Tag: the war of the ravels

Teaser Tuesday (Or Wednesday Or Whatever If I Screw The Date Up Again): “Pines”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

This week I’m reading Pines, by Blake Crouch. This is another Prime freebie for the Kindle, thus continuing my effort to avoid spending money on books for a while — an effort which has probably just been extended by another few months due to my iPod’s unfortunate high-speed encounter with a tile floor. Deceleration trauma is rough on small spinning drives! Anyway, “Pines” is about a Secret Service agents who awakens in a small Idaho town following a car crash, and has a rather rough time leaving. I’m almost finished with it and, while I figured out the Big Twist well before the Big Reveal, the rules say no spoilers, so I had to choose my two sentences carefully. Here goes!

“It’s done,” Pilcher said, “and you’re my new sheriff. Welcome aboard.”

Believe me, this falls into the category of “An Offer You Can’t Refuse”.

And now, of course, here is this week’s teaser from The War of the Ravels:

The innkeeper tugged his blade free again, and accidentally dropped it this time. It failed to penetrate the ground, ending up lying on its side like some sort of unintentional metaphor.

Teaser Tuesday 10/10/2012: “Feed”

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So right now I’m reading Feed, a — wait for it! — not-quite-post-apocalyptic zombie book set in a future America in which people never leave the safety of their homes, preferring to communicate and interact via the Internet, where one is less likely to get attacked by the undead. (Getting attacked by trolls is, of course, still a risk.) The main characters are a trio of bloggers who follow a presidential candidate on the campaign trail, reporting on the stops and events and trying not to get eaten.

My father has always had just one piece of advice about zombies and ammunition, one he’s drilled into my head enough times that it’s managed to stick: When you have one bullet left and there’s no visible way out of the shit you’re standing in, save it for yourself.

Dads are always ready with the good advice! (A certain character from “Deep Rising” may wish he had learned this particular lesson.) Let’s not forget a couple of other important ones, like “Cardio” and “Double-Tap”.

And of course, here’s a little teaser from the upcoming conclusion of Shards:

One did not leave the husks of swatted flies lying about one’s kitchen, especially when expecting visitors. Untelleh would come to the castle once she had been restored from her exile, and it would hardly do to receive her atop a pile of slaughtered Rittandics, like some sort of barbarian despot.

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 8/28/2012: Seed

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

So this week I’m reading the horror novel Seed by Ania Ahlborn. I got it for free from the Amazon Kindle lending library, which is kind of good, because I don’t like it very much; I don’t believe the characters, don’t care for the dialogue, and the excessive use of brand and pop culture references keeps making me feel like I’m reading a particularly weird article in an issue of “People” while waiting to get a haircut or something. I haven’t decided to put it down yet, but I have switched into “skim” mode. Anyway, here’s the teaser!

On a regular summer afternoon, while Jack sat slumped on the couch watching Scooby Doo on the cheap JVC, a rage slithered into his blood just as it had in the cemetery. Gilda was in the kitchen frying up cheap skirt steaks she’d picked up at the Thriftway.

Really, it’s all right to just call it a “television”. And there are other words besides “cheap” to describe something inexpensive. (If I had gone another sentence or two, “cheap” would have put in yet another appearance, this time in reference to vegetable oil; in its persistence, “cheap” is not unlike the demonic entity that follows Our Hero from Georgia to Louisiana.) Oh well. All I spent on it was the opportunity cost of using up my free book for August, so it’s okay.

Moving on, here are a couple of lines from the current page of The War of the Ravels:

She fished in her pocket, pulled out the little badge Arran Blackhawk had given her, showed it to Cynidece. “This is who I’m meeting.”
“You’re meeting a badge?”

Readers of Shards may recall a certain badge that an unofficial deputy displayed a little too proudly toward the end of the book; the badge mentioned here is, in fact, the same one as that. Like demonic entities and the word “cheap”, it gets around.

Teaser Tuesday 8/21/2012: Alive in Necropolis

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

This week’s Teaser Tuesday comes from Alive in Necropolis, in which a young police officer patrols the city of Colma, where the dead outnumber the living, and spend a lot of time wandering around town. So far, it’s a little bit like “The Frighteners” meets “Two Days in the Valley” — which is a good thing.

He’s pretty sure, though, that you should never trust anyone who calls you friend over and over. He has a vague sense that this is something his father taught him when he was little.

This quote is in reference to a televangelist, but I don’t know yet if the preacher is to be trusted or not. Perhaps we’ll find out, or perhaps he will never appear again after the TV is switched off.

And, as usual, here’s this week’s two lines from The War of the Ravels:

As far as Bernard could tell, the barrel was full of bait in the form of small, wriggling, shiny freshwater fish. Cynidece wasn’t being careful with the filling or the drinking, so she must have been chugging down minnows as well.

Like boba! Only fish-flavored! You would be thirsty, too, after hanging out over a chasm by your wrists for a few days …

Spoiler Sunday: The Fingers of Death

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

As promised, here is the last (for now) post-Shards-cliffhanger excerpt from The War of the Ravels.  In this scene from very early in the book, we discover why, exactly, the villainous sorcerer Kihantroh has been trying so hard to get hold of the gems.  As before, beware — spoilers lie ahead!  But, of course, spoilers are what you came for, so read on.

Continue reading “Spoiler Sunday: The Fingers of Death” →

Teaser Tuesday: 8/14/2012

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This week’s Teaser Tuesday is from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary:  Part 2 by M.R. James.  James was writing stories of ghosts (and the occasional eldritch abomination) around the turn of the previous century, and has been cited as an influence by (among others) H.P. Lovecraft.  He also, as previously alluded, figures prominently in one of the Merrily Watkins books, which is what prompted me to pick up his stories.  The Kindle editions of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary are currently available for the quite reasonable price of $0.00.

Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: 8/14/2012” →

Spoiler Sunday: The Catacombs

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

Last week I posted a (partial) tension-reliever as to the fate of Bernard and Nebandalex after the first cliffhanger at the end of Shards; this week, it’s Mercy’s turn, after things … how shall I put it? … go less than well for her during her second run-in with the villain of the piece.

As before, major spoilers lie ahead!

Continue reading “Spoiler Sunday: The Catacombs” →