Synopsis from Nicole Peeler's website:
Tracking the Tempest begins four months–and one eyebrow sacrificed to magical training–after the close of Tempest Rising. During that time, Jane’s been busy honing her supernatural powers and enjoying her newfound sense of confidence. Rockabill may not yet be heaven, but she’s realized it’s home. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, however, and Ryu–Jane’s bloodsucker boyfriend–can’t let a major holiday go by without getting all gratuitous. This time his shenanigans involve a last-minute ticket to Boston and a hefty dose of direct interference in her life. But Ryu’s best laid plans inevitably create more upheaval than even he can anticipate, and Jane winds up embroiled in an investigation involving a spree of gruesome killings committed by a being of tremendous power . . .
. . . who, much to Jane’s surprise, happens to be another halfling.
Tracking the Tempest by Nicole Peeler is the second book in the Jane True series. The first book, Tempest Rising, ends with Jane in supernatural basic training, learning how to harness her new found power. Tracking the Tempest continues in that vein as Jane continues to learn defensive magic, even during her romantic get-away with Ryu. As the couple become embroiled in a murder investigation, we see their relationship become strained, leaving Jane questioning her feelings for Ryu. Jane's mastery of her defensive powers gets tested repeatedly as the infatuated, killer halfling stalks Jane and company.
This book begins to explore Jane's personality in earnest. In Tempest Rising, Jane was tough in her own way, but no match for any of the supernatural beings around her. She had to rely on Ryu, Anyan, and Nell for protection from the baddies who were out to get her. This time around, she has become more self-reliant and much more capable of defending herself and her friends. The inner fire and grit that we see in Jane in the first book shines through exponentially in Tracking the Tempest. There are moments sprinkled throughout the story where Ryu becomes overprotective towards Jane, something that really gets her hackles up. She continues to prove that she is not to be taken lightly, don't underestimate her because she is short, female, and not a pureblood super, thankyouverymuch.
Overall, Tracking the Tempest is an action-packed, paranormal thriller that is chock full of Nicole Peeler's trademark humor. This is an excellent book that is truly fun to read. Honestly, it left me wanting more. Thank the gods that Tempest's Legacy is out now so I can get my Jane True/Nicole Peeler fix.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I Love Zombies.
I just started reading Feed by Mira Grant and, let me tell you, it is one hell of a good piece of zombie fiction. There are some really interesting things going on in this novel. The zombies have unique attributes one of which is the ability to use group hunting techniques when there are many of them together. The writing is straight-forward and witty and the characters are likable. I haven't even finished the book yet and I can say that I would recommend it to anyone interested in zombies or horror fiction. I am a huge zombie fan, whether they are in books, movies, or comics, I love those shambling, cannibalistic corpses.
Zombies have come a long way since their voodoo beginnings. In the time before George Romero and his Living Dead series, zombies in fiction were usually undead slaves of witchdoctors. The witchdoctor was in complete control of his zombie and used it to kill his enemies, guard his home, or, one could assume, fetch yummy snacks. Thank the dark gods that H.P. Lovecraft came along and breathed new life (pun intended) into the zombie story with the introduction of science as the cause of zombification.
In his horrifying Herbert West -- Re animator, Lovecraft's protagonist is a doctor who conducts experiments in, you guessed it, reanimating corpses. Unlike the voodoo zombie, Lovecraft's zombies cannot be controlled and some of them even retain the knowledge they have from before their reanimation. One of the "smart" zombies learns how to reanimate corpses and builds a small army to exact revenge on West for his various crimes against humanity. After Herbert West -- Re animator, zombies in fiction began to originate in science but they were still not quite the brainless, shambling masses that we know and love today. The zombies are either under the control of the scientist (or magician, voodoo still shows up from time to time, as in the film White Zombie) who reanimates them or they retain enough brain power to retain their human personalities while gaining a taste for human flesh (sometimes these creatures are called ghouls).
The contemporary zombie had its debut in 1968 with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The zombies in this film are under no one's control, they are just a mindless mass of reanimated corpses that have a craving for human flesh. There is no definitive explanation for the event, although there are hints via news broadcasts that blame the radiation from a crashed space probe for the reanimation of the recently deceased. Romero created a franchise from this film and the series set the stage for the current generation of zombie fiction. More recently, radiation has been replaced as the source of zombification, changed to the modern fear of viral infection/biological experimentation. Movies such as 28 Days Later and Resident Evil and books like Feed and The Loving Dead are good examples of viral zombification.
