Friday Face Off : “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.”
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 – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. This week’s theme:
“Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.” – a cover featuring a starry sky
I’m thinking there should be plenty of choice for this week’s theme so can’t wait to visit everyone’s blogs to see the covers. My book choice this week is A Closed and Common Orbit (book 2 of the Wayfarers series) by Becky Chambers – which seems particularly relevant as book 3 (Record of a Spaceborn Few) has recently been released and is gaining lots of favourable attention.
My covers:
I actually really like the bottom two covers – which, yes, the majority of the cover in both cases is text but they just work for me. I think my favourite just has to be the first cover – it puts me in mind of old sci fi movie posters:
Which is your favourite?
Next week – a cover with a mask
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
10th August – ‘…Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again! – A cover with a mask
17th August – ‘Knock, knock… ‘who’s there?’ – A cover featuring a door ajar or closed
24th August – ‘To be a legend, you’ve either got to be dead, or excessively old!’ – A cover with a title featuring the word ‘legend’
31st August – ‘“Come buy our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy’ – A cover featuring a goblin or dwarves
7th September – ‘Mirror, Mirror on the wall – A cover featuring a queen
14th September – “He had killed man, the noblest game of all, and he had killed in the face of the law of club and fang.” – A cover featuring a wolf or wolves
21st September – ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ – a cover featuring clouds
28th September – Eyes wide shut – a cover featuring eyes
5th October – “He sounded like a man who had slept well and didn’t owe too much money.” – A cover that is ‘noir’
12th October – “The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.” – A cover for a mystery novel
19th October -“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” – A horror cover
26th October – Trick or treat – A halloween inspired cover
2nd November – ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November,’ – A cover inspired by Bonfire Night
9th November – ‘All right! They’re spiders from Mars! You happy?’ – A cover feturing a critter of the eight legged variety
16th November – There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.’ – A scary cover
23rd November – ‘The child is in love with a human. And not just any human. A prince!’ – A cover featuring a mermaid/man
30th November – “..the children of the night. What music they make!” – a cover with a vampire
7th December – ‘I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.’ – A cover featuring a hero
14th December -“Heavy is the head that wears the crown” – A cover featuring a crown
21st December – ‘ho, ho, ho’ – A seasonal cover
28th December – A freebie – choose one of your favourite titles and compare the covers
2019
4th January – A cover that is fresh – New beginnings for a New Year
11th January – ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king’ – A cover that depicts a novel set in the Tudor period
18th January – A cover featuring an Amulet – either in the cover or title
25th January – ‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’ – A cover featuring a monk/priest/person of the cloth
1st February – A comedy cover
8th February – ‘Hi little cub. Oh no, don’t be ssscared.’ – A cover with snakes
15th February – A heart – for Valentine’s day past
22nd February – “Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.” – A cover with abandoned building/s
1st March – ‘who will buy this wonderful morning’ – A cover featuring a shop or market
8th March – ‘Two little fishes and a momma fishy too’ – A cover featuring a fish/fishes or other sea creatures
15th March – ‘Beware the moon, lads.’ – A cover with a shapeshifter
22nd March – ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ – A cover featuring a king
29th March – “I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.” – A cover featuring a unicorn
5th April – ‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th april – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
#SPFBO 2018 : Batch 1, Books 1-3
As mentioned in my post here, I’ll be randomly choosing six books off my list to check out each month. I’ll post information about the first three at the start of the month and then about the remaining three during the mid way point with a conclusion around the end of the month about which books will be going forward or eliminated.
Here are the first three books that I will be reading with links to Goodreads, author pages, cover and blurb:
1. An Empire of Tears (Tales of a Prodigy Book 1) by Tim Marquitz
Outlaw, mercenary, assassin. Prodigy.
Bred to kill, Gryl is scarred by the foul sorceries woven beneath his flesh and castrated to ensure he would have no love save for the blade. To his masters he was just another slave amidst the legion of remorseless prodigies. But Gryl had always been different.
Years after the failed invasion of the Shytan Empire he survives in hostile territory by selling his sword and hiding from those seeking to exploit him. Then a chance encounter with an enigmatic priest and his misfit charges offers Gryl the opportunity for penance, the chance to be a part of something not steeped in pain and death. Peace is fleeting, however.
Enemies amass and threaten his newfound family but Gryl will do anything to protect them, no matter how much blood must be spilled.
Goodread’s author page
Website: http://www.tmarquitz.com
Twitter: @Marquitz
2. Sanctuary’s Fiend by A. Lynch
Rel is your average 16 year old high school student. She just wants to hang out with her friends, scrape by in class, and avoid the mean girls.
Her best friend is a siren, the girl who just joined the class is a ghost, and her adoptive parents are succubi that simply don’t understand her – the rest of Sanctuary doesn’t get any less weird!
As she tries to be normal and tell the boy she likes how she feels about him, she experiences a case of sudden onset vampirism.
Let’s see how that works out for Rel, shall we?
Goodread’s author page
Website: http://www.lynchwriting.com
3. Cursed Wishes (Three Wishes #1) by Marcy Kennedy
Nothing comes free with the fae, not even punishments.
After accidentally angering a fairy, Ceana Campbell cut a desperate deal and has lived a half-life ever since–cursed to fail at everything she tries and erased from the memory of her family and friends.
One thought keeps her going day after day. Her sacrifice would better the lives of everyone she cared for, especially her little brother and Gavran Anderson, the man she once loved.
Until the day she finds out she was wrong.
The deal that was supposed to save them all is a curse for more than just her. Now, to save her brother’s life, she’ll have to face a monster far worse than the fairy who cursed her.
The first time she cut a deal with the fae, she lost everything but her life. This time, her life might be exactly what it costs to rescue the people she loves the most.
