The Civility Code by Michael W. Anderson Review

I won this near future, dystopian fiction through First Reads on Goodreads, as I do so many of the books I review here. The Civility Code by Michael W. Anderson is the first book of a trilogy.

The premise of the series is that offensive language has become a criminal offense, they added an amendment to the Constitution to this affect (Basically you are legally bound to be politically correct). To enforce this new law, a Civility Commission has been created. The commission investigates incidents of offensive language, prosecutes violators civilly and criminally, and determines what words are to be added to the prohibited word list each year. In the 20 years, since the law was enacted, 14,014 words have be added to the prohibited list. The list includes such words and phrases as: drunk driver, he, she, Mr., Miss, Mrs., clueless, fat, go on a diet, and not right.

The story follows the struggle between a group of hacktivists known as X and the Civility Commission over the law and the prohibited words. The hacktivists have been offered a window to take amnesty for their past crimes in order to escape prosecution, while the commissioner actively and passionately hunts them down.

The premise behind the book is what drew me to enter to win it, I think that the political correct/trigger warning movement has gotten out of control already and interferes with real discussions on serious issues. When I started the book, I had a hard time getting into it. The first chapter are so were difficult, I'm not sure if it was because of the new pronouns, the net shorthand used at the beginning, that I wasn't sure I was in the mood for the story, or the writing itself. After a couple of chapters, the story started to flow more smoothly for me. It seems the writing flowed better after that.

Anderson gives you insight into the personal lives and motivations of not only the hackers, but the commissioner of the Civility Commission. I look forward to to next volume to see how the stories and the characters progress.

Happy reading!

Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J. M. Lee Review

I have eagerly been awaiting this book since Jim Hensen Productions announced the Author Quest contest about two years ago. "The Dark Crystal" was one of my favorite movies as a kid, still is. I love Jim Hensen's and Brian Froud's artistry. I will forever be grateful to Jim Hensen for introducing me to Brian Froud.

So when I won the ARC from Goodreads I was overjoyed, especially since the winner of the contest was local author J.M. Lee and a local bookstore, Red Balloon Books, would be having a book launch party. I'm always happy to support local artists and independent stores. I'm also a giant book nerd and love meeting authors I've read.

I was very excited that the cover was done by Froud, and I was briefly disappointed that he didn't do the interior illustrations as well. Until Friday, I had only seen the placeholder art for the book. In fact, the first thing I did when I bought my official copy was to compare the art in the ARC with the polished art in the finished edition. The placeholder art showed me that I wouldn't be disappointed in Cory Godbey's artwork, it definitely captures the spirit and whimsy of the world originally created by Froud and Hensen.

This is J.M. Lee's first novel. (I think it was his first public reading of his work as well. He did a great job, but you could tell he was very excited and nervous. I hope his parents being there didn't make him more nervous.) It's always a bit nerve racking as a reader - probably as an author too - to enter into a much loved universe when there has been a change in management, particularly when that management doesn't have any prior documented experience. I have to say that I wasn't let down by the book. It definitely had all the heart of the original film.

Our protagonist is a young, strong-willed Gelfling girl, Naia, of the Sog tribe. Her people live in the swamp and she is desperate to see more of the world, like her twin brother, Gurjin. However, this isn't possible as she must train to replace her mother as the leader of the tribe. Her adventure begins when she spots a stranger while she is out hunting. She then has the opportunity to leave the swamp to find out what happened to her brother, who has gone missing from his duties as a guard at the Crystal Castle.


I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I hope that if finds an audience with to today's young adult readers and helps them discover Jim Hensen's lesser known works (which I think were some of his best). I am eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series.

J.M thanks for being so gracious in sharing with us a peek inside Froud's design notes and for signing both my copies of the book.

Happy reading!

The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman Review

The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman is the debut novel of Robin Gregory, I won my copy through Goodreads. Moojie is a historical/mystical fantasy aimed at middle grade readers. I think that the vocabulary may be challenging for many in this age group. This wouldn't be a book to give to reluctant readers.

Moojie is a disabled boy that loses two families and is searching for a place he feels he belongs. He struggles with bullies and to make friends. His quest for a new family focuses on a group that the villagers call the "Hostiles". Periodically, Moojie shows some strange abilities of unknown origins that cause unexpected and miraculous events.

As a debut novel, I think it was good. I found the pacing a bit slow in the beginning and had a hard time getting into the story. The second half of the book went smoother, and quicker, for me. I think the pacing of the book may have been deliberate on the author's part, as the chapter titles were very long and rambling in many cases.

