It's been a couple of weeks since I posted for the Reading Radar. October was just one of those busy months, though not in the usual ways. I traveled and visited family at the beginning of the month so I did get to listen to some audiobooks, but for a large part of the month I did very little reading or even book browsing. I'm working to get back into the swing of things with only marginal success. :)
Series: (Queer Sci Fi's Flash Fiction Contest Book 8)
Authors: Multiple Authors
Length: 294 pages
Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror / High Fantasy / Speculative Fiction / Urban Fantasy / Paranormal / LGBTIAQ
Notes: Full disclosure, I was very honored to be a judge for this flash fiction contest this year. All the stories are 300 words or less. It was interesting to see where the writers took 'Clarity'. I really enjoyed the experience and have some favorites. My 'judge's pick' is actually in the front of the Fantasy section. Telegram From The Netherland is fantastic. I do have a list of other favorites, but the list is too long to put here. Pick up a copy yourself and see which ones you like best. :)
Blurb: clarity(noun)
Four definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell:
1) Coherent and intelligible
2) Transparent or pure
3) Attaining certainty about something
4) Easy to see or hear
Clarity features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
Four definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell:
1) Coherent and intelligible
2) Transparent or pure
3) Attaining certainty about something
4) Easy to see or hear
Clarity features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
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Title: From the Noblest Motives
Series: (Variant Configurations Book 2)
Authors: Angel Martinez
Length: 296 pages
Genre: Slow Burn Romance / Urban Fantasy? / Sci-Fi / Gay /
Notes: I've been looking forward to this release. Yay! Coming Nov 22nd
Blurb: The Fredamine Project was just the beginning. Shadow dealings and conspiracies regarding variants intertwine until Damien and his cohorts can no longer tell who the bad guys are.
Several months have passed since Blaze and the infamous Variant activist Shudder McKenzie helped Damien rescue the captives of the sinister Fredamine Project. Professionally, everything's great. He's back to working with Damien again and they have a new lead on the three kids who are still missing. Personally, not so much. Blaze has made his peace with Shudder, though nothing between them has even been easy, but his relationship with Damien has taken several steps back. Blaze no longer has any idea where he stands. Adding to the tense atmosphere are the anti-Variant members of legislature who have been slowly gaining popular approval, and the cryptic messages Damien receives from an unknown source.
Shudder's back to his old haunts and his old tricks, trying to raise public awareness of imperiled Variant rights—such as the draconic Horace Act that strips due process during Variant trials—and to rescue Variant kids in trouble. His almost mythical luck runs out though when he's arrested for murder only three days after the passage of the Horace Act and a whirlwind trial and sentencing lands him in the most notorious maximum security facility for Variants—San Judas Tadeo.
With too many conspirators on both sides of the aisle, Damien, Blaze and Shudder no longer know whom to trust. Peeling through the layers of deceit and half-truths puts them on shakier ground with every discovery and in greater danger than ever before.
Variant Configurations takes place in a future Earth where humanity is reclaiming its spot in a gradually healing world. This book contains mentions of past abuse, action-adventure style mayhem, and the sparks of a slow burn, series-spanning relationship.
Title: The Akseli
Series: Aldebarian Alliance, 3
Authors: Dianne Duvall
Length: 11 hrs 2 min
Genre: Romance / Sci-Fi /
Notes: I'm still in love with this spinoff series. Simone was awesome and I really enjoyed a look at the Janwar and his 'pirates'.
Blurb: Simone has hunted and slain psychotic vampires for hundreds of years and desperately needs a change. When the leader of the Immortal Guardians offers her an opportunity to guard ten mortal women who are venturing to another planet, she dives right in and finds traveling into space just as exciting as she'd hoped . . . until an enemy attacks. Simone saves everyone she can before she's thrust into an escape pod and the ship explodes.
Despite his fierce reputation and propensity for violating the law, Janwar has formed a friendship with strait-laced Prince Taelon of Lasara. When the prince's ship is destroyed, Janwar joins the Aldebarian Alliance-wide search and rescue mission and soon locates the Gathendien ship that launched the attack. Much to his surprise, someone else has reached the ship first: one of the very Earth women he hoped to rescue.
Fascinatingly fierce, Simone bands together with Janwar and his crew to search for her missing friends. The friendship that grows between Janwar and Simone deepens into love. But the enemy warriors they face boast more weapons in their arsenal than the alliance knows. Can Janwar, Simone, and such a small crew vanquish them?
Contains mature themes.
Despite his fierce reputation and propensity for violating the law, Janwar has formed a friendship with strait-laced Prince Taelon of Lasara. When the prince's ship is destroyed, Janwar joins the Aldebarian Alliance-wide search and rescue mission and soon locates the Gathendien ship that launched the attack. Much to his surprise, someone else has reached the ship first: one of the very Earth women he hoped to rescue.
Fascinatingly fierce, Simone bands together with Janwar and his crew to search for her missing friends. The friendship that grows between Janwar and Simone deepens into love. But the enemy warriors they face boast more weapons in their arsenal than the alliance knows. Can Janwar, Simone, and such a small crew vanquish them?
Contains mature themes.
