One Book a Week, Week Five

Last week's winner: Allison Daugherty


The Fine Print, in normal-sized print:

Summer, everyone knows, is for reading. Well, so are Winter, Autumn and Spring, but especially Summer.

So every week, from here through the end of August, I'm going to be giving away a book*. Some of them may be mine, some of them may be by other people. They may be just-out, or entry-points to an on-going series. It will be a totally random and whimsical choice, to keep things interesting.

How do you get in on this? Simple: you comment here on why you need something new to read. Vacation? Stuck in bed with a bad cold? Totally out of book-buying funds? Captured by aliens who insist on a new story every night or they'll eat you?

Tell me.

(you can enter every week, but only once every week. And you MUST identify yourself in your post, either via log-in or a name and contact point. I'm not going to choose anyone who doesn't identify**.)

Ready? Go.

Fifth Book: The Dread Hammer by Linda Nagata (originally published under "Trey Shiels")

Ketty is a pretty shepherdess with a contrary nature, who runs away from home to escape an unwanted marriage. As she flees along the forest road, she prays to the Dread Hammer for help-and to her astonishment help comes in the form of a charming and well-armed young murderer named Smoke.

As Ketty soon discovers, Smoke is not entirely human. Smoke, too, is taken by surprise at their encounter. He had lurked beside the forest road intending to pierce hearts and slit throats, not to fall in love. But love it is-or it would be-if only he can convince Ketty that marriage is better than death.But just when happily-ever-after seems within reach, Smoke's past returns to claim him. A deserter from the Kor yos army, his supernatural skill at killing is still very much in demand. Now the army wants him back.....

And, as a bonus - Linda has a prequel story in August's Lightspeed magazine!  So make sure to check that out, too, when it lands...

*yes, a real, actual, PAPER book.
**the post will 'open' on Monday, and 'close' on Friday. Winners will be chosen over the weekend, and informed the following Monday

cats literary and philosophical

Aw, Diabolical Plots says some nice things about my "Mad Cats and Englishmen." I purr.

"On the surface, using Oliver as the stories protagonist seems odd and unnecessary, but as I was reading the tales climatic scene, I concluded that using a talking cat as the narrator was a stroke of brilliance."

http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=2726

and speaking of cats...


I have lived with these two cats for plus or minus a decade, each. They have lived together for seven years. I kind of understand why they prefer to have their dishes near wherever I'm working/eating (the dog does the same thing. It's weird pack behavior). But I still don't understand why they're so determined to eat each othr's food when it is and always has been identical to what's in their dish...