Switchblade Goddess Book Review

Title: Switchblade Goddess

Author: Lucy A. Snyder

Publisher: Del Rey

Pages: 323

ISBN: 9780345512116

I have to be honest here: I've been waiting to read this book since the moment I shut the cover of Shotgun Sorceress. It didn't help that at Mo*Con last year, Lucy was awesome enough to read from Switchblade Goddess, so needless to say, it's been a painful year of waiting. But now, alas, the waiting is over.

I wasn't sure how to take the release of Switchblade Goddess. On one hand, I was excited to see what happened next, especially after the succulent morsel Mrs. Snyder read at Mo*Con, but on the other, I was reluctant to open to the first page. Because, no matter what, once I started reading there would be no turning back, and ultimately, when the book ended, so would the incredible story that Mrs. Snyder has managed to weave.

After much contemplating, I finally dug in. It was three hours before I finally decided to acknowledge the outside world, or for that matter, air to breath. The next night, I finished the book, much to my chagrin. It was everything I expected, and so much more. Let's just say there were a lot of tears and fist pumps along the way.

If Spellbent was dark, and Shotgun Sorceress was darker, then Switchblade Goddess is a nosedive straight into hell! Switchblade Goddess picks up right after Shotgun Sorceress, except now things have gone from worse to unfathomable. Jessie has to deal with Miko in her hellement, while the Warlock and Cooper (Jessie's lover) deal with one of Cooper's younger brothers. As the story dives closer and closer to hell, things begin to unravel and get worse for Jessie, including an exorcism-like ceremony, and the poisoning of one of the most enjoyable characters Snyder has created within Jessie's universe.

The main theme of Switchblade Goddess featured heavily on possession; fighting inhibitions and personal demons, and outside invaders to body and soul. Whether Snyder intentionally set out to do this or not, it worked remarkably well as a tool for tying up the majority of the loose ends that have popped up since Jessie's introduction in Spellbent. This has become a pet-peeve with me within recent years; not every author can manage to so elequantly tie up loose ends like Lucy can.

Snyder finds a way to successfully immerse the reader back into the world of Jesse Shimmer, picking up the trails and hell that she's gone through before, and the desperation of the situation that she finds herself in with Switchblade Goddess. With hardly any new major characters to introduce, Switchblade Goddess mainly sticks to resolving the older, and new stray storylines that pop up along the way to the series climactic ending.

As for the story as a whole, at times I cried, but for the most part I couldn't help but jump up and down in hysteria, waking everyone in the house with my squees of glee. If you've read this far in Jesse Shimmer's adventures, then you know what you're in for: a tight story, characters you love to hate, a special kind of magic that leaves you wanting more, and all the sexual tension you can handle without having to excuse yourself for some alone time. None of that lacks in Switchblade Goddess. In fact it's more prevalent than in any of the past tiltes. That's why I'm giving Switchblade Goddess 8.5 out of 10 TARDISes.

~Rodney

Shotgun Sorceress Book Review

Title: Shotgun Sorceress
Author: Lucy A. Snyder
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 330
ISBN: 9780345512109

Shotgun Sorceress is the second book in Lucy A. Snyder's Spellbent Trilogy published by Random House.

Very few sequels ever, in my opinion, manage to be as good as the first book in a series, but Lucy A. Snyder's Shotgun Sorceress easily earns it's place as the second book in the projected three book series, dealing with her protagonist Jesse Shimmer's newly founded abilities, her familiar Pal.


Shotgun Sorceress picks up only hours after Spellbent, and carries the torch of full-throttle amazingness found at the end of the first book, to all out increasingly strangeness within the first one hundred pages of the second, including one of the best opening scenes to grab my attention in a long time.

