Editing by Elizabeth

April 26, 2012

Books Instead of God? by Kira Peikoff

Tomorrow I’ll be reviewing Living Proof (Tor Books) by Kira Peikoff, but today I’m pleased to welcome Kira for a guest post in which she talks about the importance of books in her life as a child.

Kira Peikoff A child of two atheists, I was four years old the first time I set foot in any house of worship. It was at the urging of my then-best friend Caitlin, also aged four, who had dunked her head an extra time for my sake during her Mormon baptism to ensure I wouldn’t end up in Hell. (This gesture cemented our status as true best friends, even though I didn’t know what any of it meant.)

But Caitlin also had a mischievous side; when I joined her at church on that unprecedented Sunday morning, she took advantage of a pause in the Jesus hymns to announce to the congregation: “Kira doesn’t believe in God!” That was also the first time I learned that my upbringing was, apparently, unacceptable.

My parents were raised Jewish, but both rejected religion altogether as adults, so my childhood was utterly devoid of God and all the traditions that go along with a religious faith: weekend prayer, Bible reading, fasting, etc. Some people might then believe that I was raised without a moral code. After all, isn’t religion’s purpose, at least partially, to teach you how to be a good person? →

April 25, 2012

The Suspect by Tonya Plank

Nineteen-year-old Jamar Jansen is no stranger to guns and violence. And because he’s a little slow mentally, he’s also no stranger to being teased and bullied. It’s not something he ever really focused on though, not until his older brother, Darnell, ended up shooting one of Jamar’s worst tormentors.

Now, without his brother to protect him and a mother who blames him for Darnell being in jail (“He was protecting you.”), Jamar is adrift in a neighborhood full of predators, some of whom wear the sheep’s clothing of friends. Walking home from McDonald’s one evening Jamar runs into some of those so-called friends, who promise to take him to a popular club if he’ll just do them a quick favor first.

Jamar’s smart enough to know something’s not right when they ask him to wait outside while they go into a check-cashing store – and to signal them by pulling up his hoodie if he sees someone coming – but unfortunately he’s not smart enough to avoid either getting caught up in the outburst of violence that ensues or subsequently being picked up by the police as their chief suspect. →

April 24, 2012

Wild Thing by Josh Bazell

Great. Because shit around here wasn’t crazy enough as it was. – Pietro Brnwa

I could almost stop with that quote and nothing more and you’d have a pretty good feel for author Josh Bazell’s latest book, Wild Thing: crazy shit. Of course, I mean that in the best way possible.

Though technically a sequel in that it features the same lead character as Bazell’s debut, Beat the Reaper, Wild Thing is so amazingly different in tone and style that it’s a sequel in name only. For starters, the lead character doesn’t even go by the same name he did in the previous book.

When we last saw Pietro Brnwa, a former mob hit man now in Federal witness protection, he was going by the name Peter Brown and working as a physician at a low-rent hospital in Manhattan. His cover was blown during the course of Beat the Reaper with spectacularly disastrous results, and Wild Thing finds Pietro/Peter now working on a cruise ship under the name Dr. Lionel Azimuth.

Not for long, however, as he’s approached by a reclusive billionaire (referred to throughout the book as “Rec Bill”) who’s obsessed with an urban legend which has a Loch Ness type creature living in White Lake deep in the woods of Minnesota. Rec Bill wants Pietro to accompany paleontologist Dr. Violet Hurst on an expedition to prove/disprove the creature’s existence, with Peitro serving as bodyguard and observer.

Pietro and Hurst aren’t the only ones on the expedition, however, as they are joined by a small group of people hand-picked – and steeply charged – by the expedition’s guide to join in the hunt. From true believers to international drug dealers to an “Oh no he didn’t!” cameo by a very well-known politician, the group Pietro and Hurst find themselves in the company of is as colorful as a box of crayons that’s been thrown in a blender. There’s no guarantee they’ll find the White Lake Monster, but as Pietro said, shit most definitely gets crazy. →

April 24, 2012

The 5-2 Blog Tour: Nothing To See Here by C.J. Edwards

April is National Poetry Month, and as part of that celebration Gerald So, the man behind The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly, has organized the 30 Days of The 5-2 Blog Tour to celebrate the fantastic crime themed poetry that appears on The 5-2.

Even if you think you don’t like poetry – I admit I don’t read a ton of it myself – if you’re a fan of crime fiction you really should be visiting The 5-2 on a regular basis. In addition to seeing many familiar names amongst the contributors, you’ll also be treated to the discovery of new talent you may not yet have had the pleasure of reading. Either way, you won’t come away empty-handed or disappointed.

And if you need a little push to get you going, just check out the stops on the 30 Days of The 5-2 Blog Tour, a tour during which different bloggers are taking turns spotlighting a poem of their choice every day in the month of April. I’ve chosen to feature the phenomenal “Nothing to See Here” by C.J. Edwards. →

April 23, 2012

The Inquisitor’s Key by Jefferson Bass

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash

“Why would a pope seal up a skeleton and hide it in a wall?” – Dr. Bill Brockton

Summoned from his beloved “Body Farm” in Tennessee to Avignon, France by his protégé Miranda Lovelady under false pretenses, Dr. Bill Brockton soon forgets his anger at being mislead when Miranda reveals the real reason she needed her mentor.

While working on an excavation in the Palace of the Popes Miranda and her dig partner uncovered a stone ossuary filled with bones. Interesting, but not worthy enough in and of itself to warrant tricking the world-renowned forensic anthropologist into flying four thousand miles.

No, what turned the find from interesting into potentially world changing was the inscription on the ossuary… the one which indicates the bones contained within it are those of Jesus of Nazareth. Being scientists, Brockton and Miranda are initially skeptical. Being good scientists, however, they are willing to put in the research and let the forensic results speak for themselves.

