Thursday Thirteen, Edition 10

So I'm currently really immersed in Kim Harrison's Hollows series, starring the wonderful witch Rachel Mariana Morgan. And it's one of those series that stays on my mind even when I'm not between their covers; partly because I'm reading 6 or 7 books back to back and partly because they're so dense and rich, like a really excellent fudge brownie. And I have this running mental list of questions, observations, speculations, and an irritation or two. (Hey, I love the series, but nobody's perfect).

Since that's what's on my mind at the moment, I have my inspiration for this week's T13. With apologies to those Thirteeners who aren't familiar with Kim Harrison, this one won't be that interesting to you. (But this is a genre-busting series with something for everyone, so really, you should just give in and read the series. Then come back and this list will make a lot more sense to you.) Here is:

Thirteen Random Thoughts about Kim Harrison’s Hollows Universe

1. Dammitall. Is Trent a good guy or not? I NEED TO KNOW. Definitively.

2. If the magic in this world is predicated on balance (eg, the price of an earth charm is blood, the price of a demon curse is the black smut on the practitioner’s aura), what is the opposite, the balance, of the smut? It seems like there ought to be a way to eliminate it, not just move it from one being to another. I’m waiting for the angels to show up.

3. What *is* the crazy deal between pixies and elves, anyway?

4. Mild spoiler: So Rachel has witch abilities, demon abilities, carries the vampire virus, and is the member of a were pack. Oh, ‘scuse me, she’s the Alpha Bitch of a were pack (and we LOVE that). What can she do with pixies? Fairies? Elves? Gargoyles? Trolls? Well, OK, I guess she’s not quite at the tipping point yet for being the nexus of all paranormal races in the Hollows.

5. Ivy’s voice is described as a “gray ribbon,” or “gray silk” too often. What does that even mean?

6. I also think that as an expletive, “the Turn” gets overused. “By the Turn,” “Dammit back to the Turn,” etc. etc. OK, I get that it was huge, but has it actually replaced ALL other profanity?

7. Speaking of profanity though, I adore Jenks’ creative vocabulary. “Tink’s tampons”? And the little interplay between Jenks and his son, where the son says “Tink’s diaphragm” and gets called out on it? Hah, so very father/son, and yet totally warped. Love.

8. A lot of this cover art reminds me of the cover of “In the Garden of Good and Evil.” Cool.



9. I’m very curious about where the focus thing with David could go. I don’t actually think much else is going to happen in this series arc, but according to the setup, *spoiler for FAFDM* the balance of power between the vamps and the weres has shifted. Though I don’t quite get why it was such a *bad* thing for Warren to have it and now it’s an OK thing for David. Still, wouldn’t it be cool to see the Hollows in a couple of generations?

10. Something is UP with that cat Rex. Mark my words.

11. Church bells. Do church bells ring when anyone else in the Hollows does their thing? I don’t think so. What does this mean?

12. I love how Rachel’s mom is emerging as a character. Hope there’s more good stuff in upcoming books.

13. Pretty sure I could do another 13 like this. Have you read any of the Hollows books? What are you curious about? If you could spec a short story in this world about a certain plot point or character, what would it be?

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Visit the Thursday Thirteen site here.
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The Hollows - Kim Harrison - Series Review

I'm reading as fast as I can!

Really.

I got to go to a signing tonight to see Kim Harrison (damn, that woman is GORGEOUS) and got a shiny new copy of White Witch, Black Curse. Since most signings I've been to have the author reading a little blurb, I've been doing my best all week to get caught up on the series. At the moment I'm about halfway through the sixth book, The Outlaw Demon Wails. I kind of wanted to finish that and WWBC before doing a review but I just can't wait that long.

I'd read the first one, Dead Witch Walking, a couple months ago, but the series stalled for me when I couldn't find book #2, The Good, The Bad, and the Undead. Paperback copies are all but unavailable for some reason and I really didn't want the hardback. So I waited for the library system to come through with a copy for me, which was about two weeks ago.

Since then I've been burning up the series. WOW. If you're a reader who loves complicated plots, a wide cast of characters, themes that are all about shades of gray, and the interplay of love, sex, and power, this is a series you'll love.

It starts out fairly typically for urban fantasy. The POV is first person, the main character has certain magical powers, consorts with vampires, weres and demons, wears a lot of leather, has bright red hair, and is frequently described as "kick-ass" or, alternatively, "ass-kicking." You know. The usual.

