Liveblog: Apple's "our newest creation" event

This is where I'll watching for the Apple tablet announcement event.


Liveblog: Apple's "our newest creation" event

FanLit Interviews Chris McGrath with a giveaway

Head over to http://www.fantasyliterature.com/ to see my interview of Chris McGrath. It was fun one to do. Hope you enjoy!

Frosty and Santa: Hard Night of See-Saw

The Angels are real!

Photographic proof that the events documented in Neon Genesis Evangelion anime will come to pass. Below is photographic proof of Angels heading toward Antarctica. Whats an Angel? Watch the anime. Its so worth it. Don't like anime? Scroll down to the next post.

This is the traditional Angel:

This is what is being called a ‘Ningen’

Similar? yes!  Creepy?  HELL YES! Makes me want to sign up to pilot a giant ass robot?  Trick question, I would do that anyway.   Read more about the Ningen here.

Mmmmm Old Yeller dog food.

No pet diet is complete with out Old Yeller dog food. Save your UPC for discounts on Old Yeller brand rabies vaccinations.

**Old Yeller brand shed and shotgun not available

A day on the ice

Spent the afternoon today ice fishing with my Father and brother. We used to this a lot when we were younger, now we try to do ti at least once a year. We go to a local farm pond of a friend of ours and set up for a few hours. It's a lot of fun, and today there was some success. Took home a meal for 4. A mix of Bluegill and Bass...mmmm tasty! It was about 24 degrees out and the ice was about 4-5 inches thick. A great day.

Your faithful blogger in what appears to be a fat suit.

Shackleton? Cook? Nah just two weirdos on a cow pond

View the rest of the pictures here.

Do You KNOW How Old Your Tires Really Are?

Think you have good Tires? Better check again. This video shows a growing problem of death in this country, and how to know what your getting put on your wheels.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4826897
Stay Safe
-Mookie

Book Review: Deadtown by Nancy Holzner

When FanLit interviewed Nancy Holzner last month, I thought she sounded so nice, and her debut, Deadtown, sounded awesome. While shopping that night at my local Wal-Mart, I noticed Deadtown on the shelf, so, naturally, into my cart it went, and I started reading as soon as I got home.

After a mysterious plague strikes Boston, its fallout area becomes known as Deadtown. Deadtown residents are controlled by the state of Massachusetts — they have few rights and must carry identifying papers when they move about the various zones. Paranormals are segregated, creating a racially tense atmosphere that underlies the whole story.

Deadtown’s lead character is a deceptively dynamic female shapeshifter named Victory Vaughn (Vicky). Through her welsh ancestry and hard work, Vicky became a demon hunter for hire. She gets wrapped up in a series of events that has Boston’s human and non-human communities in danger. Lots of action, political intrigue, and sleuthing are required from Vicky in order to try to save the city and its people.

There is a wide cast of supporting characters in Deadtown, and they range from typical to downright awesome. Holzner’s take on demons is a fun mix of literal interpretations of abstract concepts and actual demons you’d find in typical fantasy. For example, Hellions are demons who feed off violence and destruction and can be summoned and bound by sorcerers in the typical fantasy fashion. But then there are the Eidolons — demons that manifest from an individual’s feelings of guilt. They are self-created, but not any less real than the Hellions are. It’s a cool way of imagining demons. The zombies in Deadtown are also great; Vicky’s zombie sidekick/trainee, Tina, chews gum, wears midriff-baring t-shirts, and possesses an inhuman amount of strength. Holzner regularly takes a known urban fantasy device and twists it in her unique way. Vampires, werewolves, and witches are all spun creatively. I look forward to seeing what kind of characters Ms. Holzner brings into a sequel.

Deadtown is also well-written. Holzner uses a straightforward storytelling approach that I like and is quite common in urban fantasy. I think the plot pacing was somewhat unbalanced, as I felt a little rushed during the last 1/4 of the book. I reached a point in the story where I was getting concerned that I was not going to get a satisfying ending. I kept thinking there is no way she’s going to wrap this up in the amount of pages left. The story however did get wrapped up, and ultimately I was satisfied with how Holzner pulled it all together.

I became a fan of urban fantasy when I ran out of Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES books. My search for substitutes has brought me to discover several authors in that same vein who I particularly like: Patricia Briggs, Simon R. Green, and now Nancy Holzner. That’s lofty company for a debut fantasy writer, but Deadtown holds up quite well against the best in the genre. It’s really an exceptional start of a new series. I’ll be eagerly waiting for the sequel.

www.fantasyliterature.com.

You can also learn more about Nancy’s books at the Fantasyliterature Nancy Holzner page