I am a lover of the fantasy genre, but not so much when it comes to the mystical/existential stories. I am not sure if it was the mystical aspects, the pacing, or that I just wasn't in the right mood to love this story.

Happy reading!

Contaminated by Em Garner Review

Contaminated by Em Garner is a post-apocalyptic YA novel, I won it on Goodreads. It's the story of Velvet and her sister, Opal. They are orphans as a result of a prion disease outbreak that is the result of a diet drink, ThinPro, being contaminated with unsafe proteins. The disease results in aggressive behavior, loss of speech, increased clumsiness, and other symptoms that give the infected a zombie-like appearance but without them actually being dead.

The book begins with Violet going to a kennel, where the neutralized, contaminated people (or Connies) are kept so that family members can reclaim them. The contaminated people are neutralized with a shock collar. Violet is looking for her mother.

Violet is struggling to survive and support her sister in this new world, she goes to school for half a day and then works the rest of the day. Though the contamination affect different areas of the country in different degrees, many basic services haven't been restored. There is martial law and curfews. Feral Connies still show up periodically, as the illness can lie dormant for extended periods of time based on how much a person drank and how contaminated the batch was.

I haven't read any of Em Garner's novels for adults, I hadn't even heard of her until running across this book on the FirstReads giveaway list. The story is an easy and quick read, it is well paced. The characters are pretty believable. There were a few spots that even made me laugh, especially one bit about kissing, boys, and pizza. It's an infection story more than a zombie one, but the world she set up works well. I look forward to reading the next book.

Happy reading!

Missing Microbes by Martin J. Blaser, MD

I won an advanced copy of this book by Martin J. Blaser, MD from Goodreads. I have been interested in the affects that the overuse of antibiotics for a while, we've always been careful to avoid taking unnecessary medication. Most things pass on their own when the virus passes through your system.

Blaser explains so many things about antibiotics and his research that I'm not sure how to boil it down to fit in a review. He does a great job of looking at the side effects we've already seen from antibiotic usage around the world. Most of us know about drug resistance bacteria and disease, but it goes beyond that. The FDA finally announced that hand sanitizers do more harm then good, glad they caught up with the science (it took long enough).

Our immune systems and growth are being impacted as well. The use of broad spectrum antibiotics not only attacks the harmful bacteria inside our bodies but the bacteria that helps us digest various foods and regulate our immune responses. The bio-diversity of our bacteria is being negatively impacted by our obsession with cleanliness and getting rid of all "germs". We have neglected to realize that the bacteria contained within us (which actually make up most of our mass) evolved with us.

Blaser has linked the use of antibiotics with the increase in obesity, not just in the U.S. but all over the world. This includes areas where the western diets has not been adopted but the use of antibiotics has. The increase in height all around the world can be connected with the use of antibiotics as well. 80% of antibiotics sold in the US are sold to farmers specifically for the purpose of causing their livestock to grow faster and fatter while eating less. We then consume the meat containing these antibiotics. Though progress has been made on this front with 25 companies recently agreeing to reduce the sale of antibiotics to farmers.

His reasoning is sound and though the microbiome scientists haven't linked specific bacteria with obesity, allergies, asthma, etc. they have found very strong correlations. The sudden outbreak of allergies to commonly used foods strangely coincides with the dramatic increase in antibiotic use.

Ways you can help:

1. Only use antibiotics when absolutely necessary. Don't get them every time you or your child gets an ear infection (Over 80% are caused by viruses.). Check to make sure that your doctor doesn't give your newborn antibiotics automatically at birth without a specific cause. Most people are unaware of this practice in US hospitals. It's only necessary 1 in 200 cases, so 199 kids are getting unnecessary medication. Ask your dentist to not give you antibiotics unless there is an eminent risk of infection. After taking antibiotics you are more at risk to get sick from another infection, (strange that this isn't on any of the warning labels.) sometimes up to as long as 3 years later.

2. Stop using hand sanitizer. There is a layer of helpful bacteria on your skin, using hand sanitizer kills it off and increases your risk of disease and infection. Even the FDA has realized the negative impact of hand sanitizer use.

Other things that need to be done to improve the situation involve restricting the use of antibiotics on farm animals, paying pediatricians better so they can take more time with each patient to ensure a better diagnosis, better training for pediatricians, better tests for determining bacterial/viral infection status, better antibiotic development focusing on directed antibiotics, plus other methods to fight diseases.

I have barely scratched the surface of what Dr. Blaser had to say, I highly recommend this book.

Happy reading!

