AllLifeWriting

Just Another 2018 Wrap-Up Post

Posted on by J.W. Martin

2018 was a great year! If you’ll indulge me just for a minute, walk with me through some of the highlights from Storeys of Stories.

I read WAY more books than I’ve ever read before in a single year. I crushed my goal of 52 books, ending up with 65. That’ll be hard to beat in 2019, but I’m going to aim for 70!

I read less of the books I WANTED to and more of what I felt I HAD to. I learned the hard way that its very easy to request way too many NetGalley books. I was requesting like someone who knocks out 200 books a year, and the majority of the reading with my eyes was spent on ARCs. I change that in 2019. If I wouldn’t be willing to buy it, I won’t be requesting it. No more, “I might enjoy that.”

      

My favourite book of the year was Bag of Bones by Stephen King. This was a really tough choice, by the way. I read a lot of book this year that I loved. Nevernight, Mistborn, Little Fires Everywhere, Station Eleven, Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe, They Both Die at the End, Gemina, and I could keep going.

My blog was up a million % in fun. I’m not going to bore you with stats. Why would you care? All I’m going to say is that I made some really great friends, strengthened some existing friendships, and had a blast the whole time. 

I created a blog meme. First Impression Fridays. And even though only a few people are into it so far, those that like it LOVE it. It’s a lot of fun writing a FIF, but even more fun to read them!

I finished a ‘final’ draft of a manuscript and started sending it out to literary agents. Since then I’ve received a few responses, but nothing beyond a “no thanks,” so far. *shrug* The road to being published is paved with rejection.

I completed NaNoWriMo for the third time. This was the 10th or 11th year taking part, so I was thrilled to reach 50K words. I plan on finishing it in by the end of February. We’ll see.

So that was 2018. And though I have no real complaints, I’m hoping for an even better 2019. What would a better 2019 be?

A year with even more reading.

A year I finally get around to redesigning and organizing this blog.

A year I find myself a literary agent willing to slosh through my manuscripts.

Another year with happy, healthy kids.

Another year with no complaints.

Fun fact about this post: It’s January 4th. How does it feel like we’re a month into this year already?!
AllBooksReviews

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Posted on by J.W. Martin

FOUNDRYSIDE
by Robert Jackson Bennett

Crown
August 21, 2018

From Goodreads:

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.

But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.

The good people at Crown Publishing and NetGalley provided me a digital ARC of Foundryside in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Fantastic. Unique. Compelling. [Other words meaning ‘really fricking good!’]

For a long time, every fantasy book on the shelves felt like another story taking place in Tolkein’s world. Not entirely a bad thing, but in need of some freshening. Books like Mistborn and The Name of the Wind came along and showed us that fantasy can be done without subscribing to all the tired and heated tropes.

Foundryside is the latest book to take everything we thought we knew about fantasy and flip it on its head. And to do it exceptionally well.

If anything, this is one of the freshest takes yet. That may my opinion at the moment with the book so fresh in memory, but maybe not.

Jackson Bennett presents us with a world where there’s actually no magic. No wands, no potions. But items can be imbued with an accent writing to give it new and fantastic abilities. This writing actually affect physics more than magic. It can ‘trick’ an object into thinking it’s heavier than it really is, or bigger, and made of a different material.

Wheels can be ‘programmed’ in a way to turn all by themselves. Doors can be set to only open for certain people. And amor can be altered to do far more than basic leather and metal ever could on its own.

On top of this fantastic and fresh premise is a story filled with characters that jump right off the page. Most of them, you aren’t sure if you should cheer for and wish harm upon. Even as it gets later into the story, you’re never quite sure. Even once you think you, you still don’t know.

Which is how most of the plot points were handled as well. I thought I knew where things were going, and then they went the other way. Over and over again. 

So if you want a thrill-ride of a fantasy with fantastic characters that keeps you guessing and gives you such a spin on magic that it borders on science-fiction, this is for you. If you don’t… then I’m sure there’s a magazine or an encyclopedia around here somewhere…

Fun fact about this post: This is my first Saturday post in a long, long time. Prolific or what?
AllFirst Impression FridayMemes

First Impression Friday | I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

Let’s talk about I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara.

“For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.

Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called “the Golden State Killer.” Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.”

Books of these kind always fill be with a certain kind of terror. Not for the people in the story, and if they will die or not. But the terror of realizing what some actual human beings are capable of. A lot of the criminals discussed in similar books, and especially the ones in this book, are more depraved and evil than 99% of ‘bad guys’ in fiction stories. Literally the kind of thing that makes someone say, “You can’t make this shit up.”

That may make it sound like I’m not enjoying this book, but I am. A lot. It’s tough to put down, especially when you get to thick of a particular crime or theory. That being said, it is non-fiction, which is normally a bit slower than fiction.

