Generation A by Douglas Coupland

 

 

I always await the publication of a new Douglas Coupland novel with something approaching the anticipation of Christmas morning. I need it now now now and I can’t wait to open it and see what’s inside.

Thankfully, Generation A by Douglas Coupland is the greatest of gifts and one of the best books I have read in a long time. It may even top my current Coupland favourite, JPod.

Generation A is set in a world that is incredibly familiar to our own. But clearly quite a few things have changed. There are drugs we can take to slow down our lives. Things like apples are incredibly hard to come by. And bees are extinct.

That is, until five people, in different corners of the world get stung by five separate bees. The Wonka Children, so they call themselves, struggle to live in a world after they have become celebrity/freaks where, because of a bee sting, they become famous.

If it sounds bizarre, that’s because it is. And delightfully so.

The novel is told from the five points of view from the five sting victims. Don’t worry, the chapters are told in delightfully short bursts (no chapter over ten pages here, folks) to fit into our high tech life-style. When you’re on the run, your reading time is quick.

Coupland manages to cram some incredible things into those short chapters. After reading Generation A, I’ve been exposed to nakedness, religion, voyerism, different religious beliefs, call centres, references to the Simpsons (Mmmmm….honey), parody’s of American culture, the point and purpose life, whether it is better to believe in a higher power versus not, the ideas and fundamentals of what makes people real.

I could go on.

It is a delightful mental marathon that makes me want to keep up. It is such an intelligent piece of writing and it reads like Dan Brown on crack. I mean that in a very good way. Think of Hunter S Thompson mixed with Oscar Wilde, Margaret Atwood, Carol Shelds and Jack Kerouack.

It is an incredibly environmental book, but it is also a very intense look at our culture and our dependence on media and media devices. It is about our dependence on a lot of things. It is wonderfully funny and humorous and at the same time rather grim and mysterious.

In short, it is a joy.

Choices Meant For Kings by Sandy Lender

 

When we first met Amanda Chariss, she was on the run from a madman.

Evil sorcerer Jamieson Drake has been chasing Chariss since she was a young child, with hopes of one day possessing her for his own. Chariss, with the protection of her Wizard Hrazon, knows that one day she must kill Drak or be killed.

Chariss has the geasa, magic older than time, and she must use it if she and the people of Onweald are to stay alive. She knows that her time of battle is coming and that the battle is soon.

Drake has enlisted the help of a Dragon who now walks in the human form of Julette. Older than time itself, she uses Drake like a pawn. She has her own plans, her own agenda and knows that she must help Drake to get what she wants. Of course, the fact that she is a Goddess doesn’t hurt either.

When Choices Meant for Kings opens, Juliette has traveled to the distant lands of Lorendell to visit with King Vrel Wendan. She wants the Dreorfahn army for her use so that she can conquer northern Onweald. She wants to take them for her own. But there is more going on than meets the eye.

There is a prophecy in place. When Jake Taiman and Tiaha Wold marry, Juliette’s powers will increase and she will be more powerful than ever. Powerful enough to do away with Drake once and for all.

Amanda Chariss is now the Protector of the Master, God of Onweald. After questioning the corrupt Emperor, he admits that the Dragon Juliette has plans to conquer Onweald. Chariss knows that she must once again do all that she can to protect the land, and the Master, that she loves so much.

But something goes horribly wrong…

Choices Menat for Kings is an absolutley amazing book. It’s no mere book but instead it is a piece of word art that leaves you breathless. Instead of thread, Sandy Lender uses words to weave her tapestry and the results will leave you breathless.

When I read Sandy Lenders first novel in the trilogy, Choices Meant for Gods, I was held spellbound. I normally can’t stand the genre of high fantasy; I find it dry and tedious. But Sandy Lender’s gorgeous first novel re-invented a tired genre and helped me to believe in magic again.

I wondered how she would follow up such an incredible debut. The answer is with a huge, resounding bang. The middle novels in trilogies tend to be dry fodder, making the middle book boring and redundant. Not so with Choices Meant for Kings. If it’s possible, there is even more action, more romance, more suspense than the first novel. Sandy Lender has avoided the middle book blues and given us a second book in a trilogy that truly sings.

I was hooked from the first page of Choices Meant for Kings and couldn’t put it down. I felt like I was there with Amanda, Nigel and Hrazon, so vivid is the world that Lender has created. I lived with them, breathed with them and felt my heart race with their adventures.

