2014 February Reading List

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft  - I was quite disappointed by this short story collection. The only stories that stood out were The Outsiders and The Colour Out of Space, and as it turned out I had read them before. The rest were mostly a filler and too repetitive to count. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft  - The stories worth mentioning are The Thing on the Doorstep and The Music of Erich Zann. At the Mountains of Madness was way too long. 4/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft  - The weakest story collection out of the three of them. None of the stories really stood out, other than maybe The Cats of Ulthar and that because it’s about cats. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

Cress by Marissa Meyer – After reading so much Lovecraft, I felt like washing my brain with soap and I just had to move on to something lighter. The plot felt more disjointed than in the other books, some character progress was questionable, and I didn’t care that much for Cress’ silliness. Winter looks promising as a character, though. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

10 Years

This week, it was the 10th anniversary of me joining a group of fantastic writers. We wrote our fingers off, roleplaying for years, read and wrote in every possible genre while strong friendships were forged, took our characters on wild rides, laughed a little and hurt a little along their sides, and 10 years and +400 storylines later, we're still here. I believe this is a great accomplishment in itself. Let's hope for another 10 fantastic years!

Post-Olympic musings on AS

With the Olympic Games over and the closing ceremony taking place this afternoon, we needed to have a wrapping up article, documenting the AS staff's Olympic experience. You can read my opinion here.

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Table of Contents

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus will include the following:

The Impaler’s Revenge (novella)
Sweet Surrender (short story)
A Victory that Counts (novella)
Casualties of War (short story)
Order Restored (novella)
The Third Wheel (short story)

Yes, the last short story is new, and the description goes something like this:

Liana and Jesse take a day off after the events in Order Restored. But where is Max?

A bonus story in The Impaler Legacy series, a vampire saga like no other.

For a chance to get an advance reading copy, sign up for the blog tour.

 

Cover Reveal: The Impaler Legacy Omnibus Edition by Ioana Visan

   
The Impaler Legacy
Omnibus Edition

by Ioana Visan 

In a world crawling with vampires, Romania is the safest place left on earth. Thanks to the Little Council, there hasn't been a vampire on Romanian ground in over five centuries, until one day when Liana Cantacuzino is ordered to bring one in, covertly.

Enter Maximilien Hess, a thousand-year-old vampire determined to ruin the existing order of things. When all is revealed, Hess's secret changes everything, and a reluctant alliance is formed because the alternative is much worse.

The Impaler Legacy Omnibus, a vampire saga like no other.

Coming out this spring! 

If you want to get your hands on it before its release, sign up for the blog tour or offer to write a review.

Interview on Absolute Skating

The Olympics Games start today. Well, the opening ceremony is on Friday, but the team skating competition starts today so today it is.

To celebrate the event, the Absolute Skating team asked the staff about their Olympic memories. You can read my answers here.

Enjoy the Games!

2014 January Reading List

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson – A bit too literary for my taste. Not sci fi and quite different from what I usually read. Very depressing in several places, but the humor saves it some.  3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean – I don’t think I’ve read any historical romance since high school so I don’t have much to compare it to. They did get steamier than I remember. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean – I kind of enjoyed it more than the previous book in the series. Sadly, I came to the realization that I could never write anything like that because I lack the proper knowledge about the era and I don’t have the patience to write half a dozen pages long sex scenes. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean – I liked it less mostly because the main conflict and resolution don’t work for me, and also because at this point it’s obvious that all three books follow the same pattern and that becomes a little boring. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress – I picked this book up mostly because of the title, but it reminded me why I fell in love with sci fi in the first place. Well worth the read. 4/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress – This one didn’t work for me. I didn’t find one character to like, and the whole “forget the past, everything is for the future” preaching was too annoying, and not to mention stupid. I’d take Howey’s Wool over this any day even if the pace was maddening slow. 3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk by Sean Wallace – What is it about steampunk that makes it always about broken things rather than fixing things? And all of the stories were so bloody depressing. There’s something not quite right about a book when the only stories that stay with you in the end are those with same sex characters. It’s not like I haven’t read m/m and f/f before.  3/5 stars Amazon Bookdepository

Star rating system reminder:
1 star - you won't find any so it doesn't matter
2 stars - waste of time or unfinished book or both
3 stars - you won't be sorry for reading it, but you can just as well live without it
4 stars - it brings something special into your life
5 stars - brilliant, damn near perfect

Facebook and Twitter Giveaway

To celebrate the 1,500 Likes and 5,000 followers, I'm launching a small giveaway.

What do you have to do?

On Facebook:
1. Like my author page if you haven't already.
2. Like the post announcing the giveaway.
3. Share the post announcing the giveaway.
4. Comment on the post and tell me which of my English ebooks you would like to win.


On Twitter:
1. Follow my account if you haven't already.
2. Retweet my tweet announcing the giveaway.
3. Tweet: "The Impaler Legacy series, a vampire saga like no other, by Ioana Visan http://amazon.com/author/ioanavisan @weirdvision #vampires #paranormal"
4. Tweet me the title of one of my English ebooks that you would like to win.

Three random winners will be drawn for Facebook and three for Twitter and sent the desired ebook.

The giveaway ends on February 9.

Good luck!

Valentine's Day Ebook Giveaway 2014

The Impaler's Revenge is part of a giveaway organized by Moonrise Book Blog. Check out the titles and enter for a chance to win some great reads for Valentine's Day.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bumerangul lui Zeeler. Antologie Gazeta SF 2014

"Bumerangul lui Zeeler. Antologie Gazeta SF 2014" (Zeeler's Bumerang. Gazeta SF Anthology 2014) was released today.

The anthology, edited by Alexandru Ioan Despina, includes 33 short stories that have been published in Gazeta SF, an online Romanian sci fi magazine, during its first three years of existence.

My short story "Alergand dupa o raza de soare" (Chasing a Ray of Sunshine) was especially written for Gazeta SF and appeared in issue no. 6 from June 2011. And yes, it's about a robot.

The anthology was released is a free ebook and can be downloaded here.