Finally, I cannot write a post about zombie fiction without pointing out two of my all-time favorite series within the sub-genre. The Evil Dead series of movies starring Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi and the Amanda Feral series of novels written by Mark Henry. Both of these series are humorous and full of action, with brilliant characters and fun story arcs. Neither series relies on science to explain their zombies. The Evil Dead returns to magic as its source for the living dead, using a spell from an ancient tome as the catalyst (the book is the Necronomicon, which was first mentioned in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft). Mark Henry's zombies feature the ability to "breathe" undeath into a human who will turn into a zombie after they die. In most zombie fiction, a bite from any zombie will infect a human and cause them to die and become a zombie as well, but in Mark Henry's world only a few zombies have the ability to "breathe" and create new zombies. Also, Amanda Feral and her zombie friends retain all of their past knowledge and personality so they are very much unlike anything else in zombie fiction.
Overall, zombie fiction does a good job of playing on humankind's fear of death by forcing us to confront what we are all destined to become, corpses. Death is something that is difficult to comprehend and we have a tendency to "pretty it up" in an attempt to make the concept less intimidating. Zombie fiction takes the cold, decaying corpse and shoves it directly into our faces, forcing us to sit up and take notice. Once that reanimated corpse has its cold, dead hands in a choke hold on our attention it usually takes that opportunity to make us face other realities that we would rather ignore. The Living Dead movies confront everything from racism to consumerism. Resident Evil and its sequels expose the potential horrors of a society influenced by enormous, global corporations. The Amanda Feral novels are an expertly crafted commentary on modern societal ills. Zombies aren't only about entertainment, there is real substance beneath the rotting, maggot-riddled skin. The combination of entertainment and substance is the source of appeal that zombie fiction holds for me. That and gore. Buckets and buckets of gore.
Zombies have come a long way since their voodoo beginnings. In the time before George Romero and his Living Dead series, zombies in fiction were usually undead slaves of witchdoctors. The witchdoctor was in complete control of his zombie and used it to kill his enemies, guard his home, or, one could assume, fetch yummy snacks. Thank the dark gods that H.P. Lovecraft came along and breathed new life (pun intended) into the zombie story with the introduction of science as the cause of zombification.
In his horrifying Herbert West -- Re animator, Lovecraft's protagonist is a doctor who conducts experiments in, you guessed it, reanimating corpses. Unlike the voodoo zombie, Lovecraft's zombies cannot be controlled and some of them even retain the knowledge they have from before their reanimation. One of the "smart" zombies learns how to reanimate corpses and builds a small army to exact revenge on West for his various crimes against humanity. After Herbert West -- Re animator, zombies in fiction began to originate in science but they were still not quite the brainless, shambling masses that we know and love today. The zombies are either under the control of the scientist (or magician, voodoo still shows up from time to time, as in the film White Zombie) who reanimates them or they retain enough brain power to retain their human personalities while gaining a taste for human flesh (sometimes these creatures are called ghouls).
The contemporary zombie had its debut in 1968 with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The zombies in this film are under no one's control, they are just a mindless mass of reanimated corpses that have a craving for human flesh. There is no definitive explanation for the event, although there are hints via news broadcasts that blame the radiation from a crashed space probe for the reanimation of the recently deceased. Romero created a franchise from this film and the series set the stage for the current generation of zombie fiction. More recently, radiation has been replaced as the source of zombification, changed to the modern fear of viral infection/biological experimentation. Movies such as 28 Days Later and Resident Evil and books like Feed and The Loving Dead are good examples of viral zombification.
Finally, I cannot write a post about zombie fiction without pointing out two of my all-time favorite series within the sub-genre. The Evil Dead series of movies starring Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi and the Amanda Feral series of novels written by Mark Henry. Both of these series are humorous and full of action, with brilliant characters and fun story arcs. Neither series relies on science to explain their zombies. The Evil Dead returns to magic as its source for the living dead, using a spell from an ancient tome as the catalyst (the book is the Necronomicon, which was first mentioned in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft). Mark Henry's zombies feature the ability to "breathe" undeath into a human who will turn into a zombie after they die. In most zombie fiction, a bite from any zombie will infect a human and cause them to die and become a zombie as well, but in Mark Henry's world only a few zombies have the ability to "breathe" and create new zombies. Also, Amanda Feral and her zombie friends retain all of their past knowledge and personality so they are very much unlike anything else in zombie fiction.
