Bona Fide's Menu
Books
- Shelf discovery of the week: Crime time - Breaking Point by John Macken
- Book Hype? Sasha by Joel Shepherd
- Steampunk Art @ Oxford
- PAX BRITANNIA news
- John Ottinger's Inside the Blogosphere
- The David Gemmell Legend Award
- Movies? No Trailer but a full movie!
- Dou you like Graphic novels?
- German proverbs and "snow" quotes
Crime time
This week I present you the latest member of my bookshelf. It is crime time. And it will be crime time in the next two Roundups. I like to read crime stories from different eras from time to time. I won Breaking Point (2009) [US][UK], by John Macken at a giveaway and received it today (Friday). As a fan of CSI I'm really interested in this book which is the third volume in the Reuben Maitland series. Each book contains a self-contained story. So it is possible to read the books separatetly. In this cas you miss the story of the main character - "Reuben Maitland runs the UK's elite forensic crime squad — GeneCrime. At the cutting edge of modern crime detection, GeneCrime use the very latest scientific knowledge to identify, arrest, prosecute and convict Britain's worst criminals." [Source]And this is the blurb of book three:
"Reuben Maitland is a forensic scientist forced to work outside of the law. Fired from his job with the CID, he takes work where he finds it. But when he discovers that his long-abandoned work on Behavioural Profiling, to predict latent homicidal behaviour from people's DNA, is being put back on track at his old unit GeneCrime, he knows he has to act. Rogue elements within GeneCrime believe that prevention is better than cure, and are using Reuben's research to hunt down and incite innocent people beyond their breaking point. Reuben turns to the one person in GeneCrime he can trust, DCI Sarah Hirst. But the GeneCrime unit is frantically trying to stop a seemingly invisible killer who strikes in the middle of the day on busy Tube lines. As the bodycount escalates, London life threatens to grind to a halt and panic begins to rise.Drawn back into GeneCrime by his feeling for Sarah Hirst, Reuben starts the hunt for the people misusing his technology. Only Reuben knows that the Behavioural Profiling technology is dangerously flawed, and innocent lives are threatened. But what he cannot know is that this hunt will lead him directly into the path of the Underground Killer." [Source]
Book Hype?
Sasha (2009) [US][UK], by Joel Shepherd is the first book of the A Trial of Blood & Steel trilogy."Sasha turns her back on her regal heritage, forsakes the life she could have as the princess in a rich kingdom, and trains instead to be a powerful warrior, fighting for the good of the people her father commands. Sasha is a princess, the like of which the highland country of Lenayin has never seen before. Spurning her royal heritage to be raised by the great warrior, Kessligh, her exquisite swordplay astonishes all who witness it. But Sasha is still young, untested in battle and often led by her rash temper. In the complex world of Lenayin loyalties, her defiant wilfulness is attracting the wrong kind of attention. Lenayin is a land almost divided by its two faiths: the Verenthane of the ruling classes and the pagan Goeren-yai, amongst whom Sasha now lives. The Goeren-yai worship swordplay and honour and begin to see Sasha as the great spirit--the Synnich--who will unite them. But Sasha is still searching for what she believes and must choose her side carefully. When the Udalyn people--the symbol of Goeren-yai pride and courage--are attacked, Sasha will face her moment of testing. How will she act? Is she ready to lead? Can she be the saviour they need her to be?" [Source]
You find a lot of promising reviews about this book [1][2][3][4][5]. That is not unusual. But it is conspicuously how often Sasha is compared with A Song of Ice and Fire as Lou Anders found out. Read his Sasha: Are We Seeing a Common Thing Here?
Blogosphere
In Roundup 43 I posted about following exihibition.
The Museum of the History of Science, Oxford University, UK, presents from 13 October 2009 to 21 February 2010 Steampunk Art. Unfortunately I can't visit because I don't live in UK. This week I can present you a video about the exhibition. Hope you enjoy!
PAX BRITANNIA news
You may have noticed that I like this series. This week I show you the PAX BRITANNIA movie which gives you an awesome overview.
John Ottinger's Inside the Blogosphere
"Occasionally, I ask some of the best book bloggers in sf/f/h a question about their reading choices, favorites, desires, or any old thing about the genre. I then collect the answers and post them here. This time I asked our participant bloggers:
What are the best endings in science fiction/fantasy novels?
And we got some great and varied answers. And by all means, feel free to include your suggestions in the comments."
I highly recommend to read it. So many interesting answers. By the way I also put in my two cents.
I'm member of The David Gemmell Legend Award and therefore I proudly present following exiting news:
"When we established The David Gemmell Legend Award For Fantasy it was with the intention of subsequently introducing further award categories to cover other aspects of the fantasy genre. We are now pleased to announce two new, additional awards, to be presented at next year’s ceremony. They are -
The Morningstar Award will give recognition to emerging talent in the field of fantasy fiction. As David Gemmell always took a keen interest in new writers, and helped many onto the path to publication, we regard this as an appropriate category to add, and one we feel sure David would have approved.
