The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox (Won in contest)
Prim and proper preschool teacher Lizzie Brown is on the verge of her thirtieth birthday when her hitherto unknown grandmother shows up, quickly followed by a demon erupting out of her toilet who Lizzie surprisingly manages to blast into “a million flecks of light.” Raised by distant adoptive parents, Lizzie had no idea that she was born to be a demon slayer. Her granny, a biker who communes with spirits in a metal lawn shed, then takes her to join her coven of senior biker witches who will help her defeat the demons who want to kill Lizzie before she can go after them. Along the way, Lizzie meets sexy shape-shifter Dimitri Kallinkikos, a sometime griffin who claims to be her protector but may have a hidden agenda that will take her straight to hell.

The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers by Angie Fox (Won in contest)
Demon-slaying powers should come with an instruction book… Seriously. Why does a new hair dryer have a twelve-page how-to manual, but when it comes to ancient demon-fighting hocus-pocus, my biker witch granny gives me just half a dozen switch stars and a rah-rah speech? Oh, and a talking terrier, but that’s another story. It’s not like my job as a preschool teacher prepared me for this kind of thing. So I’ve decided to write my own manual, The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers, because no one tells me anything. Dimitri, my “protector,” may be one stud of a shape-shifting griffin, but he always thinks he can handle everything by himself. Only he’s no match for the soul-stealing succubi taking over Las Vegas. If I can’t figure out how to save him—and Sin City—there’ll be hell to pay.

CSI: Brass in Pocket by Jeff Mariotte (From publisher)
Far from the glittering lights and 24/7 spectacle of the Strip, the Las Vegas Crime Lab’s team of investigators is gearing up for a rough night ahead…. A brutal shooting at a cheap motel may be business as usual for CSIs Catherine Willows and Nick Stokes, but as they process the crime scene and quickly identify the victim as a noted local private investigator, nothing could prepare them for the shock of finding physical evidence belonging to none other than Detective Jim Brass…. Meanwhile, CSIs Greg Sanders and Riley Adams are called to a nearby airport where they must face the ultimate locked room mystery: how a pilot flying solo in a small private plane wound up murdered while miles above the ground….

Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover (From publisher)
When Jayné Heller’s uncle Eric died, she inherited a fortune beyond all her expectations — and a dangerous mission in a world she never knew existed. Reining in demons and supernatural foes is a formidable task, but thankfully Jayné has vast resources and loyal allies to rely on. She’ll need both to tackle a bodyswitching serial killer who’s taken up residence in New Orleans, a city rich in voodoo lore and dark magic. Working alongside Karen Black, a highly confident and enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Jayné races to track down the demon’s next intended host. But the closer she gets, the more convinced she becomes that nothing in this beautiful, wounded city is exactly as it seems. When shocking secrets come to light, and jealousy and betrayal turn trusted friends into adversaries, Jayné will soon come face-to-face with an enemy that knows her all too well, and won’t rest until it has destroyed everything she loves most….

Love You To Death by Shannon K. Butcher (From publisher)
It’s been days since reporter Elise McBride has heard from her sister, Ashley. She’s convinced Ashley has met with some kind of foul play, especially when she learns that bodies of other missing women have surfaced in and around Chicago–all victims of a brutal serial killer. Convinced her sister is still alive, Elise vows to risk everything to save her… The last thing ex-cop Trent Brady needs is more blood on his hands. Yet when he catches Elise breaking into her sister’s house, full of reckless determination and fear, he knows she needs his help. But just as desire ignites between them, a twisted madman sets his sights on Elise. Hell-bent on possessing her for himself, this psychopath won’t rest until he has his perfect woman.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters (From publisher)
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

Yellow Moon by Jewell Parker Rhodes (From publisher)
In Rhodes’s superb sequel to 2006’s Voodoo Season, a wazimamoto, or African vampire, stalks Dr. Marie Laveau, a 21st-century doctor, modern voodoo practitioner and descendant of the legendary Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Haunted by the unquiet spirits of people killed by the wazimamoto, the young doctor vows to stop it with the help of new boyfriend NOPD Det. Daniel Parks; her Creole boss, Dr. Louis DuLac; and others devoted to Marie and her young adopted daughter, Marie-Claire. As the blood of the victims nourishes the vampire so it can completely assume human form, Marie must summon all her powers to vanquish it. Rhodes includes an informative author’s note about the evolution of the African vampire as a response and a warning about racist brutality and cultural vampirism, giving some cultural weight to this hypnotic thriller.

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 edited by Trisha Telep (Won in contest)
This exciting follow-up to the wildly successful Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance contains 30 short stories of hot blood, midnight pleasures, and inhuman passions. Containing the best names in the field, such as Eileen Wilks, Caitlin Kittredge, Jennifer Ashley, Dawn Cook, and Diane Whiteside, this compilation is sure to arouse attention.

