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Friday Fun! (In Which I Take Back Up Counted Cross-Stitching and Blog Tour Updates)
Hello my lovely readers!
I’ve been trying to keep things kind of quiet in my non-work life right now, since work is so busy with the beginning of the medical school academic year. So I don’t have too terribly much to tell you except that I now have something besides cooking and cleaning that I’m doing when listening to audiobooks. I’ve taken back up counted cross-stitching.
I’ve been searching for a crafty/productive hobby for a bit now. Knitting could only progress as far as scarves before things started to get thrown across the room. I couldn’t even learn how to do one stitch in crocheting. I knew I was capable of counted cross-stitching (and embroidery) because it was forced upon me….er, I learned it as a kid. However, I had this perception of it as being something steeped in old lady and overtly religious patterns. And then I saw something on tumblr.
It was a counted cross-stitch that quoted Fight Club saying, “Condoms are the glass slipper of our generation,” and had a glass slipper on the bottom. I about died laughing. And then I discovered the world of punk stitching, which is what the non-traditional stitchers call it. I was immediately excited and intrigued.
So I picked up a cross-stitching kit (before getting into designing my own patterns or buying other homemade patterns) to make sure that I wasn’t misremembering my abilities. After much hunting I found a wintry wolf scene that I thought would go well in my Native American themed bedroom area in my tiny apartment. I completed 400 stitches the first time I sat down. And I was remembering correctly. This is something I am good at! This is something that bafflingly relaxes me! All the counting and organizing that I so adore, and I wind up with prettiness! I am beyond excited about this rediscovered hobby, as my new pinterest board of patterns probably demonstrates. :-)
In Waiting For Daybreak
From Me To You… had previously reviewed my novella, Ecstatic Evil
The Paperback Pursuer offered up a review stating, “I was blown away by Amanda McNeil’s ability to develop such a unique and troubled character who every reader can relate to on some level.”
Kelsey’s Cluttered Bookshelf has an interview with me up where you can find out things like my future writing goals and advice for other writers. She is also offering a giveaway!
Bookishly Me also has an interview up in which I talk about the research I conducted for the book, among other things.
Last but certainly not least, Fangs for the Fantasy offers up a review from a social justice perspective stating, “But even better than a realistic and well-presented depiction of mental illness, we also have it become a strength in the zombie apocalypse.”
A big thank you again to all of the participants! I’m so glad folks have been enjoying the tour so far.
Happy weekends!
Book Review: The Walking Dead Volume 15 by Robert Kirkman (Series, #8) (Graphic Novel)
Summary:
Everyone’s world was rocked when the zombies got through the community’s fence. Will they respond by banding together or falling apart?
Review:
Ok, before I review, the numberings need a bit of explanation. Comic books are issued very similarly to academic journals. So there are skinny issues that come out every few weeks (generally). A few of these bound together make a volume. A bunch of these bound together make a book (what we call in academia a “bound journal.”) I *was* reading the books of The Walking Dead but then I caught up to the author. I decided I didn’t want to buy issues, because they’re flimsy and you read through them very quickly, so I’m now reading the volumes. I hope that makes some semblance of sense. This will probably be the case throughout the rest of the series, because you have to wait a long time for the books, and I just am too impatient for that. My reviews will then be much shorter, because a book contains a few volumes, and I am now reviewing one volume at a time. Moving right along to the review!
This volume is basically cleaning up the mess from the action of the previous one and prepping for the action of the next one. Classic in-between chapter. What this volume really reminded me of is the infamous “Live together or die alone” speech by Jack in Lost. In fact, this volume sees Rick basically trying to turn into Jack and failing miserably. Long-time readers know I’ve never liked the guy, so personally I got a lot of schadenfreude out of seeing him be so pathetic in this volume.
That said, the survivors are definitely going for a new strategy, which will lend itself well to future fresh storylines, which any long-running series needs.
Fans of the sex will be quite happy with the developments in that area. Drama! Intrigue! Changes of partners!
