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Thor, made fallible by the power of science, works a diminutive job as a bellhop. The world has ended, between fifteen and thirty times (I lost count and do not trust the 22 listed in the book description on amazon). But neither the zombie apocalypse, the apocalypse that allowed ghosts to rule the internet, nor the one that made clones of great world leaders of history battle to the death on pay-per-view can get Thor down. Hold on, that isn’t right.. All of those things get him down. He went from God status to supplying extra pillows to asshats in one if the few buildings in town not on fire or being collapsed by molemen from the center of the earth. That would get just about anyone down. Quetzalcoatl on the other hand, is drunk. After going on a modern day rampage across Central America and the southern US, he is tired. His mind is smashed, he is smashed, and the realities of the philosophers guild growing sizable in the hobo nation… are smashed. When he regains some st...

I want to say I was “disappointed” but I wasn’t really, I do not know that I had any real reaction to this. The thing is that there was nothing here that really stood out as either above par or under par, it just existed. With an international bestseller, the posthumous glory of the author has to top out someplace. This graphic novel was not that pinnacle, in fact, it might be a sign of the end. After world wide book translation, successful foreign films, unneeded US films, a lackluster graphic novel seems like the next step before lunchboxes and old-navy baby t-shirts. It isn’t that the story became bad when this was created, it is just that there was nothing new. It doesn’t translate well to the format. The original plot-line of the novel is DRY DRY DRY. the only thing that drives the plot is Lisbeth’s tale. to be honest, most people could give a rats ass about the Millennium story-line in the beginning. The actual written conversion to G...

Need something to do on a the last dismal Friday in your 2012 November? Local author Todd Grimson and Schaffner Press have put together a night of music and reading on Friday 11/30/12. It is a free event and folks should go check it out! The shindig is going down in celebration of a new collection of Grimson short stories, “Stabs At Happiness”. Event is happening at the Jack London Bar (529 SW 4th Ave) in Portland, Oregon. Various authors will be reading shorts from the collection, live bands from 9:20 till close. Should be a good way to close out the month :) ! Yelp/Location info for Jack London (basement below the Rialto) http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-jack-london-bar-portland http://www.rialtopoolroom.com/ ~~ Review- Stabs at Happiness: 13 Stories I have a thing for Todd Grimson, his novels are sharp, clean, and tracking the pulse of cool before the cool folks know what they are looking for. His groundbreaking vampire novel ‘Stainless’, and the stylish Voodoo-c...

Ho-ly e-book gold. Feng Shui Assassin is tailor made to be converted to a cult movie; This book demands a sequel that will probably never come, which is a damn shame. It was written (per the author) after some long pub discussions, which means auto-win right? Harvey Barker is in London, hunting the board members of the Valentine Trust. Blamed for the death of his environmental activist sister, his goal is to destroy them one by one. As with any murder plot, the question of how to do it without getting caught is paramount to success rate. Harvey had this nailed down. Harvey is a Feng Shui Assassin. Chi that flows easily and unfettered brings luck and grace to a persons life. Chi that becomes stagnant can bring misfortune and unhappiness. Adjusting objects in space to create pools and eddys of negative chi, Harvey’s specialty is helping nasty things happen to people by muddying their flows. His work leaves no tangible mark tying him to a crime. Harvey opens the book by...

‘Die, Famous!’ surprised the hell out of me. Found at Goodwill for a whopping $1.99, I bought this novel with no thought that it would be capable of spanning generations as a classic, only that it would be “crappy-goodness”. The cover caught my attention, the synopsis baked the overall premise into my brain. Cha-ching, 2 bucks spent. I figured it cant be worse than actual reality tv, which has a strange magnetism that both sucks me in and nauseates me. . I was wrong on a number of levels. ‘Die, Famous!’ is witty, well written, epitomizes the reality culture and mind set. I couldn’t stop reading it. It was well approached, giving a perspective to all characters via reality tv confession booths, but the core story follows a single man. He has been given four hours to tell the tale from start to finish, confessing all details. Instead of chapters, you are given a countdown of this four hour period. The plot centers around thirty-two reality tv all-stars being dropped into a...

Three books reviewed below: What to Expect When You’re Expecting, 4th Edition Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality, 2nd Edition Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads So amongst the months of recent and varied technical site issues, I was also combating the utterly ambiguous feelings of fear and excitement of being a soon to be/new dad. Jenn (my wife) found out she was pregnant late last year, and we were expecting a birth in mid-August. We were trying to keep it on the down low in many arenas, so this is the first time I have made mention of it here on my site. At this point, I am a new Dad, my boy Finnegan was born safely (woot!) and the wife is doing well. I am proud to have a new perspective on a number of things. I also have the unusual task of talking about “Baby Books” when normally I am well entrenched in some form of fiction. As a reader, I did what could only be assumed as right, I read a bunch of books on the topic in an effort to p...

This novel is set in ‘current’ day San Francisco. A small group of friends skip school to play a live action multi-player geocache game. While out wandering the city, a loud concussive blast rumbles the area. A series of explosions have taken out the Bay Bridge and all four friends find themselves mindlessly following the herd of fearful humans to perceived safe areas. Trouble doesn’t end with the explosion, is always one total dick hole in any large crowd. While white eyed fear ruled the mob, one of the four gets stabbed and nearly trampled. They escape from the crowd and begin desperately trying to wave down medical assistance. Covered in blood and nowhere near where they should have been at that time of the day, it is little wonder they are detained by a passing Homeland Security team. What follows is a scarily realistic view of what any world government could do when given enough unchecked power. Tortured, interrogated, with their families left wondering if they are dead, ...