Here are the prizes:
Grand Prize: Ebook reader
Second Prize (2): Hardcover copy of LIQUID SOUL *signed* and a Gift Card for $20.00 to Amazon.com
Third Prize (5): A *signed* Trade Copy of LIQUID SOUL

You have until December 24th to enter, so good luck!

If you do enter the contest, can you say that Valorie @ morbid-romantic.net referred you? That would be just too awesome.

You have until November 13th to enter, so get over there soon and get your entry in.

Author of Across the Endless River

How much do we know for certain about the life of Sacagawea? The answer is: almost nothing. She was born “around 1788.” She was abducted by the Hidatsa “when she was about 12.” The date of her death is similarly uncertain: the prevailing view is that she died in 1812 at Fort Manuel Lisa on the Missouri, but others contend that she lived well into her 90s and died at the Wind River Reservation in 1884. Even the pronunciation and meaning of her name are still disputed, a reflection of the unknowable transliteration that both Clark and Lewis tried to capture in written syllables.

Lewis & Clark — The Written Record Shapes All
The most reliable primary documents that have come down to us concerning Sacagawea are, of course, the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, through which she has entered the public imagination as an improbable but key player on the stage of American history. But even the journals, famed as they are, give us only fleeting glimpses of this young woman. She was one of Toussaint Charbonneau’s several “squaws”, a usage that covered everything from absolute servitude to common law marriage. In historical accounts, she is most frequently described as his “wife”, but the fact remains that we have no way of knowing the human contours of their relationship.

The instances of her mentions in the journals are themselves full of dramatic details: a difficult labor for her first child, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, born on February 11, 1805 in the bitter cold far-northern reaches of the Upper Missouri; her dire illness and near death in June of that year, when Lewis dosed her attentively from his meager medicine kit; her vote as an equal member of the expedition about the location of their winter camp once they reached the Pacific; her insistence at being allowed to accompany the party dispatched by Clark to the shore of the Pacific to investigate what meat might be recovered from a beached whale.

All of these scenes have survived in the clear and dispassionate prose of the two captains, and while they offer tantalizing glimpses of how Sacagawea reacted under pressure, they of course come from the pens of those whose business it was to give the expedition shape in daily journals. While history is indeed written by the conquerors, perhaps here it would be more apt to say that history is first written by those who can write. How would she have described the captains? Nothing certain remains from Sacagawea’s oral tradition, so the accounts of those whose language included an alphabet were bound to prevail.

Sacagawea, Repository of Legends
Even so, the degree to which the slender and infrequent mentions of Sacagawea in the Lewis & Clark journals have subsequently been weighed down with meaning is astounding. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, and gathering steam well into the twentieth, there developed an elaborate literature of wonder, almost of awe, around her being. She has come to represent resilience, courage, patience, loving motherhood, feminine independence . . . the list is virtually endless. It has been said that more images of her adorn public places than that of any other American woman. The latest iteration of her imagined likeness, the young mother bearing her papoose who graces the U.S. dollar coin, is as close as American culture is ever likely to come to an indigenous Madonna and Child.

And yet most of this is pure fabrication, a projection of our own changing needs and perceptions of the past. I am reminded of the elaborate hagiography that has built up in France around Joan of Arc, just enough of it based on the startling and dramatic facts of her life to lay the groundwork for a complete mythology. In that sense, Lewis & Clark is our own founding myth, and the individual actors in its story assume the proportions of legend as we embroider the fragile facts we have with our own imaginings. Sacagawea dances around the edges of the narrative: innocent, strong, pure of heart, and ultimately unknowable, an undying receptacle for our dreams about both past and future. The beaten and abducted young squaw stands alongside the mother of a mixed-race son, the determined woman who saved Lewis & Clark from failure by bargaining for horses with the tribe from which she had been torn. Could any refracted image we fashion to express our hopes be more ambiguous, or more captivating?

©2009 Thad Carhart, author of Across the Endless River

Author Bio
Thad Carhart, author of Across the Endless River, is a dual citizen of of the United States and Ireland. He lives in Paris with his wife, the photographer Simo Neri, and their two children.
For more information please visit www.thadcarhart.com

The winning numbers are: 6, 34, 60, 90

WINNERS:
Eliane T. – Wolf charm
Janna Johnson – Vampire Spell
Leslie – Cullen Family Crest
Charlene Kuser – Twilight Apple

I am going to email you all right now and request your mailing address. Please respond within three days or new winners will be chosen. Thanks for entering!