After returning from her boyfriend, Cooper Marron's version of hell, and defeating a powerful magic wielder, she's left with powerful magic that she can't seem to get rid of. With her giant half-spider/half-ferret familiar, her boyfriend Cooper, and Cooper's brother The Warlock, the four set out on an adventure to a little town in Texas. A town isolated in more ways than one. With her father's help, Jesse must find a way back to the real world, out of the clutches of a gorgeous and powerful witch, and find her brother.

Shotgun Sorceress is a marvelous sequel, continuing the breakneck pace begun in Spellbent, and reassuring the reader that this series isn't your average Urban Fantasy. That's why I'm giving Shotgun Sorceress 8.5 out of 10 TARDIS's.


If you're looking for a good Urban Fantasy series that's not your typical run-of-the-mill, then pick up a copy of Spellbent, and while you're at it, pick up a copy of Shotgun Sorceress, you won't be disappointed.

~Rodney

Apex Day 2010.

Saturday, December the 11th was Apex Day.

For those of you who don't know, Apex is a Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Publisher, based out of Kentucky, and owned by the awesome Jason Sizemore. Some of Apex's authors include: Alethea Kontis, Lavie Tidhar, Fran Friel, Maurice Broaddus, Jerry Gordon, R, Thomas Riley, Wrath James White, and Gary A. Braunbeck. They also produce Apex Magazine, (Issue 19 for December, 2010 just came out).



To Each Their Darkness

December the 11th was also the release date for Gary A. Braunbeck's non-fiction book: To Each Their Darkness, a reworking of an earlier account on writing that had been published several years ago, called Fear in a Handful of Dust: Horror as a Way of Life. Braunbeck has stated many times in the past, and in the introduction of To Each Their Darkness, that at the time of writing Fear in a Handful of Dust, he hadn't lived enough in order to pull off the things that he wanted to convey. And that's why To Each Their Darkness was written.

Although I plan on doing a full review for To Each Their Darkness for the blog sometime in the future, the best way I can explain To Each Their Darkness, is this: take Stephen King's On Writing and amplify it by 12.

Yeah, it's that good...

Saturday was an early day for me, having to get up and meet the rest of the IHW (Indiana Horror Writers) so that we could carpool to Lexington, Kentucky. On the way down, I inquired as to where Apex Day was going to be held, to which I was told: Joseph Beth Booksellers. I had never heard of the bookstore, but was excited to find out that it was a two story bookstore, filled to the roof with books of all kinds. As soon as I walked into the store, I was blown away. The Architecture of the place was absolutely gorgeous!

They even had an escalator!

Overall, my first impression of Joseph Beth Books was one of awe. However, on closer inspection of their books, I found just about every Lansdale book that I didn't want to have to order from my local B&N (that means a lot). But, because of finances, I had to talk myself out of picking them up, much to my chagrin. And when I looked lost and (I'll admit it, still awestruck with the place) confused, a nice sales-boy stopped to help me find my place before the IHW would have to send a search party to find me.


Chatting with the guy (unfortunately, his name escapes me as of the moment, I'm sorry) I was surprised to find that he knew, and had read almost as many horror books as me, including Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Brian Keene, John Skip, Joe Hill, and even, yes, you guessed it... Joe R. Lansdale!

I digress... Back to Apex Day.



Gary reading from To Each Their Darkness, Apex Day 2010.

 Coming in late, we (the IHW) found some seats and sunk into them to absorb the second and third readings that Gary was giving from To Each Their Darkness. Afterwards there were giveaways... lots and lots of giveaways. In fact, everyone who came in before and during the reading ended up landing a book. However, only the first ten or so actually landed a book either by, or with Gary in it. Those who received a Braunbeck prize, also received a burnt copy of a short film called One of Those Faces, which was based on Gary's short story "Rami Temporalis." I happened to walk away with a copy of Future Net (look for a future review of this book as well), and a copy of One of Those Faces.

Future Net and a DVD copy of One of Those Faces

After Gary's reading it was time to buy books and get things signed, and time to just chill out and talk with people. Outside of the Apex authors in attendance, there were several other authors there as well, including: Michael West, RJ Sullivan, Stephen Zimmer, Michele Lee, Debbie Kuhn, Lucy A. Snyder, and Nicole Cushing.

