Blog tour calendar: The Seven Doors, by Agnes Ravatn
Monthly Archives: August 2020
Blog tour calendar: A Song of Isolation, by Michael J. Malone
Pen & Sword Review: The Last Days of Steam, by Malcolm Clegg
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
Pages: 144
Illustrations: 200 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781526760425
Published: 7th August 2020
This volume covers the final decade of British steam, looking at steam traction in a wide variety of geographical locations around the British Railways network.
The book covers a wide variety of classes of locomotives, that were withdrawn during the last decade of steam traction, some examples of which are now preserved.
Malcolm Clegg has been taking railway pictures since the early 1960s and has access to collections taken by friends who were recording the steam railway scene during this period.
This book is a record of his and other people’s journeys during the last decade of steam in the 1960s.
My Review
This book is a collection of photographs from the 1960s of steam engines. The author has clearly been taking pictures for a long time and this was an interesting time in British transport. When the rest of the world was moving to diesel and electric, Britain stayed with steam. Then the government destroyed the network in favour of motorways and private transport, because the minister in charge had a vested interest in road building. New engines were scrapped when they still had thirty years of working life in them. What a travesty!
The book is substantial and covers a large range of engines, with captions giving details of the engine pictured and the place, if known. The images are in black and white which adds to the nostalgia of the book. The book is glossy and substantial, which is useful for those who are interested in trains of the era, reconstruction and reclamation of trains that they might find, or railway model enthusiasts.
Children’s Picture Book Review: Nomit and Pickle go shopping, by C.E. Cameron
ISBN-10: 1913568326
Author: Cameron, C E
Edition: Illustrated
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Published: September 2020
My Review
This is a children’s book about two siblings called Nomit and Pickle who need to go shopping. Nomit is a bit absent-minded and Pickle gets a little frustrated. There isn’t much food left in the shop and but Nomit finds a treat that she knows Pickle will like, so the pair learn to compromise. It’s rather a sweet book that teaches the lesson of compromise and tolerance of differences, with some fun illustrations. The abstract shapes of the characters adds to the joyous nature of the story.
Review: All Systems Red, by Martha Wells
Published January 22nd 2019 by Tor.com (first published May 2nd 2017)
ISBN
1250214718 (ISBN13: 9781250214713)
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.
But when a neighbouring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Continue reading “Review: All Systems Red, by Martha Wells”Extract Post: My Travels with a Dead Man, by Steve Searls
My Travels With a Dead Man
Jane Takako Wolfsheim learns she can alter time and space after meeting a charismatic stranger named Jorge Luis Borges.
Inextricably she falls for Borges. Soon, however Borges’ lies and emotional abuse, and nightmares about a demonic figure, “the man in black,” nearly drive Jane mad. After her parents are murdered, Jane flees with Borges. Both the ghost of haiku master, Basho, and the Daibutsu of Kamakura, a statue of Buddha that appears in her dreams, offer her cryptic advice. Unable to trust anyone, Jane must find the strength to save herself, her unborn child, and possibly the future of humanity.
Purchase Links
https://www.blackrosewriting.com/scififantasy/mytravelswithadeadman
Book Spotlight: Killing The Story, by Joan Livingston
An accidental death that was no accident…
For the record, Estelle Crane, the gutsy editor of The Observer newspaper, died after a hard fall on ice. But years later, her son discovers a cryptic note hinting her death might not have been an accident after all.
Was Estelle pursuing a big story that put her life in danger?
That’s what Isabel Long — along with her 93-year-old mother, Maria, her ‘Watson’ — agrees to investigate in Dillard, a town whose best days are in the past.
A former journalist, Isabel follows leads and interviews sources, new and familiar. She quickly finds a formidable threat in Police Chief James Hawthorne, who makes it clear Isabel is not welcome in his town — and who warns her against poking her nose into Estelle’s death.
Of course, that’s after Isabel has discovered the chief’s questionable policing and a troubled history with Estelle that goes way back.