Extreme Medicine: How Exploration Transformed Medicine in the Twentieth Century by Kevin Fong

I've always been interested in science and medicine, but I admit that reading the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs helped draw my attention to this Goodreads giveaway for this book. The technical details about forensics in the series reawakened my desire for actual knowledge rather than my more casual interest of the past. So upon seeing Dr. Kevin Fong's book comparing and paralleling extreme medicine and exploration, I was intrigued.

Right away, I could feel Dr. Fong's passion for both medicine and exploration. The book is well organized and easily understandable. Dr. Fong is good at using analogies that make the body processes and affects on the body comprehensible. There are 9 different areas of focus, and all are kept to an easily readable length.

The first area of exploration is ice, we learn about Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated but crucial expedition to the South Pole and what happens to the body during hypothermia. Dr. Fong takes us through some of the technologies developed to allow us access to such temperature extremes so that we may learn more about our planet. And in the final segment about ice, we learn of the first time that doctors used hypothermia as a medical tool to save a live.

In the section on fire, we learn how World War I doctors and pilots provided the basis of modern day plastic surgery and why burn injuries are so dangerous.

In the heart section, I was shocked to learn that the heart was forbidden territory for a very long time, and that the field developed so quickly. There are many interesting personal stories in each section, that put a human face on these explorations into new medicine and environs, but if I share them here I'll be doing Dr. Fong's work for him.

Trauma and intensive care are closely associated with hospitals in my mind, and with each other. These two sections trace the development of each specialty. Our current procedures for triaging injuries in emergency situations comes from the personal tragedy of Dr. James K. Styner. He went on a crusade after his family was in a plane crash, and the local small town doctors didn't know how to prioritize cases. He had to function as his children's own emergency doctor while ignoring his own injuries. The inside look at the SARS epidemic and seeing how intensive care units were started was also interesting. I didn't know half of the side effects of polio, I guess my generation is lucky that way.

This passage from the water section gave me the shivers, the thing to remember is that Dr. Fong really did this. Imagine how terrifying it would be if it wasn't a training exercise.

"The water is rising fast now, already up to my waist, and every fiber of my body is telling me that I should unclip that harness and punch through that window. But to do that would be fatal. Free of the seat, I'd be swilled around the cabin by the inrush of water; finding my way to the exit and then locating the metal bar that jettisons the window would be impossible. If I'm to survive this, I have to wait. The water continues to bubble into the cabin. It's at my chest now, and the whole vehicle is overbalancing, skewed by the weight of the engines and rotors above, turning upside down in the darkness. The water is up to my chin as the cabin starts to rotate. These are my last few breaths, and I'm still strapped into my seat, resisting the urge to get the hell out of there."

The sections on Orbit and Mars, look at the medical challenges of space travel. Dr. Fong is an astrophysicist as well as a medical doctor, and he was lucky enough to get training at NASA on dealing with astronauts medical issues. I knew about the weakness they feel after an extended space stay, but knowing the reasons for it and how it's combated put a new perspective on things. Seeing the technologies that are being developed so that long term space travel can be achieved, along with the possible health issues resulting from a trip to Mars made me see why we haven't done it yet.

You would think that space travel would be as far as medicine could go, but it's not. The final frontier section looks at elderly medical care. It looks at how the body's systems slow down, and the delicate balance that doctors need to find. The judgement they need to decide whether it is more humane to treat the health issues or to let things run their course.
 
From the outside, progress often looks like it happens smoothly and is planned in advance. I like that Dr. Fong points out that leaps of progress are full of stops and starts and are often accidental. That we focus on the successes rather than the failures and the cost of getting to the successes.

Happy reading!

13 Quick Shivers Anthology

I saw this book on Goodreads as one of their giveaways, I thought the concept of horror stories only 100 words long to be intriguing so I entered to win. I had not heard of the website that put together this anthology, and all the authors were new to me. I didn't know that they support Midwest (local for me) authors and I'm still not quite sure what "snob horror" is as a genre.

I am a voracious reader and frequently devour my books like one pigging out at a buffet. I did that the first time I read this collection, it doesn't work. I had to slow down my reading to gain a feel for the stories (which seems odd since they are so short). One of the methods they used to help establish mood in these stories was to use unusual fonts. I'm still trying to figure out if the fonts were more of a help or a hindrance for me as a reader. In a couple of the stories, they change in fonts made it difficult to know which line to read next. I admit the length of the stories caused me to fear that they would end up being poetry, they didn't. They were; however, some of the tiniest pieces of micro-fiction I've ever seen.

