Waiting on Wednesday : Terminal Alliance (Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #1) by Jim C. Hines
29 March 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Breaking the Spine, Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #1, Jim C Hines, Terminal Alliance, Waiting on Wednesday
I haven’t read Jim Hines yet – I do have the Libriomancer but haven’t read it yet – so maybe I’ll start with this series – it does sound crazy. in a good way! And, can I just be a book cover tart and say ‘look at the cover’ – come on, As if that’s not enough – Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse! Book, get in my life now – well, little bit of a wait – November 2017, but, all good things to those who wait, blah, blah, blah!
When the Krakau came to Earth, they planned to invite humanity into a growing alliance of sentient species.
This would have worked out better for all involved if they hadn’t arrived after a mutated plague wiped out half the planet, turned the rest into shambling, near-unstoppable animals, and basically destroyed human civilization. You know—your standard apocalypse.
The Krakau’s first impulse was to turn their ships around and go home. After all, it’s hard to establish diplomatic relations with mindless savages who eat your diplomats.
Their second impulse was to try to fix us.
A century later, human beings might not be what they once were, but at least they’re no longer trying to eat everyone. Mostly.
Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is surprisingly bright (for a human). As a Lieutenant on the Earth Mercenary Corps Ship Pufferfish, she’s in charge of the Shipboard Hygiene and Sanitation team. When a bioweapon attack by an alien race wipes out the Krakau command crew and reverts the rest of the humans to their feral state, only Mops and her team are left with their minds intact.
Escaping the attacking aliens—not to mention her shambling crewmates—is only the beginning. Sure, Mops and her assortment of space janitors and plumbers can clean the ship, but flying the damn thing is another matter. As they struggle to keep the Pufferfish functioning and find a cure for their crew, they stumble onto a conspiracy that could threaten the entire alliance.
A conspiracy born from the truth of what happened on Earth all those years ago…
Charmed, delighted and enchanted.
28 March 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday over at the The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. This week’s topic is:
Ten Authors that I’ve met/seen/listened to
- Neil Gaiman – at a book reading. Not only are his books amazing but he’s great to listen to and really patient. He signed everyone’s books and it was a very long queue – must have took him forever (or at least a couple of hours).
- Joe Abercrombie. Another reading organised at Central Library in Manchester. This was for his venture into YA with his Half a King book. I don’t think there’s anything better than listening to an author read their own work – they just bring something more to it.
- Robin Hobb. A great reading for her The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince. She answered lots of questions about her inspiration and how she came to write books. Really interesting session.
- Sarah Pinborough – this is a woman who just makes me laugh. She’s so funny! And, of course it doesn’t hurt that I’ve read and loved quite a number of her books. She was at the Gollancz Festival last year and took part in a number of the panels.
- Ben Aaronovitch. At a book event in Waterstones, Deansgate, Manchester. Another really genuinely nice guy – he just had plenty of funny stories about asking fans about things on twitter and about sitting on different buses as they travelled around London just to take a different look at some of the places he could use in his writing. I use public transport a lot – and there are always plenty of funny/not so funny stories as a result!
- Brandon Sanderson – another book event at the above Waterstones. He was great to listen to. He answered a bunch of questions, he spoke about his experiences as a writer and his processes, he read a sneaky peak out of his third Words of Radiance book and he signed a huge amount of books for an extremely long line of fans.
- Joanne Harris. This was a very informal event at a Library in Oldham. It was great because it was a very small venue and felt almost like you were all just having a chat. There was a reading for the Gospel of Loki and then questions and answers.
- Joe Hill – who was at the Gollancz Festival. I didn’t see too much of him but he did attend the end of one of the panels I was observing and he took part in the audience Q&A asking questions of the panel himself and I thought that was pretty cool.
- Elizabeth May – who also attended the Gollancz Festival – a lovely young woman indeed whose name you will no doubt recognise from The Falconer series.
- Who next??
Weekly Wrap Up : 26/3/17
Hope you’ve all had a good week. I’m so busy at the moment. Work is busy, social life is very active and on top of that we’re decorating – so, as a consequence there isn’t a single room in the house that doesn’t look like a storm just ripped through it! So, I confess, I’m tired. Plus what horrible news from London this week, my heart goes out to all those people affected.
Last week’s reads:
- The Heart of Stone by Ben Galley – review to follow
- Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
I listened to a few more chapters of my Miriam Black book and also started my next SPFBO book.
So, next week I’m hoping to finish:
- Thunderbird by Chuck Wendig
- The Music Box by K A Stewart
And, finally, my cover highlight this week:
I love this series and think the covers are all great. I can’t wait to start this – hopefully this week.
How was your week? What you currently reading?
Read all about it…
26 March 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fantasy Faction, Fantasy Review Barn, Tough Travel
This is a little heads up.
Tough Travel is back!
Travelling through the tropes of fantasy is tough – it really is (the hint is in the title after all), but, pack up your spotted hanky, dig out your maps, tote your packs with dried beef, hard cheese and lembas bread because we are once again embarking on our travels.
You may recall Tough Travel. It was the brainchild of Fantasy Review Barn and was a very popular meme. Fantasy Faction will now be picking up the mantle so keep an eye open for the initial post which is due any day now (the 1st of April I believe).
Basically, Tough Travel is a meme that looks at the tropes of fantasy. Each month we will explore a specific trope where we all get to highlight specific books that we love that represent the particular theme for that month. Tropes are tropes for a reason after all and this gives us a chance to display some of our favourite novels in a perfect forum for discussion. So, come and join in.
See you all soon I hope.
“Always winter but never Christmas.”
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below. This week’s theme:
Street lamp “He stood under the street lamp, sleet settling in his hair, hands fisted at his side”
You may have guessed from the title but I had to go classic with this – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis – because Mr Tumnus!
And my favourite:
“Daughter of Eve from the far land of Spare Oom where eternal summer reigns around the bright city of War Drobe, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?”
Which is your favourite? Next week – Casino
Future themes:
31/03/2017 – Casino “Whisky, gambling and Ferraris are better than housework “
07/04/2017 – Circus “You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town!
14/04/2017 – Easter “The rabbit of Easter. He bring the chocolate”
21/04/2017 – Bridge “I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to push forward”
28/04/2017 – Beach/Seaside”Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!”
05/05/2017 – Lion “If you place your head in a lion’s mouth, then you cannot complain one day if he happens to bite it off”
12/05/2017 – Phone “Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it”
19/05/2017 – Plane “When everything seem to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it ….”
26/05/2017 – Mice “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘it might have been’…”
02/06/2017 – Moon “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”
09/06/2017 – Mummy “It shuffles through the dry, dusty darkness”
16/06/2017 – Guitar “You couldn’t not like someone who liked the guitar”
23/06/2017 – Cat “In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this”
30/06/2017 – Hat “It is always cruel to laugh at people, of course, although sometimes if they are wearing an ugly hat it is hard to control yourself “
07/07/2017 – Gold “All that is gold does not glitter”
14/07/2017 – Boats “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea, in a beautiful pea green boat…”
21/07/2017 – Planet “Any planet is ‘Earth’ to those who live on it”