Title: The Valens Legacy
Series: Publisher's Pack 1-2
Authors: Jan Stryvant
Length: 11 hrs 13 min
Genre: Paranormal / Action & Adventure / Harem / Romantic Elements / Bisexual /
Notes: I've mentioned this before on the Radar when it was recommended to me since I enjoy poly romances. This is very much a plot driven story about a lion shifter uncovering his past and the people who are trying to keep him from accomplishing something that will rock the paranormal world between shifters and mages. It deals with some heavy topics, like the forced servitude of some shifters to mage houses. It has an interesting lore for the rare lion shifters. Sean is a likable MC. He collects pride members with a decisiveness that is a little jarring because the use of "girlfriends" morphed into wives from one chapter to the next. There is insta-love in all cases and very little relationship angst. I'm completely okay with that since it fits with his shifter type. There are not long drawn out love scenes and they are on the lighter side of explicit, which is also okay with me. I'm on the 3rd dual volume and so far I've liked all the women in his life and how they were depicted, each being different and bringing new skills to the group.
There are a couple of things I noticed though. One is the lack of diversity. With the story taking place in Reno, Nevada I expected there to a wider range of cultures represented. But from signs given in the writing, I'm pretty sure that the author isn't from the area and might not be from the United States. The first hint came from how banking is portrayed. No on can walk into a bank and withdraw 100,000 in cash in less than an hour. The teller doesn't handle that kind of money. And you're not going to be keeping it in rolls in your pockets. Plus, there aren't going to be many places that will accept large bills simply because they don't keep enough cash in the register to break the bills. There were other hintss, like all the humans at a Reno mall carrying a firearm and running to participate in a gun battle. *dies laughing
Despite the things that I've overlooked because I found them weird (this is fiction and they can write the world however they choose) I've been enjoying the series. The narrator is also pretty good with all the different voices. *looks up at the paragraphs I just wrote. Looks like I had a lot to say about this series. :)
Blurb: Black Friday, book 1:
In his junior year at college, the only things on Sean's mind are doing his homework and getting out of college to get a real job. A gamer and a bit of a nerd, Sean's philosophy in life has been to keep his head down and get his work done: He doesn't have the time or money for anything more after his father died in an industrial accident when Sean was eight.
But when a failed kidnapping attempt leaves him with a gaping hole in his memory, his oldest friend dead, and his mother missing, Sean suddenly finds his whole world turned upside down as he's thrust into the hidden world of magic and the supernatural. Apparently he's now wanted, dead or alive, by all of the magical societies, though he has no idea why. About the only thing going for him is what his friend did for him just before he died and the cute track star who lives in the room next to his, who has suddenly taken a very personal interest in his problems.
Perfect Strangers, book 2:
During his junior year in college, Sean finds himself suddenly dropped into the middle of a world that he didn't even know existed. A secret world of magic and magic users, lycanthropes, goblins, and all the other things that go bump in the night. To make matters even more difficult, the very same magic users who had Sean's father killed now believe that Sean will somehow inherit his father's work when he turns 21, which is just a few days away.
Needless to say most of the magic users' councils seem to be in two camps: The first camp wants him dead. The second camp wants him captured and will probably kill him after they've learned his secrets. The only solution Sean sees to any of this is to finish his father's work, the very thing that got his father killed. But in order to do that, Sean must first find out just what his father was working on! He's also going to need to learn magic himself, find a safe place to stay, raise some money, and gain a lot of allies.
Fortunately for Sean he's got two good women at his side: Roxy, a cheetah lycanthrope with a lot of experience in fighting; and Jolene, a tantric witch with more than a few connections in the supernatural black market.
WARNING: The Valens Legacy contains explicit sexuality, nudity, violence, bad language, attempted murder, actual murder, self-defense, proactive self-defense, destruction of private property, vandalism, breaking and entering, tantric magic, polyamory, mayhem, gratuitous sex and violence, littering, breaking speed limits, a used car dealer, one Plymouth hemi, and some poor guy who just wants to earn a paycheck as a cashier.
In his junior year at college, the only things on Sean's mind are doing his homework and getting out of college to get a real job. A gamer and a bit of a nerd, Sean's philosophy in life has been to keep his head down and get his work done: He doesn't have the time or money for anything more after his father died in an industrial accident when Sean was eight.
But when a failed kidnapping attempt leaves him with a gaping hole in his memory, his oldest friend dead, and his mother missing, Sean suddenly finds his whole world turned upside down as he's thrust into the hidden world of magic and the supernatural. Apparently he's now wanted, dead or alive, by all of the magical societies, though he has no idea why. About the only thing going for him is what his friend did for him just before he died and the cute track star who lives in the room next to his, who has suddenly taken a very personal interest in his problems.
Perfect Strangers, book 2:
During his junior year in college, Sean finds himself suddenly dropped into the middle of a world that he didn't even know existed. A secret world of magic and magic users, lycanthropes, goblins, and all the other things that go bump in the night. To make matters even more difficult, the very same magic users who had Sean's father killed now believe that Sean will somehow inherit his father's work when he turns 21, which is just a few days away.
Needless to say most of the magic users' councils seem to be in two camps: The first camp wants him dead. The second camp wants him captured and will probably kill him after they've learned his secrets. The only solution Sean sees to any of this is to finish his father's work, the very thing that got his father killed. But in order to do that, Sean must first find out just what his father was working on! He's also going to need to learn magic himself, find a safe place to stay, raise some money, and gain a lot of allies.
Fortunately for Sean he's got two good women at his side: Roxy, a cheetah lycanthrope with a lot of experience in fighting; and Jolene, a tantric witch with more than a few connections in the supernatural black market.
WARNING: The Valens Legacy contains explicit sexuality, nudity, violence, bad language, attempted murder, actual murder, self-defense, proactive self-defense, destruction of private property, vandalism, breaking and entering, tantric magic, polyamory, mayhem, gratuitous sex and violence, littering, breaking speed limits, a used car dealer, one Plymouth hemi, and some poor guy who just wants to earn a paycheck as a cashier.
Thank you for stopping by and reading!
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