the Ice Child--another for the TBR pile

This Nordic Noir, part of a series by Swedish crime writer Camilla Lackberg, comes highly recommended to me. It drew my attention in part because of the eerie parallels between its plot and the increasingly odd abduction tale of sherri Papini. (And if you're fascinated by true crime, the chilling details of the "Emerald Triangle" and the many people who have gone missing there will fascinate you.) I can't wait to dive into The Ice Child.

That's also a stunning cover, isn't it? Great use of black and white with a slash of blood red.

An ad that will change your perspective

If it's one thing I've learned, it's that nobody is going to change their minds about something until something changes the way they look at things. This is an ad that could very well do that. In a clever way, it forces a change in perspective. and after you see it, I don't think you'll be able to look at the issue of gun violence the same way. Check out the story behind the video here.

Free Fantasy and Science Fiction (and horror) Book Promotion

Once again, multi-genre best-selling author Patty Jansen has put together a freebie promotion, and this one is a doozy. Some of the goodies you can snag include Kate Danley's beautiful Queen Mab, and Chosen, the first of USA Today best-selling author Christine Pope's Djinn Wars series. My retelling of Beauty and the Beast (The Summer Garden) is also on offer, so I'm in great company. Click here to go to the promo and choose your favorite reading platform.

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz, a review

In Lisa Lutz’ novel The Passenger, a woman running from her past and accusations of murder receives help from a VERY unexpected person.

TANYA DUBOIS was in the shower when her husband FRANK fell down the stairs in their house and died. She tried moving his body but only smeared the blood around his head. (He’s put on more than a few pounds.) Without really thinking about it, she grabs the money he kept in his toolbox (his gambling stash), packs a bag and takes off. There are only two people she regrets  leaving behind, CAROL at the bar where she works and DR. MIKE, her chiropractor and part-time lover. She can’t bother Carol—she’ll wake her kids—but she drives by Dr. Mike’s house and lets herself in with the key under a fake rock. He asks her if she needs an “adjustment” (their little joke) and after they have sex, he realizes that it’s the last time. She kisses him goodbye and gets on the road.

This is a character study of a woman who is trying to outrun her past and her “self” and ends up tripping over that past at every turn—and sometimes it’s not even her own past, as when a man shows up looking for another woman entirely. Tanya is a practical woman who has her limits and has her priorities, but we see that she’s capable of meanness—and downright cruelty—at times. In the end, after all the changes she goes through, Tanya has to figure out WHO she really is. But as much time as we’ve spent with her, we really don’t know that much about her ourselves. (Lutz puts us in Tanya’s head via copious internal monologue, but it still feels a little superficial.)

In the end, the big secret feels a bit familiar (and even predictable), but the story is a page turner up until then.

The Resistance Reads: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said George Santayana, who died in 1952 when American troops were still occupying Germany. A lot of people have shied away from the comparison of the neo-Nazi/alt-right's rise in America to the Nazi party's rise in Germany but if you've read William Shirer's sobering The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a History of Nazi Germany, you will not have the luxury of being able to deny the clear parallels. the 50th anniversary edition was published five years ago, and available in all formats.
It's pretty much all there--mass rallies? Check. Demonizing a religion? Check. Restricting freedom of the press and assembly? Check and double check.
Find the book here.

Krispy Kreme Christmas Donuts

For years, Krispy Kreme Donuts were an East Coast secret. You could even buy them at the Pentagon. When they first showed up in L.A., the lines were out the door and around the block. "Are they really that good?" my roommate asked me. "Oh yeah," I replied.
Krispy Kreme built a plant in Van Nuys that was open 24 hours and you could watch the donuts being bathed in that lovely sugar glaze. (And that's the only kind I ever bought--for me jelly filled and chocolate-iced were just gilding the lily. It was raised/glazed or nothing for me.)
The low-carb, Atkins diet craze kind of killed Krispy Kreme for a while and a lot of the stores that opened in the first flush of donut-mania closed.
But I'm glad to see that Krispy Kreme is still at it. I think these Christmas donuts rae adorable. And realize it's a REALLY good thing, there aren't any Krispy Kreme outlets anywhere near me.

Total Victim Theory is free today

I love this cover. It's graphic. It's striking. It grabs me. It has that pixilltated photo thing that you often see in comic books. I'm immediately intrigued.

Here's what it says on the sell page:

Six months have passed since a faded, black ledger mysteriously appeared on FBI Agent Jake Radley's doorstep. Puzzling over the document's sinister entries, Jake pieces together a story of mass murder near the Texas-Mexico border two decades before. If Jake's theory is correct, the names listed on the ledger's final page are the victims of a previously unknown serial killer. Leads are scarce until a gruesome new crime scene, deep in the Mexican desert, shows a chilling connection to the border deaths of long ago. . .

I don't know about you--but I'm hooked.

And it's free today, so I can indulge my curiosity. Find it here.

Author Roger Hobbs is Dead

I just saw the obit and it was one of those "Oh hell no" moments. He was only 28 and a talent to be reckoned with. His debut novel, Ghostman, got all kinds of praise and if you're a fan of "heist-gone-wrong" books, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

I (Heart) Joe Kenda

I don't read a lot of true crime. I remember reading Tim Cahill's book, Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, and getting incredibly depressed. I later read that writing it depressed Cahill also. (I'm a big fan of his adventure essays, particularly the collection Jaguars Ripped My Flesh.) When I was researching Whipping Boy, I watched a lot of Forensic Files and Youtube videos on various subjects. But I had never heard of Lt. Joe Kenda, Homicide Hunter, until Thanksgiving last year when the family gathered to binge-watch the program.

