Uncategorized – Page 6 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Cover Reveal: The Mystery of Montague House, by Emma Davies

The Mystery of Montague House

When Summer meets Wynter…

With enough rooms to fill a Cluedo board several times over, Montague House has often been the subject of rumour and gossip. Tales of strange goings on, an owner who disappeared one day and was never seen again, not to mention the treasure that rumour has it lies at its heart… But now the present owner has died and the house is to be sold. It looks as if the opportunity has come to finally settle the stories once and for all.

Clodagh Wynter doesn’t believe in ghostly goings on and tall tales of secrets. She has her feet very firmly on the ground and, tasked with the job of valuing and cataloguing the house and all its contents, she’s simply looking forward to working in such a glorious setting. And if she happens across a priceless painting, well, that’s just icing on the cake.

Andie Summer is a Finder of Things and desperately needs this job; she’s down to her last few tins of baked beans. So looking for hidden treasure sounds right up her street, even if there was something very fishy about the mysterious Mr Mayfair who hired her. Because it’s just like she said to her faithful Basset Hound, Hamish; I saw something out of the corner of my eye as I was leaving, and you know what that means. It’s never good news when I see something out of the corner of my eye…

As the unlikely pair are thrown together, it soon becomes very clear however that they are not the only ones searching for the treasure. And they’re going to need all their ingenuity, resourcefulness, not to mention chocolate biscuits, if they’re ever going to untangle the web of secrets that surrounds Montague House. One that reaches even further than they ever thought possible…

Purchase Link – https://smarturl.it/MontagueHouse

On Harmful Autism Professionals in the Public Sphere

SBC shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near autistic people again until he has crawled on his knees from the research institute he heads to the Channel and back again, begging forgiveness from every autistic person as he does. I wasn’t aware of any particular issues with Attwood, only that he gives me the creeps. I’m glad my instincts were good on this point. There’s no place for misogyny or transmisia in science.

Why I Don’t Wear The Red Poppy

I agree with this so much, I couldn’t find the words though.

Queerly Autistic

white poppy

It’s November. My poppy is white.

Because I’ve seen the red poppy shredded to mulch at the hands of racists and fascists, pinning the tattered pieces of pretend pride over their bigotry.

Because I’ve seen politicians lay a wreath of red poppies, their faces a mask of pain and solemnity, only for them to hang up their jacket coat when they’re back in the warm, pinned poppy surveying the scene, as they order another bomb dropped in a country that they know we won’t look at.

Because when people attack a decades old TV comedy for portraying the First World War as a ‘farce’ – we should be more ‘proud ‘ of a conflict that slaughtered millions – then we have ignored the poets who lie rotting in France in favour of a narrative that makes us feel ‘better’.

Because if your stated (here quoted verbatim) reason for wearing a…

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Book Blitz: A Painter in Penang, by Clare Flynn @clarefly @lovebooksgroup #lovebookstours

Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Barrington hates everything about living in Kenya and longs to return to the island of Penang in British colonial Malaya where she was born. Expulsion from her Nairobi convent school offers a welcome escape – the chance to stay with her parents’ friends, Mary and Reggie Hyde-Underwood on their Penang rubber estate.

But this is 1948 and communist insurgents are embarking on a reign of terror in what becomes the Malayan Emergency. Jasmine unearths a shocking secret as her own life is put in danger. Throughout the turmoil, her one constant is her passion for painting.

From the international best-selling and award-winning author of The Pearl of Penang, this is a dramatic coming of age story, set against the backdrop of a tropical paradise torn apart by civil war.

Buy Link https://amzn.to/3iyTFYD

Author Bio

Historical novelist Clare Flynn is a former global marketing director and business owner. She now lives in Eastbourne on the south coast of England and most of her time these days is spent writing her novels – when she’s not gazing out of her windows at the sea.

Clare is the author of eleven novels and a short story collection. Her books deal with displacement – her characters are wrenched away from their comfortable existences and forced to face new challenges – often in outposts of an empire which largely disappeared after WW2.

Her latest novel, Prisoner From Penang, was published on 17th April 2020. It is set in South East Asia during the Japanese occupation in World War Two.

Clare’s novels often feature places she knows well and she does extensive research to build the period and geographic flavour of her books. A Greater World – 1920s Australia; Kurinji Flowers – pre-Independence India; Letters from a Patchwork Quilt – nineteenth century industrial England and the USA; The Green Ribbons – the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century in rural England, The Chalky Sea – World War II England (and Canada) and its sequels The Alien Corn and The Frozen River – post WW2 Canada. She has also published a collection of short stories – both historical and contemporary, A Fine Pair of Shoes and Other Stories.

Fluent in Italian, she loves spending time in Italy. In her spare time she likes to quilt, paint and travel as often and as widely as possible. She is an active member of the Historical Novel Society, the Romantic Novelists Association, The Society of Authors, NINC and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Get a free copy of Clare’s exclusive short story collection, A Fine Pair of Shoes, at www.clareflynn.co.uk.

Audiobook Review: Heaven’s River, by Dennis E. Taylor, narrated by Ray Porter

Civil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by Audible number-one best seller Dennis E. Taylor.

