@Asphalt_Warrior @JKSLitPublicity #Book #Review "Home for the Holidays" by Gary Reilly

Home for the Holidays review
Author: Gary Reilly
5 out of 5 stars

See also my book feature here.

Book Info: Genre: Humorous literary fiction
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Anyone

My Thoughts: Gary Reilly's books continue to delight me, and I continue to mourn that he was taken from the world before any of us knew about him. This book is a little different from the previous ones, in that Murphy actually spends most of the book visiting his family rather than driving a cab, but he still manages to delight the reader with his wonderfully piquant descriptions of his lifestyle, his thoughts on various things, and his views on working. Reilly is often quite surreal in this book, and I was very amused by that.

As I read these books, I become more and more drawn to the simple life that Murph leads. It's incredibly tantalizing.

I enjoyed “meeting” Murph's family in this book. He talks about his mother a lot, so it was fun to finally meet her, as well as his brother, and his three sisters and their passel of kids. While there are actually quite a lot of distant relatives in my family, the core of it has remained small, so I am always amused by the mass chaos of a large family gathering. As long as I'm not actually there...

So, another outstanding book in the Asphalt Warrior series. If you still haven't taken my advice to read these books, stop procrastinating already! These books are worth every penny spent and every minute taken to read them. Highly recommended.

Series Information: The Asphalt Warrior series, a proposed ten-book series each featuring Murph, but which can be read as stand-alones.
Book 1 The Asphalt Warrior. review linked here
Book 2: Ticket to Hollywood. review linked here
Book 3: The Heart of Darkness Club. review linked here
Book 4: Home for the Holidays
Book 5: Doctor Lovebeads

Disclosure: I received an ARC paperback of this book from JKS Communications in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: It’s Christmastime, and Murph leaves his cab behind to visit his family in Wichita where he finds himself reluctantly reconnecting with his siblings. Meanwhile, Murph takes it upon himself to save an old friend from making the biggest mistake of his life—accepting a job where suits and ties are everyday attire.

Friday Funny: George Carlin on driving courtesy

Giveaway: Tabitha Ormiston-Smith two-pack "Gift of Continence" and "Perspectives on a Dragon"

This week I'm giving away five two-packs of e-books by Tabitha Ormiston-Smith. I just finished reading this books - Perspectives on a Dragon (review here) and Gift of Continence (review here) (links are to Amazon.com - if you shop Amazon from a different region, my apologies).

Tabitha has a great writing style, and while Gift of Continence wasn't my cuppa, it was a well-written book that I think many people will enjoy. And Perspectives on a Dragon left me in stitches - hilarious!

So, sign up for my giveaway - you can have an extra entry for following my blog (a freebie for those who already follow). The giveaway will end at midnight next Sunday.

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Book Review: "Year Zero" by Rob Reid

Year Zero review
Author: Rob Reid
5 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Science Fiction
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of humorous stories, science fiction, people who like music.

Disclosure: I received an ARC paperback copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news.

The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity’s music ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang. The resulting fines and penalties have bankrupted the whole universe. We humans suddenly own everything—and the aliens are not amused.

Nick Carter has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly, and he’s an unlikely galaxy-hopping hero: He’s scared of heights. He’s also about to be fired. And he happens to have the same name as a Backstreet Boy. But he does know a thing or two about copyright law. And he’s packing a couple of other pencil-pushing superpowers that could come in handy.

Soon he’s on the run from a sinister parrot and a highly combustible vacuum cleaner. With Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick now has forty-eight hours to save humanity, while hopefully wowing the hot girl who lives down the hall from him.

My Thoughts: “An alien advance party was suddenly nosing around my planet. Worse, they were lawyering up. . . .” This book is hilarious. Seriously, if I started throwing in quotes, this review could end up going on to pages – I ended up reading huge sections of it to my husband wherever we happened to be, because it was so funny I couldn’t stand to keep it to myself and wanted to share it with whomever around me would listen. It’s amazing I didn’t end up going downtown, standing on the street, and starting a performance as I read it, truly.

A good example is a scene a bit past the halfway point in which Nick and his neighbor Manda are in a cab and are mistaken for top-secret government agents.

”America Good!” the driver said obsequiously, apparently confusing us for government operatives... As we started to roll, the driver muttered into his cellphone in a language that had a spectacular density of consonants. After listening intently for a few seconds, he turned to me. “North Vietnam?” He shook his head derisively. “Very, very bad.” He listened some more, then denounced Brezhnev. Apparently someone on the other end was now mining an old history book for statements that he could use to prove his loyalty to the secret agents in his cab. After sitting through heated condemnations of Kaiser Wilhelm, the Mexican troops at the Alamo, and King George III, I pulled up a picture of Pugwash... As I opened the taxi door, a loud, shattering sound came from the top floor... and [I] saw something large and Pugwash-shaped accelerating toward the ground... The driver was denouncing the Algonquian tribe to me (they apparently fought against us in the French and Indian War), so he was facing my way and saw everything. Already plenty rattled, that was it for him, and he took off.