When testing dates the bones at two thousand years and a link between them and the impression on the Shroud of Turin is discovered, Brockton and Miranda realize they could be sitting on one of the biggest archeological discoveries in history. They aren’t the only ones who realize it, however, and soon the two scientists find themselves in the crosshairs of rivals, the Vatican, and a very determined religious zealot, all of whom will stop at nothing to possess the bones. →

April 18, 2012

Getting Off by Lawrence Block

She felt at home here, but she had the knack of feeling at home just about anywhere. And a girl didn’t want to overstay her welcome. – Kit Tolliver

There’s a reason author Lawrence Block has received countless awards for his writing and been recognized as a Grand Master of his craft – the man is damn good at what he does.

And what he does is write books that are a marvel of plotting and pacing, nearly always infused with a wickedly sly sense of humor, and which often strike a cord that resonates so strongly the characters and outcome echo in your mind long after you’ve finished reading.

Getting Off was such book for me, one I actually had to take a little step away from before I could gather my thoughts and write (what I hope is) a proper review.

Writing as Jill Emerson, a pseudonym under which Block penned seven erotic pulp fiction novels in the 60s and 70s, Getting Off is the story of young Kit Tolliver. At least that’s one of her names. She tends to change them quite frequently as she moves from town to town finding, seducing, fleecing, and killing a string of lovers.

While reflecting on her black widow tendencies after one of her kills, Kit realizes there are actually five men whom she’s slept with without killing; five who were lucky enough to pass through her life before she dedicated herself to a series of ultimate one-night stands. Bothered by the idea those men are still alive, Kit decides to track each of them down for one last fling. →

April 17, 2012

One Hundred Years of Vicissitude Cover Art

So very proud to have a quote on the back cover of Tobacco-stained Mountain Goat author Andrez Bergen’s forthcoming book, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude. And what an absolutely stunning cover it is!

My quick take on the book:

When Andrez Bergen burst onto the scene in 2011 with Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, one of the most wonderfully creative and unique books I’ve had the pleasure to read, I wondered how he could ever possibly top it. Well hold on, ladies and gentlemen, because with One Hundred Years of Vicissitude Bergen is once again taking readers on a wildly enchanting journey down the rabbit hole to an ethereal world rich with Japanese and pop culture, one which seamlessly melds history and the hereafter. Prepare to have your mind opened… then blown.

Full review to follow upon publication by Perfect Edge Books later this year.

Andrez Bergen is an expatriate Australian journalist, musician, photographer, DJ, artist, some-time filmmaker, wayward graphic designer, and ad hoc beer and sake connoisseur who’s been entrenched in Tokyo, Japan, for the past 10 years. He currently creates music under the pseudonyms Little Nobody and Funk Gadget. Bergen has also worked as a journalist for newspapers such as The Age in Australia and the Yomiuri Shimbun in Japan, and he’s written for magazines as diverse as Mixmag, Geek Monthly, Impact and Anime Insider. To learn more about Andrez, visit his website.

April 12, 2012

Mr. Glamour by Richard Godwin

“You have made a brand of your image and now I am going to redesign you.” – Mr. Glamour

In the world of the über rich it’s all about image. Wearing the right clothes, driving the right car, dining at the right restaurants, being seen at the right hot spots and vacation locales. The fabulously wealthy know they are constantly being watched; that’s the point. See and be seen, the more conspicuously the better.

If only they knew he was watching them. Studying them. Photographing them. Obsessing over them. Mr. Glamour knows what matters to the jet set, understands their slavish dedication to brands and image. He understands because he wants it as well. And what better way to obtain what he wants and hurt those he despises than by taking it from them? He will build himself up by tearing them down and taking everything from them… including their lives.

When the bodies of London’s jet set being turning up murdered and mutilated, Detective Chief Inspector Flare and his partner Inspector Steele find themselves investigating what evolves into an increasingly horrific string of murders. And though it seems obvious the killings are linked, Flare and Steele are met with a wall of silence from those closest to the victims, the very people who may be next on the killer’s list.

Now Flare and Steele must deconstruct the pathology of a diseased mind in order to stop the gruesome killings. What they don’t realize is that doing so will also require them to look deep into the darkest corners of their own minds, and what they find there may be even more disturbing than what’s in the mind of the killer. →

April 11, 2012

Dead World by Shaun Jeffrey

“Of course they’re Gods. They don’t die.” – Lucy Charles

When a top secret scientific project seeking to discover the key to immortality goes horribly wrong a pandemic is unleashed which decimates the world’s population. Those who survived banded into small, scattered pockets of civilization.

One such group, a walled commune known as Sanctuary, has managed to restore some semblance of order to their lives, but not without a cost. The community is only able to sustain a finite number of people, so once a baby reaches an age that suggests the child will in fact survive a ‘space’ in the commune must be made for the new member… by expelling an adult.

Exactly who gets expelled is determined by a lottery wherein a name is chosen at random from all eligible members. Sanctuary’s ruling Brethren have been able to get the populace to willingly go along with the lottery by convincing them that the member who is expelled will join the Gods and become immortal.

When Anna Charles’s young daughter, Lucy, is ‘chosen’ in the lottery as retaliation against Anna because of an affair she was having, things start to unravel. Already suspicious of the Brethren’s teachings because of her Mother-in-Law’s cryptic preachings about the one, true God, Anna decides to take Lucy and her son and flee Sanctuary. Pursued by her husband and the manipulative member of the Brethren who fixed the lottery, Anna soon discovers how terrifyingly right her Mother-in-Law was; those who walk beyond the walls of Sanctuary are indeed immortal, but they are far from being Gods. →

Editing Services

Featured Reviews & Interviews

Anticipated Reads