My Prediction: 4 stars.

Fun fact about this post: This true crime, non-fiction book, originally fell onto my radar because of the late author’s husband, who is one of my favourite comedians. Regardless how I got here, I’m enjoying it.
AllBook Tag

The End of the Year Book Tag

Posted on by J.W. Martin

I saw this one over on Once Upon a Spine. And while Kiersten didn’t tag me directly, she’s not the boss of me. I do what I want! (please don’t tell her I said that…)

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

Always. I guess the only one that I NEED to finish is The Ape That Understood the Universe. It publishes on the 30th, so I’m hoping to have it done and reviewed before then.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

Nah. The seasons/time of year very rarely has any impact on what I read.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

  

The Ape that Understood the Universe by Steve Stewart-Williams, Slayer by Kiersten White, and… I don’t know. Something with words and maybe a red cover. Or blue.

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year? 

Nope. Seems very, very unlikely.

Have you already started making reading plans for 2019?

I guess… I don’t do too much in the way of planning, though I do have a buddy read for Armada all lined up for early January…

Fun fact about this post: It’s Sunday night as I write this, and this is 4th post I’ve written tonight. I feel so ahead of the game!
AllBooksReviews

The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted on by J.W. Martin

THE DARKEST STAR
by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Tor Teen
October 30, 2018

From Goodreads:

When seventeen-year-old Evie Dasher is caught up in a raid at a notorious club known as one of the few places where humans and the surviving Luxen can mingle freely, she meets Luc, an unnaturally beautiful guy she initially assumes is a Luxen…but he is in fact something much more powerful. Her growing attraction for Luc will lead her deeper and deeper into a world she’d only heard about, a world where everything she thought she knew will be turned on its head…

The good people at Raincoast Books and Tor Teen provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

With a premise that sounded interesting, and some really good reviews for this author (and her universe) I was excited for this book, but it ended up not being for me.

This book took place within Jennifer L. Armentrout’s universe that most people just call ‘Lux.’ It’s out world, but aliens—called Lux—live among us, and it seems like a mostly peaceful co-inhabitance. I hadn’t read any of the other books from this universe, but The Darkest Star is touted as a new story with new characters.

I’ve read books before where it felt obvious that I needed the rest of the series, but honestly, I didn’t feel that way with this. It genuinely felt like it was a standalone story that anyone, regardless of reading history, could get into.

Where it fell short for me was the pacing. Nothing really happened in the beginning. Or the middle. All the interesting stuff happened in the third act. Everything before that was just teenagers flirting with each other. I think the right readers would enjoy the entire book, but until aliens started to throw down, I was bored.

And they did eventually throw down. The aliens that Armentrout has come up with are interesting and intriguing. Their powers, their looks in various forms, their treatment by the human race. All things I wish had been explored deeper and way, WAY more. Instead, we were focused on one alien and one human as they pretended to hate each other until they were smootching. 

Fun fact about this post: Other than my Audiobook Mini-Review Extravaganza post, this is my first review in over a month!!
AllMemesTop 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Books on My Christmas Wishlist

Posted on by J.W. Martin

This week’s Top 5 Tuesday, hosted by Shanah the Bionic Bookworm, is one that everyone can relate to. THE BOOKS WE WANT! No matter how many or how few books you’ve read, if you love books, there are a pile that you want. The only problem when putting together a list like this is keeping it to 5! How about a top 500 Tuesday?

The Etymoligicon by Mark Forsyth

My interest in non-fiction has been higher this year than it’s ever been before. My life-long love or words, and the wannabe writer inside me, makes this book all about the little known meanings and connection of the words we use every day an easy decision.

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Nevernight was incredible. Going into it, I already knew it was going to be great based on trusted opinions of others. And still I was surprised by it. Can’t wait to continue this series.

Obsido by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Will 2019 be the year I actually finish some of the series I’ve started? I have my doubts, but here’s to trying!

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

This book has been around over 10 years I just found out about it recently. “Young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist.” It. Sounds. Awesome.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels:
Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind how Video Game Are Made by Jason Schreier

Look at that. More non-fiction. This one appeals to my life-long obsession with video games. It’ll be interesting to take a peak behind this particular curtain.

Fun fact about this post: Is there anything more confusing than not being able buy books as holiday gifts for everyone you know?
AllLife

My Bookish Birthday Surprise!

Posted on by J.W. Martin

I’m not easy to surprise. Or… maybe I am. I don’t know. It doesn’t happen very often. But, on Saturday, my wonderful wife managed to surprise me. And it was incredible!

Birthday surprises are even more of a rarity. Since it’s 8 days before Christmas, people are usually way too busy already with work and family functions to add another event to the list. My actual birthday is today, Monday the 17th, but when I came home on Saturday the 15th, after a somewhat full day or errands, I heard frantic whispers of, “hurry, hurry!”