Overall, it’s an enjoyable entry, if not mind-blowing, that perfectly sets things up for the next volume. Fans won’t be disappointed!
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Newbury Comics
Previous Books in Series:
The Walking Dead, Book One
The Walking Dead, Book Two
The Walking Dead, Book Three
The Walking Dead, Book Four
The Walking Dead, Book Five
The Walking Dead, Book Six
The Walking Dead, Book Seven
Publication Announcement: Waiting For Daybreak
Hello my lovely readers!
I am pleased to be able to say my first full-length novel, Waiting For Daybreak, is now available on Amazon! After the first 90 days, it will also be available at Barnes and Noble and Smashwords.
What is normal?
Frieda has never felt normal. She feels every emotion too strongly and lashes out at herself in punishment. But one day when she stays home from work too depressed to get out of bed, a virus breaks out turning her neighbors into flesh-eating, brain-hungry zombies. As her survival instinct kicks in keeping her safe from the zombies, Frieda can’t help but wonder if she now counts as healthy and normal, or is she still abnormal compared to every other human being who is craving brains?
I do hope you will give it a shot.
If you have a book blog and would like to participate in the upcoming blog tour, just let me know!
*confetti*
Cover Announcement
Hello my lovely readers!
I am beyond excited to inform you that the edits are FINISHED for my second novel entitled Waiting For Daybreak. It is 41,685 words. Yay!
The publication date is tentatively set for sometime in July. The exact date will be determined after I sit down and figure out the blog tour. (Please let me know if you’d be interested in participating in that!)
In the meantime, you can get a sneak peak via the cover, which was finished today. I hope you enjoy!
Book Review: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (Audiobook narrated by Kevin Kenerly)
Summary:
R is a zombie, and he remembers nothing about his life before he was one–except that his name starts with the letter R. He and his group of the other living dead inhabit an old abandoned airport and are ruled by the bonies. They hunt the living not just for the food, but also for the memories that come from ingesting their brains. It’s like a drug. One day when he’s out on a hunt, R eats the brain of a young man who loves a young woman who is there, and R steps in to save her. It is there that an unlikely love story begins.
Review:
Now that I have a new job I decided to stop going through the rigamarole that is finding something you actually want to read as an audiobook in the public library and subscribe to Audible, especially since I always have my kindle with me anyway. I decided to choose audiobooks to read from the bottom of my wishlist, so everything you’ll be seeing on here (unless it was free on Audible) was put on my wishlist a long time ago. Half the time I couldn’t remember why it wound up there. That was the case here. I mean; I’m assuming it was there for the zombies, but I basically had no other idea about it heading in. This is partly why my mind was blown, so if you want a similar experience I’m telling you to go get yourself a copy right this instant! Vamoose! For those who need more convincing, though, please do read on.
Perhaps surprisingly, I have read zombie love stories before, so I wasn’t expecting too many new or particularly engaging ideas. This book is overflowing with them though. Everything from zombies getting high on other people’s memories to getting to see both the zombie and living side of the war to the concept of what the war is ultimately about to even what a zombie is was all brand-new. And it pretty much all makes sense in the world Marion has set up and is engaging. I could not “put the book down.” I listened to it in every spare second I had. Nothing went the way I predicted and yet it all made complete sense.
R is far more complex than what you’d expect from a zombie, even before his symbolic awakening. Julie is everything you would want from a heroine. She’s pretty, smart, and she says fuck! She can hold her own but is still emotional and vulnerable. She’s exactly what any artistic, strong woman would be in a zombie apocalypse. Even the more minor characters are well-rounded, and there is the racial diversity one would expect from a zombie apocalypse in a big city.
Alas, the narration was not quite as amazing as the story. Although Kenerly does a very good job, sometimes he fails to convey all of the emotions going on in the scenes or doesn’t switch characters quite quick enough. Don’t get me wrong, it was very good and didn’t detract from the story at all, but I also don’t feel that it added a ton to it.