But you soon get drawn in. More happens in any given Hollows book than you see in some whole series. The plotlines are impeccably drawn, twisted, hairpinned, knotted, cloverleafed, and eventually resolved, dragging the characters and the readers through a world where perceptions of black and white are slowly but surely turned upside down and run through the wash and dry cycle until the blacks are light at the seams and the whites are distinctly gray and it's hard to be 100% sure about anything.

For me though, intricate and meticulous plotting isn't enough to get me to read 6 books and to buy the 7th in hardback (!). The part that keeps me deeply engrossed is Rachel's developing character and relationships; the exploration of what love and friendship and power and sex mean and how all those things play against each other and change everything. Characters who are anything but black or white.

I have to say, there's one secondary character that deserves a special mention. Jenks is a 4" tall pixie with 54 kids, who at 18 is nearly at the end of his life expectancy. Turns out that despite his small size, you really don't want to mess with the guy-- he'll fuck you up. But he'll be making hilarious and obnoxious wisecracks while he's at it. At first, I thought his style of comic relief was a little wrong for the book, overly slapsticky or something. But as his character develops beyond kooky sidekick and convenient reconn man, he really grew on me. And really, you just have to love a guy whose repertoire of profanity includes the sweetly alliterative "Tink's titties!"

One thing that I'm enjoying about UF as opposed to straight genre romance is that the characters have more freedom when it comes to relationships. Since the book isn't *required* to end with a romantic Happily Ever After, there is more suspense and uncertainty about what is going to happen between Rachel and any given character-- just like real life. New and interesting characters show up in each book, adding layers of complication and interest and possibility to Rachel's life. I kept thinking Trent is going to be redeemed and turn out to be The One that Rachel ends up with, but events in For a Few Demons More pretty well derailed that train of thought. It could still happen, I guess, but it would certainly be an interesting character arc to get from where I am now in the series to that particular resolution.

I need to stop here, I think, or I'm going to start spoilering. I'm really enjoying the series and give it a strong recommend. Love it!

Some Useful Info:

• Look for Harrison's books in the horror section rather than romance or fantasy.
• She has a new YA series starting with a short in the anthology Prom Dates From Hell; the first full-length book is Once Dead Twice Shy and is due out in June of this year.
• A new Hollows short story will be included in the anthology Unbound, due out this August. Not much info is available, but you can pre-order now.
• Harrison's website has all the info you need about the books and excerpts from most of them, since I'm lazy tonight and not building all the individual links. There is also a slim chance that a photo of me might show up, as people were taking pictures of the book signing line. Mostly likely I'll be the one with my eyes closed (that always happens to me). However, sadly, I am NOT one of the people in the book tour T-shirts making the vampire-bunny-kiss-kiss gesture.
  
• If you are buying the hardbacks, did you know that several of the mass market books contain bonus short stories? The one in For a Few Demons More was cute--it involved Rachel and Kisten kicking some not-from-around-here vampire ass. It almost read as a deleted scene to me, although it would have really been a tangent as an actual scene. There's another waiting for me at the end of The Outlaw Demon Wails, which appears to be a little story or character sketch involving Al and Ceri and demonic paperwork. Just in time to get me in the mood for doing taxes.
  
• WWBC is Book 7, and books 8 and 9 are already written (though not finished). Ms. Harrison is in discussions with the publisher about the next books and how many there might be to take her to the end of the series arc that she currently has envisioned.
  

Reading Order:

1. Dead Witch Walking
2. The Good, The Bad, and the Undead
3. Every Which Way but Dead
4. A Fistful of Charms
5. For a Few Demons More
6. The Outlaw Demon Wails
7. White Witch, Black Curse

Hilarious Romance Challenge

I spotted this last night and laughed my ass off. I'm at 58 points and counting for 2009-- how about you?

Oh yes, there WILL be a spreadsheet.

Angels and Demons

Ciara thinks the next big thing in romance is steampunk.

I'm a little less cutting edge than that. My predictive powers are weak at best--witness my manufacturing degree, ca 1988 (should've minored in Chinese), and my MBA, ca 1993 -- talk about trend busters! But I think I may have identified a mini-trend already in progress. I'm clearly way better at that.

So while vampires and shifters have been the big story for the last few years, I'm thinking that demons and angels are the next--OK, current-- big wave in paranormal fiction, whether romance, UF, or horror.

