opens with Tara driving up to Canada for her father’s funeral, at the behest of her twin sister Evelyn and Evelyn’s husband Peter. The twins have not spoken for a long three years prior to Tara’s drive up to Ottawa, having ended their relationship bitterly over Evelyn’s daughter Amy’s death. Tara has since sobered up, on the wagon, and undergoes intense therapy to help work out her problems–but she’s still anxious and irritable on the drive up north, not looking forward to seeing her sister and brother in-law in the slightest. Plus, Tara’s been seeing ghosts. Prone to daydreaming and lingering on the past, Tara zones out and is also paid a visit by her father’s ghost during the drive. To make matters worse, it starts to hail, and Tara is in a nasty car accident not too far from her father’s house. When she awakens, Tara finds herself in bed, carried and drugged by Evelyn and Peter. Tara’s still seeing ghosts who are telling her some strange, dark things, and she is completely on edge with her family. Meanwhile, the hail storm pounds, the death count rises, and some serious family confrontation goes down.

Frozen Blood is a trip. It is a surreal tale, alternating between Tara’s present-time experiences, then jumping quickly into flashbacks and visions of ghosts in an almost stream of consciousness type of writing. While initially this was disorienting and made it difficult to get into the flow of the story, as the book progresses the style becomes more convincing, lending an air of paranoia and delusion to these trapped, tense characters. What I came to love most about Frozen Blood was this purposeful sense of disorientation, the delicious strangeness and level of surrealism to the book. It comes as no surprise that Tara is a paranoid schizophrenic, prone to hallucinations…but is that all that’s going on? As Tara is plunged into memories of her niece Amy, her long gone girlfriend Jess, her illicit past as a teacher, it becomes harder for her to separate her demons and ghosts from reality–the ghosts of Amy, of her father, even a ghost version of herself, all of which tell her things that inexplicably turn out to be true. An interlude at a radio station with a completely separate character who undergoes her own crazed violent hallucinations seems to also suggest that Tara’s descent into complete psychosis isn’t the only viable explanation for the events of the novel. (Or is it that Tara hears the cabin fevered DJ and substitutes that story to draw similarities to her own experiences, explaining away her mental deterioration, deluding herself into thinking that she isn’t sick?) It’s with this sense of uncertainty–is the hailstorm causing these delusions? Is it the apocalypse? Is Tara just really effing nuts?–that the book really shines.

It’s all very strange and surreal, but in a fantastic (if slightly confusing) way.

The other thing I loved about this book is how tauntingly slowly each piece of Tara’s past is revealed. For example, I loved her interludes with Amy, illustrating Tara as a sympathetic character and a loving, doting aunt to her darling niece. And suddenly, the next interlude shows Tara as a manipulative, selfish woman in an illicit relationship with a young man. Tara’s sister, Evelyn, is similarly deconstructed. At face value, and from the introduction to the character, Tara comes across as a deeply troubled woman–abused, alcoholic, needy, unstable. Evelyn, meanwhile, is composed and rich, married and successful. Her disgust with Tara is understandable. And yet, bit by bit, Mr. Sutherland reveals the grimy underlying layers of Evelyn’s character–desperate to blame anyone but herself for her misfortunes, depressed and completely unstable herself. As the story progresses building to a crashing crescendo of a climax, these two incredibly flawed characters are gutted, ripped apart and laid bare for the audience–and I loved every second of it.

While the characters and the idea for writing style for Frozen Blood are wonderfully cerebral and effective, there were some shortcomings so far as execution and delivery of these ideas go. The book begins slowly and unevenly, just a little off-kilter. There’s overly repetitive imagery, and a tendency to end chapters on a sort of movie-of-the-week commercial-break-cliffhanger (this isn’t a bad thing per se, and it’s a popular technique with many authors–just my own personal reading preference). While there were some problems, the important thing about Frozen Blood (and to a further extent, about Mr. Sutherland as an author) is the incredibly creepy atmosphere and the strength of ideas behind the story. Imagery and narrative technique can be learned and honed skills; but the ideas and underlying concepts are either there or they aren’t. While Frozen Blood very much feels and reads like a debut novel, it works so well because it has these terrifying concepts in abundance (in addition to the aforementioned strength in characters and atmosphere). And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the mark of a promising new talent.

