The Hawk and His Boy: Book Review and Interview with Christopher Bunn

I recently read The Hawk And His Boy (The Tormay Trilogy), by Christopher Bunn. The story was beautifully crafted. It grabbed my attention right away and held it to the end.

From the author’s website: “The first book of the Tormay Trilogy, The Hawk And His Boy begins the story of Jute, a young thief who is hired to steal an old wooden box from a rich man’s house. On pain of death, he is instructed by his masters to not open the box. Being a curious boy, he opens the box and finds a knife inside. He accidentally cuts his finger on the blade and thus begins a series of events that soon has him on the run from his former masters in the Thieves Guild, the rich man (a particularly vindictive wizard), and the Guild’s original and anonymous client who hired them to steal the box in the first place. The client, who happens to be the Lord of Darkness himself, will do anything to catch Jute, even if it means plunging the entire land of Tormay into war.”

It's Read an E-Book Week! Pick up a great book for just $0.99!

It's Read an E-Book Week, and many publishers and self-published authors are offering fantastic deals on their books. Here, for your convenience, I list the best of the bunch for the lowest price. These 10 great reads are all just $0.99 each! To purchase any of these books, just click on the title to go to Amazon.com. The first two in this list are books that I recently reviewed on my blog. The remainder are in my to-be-read (TBR) collection on my Kindle. If you have a different e-reader (e.g. Kobo, Nook), or plan to read e-books on a PC, Mac, tablet or other piece of technology, you may need to convert the Kindle books below to another format. The best free tool I have found for converting e-books is Calibre. Edited to add: You can also download the appropriate Kindle reader.

Edited to add an additional title that I just picked up: 11 great deals under $1.00!

Luminous and Ominous - by Noah K. Mullette-Gillman
UPDATE: Price has gone back up - now $2.99.
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "If you had three days’ warning of the end of civilization and a safe place to hide: What would you take with you? Who would you save? And who would you leave behind?

Henry Willingham and his friends have three days to make the most terrifying decisions of their lives. The world has been infected by an inescapable living nightmare of alien vegetation that will replace all life on Earth. They must get everyone they love safely underground into a fallout shelter. There's not enough time. There’s not enough room for everyone. Who will they save? Who will they leave behind?"

Click here to go to my review of this book and an interview with the author.


Kafka's House - by Gabriela Popa
Product Description (from amazon.com): "This is, paradoxically, a luminous piece of fiction about a haunting time and place. It is a story about being born and growing up in a closed society, and learning the painful road to trusting others. More than anything else, it is the magical story of parental love, and its staunchness in face of danger, evil - or, simply, time."

Click here to go to my review of this book and an interview with the author.

Season Of The Harvest - by Michael R. Hicks
UPDATE: Price has gone back up - now $2.99.
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "What if the genetically modified crops that we’re being forced to depend on for food weren’t really created by man? What if they had a far more sinister purpose?

FBI Special Agent Jack Dawson investigates the gruesome murder of his best friend and fellow agent who had been pursuing a group of eco-terrorists. The group’s leader, Naomi Perrault, is a beautiful geneticist who Jack believes conspired to kill his friend, and is claiming that a major international conglomerate developing genetically engineered crops is plotting a sinister transformation of our world that will lead humanity to extinction. As Jack is drawn into a quietly raging war that suddenly explodes onto the front pages of the news, he discovers that her claims may not be so outrageous after all. Together, the two of them must battle a horror Jack could never have imagined, with the fate of all life on Earth hanging in the balance…"

The List - by J.A. Konrath
UPDATE: Price has gone back up - now $2.99.
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "THE LIST is a bit of a departure for Konrath. It's a technothriller about a group of ten people who each have tattoos of numbers on the bottoms their feet, and don't know why.

One of them, a Chicago Homicide cop named Tom Mankowski, has had one of these strange tattoos since birth. When he investigates a violent murder and discovers the victim also has a tattooed number, it sets the ball rolling for an adventure of historic proportions.

To say more would give away too much."

The Righteous - by Michael Wallace
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "Medical student Jacob Christianson is sent by church elders to investigate a murder within the polygamist enclave of Blister Creek, Utah. He brings his young sister Eliza, who must choose a husband from three old men jostling for power within the church hierarchy.

Jacob discovers that the murdered woman has been killed in accordance with secret blood oaths taken within the polygamist temple. Together with his sister, he uncovers a plot to overthrow the church leadership, with murders that reach beyond the community and into the “gentile” world. The Righteous is a heart-pounding suspense-thriller with a depth that will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned."

Falling Star (The Watchers) - by Philip Chen
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "The World is at risk; not the ordinary risk seen every night on prime time news, but a horrific one that portends the possibility of total annihilation. Mysterious but silent objects have been found buried deep in the murky depths of the ocean. However, something has suddenly happened. These objects wake up and start sending messages to outer space. Mike, pulled back into a clandestine world that he thought he had left behind to help decipher these messages, is attacked by gangs of ordinary looking Americans and must fight for his very life. Who are these attackers? Why have they targeted Mike and his colleagues in the secret agency? On top of these interwoven threats, Mike learns that a revered friend has died. With the death of this friend, is mankind's last hope for understanding the signals lost forever in the silt and muck of the ocean bottom?"