Overall, zombie fiction does a good job of playing on humankind's fear of death by forcing us to confront what we are all destined to become, corpses. Death is something that is difficult to comprehend and we have a tendency to "pretty it up" in an attempt to make the concept less intimidating. Zombie fiction takes the cold, decaying corpse and shoves it directly into our faces, forcing us to sit up and take notice. Once that reanimated corpse has its cold, dead hands in a choke hold on our attention it usually takes that opportunity to make us face other realities that we would rather ignore. The Living Dead movies confront everything from racism to consumerism. Resident Evil and its sequels expose the potential horrors of a society influenced by enormous, global corporations. The Amanda Feral novels are an expertly crafted commentary on modern societal ills. Zombies aren't only about entertainment, there is real substance beneath the rotting, maggot-riddled skin. The combination of entertainment and substance is the source of appeal that zombie fiction holds for me. That and gore. Buckets and buckets of gore.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
My Reading List for the Book Chick City Horror/Urban Fantasy and Stephen King Challenges.
Here is my reading list for the Book Chick City Horror/Urban Fantasy and Stephen King Challenges (this list is no particular order, I plan to read at whim):
1)Tracking the Tempest by Nicole Peeler
2)Tempest's Legacy by Nicole Peeler
3) The Regulators by Stephen King
4) Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
5) The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
6) Cujo by Stephen King
7) It by Stephen King
8) The Shining by Stephen King
9) Salem's Lot by Stephen King
10) Misery by Stephen King
11) The Dark Half by Stephen King
12) Needful Things by Stephen King
13) Desperation by Stephen King
14) The Stand by Stephen King
15) Vanished by Kat Richardson
16) Labyrinth by Kat Richardson
17) Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry
18) Battle of the Network Zombies by Mark Henry
19) Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane
20) Feed by Mira Grant
21) Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson
22) Dust by Joan Frances Turner
23) Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
24)The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor
I am going to start with Nicole Peeler's Tracking the Tempest. I loved her first novel and this one is the second in the series so it is a natural choice for me to start with. This is going to be a fun challenge. Time to start reading.
1)
2)
3) The Regulators by Stephen King
4) Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
5) The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
6) Cujo by Stephen King
7) It by Stephen King
8) The Shining by Stephen King
9) Salem's Lot by Stephen King
10) Misery by Stephen King
11) The Dark Half by Stephen King
12) Needful Things by Stephen King
13) Desperation by Stephen King
14) The Stand by Stephen King
15) Vanished by Kat Richardson
16) Labyrinth by Kat Richardson
17) Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry
18) Battle of the Network Zombies by Mark Henry
19) Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane
20)
21) Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson
22) Dust by Joan Frances Turner
23) Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
24)
I am going to start with Nicole Peeler's Tracking the Tempest. I loved her first novel and this one is the second in the series so it is a natural choice for me to start with. This is going to be a fun challenge. Time to start reading.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Book Chick City's 2011 Stephen King Challenge.
http://www.bookchickcity.com/ is doing a Stephen King reading challenge for 2011. Just read six or twelve Stephen King novels during 2011 (for more details click this link http://www.bookchickcity.com/2010/12/sign-up-2011-stephen-king-challenge.html). This challenge crosses over into the Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge so the Stephen King books you read here will count for that contest. I'm a big Stephen King fan and I now have an excuse to read more of his novels. It doesn't get much better than that.
Thank you to Book Chick City for another awesome challenge.
Thank you to Book Chick City for another awesome challenge.
Book Chick City Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011.
http://www.bookchickcity.com/ is hosting a horror and urban fantasy reading challenge starting in January 1, 2011, and running through December 31, 2011. The challenge is to read twenty-four horror and/or urban fantasy novels in one year. If you would like to join the challenge, go to http://www.bookchickcity.com/2010/11/sign-up-horror-urban-fantasy-reading.html for all of the details. I read tons of horror and urban fantasy so this one is a no-brainer for me. I will likely post some reviews on whatever I am reading throughout this challenge along with my usual random thoughts on whatever subject happens to be bouncing around in my head at the time.
Thank you to Book Chick City for hosting this challenge.
Thank you to Book Chick City for hosting this challenge.
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