After my explorations of the store, I returned to find that I had more books than what I had originally intended to pick up, which shouldn't have been a surprise, considering it happens to me every time. There were several titles I had been looking for, that I knew would be my only chance to pick up for a while, most notably Braunbeck's In the Midnight Museum (Tansmaniac Publications), and Lucy A. Snyder's Sparks and Shadows (HW Press).



From left to right: The Exodus Gate, To Each Their Darkness,
Sparks and Shadows, and In the Midnight Museum.

 I also managed to pick up To Each Their Darkness by Gary, and the first book in Stephen Zimmer's Epic Urban Fantasy series: The Exodus Gate (Seventh Star Press). I also received a bunch of promotional items for The Exodus Gate, including a couple of cover flats and two bookmarks, thanks to Stephen who was kind enough to give them to me.

December 11th, 2010 is one of those days I won't soon forget. Call it an early Christmas... Okay, one of many. Look for reviews for these titles to pop up within the coming months. And if you can't wait for the reviews, might I suggest going out and picking up a copy of one, or all of these titles for yourself, or maybe add them to your Christmas List... it's never too late for Santa!

~Rodney

Podcast #10: Interview #4: Lucy A. Snyder, and Book Giveaway #1

Lucy A. Snyder

Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award winning author of the poetry collection, Chimeric Machines, and Sparks and Shadows, and her first novel, Spellbent. She has a B.S. in Biology and an M.A. in journalism and is a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop. Born in South Carolina, she grew up in the cowboys-and-cactus part of Texas and currently lives in Worthington, Ohio.

Here's the full interview with Lucy: Podcast #10: Interview #4: Lucy A. Snyder

MoCon Binge Book Giveaway #1

Hey all, here's your first chance to win a free book signed by the author. If you'd like the chance to win a free copy of Lucy A. Snyder's remarkable book Spellbent, then send an e-mail to: scifiguysbookreview@gmail.com with your name and address. You may only enter your name once for this book.

This contest will run for two weeks, starting today (May 22nd), until June 5th at midnight (EST).

Enjoy!

~Rodney

The MoCon Binge

Wow.

I've been so excited for so long now about sharing all of the goodness that is MoCon. If there was one thing that I was looking forward to the most this year, it was definitely MoCon V. It was also a big event for the site: I got the chance to interview Lucy A. Snyder, Gary A. Braunbeck, and Brian Keene (more about this later in the post), as well as prospects for even more author interviews, as well as a handful of books to give away (also explained later in this post).

My first encounter with MoCon was two years ago, when I was browsing Brian Keene's website and noticed that he'd be signing, as well as reading and participating on several of the panels being held at the convention. There I met Maurice Broaddus, Kelli Dunlap, Bob Freeman, Michael West, Alethea Kontis, D. Harlan Wilson, Geoffery Girard, Brian Keene, as well as Gary A. Braunbeck, his lovely wife Lucy A. Snyder, and Wrath James White.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend last year, but I did this year.

It was incredible. This years theme was the incorporation of faith in writing. They had several panels that were brilliant, funny and insightful. There was amazing food, good fellowship (including a few games of Magic), and some damn fine art, with Steven C. Gilbert as the Art Guest of Honor.

I hope you'll understand and forgive me, when I say that beyond that description there isn't much more that I can expound on. Everything went by so quickly, and sort of blurred together, but in a good way.

So, with that being said, here's how this Binge thing will break down:

Book Reviews

At my first MoCon -- strapped for cash but craving for more books --I promised Wrath James White that I'd pick up more of his books when I had more cash. Well, this year I just happened to have enough to pick up some of his other titles, that I've been really looking forward to reading.Therefore about half of the forthcoming reviews will include some of Wrath's novels, but they will be interspersed evenly throughout.