You see? A single quote and it doubled the amount of rambling I had already done! Imagine that times about 100 and you’ll figure out how much of this I was tempted to quote at you. And maybe that would be a more effective review than my excessive fangirling... but I don’t want to spoil things, you know? Anyway, no one would have time to read that review, so you’ll just have to trust me – this book is absolutely filled with hilarious stuff. And it also effectively explains exactly how Windows has saved the world, which you won’t want to miss. That bit is right at the end, though, so I can’t tell you more of that. There are also individual playlists for several of the characters at the end of the book which reminded me of several songs that I want to add to my own collection.

So, highly recommended for fans of humorous books, science fiction, and music. Definitely check this book out!

FREEBIE ALERT: "The Fridgularity" by Mark A. Rayner

If you've been paying attention, you will have noticed my review of The Fridgularity a couple weeks back. That review is here, for your ease of reference - just click. Well, I just heard from the author, Mark A. Rayner, that The Fridgularity is currently free at Amazon (through Friday). So, you have something to be thankful for - a free e-book! Go and get a copy while you can! You will not regret it.

FREEBIE ALERT: Udi Aharoni's "Zuto: the Adventures of a Computer Virus" free 11/13-14/2012

Free for your Kindle through the Amazon KDP program, Zuto: The Adventures of a Computer Virus takes place inside a strange, little-known world: a personal computer, the perfect setting for a fast-paced, funny, one-minute-long story.
Zuto, a smart, sneaky computer virus, leads a happy life in his secret hiding place: the Recycle Bin. There, among heaps of junk full of surprising treasures, he plans his tricks. Everything changes when a far more malicious program invades the computer . . . and threatens to end all life in it. Together with his Recycle Bin friends—outdated, buggy programs—Zuto sets off to save his world.

The book’s colorful and imaginative metaphors offer an insightful glimpse inside a computer. An appendix, the ‘Zutopedia,’ explains the truth behind the story: how malware works, what’s the role of firewalls, binary numbers, Easter eggs, IP addresses, and many more.

On November 13 and 14, you can download this title FREE for your Kindle! Just follow this link (or click on the title of the book above).

You can also get more information by clicking this link.

A bit of information about the author.

Udi Aharoni is a software engineer and Maching Learning expert with IBM Research. He holds an M.A. in Computer Science.

He published short, original scientific videos on his YouTube channel “udiprod,” which has over a million views, before writing his acclaimed children’s book Zuto: The Adventures of a Computer Virus (Rimonim, August 2009).

Aharoni’s debut was published first in Hebrew and was voted one of the nation’s favorite books for ages 9-12 in the Israeli Ministry of Education’s “Book Parade.” The English version followed in August 2012.

The computer whiz visits classrooms – both in person and via webcam – for discussions and lessons surrounding his educational book.

He can be found on his website, Zutopedia
He can be found on Twitter as @Udi256
Goodreads Link

Book review: "Morgue Drawer for Rent" by Jutta Profijt

Morgue Drawer for Rent review
Author: Jutta Profijt
5 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Thriller/Suspense w/ paranormal elements (ghost)
Reading Level: Adult
Book Available December 2012
Recommended for: Fans of mysteries/thrillers/suspense who don’t mind a touch of supernatural and a whole lot of humor

Disclosure: I received a free paperback ARC/uncorrected proof from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from the Back of the book: Life was peaceful for coroner Martin Gänswein – until the unfortunate day he met Pascha, the foulmouthed ghost whose body once inhabited morgue drawer number four. Now an unwilling participant in solving the murders of those who pass through his morgue, Martin wishes more than ever that he could turn off his talent for communicating with the dead. Unfortunately for him, such things are easier said than done, and when organs begin to disappear from corpses buried in the local cemetery, Martin and Pascha are pulled into their most dangerous case yet.

My Thoughts: This is the third book in this highly entertaining series. I have read the first two books in this series, “Morgue Drawer Four” and “Morgue Drawer Next Door” and those reviews can be found here (first book read in March, 2012) and here (second book read in June, 2012) (where HTML formatting and linking are supported – if you cannot see the formatting or links, please go to my blog, Now is Gone, as that is where this can best be viewed). I have to say that I’ve loved this series so far and am very excited that they continue to translate and release this wonderful stories into the US.

