Editing by Elizabeth

July 30, 2010

Happy 75th Anniversary Penguin Books!

Happy 75th Anniversary Penguin Books Today is the 75th Anniversary of Penguin Books, the publishing house whose founder, Allen Lane, had the great foresight to get behind the paperback book… a move that revolutionized the book publishing industry.

To celebrate their 75th Anniversary, this summer a bright-orange Penguin Mobile (a Mini-Cooper with the Penguin logo) is touring the United States to bring some of Penguin’s bestselling authors to parties in their hometowns, to increase awareness of The Nature Conservancy, and promote literacy.

At each anniversary event, a set of 75 of the most iconic titles from Penguin Books will be donated to a local library or literacy group. Each author will sign the Penguin-mobile as it makes its way across the United States, and at the end of the tour the Penguin Mobile will be auctioned with all proceeds going to the NY Public Library. Penguin is also donating sets of books to numerous U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To learn more about Penguin books and the events celebrating their 75th Anniversary, visit the Penguin Books 75th Anniversary website. Happy Anniversary!

July 26, 2010

The Last Track by Sam Hilliard

“The first track. It’s my baseline. I build a picture of the subject in my mind – how he moves, what he feels, what he might do next – it all flows from the first track.” – Mike Brody

Mike Brody has led an adventurous life. Formerly a special forces operative, upon leaving the military he worked as a smoke jumper – a firefighter who parachutes into remote areas to fight wildfires – until a catastrophic knee injury forced him to give up the job.

Now working as a guide for extreme adventure tours, Brody is trying to take a break from his hectic life by traveling with his son and ex-wife for a relaxing vacation at a dude ranch in Montana. Fortunately for the reader, it’s not in the cards for Brody to lead a life of relaxation.

Shortly after their arrival Brody is contacted by the local sheriff and enlisted in the search for a boy who’s gone missing in the forest surrounding the ranch. It turns out Brody has a special talent for tracking people, and a few high profile cases have made him the “go to” guy for law enforcement when all else fails. Complicating matters in the current situation is that the boy didn’t just wander off, but is actively on the run because he witnessed a murder.

Before Brody knows it he’s deep in the wilderness searching for the boy, saddled with a deputy he’s not sure he trusts, and receiving threatening phone calls from a mysterious figure called “The Partner” who says they’ll harm Brody’s family unless he tips The Partner to the boy’s location once he finds him… before he tells the police. It all makes for a thrilling, multilayered plot that will have you turning pages late into the night.

Debut author Sam Hilliard has created an immensely likable reluctant hero in Mike Brody, and he’s only scratched the surface of the character’s potential. Though we know Brody’s ability to track people borders on the supernatural, how he first discovered his talent and the inner demons that compel him to answer every request for help are only hinted at. Given the undoubtedly rich backstory available for Hilliard to mine, it’s exciting to know that a second book featuring Brody is already in the works. It’s clear that both Sam Hilliard and Mike Brody have very bright futures ahead of them.

The Last Track is available from Buddhapuss Ink (ISBN: 978-0984203512)

The Last Track is not only author Sam Hilliard’s first book, it’s also the first book from publisher Buddhapuss Ink, which has done a spectacular job with its initial offering. Hilliard lives outside New York City with his girlfriend and an army of four cats. When not writing, he’s the Director of IT at an all-girl boarding school. To learn more about Sam, visit his website.

July 23, 2010

Got Books? New Release vs. Back Catalog

Welcome to Musings of an All Purpose Monkey! Chances are if you’re here on July 23rd or 24th you’re a book lover who got here via the Got Books? event. I’m proud to be one of the over 100 bloggers participating in this inaugural Got Books? celebration of books and book blogs. Thank you to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers and There’s A Book for bringing us all together.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to ask a question about what you review and what you want to see when you visit other book blogs: new releases, back catalog titles or both?

Though I try to keep up with and review as many new releases as possible, I also enjoy sharing old favorites and books / authors that are new to me, even if they’ve been around forever. After all, I figure if I only just discovered someone there are undoubtedly other readers out there who’d also like an introduction as well.

What do you think? Do only new release reviews matter to you, or is it important to review old favorites and back catalog titles with an eye toward exposing them to readers who may not have encountered them before? Leave a comment with your thoughts and you’ll be entered to win the following prize pack (

July 20, 2010

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

I didn’t know that once you’ve proven yourself useful to the wrong people, you’ll never be free again. – Michael Smith

In the wake of a horrific night of violence that leaves him without his parents or his voice, eight year-old Michael Smith finds comfort in drawing and playing with locks.