In a world where so much crime goes unsolved, it's comforting to know that Kenda (retired from the Colorado Springs police department) had a phenomenal "clearance rate." He solved nearly 400 homicides during his career and watching the show is kind of like a master class in investigative procedure and criminal psychology. Plus, the man's bone-dry sense of humor tickles me and has inspired dozens of memes. I got caught up on Homicide Hunter this Thanksgiving. Can't wait until next year!

Having a hard time waiting for Beauty & the Beast?

It seems like 2017 is a long way away after you've seen the wonderful trailer for the Emma Watson, live-action Beauty and the Beast feature film. I feel your pain! While you're waiting, why not grab a copy of my retelling of the classic story, The Summer Garden.  It's free right now on Amazon.

Mega YA Book Giveaway Contest

There are plenty of freebie e-book offers out there right now. This one is a chance to win a box of 70 actual books by a number of best-selling authors, some of them signed. (I  love ebooks but I also have a fondness for "book" books.) Enter here.

The Resistance Reads: Stamped From the Beginning

Stamped from the Beginning, a history of racism in America, has just won the 2016 National Book Award for non-fiction. I hope that means a paperback edition is coming soon because my usual "go-to" book buying option (used) isn't really working here as on Amazon, the used version is twice what a new copy of the hardcover is. (How does that even happen?) 

Ibram X. Kenny, an assistant professor of African-American history at the University of Florida, also wrote a history of The Black Campus Movement.

Susan Sarandon is not the enemy

First of all, she didn't vote for Trump. It's disappointing that she gave her vote to a vaxxer, but California is the bluest of blue states and voting her conscience in a blue state is an act without too many consequences.

Second of all, she has been an activist for a lot longer than the people who suddenly woke up to a Trump presidency and said, "Holy shit, maybe I should spend a little less money on pizza and donate something to the ACLU." (I include myself in that category. I've donated here, signed a petition there, voted my Democratic conscience, marched against the war--several different wars--but have never been a true activist until now.)

So leave Susan Sarandon alone. She is not the enemy. Steve Brannon is the enemy. Jeff Sessions is the enemy. Pick your battles. There's true evil out there.

A book just for fun--Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding

In Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding, a freak sports accident sets in motion events that will profoundly affect five people at a small Wisconsin college. The story-telling is occasionally a little clumsy.  (The message seems to be, “You can’t always get what you want but if you try, sometimes, you just might get what you need.”) The writing though—it’s beautiful, with some of the metaphors just stunning. 

The Resistance Reads: Infamy by Richard Reeves

I have a friend who was interned in a camp during the war. She was a child but she still remembers it vividly. She has told me a little bit about that experience and I have tried to convince her to write about it, especially now when President-elect Trump's surrogates are citing the Japanese-American internment camps as proof that similar camps for Muslims will be "constitutional." The memories, she says, are too painful, so I do not press her.

I have visited the Manzanar "War Relocation Center" in California. It's a bleak place and haunted. (Some say it's actually haunted. But take a look at these photos of daily life there, originally published in the Huffington Post.

Infamy is a book you need to read.

#REPORTHATE

If you see a hate crime, report it. Report it locally and report it using this form at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The form is pretty specific--when did the incident take place? Where was it? (Place of work, place of worship, public park?). Even if you haven't seen a hate crime, check out their website. The SPLC has been fighting the good fight since forever and they're out there fighting it now. They have reported 400 incidents of "hateful harassment" since election day. That's 50 a day. That's unacceptable.

They don't just fight hate, they also fight for justice--social justice, economic justice. They're good guys and they could also use donations.

Free Science Fiction and Fantasy books

Instafreebie is at it again with a giveaway hosted by Dean F. Wilson. Check out all the goodies here.

30 Days of Etsy--Sweaty Wisdom

Sweaty Wisdom is a small Etsy shop run by Chris Emmer. You can find #girlboss and #feminist items for sale including this sassy mug for $16. (Because really, who can't use another mug? If only to leave it in the break room and blow people's minds.) Check out her shop here. You'll be suporting a woman-owned business.

Places that Need Your Money--ProPublica

If you're disgusted by biased media or frustrated that no one seems to be covering actual news, support non-partisan journalism with a donation to ProPublica. Their motto is, "Journalism in the public interest" and they take their mandate seriously. On their website you won't just see news of the day, they dig deep. Right now there's a story about the water crisis in the west that hits home to me. the last few years I lived in L.A. were lived under severe drought conditions. And the pictures are scary. They've also teamed up with the Virginian-Pilot (a newspaper from Norkfolk, VA) to report on Agent Orange's continuing effects and the ongoing fght for veterans to get their benefits.

30 Days of Etsy--Skyline Vintage

There are a lot of reasons for buying vintage. For one thing, you can find a lot of clothes made in America--remember the old commercial, "Look for the Union label?"--and if you're trying to make a stand against some of the more unsavory practices that keep "fast-fashion" cheap, buying vintage is a great option. There are a bazillion fashion shops on Etsy. Skyline Vintage is one of the newer ones. It's only been in business since this year, but if your taste is boho or retro grunge, you should definitely check it out. Prices aren't quite as enticing as in some other shops, but as the holidays approach, almost all the sellers offer great deals. I wear a lot of black and white (who doesn't?), so I'm always looking for ways to jazz things up. I'm particularly fond of graphicly interesting cardigan sweaters like this one. The color makes it particularly interesting.