Like previous books in this series, I spent a lot of time whilst reading the book laughing, snorting, and otherwise expressing amusement. Pascha continues to amuse with his attitude, asides, and hilarious voice. His mention of the fact that only posers would spell poser poseur, for instance, had me rolling. As did his attitude toward the temporary displacement of the forensic staff: “And of course it would be kind of a hassle if he realized only after he was back at the office that he’d accidentally stuck someone’s eyeball into his pocket, because then he’d have to get back into his car or take the train over and return the eyeball to its rightful owner.” And his opinion on dramadies: “...definitely dramadies [are out], too. To me, if the writer can’t make up his mind if he’s doing drama or comedy, then he should switch to making paper airplanes until he know what he wants.” Not to mention his descriptions of Philip “Piggy Bank” Forch as “loafering” from place to place – reading it frequently led to gales of laughter.

I can certainly relate to having a boss that is more concerned with how to save a few pennies than in making the work environment a bearable one, and Forch is a particularly egregious bureaucrat.

The main problem in this book is the theft of body parts, and even whole bodies, from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Cologne, where Martin and his coworkers try to do their job through the obstructive maneuvering of Piggy Bank Forch. A side plot involving Birgit and Martin looking for a new apartment, and Pascha falling in love, keep the pace moving along without bogging down.

I would recommend reading this as a series; while you could read each individual book as a standalone, you get more of the story, more of the personality, and just more by reading it as part of the series. I believe the fourth book in this series is slated to be translated into English and released sometime in 2013, but I don’t know for certain. I do know that I’ll be watching for it, and will definitely be grabbing it first chance I get. If you enjoy your thrillers with a touch of the supernatural and a whole lot of humor, you won’t want to miss these books.

Book Review: "Further: Beyond the Threshold" by Chris Roberson

Further: Beyond the Threshold review
Author: Chris Roberson
5 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Science Fiction/Space Opera Reading Level: Adult

Disclosure: I received a free paperback ARC/uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review from the Amazon Vine program.

Synopsis: Captain RJ Stone just awoke from a cryogenic suspension after disappearing twelve thousand years ago on Earth's first unified interstellar space mission. He finds himself in a place known as the Human Entelechy, a myriad of worlds and habitats spread across three thousand light years that is linked by a network of wormholes with Earth at its center. Quickly caught in the middle of politics and intrigue he knows little about, Stone becomes the captain of the FTL Further, the first spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light. The crew's first mission: investigate a distant pulsar for the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence. What they find, however, may be their undoing.

My Thoughts: From the additional information I have been able to find, this looks like it may be the beginning of a series. If so, I definitely want to keep track of it, because I got a real kick out of this book, which is fun, engaging, and exciting in equal measure – and unremittingly hilarious!

The Anachronists, especially, really amused me – I spent several minutes laughing my head off at the descriptions and actions of the first three Stone met. I wonder if modern SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) recreationists would amuse “authentic” people of the days they strive to emulate in a similar manner?  I was also very interested in the people who recreated Hindu deities and their world, Thousand-petal Lotus. The two who kept worshiping him as Sri Rama made me laugh a lot, too. I wish we had spent more time with these people, but Stone’s discomfort kept him from spending much time around them.

Admittedly this is an ARC and uncorrected proof, so hopefully the author will have noticed and fixed the many spelling and grammar errors, as well as the fact that Stone was using his ear translator with the Anachronists a day before the escort gave it to him. I had contacted the author to ask about this, but as of the posting of my review I had no response; not that I blame him, as I only contacted him a few hours ago. Again, I want to stress that I have an ARC, specifically listed as an uncorrected proof, so likely most of these issues will be cleared up in the final copy of the book.

I was really interested in Roberson’s idea for gender-neutral pronouns, developed for Xerxes: “...ey, em, eir, eirs, and eirself, rather than he, him, his, theirs, and himself.” I had previously be aware of an attempt to use “sie, hir, hirself, and sei” for “he/she, him/her, him/herself, and they”, but that apparently hasn’t taken off, since it was the 1990s when I learned them and hardly anyone I ever mention it to has heard of it. Likewise I was very interested in the attitude toward religion and belief systems that were sprinkled throughout the book. The Iron Mass was a frightening example of what religious dogmatism can turn into if allowed to spread out of control.

Science is not my background, so I can’t really comment on how realistic the scientific aspects of this book are; what I can comment on is how incredibly fun the book is. If you enjoy your science fiction with a human touch, and a lot of humor, do not miss this wonderful new book by Chris Roberson; I highly recommend it!