Thoughts for Thursday: Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone! I know not everyone will see this due to today being the holiday, but how could I pass up the chance for some great Halloween quotes, especially since it fell on the actual day? So, here goes:

Thoughts for Thursday is a new feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

In honor of the coming holiday, this week's theme is Halloween.  (For even more quotes, visit my other blog.)

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Book Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Two things before I get to today's review:

1) I'm trying to promote my two most recent books, Dark Remnants and Quantum Entanglement. There are lots of sites where you can list them for promotions, but most of the Amazon ones require that you have a certain number of reviews on Amazon. Unfortunately, because my books are still so new, I'm falling a bit below the bar. So, if you've read either and feel so inclined, could you cross-post your reviews to Amazon? It would really help me out. Also, if you'd be willing to read either in exchange for a review, I'd be happy to send you a free electronic copy. You can contact me at my email, lkhillbooks@gmail.com for questions or inquiries.

2) I finally got the cover for book 1 of my historical fiction trilogy, entitled Citadels of Fire. This is the saga set in Russia in the middle ages. Guys, it's AMAZING! I'm so pleased with it. I'm going to do a cover reveal the first week in November. I'm thinking the 6th or 7th. If anyone would like to help me do a cover reveal blitz, let me know. I'll be sending the stuff out in the next few days. Just email me, again, at lkhillbooks@gmail.com.

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So I've read this book probably a dozen times, but this is the first time since I started blogging, so I'm going to write a quick review.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is the semi-autobiographical account of a young man who travels into the heart of the Belgian Congo looking for adventure. And he finds it. The book is set during the notorious era of the Ivory trade, a dark time that included the exploitation of thousands of African natives, and may have left as many as a million corpses in its wake. Conrad's narrator, a man known only as Marlowe, sees the genocide that's going on first hand. He hears about and later meets a man named Kurtz, and has a spiritual and philosophical awakening as he realizes how evil Kurtz has become in the heart of the jungle, and how close he has come to following in Kurtz's footsteps.

Now, there's been volumes written about this book, especially as it relates to racism. Myself, I don't see Conrad as a racist, but what's more, I think any discussion on the topic is really missing the point. This book isn't about racism, though we see a great deal of it through Marlowe's eyes. It's about evil in general, but that evil is discussed on an individual level. Not the evil done to other people, but what a person must do to themselves before they can stomach such evil. It wouldn't have mattered what the evil was--he might have been speaking about serial killers, slave owners in America, or any person who appreciates human life so little that they can commit genocide. 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers for Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top 10 Scary Book Covers (all covers courtesy of goodreads.com unless otherwise linked)

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Crime Tidbit: The Texarkana Moonlight Murders, 1946

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Time for another unsolved historical tidbit.

Did you know...that in the 1946, the twin cities of Texarkana, TX and Texarkana, AR were briefly terrorized by a serial killer known only as the Phantom Killer?

Much like the Monster of Florence, the Phantom Killer struck at couples in their cars late at night. The attacks generally occurred on the weekends, roughly three weeks apart. 

In the first confirmed attack, the couple both survived. They managed to give a vague description of their attacker, though it was more frightening than enlightening. They claimed it was a man, roughly six feet tall, whose face was covered in a white bag with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth. He always used a .32 caliber pistol to kill and no one else ever got a look at him. The only other survivor didn't, and the rest were only recovered as corpses. 

In all, eight people were attacked, with five killed, and the killer's name came from the fact that he simply disappeared each time without a trace. Sheriff William Presley told the press, "This killer is the luckiest person I have ever known. No one sees him, hears him in time, or can identify him in any way." (Source) The murders themselves became known as the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, and were never solved.

Many have speculated that this might have been the early work of the notorious Zodiac Killer, though no solid link has ever been made between the two cases.

What do you think? Decent story fodder? Anyone else intrigued by possible link to the Zodiac?

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Follow Friday: Reads in Funny Places

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Bookagram: Photograph your favorite read in a funny place!


Most of you know by now that the Wheel of Time series is among my favorite reads and since my read-along just started book 6, that's what I decided to go with.

So, I kid you not, I went looking for my book the other day and found it here. My 2-year-old niece lives with me and loves to set up her dolls to do human things. She reads them stories and suctions their noses before putting them to bed; she puts bibs on them and feeds them pretend lunch; etc. Obviously, she's seeing someone (no idea who) sitting around reading. And she's imitating with her dolls. So cute!

How about you? Where did you photograph your read? 

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Five Complications I Wish Were Part of My Writing Life

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Hello Everyone! And happy Hump Day!

I hope it's going swimmingly! So today I'm doing a (somewhat snarky) post over at Alex J. Cavanaugh's website entitled, "Complications I Wish Were Part of My Writing Life."