Objects of Worship by Claude Lalumiere (from publisher)
The strange is matter-of-factly mundane in Canadian author and editor Lalumière’s collection of 10 reprinted and two original stories of the surreal and fantastic. Deities and spiritual grace are both unfathomably alien and somehow less than you might expect when Lucifer makes a deal with the phone company (A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens) and likewise in the title story, where keeping your gods satisfied is like caring for extra-finicky but disturbingly powerful cats. Lalumire’s love of comic book heroes informs the antics of Hochelaga and Sons, Spiderkid and Destroyer of Worlds, and the daily lives of zombies set the stage for the blackly comedic The Ethical Treatment of Meat and A Visit to the Optometrist. Even when the plots aren’t quite enough to carry Lalumière’s curious ideas, they’re still intensely memorable.

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo (Paperbackswap)
This debut novel succeeds largely because Acevedo gleefully acknowledges that it takes a lot to make a vampire story interesting anymore. PI Felix Gomez, an ex-soldier who became a vampire while serving in Iraq, uses his supernatural powers to solve mysteries that befuddle mere mortals. When a friend in the Department of Energy asks him to look into an outbreak of nymphomania among female guards at a plutonium processing plant in Colorado, things get really weird: hypnotized personnel talk cryptically about Roswell and something called Project Redlight, trained assassins start decimating the local vampire community and an amorous dryad shows up to assist in the detective work. As though this weren’t enough, Felix refuses to drink human blood, an ethical stand that attenuates his uncanny powers and results in intriguing plot complications. Not everything adds up by the book’s dizzying finale, but most readers will be too charmed by the crisp style to notice the loose ends. Acevedo doesn’t add anything new to the modern vampire tale, but he has a lot of fun sounding its bells and whistles.

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz (Paperbackswap)
Schwartz bases his finely wrought fourth novel on the life of Empress Michiko of Japan, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese imperial family. Haruko Tsuneyasu grows up in postwar rural Japan and studies at Sacred Heart University, where she excels—particularly and fatefully—at tennis, which provides her entrée to the crown prince, whom she handily beats in an exhibition match. After more meetings on and off the court, the prince asks Haruko to marry him. Persuaded by their mutual attraction and by assurances that the break with tradition will usher in a modern era, Haruko ultimately agrees, against her father’s wishes, to become the first commoner turned royal. But, as her father had feared, her freedom and ambition suffer under the stifling rituals of court life. Eventually, Haruko succumbs to the inescapable judgment of the empress and her entourage, falling mute after the birth of her son, Yasuhito. Though the narrative loses some of its life after Haruko marries—perhaps mirroring Haruko’s experience within the palace walls—urgency returns after Haruko chooses a wife for Yasuhito; the marriage tests Haruko’s dedication to the crown. Schwartz (Reservation Road) pulls off a grand feat in giving readers a moving dramatization of a cloistered world.

The Venus Throw by Steven Saylor (Paperbackswap)
Saylor (Catilina’s Riddle) has established a fine reputation with his mystery novels set in ancient Rome and starring Gordianus the Finder, an early PI. In his fourth adventure, in 56 B.C., Gordianus is visited by Dio, his teacher of Greek philosophy 30 years earlier in Alexandria, who is now on an Egyptian delegation to Rome. Dio, whose fellow delegates are being killed, fears being poisoned; so Gordianus offers him an untainted dinner. Poor Dio dies that night anyway, stabbed and poisoned. Gordianus looks into the doings of his late teacher’s companion, the eunuch priest Trygonion, who had accompanied Dio that evening. A beautiful, sex-hungry widow accuses Gordianus’s neighbor, a young, loudmouthed lawyer, of murdering Dio, and she hires Gordianus to prove her charges. Saylor gives the widow a gloriously handsome, incest-inclined brother and sets his tale simmering with eroticism, adding engrossing historical filler about Roman law, politics and goddess cults. The result is a talky, absorbing brew of Rome’s decay. The title refers to luck at dice.

A Murder on the Appian Way by Steven Saylor (Paperbackswap)
Turmoil strikes Rome in A.D. 52 in this stand-out novel by the author of The Venus Throw. Once again, Gordianus the Finder is put in the delicate position of having to solve a crime and keep his own counsel amid the scheming and duplicitous rulers of Rome. Publius Clodius, a powerful populist politician with an unsavory personal life, is murdered while traveling on the Appian Way. The prime suspect is Clodius’s arch rival, patrician Titus Milo, and the repercussions are many-for the state, the judicial system and the military. Gordianus is brought into the case by his neighbor, Cicero, who is defending Milo and needs a bit of discreet detective work. Gordianus doesn’t have much use for “lawyers,” especially not for the silver-tongued Cicero, whose motives he distrusts, but the case is too intriguing to turn down. An unusual and morally sturdy character, Gordianus is honest without being sanctimonious, a savvy observer of the political scene who never loses his integrity. He’s also a clear and faithful narrator. Soon, he finds himself dealing with the likes of Pompey, Caesar and Mark Antony as he unravels the complicated threads of the crime. Meanwhile, Rome is burning as Clodius’s followers riot to avenge their murdered leader. The suspense never lags as Saylor spins a sophisticated political thriller that also brings his readers up to speed on their Roman history.

