MISHMASH | A Whole Bunch O'Stuff

General Hatter Stuff:

I saw Alice in Wonderland last night in 3D.  It was a fun movie that moved along at a nice clip, but the ending was very anticlimactic and very predictable.  Also, the 3D didn't enhance the experience at all for me or my wife. However, the story was a nice melding of Lewis Carol's Alice stories along with the Jabberwocky poem with strong special effects.  Anne Hathaway was wasted doing a bad Snow White impersonation.  Overall I'd give it a B-.

I'll be going on a much needed vacation next week.  Yeah to those of us with family who own property near the beach in Florida.  Don't worry I've plenty of articles already written to tide you good readers over until I return.  Also, I'll probably be twitter from time to time because I just can't help myself and it is so easy.  Right now I'm in the midsts of selecting books for the trip which is always equal parts torture and joy.  Joy because I get to see what it is I have to read and I know I'll get to read nearly a book a day.  But it is also torture as I like to float between different types of books and I never know what kind of mood I'll be in when I finish one and move on to the next.  This generally means I'll end up bringing too many books.

So far I know I'll be bringing Empire in Black and Gold, but I'll probably be focusing on non-review copies for the most part since they've been feeling a bit neglected as of late.  To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis and Strata by Terry Pratchett will definitely be coming with.  I'm between Neal Asher's The Skinner or Alastair Reynold's Pushing Ice as well since they are both authors I haven't tried in long form yet, but I know I only want to bring one.  If anyone has an opinion on which it should be chine in in the comments.  The common tread between all these books is they have been lent or recommended to me.

Lastly, my review index has been updated for those who use it, which is always more people than I would have ever guessed.

Cover Stuff:

First up for completion sake since I've talk about it so much we have the newly minted cover of The Black Prism, which is definitely much stronger than the first try. It also sets the tone apart from the Night Angel series, but still gives Weeks a distinctive look. I do miss the color bit from the first cover a little since color magic is involved, but this does have a much edgier feel about it.

Aidan also has the cover for Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, which is the first to a projected 10 book series. Yikes! That is a commitment to know that from the start it'll probably be ten years at least before the series is wrapped up and probably more since Sanderson has other commitments to tend to.  A lot of people have been knackering the cover, but the coloration keeps catching me every time I see it.

Book Stuff:

Debut author Amelia Beamer will be serializing her novel The Loving Dead starting next week.  It will begin with the first 4 chapters and than one chapter will be released every Monday until Night Shade's official publication in July.  I've been really intrigued by this book since I heard the title and read the short pitch. Here is the description:

The Loving Dead is a zombie-comedy-romance that reads like the love-child of Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore. It tells the story of Kate and Michael, twenty-something housemates working at the same Trader Joe’s supermarket, who are thoroughly screwed when people start turning into zombies at their house party in the Oakland hills. The zombie plague is a sexually transmitted disease, turning its victims into shambling, horny, voracious killers after an incubation period during which they become increasingly promiscuous. Thrust into extremes by the unfolding tragedy, Kate and Michael are forced to confront the decisions they’ve made, and their fears of commitment, while trying to stay alive. Kate tries to escape on a Zeppelin ride with her secret sugar daddy — but people keep turning into zombies, forcing her to fight for her life, never mind the avalanche of trouble that develops from a few too many innocent lies. Michael convinces Kate to meet him in the one place in the Bay Area that’s likely to be safe and secure from the zombie hordes: Alcatraz. But can they stay human long enough?

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