Sound Off Saturday

Happy Labor Day long weekend! I know that most of you are all probably off doing something fun and exciting for the last long weekend of summer. I know that I wish I was. So, for those of us stuck at home or work, this post is for you! 🙂

This last week I was stuck at home with an extremely painful abscessed tooth, so I got a lot of reading in. I devoured Adrian Phoenix’s – Black Heart Loa, which is the second book in her Hoodoo Series. Look for my review this upcoming week. I also read Kait Nolan’s – Red, an awesome young adult paranormal that I’ll be featuring next week on the blog. And I polished the week off with Jeaniene Frost’s – One Grave At A Time, the sixth book in her Night Huntress Series. Yes, I visited a Bayou in Louisiana, the Appalachian Mountains and went on another thrilling adventure with Cat & Bones! I am a professional armchair traveller/thrill – seeker, lol.

It’s finally September. The month that all the kids go back to school, (thank God!), and the month that all the awesome fall season TV shows start up again. Am I a little bit too excited about this? Yes, yes I am, ha ha. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Hello! My name is Judi and I am a TV addict”. 😀 I can’t wait for The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Sanctuary, Fringe, Hawaii 5.0, Castle, Bones, both NCIS’s and a slew of others to come back. I’m excited about a few new ones, The Secret Circle, The Ringer, Grimm, The Sing Off, and Terra Nova. I’m still mourning the loss of Smallville and Stargate Universe. I told ya I was hooked on lots of shows, lol.

Talk to me people, what awesome books did you read this week? Did you go and see a wicked movie? Eat an amazing dinner? See friends or family that you haven’t seen in a long time? Go somewhere or do something interesting? Work on writing a novel? Throw a computer at the wall or out a window? Get stuck driving behind a complete moron who has no business behind the wheel of a vehicle like I seem to have happen to me several times weekly? Have an annoying or condescending person wreck your day?  How was your week? What did you think of that movie you saw or book you read? Are you excited about any books, TV shows or movies that are coming up soon? Are you going on a trip somewhere exotic?  Do you need to vent about something really frustrating? Go for it, I want to know.

Sidhe’s News & Updates

I just wanted to let everyone know what I’ve been up to besides getting back to reviewing. I’ve updated the BIOS/Policy page, updated my Wish List in the sidebar, and I’ve gone through my links and culled any that were no longer good links. If any of you find any more “dead” links in my sidebar, or if you have any cool links to share with me, please let me know and I’ll consider adding them. I’ve attempted to “clean up” the side bars a bit too.

I’m still plugging away at updating the “My Books” list/pages. Bear with me on that one as there’s a LOT of updating to do on those, lol. We should also have the New Releases for August & September up shortly. Tori & I are working on that as I type.

As you all know, Tori’s joined me on the blog as a reviewer recently and I’m loving having her here! I hope you all are as excited as I am about having some new reviewers. I have another new reviewer in the works who will also be a great addition to the blog. 🙂

On to other news – I’ve been mulling over a few things and I thought I’d put them out there to see what you all think.

Zombies! Do you love ’em, hate ’em or run like hell if you see one coming? 😉 LOL  I’ve been seeing more zombie books out there and I gotta say that I’m not really all that attracted to buying/reading them myself. I know that there are a few really good ones out there, but for the most part, I find them pretty disgusting and have a really hard time liking any main characters who are zombies. If they are secondary characters or the villain/antagonist, then they can enhance a story, but as the main character? For the most part… no thanks. What do you think?

Steampunk! Are you all loving it or not liking it? I can’t say that I’ve read a whole lot of books in the genre, but I didn’t really like the few that I have read. Not because the writing was bad or anything like that. They were well written, but just didn’t appeal to me. It kinda makes me sad, because so many great authors are putting out books in this genre and I am not wanting to read them. Sound off people, I want to know what you think!

 

    

Back In The Saddle…

Oooh boy, it looks like I’m going to get “back in the saddle” again! I was really touched to receive so many replies to my last post and I will do my utmost to get back into the swing of things here on SVR. 🙂 I’ve obviously got a ton of updating to do along with getting some reviews posted. (Insert mad clickety-clacking keyboard sounds HERE) LOL

That being said, if anyone out there wants to consider writing reviews for SVR, please do let me know. I’ll admit that it got to be a bit much for me to handle on my own, so I would love to add some reviewers to the blog. Contact me at sidhevicious@gmail.com to inquire about the details.

Thanks everyone, big HUGS at ya!