At that point, I was expecting to find my wife and kids with some sort of surprise. What I wasn’t expecting was my parents and my wife’s parents to be there as well. And I REALLY didn’t expect THIS:

BRAND NEW shelves to show off our many collectible obsessions such as Funko POPs, geeky decorations, and BOOKS!! I know. There’s a distinct absence of books in this photo. They will be added in due time. We’re still not sure the shelves are complete as is. We’ve talked about making them longer, adding in a few more of the “stair” style shelves, and maybe even flipping them upside down and mounting them to kind of frame in the long top for all those wonderfully geeky POPs.

What followed was a big family dinner, and a few drinks. A night that on more than one occasion I snuck away from everyone to look at these new shelves and imagine them packed with books!

Fun fact about this post: Look at all that room for future book hauls!!
AllFirst Impression FridayMemes

First Impression Friday | The Ape That Understood the Universe

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!

It has been A WHILE since I did one of these. So pumped for this!

Let’s talk about The Ape That Understood the Universe by Steve Stewart-Williams.

“The Ape that Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world: the human animal. It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our child-rearing patterns, our moral codes, our religions, languages, and science? The book tackles these issues by drawing on ideas from two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory. The guiding assumption is that humans are animals, and that like all animals, we evolved to pass on our genes. At some point, however, we also evolved the capacity for culture – and from that moment, culture began evolving in its own right. This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet, travelling to other worlds, and understanding the vast universe of which we’re but a tiny, fleeting fragment.”

I find evolution fascinating. Because though we’re all pretty familiar with the basic concept of evolution, I have no idea how it really and truly happens. And this book deals with a lot of evolution of our minds. Culture.

A single human’s capability for intelligence hasn’t really changed, but as a species we take every man and woman’s experiences with us going forward. Each child is given a cumulative education of everyone that came before us.

Plato and Socrates were two of the greatest minds that have ever existed, but if you were to pluck them out of their element and put them face-to-face with a 5-year-old from 2018 that kid is going to run circles around those geezers (figuratively AND literally.)

I can’t wait to dig further into this book, but since it is a non-fiction (although one I’m really interested in) I’m guessing I’m going to run into some really slow parts. I hope I’m wrong on that, but still, I’m going to guess…

3.5 to 4 stars.

Fun fact about this post: Cover looks like the book is called “The Ape That How the Mind Understood and Culture Evolve the Universe.”
AllBook Tag

Naughty or Nice Book Tag

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Thanks to Shanah for tagging me on this one. Apparently I haven’t been feeling guilty enough about my reading habits lately. Never fear, the Bionic Book Worm is here!

RULES

  • Tag & link the person who tagged you
  • Tag and link me/this post (if you would be so kind, I love reading your answers!) – Jenn
  • Tick/cross off the ones you’ve done
  • Tag another 10 people!

1 – RECIEVED AN ARC AND NOT REVIEWED IT:

Only once. It was a prequel to a series, and claimed that it was perfect for both fans and new readers to the series. But I didn’t find that to be true at all. I felt like I was missing out on something the entire time and eventually gave up. I didn’t read enough to feel like I could review it. 

2 – HAVE LESS THAN 60% FEEDBACK RATING ON NETGALLEY:

NOPE! I didn’t even know this rating existed until a few days ago. Luckily, I’m at 70% with the majority of outstanding books due out in 2019.

3 – RATED A BOOK ON GOODREADS AND PROMISED A FULL REVIEW WAS TO COME ON YOUR BLOG AND NEVER DID:

Ugh. Constantly. I really have to get a handle on this. Can’t imagine how many are out there.

4 – FOLDED DOWN THE PAGE OF A BOOK:

Nope. I almost always have a bookmark handy. If not, a piece of paper, a receipt, my son once used a kleenex (unused, I promise!)

5 – ACCIDENTALLY SPILLED ON A BOOK:

No. Some of my books have been spilled on, but I am not the spiller. 

6 – DNF’D A BOOK THIS YEAR:

Yup. But just one. Same book from answer 1. 

7 – BOUGHT A BOOK PURELY BECAUSE IT WAS PRETTY WITH NO INTENTION OF READING IT:

Nah. I’ve bought books because of a great cover, but still intended to read it.

8 – READ WHILST YOU WERE MEANT TO BE DOING SOMETHING ELSE (LIKE HOMEWORK):

I’m only human!

9 – SKIM READ A BOOK:

Yeah. Sometimes it’s the only thing that saves a book from a DNF.

10 – COMPLETELY MISSED YOUR GOODREADS GOAL:

This is only my second year setting Goodreads goals, and I’ve hit my goal both times. Maybe I need to set a more aggressive one??

