An Interesting Email

I received the following email today. Do you think I should join?

WORLD GREATEST OFFER

It’s an opportunity that every human desire to have. We open door of acceptance once in ten years, and few are chosen. I really congratulate you for this great offer on your door step. We choose, people don’t choose us. You can be among the chosen this year. The great association as been in existence since 1775 named great ILLUMINATI. What does this mean? Who are the Illuminati? They are, in essence, a cartel of international bankers and industrialists based in Western Europe and North America. The names of certain families persist over long periods of time. Some of the most important names are Rothschild, Rockefeller, Morgan, Lazard, Warburg, Schroder and Schiff.
We make people great and we rule the world. The world leaders are members. When you accept this offer you will have the opportunity to be great and dine with great men from different nations. We rule every social part of the world, music, sports and politics, the second essential component is control of the media. It is controlled through business fashion. We choose men with potentials and we made them what they are today. We are here for you to make your dream come through; if you dream it you can achieve it.

These are opportunity the celebrities and the richest men had, they utilize it and became an American idol. You have more to know when you are chosen as a member.

PROVIDE US YOUR DETAIL

1) Your full name
2) Phone, fax and mobile#
3) Address:
4) Profession:
5) Age:
6) Marital status:
7) Sex:

You can try this offer; you can be among the chosen. In two months the story of your life will change. Do not be the killer of your dream.

Jennifer AShley and Erica Hayes reviewed

Mate Claimed
Jennifer Ashley
Berkley, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425251010

In Shifterown, Iona Duncan hides her shifter Wildcat side though she refuses to wear a Collar because she fears if exposed what will happen to her mom and sister. The town’s alpha Eric Warden recognizes Iona as a hybrid masquerading as a purebred human. He waits anticipating when her mating need takes over her mind and body.

Eric worries about Iona because if she remains stubbornly in denial she soon will die. Worse he knows who her mate is and waits for her to recognize the reality of who he is. When her mating desire explodes, Iona struggles to control her need for Eric.

The latest Shifters Unbound romantic urban fantasy (see Wild Cat) is a wonderful brisk thriller due to the relationship between the two protagonists hampered by Iona’s clinging to her denial defense mechanism. The heroine’s insistence on pretending to be human even as her mating instincts demand otherwise brings freshness to a strong series. Readers will relish the paranormal romance dance of love or death. Harriet Klausner

Revelation
Erica Hayes
Berkley, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425258378

In what was once Manhattan, but now Babylon, Luniel the Fallen Angel looking out from Liberty Island sees the signs that Apocalypse is coming. Demons have released two of God’s holy wrath vials. One changed the sea near Liberty island into blood and the other has created zombies.

Medical examiner Dr. Morgan Sterling believes everything can be explained by science with the cause for those phenomena that cannot be proven due to a lack of understanding. She believes she can cure the zombie plague using medical research. Lune comes to her morgue but fails to persuade the agnostic leaning atheist that there are things from heaven and hell that science cannot fathom. They team up in search of Patient Zero as he and other Fallen seeking redemption seek those royal demons who stole and deployed two of the seven holy wrath vials.

The first Seven Signs romantic dark urban fantasy is an exciting thriller starring an intriguing Fallen angel in a world in which the Demon Princes have begun the End of Days although Morgan’s obstinacy in spite of the evidence to the contrary becomes a distraction. Still readers will enjoy Revelation as Apocalypse now has commenced in New York City. Harriet Klausner

Update and reviews

Hoping for the results of the CAT Scan on Monday. I keep hearing Arnold from Kinndergaren Cop saying "It's not a toomuh".

Here's a couple of reviews from Harriet to tide you over.


The Sparrow and the Hawk
Meg Lacey
ImaJinn, $14.00
ISBN: 9781610260978

At Ardmore College near Cincinnati, NAS (Normal, Abnormal, Strange) Agency chief Dr. Calvin Walters assigns his niece operative Jillie “Sparrow” Harte with obtaining the dangerous Carmaletta Choker. Uncle Cal believes collector Franklin Doherty has the choker that if deployed could destroy the world.

Jill uses her cover as a documentary filmmaker doing a movie on “Decoration, Fashion and Accessories Throughout History” to meet Franklin as he owns a famous collection. However, her cameraman fails to make the assignment; instead Griff “Hawk” Ryland replaces him; Jillie is attracted to, but distrusts him. After meeting with Franklin, he invites them to stay at his mansion and attend a party he hosts. Strange happenings occur, but the most enigmatic is they find Franklin dead.

The Sparrow and the Hawk is an enjoyable fantasy undercover thriller starring two intriguing protagonists and a weird house filled with odd collectibles that belong in Warehouse 13 (mansion included). Fast-paced with a tongue in cheek feel to the events that unfold, fans will appreciate the case of the Carmaletta Choker while the heroine wonders who she can trust. Harriet Klausner

Between Two Fires
Christopher Buehlman
Ace, $25.95
ISBN: 9781937007867

The Lord God had turned his face from men. His devoted angels know they must protect the children of Adam from the Fallen. As the Lord made no answer to the plight of man, Lucifer tells his followers it is time to test God’s will by releasing the Great Death Plague onto the Lord’s greatest insult the sons and daughters of Adam. The fallen leader says this will mark the beginning of the second war of heaven.

In 1348 in Normandy so many have succumbed to the Great Death, burials have stopped. Four excommunicated former knights turned brigands (Thomas, Godefroy, Jacquot and the fat one) travel the land scavenging for food while forced to eat spoiled meals. They reach a barn in a devastated village. There they meet the Girl who expected their arrival as an angel told her. The Girl realizes Godefroy wants to rape her while Thomas protects her killing two of his companions. She informs her savior that the Black Death is the opening salvo in Lucifer’s plan to win the second war of heaven with mankind caught in the middle of the combat zone. The Girl persuades Thomas to escort her to Avignon where she will confront evil.

