Did you know that Stephen King has a wife who is herself an extremely talented author? Well, he does, and Tabitha King has written one of my all-time favorite books that isn’t by Diana Gabaldon. Definitely on my top five list, One on One is the story of Sam Styles, small town high school basketball god, genial giant, stutterer, all around good kid, and listener of terrible music, and Deanie Gauthier, aka the Mutant. Deanie is also a basketball star, but is better known for her […]
Mama said knock you out
Picture, if you will, dear reader, a young Vinnie Jones in an alley behind a pub taking a leak after a night of drinking with the lads. Such is the beginning of J.L. Morrow’s Muscling Through. A visual is provided if you need one. (Get your mind out of the gutter! Head shot only. And, no, not that kind of head! What did I say about the gutter? *Name Redacted*, I’m looking at you…) Larry, a university professor, has just had such an experience, and […]
Sometimes your Prince is a two-headed frog named Cal and Catherine
One of the signs of good writing is finding something of yourself in a character that you don’t really have a whole lot in common with on the surface. That happened for me with Amy Lane’s Clear Water. Patrick, a young 20-something wanna-be yoga instructor with a bad case of ADHD, has just come out to his father over breakfast. His dad is not supportive AT ALL, and he more or less orders Patrick to get over himself and find a girl friend. He seems to be […]
Rock me like a hurricane
The world that Thea Harrison has created for her Elder Races series is a complex, fully realized one with many cultures and traditions having their stories told. As you go further into the series, it becomes clear that she is committed to giving each its own time in the spotlight, and I kind of love that. It makes for richer, more interesting story telling since characters that were the protagonists in earlier novels become maybe not antagonists, but definitely on an opposing side from the […]