“Russ Reynolds, that’s me. You probably remember my name from when I ran the country for three days.”
Wikiworld is a quirky short story that doesn’t play around with throwing you directly into the world that Paul Di Filippo has created.
Tag Archives: Book Reviews
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Wunderkind PR sent me an advance reader copy (at no cost to me, full disclosure) of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. I enjoyed his movie Fanboys, and started to read it as soon as possible. I’m very happy they sent it to me, RP1 is a book full of nerdy goodness.
Story
From the synopsis on ReadyPlayerOne.com
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.
And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.
Deadline by Mira Grant
The last time we saw the crew of After the End Times, they were a dominate, albeit new, online news site. Uncovering conspiracy, shouting truth at the world and poking dead things with sicks. (Gotta have some fun, right?) Things started going bad. Don’t worry, no spoilers, but in a world where the dead stand up and chow down on the living… saying things went bad means they went very bad indeed.
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Kat Among the Pigeons by Lazette Gifford
I’ve been on the internet for a long, long time (as long as you refer to the 1990’s as old, I guess)… and as a writer, especially a genre author, one of the first real “homes” I found on the web was the Forward Motion boards, and there I was not only introduced to the Great and Powerful Holly Lisle, but also the fantastic Lazette Gifford (Twitter – @LazetteG). Not only does she run the boards, Vision for Writers and is active on her blog and twitter, but she is a prolific and really fabulous author. I’ve become dependent on her to be a driving force to help my wordcount during Nanowrimo, as she usually works on multiple projects during that crazy month, while I usually squeak out just enough to win some years.
I jumped at the chance when I saw her tweet looking for reviewers for her new ebook, Kat Among the Pigeons (Available on Smashwords for $1.99).
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Nocturne by Syrie James
I really enjoy a good vampire yarn (without the sparkles, please), so when I received Nocturne by Syrie James, I was very intrigued. Ms James, who decided that she wanted to continue in the Paranormal Romance genre after writing Dracula, My Love, has her history down. And while I’m more of a dark, urban fantasy kind of girl, I do enjoy a good paranormal romance that can hook me within the first few chapters.
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Sailing to Sarantium is book one of The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay. I posted a review of the second book, Lord of Emperors, because I was too impatient to wait until I could get my hands on the first in the series. Because of my lack of patience, a virtue which seems to be in contunualy short supply, the review of Lord of Emperors wasn’t very informative. Without reading the first book, I wasn’t sure which of the many details I wanted to talk about might be spoilers. I hate spoilers and err’d on the side of caution.
Now that I’ve read the first book, I spent cash money to buy it, I think I can talk a bit more freely about why I like these books.
Story
From the cover…
Caius Crispus, known as Crispin, is a master mosaicist, creating beautiful art with colored stones and glass. Still grieving the loss of his family, he lives only for his craft – until an imperial summons draws him east to the fabled city. Bearing with him a queen’s secret mission and seductive promise, and a talisman from an alchemist, Crispin crosses a land of pagan ritual and mortal danger, confronting legends and dark magic.
Once in Sarantium, with its taverns and gilded sanctuaries, chariot races and palaces, intrigues and violence, Crispin must find his own source of power in order to survive. He finds it, unexpectedly, high on the scaffolding of his own greatest creation.