The collection was a very interesting experience. Some of the stories really managed to create a mood in those few sort words. I enjoyed the book, but I think I will always prefer longer stories.

Happy reading!

Chimera by David Wellington

I was so excited when I got the email notifying me that I had won this book from Goodreads. I was introduced to David Wellington through his zombie series, and moved onto his vampire and werewolf books as well. Each of these series had their own unique feel within their perspective sub-genres, and I enjoyed them a lot. Chimera departs from David's usual fare of supernatural horror and moves into science gone wrong and government conspiracy.

The book opens with prisoners escaping from a top secret military installation. There is no explanation, no exposition, just immediate and intense action. I was hooked right away. The pace doesn't slow down as the story continues. The sections of the book are marked with the time from the initial event: T+ 1:46, etc. Not being military, it took me a little bit to wrap my head around how to read this, I've only seen it used in countdowns before.

We are introduced to Jim Chapel while he's at work and struggling to concentrate on his paperwork. We quickly learn that Jim is a war veteran and has lost an arm, though he's not letting this slow him down. We went from duty in the field to working for Military Intelligence providing oversight for civilian government contractors. To break the tedium of his work and refocus his mind, he goes for a swim in the pool. In the midst of his swim, he notices that he is being watched and that the man is laughing. Chapel doesn't think anything of it at first, he is use to people finding the appearance of a one-armed man swimming amusing. But the man doesn't leave, Chapel is pulled from his swim for a secret mission, so secret that he can't even tell his current boss that he's leaving. The man will not tell him anything about what the mission is or where they are going, he just keeps laughing.

Chapel is escorted to Pentagon and taken deep into a former fallout shelter turned office where he meets Rupert Hollingshead (the man that requested him for the mission). Hes told that he must capture the escapees but little else, so little in fact that it increases the danger of the mission. From the title, some of you have likely figured out what kind of prisoners escaped the facility. He must deal with genetically modified humans without having any ideas about their capabilities.

Hollingshead, part of the DIA, is in a power play with Agent Banks, from the CIA, over who is in charge of the mission and how it should be handled. The laughing man is Banks' lap dog. They present Chapel with a kill list and tell him there are four men he needs to capture. With so little information, Chapel's task is almost guaranteed to fail.

I won't go any further into the story of the book, I know how evil spoilers are. If you are looking for an action packed read, then grab this book.

Behind the Burly Q by Leslie Zemeckis

My first exposure to Burlesque what the t.v. movie about Gypsy Rose Lee with Bette Midler playing her mother. I didn't have any particular interest in Burlesque at the time, I was just a huge fan of Bette and musicals. So I tuned in. After moving to Minnesota, I decided to expand my experiences and went to my first Burlesque show. It was great fun, astonishing, and surprisingly held in a bowling alley. I hope to go to another Burlesque show soon.The combination of these experiences (and a strange obsession with classy clothes of old) led me to be very excited when I saw Behind the Burly Q among the giveaways on Goodreads. I put my name into the drawing. I promptly forgot about entering with my busy schedule and suddenly I get this book in the mail. Now, the only thing better than a free book, is a surprise free book. It made my day. Unfortunately, I couldn't read it immediately but I didn't wait long.

After the initial excitement of "Eeekkk! Free book!", I began flipping through the pages. My excitement only increased as I saw names like Alan Alda, Frank Sinatra, Abbott and Costello, and Jack Ruby. I had no idea that Alan Alda practically grew up back stage. The book covers about 30 years of entertainment history and all its ups and downs. Leslie Zemeckis takes a look at different aspects of a life in Burlesque in each chapter. She explores the good and the bad of a career in the industry and being on the road. More importantly, she looks at the women and men that were a part of Burlesque. The only name I knew going into the book was Gypsy Rose Lee, though some of the names tickled the back of my mind. They are names heard in the background of film or briefly mentioned in entertainment news. This book was more than a dry history about Burlesque, it brought the men and women alive, their triumphs and their trials.

The women and men in Burlesque were incredibly strong and independent. They defied convention, not usually out of rebellion but out of necessity. They faced persecution (mostly the dancers), law suits, and were looked down upon. Several of their personal stories brought me to tears. Their profession was often considered the lowest form of entertainment and they were thought to be of no talent, yet many of the Burlesque comedians are now household names and the women often stripped into their 70's.

If you are interested in entertainment history, non-traditional professions, or just interesting people give this a read. It has ignited my curiosity to know more about the individual ladies and the art form of Burlesque.

Happy reading!

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

My husband has been after me for years to read this book, it is one of his all time favorites. After reading it, I can see why. It has to be one of the most engrossing books I've read in quite some time.