Not only is Choices Meant for Kings an incredible love story but it’s also one of the most amazing high fantasy novels that I have read in years. It’s simply that good. Do yourself a favour and read Choices Meant for Kings.

You won’t regret it.

Harry Potter Should Have Died by Emerson Spartz and Ben Schoen

 

It is rare that I don’t like a book and even rarer still that I return a book to the bookstore for refund or exchange. I did so with this book.

From reading the back of the book, I was expecting the book to be theological discussion on elements of the series of Harry Potter books. I was expecting a deep look into the mythos of the series and the elements of symbolism and magic.

Well, my expectations seemed to have been too high for this book. Each chapter is set up thusly: A Question, an argument for Yes and for No and the verdict of the authors.

Well, while some questions were valid (Did Harry Potter die in Deathly Hallows?) others, such as “Who would you rather make out with: a Demontor or Voldemort?” or “Would you rather shave Hagrid’s back or give Voldemort a foot massage?” left me shaking my head.

Instead of a really in depth look at the series, we are presented with a random series of questions with no order and answers with little to no substance. In fact, in reading the book, it felt as if I was in the middle of a flame war on a message board. Not a comfortable reading experience.

The authors previous book, Mugglenet.com’s What Will Happen in Harry Potter Seven, was only a NYT Best Seller because people were so desperate to find out what would happen at the end of the series.

I highly doubt the authors will achieve such a feat with this book. I was incredibly disappointed with Harry Potter Should Have Died. Proceeds from the sale of the book are going to charity, but I still wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

 

Connie Goodwin has just achieved her life’s dream: candidacy for the PHD program at Harvard. She must provide her mentor with a PHD dissertation topic shortly. He encourages her to look for a new, unheard of primary research source. But there are other things on her mind.

Her New Age mother, Grace, has asked her to clean out her Grandmother’s house. Not having anything to do aside from research, Connie agrees, despite a wish to do the exact opposite. While cleaning the house, she finds a key tucked inside of an old bible.

Inside the empty shaft of the key is a slip of paper. On the paper is a name: Deliverance Dane. As she digs into the story of Deliverance Dane, Connie realizes that Deliverance was a Witch, accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

But what she doesn’t know is that she is connected to Deliverance in an incredible way. And, though Connie doesn’t believe in Witchcraft, what does she do when she is given proof that Witchcraft actually exists?

As she delves further into the mystery surrounding Deliverance Day, she realizes that she is connected to her, and the Salem Witch Trials, in a way that she could not imagine.

This is by far one of my favourite books of 2009 and I can’t wait to read the authors next book. She deftly weaves history, romance, suspense, intrigue and magic into one of the most amazing novels ever written.

Normally, books set in modern day that have a historical background read like text books. The author tries to incorporate the history we need to know and ends up dragging down the storyline, making it lag. Not so in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Though we do come away with a thorough history of The Salem Witch Trials, and its causes, the book is written in a breezy, easy to read manner.

Connie is an incredibly likeable character who, though bookish, is a strong woman, a refreshing change from a lot of fiction out there today. I also love the fact that the author introduced the love interest, Sam, so well; their meeting and the build up of their relationship was incredibly natural and very sweet.

If you’re looking for the special book this summer, look no further than The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. With enough history, romance, magic and surprise twists, it’s writing at its best and is pure magic.

Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong

 

I love the Otherworld Series by Kelley Armstrong.

That being said, I had never read the free novellas that she offered on her web site. I don’t know why this is. Part of it has to do with the fact that I love holding the book in my hand. The other part of it, I guess, was that I didn’t want to read anything outside the actual series of books.

I know, finicky but true.

But I was extremely excited to hear that most of the online fiction would be taken off of Kelley’s web site and published into a couple of collections, the first of which is Men of the Otherworld.

I was a trifle worried that it would read like a bunch of mismatched short stories that wouldn’t really flow together very well. However, I am happy to report that I was way more than wrong.

Men of the Otherworld consists of the tales Infusion, Savage, Ascension and Kitsunegari, the collection of otherworld tales actually reads like a novel. The book follows the progress of the men of the pack including Jeremy’s birth, Clay’s being bitten, his training and acceptance of his new life.

In fact, though these tales were written at the same time as the novels, because of how they are arranged, they make for a better read than some of the more recent Women of the Otherworld novels. Not because those novels were bad; far from it. More, I think, because there is an urgency to these tales, a need that burns off the page.

If you’ve never read Kelley Armstrong’s novels before, Men of the Otherworld is actually a great place to start as everything but the last story takes place before the series itself.