Sidhe

Dead In The Water

My poor little blog has been floating adrift for so long now that I wonder if anyone will even notice if I bring it back to life? …Anyone? …Beuller?

A host of reasons kept me from spending much time on the computer and I am really missing the interaction between myself and other paranormal/urban fantasy readers & authors.

Let me know in the comments if you’d like me to start-up again. 🙂

Winner – Foresight

Oh what a week it has been! My Birthday was on Saturday, had to make two trips to the doctors and I got caught up in all the excitement that is/was Blog Fest and Blog Mania. Whew! And then there’s BBAW going on to keep me reading too. I got lost in the internetz while reading new blogs and entering a few contests. Ok, more than a few. I am officially a contest-whore this month, lol. There are sooo many awesome books that have been recently released and that are coming up. I just couldn’t help myself. I would need to win the lottery to get them all, so I decided to try my luck with winning some of them in contests. Yep. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Hello! My name is Judi and I AM a book-a-holic!

Thanks to Sherry for coming by and to everyone who entered! 🙂 But enough of my rambling, you all want to know who won the copy of Sherry Ficklin’s Foresight. Random.org gave me #51, so a big

 CONGRATULATIONS to jmspettoli!!!

Please email me at sidhevicious(at)shaw(dot)ca with your mailing info so we can get your book out to you. If I don’t hear back from the winner in 5 days, a new name will be drawn from the entries. If you didn’t win, there are more contests going on and coming up, so be sure to check back. Or you can click on the book cover to order a copy for yourself. 😀

 

SVR – News & Updates

First off, as I’m sure some of you have noticed, I added a flag counter app to my sidebar and can I just say how cool it is to see where people are who are checking out my little corner of the internet. Hello to you all! 🙂

I still haven’t heard back from the winner of Bernita Harris’ Dark & Disorderly, so I used random.org to draw a new winner.  #14, Julie Swaney, Congrats! 😀 Please email me at sidhevicious(at)shaw(dot)ca so we can get your ebook out to you.

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Other interesting news I’ve come across lately:

While science fiction often deals with the world of tomorrow and fantasy often illuminates worlds that never were, paranormal romance and urban fantasy are—mostly—set in the world we live in. Sort of. I mean, as far as we know, our world isn’t actually populated by vampires, witches, elves, demons, or the other creatures that inhabit urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels. Right?

To showcase this diversity, Tor.com is celebrating July as Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Month! They’ve rounded up half a dozen original pieces of short fiction, and will have guest blogs and interviews from paranormal romance and urban fantasy authors and editors. For more about the brand new fiction, guest posts, and extras of Tor.com’s July celebration, go to Tor.com

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Titan Books is launching a brand new website, which is going to be packed with exclusive content and special features, so pop on over there and check it out! Don’t miss the Jose Molina interview about his experience working on FireFly. There’s new Lenore artwork showcased on the blog, contests, awesome books, etc.

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Paul Goat Allen of BN.com (And the mod for the BN.com book club featuring Adrian Phoenix’s Black Dust Mambo) just posted an excellent blog about Adrian Phoenix’s books and Black Dust Mambo! I could not agree with him more!

There’s also a new podcast up at Seattle Geekly featuring female authors: Adrian Phoenix, Mira Grant, Jennifer Brozek, Seanan McGuire, Jessa Slade and Marjorie M. Liu! So have a listen to hear what these urban fantasy authors have to say.

Under The Weather

Ugh! This has pretty much been me for the last week. I had my touch-up’s done on my dragon fairy tattoo and added a little something that you’ll see when it’s all healed and I post the picture. 🙂 (That’s the only good thing to come out of last week!) Went to the doctor twice last week, had x-rays done on my knee and heel, am super dazed from some new, strong allergy meds and was pretty much in the same shape as that poor Ram in the graphic thanks to a not so lovely virus. Yep, Sidhe is sick and still fighting it. Bleh…

So no, I’m not dead, lol, just sleeping a lot! I read a few amazing books and hope to get my reviews up shortly. I have author Bernita Harris here on Wednesday guest blogging along with a giveaway to celebrate the release of her book, Dark And Disorderly! I just wanted to let you all know what’s up with my recent M.I.A. status. I hope you’re all doing awesome and reading amazing books.

SVR Gives Notice To…

 Dear Eric Northman,

I am writing you to let you know that even though I will be GLUED to the TV tonight to watch the season 3 opener of True Blood on HBO, so I can drool, watch you, you will no longer be my one and only lust monkey, lover. I have come across some honeys while you were away on hiatus and I have decided that I need to start living a polygamous lifestyle with 5 or more husbands to see to my every desire,  need.