Kim Harrison's Hollows series kicked off in April 2004 with some scary-ass demons. I'm only on book 2 so I can't say if they end up being a love interest/hero but at the moment? not. But it could go that way.

While I was a little lukewarm on Jenna Black's vampire world, I really like her Morgan Kingsley series, kicking off with Devil Inside back in November of 2007. Her demon is both sexy and seriously scary. I think she will somehow end up with him romantically (maybe she already has; I'm not caught up yet even though the latest is waiting in my TBR pile!) So, he's kind of a hero, but like Facebook says, It's Complicated.

So romances, with demons as the hero, I didn't start noticing until more recently. The first one I saw was Christine Warren's The Demon You Know, from May of 2007, and Rule is seriously yummy. But demons are only one of a whole pantheon of paranormals in Warren's world, and not the most prevalent.

Then I found Meljean Brook, whose Guardian series features angels most prominently, and a demon as the series' first heroine. Though Brook is kicking off a new steampunk series shortly, the Guardians are continuing-- hot off the presses is the cover for Demon Forged, tentatively due out in October of this year. We haven't gotten a demon hero yet; they're almost by definition bad/evil, but I have to admit I'm intrigued by the demon who plagues Charlie Newcomb and her sister in Demon Night. Since Charlie's sister opts to keep Sammael around, I have to wonder why... coughcoughnovella!cough maybe?

About the same time, I was burning through Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark, and let me just say that Cade Woede can eat crackers in my bed any ol' time.

Larissa Ione debuted her popular "Demonica" series last June with demon heroes. She has a big following but I have to admit I'm not that into them, so no telling if angels will make an appearance. If they do, you won't hear it here first, but you can keep an eye on Literary Escapism -- Jackie always has the scoop.

But wait, there's more.

Nalini Singh, author of the Psy/Changeling series, launches her new Guild Hunter series on March 3 with Angels' Blood. For a sneak peek, an e-novella called "Angels' Pawn" set in the same world will be available tomorrow (check Nalini's site for the right link). Isn't that a gorgeous cover? I love the platinum-blond hair.

And finally (that I know of), last Halloween, J.R. Ward somewhat unofficially announced (read down in the comments) her new series starting off this October, which she describes thusly:

COVET: A Novel of the Fallen Angels is the first of the books and let’s just say it’s all about angels and Harleys and evil and redemption. The tag line’s Destiny’s a witch and then you die… but love always brings you back.

She goes on: So far as I’m aware, the hero of the whole series is a guy named Jim Crane who’s a carpenter and it’s all about him going up against the devil (who’s a very hot brunette, btw) with the help of his two partners, a scruffy dog and his bad attitude. There are other heros who come in along the way and there is a love story in every book. Things may change as I get into the writing, but the bare bones are set and I can’t wait to get started!

Now, I confess, this description kind of gives me bad flashbacks to studying The Red Badge of Courage in sophomore English class with Mrs. Harris in her fluorescent blue eyeshadow, bludgeoning us all about the heads and shoulders with the allegory: "Notice his initials are Jayyyyyy.... Ceeeeeeee...and he sacrifices himself.... What other important historical figure do we know with the initials Jayyyyyy.... Ceeeeeee... ?"

Later on her forum, Ward says that the name Crane was an error and the name is actually Jim Heron. I don't know if she changed her mind or if "Crane" came out instead of Heron because Stephen Crane's analogies got beaten into her by an English teacher with fluorescent blue eyeshadow too or what... but in any event, "Heron" just strikes me as a little weird. Is it an homage to Stephen Crane? It probably wouldn't bug me if I hadn't seen Crane first, but now it's just going to be "Jim Long-Legged-Bird; Heron/Crane/Flamingo etc" in my mind and will probably distract me every time I see it.

Not that I overthink things or anything.

But Ward has me by the short little fan-girl hairs so I will certainly read the first one, and assuming it's better than Phury's book, probably the second one as well. As always, you can keep an eye on my sidebar for the countdown to the next JR Ward book.

Did I miss any good angel/devil series? Chime in!
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angel/devil image used with permission, courtesy of Mark Stivers.

If You Can Make It There...

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a writer that I've "known" for more than 10 years. I've never met her, but I know a lot about her, her kids, her career, the things that are important to her. She's the moderator for a forum that I've participated in since 1998. She's taken a fair amount of abuse from members over the years when policies and formats change, and weathered it all with admirable stoicism. She's still there.

So while we have lived as virtual neighbors for a long, long time, her meatspace home is in New York City. And while I've lived in Chicago (suburbs) and Seattle (suburbs), my midwest-small-town roots never show quite as much as when people start talking about living in NYC. I don't get it, I can't grasp it. I've been there once or twice and my overwhelming impression is that I never want to go back unless I win the lottery, and not a measly 1 mill pot, either. 50 million might do it. It seems like a really wonderful place to live if you make a lot-- and I mean A LOT-- of money. It doesn't even seem, to me, like a good place to visit on any kind of a budget. Frankly, it intimidates the CRAP out of me.

Mary Elizabeth's first book is due out March 3, called Gimme Shelter. It's about looking for a place to live in NYC. Getting great reviews. I believe it must have a happy ending, because her blog is loosely focused on how much she loves her neighborhood. It's kind of not my thing, and it's not Alpha Heroes' thing, but if you enjoy memoirs, adventures in real estate, and/or books about living in New York City, I encourage you to check it out. Doesn't she look happy?

Thursday Thirteen, Edition 9

Recently a friend of mine posted on my Facebook wall, "I like your blog, Nicola, but what exactly IS an Alpha Hero?" So, never one to settle for a concise or simple answer, since it's Thursday (or will be shortly), I give you:

THIRTEEN ARTICLES ON WHAT MAKES AN ALPHA

It’s funny, but if you’re researching the topic, the search engine hits tend to turn up items in three categories: 1) Romance heroes; 2) Dog training/animal study; and 3) How to get laid (for guys). Let me save you a little work and provide some of the more interesting links:

In the romance category

1. An excellent article from a romance writer’s perspective.

2. A classic. One of my favorite articles on the subject.

3. Ooo. Look at this little gem. Adding to my blogroll...

4. Nalini Singh on alpha aeroes: (Googling on “alpha heroes” is how I discovered Nalini in the first place)

On dogs, wolves, and pack behavior in general

5. Wikipedia on the role of the alpha male in pack animals.

6. Alpha male body language, with parallels to the animal world. Possibly over-simplified, but not bad for a quick read.

7. An interesting take on the old saw about how men aren’t cut out for monogamy.

Looking for new techniques to score with the lay-deez?

8. This one cracks me up with the depth of its wrongness (cue the bowm-chicka bow-wowm). Don’t miss the comparison between feminine men and masculine (alpha) men. Try not to sprain an eyeball.

9. Here is a blog that sort of leaves me speechless. Intelligent misogyny always does things to my blood pressure – it should be a contradiction in terms, but unfortunately isn’t. His deconstruction of alpha behavior though is spot-on. Check out the posts on movie scenes.

A little more seriously

10. Alphas in business and government.

11. I like this one. The author treats the subject with the complexity it deserves, and I especially like this comment: Power is granted to you by the group. You don't have power unless other people give it to you. Here's the catch, the group gives you power on the condition that you look out for their needs. That's the deal. You get extra power to serve them. This is actually a link hub and the sidebar of other stuff looks great, too.

Finally, I have a couple of excerpts from recent reading:

12. From Kelley Armstrong's Bitten:

"When I call, you call me back," he said, his voice deceptively soft. "I wouldn't call you if it wasn't important. If I do call, you answer. That was the arrangement."
"Correct, that was the arrangement. Past tense. Our arrangement ended when I left the Pack."
"When you left the Pack? And when did this happen? Forgive me if I missed something, but I don't recall any such conversation, Elena."
"I thought it was understood."
Clay walked in the room carrying a tray of cold cuts and cheese. He laid it on the desk and looked from me to Jeremy.
Jeremy continued. "So you're no longer part of the Pack now?"
"Correct."
"Then you're one of them -- a mutt?"
"Of course not, Jer," Clay said, thumping down beside me on the couch. I moved to the fireplace.
"Well, which is it?" Jeremy asked, his gaze skewering mine. "Pack or not?"

I failed to mention in my review of this book earlier this week what an amazing job that Armstrong does of weaving Pack and Alpha behavior, mentality, and norms through the whole book. Jeremy is a quiet sort of Alpha, but WOW. His interactions with-- well, with EVERYONE else in the book leave NO question that he is The Top Dog. It was a little bit hard to find a good quote because it's an effect that builds up through the whole book, and the dialog is particularly powerful.