And with all of Kelley Armstrong’s proceeds going to World Literacy of Canada, you’re getting a great read and doing something good. How can you go wrong?

Private Midnight by Kris Saknussemm

 

Inside all of us is something wanting to break free.

No one knows this better than Detective Birch Ritter. He is a man on the edge of himself and he doesn’t know if he can keep himself from falling. Divorced and alone, he lives for his job. His job is his life. The long hours keep him from thinking of what could be.

And especially what was.

While investigating a case where a business man was chained to the inside of his car and the car set aflame, he receives a visit from an old police buddy, someone he never thought he would see again. Someone who knew his secrets.

Saying nothing, the man leaves Ritter only a business card with an address written on the card in what looks like scarves. The words move and shift; Ritter knows this must be a trick of the light, or his mind playing tricks on him. The past can haunt you in many ways.

Knowing that he should just ignore the business card, something pulls at him to go. He knows that going to an address written on a mysterious card left by someone who knows his past could be dangerous.

But something compels him to go.

When he arrives, he meets Genevieve. A curvy red head with looks that won’t quit, he follows her inside her house, still not sure what he is doing there or why he came. He is entranced by her, almost hypnotized. Shocked by her beauty and what she wants him to do.

Genevieve introduces Ritter to the world of bondage. Shock collars and blindfolds, submission and darkness. She knows things she could not possibly know, knows secrets from his past that he has told no one about. Though he is frightened of her, he cannot stay away.

The deeper he follows her into the darkness, the more of his past confronts him until all he is left with is a choice: cling to his safe, boring, lonely life? Or embrace the midnight darkness that waits inside of him? As Genevieve strips Ritter physically, emotionally and physiologically, he knows that he has no choice.

He must submit and change his life forever…

My meagre plot description doesn’t even come close to describing how great this book is. Its part gumshoe detective story, part noir thriller, part erotica and part something else altogether. Combined, all these elements make one of the best and most frightening novels I have ever read. Indeed, Private Midnight is one of the best books of 2009 so far.

Private Midnight defies genre. There is absolutely no way to categorize this book. It is not simple fiction. Instead it is an incredible tour-de-force that defies all genres, transcends them all and becomes something all its own.

For me, reading Private Midnight was like being inside a train that was destined to crash. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion; I knew what would come would challenge my ideals of what is normal and acceptable, that it would make me uncomfortable and leave me haunted. But I welcomed every blood soaked word.

Not only is Private Midnight an incredible mystery, it is also the ultimate study in human nature. What makes us tick? What are our desires? What frightens us? What happens when fear, pleasure and desire are mixed together? What drives us to stay away from the darkness or give into it and swim in its depths?

While reading Private Midnight I was shocked, uncomfortable, thrilled and frightened. Rarely has a book affected me in so many different ways. Many authors would not be able to write a book that transcends genre and make it good. Saknussemm does this and more and the result is a heady, incredible thriller that is seedy, sexy, thrilling and tantalizing.

If you read one good book this Spring, make sure its Private Midnight.

And discover the darkness inside of you…

Fury Calls by Caridad Pineiro

 

 

Blake Richards is a vampire haunted by the past.

Four years ago, he was forced to either sire Meghan Thomas, making her a vampire, or risk having her die. So he did the only thing he could do and turned her…and lost the only woman he had ever loved.

Though he is still tortured by his love for her, Blake knows that he will have to make it up to her, somehow. And maybe then, she can forgive him…

Angry at having her life taken away from her, Meghan doesn´t want anything to do with Blake. She misses her former life, misses what she once was. She is fueled by anger at having her life taken from her, at having the decision made for her.

Meghan is also haunted by the past and can´t forget the attraction she felt for Blake, the attraction she still feels for him. Fury fills her every time she thinks of him and yet, she can´t stop herself thinking of Blake and the passion they shared.

Both of them must put aside their fury and anger when something threatens the vampire community. Bodies of vampires are found, ravaged beyond recognition.

Blake and Meghan come together to try and find out what is killing others of their kind. During the investigation, the attraction that they feel for each other starts to grow stronger until neither of them can ignore it.

But they are in a race against time. Though no one knows who has been killing the vampires, there are suspicions. And those suspicions begin to fall on Blake.

Meghan must put aside her fury and make a choice: Is Blake the man she could love? Or is he a killer?

If you haven´t read the other novels, there is no need to. Pineiro manages to make each novel stand alone as a complete and wonderful story.