When written in 1987, Swan Song was a horror novel, now it is more of a horrific alternate history. Set in a world where nuclear war has occurred, and the world is left in ruins.

The chapters revolved around three groups of survivors spread throughout the United States. We start out in New York City, where we meet a homeless woman known as Sister Creep. She survives the explosions by being in the subway system when the bombs hit. Shortly after the bombs have landed, Sister Creep encounters another survivor while looking for supplies. His name is Doyle Halland, a shoe salesman from Pittsburgh. They decide to make their way to Pittsburgh to find out if his wife survived. Neither thinks that she has survived, but it gives them a purpose and and goal.

Next we go to a survivalist compound inside Blue Dome Mountain, there we find a Vietnam vet who is the spokesman for the compound named Colonel James "Jimbo" Macklin. We also encounter a 13 year old boy named Roland Croninger who is upset that his parents dragged him here and he can't play his computer games. They have come for a visit before completely committing their money to help fund the construction of the shelter. They all become trapped when the concussion wave from a nearby missile causes most of the mountain to collapse.

The final group of survivors that we accompany through this devastated land are Swan, a young girl, and Josh Hutchins, a wrestler known as the "Black Frankenstein". They are thrown together when they are trapped in a basement trying to escape the fireball from the missiles launches. As they escape from the basement, Josh notices grass underneath the place where Swan slept.

The book is quite long, but you don't really notice this while you read. I can't think of any time where I wasn't eager to learn what would happen next. McCammon's descriptions were gritty and often harsh to match the setting and the story, but never grotesque for the sake of grotesqueness. One of the things that amazed me the most was that though the protagonist and antagonist don't encounter each other in chapter twenty-three, you never feel like the story is dragging.

If you are looking for an excellent, dramatic post-apocalyptic story this is an excellent choice.

Happy reading!

Zombie Autopsies by Steven C. Schlozman, MD

I found The Zombie Autopsies while browsing through Barnes and Noble, it was one of those trips I should have avoided because I walked out with books when I should have left empty handed. Damn books, destroying my budget!! Zombie Autopsies was one of several zombie books I looked at that trip, and after much deliberation I adopted it.

I was attracted to this book because of it's different take on a zombie story. It is written like a research journal kept by a scientist as they try to develop a cure for the plague. The fact that the author is a real doctor added a certain amount of realism to the research feel of the story. The anatomical drawings that are included as part of the research notes are beautifully rendered, though grotesque and disturbing.

The journal pages are interspersed with military reports and comments on the research which was collected from the research facility at a later date. Dr. Blum, the research scientist whom wrote the notes, was sent to the research facility after a garbled message was sent by the previous doctor in charge and all contact was lost. The facility is in a race against time,  not only because it's a world wide pandemic, but because the research itself is a death sentence. All the researchers and guards at the facility are volunteers.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book, and an aspect that added to the reality of it, was that you can see the loss of the doctor's ability to focus and concentrate as the story goes on. This fits wonderfully with the description of the diseases progression and the drawings showing the deterioration of the previous victims.

I would not recommend this book for those with week stomachs as the drawings are extremely detailed and life-like, or rather death-like despite being pencil sketches. If you are a lover of zombie stories and fascinated by science, I recommend this book.

Happy reading.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clark

I have run across City of Bones by Cassandra Clare many times online, and I was intrigued by the cover. I admit between the cover and the series title, Mortal Instruments, I thought it would be a steam punk novel. A friend of mine got a copy and passed it on to me. Once I held it in my hand and read the synopsis I discovered it is a fantasy set in our world. When I held the book in my hands, I became apprehensive because the blurb on the front cover was from Stephanie Meyers. Those of you that know me, know that I am not a fan of Twilight in any way. I feared that this book would be another poorly written paranormal romance novel. Luckily, I escaped that ill fortune.

The story centers around Clary Fray, a 15 year old girl living in Brooklyn. She lives with her mother who is an artist and has never known her father, who died in a car accident. Her main companion is Simon, her best friend.

Clary and Simon are at a local club, when Clary witnesses something unusual that only she can see. It comes to her attention while she is watching an unusually handsome boy move about the club led by a ethereally beautiful girl. She follows the two because she feels something is wrong, and sees the girl and several others kill the boy. When she calls for help, Simon and the security guard can't see the teenagers or the victim. Clary is astonished and pretends to have panicked. Before she departs the scene, the apparent leader tells her that the boy they killed was a demon.