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Paperbackswap)
Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father—the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unholy partnership. In exchange for finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner—are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her newfound status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side . . . and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Paperbackswap)
Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She’s still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind. Being around him awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline kick of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head—wanted: dead or half-alive—means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard she tries to keep things professional between them, she’ll find that desire lasts forever . . . and that Bones won’t let her get away again.

Nefertiti by Michele Moran (Paperbackswap)
This fictionalized life of the notorious queen is told from the point of view of her younger sister, Mutnodjmet. In 1351 B.C., Prince Amunhotep secretly kills his older brother and becomes next in line to Egypt’s throne: he’s 17, and the 15-year-old Nefertiti soon becomes his chief wife. He already has a wife, but Kiya’s blood is not as royal, nor is she as bewitching as Nefertiti. As Mutnodjmet, two years younger than her sister, looks on (and falls in love), Amunhotep and the equally ambitious Nefertiti worship a different main god, displace the priests who control Egypt’s wealth and begin building a city that boasts the royal likenesses chiseled in stone. Things get tense when Kiya has sons and the popular Nefertiti has only daughters, and they come to a boil when the army is used to build temples to the pharaoh and his queen instead of protecting Egypt’s borders. Though sometimes big events are telegraphed, Moran, who lives in California and is making her U.S. debut, gets the details just right, and there are still plenty of surprises in an epic that brings an ancient world to life.

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement by Irene Spencer (Won in a contest)
Life for Irene Spencer was a series of devastating disappointments and hardships. Irene’s first book, Shattered Dreams, is the staggering chronicle of herstruggle to provide for her children in abject poverty and feelings of abandonment each time her husband left to be with one of his other wives. Irene was raised to believe polygamy was the way of life necessary for her ticket to heaven. The hard knocks of her environment were just the beginning of Irene’s shocking tale. Insanity ran rampant in her husband’s family and was the source of inconceivable events that unfolded throughout Irene’s adult life. CULT INSANITY takes readers deeper into her story to uncover the outrageous behavior of her brother-in-law Ervil — a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he was called to set the house of God in order — and how he terrorized their colony. Claiming to be God’s avenger and to have a license to kill in the name of God, Ervil ordered the murders of friends and family members, eliminating all those who challenged his authority.

Rubicon by Steven Saylor (Paperbackswap)
Even readers not drawn to historical settings should explore Saylor’s impressive series (Murder on the Appian Way, etc.) set in ancient Rome. Saylor’s protagonist, Gordianus the Finder, whom Cicero characterizes as “the most honest man in Rome,” is an astute citizen and a detective for the Senate. An independent thinker, Gordianus has freed his slaves, marrying one, and adopted several orphans whom he has raised as his own sons. But at 61, the wily Gordianus finds his survival instincts pushed to the utmost, for Rome is on the verge of civil war and all must be careful with their alliances. Caesar has crossed the Rubicon with his army, and his rival, Pompey, the head of the Roman Senate, is about to abandon the city, leaving its citizens without laws and protection. In the midst of this turmoil, Pompey’s favorite cousin and trusted courier is murdered in Gordianus’s garden. Infuriated, Pompey orders the sleuth to find the killer, insuring his loyalty by impressing one of Gordianus’s relatives into his own army. While Gordianus copes with this treacherous mix of family and politics, a heightened frenzy overtakes Rome as it awaits Caesar’s possible invasion. Saylor writes about ancient Rome as naturally and comfortably as if he had lived there, capturing both its glory and brutality. Finely shadowed characters and an action-packed finale make this a praiseworthy addition to a series that deserves wide attention.

There Be Dragons by Heather Graham (Won in a contest)
When the beautiful Marina tragically loses her parents, she is left alone and in the hands of the one responsible—the devious sorceress, Geovana. Greedy for power, Geovana arranges for the girl to marry her evil son, even though Marina is in love with someone else. As Christmas day approaches, the girl is faced with the terrible choice to either save her land and her people or follow her heart and believe in the magic of Christmas and true love. This enchanting holiday tale also includes an audio CD of original Christmas songs by the author as well as several classic carols.