The newest book in Caridad Pineiro´s amazing The Calling series is the best yet and is one of the best romances I have ever read. It has everything you could possibly want in a romance novel: a thrilling plot, amazing characters, and an incredible dark storyline.

But Fury Calls is so much more than that.

In Fury Calls, Piniero has given us a story of true, bittersweet emotion. She has given us a novel where the characters on the page are so alive, they seem to live and breathe off of the pages. She has given us the ultimate love story that pulls at your heart and your emotions. Not an easy feat to manage, but Pineiro pulls this off with style and grace.

Though this is the seventh full novel in The Calling Series, Pineiro manages to keep things fresh by giving us a hero and a heroine that we care about, that we become emotionally involved with. She also manages to keep the mythology of the vampire new and fresh by introducing different elements never before seen.

Fury Calls is also her darkest offering yet in The Calling series. There were several uncomfortable moments in Fury Calls, but Pineiro handled them with ease. Unafraid of taking the series to new, darker places, she forces the reader to confront the darkness within themselves and the world around them.

The Calling Series, though about vampires, is really the ultimate study in human nature. What drives someone to love, to hate, to kill? And though the characters that populate the series are vampires, Pineiro still manages to make them incredibly vulnerable, incredibly human. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Fury Calls.

Fury Calls is a dark, incredible ride and I didn´t want it to end. It´s a wonderful story of love, lust, murder and redemption that leaves the reader wanting more. It´s one of the most amazing romances that I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Do yourself a favor and read Fury Calls and experience true, exquisite passion.

Honor Calls by Caridad Pineiro

 

Michaela Ramirez has always fought what she was. Literally.

A half vampire, she is a huntress in the night as she finds and then kills vampires who have no regard or respect for humanity. She is called by honor to defend others, driven by her past and by what she is to do the right thing.

Even if it means putting herself in the line of fire.

FBI Assistant Director, Jesus Hernandez, has always believed in what he can see and touch. He has seen a fair share of crime in his lifetime. He knows that evil lurks on the streets of Manhattan and that it is his job to protect its citizens.

Despite the darkness that Jesus has seen, his current case worries him. It feels different. Bodies left out in the open, their throats ravaged to a bloody mess.

Knowing that the killer may have left a trail, Jesus decides to stop by The Blood Bank, a popular Goth hang out, for clues. He knows that The Blood Bank caters to those who favor the darkness, who like the darker things in life.

Though he knows there are those who whisper of things going bump in the night, the rumors hold no credence for him. He is a man who needs truth, who is called by honor to uphold the truth and the law.

All that is challenged when he arrives at The Blood Bank. In an alleyway, he spies Michaela attacking what he thinks is a man. Then Jesus sees the glowing eyes of the beast and knows that the attacker is something different. Something not human.

Though his honor demands he uphold the law, he is drawn to Michaela by an incredible attraction. And though her honor is put to the test, something in Jesus pulls at Michaela´s heart, something dangerous.

As the attraction between them grows, both of them know that, in the end, they must heed the call of their honor; despite what it may cost them…

Honor Calls is one of the best romances I have ever read. Caridad Pineiro is well known for creating a thrilling story with great characters and a moving plot but she has outdone herself this time. Not only do we get thrilling danger and searing love, but her characters are beautifully flawed.

Jesus is so bound by what he can see and touch that, when he is confronted with something other than the ordinary, he struggles inwardly. Michaela is so bound by revenge that, when she has to stop and contemplate the attraction she feels for Jesus, the fear she feels if he should run for her, the worry is palpable.

Though a short read, what Pineiro has given us is really a study in human, and un-human nature. She has taken something that all of us deal with and given it a supernatural twist.

How many times have all of us struggled with something we wanted, though we knew that it might be bad for us? How many times has we denied ourselves pleasure, though our hearts and minds have called out for it?

Honor Calls is an incredible, wonderful read that will help you chase away an afternoon and leaving you craving more. Do yourself a favor and read Honor Calls.

Heed the Call and fall prey to passion…you won’t regret it.

Prelude to a Super Airplane by Brian Spaeth

 

 

Almost everyone has flown on an airplane at least once in their lives. They are huge and intimidating, able to conquer the skies and the power of flight. Everyone has fantasized about being able to fly, about being able to fly through the clouds.

But none of us have flown on a super airplane: 47 floors high and able to fly at incredible speeds. But it is the people concerned with the airplane that are our focus here, the ones that think about airplanes constantly that draw our attention.