Frozen Blood (Lachesis Publishing) is available December 28, 2008.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Besides the frenetic, bizarre climax, the most emotional scene is when the reveal is finally made as to Amy’s death, and why Evelyn blames and hates her sister Tara so much. What’s better is that the scene is with Evelyn’s thoughts and perspectives.

Realizing for the first time how silent the room had fallen, Evelyn allowed her husband to help her stand up and escort her into a privacy room. She suddenly felt like she’d overreacted. But as much as she didn’t want to admit it, it had felt good to say those things to her sister. It had lanced some of the pain out of her body. Her mind went too fast for her to keep up, and she grew unsure of what was right and what was wrong. Unsure about her sister. Unsure about herself.

The one thing I am sure about is Amy’s gone.

Verdict: Frozen Blood is everything you could want in a psychological horror novel: it creeps, it disturbs, it pushes its characters to the brink of insanity…and then nudges them off the edge and into the abyss. Though it is not without execution flaws and first-novel shakiness, it is clear that Joel Sutherland is a strong up and coming talent. And I, for one, cannot wait to see what else this young author has in store for the speculative fiction genre.

Rating: 7 Very Good – A solid, very good first novel, and definitely recommended!

Reading Next: Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

NEXT ON SMUGGLIVUS… Maria V. Snyder

Countdown Day 1 (25 Days to Smugglivus and counting)

Who: Joel Sutherland, author of speculative fiction and the first ever author to contact us when we started the blog. So, who better than Joel to kick off Smugglivus?

Recent Work: Editor of Fried!Fast Foods, Slow Deaths (reviewed here) and Frozen Blood (to be reviewed later today).

We hereby give the floor to Joel and officially kick start the Countdown to Smugglivus!
____________

Joel Sutherland:

Smugglivus. The very mention of the festival brings tears of joy to my eyes and waves of euphoria to my head. The mere thought of it makes me feel like a kid again, before (SPOILER ALERT) I knew Santa Claus was make-believe. It makes me want to hug all of God’s creatures, even tarantulas. It makes me want to change my name to Joel Smugglivusland. It makes me want to dance (and I’m no dancer). If I were on death row, it would give me hope, and if I were a newborn, it would make me dizzy at the thought of all the Smugglivus goodness that lay in store for me.

In short, it’s the happiest time of the year.

And yet, I know almost nothing about it.

Well, that’s not completely true. Just over a week ago I read the same post, right here at The Book Smugglers, that you did. Smugglivus is Coming: The Details! And boy, were there ever a lot of details. Guest bloggers. Reviews. Best of lists. Worst of lists (my favourite). Giveaways. More madness than you can shake an Arkham straight jacket at.

But still, what do we really know about Smugglivus? The one thing I’ve learned, during the past year reading The Book Smugglers, is you never know what Thea and Ana have in store. Their reviews are painstakingly thorough, honest and emotional. Their interviews are engaging, snappy and affecting. They sprinkle in enough geektastic news to make Harry Knowles jealous. Nothing they do is rushed or slapped together. Their website is the Shangri-La for book lovers. It should be obvious by now that I am a proud, card-carrying Bosmad—a Book Smuggler Addict. I doubt I’m alone.

I owe it all to chance. About a year ago, I was trolling the web for decent book review sites that might be interested in a collection of stories about gastrointestinal horror. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t find many. I had co-edited an anthology with my wife, Colleen Morris, titled Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths (the title pretty much tells you all you need to know about the type of book it is), for small press Graveside Tales. I typed “horror book reviews” into a Google Blog search and began scrolling…and scrolling…and yawning…and scrolling. There wasn’t much, and many of the hits weren’t actually horror book review blogs at all. However, somewhere around the tenth page I clicked on a link and ended up at this site. It was too good to be true. I wrote an email asking if they’d be interested in an electronic copy (remember, it was published by a small press—promotional budgets are as starved as the cast of the new 90210) of the book for review, and within minutes I had heard back, and the answer was an enthusiastic yes.

