Month: September 2012

Teaser Tuesday 9/25/2012: “Ghosts of a Tired Universe”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

So now I’m reading a book called Ghosts of a Tired Universe, which is not to be confused with “Ghosts: The Complete Series”. For one thing, so far, this book doesn’t have any actual ghosts in it. This one is under the impression that it has something profound to say about Physics and Art (which, in the context of the book, would definitely be capitalized). I haven’t quite decided what I think of it yet, but I’m still reading, so it’s one up on the dreadful Seed from a few weeks back.

Dormius didn’t know at the time that the addiction to brightness had begun to seep into him as well. He too would one day have to rise from that subterranean playground and grow into the being he was meant to become.

Hey, Dormius, be careful with that. Sometimes, growing into the being you were meant to become gets you stabbed by The Slayer and sent to a hell dimension.

And of course, here’s a little teaser from the current section of The War of the Ravels that I’m working on:

“I delivered clothes to them as well, though whether that—” Here he wrinkled his nose a little. “—woman chooses to wear them rather than go around the common room in her shift remains unknown.”

Readers of Shards may be able to guess whose line that is; and the woman in question isn’t Mercy, of course. After all, Mercy is not, at the moment, a woman — she’s an elf. Semantics!

Teaser Tuesday 9/18/2012: More “Ghosts: The Complete Series”

~ James Viscosi ~ 2 Comments

Still reading “Ghosts: The Complete Series” by Amy Cross.  At this rate, I’ll be finishing it up just in time to become eligible to borrow another book from the Kindle Lending Library.  After spending all my book money for, oh, the next year or so on car repairs last month, this is a good thing.  Long books FTW!

“Just tell me,” I say.  “Don’t say I can’t handle the truth.”

And in case you were wondering, she is not talking to Jack Nicholson.

And of course, here’s this week’s teaser from “The War of the Ravels”!

In effect, she would be using herself as the battery to power Daras-Drûm’s prison. That might work for a while, but the way everyone talked about this entity, she didn’t think she’d be able to contain it for very long; you didn’t get to be nicknamed “the death-wind” without having some kick.

Indeed, one way to get nicknamed “the death-wind” is to be a demonic entity with a group of necromantic priests as followers commanding legions of the dead; another is to be Tucker the Vizsla.  Guess which one Daras-Drûm is …

Teaser Tuesday 9/11/2012: “Ghosts: The Complete Series”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

This week I’m reading “Ghosts: The Complete Series” by Amy Cross.  It’s a set of eight books—actually more like novellas—that, together, add up to about 150,000 words, or about the same length as “Shards” and “The War of the Ravels” put together.  I borrowed it for free from the Kindle lending library.  So far I like it much better than the last book I borrowed.  The premise of “Ghosts” is that God and Satan, as part of a bet with each other, erase their memories and come to a small town in Texas to try living as humans, and an angel comes to find them and bring them back where they belong — or, as the angel might put it, “Beings that would correspond to your ideas of God and Satan are in town and I, a being who would correspond to your idea of an angel, am here to retrieve them.”  Weasel words aside, it’s a quick, amusing read so far.  And now for the teaser!

“He smuggled pure adrenalin into the execution chamber, injected his own heart moments before the governor was about to give the order to kill him.  Everyone was very annoyed, as you can imagine.”

Or, as Steve Dallas once told Bill the Cat: “How would we look if we let you die in prison before we could execute you? Pretty damn silly, that’s how!”

And of course, here’s this week’s teaser from “The War of the Ravels”!

“Nobody’s doing any farmhouse-barricading,” Mercy said. “Doesn’t work in the movies, won’t work here.”

Oh dear. Barricading oneself in a farmhouse? That can only mean an impending zombie attack! Or something worse …

Teaser Tuesday: “The Bleeding Season”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

This week I picked up The Bleeding Season by Greg Gifune. At $2.99 for the Kindle edition (just like a certain other author’s books …) it was definitely the right price after a couple of expensive car repairs.

Some may remember that Greg Gifune was the editor of a magazine called “The Edge” that, way back when, published one of my short stories, “Singletrack“, in which wildlife is disturbed during a biking trip in the Adirondacks, to deleterious effect.

The pizza place downstairs didn’t open for another couple hours, so none of the smells that normally invaded the apartment (no matter what we did to try and cover them) had seeped up through the floor yet. I sat there groggily for a moment, noticed it was still overcast and cloudy but the rain had stopped and the apartment was quiet.

I’m still trying to figure out why one would want to cover up the smells of a pizza place. Meanwhile, here is this week’s supplemental teaser, from “The War of the Ravels”:

After a few moments of silence, Nebandalex said: “Surely whoever is responsible for making sure someone is sitting in the throne would understand if you told them you needed to save the city from ruin, and that their schedule would have to wait.”

“I see you are not familiar with the workings of a court,” Arran Blackhawk said.