This is a book that I know I will want to read again, and I may even need to buy an ebook or print version just to do so in a whole nother way next time. It is an engaging new look at a zombie apocalypse that reads more as a dystopia than post-apocalyptic. Anyone who needs restored faith in the ability of humanity to fix where we’ve gone wrong should absolutely give this book a shot.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Book Review: The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga (Series, #1)
Summary:
The first in a prequel trilogy that relates how the baddest villain of The Walking Dead’s zombie apocalypse came to be–not just how he came to rule Woodbury, but how he became an evil sociopath.
Review:
Wow. Just wow. If I could be a good book blogger and just say that I would, but I can’t so I suppose I must attempt to put my love for this book into words.
First of all, it’s important to know that this is sort of a prequel to The Walking Dead graphic novels. It’s the origin story of The Governor (aka one of the most evil comic book villains ever). Only instead of sticking to his graphic novel format, Kirkman, with the assistance of Bonansinga, went with the written word. Now, I was offered this book as an audiobook, and I have to say this really affected my reading of it. The reader, Fred Berman, does an absolutely amazing job. He has a natural standard American accent, but seamlessly slips into a Southern drawl when the characters speak. Beyond this though he is able to bring the anguish and tensity to the survival scenes that is necessary without seeming melodramatic. It reminded me of being read to by my own father when I was a little girl. I found myself choosing to curl up with the audiobook over many other activities. So. I’m not sure if the experience is the same reading it yourself. I do know that listening to the audiobook is a remarkable experience.
Now, this is a zombie apocalypse horror novel about an evil man. It gets uncomfortable. Kirkman and Bonansinga bring us inside the minds of men warped by situations and psychiatric problems alike. It’s not pretty. It makes you squirm. But it’s supposed to. Some reviewers have accused this book of being misogynistic because bad things seem to happen an awful lot to the female characters. I have a couple of things to say about that. First of all, hello, do you live in this world? Because women have to survive a lot of bad shit. Second, this is an apocalypse. Think of it as a war zone. Do women get molested, raped, murdered, treated as less strong and unequal? Absolutely. The book isn’t misogynistic. It’s realistic about how a south torn apart by zombies would treat women. The way to determine if a book in this sort of situation is misogynistic is to look at how the author treats the women. Does he present them as hysterical, over-reacting? Do they refuse to stand up for themselves? I can unequivocally say that although horrible things happen to the women in this book, they fight for themselves. It is therefore not misogynistic, but realistic.
Now one thing that probably a lot of people wonder is is the story predictable? We already know who The Governor is and that he keeps his zombie daughter as a pet. That would seem to remove the ability for the authors to surprise us at all. I am happy to say that in spite of knowing the end result, this story kept me on the edge of my seat. Some readers didn’t like all of the surprises and twists. Personally, I feel that they brought the novel up a notch in both talent and enjoyability.
Overall, this is a wonderful addition to The Walking Dead canon. Fans of the graphic novel series will not be disappointed, although fans of the tv show seem to be taken aback by it. All I can say is that the books don’t pull any punches and are not for the squeamish. If you don’t want to be challenged, stick to tv. Everyone else should scoop this up as soon as possible.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review and a giveaway
Book Review: The Walking Dead, Book Seven by Robert Kirkman (Series, #7) (Graphic Novel)
Summary:
The people at the settlement quickly discover that the new group headed by Rick has a lot more knowledge, experience, and ability with the zombies than they themselves do. But they also snap easily. Is their twitchiness warranted or not?
Review:
I was pleasantly surprised by the direction this entry in the series went. I was fully expecting the Rick group to be totally violent and messed up and expelled from the settlement. Instead we see that they can sometimes over-react, but still have their humanity intact and actually have a smart level of caution. This allows for the story within the settlement to continue on, further taking us in a fresh direction.
I am unhappy with the direction the Glenn/Maggie relationship has taken. I don’t think their original relationship was just about having hot hot sex in the prison like both characters insinuate, and I also don’t like that Maggie is now a big ball of tears while Glenn constantly traipses off. These were a good couple! No reason to ruin them, agh! Plus, how often to do we get a healthy Asian Male/White Female relationship in books? Approximately never? Can we please just leave Maggie/Glenn alone? *sighs* However, I am happy that Maggie eventually stands up to Rick in protecting Sophia, so I will withhold judgment until the next installment.
