Review: Obsession: Tales of Irresistible Desire - ed. by Paula Guran

 with stories by Joe R. Lansdale, Storm Constantine, Elizabeth Hand, Tanith Lee, Charles de Lint, Stewart O'Nan and more.

The introduction states in part, "We all have experienced obsession at least in its milder form: having a compulsive, even unreasonable (at least in the view of others) idea or emotion. You are totally fixated on something or someone - a sport, video game, junk food, pop singer, film star, collecting something, lover or potential lover, even work - at least temporarily."

But this collection of stories is about darker obsessions. They go further. They are not necessarily relationship oriented or sexual. There are a variety of obsessions explored. From the expected woman who is obsessed with the married man to a muse who inspires obsession and perhaps in turn becomes obsessed, and more. 

All of the stories are well written. And almost all of them take place in a city setting. For that reason you could also consider this anthology to be a dark urban fantasy collection, even though the eras and the locations of the cities in time and space may vary.

My personal favorites were Charles de Lint's "Tallulah" and Tanith Lee's "Nunc Dimitis." Both stories in retrospect were among the lighter of the tales. The Charles de Lint story takes place in Newford his beloved created city that recurs in his work.

All in all this book lives up to its promise to explore the darker side of obsessions. Every story is well written from the modern to the few classics included. I would highly recommend it for fans of urban fantasy, or if you just want to explore the topic of  obsessions. It's well worth your time. 

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars as an outstanding collection of short stories.

It was released May 29, 2012.

Review: Blood Rock by Anthony Francis

Blood Rock  is the second in a series of urban fantasies by Anthony Francis featuring Dakota Frost. This time around, Dakota must face a killer who is using magical graffiti to reach out and kill seemingly in much the same way she uses her tattoos for offense and defense. With graffiti popping up all over Atlanta, deaths occurring,  and friends affected, Dakota worries - will Cinnamon be next?

I gave Blood Rock 3.5 stars. Overall it is a good book. My basic complaint was with how much or little emotion Dakota was showing during some scenes in the book. I felt that it wasn't really supported by other things in the text. Her lack of emotion in one scene in particular where a friend dies seemed peculiar.

Otherwise, the notion of magical graffiti was awesome. This was the first time I had come across that in my reading and found it very interesting. The exploration as to how it works exactly got a little heavy at times, but was interesting and important to the world building and ultimately to the plot. It also allowed for a comparison and further exploration as to how Dakota's magic works.

If  you enjoy slightly darker urban fantasy, you will like Blood Rock.

Wordless Wednesday

On Books and Ebooks 

by Hugh McGuire

Co-founder of BookOven.com, founder of LibriVox.org

Posted: October 28, 2008 12:29 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hugh-mcguire/on-books-and-ebooks_b_138340.html

Ebooks are not in opposition to print & paper books; they are a parallel tool to get the content contained in a book.

This Huffington Post article may not be the newest article in the world, but I think the statement above summarizes it well.

I have a Kindle. I enjoy using it. I love that I can carry multiple books on it at one time. If I don't feel like reading one book just then, I have options.

And there is nothing like holding a book in your hands: the smell, the weight of the book, the textures. It's a  heady, sensory experience that feeds the mind as well. Plus I love looking at them on the shelves. Some of them are real treasures to me.

And I used to love audio books for long car rides. Audio books have been a blessing for my mother whose eye sight is no longer the best in the world.

What do you think? Are ebooks in danger of replacing print books? Or, are they simply a parallel resource?

PS: At the bottom of the Hugh McGuire article there are a few websites listed with links for free ebooks such as Project Gutenburg.

Epic Kindle Giveaway Melted the Internet

This was part of the Epic Kindle Giveaway promotion that the authors did. As of now, they are in the process of contacting the winners. They had so many reposts and entries that facebook decided that some of the links were spam and not for real. They were for real. 

I downloaded some of the books. Currently I'm reading Drummer Boy by Scott Nicholson. Spooky and good so far. I love that Sharyn McCrumb wrote about his writing: “Scott Nicholson explores the dark legends of the southern end of the Appalachian mountain chain, a nightmare country that ends in Stephen King’s yard.”

On Tinnitus and Transcendental Meditation

A while back my Dad wrote a column for the Georgia Peach Cochlear Implant Association (GPCIA) which was picked up and reblogged in another post. He talks about his personal experiences using Transcendental Meditation (TM) and Tinnitus in the post. The comments are interesting too, particularly laughing crow's comment.

Here is a link to the other post. http://ppbnews.blogspot.com/2008/11/tinnitus.html

Makes me think that maybe I need to go back to practicing TM. Or at least try it for a while and see if it makes a difference.

Wordless Wednesday

Now available on Thursday