When at a coffee shop with Simon the next day, she sees the group leader, she cautiously goes outside with him and learns his name is Jace. While talking to him, she receives a horrifying call from her mother telling her not to come home. Of course, being worried for her mother, she completely ignores this and rushes to check on her mom. She gets home and finds her mother missing, the house torn up, and a terrifying monster awaiting her.

The creature almost kills her and Jace takes her to his tutor so that she can be healed. Clary then learns that there is an entire world that is unseen by the majority of people, the fact that she can see this world means that she is not a regular person. Clary also begins to learn that there is much more to her mother than meets the eye.

There is of course the usual hints of attraction and possible love between her and the mysterious and handsome stranger that rescues her. Thankfully, Clare doesn't follow this trope, and we end up with a Star Wars moment.

The story is well paced and entertaining. Clare does a good job of blending the supernatural characters into the modern day world. It's perfect for a vacation read. I passed it on to some stewardesses at United Airlines. I look forward to the second volume.

Happy reading.

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

Austin Grossman tells a tale about people with superpowers, it is full of action and humor. The story is told from two perspectives. One is our anti-hero and main character, Dr. Impossible. He is a veteran super-villain and evil genius. The other a fledgling super-hero, Fatale. She is a cyborg looking to earn her reputation and adapting to working as part of a world famous super-hero team.

You can see Grossman's love of the super-hero genre from the first page. And like many of the fans of the genre, he seems to have a soft spot for the horribly misunderstood super-villain. The signs of sympathy for the bad guy don't just come from the segments narrated by Dr. Impossible, Fatale's questioning of how the hero's do things and her reflections on Lily (Dr. Impossible's ex-girlfriend turned hero) show a tendency to see areas of grey rather than strict black and white.

Soon I Will Be Invincible offers a funny and very entertaining look at a world with super-powered people. I think that those that try to read it without being fans of superhero comics, movies, or novels may miss out on some of the humor and twists to the rules of those mostly black and white worlds. I enjoyed the world that Grossman created and was reluctant to leave it.

This book is great for vacation reading, whether you are on a beach or cuddled under some blankets at home.

Happy reading!

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

I had been looking at this book for a long time before I got a chance to read it. I admit that the simplicity of the cover grabbed my attention, as well as the story description. The feel and pace of the story reminded me very much of the campaigns we had when playing Deadlands, the role-playing game. Gilman does an excellent job of bringing his world to life for the reader.

The Half-Made World is the story of an alternate American Wild West. Our protagonist is Liv Alverhuysen, a female psychologist who decides to respond to a job offer sent to her late husband to work in a hospital in the unmade west. The hospital serves both sides of a conflict for control of the West, the Guns and the Line. The hospital maintains its neutrality because it is protected by a spirit that will allow no violence to be done within its realm.

The Gun recruits dangerous men and women of ill-repute and character using fear to maintain control, while the Line overcomes towns and incorporates all into their fold and making them slaves. Both sides are seeking a General who fell in battle to one of the Line's noisemaker bombs. They both hope to gain the secret of a weapon that he holds in his head, one that could destroy their enemy or themselves. The Guns and the Engines of the Line are possessed by some strange demons. The Line moves towards the hospital, while the Gun sends John Creedmoor to infiltrate the facility.

Once all the main actors in the tale reach the hospital, the action steamrolls (forgive the pun) forward extremely rapidly. Characters must wrestle with internal conflicts as well as external ones. I look forward to the sequel when it comes out in November.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

This is my first time reading a Margaret Atwood novel, it was a gift to my husband and he insisted I read it after he was done. I hadn't read her before because the majority of her titles and book covers looked like romance novels. (I know, I know, don't judge a book by its cover.) Once again I listened to the audio book while on my commute. The reader did an excellent job.

The story opens with Snowman, a.k.a. Jimmy, awaking on the beach. It is revealed that the world has gone wrong as we watch Snowman go through his morning routine of checking his stash of supplies, draping his bed sheet around his body properly, and scratching around the bug bits to avoid a chance of infection.

We are then introduced to the Children of Crake. They are very different than Snowman. They are thick skinned and do not have to worry about ultra-violet rays. They have startling green eyes and skins of all colors. They only eat grass and vegetables. They come to Snowman to learn about the things they find washed up on the shore.

Atwood does a masterful job of telling the reader how the world got to this point through a series of flashbacks into Snowman's past. They are random and out of sequence, just as these things tend to be for us all. They offer titillating glimpses into past events and Snowman's life.

I have to admit I was actually a little angry when the story ended, I wanted it to keep going. Luckily for me there is a sequel. Unluckily, I don't have a copy.