You will just have to move past your Viking urges to conquer and be the one in charge. You WILL learn to OBEY me and share my beautiful self with others. Some of my potential candidates include, but in no way are limited to:

Spartacus, you’ve won me over! I watched you from the beginning and my heart broke along with yours when your beloved wife died in your arms due to the betrayal of Batiatus. I cheered you on through every battle and reveled in the satisfaction of your revenge! You gorgeous Thracian you! I can not wait to see what you do next, though I think you need a strong woman such as myself at your side.

My first lover, Eric, may try to establish dominance over you, but we both know how well you take to that, lol. I’m convinced that you can hold your own which is one of the reasons that I lust after, admire you. I will give you a heads up though, he is a thousand-year old vampire, so watch your neck and unless you enjoy conflict, I’d make myself scarce after the sun goes down.

Damon Salvatore, forget Elena. She loves your brother and I will keep you sexed up & fed, satisfied. 😉 Why be in a triangle when I will allow you to be your bad self like we all know you love to be. I will take you just the way you are and you can hang with my other lovers, Eric & Spartacus. It will be entertaining watching you three try to establish dominance over each other to keep my attentions.

Well Eric, I’ll start slow and just give you two new men to deal with for now. There may be more in the future, so don’t be thinking that you can eliminate these two to keep being my one and only. I’ll see you at 9pm sharp lover! Maybe some of my readers can suggest who else I should pick to be in my harem, stud farm, life? 😀

XOXO

Sidhe Vicious

Is It Just Me Or…

Lately I’ve been noticing what seems to be becoming a trend in quite a few of the books I’ve read, and I’m wondering if I’m the only one who feels this way. Transitions people. I am noticing a serious lack of transitions and it throws me off when I’m reading! 😦 For those who aren’t too sure what in the heck I’m talking about, here’s the definition that I’m referring to from my Encarta Dictionary:

“grammar: linking word or phrase: a word, phrase, or passage that links one subject or idea to another in speech or writing “

Microsoft® Encarta® 2008. © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Basically, what I’ve been noticing is that I’m reading along, going with the flow, following the action, the dialogue, etc., and BLAM! With no page or chapter break or any indication what-so-ever, we’re in a different scene, quite possibly with different characters. Huh? Or I’m all invested in a scene with characters who are doing/saying something, and BLAM! They’re all of a sudden doing or talking about something else. WTF is that all about? And trust me, I have flipped back to re-read and have also made sure I didn’t miss a page in there somewhere.

If it were only one or two books in a hundred, I could chalk it up to natural error in either the writing or editing, but this has been happening with alarming frequency. And not just in e-books or print, not just with new authors or small publishers. I am also not just referring to books I’ve reviewed here on the blog, as I’ve read a lot of books that I haven’t reviewed here. I’m not looking to point fingers anywhere, I’m just wondering if I’m the only one who’s noticed this?  Sound off people, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.

SVR Updates

Hi All! 😀 

I’ve had a few people ask me to let you all know when I’ve updated things in my sidebar or added a new page, so here we go. I recently updated my Wishlist in the sidebar, so you can see what books I’m jonesing for both already released and upcoming. Yeah, and I can just insert my foot in my mouth now because I’ve received and bought a whole bunch of books in the last 2 weeks. But it is fairly recent. *Grins* I swear!   

I’ve added a new page to the blog titled New Releases. Pretty self explanatory, lol. I know I’ve been a hard core slacker for the last few months with my new release list, so I’m hoping that this page and format will be easier and faster for me to maintain. It’s still a work-in-progress, so no links yet, but you can see all the wallet breaking goodness that’s out this month. (The 29th is going to kill me!) I’ve also included a bunch of books that were released in the last couple of months – those being the months I slacked off on. Just scroll down the page for this months releases. 

I know, I know… I am WAY behind on updating my “My Books” pages, and for those of you who reference them for new books, authors or just out of morbid curiosity about what’s on my bookshelf, I promise that I will update them ASAP. My GoodReads bookshelf is, by far, the most current representation of my book collection. As always, please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions about any books or authors. I do my best to get back to you as fast as possible. 

And just because it never gets old, 

Smile, it could be worse!

 ETI: I have all the links up on the New Releases page and will frequently be adding new books/links, so be sure to check the page often!