From the print edition: “Follow a contemporary anti-hero struggling through the day-to-day of making ends meet to pay the cell phone bills!” From the Kindle edition: “Danny had the perfect life… until he lost his wife, his house, and his job. He buckles down to keep enough cash to pay his cell phone bill, though. Strap on your running shoes and join him as he makes the daily dash through The Rat Race.” I don’t particularly like either of these descriptions of Sara Logan’s THE RAT RACE. They are both lacking. They do not do the book justice and really do not lend a reader enough info to determine if it is up their alley. But I am an opinionated ass, so bear with me. What it could say: “The Rat Race is no less pitiful for one than another. We all share the same finish line. The only difference is if we are whores or beggars, champions or frightened babies, quitters or people who stick it out till the end. Danny has a great job, a wife, a home, a kick ass car… He is a con...

EDIT 05/23/12:  It has come to my attention that I failed to note this book was well written. I would like to be clear that the author is descriptive and has no trouble putting sentences together. It was only my opinion of the the plot content that I had trouble with as outlined below, and as stated, each person should make their own decision. ~~ I hate giving bad reviews but it happens. My tolerance levels are pretty high for trash fiction. When I begin reading a book, I work hard to ensure instances when I am unable to finish it are as rare as possible. I reserve the right to stop and remove myself from a bad novel, but keep this right minimally acted upon. This novel is part of the fairly exclusive club called “Books I couldn’t reasonably spend more time on” also referred to as “I can never get those minutes of my life back”.. I made it eighty-three pages and just had to stop. It could get better later but I will never know. Dana Fredsti’s novel Plague Town is just ano...

Attacked by a cloud of crows intent on tearing holes in her and removing a prophetic manuscript pages from her person – Fable is tossed into a cross dimensional struggle that could throw two universes into a dark age at best, or apocalypse at worst. Huh, hold on.. Lets roll this back a second… Nondescript Fable is a mess. Her Aunt has been murdered, Her Fiance is kaput. Her job sent her packing. She crosses the country, leaving her life in New York City for rainy and dismal Portland Oregon in an effort to mourn and put her Aunt’s affairs in order. Greeted in PDX by the FBI, the Feds advise her she is on a short list as a potential next victim in a string of disappearances. They also fear that she is in danger by the same Killer who violently shuffled her Aunt from the mortal world. A shade of her Aunt Celeste passes cryptic messages to her in daydreams and fever visions. Fable enters a trance in which she describes the future in written detailed form. Fable is a teenage...

Synopsis. Successful Neurosurgeon is depressed and has a home life that can only be described as extreme emotionally abusive. He is consistently ripped into, which causes him to be distant, which exacerbates his situation. Neurosurgeon saves the life of a known gangster after a car wreck, then falls head over heels for the gangsters wife. Obviously, not the brightest move, but people do stupid things for love. Anything more would be spoilers. Suffice to say that there are about ten total characters, and each has their part, though maybe not in the same story arc. This novel is more of a character exploitation in the realm of greed where love is involved. It is enjoyable, but if you are looking for action packed gripping plot line, you should look elsewhere. This is a book for Character lovers and those who enjoy a meandering stroll through the inner thoughts of people as lost as most of us fail to admit we are. The plot twist is less surprising and more “I knew that was goin...

Blood and Tacos issue 1 is pretty awesome folks. You can read it for free at  bloodandtacos.com Alternately, if you want a copy you can save and keep forever and ever, it is for sale on Amazon for a whole dollar. $0.99 cents of glory. In a nutshell, it has a series of short stories that are written to appear as if they were long lost relics of the manly man era of pulp fiction. You know the time frame… we are talking chest hair, mullets, cheesy one liners, blood, fist fighting. All the things that make a Charles Bronson film awesome and the Joe Don Baker movie “Mitchell” so damn terrible (awesome). Current issue includes work by Gary Phillips, Matthew C. Funk (what a name), Johnny Shaw, and lots of other awesome authors.. Each story is written as if the author “Found it” in an archive. Check the About page of the site for more details. There are no unicorns here, unless they are fighting against a grizzly. The men don\’t cuddly, they fight fuck then flee, leaving b...

HELP SPREAD THE WORD! If you are a book blogger, book reader, or aspiring author, check in your couch for a dollar. repost this, help out where you can..  $1.. Even a buck helps..  To be honest though? 4200 dollars/backers would help more.. (SCROLL DOWN for a synopsis) Then spread this information far and wide.. Kickstarter.com : Projects – Murder of Crows Athena has 11 days left on her funding attempt (!! via KickStart !!). Her book is written, arc copies have been read and feedback given to her. She will be hitting up a respected Portland editor, and jumping through the hoops with any money collected. Any one interested in assisting an awesome author, jump on this! You could help bring a book into existence, and gain karma points if you are trying to publish yourself later :) There are kick ass perks.. Pledge what you want to, but I suggest $130. gets you: an ebook copy a signed dead tree copy custom bookmark your name in the book’s acknowledgments sect...