Very disappointed with MSNBC today. Queen Elizabeth is under medical care and her family is heading to Balmoral to be with her. I realize that she may pass away soon but MSNBC coverage is bordering on ghoulish. I can't watch it. Oh well.
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| From the Queen's Jubilee. |
So until lunchtime, here is an update on books completed thus far in September and some new books as well. I hope as well to continue with my ongoing look at Women Authors whose work I enjoy.
New Books
(One graphic novel, a mystery and some YA Fantasy books)
"Harlem, 1926. Young Black women like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead.
Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She’s succeeding, too. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Harlem’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends, especially her girlfriend, Rosa Maria Moreno, might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her, but don’t tell her that.When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she’s been trying to ignore—two other local Black girls have been murdered in the past few weeks. After an altercation with a police officer gets her arrested, Louise is given an ultimatum: She can either help solve the case or wind up in a jail cell. Louise has no choice but to investigate and soon finds herself toe-to-toe with a murderous mastermind hell-bent on taking more lives, maybe even her own...."
"The #1 New York Times bestselling series continues! Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, continues his award-winning graphic novel trilogy with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, inspired by a 1950s comic book that helped prepare his own generation to join the struggle. Now, March brings the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation, urgently relevant for today's world.
After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence - but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before.
Faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment, arson, and even murder, the young activists of the movement struggle with internal conflicts as well. But their courage will attract the notice of powerful allies, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy... and once Lewis is elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, this 23-year-old will be thrust into the national spotlight, becoming one of the "Big Six" leaders of the civil rights movement and a central figure in the landmark 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."
"Preparations for the Ghastly-Gorm Garden Party and bake-off are underway. Celebrity cooks—such as Nigellina Sugarspoon, Gordon Ramsgate and Heston Harboil—are arriving at the hall for the big event and, true to form, Maltravers, the indoor gamekeeper, is acting suspiciously. Elsewhere at Ghastly-Gorm Ada's wardrobe-dwelling lady's maid Marylebone has received a marriage proposal. Ada vows to aid the course of true love and find out what Maltravers is up to, but amidst all this activity, everyone, including her father, appears to have forgotten her birthday!"
"When Cole Harper is compelled to return to Wounded Sky First Nation, he finds his community in chaos: a series of shocking murders, a mysterious illness ravaging the residents, and reemerging questions about Cole’s role in the tragedy that drove him away 10 years ago. With the aid of an unhelpful spirit, a disfigured ghost, and his two oldest friends, Cole tries to figure out his purpose, and unravel the mysteries he left behind a decade ago. Will he find the answers in time to save his community?"
"Mysterious murders, shadowy figures, and high school. Life can be hard; death can be harder.
Cole Harper is dead. Reynold McCabe is alive and free. Mihko Laboratories has reopened the research facility and works to manufacture and weaponize the illness that previously plagued Wounded Sky. People are missing, and the community has been quarantined. What deal did Eva strike with Choch? Who will defeat Reynold and Mihko? Time is running out."
(Editorial Update - One book arrived in the mail so I'll add that here as well. It's a collection of poetry from Dorothy Parker, published originally in 1928, called Sunset Guns.
"The verses in this book were first printed in the New Republic, the Nation, the New Yorker, Life, McCall's magazine, the Yale Review, the New York World, and the New York Post. ")
Newly Finished
"I find myself buying more graphic novels these days, especially indigenous creations like the A Girl Called Echo series; civil rights books like John Lewis's March trilogy and historical series like George Takei's story of the Japanese internment camps in the US and Art Spiegelman's Maus. Of course I still like books like Neil Gaiman's Sandman books, Max Allan Collins' Ms. Tree and others.
Anyway, I digress. The other day I saw two books by David A. Robertson, graphic novels it seems of a YA book trilogy he wrote between 2017 & 2019, the Reckoner trilogy. I gather that the two graphic novels are follow-ons to the books so I will now have to buy the books.
Breakdown is the first book in the Reckoner Rises and while there are two books so far, I have a feeling there will be more in the series. The story starts off in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where Cole, an indigenous man, is receiving psychiatric help for something that happened at the Wounded Sky reservation. (I presume this is explained in the initial books). Cole, and his girl-friend, Eva, have been experimented on by an organization called Mihko Laboratories. Both have powers that are only partially explained in this graphic novel, but Eva can fly (can Cole?) and Cole seems to have some form of invulnerability.