During The Second Great Awakening’s religious revival of evangelicalism, Robert Matthews- the self-appointed prophet Matthias- was one of many to create and spread his own ultimately doomed religion, a patriarchal Kingdom of Truth in which Matthias sat at the head as the Father and redeemer. Matthias and his Kingdom were one of many religions developed and spread during the early 1800s, and many of Matthias’ teachings were similar to those of other prophets and seers more successful in popularizing their messages. Yet Matthias and his group remained on the margins of society. Johnson and Wilentz want to explain not only the religion itself, but the reasons for its failure while other similar ones succeeded.

The authors acknowledge that their main three sources are all biased for various reasons and were considered with this in mind. Accordingly, the sources, two books written about Matthias and the Kingdom and one pamphlet by Matthias’ wife about his years before the Kingdom, must be weighted against one enough to derive something as close to the truth about the events. Other primary sources used are newspaper reports, personal narratives/memory, church records, indictment papers from Matthias’ trial, and lectures. A lot of the background and contextual details are taken from various books, some of which Johnson and Wilentz wrote, and journal articles.

The rich and narrative style of the story helps it flow in a way that is interesting but informative. The two were able to create a story that read easy, that is fun to read and very enjoyable. The book is a snapshot of one religious group during the early 1800s that, though being the stuff of pure entertainment, has been all but forgotten. While the book is very isolated in its focus, it expands upon the world at the time by placing Matthias and his Kingdom in the context of their time period. Not only does the book show how the world around Matthias shaped his Kingdom, but how the Kingdom was part of the larger evolving world that it existed within. Though there were many other religions around this time in development, the bizarreness of the story of Matthias illuminates best the failures of religious revival as the others exemplify success, which allows for a more complete idea of the varied nature of 19th century American religion and society.

However, the heavy use of sources that are admittedly very shaky and biased places a lot of the events into question. While no doubt everything written is based on fact and reality, and though the authors state that they have derived truth from contradicting and biased evidence to the best of their ability, there remains a matter of what is fact and exaggeration. The authors can never know what truth really is, they can only guess at it. Additionally, the book went off on tangents about people and rivalries that had no significance to the story. For example, the explanations of Matthias’ brothers, and the story of the Stone and Folgers argument. They were fun to read, but ultimately had nothing to do with the story of Matthias and The Kingdom.

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Disclaimer(s):

- More can be found in my Reviews section or on my Biblio page. If you would like to see my book list for 2009, go here.

- If you would like me to review your book, send an email to me at morbidromantic@gmail.com. Read my Book Review Policy for more information.

To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt (From publisher)
NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING- Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl’s heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago? OR DANGEROUS- Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle’s home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh-and luring her into his bed. THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL. Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud’s savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice’s love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title-even if it means sacrificing her innocence?

Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro (From publisher)
Caterina Shaw’s days are numbered. Her only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene treatment-a risk she willingly takes. But now Caterina barely recognizes herself. She has new, terrifying powers, an exotic, arresting body-and she’s been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run. Mick Carrera is a mercenary and an expert at capturing elusive, clever prey. Yet the woman he’s hunting down is far from the vicious killer he’s been told to expect: Caterina is wounded, vulnerable, and a startling mystery of medical science. Even more, she’s a beautiful woman whose innocent sensuality tempts Mick to show her exactly how thrilling pleasure can be. The heat that builds between them is irresistible, but surrendering to it could kill them both . . . for a dangerous group is plotting its next move using Caterina as its deadly pawn.

Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 1 by James Patterson and NaRae Lee (Won in a contest)
Hiding out in the wilderness of Colorado, Max Ride, 14, and her ragtag family of mutant kids think they&’re safe from the clutches of &The School,& a secret government lab that has erased their memories and turned them into human/bird creations. When Angel, the youngest of them, is kidnapped by the &Erasers&–cruel half-man/half-wolf enforcers for &The School&–Max and several of the kids set off in search of her. Despite outwitting them in several instances, the Erasers are able to intercept them. But all is not as it seems when Max is released from her confinement only to be told the secret of her origin–that she was created to save the world. The story is based on Patterson&’s popular &Maximum Ride& series (Little, Brown), and Lee does a superb job of translating his text into attractive manga-style illustrations. Although the narrative is a bit slow at first, the action quickly picks up and is bound to keep readers turning the pages. Bridging the gap between contemporary YA fiction and manga/manhwa, Maximum Ride is a fine first choice for sci-fi/thriller-heavy collections.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Won in a contest)
Patterson jumps on the superheroes bandwagon with contributor Ledwidge and delivers the adventures of Daniel X, a superpowered alien whose mission is to defend Earth from more malignant, threatening aliens. In his first adventure, listeners hear the typical origin story (parents killed by the most vile alien on Earth), his early adventures (growing up on his own with amazing powers) and his first real step into manhood (facing off against another alien). The story throws in a few interesting twists, but isn’t particularly dynamic as superhero narratives go. The production is sparsely sprinkled with sound effects, which work quite well and add to the story, but there is a lack of consistency to their execution. However, Milo Ventimiglia makes it worth the listen. His timing and inflection match perfectly with Daniel, the first-person protagonist. He sounds youthful enough to be believable as Daniel and easily transitions to other character voices within the story.