Less than a year later, by the way, The Book Smugglers pops up at number fourteen in that same Google Blog search. Not bad for a couple of self-described “completely obsessed, sad, sick addicts when it comes to books.” You think they’d be too busy, oh, I don’t know, reading, to post the amount of quality write-ups they do on an ongoing basis. I’m almost positive they have a team of blogging elves that post for them while they sleep.

The review of Fried! was posted on February 3, 2008. It pointed out the highlights and the lowlights (the latter blessedly fewer than the former), and for that I’ll be eternally thankful. A review isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on (or, in this case, the electricity it’s powered by) if it’s not honest and unbiased. Besides, readers are smart, and they’ll know when a reviewer is lying to them. When I read a good review on this website, I know the book is worth checking out. I doubt that The Book Smugglers would have lasted the year, gaining the readership that it has, if the two obsessed, sad, sick addicts who run the place had not written every single word with their hearts and their brains.

I’m honoured to have been asked to kick start the Smugglivus Countdown on the day that happens to be my birthday. I can’t think of a better gift. Maybe Rock Band 2, but this is a close second. I didn’t set out to write what ended up sounding like a lifetime achievement introduction speech (if the whole librarian/author thing doesn’t work out, I think I might have a career in politics, the Oscars, or guest blogging), but what can I say? When I love something, I want the whole world to know about it, and I want the whole world to love it with me.

In fact, I was actually asked to write a bit about my favourite books of 2008 (not necessarily published this year), and a bit about what I’ve got coming up in 2009. I fear that if I ramble on too much longer, I’m going to jeopardize my chances at landing that sweet guest blogging career I’ve got my eyes on, so I humbly offer you Joel Sutherland’s Book Reviews in Five Words or Less:

• The Taken, Sarah Pinborough: Ghosts, secrets, English ale. Yum!
• Johnny Gruesome, Gregory Lamberson: Rock/roll horror, overthetop fun.
• Fourtold, Michael Stone: Stories: four. Rating: ten. Hifive!
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman: ‘Nuff said.
• Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik: Hurry, Peter Jackson. Make movie.
• Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis: Nobody picked on this biography.
• The Jigsaw Man, Gord Rollo: Gross cover, gross plot. Gross =
• Bark, George, Jules Feiffer: So funny, the parents laugh as loud (or louder) than the kids when I read it in Storytime at the library. So good, in fact, that I needed forty words to review it. Five words wouldn’t do. Just made it.

I don’t think Thea and Ana need to fear competition from me anytime soon.

As for myself, my first novel, Frozen Blood (Lachesis Publishing), is coming out on December 28, 2008. Here’s a Blurb in Five Words or Less (I’m on a roll): Hailstorm horror, perfect winter reading! I also have stories in four anthologies coming out in the coming months, and a children’s non-fiction proposal to work on. 2009 will also be the year I write a dissertation to complete my Masters in Library and Information Science. My wife would’ve killed me if I didn’t mention that—I often want to put off my studies for my creative writing, and she’s always been there to get me back on track. Do dissertations have dedication pages? They should. If not, a lot of spouses are going uncredited, and there’s nothing sadder than an uncredited spouse.

If you’re interested in more information about me or Frozen Blood, or if you’re dying to point out all the ways I cheated in the Book Reviews in Five Words or Less section to fit in more than five words, please visit http://www.joelasutherland.com.

From this Bosmad to you, Merry Smugglivus to all, and to all a dark and stormy night!

Joel A. Sutherland is a librarian, an editor and an author. He and his wife Colleen Morris are co-editors of the recently Book Smuggler reviewed Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths–a horror story anthology with some bite (Lame attempt at a pun, sorry). Fried! is a collection of 23 short stories, all centered around–you guessed it–the horrors of fast food.

You can check out our review here.

As an author, an avid reader, and a first time editor, we asked Joel to give us some insights into his work and getting into ‘the biz’ for any aspiring writers and fans interested in getting published. Joel graciously accepted, and voilà! Hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

The Book Smugglers: First and foremost, congrats on the success of Fried! As your first co-edited book, you must be pleased with the positive reviews it is garnering. What sparked your interest in creating and editing a horror anthology (as opposed to submitting your own story separately)?

