Monday's Beginnings (144) Vlog (27)

WOW!  What a weekend!  Forget about Monday through Friday, really.  I had an AMAZING time at Balticon46.  AMAZING I say.   I will have a post come up later this week for you about Balticon, and this vlog has just a few things about it in it, but I have so much more to share with you.  I do hope I can start saving money to go again next year.  Really.  That great, but I have to pay off the charge card from this trip first.

Okay, so on to Monday stuff...

Current Read:
Haven't a clue!  I finished a book last week before leaving, but haven't picked one up yet.  I'm not sure yet.

Finished Last Week:
Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine

Reviews to Come:
Tranquility's Blaze by Krista D. Ball
Indigo Springs by A.M. Dellamonica
Devil's Punch by Ann Aguirre
Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews
Love, Death, and Loneliness by Douglas Brown

Book Reviews Posted:
The Sorceress's Orc by Elaine Corvidae

Movie Review Posted:
Immortals

Podcast Reviews Posted:
Fables of the Flying City by Jared Axelrod, Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Ashe of Air
Overall Thoughts, and review of The Gearheart: Artifice by Alex White

Books & Covers Shared:
Incantation by Devyn Quinn

Special Posts:
Advance Preview of Janus Affair by Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine, a snippet of the audio book
Freebies and Deals, on Nook too (14)

I did do a Flash Fiction Friday last week.  Sorry if it is a little lacking for you, I did it rather quickly in thinking and writing.  I know usually I do, do them in about an hour, but the brain was on fizzle last week so the thinking ideas where a bit laxed.  Hope you enjoy anyway.

My WANT List...Okay, I only added 4 books last week.  And I should have loads more, as I forgot to add the stuff I saw at Balticon...I need to see if I can remember the titles of all the books!  By my Curious-About List grew by 8. :)

Received Last Week:
Free:
This is the book by Elaine Corvidae you can get for free by subscribing to her Newsletter on her site.

Goodreads Synopsis:
A medic with a broken body. 

Neva Whitestone was severely injured during the Zatvian attack that destroyed her homeworld. Bearing scars on her face and in her soul, she is adrift in a universe crushed beneath the might of the Zatvian Cooperative. Now Neva has received a mysterious summons from a ship called the Exile. 

A stowaway with a broken mind. 

He has no name except the insult flung at him--Rat. Without any memory of his former life, he is haunted by voices in his head, which threaten to drive him mad. Desperate to escape, Rat flees from the Zatvians hunting him by stowing away on what appears to be an ordinary freighter. 

A ship in exile. 

The Exile is no innocent freighter, however, but instead a pirate ship embroiled in the last vestiges of rebellion against the Zatvians. So far, they have survived their private war. But now they have on board a man without a past, whose ravaged brain holds secrets that the Zatvians will kill to possess.

Free from at Balticon:

Goodreads Synopsis:
After the death ok King Albekizan, Shandrazel and his allies struggle to keep the kingdom intact as the radical human prophet, Ragnar gathers forces to launch a full scale rebellion against the dragons. When all out war erupts, legendary dragon hunter, Bitterwood, must face his own personal demons and choose where his loyalty really lies.


Gifted:

Amazon Synopsis:
Agent Augustus Elsworth is a Seeker of the Arcane Unknown, mechanic, pilot and thief... or so he believes. When Augustus is caught trying to steal a magic artifact from the ruthless mobster Charles Patrick, he is offered a choice: buy it outright, or forget about his mission. In order to win the money, the young mechanic decides to enter the Cliffside Aeroprix, the most dangerous air race in the world. Can Augustus win the race, or even survive it?


For Review:

Amazon Synopsis:
The crew of the space salvage ship JN3-0518 have crash-landed on a planet that was colonized hundreds of years earlier, and has lapsed into a suspicious and superstitious dark age. With their advanced technical knowledge, the crew makes a living by faking miracles. Kings and clergy hire them to make ancient prophecies come true. But when they are tasked with making a prince ascend into light and power, they find themselves cast as kidnappers and witches.

Discount Miracles is a slipstream story of sci-fi and fantasy that lightly treads the edges of Clarke's Third Law. Hoverbikes and giant monsters come together in a story that is a little comedy, a little romance, and a lot of adventure.

Goodreads Synopsis:
All London wants is her life back, not something easy to accomplish with her addiction to the Sidhe Touch constantly gnawing at her. This time she's found an earthborn Sidhe who just might take the edge off her craving. If she can keep the other predators like vampires and wizards from claiming her prey, that is.