Though he has a natural talent for drawing, it soon becomes clear he has a preternatural talent for opening locks. At first just working with old combination padlocks, Michael eventually graduates to opening key locks with his own crude, homemade lock pick set.

It’s a talent that seventeen year-old Michael never considers the potential implications of until a high school prank gone wrong puts him in the position to meet the wrong people, and from that point on his life will never be the same.

Presented as the reflections of a 26 year-old Michael who has landed in jail and is contemplating the life that got him there, The Lock Artist is told in chapters that alternate between the distant past that set him on the path to becoming a safecracker and the job gone awry that led to his incarceration.

The two narratives unfold on slowly converging paths before ultimately colliding in a final reveal of the shocking night of events that stole both Michael’s parents and his voice from him. →

July 15, 2010

The Chill of Night by James Hayman

He took a deep breath and walked toward the trunk, preparing himself for the first few seconds he’d spend alone with the victim. The cop and the corpse. A unique and strangely intimate relationship.

Called to the Portland Fish Pier late one night to investigate a report of a body, Detective Sergeant Michael McCabe is confronted with a dead woman in the trunk of an abandoned car, frozen solid by the bitter Maine cold. The body is quickly identified as local attorney Lainie Goff, a woman with a past as mysterious as her future was ambitious.

Prior to her murder Goff had been on the fast track to becoming the youngest associate to make partner at the prestigious law firm where she worked, though her chances at making the grade relied as much on her secret affair with her married boss as her skill as a litigator. Yet, she also quietly worked pro bono for Sanctuary House, a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping troubled teens.

Did someone in her cutthroat legal world have it in for her, or is there something sinister in her past that both led to her work with Sanctuary House and her death? Initially leads in the investigation seem as cold as the corpse. Then McCabe and his partner, Maggie Savage, get word that a young woman on Hart’s Island, just across from the pier, claims to have witnessed a murder. →

July 09, 2010

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

The fact that he was innocent should have been a comfort to him, but it wasn’t. – Will Connelly

Attorney Will Connelly has very little to comfort him in Reece Hirsch’s scorching debut novel, The Insider. Arriving at work early on the day he’s to learn the results of the firm’s partnership vote, Will sees his coworker Ben Fisher plummet to his death past Will’s thirty-eighth floor office window. The fact Will was the only one in the office at the time of Ben’s death, and that Will’s office access card is found next to Ben’s body, make for some uncomfortable questions from the San Francisco Police Department.

Will has barely seen the police out of his office when he’s visited by the firm’s senior partner, who informs Will that he did make partner. Further, he’s being put in charge of the project Ben had been working on, a major merger involving computer software company Jupiter Software. After putting in a full day on the new assignment, Will heads out to a local bar for a muted celebration of his new partnership. There he meets a beautiful Russian named Katya and goes home with her… and this is where Will’s troubles go from simply life altering to life threatening.

In effort to impress Katya he lets slip about the big merger he’s working on. The next morning Will and Katya are confronted by two Russian thugs who force their way into Katya’s apartment, threaten Katya, and beat information about the Jupiter merger out of Will. Knowing he can’t go to the police without revealing that he’s committed malpractice by violating attorney-client privilege, as well as violated Securities and Exchange Commission regulations against insider trading, Will is on his own to extricate himself from the mess he’s gotten into. →

July 06, 2010

Tod Howarth – Opposite Gods Interview

Though best known for his work with the band Frehley’s Comet, musician Tod Howarth has had a long, distinguished, and varied career in the music business.

Starting with 707, his first “big band” as he calls it, Tod’s impressive resume has also included touring stints with REO Speedwagon, Ted Nugent (for whom Tod also contributed backing vocals on Ted’s Penetrator album), Cheap Trick and, of course, the aforementioned Frehley’s Comet.

Tod has also produced some incredible work in his solo career including the albums Silhouette, Cobalt Parlor and West of Eight, which I reviewed and interviewed Tod about. With the release of his newest album, Opposite Gods, I’m happy once again to interview Tod and review his latest masterpiece.

Your last rock CD, West of Eight, was released in 2000. Why such a long time between it and Opposite Gods?

Tod Howarth: Life in general, really. The band that I put together to support Cobalt Parlor was to record all of the West of Eight CD, which we did, except for the then bass player who I had to let go during the recording and re-do all his parts. During this drought I recorded Winter, which is an ‘easy listening’ but haunting type solo CD that was to satisfy my creative needs.