Killing the story means dropping it because there aren’t enough facts to back it up. But Isabel won’t make that mistake. She’ll see this one through to the very end.
Can she uncover the plot that led to Estelle’s murder?
Killing the Story is the fourth in the popular Isabel Long Mystery Series.
Purchase Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08BDL9KKR
US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDL9KKR
Author Bio –
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers. Killing the Story, published by Darkstroke Books, is the fourth in her Isabel Long Mystery Series, featuring a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. solving cold cases in rural New England.
She draws upon her own experience as a longtime journalist in Massachusetts and New Mexico to create Isabel Long, a sassy, savvy widow who uses the skills she acquired in the business to solve what appears to be impossible cases. She also relies on her deep knowledge of rural Western Massachusetts, where she lives, to create realistic characters and settings — from country bars (where Isabel works part-time) to a general store’s backroom where gossipy old men meet.
She credits her mother, Algerina — the inspiration for Maria, Isabel Long’s ‘Watson’ — for instilling in her a love of reading and the power of the written word.
Social Media Links –
Website: www.joanlivingston.net.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoanLivingstonAuthor/
Twitter: @joanlivingston
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/JoanLivingston_Author
Goodreads: www.Goodreads.com/Joan_Livingston
Publication Day Blitz: Dead Moon by Keith Crawford
Humanity will be extinguished in less than seven days.
Wing Commander Jude Styles is a Starfighter Pilot trying to get pregnant before the world ends. Her wingman, Hamid Ashkami, just wants to block the spam
messages he is receiving from someone claiming to be his dead ex-husband.
Instead, they are locked in a media tour, shown off as the heroes that stopped the alien invasion by destroying the massive mothership known as the “Dead Moon”, persuading the masses that all will be fine if they keep calm and carry on.
Trapped telling the same lies, driven over the edge by post-traumatic stress and the constant flow of alcohol, it is only a matter of time before Jude and Hamid break down – and the fragments of the Dead Moon have already begun to fall from the sky.
Author Bio
Dr Keith Crawford is a retired naval officer, disabled veteran and qualified barrister with a PhD in Law and Economics. After years of crazy adventures, from speedboats and aircraft to theatre and lecturing at Sciences Po, my French wife and I decided it was time to properly settle in Paris and have babies. Being the good feminist I try to be, I quit my job to look after the kids, support my wife’s career and write books. Each time I get offered a job my wife says “stop looking at jobs and get back to writing books.” Which shows, with marriage as with everything else, it is better to be lucky than good! Dead Moon is my second novel. The first, Vile, a science-fantasy about toxic-patriarchy, the evils of aristocracy and swordfights, is available on Amazon.
Twitter hand: @keithcrawford77
Instagram Handle: keithcrawford77
Blog Tour Calendar: My Travels with a Dead Man, by Steve Searls
Book Blitz: Familiar by T.J. Blake
For the living, it’s closure. For the departed, it’s the last chance to expose the truth.
For as long as she can remember, Arabella has communicated with those who exist only in memory.
Being the centre of attention growing up was uncomfortable, and now, as a renowned psychic medium, it is becoming more of a struggle. Arabella’s ability and reputation always made it impossible to hold onto lasting relationships, but with those who no longer walk this earth, that’s not the case.
Arabella returns to where it all began fifteen-years before – on the very same stage. After an evening reconnecting loved ones and exposing untold stories, Arabella can’t help but wonder about the one unclaimed ‘friend’, and their cryptic message.
In an unexpected turn of events, Arabella finds herself the subject of morning headlines and at the centre of Detective Barnes’ investigation.
Can Arabella use her ability to prove her innocence and uncover the truth about the past?
Buy Link
Author Bio
Living in Surrey, UK, some say that T. J. Blake has many split personalities – by day he’s a content marketing specialist, by night he could be any one of his deceptively complex characters.
His latest persona is Arabella, a psychic medium in “Familiar”.
He has a BA with Honours from Kingston University in Creative Writing with English Language & Communications and is author of the five-star psychological thriller, ‘DECEPTION – A Love of Lies’.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 