Purchased:

Goodreads Synopsis:
If you’re visiting the flying city of Amperstam without the latest printing ofThe Lurker’s Guide, you might as well be lost. This one-sheet is written, edited, and printed by Ashe, a girl raised on the streets of the flying city, and is dedicated to revealing its hidden treasures and deepest secrets—including many that the overcontrolling government doesn’t want anyone to know. The stakes are raised when Ashe accidentally uncovers the horror of exactly how Amperstam travels among the skies and garners the attention of those who would rather that secret be kept in the hands of the city’s powerful leaders. Soon Ashe is on the run from thugs and assassins, faced with the choice of imperiling her life just to keep publishing, or giving in to the suggestion of a rich patron that she trade in her voice and identity for a quiet, comfortable life. It’s a war of confusion for Ashe, but one thing is very clear: just because you live in a flying city, you can’t always keep your head in the clouds.

Authors Synopsis:
Riven Sol combines Lovecraftian horror with a space station setting.









Won:

Goodreads Synopsis:
Evildoers beware! Retribution is at hand, thanks to Britain's best-kept secret agents!!

Certainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance . . . with each case going inexplicably unexamined by the Crown.

The fate of England is once again in the hands of an ingenious archivist paired with a beautiful, fearless lady of adventure. And though their foe be fiendishly clever, so then is Mr. Books . . . and Miss Braun still has a number of useful and unusual devices hidden beneath her petticoats.

Goodreads Synopsis:
"Chicago, 1929. There are a thousand stories in the naked city; and when you're a dwarf at four-foot-one, they all look that much taller." It is The Era of Prohibition, where crime runs rampant in the streets and a city divided into territories serves as the ultimate prize. Somewhere in this Underworld of Chicago, an enchanted weapon holds the key to ending The Gangland Wars. In the wake of The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, only one is man enough to stand up against Al Capone... ...a four-foot-one dwarf named Billibub Baddings. "Billi," as his friends come to know him, is a working stiff dwarf in the all too-human sized world of Chicago. Seems that a brood of orcs and a renegade warlock had opened a Portal of Oblivion in his homeworld and was planning to submerge his nine lands of Acryonis into an Age of Darkness. Billi had managed to throw a monkey wrench into those plans...but not before getting himself caught in the pull of that portal. When he came to, he found himself in the heart of The Windy City during The Roaring Twenties. After dealing with trolls, goblins, and rock dragons, Al Capone and Bugs Moran are about as intimidating as choir boys. Billi sets himself up as a tough-talking, waist-high, straight-dealing detective, and business was looking bleak, until a dark-eyed beauty crossed his threshold with the case that involved the mob, the upper-crust of Chicago society, and Billi's past. Get ready for The Lord of the Rings written by Mickey Spillane Poking fun at the hard-boiled detective novel, Fantasy mainstays, and even the legend of Chicago's 1920 underworld

Goodreads Synopsis:
Chicago, 1930, and following the financial calamity of Black Thursday, Billi is doing everything he can to keep his business afloat. The change in seasons, though, brings him a case that appears to be a true blessing from The Fates. Chicago Cubs Manager Joe McCarthy suspects something fishy with the Baltimore Mariners, a new team in the league, and he's hiring Billi to look into it. 

What appears to be the dream job - being paid to research and attend baseball games - turns out to be a nightmare as he discovers one of the Nine Talismans of Acryonis somewhere in play at Wrigley. 

And wouldn't you know it - with two outs and bases loaded, the heavy hitter of the Underworld "Big Al" gets early parole from The Big Dugout and is swinging two in the Batter's Circle. 

Goodreads Synopsis:
Between the living and the dead is the Order of the Deacons, protectors of the Empire, guardians against possession, sentinels enlisted to ward off the malevolent haunting of the geists...

Among the most powerful of the Order is Sorcha, now thrust into partnership with the novice Deacon, Merrick Chambers. They have been dispatched to the isolated village of Ulrich to aide the Priory with a surge of violent geist activity. With them is Raed Rossin, Pretender to the throne that Sorcha is sworn to protect, and bearer of a terrible curse.

But what greets them in the strange settlement is something far more predatory and more horrifying than any mere haunting. And as she uncovers a tradition of twisted rituals passed down through the dark reaches of history, Sorcha will be forced to reconsider everything she thinks she knows.

And if she makes it out of Ulrich alive, what in Hell is she returning to?

Goodreads Synopsis:
The second novel in Ballantine's series. In a realm of mystics and magic, the Order of Deacons stands between the here and now and the Otherside. Its mission is to protect the citizens of the Empire from malevolent geists--no matter where or when...

Though one of the most powerful Deacons, Sorcha Faris has a tarnished reputation to overcome, which is why she jumps at the chance to investigate a string of murders in the exotic city of Orithal. But it is there that her lover, the shapeshifting rival to the throne, is targeted by a cruel and vengeful goddess, unwittingly unleashed by the Emperor's sister.

Okay.  I've spent over an hour doing this post, and I think I'm going to go through all my new additions now, and relax here at home.  Try to figure out what I have here and what I want to do next, and going to work tomorrow is NOT on that list. lol.

Hope you have an amazing week!  Here's wishing you all the best in words and pages.