Showcase Sunday #39 - The Christmas Edition!

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


This Week:

I had a great Christmas! I spent it with my husband at our flat in Nottingham and we had a lovely day. Then we went to see friends, and now we're visiting my parents for the New Year. :-)

Recent Posts:

Exciting News! Angry Robot Internship!

Book Review - Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Book Review - The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Four Quick Movie Reviews - Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Gravity, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


My Christmas Goodies:

This is a very dramatic list, mainly thanks to my internship at Angry Robot. I've brought back so many books from the office, and we wrapped them all up and put them under the tree!

The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond

When the World Was Flat and We Were in Love by Ingrid Jonach

Strangeness and Charm by Mike Shevdon

The Road to Bedlam by Mike Shevdon

The View From the Tower by Charles Lambert

The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

The Prince of Lies by Anne Lyle

Shadowplay by Laura Lam

The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher

Empire State by Adam Christopher

Embedded by Dan Abnett

Three by Jay Posey

Nexus by Ramez Naam

Crux by Ramez Naam

Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher

(Phew! Thanks so much Angry Robot! :-) )

I also received two fantastic looking books and some goodies from my Secret Santa. Thanks Secret Santa, I can't wait to read these! :-)

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My husband gave me some great movies, including Miracle on 34th Street - he was amazed this year when he found out that I'd never seen it, so he bought me it for Christmas! He also gave me three Harvest Moon games for the Wii because I was just a little bit obsessed with the last one we had. I don't know what it is about them, just love them!

Did you get any books/movies/games for Christmas? Hope you're enjoying the holidays! :-D

Showcase Sunday #38

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Week:

Last week I was hit with the norovirus, so the blog has been a bit quiet this last week. It was horrible (genuinely the most ill I've ever felt!), but thankfully I'm feeling a lot better now. I think I pretty much slept my way through the end of NaNo so I haven't been able to add up my word count for the month, but overall I'm pleased with the month's progress and looking forward to continuing writing in December! :-)

And... I have some exciting news! :-D But I'm going to leave that for a separate post coming straight after this one...


New Goodies:

The Thief's Gamble, by Juliet E. McKenna

A movie from the library:

 
And the books for my Secret Santa arrived! No pics of these yet though... I don't want to give anything away too soon ;-)

Showcase Sunday #37

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Two Weeks:

Wow, November has been a busy month! I've been to World Fantasy Con, been working away at NaNo (at which I'm very much behind in word count but have made A LOT of excellent progress in terms of sorting out problems and questions I had with my novel, and I'm pleased with my progress so far), and have had a lot of freelance work too. Not to mention my quest to try EVERY Christmas drink at the coffee shops around Nottingham... yum! :-)

I've also been to see Gravity and Catching Fire at the cinema, which were both brilliant, and I'll hopefully be writing some reviews of those soon.

AND, I've been shopping for my secret santa, which I'm doing with The Broke and the Bookish this year, which is really fun. Want to see a sneak preview of the present? Well, go on then. Extreme close up... what could it be?

Yes indeed, mysterious Secret Santa present. What is it?

New Goodies:

There have been some great kindle deals recently!

Ebooks:

The Soldier Son Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson

Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord

Goodreads Win:

Gretel and the Dark, by Eliza Granville

(the lollipop is cookies and cream flavour)

What a fantastic package to receive! Thanks so much Penguin UK! :-D

 

Showcase Sunday #36 - The World Fantasy Con Edition

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.

WORLD FANTASY CON

Last weekend I went to World Fantasy Con in Brighton. It was a lot of fun, and great to meet new people as well as see old friends again, including meeting Ellie from Curiosity Killed the Bookworm! :-) I went to panels and readings, chatted in the bar, braved the wind tunnel that was Brighton sea-front, went to a few publisher parties and book launches, and picked up far far too many books.

Me as a pirate (right) and steampunk 20s Ruth (left) on Halloween at WFC

 
Highlights of World Fantasy Con - Some brilliant advice panels, Scott Lynch, Mary Robinette Kowal's reading (and puppet show!), Tales of Eve launch, Terry Pratchett! (another Tiffany Aching book in the works... so excited!), Titan's fun fair party, and all the wonderful people I met and chatted to).

Mary Robinette Kowal putting on a puppet show for us

Panel - Trudi Canavan, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, Tad Williams, Adrian Stone, Stan Nicholls

 At the end of the event we had to travel home late on Sunday, and of course the first train was delayed and we missed the connecting train. We trudged onto a later train, sat down next to a guy who looked like a magician, who turned out to actually be a magician, who then gave us a free magic show for an hour on the train home! Bizarre but amazing end to a fantastic weekend! :-)

Read a longer post about my experience of World Fantasy Con here.


New Goodies:

So... the books. Yes, there are a lot, but in my defence a lot of these were free. You just don't say no to free books, do you? Besides, I'm hoping that Ellie's Sunday post will vastly eclipse mine, and therefore make me look restrained in comparison. :-)

Close ups of covers below

Two fantasy art books - Keith Parkinson and Didier Graffet

WFC book (contains info about special guests, some stories, and interesting bits and bobs)

Giant Thief, by David Tallerman

Passages: A Sampler of French Fantasy from Bragelonne

The Garden of Stones, by Mark T. Barnes

The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler

Farlander, by Col Buchanan

The Queen of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen

The Emperor's Blades, by Brian Staveley

God's War, by Kameron Hurley

Sixty One Nails, by Mike Shevdon

The Gospel of Loki, by Joanne M. Harris

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan

Banished, by Liz de Jager (Squee! Can't wait to read this one!)