The Gods of Dream - by Daniel Arenson
UPDATE: Price has gone back up - now $2.99.
Product Description (from Amazon.com): :What are dreams? Some think they are figments of our mind. But what if they were wisps of a distant, magical world... a world you could visit?

Twins Cade and Tasha discover Dream, the land dreams come from. It is a realm of misty forests, of verdant mountains, of mysterious gods who send dreams into our sleep. Cade and Tasha seek solace there; they are refugees, scarred and haunted with memories of war. In Dream, they can forget their past, escape the world, and find joy.

Phobetor, the god of Nightmare, was outcast from Dream. Now he seeks to destroy it. He sends his monsters into Dream, and Cade and Tasha find their sanctuary threatened, dying. To save it, the twins must overcome their past, journey into the heart of Nightmare, and face Phobetor himself."

No Good Deed: (The Mark Taylor Series) - by Mary MacDonald
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "Mark Taylor discovers first hand that no good deed goes unpunished when the old camera he found during a freelance job in an Afghanistan bazaar gives him more than great photos. It triggers dreams of disasters. Tragedies that happen exactly as he envisions them. He learns that not only can he see the future, he can change it. Then the unthinkable happened and everyone ignored his frantic warnings. Thousands die. Suddenly, the Feds are pounding on his door and the name they have for Taylor isn't urban hero. It's enemy combatant. And, it means they can do anything they want to him. Anything at all."

Three Sisters (The Emily Castles Mysteries) - by Helen Smith
NOTE: This book is priced at $1, not $0.99.
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "It's bonfire night in London. Emily has been invited to a party in the big house at the end of her street by the new owners, whom she has never met. Emily's dog Jessie has recently died so Emily is feeling a little raw and emotional. How could she know, as she left her house that evening, that she was making an appointment with death?

Three Sisters is short fiction - approximately 17,000 words, equivalent to around 70 printed pages. It is the first story in a new comic mystery series by award-winning novelist Helen Smith, featuring amateur sleuth, Emily Castles."

PORTAL (Portal Chronicles) - by Imogen Rose
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "Come Find Me Two Years Ago...

Six words that propelled ice hockey playing tomboy, Arizona, into an alternate dimension.

She suddenly found herself in the past. In one moment she went from being an ice hockey playing teenager in New Jersey to a glamorous cheerleader in California. She found herself transported from a happy life with her dad, Dillard, to a new, strange one living with her mother whom she hates. Apparently it's a life she's always lived in.

Everyone knows her as Arizona Darley, but she isn't. She is Arizona Stevens.

As she struggles to find answers she is certain of one thing- that her mother Olivia, a brilliant physicist, is somehow responsible. .

PORTAL is the story of the repercussions of Olivia Darley's attempt at creating a perfect world for herself and her children. Arizona's quest for answers threatens to undermine the seemingly perfect world that her mother has so carefully constructed.

PORTAL is the first book of the Portal Chronicles. Fans of time travel, romance, and the supernatural will enjoy Arizona's quest for answers."

Virtual Strangers - by Susanne O'Leary and Ola Zaltin
Product Description (from Amazon.com): "Two complete strangers meet on a train and agree to off their significant others. Sounds familiar? It should be, it's 'Strangers on a Train'. 60 years later, two strangers meet online. A man and a woman - Seabee and Annika - hook up on a wannabe authors' site where they flirt, banter and play around with the notion of dispatching their equally impossible partners. It's all a big literary, intertextual joke, until the weekend when both their partners actually do die in what seems to be unrelated freak accidents – or are they? Seabee and Annika find out in a hurry that cyberspace makes strange bedfellows – and if it's not he nor she who did it – then who has done the killings? The two team up to find out who has hijacked their fantasy and turned it into a bloody real-life. Contains strong language."

Kafka's House: Book Review and Interview with Gabriela Popa

Today, I’d like to tell you about a book called Kafka's House, by Gabriela Popa. It is a story about everyday life in late 1960s Romania, leading up to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, told from the perspective of a young girl named Sylvia. I very much enjoy Gabriela Popa's writing style, and I was immediately immersed in this story.

I walked with Sylvia down the streets of Bacau in Northeastern Romania, and joined her in greeting and analyzing a cast of fascinating and troubled characters. At the end of her father's workday, I sat at Sylvia's table eating the stew that her mother had started cooking before going to work. I went to school with Sylvia and struggled through math class with her. I rejoiced with her when she was allowed to go on a special school trip, one of the few things she might look forward to in a bleak life, and I suffered with her when that dream was threatened.

Cookie's Knitted Kindle Cozy

I received my Kindle this past Christmas and started looking for a suitable cover. I needed to protect my new "baby". I couldn't find anything that I really liked that wasn't going to cost a small fortune coming from the US to Canada. So, I found a knitted e-reader cover and adapted it for my Kindle, added a strap and voila: A Kindle cover that is also a cross-body purse. There's enough room in here for a pad of paper and a pen, and the adapter for my Kindle. I can also fit a change purse in it. A slim phone would fit, and I've carried my mp3 player in it also.

I made this once and then wrote up the pattern below. If you have any questions about this pattern please don't hesitate to ask.
Happy Knitting!

Knitted Kindle Cozy
This pattern was based on and adapted from a version at http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/baobab/baobab.pdf, retrieved January 12, 2011. It is sized for the 3rd generation Kindle, but can be easily modified to accommodate any size reader or other device.

MATERIALS
1 ball 4 ply, 100% acrylic, worsted wool from Bernat (made in Canada - Red Heart brand from California seems to work up about the same way)
Number 5 US (3.75 mm) straight knitting needles, and US 5 (3.75 mm) double point needles for strap
One or two 1” buttons (I used two but it kind of looks like my purse has eyes, plus it's just two too many buttons to do up - if I did it again I'd probably use just one - adjust your buttonhole row accordingly)

GAUGE
4 sts = 1”

SEED STITCH
Row 1: * K1, P1, rep from * across.
Rep this row for Seed Stitch.

STRIPE
Rows 1-3: Purl.
Rows 4-5: Knit.

COVER
With straight needles, cast on 25 stitches (I used the Cable cast on technique).
Knit 1 row.
Work in Seed Stitch until piece measures about 3 1/2”, ending on WS. Work Stripe.
Work in Seed Stitch for about 1 3/4 inches, ending on WS. Work Stripe.
Work in Seed Stitch for about 3”, until it wraps around the bottom of the Kindle and meets up with the end of the Stripe on the front, ending on WS (you're now working the back of the cover). Work Stripe.
*Work in Seed Stitch for about 1 3/4 inches, ending on WS. Work Stripe.* Repeat from * to * once.
Work in Seed Stitch for about 3”, ending on WS (you're now working the front flap of the cover). Work Stripe.
Work in Seed Stitch for about 1 inch, ending on WS.
Buttonhole Row (RS): Working in Seed Stitch, work 5 sts, create buttonhole over next 3 sts, work to last 8 stitches, create second buttonhole over next 3 sts, work to end. NOTE: I used the One-Row buttonhole technique, as described here: http://www.knittingonthenet.com/learn/bh5.htm, except that I used the Cable cast-on technique to cast on stitches.
Continue in Seed Stitch until piece measures about 1 3/4" from last Stripe, ending on the WS. Work Stripe.
Work in Seed Stitch for about another 1/2". You want to just cover the stripe under the flap.
Bind off knitwise on WS. I used the Traditional bind off technique.

FINISHING
Place your device in the cover, folding flap to the front and placing markers for buttons under buttonholes. Turn inside out. Pin sides together and stitch up side seams. Turn right side out and sew on buttons.

STRAP
Using double-point needles, cast on 3 stitches. I used the Cable cast on here too. Knit first row. Knit an I-cord to the desired length, keeping in mind that it will stretch some when it hangs (instructions for knitting an I-cord can be found here: http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=196), and cast off. Sew both ends of I-cord to sides of purse on the interior just at the top of the purse (under the flap).

Luminous and Ominous: Book Review and Interview with Noah K. Mullette-Gillman

One of the most gripping books I have read in a long while is a post-apocalyptic wild ride called Luminous and Ominous, by independent author Noah K. Mullette-Gillman.

"If you had three days’ warning of the end of civilization and a safe place to hide: What would you take with you? Who would you save? And who would you leave behind?"  
(www.noahmullette-gillman.com, www.luminousandominous.com)

Luminous and Ominous is classified as science-fiction, but it also fits well into the horror genre. It's not for the faint of heart. The story is both creepy and beautiful. Some of the scenes are challenging, but the experience is worth all of the stomach-churning torture. If you're not a fan of the horror genre, it may not be your thing, but, since it's also a story about the human condition, there are aspects of it that we can all relate to. This book is full of surprises. It is well written and perfectly paced.

Welcome to Cookie's Book Club!

Welcome book lovers! I too love books, and I read them as often as I can. With a preschooler running laps around my legs that's not as often as I might like, but I enjoy basking in the glow of an author's imagination whenever I can. To me, reading is like a soak in a tub of warm soapy water.... while someone feeds me chocolate.

Cookie's Book Club is all about sharing my passion for reading with you. My hope is to provide a little help in navigating the vast selection of books available today by telling you about some of my favourite reads. I have very eclectic interests, so you'll find something for just about every taste. I'll also bring you some fascinating interviews with the authors themselves.

You'll find that many of the selections I choose to tell you about are from independent (self-published) authors. There are some fantastic reads out there that you may never see in your local bookstore. And besides, you don't need me to tell you about the Stieg Larssons and J.K. Rowlings of the world.

Thanks for joining me!

So, who's Cookie? Cookie is my son - his name is actually Jack, but before he was born he was affectionately known as Cookie. You can read all about that at the book club's parent blog, Cookie's Chronicles.