Interview Podcasts

While at MoCon I was lucky enough to interview and record, Lucy A. Snyder, Gary A. Bruanbeck and Brian Keene, as stated before. I'll be post each author's interview seperately, probably in three or four day intervals.

Book Giveaways

I've procured several different titles while at MoCon, all signed by the authors, that I'll be giving away within the next several days. I'll be posting more information when I make the official post.

For now, hang tight, and enjoy the binge!

~Rodney

Free Chimeras! Get 'Em While You Can!

To celebrate CHIMERIC MACHINES' Bram Stoker Award, Creative Guy Publishing is offering a free electronic copy of the book on Smashwords until April 10th. I would highly suggest you go take a visit to Smashwords and grab yourself a copy before the offer expires. Lucy's written an amazing collection, and it even includes an intro by Tom Piccirilli.

Just include the code: LN79D at checkout and CHIMERIC MACHINES is yours for free! And if that doesn't get you excited, then I don't know what could. Look for a further review for CHIMERIC MACHINES to be posted here soon.

And while your at it, why not pick up a dead-tree copy as well, and support Creative Guy Publishing and Lucy.

And while I'm at it, I'd like to add a congratulations to Lucy for her first Bram Stoker Award!

Look for a further review for CHIMERIC MACHINES to be posted here soon. Until then, happy reading!

~Rodney

Spellbent Book Review

Title: Spellbent
Author: Lucy A. Snyder
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780345512093

Spellbent is the ambitious, brilliant and funny debut novel of author Lucy A. Snyder.

Back in February I had the opportunity to meet Lucy, and her husband and fellow author Gary A. Braunbeck at a local signing in Indianapolis. I had previously only met them once before, back in '07 at Mo*Con II, and thoroughly enjoyed talking to them both and picking their brains on writing and the like. So, needless to say when I found out they were coming back to Indy again I knew I couldn't pass it up. And man, am I glad that I didn't. A fun night was had by all: Mr. Braunbeck read from one of his short stories, while Mrs. Snyder read an excerpt from Spellbent, and I walked away with more books that what I had walked into the store with, including a signed copy of Spellbent. Always nice.

I took it home and devoured it in about three sittings. It kept me spellbound from the very start, and continued to pull me in every time I tried to put it down. Snyder has a way of blending genres -- as most urban fantasy is all about -- and making the reader want more, and Spellbent has everything in it, including: Romance, Fantasy, Adventure, Horror and Mystery, with a good splash of humor thrown in. It reminded me a lot of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, in many ways, including the blending of genres and the epic scope that this seris could pan out to be, exceept Snyder doesn't take three books to get to the meat of the story.

Jessie Shimmer is a witch-in-training; an apprentice to her boyfriend Cooper, who's damn good at what he does. But while the two are casting a simple rain spell to help out the local farmers, things go haywire and Cooper disappears, leaving Jessie left with only her new ferret familiar, Pal. With no money, limited magic and a target on her back, Jessie takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her boyfriend and to set things straight, leaving destruction and death in her wake; she'll stop at nothing to find out what really happened to Cooper, and all I can say is: I WANT MORE!

Spellbent was one hell of a ride, something that caught me off guard. I didn't initially think it would be so fast paced and addictive, but Mrs. Snyder unlike many new authors, knows what she's doing, and I'm excited to see what she does with the second book in the trilogy, -- previously titled The Devil in Miss Shimmer -- Shotgun Sorceress. There are a handful or so of characters that are only met in passing, or for that matter mentioned, that I think would make badass characters, that I hope to see return, but only this time play a bigger role.

Over all, this debut novel is a first time experience that is well worth the read if you get the chance to pick it up. That's why I'm giving Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder 9 TARDIS's out of 10. It's definitely going to be on the top of my list for 2010!

And if you get the chance, keep cecking back: in the next month or so I'll be doing a podcast interview with not only Lucy, but also with her husband, Gary, and I have a feeling it's going to be a good one!

~Rodney