I wanted to do more rock music right off the bat, but with a real solo effort it is just so time consuming. I had to find or create that time and it was hard. I am not the ‘rock star’ anymore that people may think I am – although I am flattered! – and my attention has been turned to the family business that I run now days. Plus, my adult kids have needed a lot of attention that required not only time but money as well. It is wild how ‘stuff’ never ends. →

July 05, 2010

Opposite Gods by Tod Howarth

Like a fine wine, Tod Howarth (Frehley’s Comet, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent) demonstrates with his new CD Opposite Gods that in the 10 years since his last solo rock CD West of Eight was released he has improved with age, becoming even more nuanced and complex.

A long time coming, Opposite Gods was truly a labor of love. Tomorrow I’ll be posting an interview I did with Tod about the album, but to give you an idea of the herculean task making Opposite Gods was here’s a quote from the liner notes: “Produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered under dire conditions by me… the variables took their toll.”

And he does mean by him. As with his prior releases, being the extremely talented musician that he is Tod once again is responsible for everything you hear coming from your speakers: guitars, drums, bass, keyboards, all vocals… the man is literally a one man band. And a damn good one at that!

Though the 13 track album is tip-top from start to finish, there are some songs that stand out to me for one reason or another. So, a few highlights:

“Drown” – As with any rock album worth its salt, Opposite Gods opens with an absolute burner. “Hello all you bitches, in your glossy magazines… you’re the entertainment for the feeble minded.” Hello, indeed! “Drown” is a scathing, yet lyrically playful, indictment of the cult of personality in America that makes celebrities of people whose only ‘talent’ is being famous: “Just icons, all image.” Yet despite the playfulness, there’s also an understandable sense of irony to the song; how could there not be when a song about the talentless famous is being performed by a man dripping with talent who literally plays every instrument, sings every vocal, and produced, mixed and mastered the song himself to boot. I’ve always thought you can tell a lot about how an album is going to go based on the opening track, and with that in mind “Drown” certainly sets the pace.

“Opposite Gods” – Two songs later in the album’s title track, however, Tod shows he’s more than capable of shifting gears from playful and sarcastic to tackle the always serious and charged topic of faith and religion. Given that most major religions have the same basic tenets at their core, Tod wonders how there can be so many different – and conflicting – paths one can supposedly take to get from Point A (leading a just life) to Point B (spiritual reward). Even more puzzling, how can any religion justify killing others in the name of its God? “The reasons they all fail me, regardless of faith, and with opposite gods there’s just no harmony.” Fitting for a song about conflict and multiple paths the lyrics are deeply layered, occasionally ‘step’ on each other, and many are

July 02, 2010

The Severed Nose by Jeff Strand

“When you kill people for a living, you get used to finding the occasional body part lying around your home. I do not kill people for a living, and so I freaked.” – Josh White

Josh White is the victim of what may be the worst case of mistaken identity in history. Arriving home one day to find a severed human nose on his kitchen table Josh does what any reasonable person would do… freak out. Of course once the initial, understandable freak out passes Josh proceeds to make the first in what will end up being a comically tragic series of bad decisions.

Instead of immediately calling the police, Josh decides to store the nose in his refrigerator – after carefully wrapping it in paper towels and sealing it in a plastic baggie – to keep it from rotting while he puzzles out whose nose it could be and why it was on his table. After much deliberation he… falls asleep.

When he returns home from work the following day – no, he didn’t call the police when he woke up – Josh finds an ear on his table. Apparently having reached his tipping point on finding severed body parts in his apartment, Josh calls 911 to report his gruesome discoveries. When the police haven’t shown up by bedtime, despite a follow up call from Josh, he puts the ear in the baggie with the nose and decides to… go to sleep.

Arriving home from work yet again Josh finds… nothing. Which is good, right? Wrong. Because the people who’ve been leaving the fleshy calling cards for Josh decide to pay him a visit to find out why he’s not responded to their none to subtle overtures. The body parts, it turns out, were left as part of a kidnapping and ransom demand directed at Josh White… another Josh White. Not sure whether or not they should kill him, the two gangsters who show up at his apartment kidnap Josh and take him back to the big boss for his decision on the matter. What unfolds from there could only happen in a Jeff Strand novel. →

Editing Services

Featured Reviews & Interviews

Anticipated Reads