Dangerous Demons: Deadtown

Dear Readers,

Back on the scene am I this fine Spring and interested in really more demons for the blog....

So....

Without further adieu, please let me present for your consideration the fabulous book, Deadtown by Nancy Holzner.

As you may have gathered reading my posts, I do so enjoy a strong female lead character.  Especially ones that kick ass.  So, perhaps it is not surprising to find me reading about the trials and tribulations of Victory "Vicky" Vaughn, professional demon slayer and member of the Cerddorion race.

That makes her a shape-shifter.  She's living in Boston, post the plague outbreak which changed humans into zombies.  While it was only a short stay with the virus PA (Paranormal Americans) are caught in the Deadtown, the center of downtown Boston.

While Vicky makes a living slaying people's demons (mostly in their heads but sometimes elsewhere) she is dating a high profile werewolf lawyer and lives with a vampire who was the inspiration for Romeo & Juliet.

Things start to get interesting when she starts having to deal with a Hellion on the loose, the same one who killed her father 10 years prior.  This starts a chain of events that leaves her fighting off the Hellion before he can find a way to influence the Massachusetts election and get the Paranormals caught up in a new slice of hell.

I really enjoyed the fast pace of the book and the characters who inhabit Vicky's world of Boston.  Vampires are there mostly for color but the werewolves and zombies are an interesting fit and the zombies really provide a unique view into what makes someone a monster.  Oh yes, kinda like the Anita Blake novels, but a very different take on the whole affair.

I also enjoy the idea of a flushed Welsh mythos in play interwoven into the story.  Go hang with Nancy's imaginary friends, they'll be yours too.

XX
RHW




Deadtown (A Deadtown Novel)
By: Nancy Holzner
Published: December 29, 2009, Ace Books
ISBN: 978-0441018130

Vicious Vampyres: Skinwalker

So dear readers, I have started a new series of books --  I know I know, such a hussy for a group of paranormal series.

This new series is the Jane Yellowrock series from a Southern author named Faith Hunter.  I think I'm noticing a trend of Southerners on my bookcase...hmmm....  As you may imagine from the title of the first book, she is a skinwalker - a Native American shape changer.  As you may imagine, this has fostered an interest in learning more about the stories of the People, but I have yet to get myself in gear to go learn about it.  I want to though as there is such a rich heritage of the Cherokee / Native American tribes about their past and their spirits.

So, back to Jane and her story.  Jane is a skinwalker but her day job is a rouge vampire hunter.  She in fact is hired by the big kahuna of the New Orleans Vampire Council to hunt down a rogue that threatens their safety.

In this world, the vampires have come out of the coffin as well.  They had to do so because Marilyn Monroe was a vamp and bit Kennedy and was staked by the FBI.  Thought it was  a great way for them to go really.

As you may know from my other posts, while I do enjoy the surface story about the paranormal, I really enjoy some of the bigger picture stuff - for instance, the socio-political implications of the paranormal in the everyday lives of the people in these worlds - the convoluted power plays and internal politics of vampires in their kisses - the supernatural as a trope in the collective unconsciousness - blah blah blah.

Faith Hunter does an admirable job with the vampire politics of her vampires in New Orleans.  I totally think that the political plays and the major families not only harken back to an earlier time in our own human history, she deftly weaves them back into false history......PS - False History is one of my favourite things, dears.  Can't even.......don't even get me started on Kiki & Herb...... another time......

Jane is down in New Orleans looking for the threat, and finds herself embroiled in vampire politics and power plays, and getting the hot eye from a mysterious fellow by the name of Rick La Fluer.

She also learns more about her own personal past and the spirit she shares a body with, her Beast.

I like the sassy mix of Jane's internal dialogue and the external adventure.  Definitely a worthwhile read for you dears.  Drop a bitch a note about what you think after you read it.

Talk soon,
RHW






Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)
By: Faith Hunter
Published: July 7, 2009, ROC
ISBN: 978-0451462800

Delicious Druids: Hounded

Writing all about my book hobby is an entertaining respite from the stresses of the everyday.  It's frankly also a great way to exercise my aging faculties upstairs.  That all being said, and again, drowning in guilt around my failure to update this blog for a bit, I have reread some great books leading into my 2012 bonanaza of fantasy.

One of the series I dug out of the metaphorical cupboard (I mean, how would you store books in a cupboard....what a waste.....china is much better there, I promise), was the new series written by a writer out of the American southwest, named Kevin Hearne.  The first book in his series is named Hounded and I enjoyed it immensly.

Why you may be tempted to ask?

I'll tell you why;  it combines a couple of passions of mine.  Let's break it down:

Number A - The book has Druids in it - In fact, the main character is a Druid.  Who doesn't love Druids (well, excepting the Romans)?

Number B - The book uses mythology as a backdrop and as a story telling method.  Yes my friends, mythology still exists past those drabs and dribbles from Bullfinch and Edith Hamilton (and her bad cover art).


Number C - The characters are all quite well written and the story line is engaging.  Oh yes, yes, yes!  Rah Rah Rah, or as my favorite lady, the mysterious Poetry Lady BFF would say, U-S-A U-S-A.  I could chant that all night.

Number D - It made me have to start a new type of post, hence the Delicious Druid tag.  I love Druids and could write all day about that.

Number E -  There are some spicy comic relief bits that tickle those grey cells.  Ok since I started making italicized points after my point, I will say I never know to use grey or gray (Thank you, thank you; I'll be here all year)
 
Alright to summate - the main character of this here yarn is named Siobhachan O'Suileabhain which is a delicious ryme muddle that in your mouth out loud - it's fun,  and is the last of the Druids.  How did he survive, you may ask?  He was in hiding from one of the Celtic gods throughout the ages since there seems to be a disagreement on the finer points of having and wielding a Fae artifact, namely, a really cool sword.

In his adventures you meet a really friendly set of werewolves, an odd old vampire, and oh yes, demons and witches!  He's basically writing for this here blog!  OMG!  They are all great well flushed out characters and the comic relief is brought up the back by a talking dog.  Loves it lots.

I wholly encourage reading his series, the Iron Druid series as it's fun sexy and flirts with mythology.  I got wet from all the references to my favorite supernatural community members and then brings it up the back with a ka-pow by using mythology.

Epic battles, saucy wenches, a thoroughly modern voice and diction. Oh, and better cover art than post of his contemporaries.


I may be in love.  <3


XX
RHW

Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book One)
By: Kevin Hearne
Published: May 3, 2011, Del Rey
ISBN: 978-0345522474

Werewolves' Howl: River Marked

I was thrilled to see the new Patricia Briggs book, River Marked, out in Borders.  You know, the endagered species of bookstores.

A page turner, Mercy Thompson becomes Hauptman, in a wedding tying her to her werewolf mate.  Then on honey moon with her new Alpha mate head out to the country where they find more than they bargained for.  A faery's prophecy found Mercy meeting both her past and her future in the Indian side of her blood.

An enormous battle leaves her literally in the claws of death, but power and her weird relationship to a fae artifact saves her in the end.

I love pat's style in weaving a story with super believable traits and a world that is shocked by the things that go howl in the night.  It takes the same point of view that True Blood does on HBO, where humanity is being forced to react to things considered "paranormal".  While Charlene Harris does the same in her books, it is a very different backdrop for Sookie and co on paper rather than via the prism of Alan Ball.

Anyway, loved getting more backstory on Mercy as well as the wedding was great.

I highly recommend it.

XX
Red Haired Witch



River Marked (Mercy Thompson, Book 6)

Author: Patricia Briggs
Publisher: Ace Books
ISBN: 978-0441019731