Cursed Wishes is the first book in the Three Wishes trilogy. If you enjoy mythological creatures, clean romance, and a touch of mystery, then you’ll love this historical fantasy series set in the highlands of medieval Scotland.
Goodread’s author page
Website: https://marcykennedy.com
Twitter: @MarcyKennedy
Let the #SPFBO 2018 begin : my process
Today sees the start of the fourth Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (#SPFBO). The competition involves 300 self published books, distributed between 10 blogs. Each blog will eventually choose 1 finalist leaving 10 finalists for the second phase. Each blog will then read and score the finalists which will hopefully result in one book with the highest score winning the competition. More details can be found here and if you scroll down you can see the list of books and how they’ve been distributed.
I’ve taken part as a judge in the past 3 competitions but this year I might shake my format up a little. Previously I’ve divided my books into six batches of 5 books and then chosen 1 book from each batch – this has then given me six semi finalists to choose between. In the past I’ve usually aimed to read at least 20% of the book in order to give the title a fair chance.
Now, I’m not going for a complete change because if it’s not broke then why fix it. This year is already slightly different. Phase 1 is now reduced from six months to five so I’ll be randomly choosing six books to check out each month. In previous years I’ve highlighted the books I’m due to read at the start of each month and provided the background and links, etc. This year, as I’ll be reading through six entries each month I’m going to divide that post into two – one at the beginning of the month with 3 books highlighted and one mid way with the other three (this is purely to reduce the size of the post to be honest so that all the books get a decent spot. At the end of each month I will post the results in terms of which books are going forward or not.
The main change is that I’m aiming to be a bit more flexible in terms of choosing my semi finalists. If out of my six books I really like two or more then I’m going to carry more than one forward. I’m also aiming to read at least 30% of each book or more than that if I feel compelled to do so. Ultimately, I’m probably making it harder to choose a finalist but we’ll see. I just want to keep my options open and not have too rigid a format. By the same token, I might not carry any books forward from a batch if I don’t feel they can compete with the ones that I’ve already carried forward (although I think that is highly unlikely to happen).
All the books that I read fully will receive a full review and the others will be given mini reviews (similar to the past three years).
If any of the authors from my list would like to pay a visit to my blog then you’re more than welcome either for an interview, a guest post or for a cover highlight or reveal. I’m open to suggestions. I already have a few interviews lined up which will be published in the next couple of weeks.
I’d like to wish all the authors from the competition the best of luck. This is tough, ‘there can be only one’ winner but regardless of whether your book wins or not I sincerely hope that you all take something positive away from the competition (this is an interesting article that you might want to check out on that very topic). There’s a great book community out there and hopefully this competition will provide an ideal place to meet and talk to other authors and bloggers and result in a fantastic feeling of not only belonging but being supported by that network.
A huge thanks to all the authors who have entered and good luck to everyone involved.
Can’t Wait Wednesday : Missing Person by Sarah Lotz
1 August 2018
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Can't wait Wednesday, Missing Person, Sarah Lotz, Wishful Endings
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week my book is : Missing Person by Sarah Lotz. I so enjoy Sarah Lotz books so I’m super excited to have spotted this one.
Reclusive Irish bookseller Shaun Ryan has always believed that his older brother, Teddy, died in a car accident. It’s only on his mother’s deathbed that he learns the truth: Teddy, who was gay, fled the Catholic, deeply conservative County Wicklow for New York decades earlier. Shaun finds no sign of him in New York or anywhere else–until he comes across the unsolved murder of a John Doe whose description matches Teddy’s.
Desperate for information, Shaun tracks down Chris Guzman, a woman who runs a website dedicated to matching missing persons cases with unidentified bodies. Through Chris’s site, a group of online cold case fanatics connect Teddy with the notorious “Boy in the Dress” murder, believed to be one of many committed by a serial killer targeting gay men.
But who are these cold case fanatics, and how do they know so much about a case that left the police and the FBI stumped? With investigators, amateurs, and one sadistic killer on a collision course, Missing Person is Sarah Lotz at her most thrilling and terrifying.
July : My Month in Review
How quickly is this year flying by? The seventh month takes a bow and leaves the stage and I feel like the year so far has been speeding by at such a breakneck speed that I’m just a little bit dizzy. Haha – just to cheer you all up there’s only 147 days until Christmas and a really depressing thought just occurred to me – it won’t be too much longer, no doubt, before Christmas goodies and decorations start appearing in shops (it seems earlier every year) *shakes fist in curmudgeonly fashion* Anyway, this month I’ve read a total of seven books, I’m catching up with my reviews and I’ve been very restrained in both requesting and buying books – I am determined to start reading some of my backlog. My lovely looking covers are here. Here’s my month in review:
Books read: this month = 7
- One of Us by Craig DiLouie
- Redemption’s Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Little Eve by Catriona Ward
- Hunted by GX Todd – review to follow
- You Die When you Die by Angus Watson – review to follow
- Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller – review to follow
- Wrath of God by Dyrk Ashton review to follow
What’ve you been reading??
Backlist books
None this month
Unfinished series completed:
None this month.
Books Bought:
The Woven Ring by MD Presley
Review Books:
- Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller (I’ve read this and review will follow soon)
- The Tower of Living and Dying by Anna Smith Spark – this is my next book – I’m so excited.
- Dark Water by Elizabeth Lowry – gothic stories – sign me up
I have a couple of covers to compare and also a cover for Dark Water:
Which is your favourite? I’m favouring the first book in both cases.
Finally, the SPFBO officially starts tomorrow – my posts will have the following banner so will be easy to recognise. I’ll be posting tomorrow about my approach this year. I also have a few interviews scheduled and have made a start on a couple of my books.
