Lately I’ve been treating the free books I’ve accumulated from the BookBub mailing list sort of like streaming Netflix movies — that is, as disposable. After a chapter or two, if they haven’t grabbed me, I’m deleting them and moving on. Actually, that’s not really what I do with Netflix movies; I’ll pretty much watch any movie through to the end, even August Rush, which I infamously panned a few years back, earning me the ire of all six people who thought it was a good film. Although we did recently press “Eject” on Across the Universe after one too many mangled Beatles songs. Fiona Apple covering “Across the Universe” for the Pleasantville soundtrack, this was not.
Watch this instead of the movie “Across the Universe”.
It’s two hours shorter and has better music.
But I digress.
Anyway, I just started reading a new free book, a crime/mystery/comic thriller called Subpoena Colada, by Mark Dawson, which sort of sounds like a title that Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard might have come up with. Hmm, am I setting my expectations too high again? Uh oh.
Court 39 was full of lawyers, court ushers, pressmen, and public gallery addicts. The prospect of legal fireworks or, better yet, celebrity gossip, had sharpened the atmosphere’s edge, and the congregation was watching avidly.
Legal fireworks and celebrity gossip? Paging Nancy Grace! Meanwhile, here is this week’s excerpt from The War of the Ravels, which will conclude the story from Shards. It will be finished eventually, really!
“Blackhawk sent them,” Bertram said. “We’re to give them supplies for a journey, in exchange for his not … well, they brought a writ from him, anyway. You can read it. They asked about horses, which is why I brought them here, to see if we had any nags they might borrow, though I doubt that anything we lend them will ever be returned.”
“Nags?” The stable-master was scandalized. “I keep no nags here!” To Aldric: “Your bartender knows nothing of horses, or what they—”
“Please, please.” Aldric made a calming gesture with his hands. “I’m sure Bertram meant no aspersions against the stable, and his concern regarding the fate of any valuable livestock our friends here might take is quite understandable.” He gave them a narrow look. “They do tend to get involved in … risky situations, after all.”
“Conceded,” Mercy said after a moment.
Viscosity 
I still love Fiona’s cover of that song! Avril Lavinge should not be allowed to cover Beatles songs, though…
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Oh, boy! I just lived through 2008 all over again. Is that turkey still on DVD?
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