At the very end of Bujold's new Chalion novella "Penric's Demon" is a short explainer on the order in which to read the books in Bujold's story universes. At the end of the chronological list of Vorkosigan stories is the not-yet-released novel Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, which Amazon has just now allowed me to pre-order in hardcover with a ( Read more... )

When I first peeked at my email this morning - after mass, on my phone, in my parked car - I found a notice from Amazon that Lois McMaster Bujold released the ebook-only Chalion novella "Penric's Demon" last Monday, July 6. I purchased it for my Kindle immediately, right there from my webmail, not even bothering to switch apps, never mind get back ( Read more... )

A new Korval novel is coming on June 1 in hardback (and is available already on Kindle). It apparently stars the characters from the core continuity and picks up where that series left off with I Dare! Dragon in Exile ("Liaden Universe Book 18") by Sharon Lee and Steve MillerThe assorted coming-of-age standalone novels set hither and yon in the ( Read more... )

Here's another nutrition/health book worth your time: Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis, MD.  This is not just for celiac sufferers, but genuinely for all of us living through today's food supply system.  The writing is engaging, energetic and studded with personal anecdotes from the ( Read more... )

Columnist Leonard Pitts has treated us to his take on the Ultimate Spider-Man personnel change: "Times a-changing and so is Spider Man" (08/09/11, Miami Herald).
As a Spider-fan of almost 50 years, I feel compelled to say a few things.  In the first place, this death of Spider-Man takes place in an alternate universe, alternate universes being ( Read more... )

A Friend with Friends (2011) by Hannah Cassidy, a speculative fiction ebook novel, is now available at Smashwords.com and at Amazon.com ($2.99).  I downloaded my copy to my Kindle just yesterday; I have not yet read it.

Hannah Cassidy is the fiction-writing nom de plume of tv-elf's mom.  (I asked whether she was concerned about connecting her nom de ( Read more... )

Jesus: A Meditation on His Stories and His Relationships with Women (2007) by Andrew Greeley is an essay collection.  It purports to be, instead, an examination of the Divine Storyteller's love of surprises, but that thread, while very interesting and typically Greeley, doesn't tie the volume together as the preface and afterword insist.  This ( Read more... )

One of the things I enjoy about Jasper Fforde's BookWorld people, in his "Thursday Next" novels, is how baffling they find RealWorld people, who can do such amazing things as pick up unspoken cues and face existence without a plot.  I sympathize enormously, because I, too, find people in books easier than people in real life (I try and try, but I ( Read more... )

Last week finally brought my turn at the library’s copy of Jasper Fforde’s novel Shades of Grey, the first of what looks to be a closely plotted trilogy titled “The Road to High Saffron.”  It was a treat: demanding, charming, intriguing, and just generally Fforde on his best game.  I do not yet have it figured out, though I have some preliminary ( Read more... )

Yea!  For the first time in a decade, a new 9 Chickweed Lane book by Brooke McEldowney is available!  Edie Ernst: USO Singer, Allied Spy (2011) can now be ordered directly from Pib Press.

9 Chickweed Lane has been my favorite in-production comic strip for several years now, surpassing even Doonesbury.  It's been an ongoing disappointment that ( Read more... )