The Ravenheart Award will honour the best fantasy book cover art. The importance of fantasy cover art deserves admiration, as do the artists who produce it, yet there is no major UK award acknowledging this. The Ravenheart Award will fulfil that role.
Like the Legend Award, the winners of these new awards, for best debut author and best cover/artist, will be decided by popular vote. The first Legend Award, for best fantasy novel of the year, presented at a ceremony in London in June of this year, garnered an incredible 11,000 votes from around the world. We are confident that the Morningstar and Ravenheart awards, will be greeted with no less enthusiasm." [Source]
Like last year there will be a so called "longlist".
The Poll will for the longlist will open on December 26th 2009 and the voting will take place via the website until 31st March 2010. You don't need to be a member for voting. The top five novels will form the shortlists for each category. Voting for shortlist will be opened in April 2010. The WINNERS will be announced at the Award Ceremony in June 2010 at the gala Ceremony to be held at the Magic Circle Headquarters, London.
I will keep you informed because the longlist is a reading inspiration .
Movies
I'm sorry to say but I didn't find a trailer. Therefore I started to search and think what else I could show you. And I found a full movie! Don't be afraid. In this case full movie means 12 minutes. It is the first motion picture adaption of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from 1910!
Xgifts
Graphic novels
Since I read Watchmen (2008, new edition) [US][UK], by Alan Moore and The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes (2009) [US][UK], by Neil Gaiman I look for other interesting graphic novels. And there are several which I would like to read. But when I have to decide whether to buy three paperbacks or one graphic novel I mostly go for the paperbacks. Book addicts will understand. So birthday and Christmas are ideal opportunities to go for graphic novels. Following graphic novels made it to my wish list.
The first one is Voice of the Fire (2009, new edition) [US][UK], by Alan Moore."The dark aspect of human history is seen from the vantage point of a single place. Linked geographically within a radius of only ten miles, yet separated in time by a span of some 5000 years, each chapter in this novel brings a different voice from the ashes of the past." [Source]
The second one is The Sandman: The Doll's House (1991) [US][UK], by Neil Gaiman, which is the second book of he Sandman series."A being that has existed since the beginning of the universe, Morpheus rules over the realm of dreams. But after a decades-long imprisonment, the Sandman has returned to find that a few dreams and nightmares have escaped to reality. Looking to recapture his lost possessions, Morpheus ventures to the human plane only to learn that a woman named Rose Walker has inadvertently become a dream vortex and threatens to rip apart his world. Now as Morpheus takes on the last escaped nightmare at a serial killers convention, the Lord of Dreams must mercilessly murder Rose or risk the destruction of his entire kingdom." [Source]Sooner or later I would like to get the whole Sandman series.....
Quotes
This week you get "snow" quotes and German proverbs. And again I used wikiqoute as my main source.
" *Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache.
Literally, German language, difficult language.
Meaning: German language is hard to learn
Used when someone (usually German himself) has just made an embarrassing German grammar mistake.General saying about the language.”"
Literally, German language, difficult language.
Meaning: German language is hard to learn
Used when someone (usually German himself) has just made an embarrassing German grammar mistake.General saying about the language.”"
" * Das letzte Hemd hat keine Taschen.
Translation: The last shirt has no pockets.
Meaning: Piling up money won't serve you anything once you're dead.
Equivalent: Money isn't everything.
Equivalent: You can't take it with you.”"
Translation: The last shirt has no pockets.
Meaning: Piling up money won't serve you anything once you're dead.
Equivalent: Money isn't everything.
Equivalent: You can't take it with you.”"
" By mid-November I always like to have an extra 15 pounds on me."
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider; Northern Exposure, First Snow, 1993
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider; Northern Exposure, First Snow, 1993
" Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into,the mind."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English critic & poet (1772 - 1834)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English critic & poet (1772 - 1834)
3 comments:
I enjoy a good crime book every once in a while... I'll have to look for this one :) Congrats on the win also!! :) I love winning books... I haven't had to buy a book in quite sometime, lol ;)
OMG, I think those new awards will be totally awesome! I'm such a fan of "good" cover art... they really do deserve admiration!
Oh, I love graphic novels!! The Sandman series sounds really good too! So how did you like The Watchman? I seen the movie and it was pretty good, but I have yet to pick up the book...
Oh, and thank you about my little one we really did have fun on Halloween :) And wow you have a teenager/adult...any tips? lol!
Have a wonderful day!
Krista,
thank you for your kind words.
I liked the Watchmen movie. You find a lot of things from the graphic novel. Anyway I recommend to read Watchmen.
Yes, my daughter turns 18 in twelve days. Tips? Maybe one. Read to your daughter as much as possible. We did it for our daughter which was really good for her. Beside this I can tell you that it doesn't get better it always changes. Enjoy the time with your little one. The grow up so fast....
Can't believe it was 3w since I last read blogs... that's 12-14h/day of editing and cover art for ya.
I wish my POD novel's cover art were worthy of an award. At least the second revision had about 70% positive response instead of 0% positive that the first version had.
"Deutsche sprache, schwere sprache." Damit bin ich einverstanden. And probably I just made at least 2 mistakes only saying "I agree with that!"
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