Just thrilled to let my fans know my fantasy novel, From Mountains of Ice, is now available for pre-order from Iambik Audiobooks. Diana Majlinger does a wonderful narration, with her delicious accent (at least to these Canadian ears), adding an exotic flavour to this tale of honour, loyalty and betrayal. Once at Iambik’s site you can listen to the first chapter for free, and then decide from there whether you wish to add From Mountains…
The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes My rating: 2 of 5 stars The Palace Job, by Patrick Weekes, is a quick, easy read that doesn’t require anything of the reader other than being awake. It’s pure fantasy pulp, a sort of Ocean’s Eleven meets horny unicorn, sentient war hammer, and butch-bitch disinherited baroness. There isn’t much here to grab your attention, no remarkable writing, no ingenious plotting. Weekes’ attempt to write book from a black…
So the great roasted beast (turkey) happened for Christmas Day, and with only two of us that means a lot of leftovers. I don’t mind leftovers. Leftovers means lots of creativity in the kitchen. I also had a mango that needed to be used, and leftover cranberry chutney. After skimming a few recipes for chicken mango curry, I decided to wing it (please pardon the pun), and voilà, this is what I came up with. Turkey Mango…
If there is one profound lesson I will carry forward from 2012, it is the knowledge that miracles still do exist and occur every day. Perhaps we just don’t recognize them as such because we have become blinded by the abundance of amazing (yes, I’m using amazing as a noun) in mundane and expected events. Today this knowledge created a profound and happy two hours. Our son, Adam Stephens, lives and works in Calgary, Alberta…
I received the proofs for Diana Majlinger’s reading of From Mountains of Ice. Must say I’m delighted with the Iambik narrator’s delivery; there is a delicious European accent in her voice which gives the novel a very cosmopolitan feeling. I’m told by Gesine Kernchen at Iambik the novel should be available at Iambik’s website, and at Audible.com in the new year. Not sure at this point about pricing and such, but will be sure to…
The Indigo Pheasant by Daniel A. Rabuzzi My rating: 3 of 5 stars Daniel a. Rabuzzi concludes (or does he?) the story of Yount in The Indigo Pheasant. Overall this is a well-crafted, highly intelligent tale, drawing upon Biblical and literary sources (so many literary sources!) Yet throughout there is a distance between story and reader, perhaps because Rabuzzi chooses to narrate his story more from an impersonal third person, rather than a tightly focused,…
Under the Hawthorn Tree by Ai Mi My rating: 2 of 5 stars Perhaps one of the most disappointing factors in a reading experience is when you finish a novel that had all the potential for greatness and fell so far short. This is exactly my experience with Under the Hawthorne Tree by Ai Mi. It is difficult to point to just one reason the novel failed. It could have been the English translation that…