Joel: Thank you, Thea. The positive reviews have been very rewarding—and a little relieving—not only because Fried! is the first book I co-edited, but also because of the unusual premise and presentation of the book. Right from the beginning I’ve always thought of Fried! as the literary equivalent of a B-movie, the printed page version of Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse. The book tries not to take itself too seriously, and I couldn’t be happier—and, again, a little relieved—that the readers and critics are having fun with it.

You probably wouldn’t guess it by looking at me (I have no piercings and only two exceptionally innocent tattoos), but horror has long been a passion of mine. So has writing and reading. It was only a matter of time before I got up off the couch and decided to edit an anthology. It was a lot of work and the stress of learning through trial and error sped up my hair loss, but I’m already itching to edit my follow-up anthology.

The Book Smugglers: One of the coolest, eye-catching things about this book is its premise. How did you come up with the idea to create a collection of shorts tied together by this fast food theme?

Joel: Fast food and horror go hand in hand. I’d argue that fast food is horror, or at least seriously horrific. I can’t recall a time that I’ve eaten in a fast food chain and not felt nauseous before, during and/or after my meal. It seems like our society is finally beginning to reject the happy smiling faces of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Saunders. Take Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me as pop culture reflections of this shift in attitude. Those were pretty horrific tales. It was only a matter of time before someone explicitly combined fast food with horror.

In fact, someone had tried to do so before us. A few years back a new small press announced itself to the world by opening a call for submissions for five horror anthologies. Only one book saw the light of day before the press collapsed and released all of the accepted stories. One of the doomed projects was to be called Fast Food Frenzies. Once they closed their doors I saw some of the contributors on message boards and blogs wondering if they could produce and release the book themselves. I hated seeing all of these talented artists get burned, and that’s when I decided to get up off the couch.

The Book Smugglers: How did you and your co-editor (and wife) Colleen find authors and artists to contribute to this book? How was the selection process carried out?

Joel: We created a simple website with guidelines and linked to it on all of the writing sites that we knew of. It wasn’t long before the stories began pouring in. Some came with notes from the authors explaining that their submissions had been accepted for Fast Food Frenzies (we accepted some but not all of these tales), and others were freshly written. Acceptances went out to our absolute favourite stories before the submission period ended and then came the hard part: picking the last two or three stories from ten or fifteen that could easily have made the cut. One of the key components to the selection process was picking stories that would blend well together but weren’t too similar. We didn’t want twenty-three stories set in burger joints, for example. Luckily, the writers came through for us, submitting some of the most imaginative takes on fast food horror imaginable, and our job was fairly easy.

As for the artists, a fine Texas chap by the name of Bret Jordan took care of that. Bret created the cover art for Fried! as well as some of the interior art (he was initially connected to the book by having a story, “Veggie Burger,” accepted early on), and he found the remaining artists who contributed interior illustrations. Bret’s a cool dude. He has invited me to visit him in the Lone Star State (I live in Toronto), even going so far as to say that the beer will be on him. I don’t think he thinks I’m serious, but one of these days I’m going to take him up on his offer. What can I say? I like free beer.

The Book Smugglers: Don’t we all! How did the book finally find a home with publisher in Graveside Tales?

Once Colleen and I had made our final selections, we sat back and assessed what we had before us. Frankly, the stories were too good to self-publish on Lulu.com, only to be largely ignored and quickly forgotten. The decision to approach traditional publishers was made at the same time that Graveside Tales announced their new company, which would specialize in off the beaten path horror genres (their second anthology, The Beast Within, centers on were-creatures of all sorts). I wrote to the two Big Cheeses, Dale L. Murphy and Tony Kendall, made my pitch, and they bit. The biggest upside was that everyone involved—the authors and artists—gained a bigger and better venue for their work.

The Book Smugglers: Another pretty cool aspect of the book is the artwork and the use of newspaper clippings/inserts throughout. I loved that certain scraps would have for example a coffee mug stain, or were torn, or had burning around the edges. Was this something the authors included in their original stories, or was it an editorial decision?

Joel: The credit for that idea goes to the Graveside team, Dale, Tony and Bret (Matt Hults was later appointed Editor-in-Chief). I believe Bret and Matt wrote the news clippings and created the authentic look for them. That’s the beauty of the small press: the publishers are often more eager to experiment with quirky ideas, often to beautiful and innovative results.

