Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?

BevVincent

Just started Never Flinch
Just finished Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson (Longmire)
Now reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami to my wife

Kurben

Reading A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters. The first in her Brother Cadfael series. A nice cozy medieval mystery (set in the 14,th century during the powerstruggle for the throne between Queen Matilda (the deceaseds kings daughter) and King Stephen (nephew to the king). However ordinary people not situated where the battles were kept doing what they usually did as in this book. I like Cadfael. Will probably read more of him.

Hedda Gabler

Aw dang. I’m reading Christmas and Other Horrors. So far, good stories but dang, what a big misstep.  Nick Mamatas’s story The Blessing of the Waters has a problem. Doesn’t affect the story other than it took me out of it.  Page 84 of paperback edition, “Gus gulped his coffee, burning his throat…” page 87, Gus takes a seat - “A wave of exhaustion overcame him. He hadn’t even had a sip of his coffee, which was now cold in its little cup on the countertop.” Man, I hate when that happens. But, it happens to the best. Then douchebags like me stumble on it. But, I point it out to all the writers trying to break into publishing to show that even the best of the best of the best have missteps. It happens.  Keep learning and growing.

Mamatas is a good, professional author and Datlow is the Holy Grail of anthology editors.  It happens so easy so hang in there if you are writing to publish and you stumble.

Kurben

Has moved on to One Corpse too Many by Ellis Peters. The second in her Brother Cadfael series. Now the civil war has moved closer and the castle and town of Shrewsbury is under siege by King Stephen. For the audacity to dare to oppose him he executes (hangs) 94 of them and dumps them in a ditch. When the monks in the abbey is asked to bury them the abbot agrees and Cadfael is put in charge. He finds 95 bodies and the extra one has not been hanged but murdered elsewhere in the hope that no one would notice one extra corpse. But Cadfael Notices almost everything and is set to find justice for for the corpse and punishment for the murderer.

Hedda Gabler

That sounds good, Kurben. 

Kurben

Now reading The Gathering by C.J. Tudor (author of The Chalk Man) which is, so far, really good. An inventive mix of detective story and vampire story which is decidedly creepy in places and makes you wonder several times who the real monster is; is it a human or a vampire? Set in a kind of parallell universe where vampires is a threatened species that now only exists in small colonies in very secluded areas. They are, like many other endangered species, protected by law and cant be killed lawfully unless there is clear proof that they killed a human. The story is set in Alaska. Tudor has really evolved as an author since i read Chalk Man. This is way better and more original.