The year is 2012 and America is on the verge of Civil War. One side wants flying cars to be the main method of transportation; the other wants the new super airplane to be the only method of transport. At stake in this war? The entire future of transportation.

Our world as we know it will be forever changed…

Prelude to a Super Airplane is unlike anything you have read before. More literary experiment than a novel, Prelude to a Super Airplane is essentially one hundred and seven little stories about airplanes. Some follow the plot that you’ve just read above.

Others, well…did I mention that this was unlike anything you’ve read before?

Spaeth wrote Prelude to a Super Airplane over a period of seven days. And man what a ride! Though the book zooms along and sometimes you’re wondering who you’re reading about, it doesn’t matter.

This is a book with a sense of humour that never takes itself very seriously. It’s a quick, roller coaster of a ride that is anything but boring.

In fact, I laughed out loud several times and enjoyed every word. It really is unlike anything ever before attempted and this is part of the novels strengths.

Though sometimes the stories of the characters get lost amongst the more autobiographical portions of the book, you’re holding on for sheer life as the pages seem to flip themselves.

Even though Prelude to a Super Airplane is more literary experiment than a novel, it’s one hell of a good time. I’ve never had so much fun reading a book. From the first page, I was intrigued and, by the third page, I was hooked.

Prelude to a Super Airplane promises to be the first comedy-political thriller – mystery- drama-romance-action/adventure-science fiction-showbiz insider- horror-family energy drink- industry insider- holiday autobiography, Prelude to a Super Airplane is one hell of a great ride.

At times confusing, intriguing, hilarious, bizarre and all kinds of wonderful, Prelude to a Super Airplane is THE beach book for this summer.

Read it and feel like you’re flying.

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

 

In the dead letter room in the middle of Omaha, Randolph Jaffe has stumbled upon a secret. At first, the secret isn’t clear, just vague references to something called the Art. The Art begins to consume Jaffe, taking over his life. Its secrets continue to elude Jaffe until he cracks part of the code.

The Art are laws governing an alternate reality called Quididdty. Quididdty is the dream see, the dreamscape, the magic that runs through all our fantasies. Jaffe can think of nothing else except the Art and becoming a master of it. Quididdty is his for the taking.

Taking a scientist named Fletcher under his wing to further his growing evil, Jaffe hopes to get one step closer to mastering the Art. Fletcher creates a transforming drug they call Nuncio, which uses the principals of the Art. What they don’t realize is that it will become their undoing.

Fletcher realizes that Jaffe is evil and attempts to stop his plans by destroying the Nuncio. He knows that the drug is capable of transforming anyone into what ever they are most on the inside. Good becomes great. Evil becomes more so. Except, the Nuncio has other plans. It transforms Fletcher and then Jaffe into Demigods. Not content to let the other live, (after all, good must always triumph over evil) Fletcher and Jaffe engage in a battle that brings them to Palamo Grove, a small town and an ideal place to hide and rest in the earth while regaining the energy to continue fighting.

Years pass. Then something unthinkable happens. Four girls, dubbed The League of Virgins, become pregnant after swimming in a river that appeared on the edge of town. When the girls start talking of being raped in the river, gossip in the small town grows to an all time high. No one knows the truth, however, no matter how crazy the rumors.

Jaffe and Fletcher have impregnated four women in hopes of producing offspring to continue the battle they began so many years ago. Fletcher knows that he cannot allow Jaffe to gain access to the Art, to Quididdty; otherwise, it could mean the end of the world, and dreams, as we know it…

What Barker does here is create myth and he does so beautifully. It’s a difficult thing to create an epic myth from the ground up, but Barker does so in “The Great and Secret Show” with such skill and mastery that you know he has a gift. The plot mentioned above doesn’t even begin to describe the plot for this book. It is a big, wonderfully sprawling dive into wonderland.

What I love about books by Clive Barker is that they are usually character driven. This is also the case here. While there is a lot of focus on myth and legend here, Barker also focuses on the people filling his tale. It’s a good thing he does – there is a cast of hundreds here and we get to know almost all of them through out “The Great and Secret Show”. What’s wonderful is that this is actually the first novel in a trilogy, The Books of Art.

I devoured this book. Quididdty now floats through my dreams and haunts my waking hours. This is an amazing book. It’s a big one, but it’s worth it. An amazing piece of literature, a great beginning to an epic fantasy, any way you look at it, this is an amazing read.