Off the Bookshelf: THE WITCH'S VACUUM CLEANER AND OTHER STORIES, by Terry Pratchett

If you haven't guessed by now, I love Terry Pratchett's stories.

This is a collection of his early works, short stories, bits of testing out the waters, learning his voice and style. Fascinating from just a fan perspective, but also as a writer, seeing the roots of the amazing creations of people and places and the magic system that became  Disc World. Plus a story that was probably the basis for the Bromeliad trilogy. Fun!

This could be a good introduction just to the magic and humor of Terry Pratchett, especially if you're leery of investing in a world that spans dozens of books, and marvelous inspired silliness and slaps at popular culture and politics.

I wished that he had written more about the Welsh town with the unpronounceable name that was set up like a Wild West town in the U.S. I have another book like this waiting to be read, with more shorts and unpublished or early works, and I really hope some more of those stories are in there. I don't know if anyone would even dare try to imitate Sir Terry's voice and style and wild imagination, but maybe a tribute book, following the crazy adventures of the sheep farmers and coal miners in this mythical Old West/Wales? Please?

Read it. You'll have a lot, lot, lot of fun.

Off the Bookshelf: FAIRIES: MYTHS, LEGENDS AND LORE, by Skye Alexander

Sometimes research can be fun. And frustrating. Especially when you're looking for books in the library, and the search function of the computer index doesn't want to cooperate. Most of the books I found on fairies, faeries, the fair folk, and such *sigh* were fiction, mostly romance, some kids' stories. That's not what I was looking for.

So when I found this one, as I prepare to start a new series of books, it was a major relief. And a treasure trove.

Dealing with fairy lore from around the world, it discusses different classes of fairies, legends, their functions within the magical realms as well as dealings with lowly mortals, and what was really fascinating, a discussion of how the legends have changed through the years, as society changed. This is one I really think I need to find in print, rather than ebook, so I can flag pages for future reference, because I can see going back to this again and again, for inspiration.

Realm Award Finalist!

I'm delighted to announce that MUSIC IN THE NIGHT, part of the Guardians of the Time Stream series (steampunk) published by Desert Breeze Publishing, has been named a FINALIST in the Realm Awards competition.

Winners will be announced at the end of July at the Realm Makers convention in St. Louis.

I'm so excited!!!

Ess and Carmen are childhood friends who only met in dreams. Orphaned and destitute, Carmen flees enemies she doesn't understand. Ess desperately seeks for her friend, knowing their enemies all too well.

Brogan is a creature of the darkness, his music stolen and his face scarred by tragedy. He leads an underground community of people left destitute by injustice and tragedy. Crystal in his flesh and bone allows him to hear Carmen sing in the night. When she takes refuge in his world of tunnels and shadows, she brings him hope that he isn't going mad after all.

Ess and Carmen finally meet, resolving puzzles more than twenty years old. A future of possibilities open before them, but only if they can defeat the Revisionists who will destroy them all to control crystal's power, the future, and rewrite the past.

Off the Bookshelf: A YEAR WITH ASLAN, C.S. Lewis

Start off every day with a short visit to Narnia.

Oh, if only ........

This book of daily readings from the Chronicles of Narnia is best when shared -- each selection ends with a question to ponder or discuss.

Instead of devouring each book of the Chronicles in one lump -- what Free Narnian can resist? -- the nibbles of different scenes offer a chance to consider aspects of Narnia and the adventures of the children who visited there from different angles. Pieces instead of the whole.

Of course, you can do like I did, and read five or six or ten selections at a sitting. Who can resist? This will have to hold us until we can step through the Wardrobe for ourselves. This is a great way to have daily devotions or just family time with children, and explore Narnia all over again.

Off the Bookshelf: HARDCORE TWENTY-FOUR, by Janet Evanovich

Book 24 in the Stephanie Plum series.

If you haven't read this humorous series about the misadventures of Jersey girl accident-prone bounty hunter Stephanie Plum ... Why not???

I love the insanity, I love the characters, all their quirks and foibles and just how much more silliness can Grandma Mazur and Lula produce?

This time... wow. Zombies. There are zombies on the loose in Trenton. For real. As in bodies are vanishing -- fortunately, they're already dead -- and when they're found, either their heads are missing or their brains are missing.

Weird, huh? To make things more complicated, it looks like one of the fugitives Stephanie has to hunt down is involved in the whole zombie mess, or wants to be involved. And then for the cherry on top, Deisel shows up, and he seems to be involved in the zombie mess. How? Read it and find out.

Are the zombies real, or is this just a nasty trick? And just why is homicide cop Joe Morelli getting into hunting down zombies? Poor Stephanie -- looks like the zombies are after her brains. Well, at least someone values her for her brains ... or her incredible weird, twisted luck.

Read it and be ready to laugh. And groan. And go "ewwwww!" a few times.

Off the Bookshelf: CHARLIE BONE AND THE TIME TWISTER, by Jenny Nimmo

Book 2 in the Children of the Red King series.

This book takes up soon after Book 1 ends. Charlie Bone is still stuck going to the horrific Bloor's Academy, but at least now he has a circle of friends who are willing to take chances with him, despite misunderstandings and letting the bullies and (quite honestly) psychos with power and influence manipulate them.

I think the worst part of the whole situation poor Charlie has to survive on a daily basis is that his own family has thrust him into the school and daily harassment and unfairness. Granted, just his father's side of the family, and considering what has happened to his father -- vanished, presumed dead, but with hints that he's still alive and lost somewhere out there -- as punishment for defying their will ... Charlie needs all the help he can get.

He's an ordinary boy in a lot of ways, but he's learning fast to deal with his unwanted gift, and when a situation drops almost on top of him, he's willing to take responsibility and help out.

In this case, a magical time travel object (which is pretty nasty in and of itself, considering how it captures its victims) takes a boy from nearly a century ago and drags him forward to the present Bloor's Academy. Bad enough to lose everyone and everything you know and love, but the nasty relative who got you in trouble in the first place is still around, and he hasn't improved with age and he's determined to destroy you. Charlie and his growing circle of friends, including people who are learning to get around their problems, to the rescue!

Fun series. I'm glad I bought a stack of the books and they're just waiting for me to have time to read.

Off the Bookshelf: RANGER'S APPRENTICE #1: The Ruins of Gorlan, by John Flanagan

This book is proof of the adage that the best book promotion is word of mouth.

I was prepared to like it and be hooked even before I found it at the bookstore. Because a writing friend has talked about it several times. She and her husband listen to the audio books of this series on long drives, and they got started because their grandsons love the books.

So yeah, I'm going to be looking for the rest of the books as soon as I have more room on my to-be-read shelf.

What's the story? Young Will is our hero, an orphan, growing up as a Ward of Baron Arald. The Wards don't have parents to guide them into crafts or guilds or apprentice them, so choosing day is their chance to grab onto the future they want. The other 4 Wards his age know what they want, and have proven their abilities, so being accepted into their chosen fields of study is easy. Not so for Will. He's too small and thin to enter battle school -- but that's what he wants because he believes his father was a warrior who died a hero in a massive battle just before Will was born. His only real option is to go into farm work.

At least, until Halt the Ranger says he thinks Will has what it takes to be a Ranger. The problem is that Will doesn't really know what Rangers do, other than a lot of somewhat frightening rumors. But what choice does he have? It's an adventure, learning what Rangers do, learning the truth behind the rumors.

As Will and the rest of the fief learn, he made the right choice. Even someone young and small and afraid can do important things, even if they seem small. It's the impact of your choices that matter.

I'm gonna love this series.