Daniel X: Watch the Skies by James Patterson and Ned Rust (Won in a contest)
LIGHTS… All’s quiet in the small town of Holliswood. Television sets, computers, and portable devices are aglow in every home, classroom, and store. Yet not all is perfect. Evil is lurking, just out of sight, behind the screen. CAMERA… Residing in this sleepy town is a villain with more ambition than the world can withstand. Twisted beyond reason, he is dead set on throwing Holliswood into chaos and documenting the destruction of every person in it, including Daniel X. EXTERMINATION… The only person who can stop this made-for-TV tyrant, Daniel must use his extraordinary power to save the town. But this devilish director has assembled an all-star team of his own creation and vows to stage the most spectacular finale the world has ever seen. Can Daniel X stop this deranged outlaw–or will he find himself on the cutting room floor?

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (The Fugitives 1) by James Patterson (Won in a contest)
A group of genetically enhanced kids who can fly and have other unique talents are on the run from part-human, part-wolf predators called Erasers in this exciting SF thriller that’s not wholly original but is still a compelling read. Max, 14, and her adopted family–Fang and Iggy, both 13, Nudge, 11, Gazzy, 8, and Angel, 6–were all created as experiments in a lab called the School. Jeb, a sympathetic scientist, helped them escape and, since then, they’ve been living on their own. The Erasers have orders to kill them so the world will never find out they exist. Max’s old childhood friend, Ari, now an Eraser leader, tracks them down, kidnaps Angel, and transports her back to the School to live like a lab rat again. The youngsters are forced to use their special talents to rescue her as they attempt to learn about their pasts and their destinies. The novel ends with the promise that this journey will continue in the sequel. As with Patterson’s adult mystery thrillers, in-depth characterization is secondary to the fast-moving plot. The narrative alternates between Max’s first-person point-of-view and that of the others in the third person, but readers don’t get to know Max very well. The only major flaw is that the children sound like adults most of the time.

Maximum Ride: School’s Out- Forever (The Fugitives 2) by James Patterson (Won in a contest)
This book picks up exactly where The Angel Experiment (Little, Brown, 2005) left off. The six genetically engineered bird children have escaped from the wolf-hybrid Erasers again, Max is still hearing The Voice in her head, and she is still reeling from the revelation that Ari, the most persistent of all the Erasers, is dead by her hand and that he might be her brother. From this point forward, there is action, but no distinctive plot. The closest the story line comes to compelling is when the kids are taken in and enrolled in school by a seemingly kind woman who just happens to be a high-ranking FBI agent. It will not shock readers when it is eventually revealed that she has betrayed them. This book is full of as many twists, turns, and conspiracies as an episode of daytime drama. And just like a soap opera, it relies heavily on melodrama until the very end, whereupon readers discover that very little has actually happened. The story is disappointingly anticlimactic and violent. Still, it does have some appeal–the children continually outmaneuver their attackers without permanent damage. Plus, the talking dog they pick up during their adventures is sure to entertain.

Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (The Fugitives 3) by James Patterson (Won in a contest)
The end is near . . . or is it? So reads the tagline of Book 3 of the Maximum Ride series, suggesting that Patterson’s best-selling series for YAs may expand beyond the trilogy originally planned—news that will be greeted enthusiastically by fans of its 14-year-old heroine. Slated for extermination by their scientist creators, rebel-mutant Max and other members of her flock, all of whom possess bird DNA and functioning wings, are on the lam again, their mission to save the world from a eugenics plot. Affection for the dauntless characters and misadventures that build on universal yearnings about sprouting wings and taking flight will hold readers.

Maximum Ride: The Final Warning (The Protectors 1) by James Patterson (Won in a contest)
Maximum Ride is a perfectly normal teenager who just happens to be able to fly, the result of an out-of-control government experiment. Max and the other members of the Flock-six kids who share her remarkable ability-have been asked to aid a group of environmental scientists studying the causes of global warming. The expedition seems like a perfect combination of adventure, activism-and escaping government forces who watch the Flock like a hawk. But even in Antarctica, trapped in the harshest weather on our planet, Maximum Ride is an irresistible target in constant danger. For whoever controls her powers could also control the world . . . Maximum Ride is James Patterson’s greatest character, a heroine who manages to be human and fearless at once. THE FINAL WARNING is an unrelenting new adventure from the writer Time magazine has called “The Man Who Can’t Miss.”