The Book Smugglers: Since you also are an author, how did you come to the decision to include your own story in the anthology? Was it a tough call to make?

Joel: Pardonnez mon français, but does a bear poop in the woods? Yeah, including my own story, “The Bocan,” in an anthology I co-edited was an extremely tough call. There’s definitely a stigma with editors including their own stories in anthologies, and there has been an endless debate on whether it’s right or wrong. I almost cut it from the lineup, but felt somewhat justified in its inclusion because it had been previously accepted for Fast Food Frenzies. Plus, it’s really short, so readers can easily skip it if they wish. I’ve been pleasantly surprised and—here’s that word again—relieved that most of the reviews have singled it out as a favourite.

The Book Smugglers: And a bit about you as a writer–who are some of your influences? Do you have a favorite author or book (or many of each!)? Because you know I gotta ask–which story in Fried! was your favorite?

Joel: My influences are as disparate as they are numerous. Ask me today and I’d list Stephen King, Philip Pullman, J. J. Abrams, Fran Friel, Yann Martel, William Goldman, David Milch, Kurt Vonnegut, Naomi Novik, Mark Haddon… Ask me tomorrow and it will be a completely different list. The favourite book question is a little easier to answer, but I’m going to cheat a touch by naming a series: George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin has taken fantasy fiction to all new heights. His prose is crisp and evocative, his action is brutal, his novels are sprawling and perfectly plotted and his characters are none of them one-dimensional. If you told me the fifth book in the series was coming out tomorrow I’d say that’s one day too many.

My favourite story in Fried!? Oh, that’s a mean question! You were one of those kids that peppered her parents with questions of which child was their favourite, weren’t you? Can I say they’re all my favourite? No? Okay, here’s what I’ll do: I’ll list a few stories that I’ve been uber-shocked that none of the reviews have singled out yet. “Bad Fish,” “The Drain,” “Take Away” and “Happinex.”

Meanie.

The Book Smugglers: Do you have any words of advice for first-time authors, desperately seeking publication and publicity?

Joel: Read lots and write more. That’s a bit of a cliché, but as King himself would say, it’s a cliché because it’s true. Oh, and don’t forget to submit your writing. It took me a while to learn that I would never become a published author if I didn’t take the plunge and send my written words out to the world. As my eight-year-old nephew would say, duh.

The Book Smugglers: So…what’s next on the horizon (if you can divulge) for you? Any upcoming projects as an editor or an author?

Joel: I’m happy to report that Frozen Blood, my psychological horror novel with a generous heaping of ghosts, is going to be published by Lachesis Publishing either later this year or early next year. It’s the story of an emotionally battered woman who returns from the States to her hometown of Ottawa for her father’s funeral. She gets trapped indoors with her manipulative twin sister and her money-grubbing brother-in-law (and those previously mentioned ghosts) during a devastating and unending hailstorm. Cabin fever leads to insanity, then bloodshed. Not exactly beach reading, but if you like suspense I’m sure Frozen Blood won’t disappoint.

I’m now outlining my second novel, a story about a motley group of strangers trying to rebuild a society after the apocalypse, and Colleen and I are considering how to follow-up on Fried!’s success. Like I said before, I’ve got the itch to edit another anthology and I can’t wait to get started. As soon as I can officially announce it the guidelines will be posted on my blog, http://joelasutherland.livejournal.com/

Joel A. Sutherland is a librarian, an editor and an author. His fiction has appeared in many anthologies and magazines, and Lachesis Publishing will soon release his first novel, Frozen Blood. He also co-edited Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths with his wife, Colleen Morris, and wrote the children’s book The Teddy Bears of Tomorrow (Sam’s Dot Publishing).

He is currently hard at work on a variety of writing projects, as well as completing his Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. In his free time—what little of that there is—he likes to play with his dog, Murphy, and watch zombie movies.

Visit Sutherland online at http://www.joelasutherland.com/

Once again, thanks to Joel for granting the interview. *pops open a–regretably not free but still tasty–beer* In the words of Stuntman Mike, “Ladies, THAT was fun. Well…adios!”