Sunday Post #19

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share new about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

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Well, it was a big week on the blog and I'm still feeling so behind.  *sigh*  I did get through one book and a short story.  I have a novella I'm working on reading and a few beta reads.  I've got tons of great review books here stacked up (with the lack of reading June I had) to get to.  And boy do I ever!

What's Happening in Books:

Current Read:
Dragonsoul by Philippa Ballantine
Then into Requiem by Ken Scholes

Also, I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month.  But I only set the goal at 10k words, and there is many re-writes that need to get done at the same time.

Finished Last Week:
Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
The Tao of Feeblecorn by Paul Goat Allen

Finished Podcast Book Listen:
I haven't got to the Podcasts yet.  I will, they are lining up on me.

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Last Week on the Blog:

Cover Reveals: (click titles to go to post & learn more)

I've seen a few that I want to share, but I haven't been able to post them.  Maybe next week?

Reviews:
Book Review:

Damaged: A Zara Lain Novella by Skyla Dawn Cameron

After Dark

With stories by:  Kait Ballenger & Gena Showalter

GIVEAWAYS:
Print copy of AFTER DARK by Gena Showalter & Kait Ballenger, signed by Kait Ballenger  ((ENDS TODAY!!))

Ebook copy of your choice from Demons of Oblivion series by Skyla Dawn Cameron (Really, you don't want to miss this UF series!)

I've shared the Rafflecopter for E.J. Stevens giveaway of GHOST LIGHT.

Weekly Posts:

***NEW*** Mythical Monday
Teaser Tuesday
Who? What? Where? Wend.
Throwback Thursday
Looking Forward To...
Freebies and Deals, on Nook too

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This Week to Come on the Blog:

Ooookay, I've got Mythical Monday posted...but...I'm going to take a break after Today.  It's been rough trying to get blog posts organized again and reading and writing.  I'm going to take the week to try and get my blog posts caught back up and ready so I'm a tad ahead of the game and caught up.  That's the way I usually keep it and June has terribly kicked my butt at it.

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Received Last Week:

Review:

The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan
Goodreads Synopsis:
Ken Scholes’s debut novel, Lamentation, was an event in fantasy. Heralded as a “mesmerizing debut novel” by Publishers Weekly, and a “vividly imagined SF-fantasy hybrid set in a distant, postapocalyptic future” by Booklist, the series gained many fans. It was followed by Canticle and Antiphon. Now comes the fourth book in The Psalms of Isaak, Requiem.

Who is the Crimson Empress, and what does her conquest of the Named Lands really mean? Who holds the keys to the Moon Wizard’s Tower?

The plots within plots are expanding as the characters seek their way out of the maze of intrigue. The world is expanding as they discover lands beyond their previous carefully controlled knowledge. Hidden truths reveal even deeper truths, and nothing is as it seemed to be.

Purchased/Winnings:

Unfettered by Anthology of Authors
Goodreads Synopsis:
You define life or it defines you.

In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both.

Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hogdkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story Shawn could sell toward alleviating those bills—and suggested Shawn ask the same of his other friends.

Unfettered is the result, an anthology built to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

Every story in this volume is new and, like the title suggests, the writers were free to write whatever they wished. Authors contributing are 
-Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks (a Shannara tale)
-Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks (a precursor to the Word/Void trilogy)
-How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss (a Four Corners tale)
-River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (a Wheel of Time tale)
-The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
-Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey (a precursor to the Kushiel series)
-Dogs by Daniel Abraham
-Mudboy by Peter V. Brett (a Demon Cycle tale)
-Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick
-The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian (a Vault of Heaven tale)
-The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
-Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood (a Summer Dragon tale)
-Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
-The Lasting Doubts of Joaquin Lopez by Blake Charlton
-The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (an Iron Druid tale)
-Select Mode by Mark Lawrence (a Broken Empire tale)
-All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
-Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth (a Struck epilogue tale)
-Unbowed by Eldon Thompson (a Legend of Asahiel tale)
-In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik (a Temeraire tale)
-The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (a Riyria Chronicles tale)
-The Duel by Lev Grossman (a Magicians tale)
-The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman (an Annwn Cycle tale)
and artist Todd Lockwood, who donated artwork as well as a story.

With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises.

After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?

The Red Plague Affair by Lilith Saintcrow
Goodreads Synopsis:
The service of Britannia is not for the faint of heart--or conscience...
Emma Bannon, Sorceress Prime in service to Queen Victrix, has a mission: to find the doctor who has created a powerful new weapon. Her friend, the mentath Archibald Clare, is only too happy to help. It will distract him from pursuing his nemesis, and besides, Clare is not as young as he used to be. A spot of Miss Bannon's excellent hospitality and her diverting company may be just what he needs.

Unfortunately, their quarry is a fanatic, and his poisonous discovery is just as dangerous to Britannia as to Her enemies. Now a single man has set Londinium ablaze, and Clare finds himself in the middle of distressing excitement, racing against time and theory to find a cure. Miss Bannon, of course, has troubles of her own, for the Queen's Consort Alberich is ill, and Her Majesty unhappy with Bannon's loyal service. And there is stillno reliable way to find a hansom when one needs it most...

The game is afoot. And the Red Plague rises.

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig
Goodreads Synopsis:
Miriam Black knows when you will die. 

She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.

But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.

No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.

Aspect Ratio by Frances Pauli
Goodreads Synopsis:
Chloe Watson is just starting to get used to her inter-dimensionaly career, her covert relationship with the boss and her life as a cross dimensional traveler. Then a last minute promotion, a galaxy wide tournament and an unexpected stow-away manage to throw a wrench in her status quo.

Now she's left to sort out a string of parallel abductions, deal with an infestation of Lemurian bedbugs and get her local pet store associate back home before the woman blows the whistle on everything Chloe had going for her.

Just for fun, her relationship starts looking more than a little rocky, her job is on the line and her boyfriend/boss is keeping secrets that could cost them both a lot more than just their salaries.

A Little Short for an Alien (audio) by Frances Pauli
Goodreads Synopsis:
Six inter-galactic short stories from author, Frances Pauli.

From The Fobidden Zone to the Alien-Human relations department, these short, alien-infested romps explore encounters with a diversity of imagined species, scenarios, and space disasters. 

Join Dylan Lowwater, lackluster employee at Space Station H22-J231, Jo Lorey, wayward musician desperate to communicate with a threatened race, and Lieutenant Commander Roe, just plain desperate, as they struggle against out-of-this-world obstacles. 

In a universe overflowing with tentacles and glow gin, sometimes adventure is easier to find than a date.

Free Ebooks:

Dragonsoul by Philippa Ballantine
Goodreads Synopsis:
Kindred and Wings is coming out August 6. Philippa Ballantine's first Shifted World novel, Hunter and Fox, was called "a worthy feat 
of world-building" by the Miami Herald. 

To celebrate what Booklist calls a "well-imagined" world, Pyr is offering Dragonsoul, a FREE EBOOK short story written by Philippa Ballantine and set in this same world.

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Reviews in the Works:

The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan
The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

The Tao of Feeblecorn by Paul Goat Allen