What everyone is hoping for, of course, is an excellent zombie scene, and this entry delivers. We have people crossing on a rope over a zombie hoard, the hoard invading the camp, and an epic fight off the zombies scene. These all have the excellent artwork we’ve come to expect.
The ending of the book had a great message and left me hungry for more. (haha) In fact I just may have to subscribe to the comics. *twitch*
Overall, this is a great entry in the series that takes the story on an unexpected twist plus has pages and pages of zombies for fans to drool over.
5 out of 5 stars
Previous Books in Series:
The Walking Dead, Book One
The Walking Dead, Book Two
The Walking Dead, Book Three
The Walking Dead, Book Four
The Walking Dead, Book Five
The Walking Dead, Book Six
Book Review: The Walking Dead, Book Six by Robert Kirkman (Series, #6) (Graphic Novel)
Summary:
The group continues to slowly lose their collective minds, although it is quickly made evident that they haven’t gone as crazy as some groups when they find themselves stalked by living cannibals. Toss in a preacher who failed to protect his flock and what turned out to be a pack of lies from the scientist, and it’s no wonder the group is suspicious when a couple of men approach and offer them refuge in an idyllic community just outside of DC. They in their state of PTSD can’t stop seeing danger around every corner and don’t even realize the dangerous ones just might be themselves.
Review:
You know how they say you can always find someone in the world worse off than you? Well, the first part of book 6 seems to be all about proving that’s true, perhaps in a way to humanize the group prior to how abundantly evident their loss of humanity is in contrast to the DC compound. That isn’t to say I particularly enjoyed the cannibalism plot-line. I can see its value, yes, but I also feel like we’d already seen how bad humanity can go in Woodbury, and if people are going to be eating people, that’s what you have zombies for. So the first half of the book is kind of meh to me.
On the other hand, seeing our group in the DC compound is delicious. I think one of the pieces of artwork in the appendix at the back explores the contrast eloquently. Michonne is dressed up talking to a group of women at a party, but she’s hiding a sword behind her back. The group has become so used to constantly being turned on and at war with the zombies and other survivors that they cannot relax. Classic PTSD. It’s fascinating to see how even Carl can recognize that they are no longer like these people who’ve been able to have downtime in the zombie war. Anybody who understands war and trauma at all would know that these people need special care. Even just the way they clump up and sleep all together in spite of being offered separate quarters is a symptom of PTSD, and yet the DC group makes Rick a cop. Um….ok. A seriously questionable choice there, but then again, the mayor of DC did used to be in politics. And we all know how smart those types can be. *eye-roll*
In any case, it’s obvious that this book is setting things up for a show-down between our traumatized group and the DC folks. I’m enjoying seeing our main guys turn slowly evil, and I’m curious to see how far Kirkman is willing to take it. That said, the first half of the book with the cannibals seemed kind of unnecessary to me. I’d rather have seen more zombies. Overall, it moves the plot forward, but that plot momentum is left mostly to the second half of the book. Worthy of the series and hopefully book 7 will live up to the build-up.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Public Library
Previous Books in Series:
The Walking Dead, Book One
The Walking Dead, Book Two
The Walking Dead, Book Three
The Walking Dead, Book Four
The Walking Dead, Book Five
Book Review: The Walking Dead, Book Five by Robert Kirkman (Series, #5) (Graphic Novel)
Summary:
After the slaughter at the prison, Carl and Rick are alone in the open, keeping a constant vigil against the walking dead. They are not alone for long, though, quickly finding Michonne and the other survivors. Soon yet another group of strangers stumbles upon them. These ones, though, claim that one among them is a scientist who knows how the whole plague started, and they’re heading to DC to put a stop to it.