Amped by Daniel H. Wilson

Amped is another book that I won from Goodreads. It is a near future science fiction story. It is a world in which some people have brain implants. Many of these implants are used to fix epilepsy, ADD, or other disabilities. They are even given to poor and disadvantaged students by the government through grants to level the playing field in the school systems.

Owen is a school teacher who has an implant to help with his epilepsy.  His father installed the implant after he suffered a horrible accident due to a seizure. Things begin to go wrong for Owen when the Supreme Court disenfranchises people with implants, also called "Amps". This action was pushed through by a political group called Pure Pride. In the course of a day he loses his job and is thrown out of his apartment with no warning. They can no longer makes contracts with "regular" people as they have an unfair advantage, hence Owen losing his job and home.

The situation escalates. Owen discovers he is wanted for questioning, and that his amp is more than he realized. There are also some violent incidents between amps and regular people. The amps are moved into clusters for their own protection. Owen flees to a cluster called "Eden" to meet with a friend of his dad's named John.

There is action, political intrigue, and social discrimination. Wilson uses his robotic expertise to help explain how the amps work and what they do to the brain. I really enjoyed the descriptions and the characters. It was a very fast paced and easy read, perfect for a summer day.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

This was a case in which I saw the movie long before I read the book. We saw the film in 3D, it was amazing, and I'm usually not a big fan of 3D. The images were striking, riveting, and sometimes upsetting.

I am a fan of Gaiman's work in general, I really enjoyed Coraline. I know that many adults find it much too scary for children because it terrifies them. Children have a different perspective on the story, they see it as an adventure story.

Coraline is the tale of a young girl with rather inattentive parents. They are loving just very busy. The family has recently moved into a new home that is part of a larger house divided into several apartments. There is a pair of sisters who are aging stage actresses with dogs downstairs. Upstairs is a Russian man who is training a mouse circus.

Coraline is unhappy and bored with her life, as many kids get. (Especially when they have moved to a new place and don't have any friends.) She begins exploring the house and the area around it, this includes a strange door that leads to a brick wall. Well, it leads to a brick wall some of the time. One day while her mother is out shopping, she opens the door and there is a tunnel. Being a curious child, she follows it. 

 

On the other side of the tunnel, she discovers a world much like her own yet full of disturbing differences.  The "other mother" is awaiting on the other side of the door. She wishes Coraline to stay with her forever, but Coraline senses that something is wrong. She challenges the "other mother".

I really enjoyed the book, and the movie was an absolutely fabulous adaptation. Sadly, my imagination couldn't live up to the visuals provided by the movie. This is a great book for boys and girls of all ages.

Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

I ran across this book while browsing through my recommendations on Goodreads. I am a firm believer in organ donation. I have checked the box on my driver's license, assuming that they would harvest any organs that were worth taking to save a life. In the course of reading this book, I have learned that organ donation and donating your body to science aren't the same thing. I have never looked into what could be done with a body once passed it along to science, and I was curious how those that have left us can continue to help us.

I have long been aware that cadavers have been used for medical and criminal research. I was aware of some of the history of mummification, but learned a bit more while reading this book. I'm sure there are many that consider this topic morbid or disturbing. I personally find it fascinating. How do they help improve lives outside of organ donation or criminal research? How long have people been utilizing cadavers to learn about themselves?

Roach is very informative and uses humor well to dis-spell any discomfort the reader might be feeling. She is careful to balance the strangeness and absurdity of some of the situations with respect for those that volunteered their remains for scientific use. She covers topics such as medical school dissection, forensic body farms, crash analysis, heart death vs. brain death, head transplants, and ecological burial.

It was interesting to see how time has changed the way cadavers are treated by scientists. In the past it was illegal, so bodies had to be stolen. Often they were treated callously, and gallows humor was used to put the researchers at ease (this often led to insensitive jokes).  Though the departed didn't notice these slights, it left an uncomfortable feeling with any outside the field and could greatly offend surviving relatives. The attitude towards the cadavers has changed greatly in recent years. It seems partly a PR move (to make it more acceptable to the families of the volunteers), and a result that they volunteered for this important duty.

Another segment I found fascinating was the section about medicinal cannibalism. The old men in Arabia that reportedly dined on nothing but honey for a few months before their death and were then sealed in a stone coffin filled with honey. They were sealed inside for 100 years, then it was unsealed and the honey concoction was sold as medicine for a variety of ailments. What most amazes me is that I know such beliefs still exist, and that often the person that is turned into medicine did not volunteer. There are cases in Africa of albinos being killed for such medicines, which is horrific. I truly wish that this was a thing of the past.

