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Monkeys Take Over!

In a terrible WordPress accident, monkeys appear to have temporarily taken over the blog. We will still have content, don’t worry— but it may take a while to evict the monkeys. Thanks for your understanding.

New Resources: The Genre Blender (and some ghost stories)

Click here to visit the Genre Blender

So many stories cross genre boundaries, and are missed by readers of one genre or the other, when both might discover some new world or a previously unknown (to them) novel. That’s really a shame. A lot of quality fiction (and a lot of entertaining mindless reading as well) gets passed up by readers who would probably enjoy it.

Soooo… I am thrilled to be able to say that librarian Megan McArdle has taken the time to create a “genre blender” Yes, that is exactly what it is. Choose two genres, click on the blender, and get a list of books that might suit your reading habits (this doesn’t mean they’re identical– you still have to search through them to find which ones might be right for you– but it’s a great starting point and gives you a way to add to your TBR list.

Megan has a book coming out this fall on genre blends, as you can see above. Even if you don’t purchase it (and like most ALA editions, I’m guessing it doesn’t come cheap), I’m betting that her blog, Genrify, which is where the Genre Blender is located, will be updated with new titles over time, so if you read genre blends like historical horror or urban fantasy, it definitely will be worth checking out. Go play!

Postscript: I like her list of ghost stories, which you can find here, but she left off Chris Bohjalian’s The Night Strangers. What else would you add to that list?

Book Review: Water Vamps by G.L. Giles

     Water Vamps by G. L. Giles

BlackWyrm Publishing, June 2013 (Second Printing)

ISBN-13: 978-1-61318-147-8

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

Psychic vampire Setiana and her partner, a shape-shifter, stop at an inn for a good day’s sleep. While there, Setiana enters a dream state, and visits a young girl, Robyn, in Charleston, South Carolina.  It is Robyn’s 11th birthday, and her life will never be the same. Setiana welcomes the girl into a new life. Robyn meets a new companion, a boy named Marion, who discovers he is a shape-shifter. Setiana and her partner help Robyn and Marion understand what their lives will be like in their new forms. There are many types of vampires in the story– some good, some evil. They must all beware of the Water Vampires.

I had real trouble following the story in this work. The overarching problem was the overuse of descriptive elements. This really muddied up the storyline. I give the author kudos for having a unique style, and based on other reviews, I know it works for others. At any rate, the theme of love came through clearly in the story. Ages 12 and up.

 

Contains: Homosexuality

Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher