R J Blain On Sale Now

R J Blain’s Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count) are on sale in a starter pack of 7 on Amazon  today for $0.99. Treat yourself.

Death & Detention

I am really enjoying this book. David is offering D&D in five episodes, the first being free. After reading it I bought the book.

In the affluent town of Augustine, being picture-perfect means everything. Which is why the powers that be are so willing to write off a troubled teen’s suspicious death as an accident.

But when seventeen-year-old outsider Prudence Mallory finds an anonymous letter that makes her classmate’s death look like a homicide, she can’t turn away from the mystery. -Amazon

Two sentences that do not do justice to Prudence. She is simply, for me, the best 17 yr old heroine I have read in a long time. Mind you, I am only at 44% but Prudence has not disappointed.

Prudence is no stranger to what happens when doing the right thing makes you the pariah, she’s done that and is still there. She knows that her digging into the “accidental” death of a classmate isn’t going to make her popular but she believes that justice for Anna  is more important than being invited to the right parties- or any parties.

She can wield a mean can of coke, she has a bright pink scooter and a cell phone. She knows when a dumb idea is dumb but if that’s her only idea she’ll make it work out- somehow.

Oh, Prudence Mallory, I love you.

 

Vox Day Shows His Ass, Chuck Tingle Points and Laughs

This is a tale of Big Dogs and Rabid Puppies.

Dear Readers, I woke up at a disgustingly early hour for a Saturday and have been wandering the net in search of entertainment and enlightenment. I’ve found both. To understand how entertaining this story is I need to take you back to 2013 when John Scalzi made The Biggest Loser aka Vox Day into a game for a number of charities that he (Day) would probably like to see wiped off the planet.

Because The Biggest Loser/Vox Day/Theodore Beale doesn’t believe in anything but the rights of the straight white man. That’s simplistic but it pretty much covers it. You know the type and you wish you didn’t. I’ll give you a quick and dirty summary of a couple events I think are crucial to the enjoyment of today’s post.

Back in 2013 The Biggest Loser or TBL targeted author John Scalzi probably for being everything TBL is not. You know, respected, well-liked, successful. Like author NK Jemisin. Here is a link to a lovely little article with some divine TBL quotes. And here is Scalzi on TBL, and this link, and then Scalzi again. I do so admire that level of creative thinking.

Scalzi contemplating his next book.

Then in 2015 the Hugo Awards became the target of two groups, the Sad Puppies and the  Rabid Puppies, bent on keeping SciFi straight, white, and male, both in content and in authorship. It hasn’t been the resounding success that they wished, let’s use this link and this link. You would think that some people *cough* TBL *cough* would get the hint.

But, or should I say Butt, no.

 

 

TBL and the Rabid Puppies came back to this year’s Hugos. That’s right, TBL nominated Space Raptor Butt Invasion. I’m sure TBL and his foaming-at-the-muzzle littermates never expected Chuck Tingle’s response.

 

Now Tingle has made a name for himself with books like SRBI, indeed Tingle seems to find inspiration everywhere, or maybe in everybutt(?).

 

 

 

 

And it seems that TBL’s nomination is no exception.

Yes, I bought it. I finally own a Chuck Tingle. You’ve heard the adage, if you can’t run with the big dogs stay on the porch? Read this. If life is like a yard and a porch Scalzi and Tingle are running free and Vox is trying not to fall down the steps (yet again).

What could be more perfect?

Vox reacting to Tingle’s announcement.

Two books showing Tingle’s expertise in business and social issues.

Tingle demonstrating the correct way to show your ass.

I was going to include a couple of Day’s books but

Paul and his friends found them first.

 

 

Review- Fat, Fifty, and Menopausal

Humor is difficult. And varied. It requires a certain ability that escapes a great many people who attempt it. Goode has the ability in spades.

Sometimes it is not the situations she finds herself in but the way she describes them. Or in the way the story derails in a totally fascinating but bizarre fashion and eventually winds back around to where she started, sort of, usually. AJ telling a story is like AJ taking a road trip from Battle Creek to Kalamazoo by way of Baghdad, Reykjavik, and Canberra. She will get you to Kalamazoo and you will have some great photos and  a souvenir Tshirt of  Alice Springs when you arrive.

In my progress reports I said it was like your BFF sitting at your kitchen table and letting it all roll out, without filters. Everything that “maturity” brings. (My friends and I agree that we are not getting older, we are getting more mature) Weight gain, menopause, sensible shoes, reentering the dating game, mature sex, speeding tickets, trying to master modern technology, social media, and my personal favorite, spicy food. And Stephen King in a red gown and crown.

In 19 conversations Goode is a brilliant combination of the Golden Girls, Lucy Ricardo, and the late Erma Bombeck rolled up into an unleashed, unfiltered, no-subject-is-taboo explosion of domestic and social disaster and triumph.

The only problem was that the book ended far too soon. Required reading for all my friends. Highly recommended for everybody else. Remember it’s on sale for $0.99 before the May 1 release.

I was given a copy of this book for review.

 

Another Goode book that I have just bought.

 

 

Undead and Unburied in Michigan

57% and Goode just skewered Modern Love on social media. A crowned and gowned Stephen King is still lurking in the dark corners of my mind.

I have neglected to tell you that Fat, Fifty, and Menopausal is available for preorder at Amazon for $0.99 and available for purchase at $3.99 after May 1, 2016.

There really is a North American Menopause Society.

72% and Goode just told a fine story of her then husband and 40 acres of prime body burying land. I like the way she has written about her ex, she gives him respect and admiration and it says a great deal about both of them.

On to the finish.

 

 

This Calls For Popcorn

It started so simply.

It began with a casual comment that led to a good idea that involved a minimal amount of planning and should have been easy to accomplish.

Unfortunately, as usually happens with my plans, it all headed south pretty much right out of the gate and then just snowballed straight to hell from there. – Fat, Fifty, and Menopausal

At 31% I have realized hat where Goode starts off and where she ends up are two vastly different places. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have found myself- only younger and with kids. I’m still not sure if she got her picture taken however I would really like to lose the mental image of Stephen King in a red, one shoulder,  floor-length gown with crown and sash.

I haven’t had coffee and the cats want their breakfast but I’m just sittin’ here glued to the Further Adventures of A Goode Girl.