11 – BORROWED A BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY AND NOT RETURNED IT:

Not since I was a kid.

12 – BROKE A BOOK BUYING BAN:

Never been on one. I’m pretty responsible with that. I don’t buy too many books (as if there was such a thing) and I don’t pay outrageous prices for them.

13 – STARTED A REVIEW, LEFT IT FOR AGES, THEN FORGOT WHAT THE BOOK WAS ABOUT:

HA! No. I may forget small details here and there, but no. 

14 – WROTE IN A BOOK YOU WERE READING:

What am I? An animal?!

15 – FINISHED A BOOK AND NOT ADDED IT TO YOUR GOODREADS:

I don’t think so. 

16 – BORROWED A BOOK AND NOT RETURNED IT TO A FRIEND:

I can’t remember the last time I borrowed a book. I do have some friends that borrow mine and tend not to return them. Just a little annoying.

17 – DODGED SOMEONE ASKING IF THEY CAN BORROW A BOOK:

Nope. 

18 – BROKE THE SPINE OF SOMEONE ELSE’S BOOK:

Never broke a spine. Period.

19 – TOOK THE JACKET OFF A BOOK AND ENDED UP MAKING IT MORE DAMAGED:

Ugh. Yeah. I usually put them between to other books for “safe keeping” but somehow they end up underneath books with an odd fold or crease.. or several.

20 – SAT ON A BOOK ACCIDENTALLY:

I don’t think so… Who’s out there sitting on books?

FINAL SCORE – 6/20 

Does that mean I’m 30% naughty? Such a prude.

Not tagging anyone since I’m pretty sure I’m the last blogger on the internet to do this tag. If by some chance you haven’t done it… TAG!

Fun fact about this post: IT’S ALMOST FRIDAY! YAAAAAAY!
AllBooksReviews

Audiobook Mini-Review Extravaganza 2018

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Okay, everyone. November was so busy for me. Time spent reading with my eyes went out the window, but reading with my ears continued as strong as ever. So the reviews I needed to do piled up higher and higher.

In order to SMASH through a bunch of these, I present, THE AUDIOBOOK MIN-REVIEW EXTRAVAGANZA!

NEMESIS
by Brendan Reichs

G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
March 21, 2017

This book had a really slow start. Almost slow enough for a DNF. But I kept going and was rewarded with a really cool Lord of the Flies kind of feel with a severe science fiction edge to it. The story created a lot of questions, and each time I thought I was going to get some answers, I ended up with more questions, in a positive way. Each question created more interest and intrigue.

The end of the book only kicks that intrigue up several notches. We get some answers, and a bunch more questions. It’s also at this point that the characters, which had been a little two-dimensional throughout this first book, really take form.

 

BAG OF BONES
by Stephen King

Pocket Books
June 1999

Despite being a ‘King fan’ I had never ever heard about this book. The POPSUGAR Reading Challenge had me looking at books that were bestsellers in the year I graduated high school. I’m so glad I found it, because I loved this book. Imagine a really good ghost story, and a really good drama. And then give those both to Stephen King and watch him weave them together seamlessly into one fantastic book.

Incredible plot line. Characters that are so real they practically walked off of the page. Even the supporting cast was more authentic than a lot of other main characters.

 

THE WELL OF ASCENSION
by Brandon Sanderson

Tor Books
August 21, 2007

The second book of the Mistborn series. In some ways better than the original, and in other ways not quite as good. Either way, it was still amazing. There were many twists and turns. With a lot of them, I could tell something was coming, but no matter how sure I was about the upcoming twist, I was always wrong. Always surprised. I can’t wait to get into the third book of this series.

 

CITY OF GHOSTS
by Victoria Schwab

Scholastic
August 28, 2018

This is a kid’s book, but so was Harry Potter. I was hoping to find something as deep and fleshed out as that. I’m a firm believer that no matter what age group a book is intended for, it should appeal to just about anyone. No one should be ‘written down’ to. While Schwab has some amazing stuff out there, this seemed a little shallow.

 

MINORITY REPORT & OTHER STORIES
by Philip K. Dick

HarperAudio
December 26, 2003

This collection of short stories included Minority Report, We Can Remember it For You Wholesale, Paycheck, Second Variety, and The Eyes Have It. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching and loving these movies for years, but this collection of short stories really didn’t do a lot for me. Most of the details and plot lines seemed so abrupt.

What I did find interesting though, was a common theme in the stories. A while ago I watched a documentary about Philip K Dick, and it talked a lot about how often he used drugs and had feeling of paranoia. The characters in his stories all seemed to have some form of paranoia as well. Everyone was out to get them and even their own wives were usually in on it. Though a part of me wishes I had read the stories before seeing the documentary.

Fun fact about this post: This post was fuelled by Cherry Pepsi, cheeseballs, and The Office on Netflix.