13. And finally, from The Alpha Factor, a business book by Wes Ball:

True pack behavior is not (as it is all too often described) a jungle-type model, with the strongest and most intimidating always winning. Actually, a pack that operates like that cannot survive for long, and any Alpha that tries to lead using these techniques alone seldom lives very long, so the pack suffers. The Alpha's primary jobs are to help the pack find food and to manage the relationships within the pack....the Alpha is surprisingly compassionate and nurturing in how he accomplishes that task.

It's when this compassionate, service-oriented piece of the alpha behavior is missing that a would-be Alpha trips over the line into Asshole territory.
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Visit the Thursday Thirteen site here.
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Bitten, by Kelley Armstrong – Review

This book kind of blew me away. Buried inside a tightly-plotted, fast-paced paranormal action-adventure-mystery is this labyrinthine relationship that gives “baggage” new depths of meaning. It could be termed a romance, IMO, because that relationship is the central axis that the rest of the story revolves around, but it turns the typical genre romance formula on its head: the “black moment” takes place in the past-- we don’t actually find out about it until somewhere in the middle of the story. Mild spoiler in white font: The happily-ever-after is more of a possibly-ever-after. It’s possible that Armstrong breaks too many of the genre romance norms to be well received from purist fans; overall I think it probably works in her favor to be shelved in horror or fantasy.

I think that one of the fascinations of transformative “monster” stories like werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, etc, is that it gives readers and writers the chance to explore the question of what it means to be human, and what it means to be “monster,” or even just “animal.” What really separates us from the animals? (I hope it’s more than accessories, because that puts me really far down on the evolutionary scale).

In Bitten, Clay is not your typical hero. His animal/monster side is far more prevalent and less principled than your typical hero and it scares the crap out of Elena, with good reason. Exactly what Clay is capable of, turns out to be the question that Elena has to answer with her heart – and it's really not one for a delicate flower of a woman. Good thing Elena has more substance to her than that.

At the opening of the book, Elena is working very hard to live what she perceives to be a normal life, in a normal apartment with a normal job and a normal guy. Fake it ‘til you make it. She’s almost there… but the gap is killing her.

As he sits on the edge of the bed, watching me, I know we’re doomed. My only hope is to make this relationship so otherwise perfect that Philip might come to overlook our one insurmountable problem. To do that, my first step should be to go to him, crawl in bed, kiss him and tell him I love him. But I can’t. Not tonight. Tonight I’m something else, something he doesn’t know and couldn’t understand. I don’t want to go to him like this.

“I’m not tired,” I say. “I might as well stay up. Do you want breakfast?”

He looks at me. Something in his expression falters and I know I’ve failed-- again. But he doesn’t say anything. He pulls his smile back in place. “Let’s go out. Someplace in this city has got to be open this early. We’ll drive around until we find it. Drink five cups of coffee and watch the sun come up. Okay?”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

“Shower first?” he says. “Or flip for it?”

“You go ahead.”

He kisses my cheek as he passes. I wait until I hear the shower running, then head for the kitchen.

Sometimes I get so hungry.”

You don’t have to be a werewolf to understand Elena’s feelings here. This passage packs an emotional wallop, and located as it is, just at the end of a short prologue, sets the stage in an electrifying way.

The mystery about who’s killing who and why and how is nicely done but I’ll admit that I got a little bored with it about 3/4s through, because that’s when things between Elena and Clay started to heat up, and that was the stuff I was really interested in. If it were a movie, it would be a great date movie: there’s something here for everyone – action, mystery, violence, sex, tension of all kinds, and a kick-ass romance, and a few themes to get you talking over dinner or drinks afterwards while the love scenes are still fresh in your mind. ;)

I'd like to talk more about Clay and Elena here, but I think we'd all be better served if you just go out and read it. You won't regret it!

Elsewhere on the web:

• Phil agrees that the romance is a strong element, but calls that a disadvantage, heh.
• A shortie by Gina (and I'm intrigued by her blog, I'm headed back to poke around in there).
• Bella is a huge fan, but you'll have to brace yourself for the puns ("a howling good read").
• Check out Armstrong's own site for lots of eExtras and good information. Definitely one of the better author sites out there.
• Buy it!

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*If you have reviewed Bitten on your blog, feel free to leave a link in comments!