Review: Play Dead by Anne Frasier

Play Dead by Anne Frasier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Elise is a Savannah detective who has had a somewhat unorthodox education as a teenager from a root doctor. David is a Yankee, former FBI agent, and working on recovering from his son's death at his ex-wife's hands. Together they are investigating the deaths of young men in Savannah that resemble zombiism. Paralyzed by tetrodotoxin, the poison of the pufferfish, the young men are aware of their fate up until their deaths.


The book was taut with suspense. I did not see who the killer was before the identity was revealed.

This is a mystery book, but I also shelve it under horror because the idea of being paralyzed, but aware of everything and under the control of a criminal is horrifying. Not to mention finding out that the body you are cutting into to autopsy is really alive and not dead after all would be horrifying both to the supposed corpse and the medical examiner. And to make it worse, there is an element of necrophilia that eventually comes up. Don't kiss me with that corpse breath!


In addition, the author handled the culture of Savannah and that of the root doctors well.


Overall, I enjoyed the book and I would love to see a sequel with these detectives in Savannah.


View all my reviews (My Goodreads book reviews anyway).

Review: Don't Shoot Me in the Ass and Other Stories by Michael Stephen Fuchs

Don't Shoot Me in the Ass and Other Stories by Michael Stephen Fuchs is a hit selection of short stories. There are 10 tales in the collection varied from action/adventure to humor to philosophical and emotional. He shows that he can write diversely and do it well.

When I picked up the book, I was afraid that it would be simply a wise cracking collection. To my surprise it opened with a what if action/adventure story based on the idea of rioting immigrants in response to the passing of the newer immigration laws. It's quite believable, yet told with liberal dashes of humor. As to what happens, no spoilers here. You'll have to read it for yourself.

Other examples of stories include high tech corporate espionage, hijacking airplanes, a relationship tale in a corporate setting, and still there's more.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I read it in about 3 sittings. I hated to see it end!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased opinion. This is a Kindle edition.

Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness is a publication that previously only had a professional edition. Now they are publishing a version just for Readers.

"The publication booksellers turn to for news on the book industry is now publishing a version for book lovers! Shelf Awareness: Enlightenment for Readers is a FREE emailed newsletter with reviews on the 25 best books publishing each week along with author interviews, book excerpts, giveaways and more. Right now they’re running a contest for new subscribers. Check out the button on our website to sign up for the new publication and to be entered for a chance to win a great book!"

Magnetic Poetry

Magnetic Poetry

Above all, the Magnetic Poetry site is hoping of course that you will buy one or more of their products.

But, what was invaluable to me is the play tab. Once selected, it takes you to another screen where you can choose which kit you want to play with. Once a kit is selected, it will take you to another screen where the words are in a pile to the right and there is a work space to the left. Basically have at it! Play with the words.

There is an option at the end to submit your poem as well. I didn't submit mine because I couldn't find all the little s's and whatnot that I wanted to add to make it fully make sense.

I really enjoyed playing with it and plan to do so again. I used to the poetry kit and created the following on this occasion:

Wild woman with a

smoky, velvet voice

poison words rob you.

Yesterday's secrets

surround your smile and

seep into the

windows to your soul.

LJLJ

6/16/2011

Just a note about the Borders thing

What seems like a million years ago, but was probably closer to 12 years ago, I worked for Borders. In the beginning all was good. But then, there seemed to be changes on the corporate level that trickled down and affected us at the stores. And our lovely GM quit. And there was a general shake up on the managerial level. And this was the beginning.

We had a very lucrative program going on the weekends where at least one night - Friday or Saturday, we had local talent of some sort come in and perform. Sometimes it was music, othertimes spoken word. People would come in and listen and shop. Then go to the theater down the way. Or come in after the theater. Either way, our sales were up on the weekend. BUT, corporate felt this wasn't good. And wanted us to discontinue the program. And thus came the first firing of the community liason. Followed soon after by a drop in sales. And soon after that by the gm quitting because he didn't want to be a part of what was to come.

Then there was the chinese fire drill among the remaining managers and eventual hiring of a new gm. Followed soon after by another manager leaving. And you start to get the picture. Something was brewing. And this was 12 yrs ago.

Suddenly Borders stores started popping up all over the place. And not doing well. The locations at least near us, were poorly chosen. The rent I'm sure was decent, but the locations weren't busy enough to sustain. And yet, Borders left the stores open and I have no doubt lost money on many of them. I don't know how many Saturday nights I walked into one of these stores (after I left the company myself) and there would only be one or 2 customers in the cafe and maybe the same browsing elsewhere in the stores. Saturday night at the Barnes and Noble a few miles down the road was packed.

Those of us who worked at the chain could see that the changes were not all good and that the company was spreading itself too thin by building too fast. So, I think to some degree the problems they're having aren't totally unexpected, but are very disappointing.

I still enjoyed shopping Borders and visiting the few people I know that continued to work for the company. Now all 3 of the Borders closest to me are on the list of 200 that was published as to be closed. They assure us that the list is not written in stone and some may change status as rents are renegotiated, but I don't hold out much hope. Here is the link to the pdf that they published with the list of the 200 closing stores: http://a2docs.org/assets/files/2011/02/16/48960742-Borders-Closures.pdf And here is a link to the Galleycat article that contained the information http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/borders-releases-list-of-200-stores-to-be-closed_b23533

So, is this the end of Borders?

Now for something completely different...

So, I decided to go to Swap.com to try and save money. You are supposed to be able to trade books, movies, cd's, and video games you currently own for ones you want.


I discovered that "there is no demand for that" is a popular response to things that I own when I typed them in and expected to make a match to swap for something. 


 Maybe if the cd's were newer than say music from when I could last hear (last century probably)? 


Or books that were either newer (I've been making good use of the library and thrift stores) or less obscure (ex. Dancing with the Witchdoctor by Kelly James)? It really makes me assess my reading material. But, I know it won't change what I read. If I am going to take the time to read a book, by God I am going to read something I want to read and enjoy and not just something I feel I should read. Although occasionally the two do intersect.


At any rate, I can't say for sure that Swap.com is a great site since it wanted me to trade my Dixie Chicks "Home" CD, the only thing I owned that had a match, for some Nursing textbooks. But I imagine occasionally people's desires do match up and a wonderful exchange is made satisfying both parties. Or else there are a lot of people posting things with wishful thinking. One of those.

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

President Obama signed into law the legislation that will help make some things that hearing people take for granted, like the ability to watch and understand streaming media such as that which can be downloaded from Netflix, open to the deaf and hard of hearing too through the captioning of media like this. Caption2Action along with concerned citizens helped to make this happen. Read more about the particulars in. Lisa Goldstein's blog ADA for the Internet at i711.com.

More on this can also be read at the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology website http://www.coataccess.org/
- Section-by-Section Summary: What S. 3304 (as amended) Will Do For Us
- President Barack Obama Signs 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act of 2010 on Friday October 8, 2010


And at the Caption2Action Blog http://captionaction2.blogspot.com/2010/10/dateline-2012.html