The final segment in the book is about ecological burial, it did not feel as well developed as the other segments but I found it interesting none-the-less. I have always planned to be cremated. I consider cemeteries land that is wasted (it could be used for housing or growing food, etc.) and the embalming chemicals can't be good for the environment. In this segment I learned that cremation can cause mercury to get into the air, I already had figured there was some issues with greenhouse gasses but that it was a relatively small amount in comparison to other things we humans do. I have now learned of two methods that are more environmentally friendly (at least one is even cheaper than cremation): Water reduction and organic burial. I will leave the methods used a mystery for you to discover through the book or in other research. Sadly, I was only able to find them located in Scotland and Sweden. I'm in the process of seeing if there are any places in the US that provide either of these options. I will choose one of these methods if my body is determined unfit for organ donation/scientific research. I see no reason why I should stop being useful after my death.

Good reading!

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

The Strain is a vampire novel by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, it is the beginning of a trilogy. Mr. Del Toro is predominately known for his film direction, being behind such films as "Mimic", "Hellboy", and "Pan's Labyrinth". Mr. Hogan has received the Hammet Prize and praise from Stephen King for his novel, The Town. Del Toro and Hogan co-wrote this book and its two sequels.

In many ways, the book reads almost like a movie. I've said this in the past, though usually in a negative light. Maybe it is because Del Toro is known mostly for his visual work on films, but that same feeling did not turn me off of this book as it has done in the past. There is a definite focus on the visual description of things, yet the narrative doesn't linger on them in an overly long fashion. The descriptions are graphic and to the point at the same time, allowing them intensity and brevity at the same time.

The vampires in this story are appropriately vicious and horrifying. I am not sure who is scarier though, the vampires or the rich eccentric old man that brings the vampire to New York and destabilizes a long standing truce between the seven ancient vampires. (Don't worry this isn't a spoiler, this is all shown to the reader at the beginning, or at least strongly hinted at.)  

We meet our main protagonist,  Dr. Ephraim (Eph) Goodweather, after a plane mysteriously lands with everyone on board dead. Well it seems that way at first. There are actually four survivors of the initial landing though they appear dead upon first examination by several medical experts. Eph is a member of the CDC, his job is to contain outbreaks of disease before they reach pandemic levels. Dr. Goodweather is torn between his work and home life as this tragedy causes him to cut short his weekend with his son and to miss a custody hearing relating to his rights in regards to his son, Zach.

Other main characters include Nora Martinez and Professor Abraham Setrakian. Nora is Eph's partner at the CDC, while Prof. Setrakian is first dismissed as a crazy old man. Prof. Setrakian is an expert in fighting vampires, having witnessed one of them feeding while he was in a WWII concentration camp. He has made it his life's mission to destroy them from that point on.

Our heroes are not just fighting the vampires, but their extremely wealthy backer. The vampires in this story are not of supernatural origin, but spread like a virus. This includes altering the hosts' DNA and bodily structures. Giving a scientific rational doesn't make them any less scary or dangerous.

I can't say exactly where the next two books will take the reader, but I don't see there being any huge surprises or plot twists. Readers that are familiar with the vampire genre will probably see most of what is coming next before it happens. The story isn't dynamically original, but it is a well paced adventure tale. The characters aren't completely flat, but they are not fully developed either. If you enjoy the visuals of Del Toro's film, I think you'll get some of that through the descriptive passages in the text. This series will never be considered a classic, but the first book is an enjoyable read for those that wish a little excitement in their life.

Happy reading!

The Core Vocabulary of the SAT

I won these two books from Goodreads' First Reads, I only entered to win "Core Vocabulary of the SAT" but the publisher included the second volume "Toughest Vocabulary of the SAT". Getting a second free book was great!

The books use examples from literature and popular culture to explain the meanings of words that appear frequently on the SATs. They focus on more difficult and obscure words. An entire section is dedicated to words that have multiple meanings, zeroing in on the less known meanings of these words.

The set is very well organized. The beginning of each book has the words grouped together with a theme such as "Mighty Prefix Words". These sections include the words' definitions and several detailed examples from popular books and movies. The next segment of the books is a section with quick definitions. This is followed by two more subdivisions: an area to test your knowledge and an answer guide that provides the reasoning behind the correct answers.

I would recommend these books to anyone studying for the SATs, people wanting to improve their English, or that just wants to expand their vocabulary. They are well organized and have a simple layout. They keep the popular culture examples up to date and relevant to the readers. Keep learning and keep reading!