Linda's Latest List

Zoe has just moved to New York City, and is looking to start fresh as a travel editor after leaving her old job because of a disastrous affair with her publishing boss. She spots a quirky ad in a dingy bookstore and sees it again in a strange coffee shop. When she meets the person who placed the ad, she is repeatedly told that she’s just not right for the job. Zoe perseveres and is hired to edit a different kind of travel guide—for the undead. As the only human on the job, she must quickly learn about vampires, zombies, death goddesses, and other undead visitors who require a unique approach to tourist spots. Each chapter begins with a quote from the guide, with restaurant recommendations and hotel accommodations (or whatever is needed, like fresh dirt or a nice park). This is a unique and fun addition to urban fantasy, with Zoe ready to jump into the fray when the delicate balance between the undead and the humans is threatened.

What’s a spineless (literally), conquering warlord to do once a planet’s inhabitants have been subjugated? Emperor Mollusk, conqueror and now benevolent ruler of Earth, is bored. He, his loyal pet ultrapede Snarg, and his tough Venusian army commander Zala are hanging out at his lair on Dinosaur Island, experimenting with the earth’s polarity when a new challenge rears it’s ugly head, er, make that brain. No body, just a brain. The Sinister Brain and his nefarious brain gang, the Council of Egos, are fervently plotting to take over the universe. Luckily, Emperor Mollusk has plenty of weapons hidden under his tentacles. That about sums up the plot. Plenty of crazy action, with skewed science, a cool death ray, and robots that definitely don’t follow the rules, Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain is for readers that like their science fiction pulpy. Similar to John Zakour’s Plutonium Blonde.

--LNT

I let my husband read Impact first because the cover had a fiery ball of flames hurtling toward earth and I thought, oh yeah, another apocalyptic meteor collision. Call Bruce Willis and full speed ahead to save the world. But my husband said, “Hey, this is great. I think you’ll really like it.” Blast it. Right again! Impact IS a blast! We’ve got three scenarios. First up is former CIA operative Wyman Ford, last seen in Blasphemy, checking out radioactive gemstones mined in Cambodia. Over in Maine, college dropout and frustrated astronomer Abbey Straw spots a meteor landing near one of the many small islands near her home. She wants to cash in by selling fragments on e-bay, so she and girlfriend Jackie begin a search for the impact crater. And then there’s the angry red planet. Gamma rays from Mars? Mark Corso, a Mars mission technician at the National Propulsion Facility gets hold of some very classified and dangerous data. How do these three occurrences tie together? Well, I’m not telling, so you’ll have to read Impact to find out. There are several reasons why I loved this story. The two women searching for the impact make a great team. While they are hunting down the point of impact, a psycho who wants in on the action, even though he doesn’t know what the action might be is chasing them! Wyman Ford kicks ass over in Cambodia in a totally moral way. And the mysterious gamma rays along with a High resolution NASA image revealing a feature hidden in the depths of a crater on Mars reveal some unique surprises about this Impact.

--LNT (and hubby Jan Tonnesen)