Maximum Ride: Max (The Protectors 2) by James Patterson (Won in a contest)
The fifth entry in Patterson’s all-ages Maximum Ride fantasy/thriller series finds the teenaged title character facing her greatest challenge yet. Max, leading her flock of virtually indestructible part-human/part-bird hybrids, must rescue her human mom, kidnapped by a criminal mastermind with an elaborate plan to wreak worldwide ecological catastrophe. But in order to rescue her, 14-year-old Max and the five younger members of her flock (genetically developed by an environmental group) must team up with the U.S. Navy to determine why millions of fish are dying off the coast of Hawaii. All this, and Max is falling in love, too. Patterson doesn’t spend much time on character development, opting to propel his wild story with quick action scenes, plenty of dialogue and chapters seldom longer than three or four pages; unfortunately, though, life-and-death situations are often solved by implausible plot turns. Max narrates with a precocious, snarky voice, but makes it relatively easy to jump into her complicated tale midstream. Not surprisingly, the open-ended conclusion begs for a follow-up; it’s also little wonder that a movie franchise is in the works.

I come to you with a new offer from Uprinting! This time, for 100 free brochures or flyers. I will also be receiving 100 free brochures for running this contest, isn’t that great? I have a couple of ideas going through my head as to how I could use them. Of course, I could go with the obvious and use my brochures/flyers to advertise my website. That is usually what I tend to do. But I keep thinking that maybe I can do something cute with them down the road, think of something creative. Maybe use them to advertise something locally for an organization. I don’t know, the possibilities are endless.

One lucky winner will get just what I am getting!

Break down of prize:
100 8.5 x11″ Brochure / Flyers on 100lb gloss text paper ; 4 color printing on both sides
Folding Choices: Half fold; Trifold/Letterfold; Z-fold; Accordion (4 panels) Roll Fold (4 Panels)
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents due to shipping costs. We will negotiate better shipping rates soon.

So how do you win?

Ways to Enter: (use a separate comment for each of your entries)
+1 Leave a comment telling me how you would use the brochures/flyers if you won.
+1 Tweet this giveaway @morbidromantic and @uprinting with the hashmark #giveaway.

You will have until November 9th to enter to win. On November 9th, I will pick a winner at random using randomizer.org. Then, I will send your email address to the company and they will contact you within a few days with the coupon code that you will use to redeem your prize.

After you get your prize, please consider leaving a review of your experience for others. Also, read through them and check out the experiences that others have had using Uprinting.

No Mad by Sam Moffie (From author)
Racing home to share news of a long awaited book deal, Aaron Abrams unexpectedly finds his wife and beloved brother TOGETHER. Tossing a few mentionables into the car, along with his golden retriever, Churchill, his now only trustworthy lifelong companion, Aaron embarks on an odyssey like no other. With his own music as a backdrop, while guzzling his favorite Newman’s Own Virgin Lemonade, Aaron begins in Youngstown, Ohio, travels interstate 80 in Pennslyvania, and continues into Gettysburg, Pa., Boston Ma., Roswell, NM., to name a few, ultimately ending his road trip in scenic Niagara Falls. Along the way, he continues to embrace each moment, every situation, all relationships and brief encounters. Never losing his zest for life, Aaron stays positive, upbeat and open for adventures, not letting his ex-wife-to-be interfere with his new found freedom, while at the same time rediscovering and recreating bonds that will never be broken. The game of Jinx has never gotten so much attention; what that means the reader is soon to discover.

Primitive by Mark Nykanen (From publisher)
Environmental extremists want to use her, corporations want her dead, the government wants her gone, and her daughter just wants to save her life. A “neo-primitive” cult with a doomsday secret kidnaps a fashion model and holds her hostage, forcing her to act as their spokesperson. As time runs out and the world watches, her adult, estranged daughter allies with the activist underground in a desperate attempt to rescue her, while battling dark agendas from the government and energy corporations.