Between Two Fires is an engaging good and evil medieval thriller. With a sense of eeriness throughout, Thomas and readers wonder if the orphaned Girl he escorts is a Lucifer witch or a heavenly messenger. Although the key cast (except for the mysterious Girl) is stereotypical of the Heaven War trope, fans will enjoy Christopher Buehlman’s trek across war fourteenth century ravaged and now plagued-torn France. Harriet Klausner

Press release

The cigar-chomping monkey is back!

Gareth L. Powell signs up for early 2014 sequel to Ack-Ack Macaque


Solaris is pleased to announce that it has commissioned Gareth L. Powell to write the sequel to his well-received science-fiction Steampunk novel, Ack-Ack Macaque.

HIVE MONKEY will be delivered in summer 2013 for an early 2014 publication.

Powell, author of critically-acclaimed The Recollection, was commissioned by Jonathan Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris Books, which published Ack-Ack Macaque earlier this month.

The novel about a sentient cigar-chomping, gun-wielding, Spitfire-flying monkey who once battled German ninjas in the skies over Britain in 1944 made a huge splash when it was published earlier this month.

Supported by a strong social media campaign by Powell, and with a well-received comic strip prequel published in legendary British SF comic book 2000 AD, Ack-Ack Macaque was an inventive science-fiction novel with a fun Steampunk sheen and a primate twist.


“Fizzes with wild ideas... A ripping yarn about murder, mayhem and monkeys”
– Philip Reeve, author of Mortal Engines
series on Ack-Ack Macaque


Ack-Ack Macaque
By Gareth L. Powell

$8.99/$10.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-78108-060-3
£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-78108-059-7
Also available as an ebook

Monkeys. Ninjas. Zeppelins. A science-fiction novel with a Steampunk sheen and a primate twist, Ack-Ack Macaque is a blisteringly fun SF masterpiece from master storyteller Gareth L. Powell.

In 1944, as waves of German ninjas parachute into Kent, Britain’s best hopes for victory lie with a Spitfire pilot codenamed ‘Ack-Ack Macaque.’ The trouble is he’s actually a cynical, one-eyed, cigar-chomping monkey, and he’s starting to doubt everything – including his own existence!

A century later, when nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, ex-journalist Victoria Valois is drawn into a deadly game with the man who killed her husband and stole her electronic soul, while the heir to the British throne goes on the run. Meanwhile, the doomsday clock ticks towards Armageddon...

About the Author

Gareth L. Powell is the author of the SF novel Silversands, and the critically acclaimed short story collection, The Last Reef. His work has been published all over the world and featured in a number of recent anthologies, including Shine. Gareth lives in the English West Country with his wife and two daughters.

www.garethlpowell.com

Medical Update

Apologies for not being as active on here as I need to be. Have been having vision and hearing problems for the last 6 weeks. Have seen three different doctors, took three different antibiotics and decongestants and nothing has done the trick,

Will be going to the VA Hospital for a head CT scan tomorrow. Will let you know something as soon as I find out.

Hellhole: Awakening

HELLHOLE: AWAKENING, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Tor, $27.99, reviewed by Jim Brock.

HELLHOLE: AWAKENING is volume two in Herbert and Anderson’s Hellhole series and I have been anxiously awaiting it since reading the first volume. That book was one of the most imaginative, entertaining and enthralling science fiction books I have read in years. It absolutely left me with a hunger for more. The grand scope of the universe of Hellhole overrode my general distain for science fiction series. A lot of series fiction of any genre consists of rehashing what might have been a great story the first time around. It is the rare series where the author or authors have the scope, the skill and the imagination to justify the continuation of the story.

The Hellhole series is one of those rarities. There are two groups of planets: the Crown Jewels being the establishment plants ruled by a noble class under the control of a tyrannical empress-type called the Diadem and the Deep Zone planets under the influence of the exiled General Tiber Adolphus. The DeeZees once paid tribute and were submissive to the Diadem until they rebelled under the leadership of Adolphus. In HELLHOLE: AWAKENING, the Diadem has sent a new expedition to regain control of the DeeZees and capture Adolphus. The word Awakening in the title adds a new element in that major changes are beginning in the flora and fauna of the planet, Hellhole, itself as long-lost species are reappearing. And the use of telemancy powers by the native Xayan and the human host/Xayan duos has also awakened an ancient danger that more than doubles the perils Adolphus, Hellhole and the DeeZees face.

The plots are excellent, characterization is excellent, and the expansion of new elements freshens and builds the excitement and the intensity of the saga. Not a complaint by any means, the character of Adolphus is not the all-knowing, super competent leader that his reputation would suggest. He seems to me to assume and overlook and frankly, get his butt saved by the Xayan backed telemancy powers. Adolphus is the type of leader whose sense of honor and position allows him to feel good about himself while getting a lot of ordinary Joes killed because he can’t bring himself to believe in or match the win at all costs philosophy of his enemy. At least, that’s my read of Adolphus and that just makes him and the course of Hellhole all the more interesting.

SO get HELLHOLE, read it and develop your hunger for HELLHOLE: AWAKENING. Then get HELLHOLE: AWAKENING, read it, and then join me. I’m hungry as heel for even more Hellhole.

Obama's Gun Control Plan

The Office of the Press Secretary sent out the following list of all 23 executive actions.


Today, the President is announcing that he and the Administration will:

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.

8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.

10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.

11. Nominate an ATF director.

12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.

13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.

14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.

18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.

20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.

21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.

23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.