Review:
This entry in the series could easily be called, “The survivors start losing their damn minds.” Not that you can blame them, what with the constant deaths, being surrounded by zombies, and disturbingly frequent loss of limbs. (Seriously. If I’m ever in a zombie apocalypse, I’m wearing chain mail. The amount of limbs lost is starting to freak me out).
Basically, almost everyone in the group is starting to show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, in spite of still being in the middle of trauma. I applaud Kirkman for being realistic and including the whole going crazy bit in the storyline. Too often in these sort of post-apocalyptic stories the people all show this unrealistic super-human strength. Having people talking to their dead relatives, people trying to commit suicide, people pretending like some of the dead never existed, and kids becoming surprisingly cool-headed about killing are all realistic outcomes of a hypothetical scenario. The character development at this point is basically the kids are turning cold and the adults are losing their shit.
Meanwhile, the plot has the much needed addition, finally, of a scientist. We are being teased by a possible reason for the zombies, after finally accepting there isn’t one, and it’s awesome.
Speaking of the zombies, this book finally delivers what we haven’t really seen since book one–a zombie herd. A horde of hundreds and hundreds of flesh-eating zombies. So much gore to look at. And each one is unique in its own way. This is why zombie graphic novels are *fun*.
In spite of the character development and propelling of the plot forward, this entry does not have the power of the last one. It’s hard to compete against The Governor and the loss of key characters, of course. This book felt like the classic setting the stage for the next big event syndrome often found in series. It’s fun, not mind-blowing, but necessary.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Public Library
Previous Books in Series:
The Walking Dead, Book One
The Walking Dead, Book Two
The Walking Dead, Book Three
The Walking Dead, Book Four
Book Review: The Walking Dead, Book Four by Robert Kirkman (Series, #4) (Graphic Novel)
Summary:
After escaping the horrors of Woodbury with two new additions to the group in tow, Rick, Michonne, and Glenn high-tail it back to the prison where they warn the other survivors and start prepping to defend their turf. Meanwhile daily life goes on, including a birth, more missing limbs, and a wedding.
Review:
This entry in the series is mind-blowingly awesome. Kirkman demonstrates that he not only is full of surprises, but also pulls no punches. Our group of survivors have their world torn completely apart. And it’s delicious.
First, we have the return of The Governor, and not as a zombie as I’m sure I wasn’t the only one suspecting. He is back missing an arm, an eye, and (I think it’s safe to assume) a dick. This all just makes him even more ferocious and terrifying than before, although that comes as no surprise considering that he is now the man with no penis. But yes, the full-page shot of him arriving at the prison in top of a tank? Fucking. Awesome.
There’s also a lot more zombie action this time around, although I do wonder why it is in pretty much every post-apocalyptic zombie books, no one calls them what they are? The prison folks say roamers, and the Woodbury folks say biters. Um, hello? They are zombies. Be realistic, people. Distancing yourself from your fears won’t help any. In any case, those of us who are huge fans of zombies are pleasantly greeted with many more and varied drawings of them, as well as attacks on people. Zombie gnawing on a dude’s leg? Yes, please.
On a more serious note, the theme of this entry is war. It’s war on a small scale, but it is still war. This is actually quite cool, because it allows Kirkman to show the dangers of war and truthiness on an easier to understand, up-close-and-personal level. The Governor is smart. He manipulates his people (except those closest to him) into believing that those at the prison are the type of evil that he, in fact, is. They thus go in hell-bent on murdering innocent people, who then have to shoot back to defend themselves. The most powerful moment of this, of course, is when a woman from Woodbury realizes she has killed a baby and essentially loses her mind from the instantaneous guilt. It’s a powerful lesson (or reminder) to readers presented in a unique package. The distancing of the situation from reality by the presence of zombies only allows the clarity of the concept of an unjust war to really sink in.
This is absolutely the best entry in the series so far. I cannot wait to find out what happens to the demolished survivors next. Fans of the earlier books should pick this one up asap.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Public Library
Previous Books in Series:
The Walking Dead, Book One
The Walking Dead, Book Two
The Walking Dead, Book Three
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This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 