A Separate Country by Robert Hicks (Won in a contest)
After one-legged Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood led his men to crushing defeat in the bloody Franklin-Nashville campaign of 1864, soldiers sang — to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas” — a ditty about how “the gallant Hood of Texas / He played hell in Tennessee.” Robert Hicks’s riveting new novel takes up Hood’s life after the war. In New Orleans, he married Anna Marie Hennen, a Creole society girl, fathered 11 children and ultimately failed in business. Like the Hood of history, the Hood of this novel is engaged in writing a self-serving memoir designed to redeem his tarnished military reputation. Hicks’s Hood, however, also has a second, secret memoir: Though filled with chilling adventure, it is really about the more important campaign for personal redemption. Dying of yellow fever, Hood summons a friend named Eli Griffin, whose history has intertwined tragically with his own. He wants Griffin to publish his secret memoir, but only if his former comrade, now working as a hit man, approves of the project. The action unfolds through Hood’s diary, letters from Anna Marie to their oldest daughter, and Griffin’s account of his adventures while fulfilling the general’s strange, last commission. Hood made reckless decisions that cost thousands of lives during the Civil War, but Hicks depicts a scene before secession when, as a young officer in Texas, Hood orders his troops to commit an atrocity against the Comanche at the aptly named Devil’s River. This horrific, well-written episode introduces Hood’s diabolical protege, Sebastien Lemerle, another New Orleans Creole who plays a major role in the novel. Anyone who has ever lived in New Orleans must be prepared to be made homesick, and the bizarre cast of characters, including a dwarf, a burly priest and a boy of mixed and mysterious parentage, wouldn’t seem right in any city but this one.

Bound to Shadows by Keri Arthur (From publisher)
Part vampire, part werewolf, Riley Jenson knows what can happen when vamps don’t play well with others. But she’s never seen anything like this: a series of brutal murders surrounding the latest hot spot for vampire-human hookups—and the victims aren’t just killed, they’re beheaded. Now Riley is launching into action, toying with a seductive—and highly suspicious—club owner, and finding herself in the middle of another mystery: women being killed one by one, without a trace of violence. For Riley, solving multiple cases—in a world going mad with human and vampire passions—would have been tough enough. Instead she has two jealous lovers on her hands: Kye Murphy, the amber-eyed werewolf who makes Riley’s wolf blood howl—and Quinn, the cool, elegant vamp who has over a thousand years’ experience at fulfilling women’s desires. While she’s busy juggling these two sexy beasts, Riley’s detective work takes a stunningly violent turn. Finding a murderer is now a matter of life and death. Especially since the killer has long since found her . . .

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs by Molly Harper (Paperbackswap)
Hysterical laughs are the hallmark of this enchanting paranormal debut. Unceremoniously fired from her job as Half Moon Hollow’s children’s librarian, Jane Jameson drowns her sorrows with a handsome stranger, vampire Gabriel Nightengale. When Jane is accidentally shot, Gabriel saves her life by turning her undead. As Jane starts to get used to chatting with her dead aunt, finding creative ways to dodge her mother’s nosy questions and enjoying the chemistry with Gabriel, she’s brought up short by being named a suspect in a recent vampire murder. Jane’s snarky first-person narrative is as charming as it is hilarious, retaining enough humanity to connect instantly with readers. Harper keeps the quips coming without overdoing the sarcasm, and her take on vampire lore will intrigue and entertain even the most jaded paranormal fan.

Bite edited by Laurel K. Hamilton (Paperbackswap)
Those looking to take a brief taster’s tour through five sexually charged paranormal worlds may enjoy the stories and novellas served up in this anthology, but readers with an appetite for something a little more meaty likely won’t be sated. Although Hamilton’s name dominates the cover, her contribution is a meager 30 pages, which amounts to little more than a teaser for her next Anita Blake novel. Harris’s offering is similarly slim and static, though it shows off the cleverness of Sookie Stackhouse, the psychic heroine of her Southern Vampire series (Dead to the World, etc.). By far, the collection’s best offerings are Knight’s “Galahad” and Taylor’s “Blood Lust.” In the former, a fledgling Majae (i.e., witch) teams up with the famed knight Sir Galahad, who’s really a benevolent vampire, to destroy a nest of deadly cultist vampires. And in the latter, Taylor imagines a much more traditional world, wherein vampires can’t touch anything sacrosanct and are organized hierarchically, a system the protagonists, a junior vampiress and a microbiologist-turned-vampire, are about to dismantle. The action moves swiftly in both stories, as does the romance, but like the other entries in this anthology, they lack depth and development. Nevertheless, this is a suitable introduction to the various worlds these authors have popularized.

The Vampire Diaries- The Awakening, The Struggle by L.J. Smith (Paperbackswap)
The most haunting love triangle of all. Two vampire brothers, one good and one evil, are in love with the same beautiful girl. Stefan meets Elena, and falls for her instantly. But he swears never to approach her because of his dark secret. On the other hand, Elena has sworn to make Stefan hers or die. Then, in book 2, Damon is haunting Elena’s footsteps; coaxing and coercing her by turns. Stefan desperately tries to protect her from his brother. And Elena is having her blood drawn by two separate vampires. Meanwhile Caroline plots to expose Elena in front of the entire town. Can things get worse? They do, when Elena drives too fast over an unsafe bridge and drowns.