phoenix > Recent Status Updates

I'm reading a review copy. Thanks to the editor for making the illustrations available to me.

Graphic scene of explicit gun training to kill.

With a first-person villain narrator :)

Alex seems to enjoy Stockholm syndrome.

Will Jeanne surrender her pride now he is helpless in her bed?

Holy hand grenades!

Flying snakes! Mystery of the interloper revealed. When are they going to get to the Grishnaki?

Gets more exciting when Kiriath strides swiftly on the quest. But who was the interloper in the night who K almost caught?

The rabid pep-talking commences.

An assertive introduction insists that by reading this you will find your f***ing "winner dater within". Go you! Next, each of the authors, Vegas-bride Amiira and eternal bachelor Greg, regales us with their personal dating (and romantic) failures and successes.

A dangerous and daring quest to penetrate into the heart of enemy territory. I thought the Queen would be less accommodating

A Call to the Winner Dater Within
A bit pushy but I'm still smiling along.

The writing hits its stride in the second chapter.

A stentorian publisher's note advises us that the novel, first published in 2008, is a fantasy which "contains some fanciful elements, including objects and events". Also, "the reader must decide how he will respond to those elements." And, this is "the kind of novel whose job it is to remove life's problems... and put them into relief, making the lessons easier to see and to remember."

A setting two centuries in the future gives license for surprising changes in language and attitudes although not for what reads as blatant global warming denial. "What if the ice caps didn't melt in the future?" Looks reactionary when THE ICECAPS ARE MELTING; they have melted partly already.

I also got a galley for Kiriath's Quest (to read). I can't find it on goodreads.