More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again. There has been no trace of him despite numerous searches by his clone-mates. Now Bob is determined to organize an expedition to learn Bender’s fate – whatever the cost.

But nothing is ever simple in the Bobiverse. Bob’s descendants are out to the 24th generation now, and replicative drift has produced individuals who can barely be considered Bobs anymore. Some of them oppose Bob’s plan; others have plans of their own. The out-of-control moots are the least of the Bobiverse’s problems.

Undaunted, Bob and his allies follow Bender’s trail. But what they discover out in deep space is so unexpected and so complex that it could either save the universe – or pose an existential threat the likes of which the Bobiverse has never faced.

Listening Length	16 hours and 57 minutes
Author	Dennis E. Taylor
Narrator	Ray Porter
Audible.co.uk Release Date	24 September 2020
Publisher	Audible Originals
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Original recording
Language	English
ASIN	B088C4N9R8

My Review

I have been looking forward to this book ever since I heard that it was being released. I have listened to the first three books multiple times and really wanted to know what happened next.

Set some decades after Bob left Earth, he’s looking for Bender. A trail leads him to a star system with a missing planet and a large structure floating in space. Bender’s ship is there but Bender’s cube is missing. Bob gets together a team to infiltrate the structure and find Bender. The team is Bob, Bill, Garfield and Bridget, with Will as back-up and a group of Bobs lead by Hugh of the Skippys and Gandalf of the Gamers.

The Skippys and the Gamers are just two of the groups that the Bobiverse has developed. The Skippys want to develop a true A.I. and the Gamers just want to go on DnD campaigns, but they’re all really good with computers. Another group, Starfleet, have different interests – they want the Bobs to cease contact with all biological beings – humans and Pav at the moment but any other species they come across.

When the Bobs find the Quinlans living in the construct – Heaven’s River – Starfleet demand that the Bobs keep out of it. The humans are up in arms about something or other, because they always are, and Will is getting sick of it. Bob decides Starfleet can get knotted, and the Bobiverse goes to war while Bob and the expedition are in Heaven’s River.

But things are not what they seem and friends are not always who you think they are.

I enjoyed the development of the story from the third novel. I thought the description of Heaven’s River was very good. The society and culture of the Quinlans is well developed and Bob’s adventure through Heaven’s River as he searches for Bender was definitely my favourite part. I actually thought the ‘Administrator’ was Bender, but then the timing meant it couldn’t have been. Then I thought it must be one of the other probes, until I realised they’d all bee accounted for.

When Bob and Bridget visit Quin to test out the Quin-Mannies, it becomes obvious that the species must have created something themselves and then forgotten. I enjoyed the way the different characters Bob meets on his journey argue with each other and the world’s history and culture further develops from the discussions.

I enjoyed the way the Bobiverse had developed and the difference time had made to both Pav and Human society.

The war was a bit of a let down compared to the war with the Others, and I didn’t think the subplot of the exodus was fully developed. Maybe that’ll be for book five?

Review: Ravishment, by James Walker

A whodunnit set in 17th century England.

Blog Tour Calendar: Who Killed Patrick?, by Syl Waters

Who Killed Patrick?

Sun, sea and… murder in Fuerteventura!

Boring. Going nowhere. That was Tarah’s life in the UK, before she moved to Fuerteventura to start a new adventure. But things came unstuck quicker than she’d planned. A dead guest on the holiday complex she manages threatens to pull apart her hoped-for dream life.

If she wants to keep her job and save the reputation of the business, she’s got to find out what happened to Patrick. Did he die of natural causes – or was he murdered?

Tarah’s pet guinea pig, Mr Bob, has a knack for sniffing out trouble and he suspects foul play. The mission is on: Who Killed Patrick?

With the assistance of Mr Bob and Diego, a local plumber, Tarah turns amateur sleuth to find out the truth.

Can Tarah and Mr Bob find the murderer before it’s too late? Will they be able to save the business and protect their blissful new life?

Cover Reveal: 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.

Review: The Apocalypse Strain, by Jason Parent

Fiction: FICTION / Science Fiction /
General
Product format: Hardback
Price: £20.00; $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-78758-355-9

Series: Fiction Without Frontiers
Imprint: FLAME TREE PRESS
Distribution: Marston Book Services

Publication date: Aug 2020

A multi-national research team, led by a medical genomics expert suffering
from MS, study an ancient pandoravirus at a remote Siberian research facility.
Called “Molli” by the research team, the organic substance reveals some
unique but troublesome characteristics, qualities that, in the wrong hands,
could lead to human extinction. The researchers soon learn that even in the right hands, Molli is a force too dangerous to escape their compound. But the virus has a mind of its own, and it wants out.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing.
Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Review: Giveth and Taketh, by Rota

Buy Link

Was Donald Trump able to become President because God abandoned us? Are Jews white? Does Hell have better weather than Heaven?

In Giveth and Taketh, Rota addresses all of these questions, discussing his own experience and political theology as a Jewish person in the Trump-era while also exploring broader issues of race, mental health and grief.