Cole keeps seeing visions of something that happened in Wounded Sky and certain activities bring him flashbacks. Eva is trying to help him find himself and also exploring Mihko Labs. The story leaves on a cliff hanger... of course meaning I need to read the next. The art is excellent in this story, the inkwork clear and sharp. The story is necessarily somewhat confusing but does try to give inklings of things that happened. Cole is troubled so difficult to warm to at the moment but Eva is instantly sympathetic. All in all intriguing enough to make me want to explore the Reckoner books more. As an aside, I'm surprised at the amount of indigenous graphic novels available and enjoying exploring (also check out The Girl Called Echo and If I go Missing if you'd like to try some) (3.0 stars)"
"Version Control is the 2nd book in The Reckoner Rises series by David Alexander Robertson. Currently there are only two graphic novels in this series but the way it's been left hanging, there will have to be more. More is explained in this graphic and it's getting more interesting.
Cole and Eva go to Mihko Labs to find out what experiments are being conducted on people there. They get into a fight with Mark (there is a flashback to the incident at Wounded Sky, which involves a battle with Cole and Mark and also explains somewhat Cole's flashbacks). The battle at Mihko leaves Cole seriously damaged and means that Eva must investigate on her own (Brady, one of their compatriots, went missing during the battle above). Eva is terrified by what she discovers and she and the others head to Wounded Sky with materiel to discover more of what is taking place at Mihko). The story leaves on a cliff hanger, but I know I want to find out what happens next. What is the evil that Mihko is creating in their labs? Can Cole and Eva and their friends stop them?
Interesting twist on the superhero novel. I'm growing to like the characters. The aboriginal aspect is especially interesting. Worth trying (3.0 stars)"
Women Authors Whose Work I Enjoy - Tanya Huff
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| Tanya Huff |
"Blood Price
Vicki Nelson, formerly of Toronto’s homicide unit and now a private detective, witnesses the first of many vicious attacks that are now plaguing the city of Toronto. As death follows unspeakable death, Vicki is forced to renew her tempestuous relationship with her former partner, Mike Celluci, to stop these forces of dark magic—along with another, unexpected ally…
Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, has learned over the course of his long life how to blend with humans, how to deny the call for blood in his veins. Without him, Vicki and Mike would not survive the ancient force of chaos that has been unleashed upon the world—but in doing so, his identity may be exposed, and his life forfeit.
Blood Trail
Second in the “scary and sexy” (Judith and Garfield Reeve-Stevens, authors of
The Chronicles of Galen Sword) Blood series. For centuries, the werewolves of Toronto have managed to live in peace and tranquility, hidden quietly away on their London, Ontario farm. But now, someone has learned their secret—and is systematically massacring this ancient race.
The only one they can turn to is Henry Fitzroy, Toronto-based vampire and writer of bodice rippers. Forced to hide from the light of day, Henry can’t hunt the killer alone, so he turns to Vicki Nelson for help. As they race against time to stop the murderer, they begin to fear that their combined talents may not be enough to prevent him from completing his deadly plan. (3.0 stars)"
"Blood Lines
An evil being has been sealed away for centuries in a sarcophagus never meant to be opened, waiting patiently for his chance to rise again. Now, brought to the Egyptology Department of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, the seals and spells that imprisoned him chipped away from his discoverers, he has reached forth to claim the minds and souls of Toronto’s unsuspecting citizens. And only three people had any sense that something was wrong…
For Henry Fitzroy, it began with terrifying images of the sun, a marker of death for a vampire. Fearing for his sanity, he turns to his sometimes-lover, private investigator Vicki Taylor, for help. As the two struggle to cope with Henry’s obsession, Vicki’s closest friend and former partner Mike Celluci, is following up on two mysterious deaths at the museum, certain that a force from beyond the grave is responsible for everything.
Blood Pact
Vicki Nelson has suffered a tragic loss—one that may prove to be more horrifying than she ever imagined…
Vicki Nelson has received the call that no daughter ever wants to receive—that her mother has died. Marjory Nelson’s coworkers at the Queen’s University Life Science Department told her that she suffered a heart attack, and that they’d be waiting for Vicki to arrive in Kingston to make the funeral arrangements. But what begins as a personal tragedy turns into the most terrifying case of Vicki’s career, when her mother’s body disappears mysteriously from the funeral home. Someone at the University is determined to learn the secret of life after death…and they’ve decided to make Vicki’s mother part of their horrifying experiments."
There are 4 more books in this series and Huff has written other novels as well. The complete listing of her work can be found at this link.
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