Draculas- Crouch, Kilborn, Strand, Wilson

Many aspiring and experienced writers alike know of J.A. Konrath and his blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. If you are a writer, or someone interested in epublishing, and you haven't visited his site yet, go, now... I'll wait.

Now that you're back, that site is how I found and virtualy met Konrath (aka Kilborn) who seems like a pretty nice guy. Because I've known him in the virtual world for a while (and even did an interview for his blog tour), I knew of the upcoming release of Draculas, a book written with three of Konrath's comrades and published exclusively electronically. I got an advanced copy, but ended up buying the book anyway because at $2.99, who cares if it's terrible. I waste more money on make up weekly. So, without further ado, here's my Draculas review. Which- FCC or whoever is in charge of making sure I don't take bribes for blogging reviews- I did get for free, but also purchased... so make of that what you will.

Crouch, Kilborn, Strand and Wilson are all excellent writers in their own right and when they collaborated they set out to write a serious horror novel and bring vampires back to the scary side of town. Overall, I think they succeeded. The book was pretty terrifying. Taking a page from Kilborn's Afraid, the book alternates between various points of view and is one long cannonball of a novel. It was exceptionall difficult to put down. I'll not spoil the plot here, but the very short summary is that a strange skull is found in an Eastern European farm field. The skull looks human, but has ridiculous fanged jaws that appear to unhinge like a snake's. A reclusive and near death millionaire purchases the skull, and well... mayhem ensues.

Now, I'll preface my opinion here by saying that I don't read much horror, so my thoughts on this particularly horrific book may be skewed. Overall, I did like the book. It was fast paced and well written. I couldn't tell where one author stopped and another began. The characters were believable and I liked the diversity of personalities. It was quite gory, but it worked, and didn't feel like too much given the gross situation. I did want more though. The book was short, at least I think it was, it's hard to tell length with an ebook. Regardless, I was a little diappointed when it ended. Granted they left it pretty open ended for a sequel, but I wanted more immediately. I liked the treatment of the vampires, no sparkles or dating teenages in this book. I think that it is well worth the price if you like horror or vampires at all.

Wee Bit of Me

Well... at least I can do something regularly. :) Many thanks to myleighashley and jumblemash for their bloggy inspiration. I have finished a couple of books too; I just need to write the reviews. Those will be up later this week.... fingers crossed.

 

{one} do you collect anything? if so, what and how long have you been collecting?

 Nothing in particular... yarn I suppose and maybe jewelry.

{two} what is one cleaning tip that you swear by?

 Uh... clean stuff up? No, I wish that I had been born with the cleaning gene, but sadly I was not. I have been following Flylady recently, and that's helped a lot!

{three} who would you call for bail money?

 Well... the hubs, but if he were with me, probably my friend Pehle or Jenny

{four} what is one thing you miss about being a kid?

 Besides everything! I really miss just sitting in my backyard and reading away a summer day.

{five} name a few of your guilty pleasures.
I've got far too many! Television, knitting, shopping, wine and cheese

{six} how early do you start your holiday shopping?

I'm always shopping. I do a lot of it after Thanksgiving, but I usually have picked up quite a few things throughout the year. 

{seven} what is a family tradition that you would like to pass on to your significant other/children?

I love the Chili Supper that my family does the weekend before Christmas, Black Friday Shopping and Christmas Day itself being super low key.

{eight} what do you consider your greatest achievement?

Uh... surviving this long? No, I'm pretty proud of my wedding and my master's degree.

 

{nine} what do you do to pamper yourself?

I love getting my hair cut and colored and I try to paint my nails once a week. 

{ten} if you were to start your own restaurant, what would it be called?

Hee! When I was little I remember my best friend and I deciding that we were going to open a cafe. We made menus and everything. The name... Lizard Alley... I know, right? Terrible. :)

Well... until next time. Book reviews will hopefully be up soon!

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

Wee Bit of Me is back again... two weeks in a row of blogging. That's a record for me. :) At least as of late.

 

 

{one} do you still use a checkbook?

Occasionally. I never have cash, so if somewhere doesn't take a credit card, it's got to be a check.

{two} what size shoe do you wear?

6.5-8 it totally depends on the shoe, though I think my feet have been getting bigger in recent years.

{three} scary movies or happy endings?

Definitely happy endings. There is enough scary in the world without scary movies.

{four} do you prefer spontaneity or stability?

I'm an off mix of both. I like stability and predictability, but there's definitely a spontaneous part of me.

{five} what is the most embarrassing cd that you own?

I'm not sure I'd be really embarassed by any of my CDs, since all my friends know of my ridiculous love of pop music, but maybe some country CDs from my high school days.

{six} do you watch reality tv?

All the time. I get completely sucked into bad reality TV, but usually only the shows on VH1: Rock of Love, Tough Love, The Ultimate Catch... bad, crappy television.

{seven} what is your favorite home-made meal?

Hmmm.... that is hard. Probably Thanksgiving dinner, or White Chicken Enchiladas.

{eight} do you have any allergies?

No deadly allergies, but I don't do well with gluten or soy.

{nine} if you could open your own restaurant/store, what would it be?

I've thought it would be fun to open a one-stop wedding shop. Dress, planning, invites, etc. Everything wedding all in one place.

{ten} would you ever go skydiving (or have you been)?

Never been, and probably wouldn't go. I'm not much of an adreline junkie.


Well... that's all for today folks. I just finished another book, so I hope to have a review posted some time this week, but we'll have to see how it goes. :)