Tales of Eve, edited by Mhairi Simpson

The Black Heart, by Patrick O'Leary

The Apology Chapbook, by China Mieville (this was to apologise

for not being able to come to WFC, as he was supposed to be the

Master of Ceremonies at the event. The chapbook contains some of

his unpublished short stories)

An Xmen mug (won at the Titan fun fair party!)

A TOR shot glass (from the TOR party)

Titan rock.

A Gollancz Geeks pen.

The Testimony, by James Smythe (ebook)

Shadowplay, by Laura Lam (for review) (more squees!)

 Phew, that's all of them... I think. I've probably forgotten some. xD  Hope you've had a great week too!

Showcase Birthday!

I've been really busy recently and haven't managed to get a Showcase Sunday up for a while. It was my birthday on Monday, so I thought I'd throw up a post today to share new goodies and latest posts.

What I've Been Up To:

Well, as I said, it was my birthday on Monday. I had a lovely day - my parents came to visit and we went shopping, then later I went out for dinner with my husband, played a board game, and watched a movie. :-) I also had a trip to Arnold library, which I've heard is very good. It's a fantastic library! Wish it was my local library, and I'll definitely have to visit again.

I've also been helping to put together my husband's visa application to stay in the UK, which has been a long and complicated process. That's been sent off now, so finally I can relax a little bit and get back to some reading and reviewing!

It's been very rainy here, though as I look outside right now it's very sunny with an almost black sky! Thunderstorm on its way? I've been enjoying all the autumn colours and bought a pumpkin, and I'm planning my Halloween costume. I'm thinking pirate. ;-)


New Posts:

Book Review - Shadows Over Innsmouth, edited by Stephen Jones

Science Fiction and Fantasy Podcasts (Fantasy Faction)


New Goodies:

Some birthday presents, some library books, some ebooks, some review books, and other bits and bobs! There are a lot here, but this is a few weeks' worth :-)

Dodger, by Terry Pratchett (birthday present)

Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed

Redshirts, by John Scalzi

Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

The Apprentice Journals, by J. Michael Shell

Birthday presents! An owl cushion, fox ear muffs,

and Nightmare Before Christmas mugs for John and me. :-)

Warm Bodies (DVD)

Star Trek Cross-stitch, by John Lohman

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie (I've heard so much about this one,

and it's the Fantasy Faction November read)

 

Assembly Code, by Colin F. Barnes (review copy)

 

The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton (review audiobook)

The Deaths of Tao, by Wesley Chu (review book)

Pandemonium: Ash, edited by Jared Shurin

Showcase Sunday #35

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Couple of Weeks:

Image from Elana's Pantry

I didn't do a Showcase Sunday last week, so this is for the past two weeks. It's been a busy time, but still managed to get in some fantastic books recently! Autumn is definitely here; there are orange leaves lining the roads, and it's starting to get a bit chilly now. That means it's time to start thinking about colourful scarves and jumpers, pumpkins, the Goose Fair, my husband's birthday, then my birthday eleven days after that, then Halloween ten days after that, and this year I'm going to World Fantasy Con Oct 31st - Nov 3rd, which I'm very excited about, and then after that... Christmas is on its way! I love this time of year. :-D


Recent Posts:

Book Review - All is Fair (Split Worlds #3), by Emma Newman

Book Review - The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu

Book Review - Model Misfit (Geek Girl #2), by Holly Smale

Booking By Numbers - Want to come peek at my bookshelves? :-)


New Goodies:

For the Fantasy Faction science fiction book club (October's read):

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

From the library, and already watched (brilliant movie!):

 

Wreck it Ralph

 

Showcase Sunday #34

 
Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Week:

I had another short story acceptance this week! Hooray! :-D Other than that, I've been reading some brilliant books lately, and finished playing Bioshock Infinite. :-) And quite excited about the news about the new Harry Potter movie! Have you heard about it yet?


Last Week's Posts:

Book Review - Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie

The Wonderful Worlds of Diana Wynne Jones (Fantasy Faction)


New Goodies:

Just one this week, a kindle daily deal that looked fun:

The Dead Girls Detective Agency, by Suzy Cox

Showcase Sunday #33

 
Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Week:

It was our wedding anniversary on Friday, and John surprised me by taking me to see the new Percy Jackson movie! :-) I really enjoyed it - it still wasn't as good as the book, but it was much better than the first movie, and I loved how they interpreted some of the monsters etc. Also, Anthony Stewart Head as Chiron is genius!


Last Week's Posts:

Book Review - Glitter and Mayhem, edited by John Klima, Lynne M. Thomas, and Michael Damian Thomas


New Goodies:

Review copy:

Shadows Over Innsmouth, edited by Stephen Jones

Thanks to Titan Books for the review copy!

Audiobook:

 The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey

Showcase Sunday #32

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Week:

I finished Bout of Books all revved up to have a week of reviews - I've got a lot of read books that need reviews now. But then the internet got very patchy, before disappearing altogether! So I haven't really had a chance to do anything on the blog, and there were no posts at all last week. It does finally seem to be working okay again... so, hopefully reviews should get started again next week, and hopefully the internet will decide to stick around! :-)

We also took a trip to Leicester last week so that John could do his Life in the UK test, and... he passed! :-D Yay!


New Goodies:

So, I could hardly go to Leicester without visiting their two-storey The Works, could I? And I found two books, each for only £1 on their sale! Hell to Heaven is book two of a series that I have the first book for, but haven't read yet. I don't normally like to buy second books before I know that I like the series, but this was £1!

 

Game: 

Bioshock Infinite (I'm SO excited about this)

From the Library:

The Host (DVD)

The Folding Knife, by K. J. Parker (Fantasy Faction book club read)

From The Works:

Under The Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi

Hell to Heaven, by Kylie Chan

Ebook:

The Assassin's Curse, by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Audiobook:

The Testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers