Caden O'Brien's Website

As I was browsing Ilona Andrews’ website the other day, I stumbled on a post that contained a snippet of an unpublished work. No title except the tag ‘Alpha Menz’, very rough, not complete,  it was one of those pieces that made me go “what the hell?” as I read it. Several other snippets had been posted early in 2009, which I hadn’t read yet, but what I’d read sent me scrambling to find the other posts.

This was something cooked up to deal with a little brain-fry caused by working long hours on one of their published books, and all I can say is “wow, this deserves to be published!” I have to warn you, as is posted on their site, this is a dark piece with disturbing themes. A young mother and her little girl get kidnapped by … well, it’s hard to tell WHAT they are. But they’re not nice. At all. They terrify the mother and daughter, and they don’t care. Oooooo. I love dark fiction, and this is pretty dark.  Read the warnings posted with each piece, and proceed accordingly.

This is the order the pieces should be read in. It’s a little confusing on their site, but just follow this order and ignore the titles of the posts because they’re a bit misleading. And if you want to see more, be sure to drop a comment saying so. Enjoy!

1. http://www.ilona-andrews.com/2009/03/06/opening-chapter-of-alpha-menz/
2. http://www.ilona-andrews.com/2009/03/07/alpha-men-final/
3. http://www.ilona-andrews.com/2009/11/23/okay/
4. http://www.ilona-andrews.com/2009/11/23/alpha-menz-snippet-part-2/

    

This first book in a new series by husband & wife team Ilona Andrews. It features 22 year old Rose, magically gifted and living in The Edge. The Edge is a small strip of land stretching between the Broken (the non-magical world we live in) and the Weird (chock full of magical beings and run by a hierarchy of nobles in a very feudal setting). Edge dwellers generally have a little magic, but are looked down on by the aristocratic Weird citizens. She lives a tough life, working a low-paid job in the Broken and trying to support her two little brothers Georgie and Jack. Because Rose is an unusually powerful magic-wielder, she also has to fight off kidnappers who want to sell her to the blue-bloods and Edge-dwellers who want her for breeding stock.

One day a blueblood warrior named Declan Camarine shows up wanting to take her back to the Weird as his woman. She pops him with her cross-bow and gives him a big HELLS-NO, and the game is on. Evil creatures are stalking the Edge and its citizens, and it’s up to Rose in an uneasy partnership with Declan to stop the killings.

One thing I love is when an author builds a world that grips me with its depth, multiple dimensions, and realism tinted with a reality brush. This world is fabulous, and I wish it had been set in an epic fantasy framework because I really wanted more slice-of-life from the Edge and Weird dimensions. I could just imagine what it would be like living there, and my mind spun off little fantasy stories set in that world. Big plus points here, and I hope the next book continues to build on it.

Another thing that hits my hot button is strong female characters. Rose is young, but her life has been hard. Seems like parenting in the Edge is an iffy proposition, and she’s had to deal with a crazy mother who was the local sleep-around and a runaway dad from early on. Realistic characters also do it – this world is people with the same loonies, abusers, and deadbeats as our own world. It definitely is not one where everyone makes nice to one another. In fact, you have to be careful even with your friends, because they all work off an “every man/woman for him/herself” framework. Rose is cynical enough to know how to play the game, but not so jaded that she doesn’t still have hopes and dreams of a normal life. But bad things can happen to good people in this world, so this isn’t a mindlessly cheerful outlook.

Rose and Declan are hot together, even when they’re not together. A good tale. The picture of Declan on the cover is a horrible one! From the description, he looks nothing like that and thank goodness! The little brothers, Georgie and Jack, steal the show. Georgie is a young necromancer, whose love of life makes him revive all kinds of sad dead critters at the expense of draining his own life away. Jack is a shapeshifter who is more comfortable in his cat (lynx) form than his human one. The way Rose loves and cares for these special little boys, and their love for her, brought me to tears several times!

I’m looking forward to the next book. This one is pretty self-contained, so it seems the next one will need to focus on another character. I’m hoping William, Declan’s tortured and gorgeous shape-shifting friend and army-mate, gets a book because we sure were teased enough!

The first vendor to get Book 4 of Amy Lane’s fabulous Little Goddess series on the shelf is iUniverse – click here to get Rampant! They even have a very badly formatted excerpt of the first 2000 words, so you get a little sneak-peek. 

I’m a huge fan of indie author Amy Lane, and am excited to make this announcement. We’ve been waiting a while for this book to come out, and it’s now here! Update:  Now available from Amazon!
Enjoy!

For anyone who’s ever loved, hated, warred with, cuddled with, or generally been part of a magical duo called sisterhood, this little book will ring some bells and pull some heartstrings.  As one-half of a sister team, plus a gardener and a cook, I’m a sucker for sister stories, and this one didn’t disappoint.

Older sister Claire Waverly lives alone in the family home in North Carolina, where she runs a unique catering business that specializes in using flowers in the recipes. You see, there’s something a bit magical about the garden that the herbs and flowers grow in… the food can have unexpected side effects on those who consume it, and Claire is highly sought after in this small town college community. In particular, a crazily sentient apple tree that wants to tell people what their most important moment in their lives will be (usually a spectacular death), and Claire works hard to make sure that curious townspeople don’t sneak in to partake of the tree’s peculiar fruits.

Younger sister Sydney booked out of town 10 years earlier, when she turned 18, and Claire has had no contact with her. But one day Sydney shows up with 5 year old daughter Bay in tow, asking for sanctuary in the family home.  She has her own demons, but the distance between herself and Claire is such that she can’t confide. Throw in eccentric elderly cousin with a compulsion to give weird things to people, out of the blue, and you have a recipe for gentle magic to heal old hurts and show people a brighter, happier future.

The sisters have to learn to live with each other, and a couple of hot guys in the picture add some sizzle to the story. There’s no explicit sex, per se, but the love goin’ round is steamy enough to make you not notice.  There’s also a threat from Sydney’s past to complicate things, but this is late in the story.

The depiction of the relationship between Claire and Sydney is beautifully handled, and as someone who’s had her share of differences with a much-loved younger sister, I can say that it rings true. Not a lot of action, but definitely a lot of feeling. I really cared for these characters, and marveled at the strange and beautiful world they live in. It’s not a long book and is a fairly quick read, so give yourself and your sister a treat and check this little gem out!

The author, Sarah Addison Allen, is North Carolina born and bred, and lives there still while writing full time. Check out her website and read more about this interesting young author. On my reading list is her second book, The Sugar Queen, and her upcoming 2010 release The Girl Who Chased The Moon.