If everyone could hop over there to leave your comments, I'd be most appreciative! Have a great Wednesday! :D

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Teaser Tuesday: Heart of Darkenss

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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This is one of my favorite classic novels and I try to read it every year. It's not particularly Halloween-y, but it has it's own kind of creepiness, so I always think October is a great time to read it. :D

So, what are you reading this week?

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Seeking Answers at the Ends of the Earth

Time for another creative challenge! Take a look at the image below:

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I love pinning images like this on Pinterest. It's from my "Landscapes for Inspiration"  board. These kinds of pictures get my creative juices flowing. I always stop and think, what kind of story would take place in this picture?

So, you tell me. What do you think is happening in this scene?

Here's my take: A man is travelling into a dangerous, magical place to get answers. It's accessible only by water, and he's paddling into a darkness he can't comprehend... This could actually work well in my Dragon Magic story. Eventually, many volumes from now, one of my characters will go on a journey, seeking something specific. He'll travel nearly to the ends of the world to find it. This could be him. His name is Gadrin.

How about you? What story would you tell about this image?

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Follow Friday: Favorite Magazines

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What are some of your favorite magazines? 

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I must confess that I don't read many magazines, and when I do, they aren't generally very bookish. Because I was going to go into the science field for a lot of years, I got into the habit of reading National Geographic, especially issues that dealt with the human body.

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I also used to read Archaeology Magazine, because I love history, and stories. I even took an archaeology class in college. It was great, though I don't think I could do it as a career.

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I don't read either of those much anymore, though. Over that past few years, the only magazine I've read very faithfully is EW Magazine. I love reading about what new films are in the making and what TV stations are planning for next year's lineups. In my defense, EW has a book reviews section. They tend to be very literary or written by already-famous people, but I still read them every week and add one to my TBR list every so often.

So, what magazines to do you love? 

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Thoughts for Thursday: Fear

Thoughts for Thursday is a new feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

In honor of the coming holiday, this week's theme is Fear.  (For even more quotes, visit my other blog.)

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Movie Review: Sinister

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Sinister is yet another film I missed while it was in theaters, though I heard great things about it's creep factor. I have younger brothers who are practically horror film aficionados, and they had a copy of it. I wanted to watch at least one horror film, both for participation in Readers Imbibing Peril, and just in honor of Halloween in general. So, I did some borrowing from my brothers' film library. 

**Don't worry. This review will be largely spoiler-free!**

Plot: Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is a crime writer who may or may not have pissed off law enforcement through his writing in the past. He moves his family into a home where several unsolved murders recently took place in order to look into them for his next big book. He finds a box of old, projector-style films in the attic that law enforcement somehow overlooked. When he starts watching them, he realizes they are eerie snuff films cataloging not only the murders he's investigating, but others that have never been linked. His investigation leads him to the occult, the unseen world, and other hellish places he could never have imagined.

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Teaser Tuesday: Dracula!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Yup! Today's teasers are from Bram Stoker's Dracula! I'm re-reading it for both Readers Imbibing Peril VIII and just for Halloween in general. It is fabulous, of course!

"At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he had yet gone, and during his absence, the horses began to tremble worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether. But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the jagged crest of a beetling, pine-clad rock, and by it's light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lolling red tongues, with sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. They were a hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled."

What are you reading this week?

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Ivan the Terrible of Russia: Backdrop for a Historical Saga

Ivan the Terrible
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It's been awhile since I posted about Russia or Ivan the Terrible. I read something that suggested that a great idea for a blog post for authors is to write about the back story or world that your story take place in. As I explained in THIS POST, the release date for Citadels of Fire was pushed to next year, but that doesn't mean I can't talk about the world it's set in.

So Ivan the Terrible was a tyrant who sat the throne of Russia during the 1500s. He was the first ruler to adopt the title of "Tsar" which is the Russian equivalent of Caesar. He was revered by his people, even though he was brutal.

Ivan was a very lonely child. His father died when he was only three, making him ruler of Russia under his mother, who would serve as regent until he came of age. When Ivan was eight, she died, and little Ivan, along with his simple-minded brother, Yuri, were swept under the rug. Every time Ivan latched onto someone and came to care for them, they were murdered in the bloody gyre that was the struggle for the Russian throne. The two boys often slept in closets or hid from assassins. Their childhood was full of paranoia and mistrust...

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Movie Review: World War Z

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This was one I missed in theaters, but I got it from Redbox over the weekend. Gotta say, I really loved it!

I tried to read the book several months ago, and for me, it was a dud. I won't go too much into why, except to say that there wasn't a common thread or character throughout it. It was a collection of stories that read like mini episodes of Dateline. In and of itself, that's not bad, but there wasn't one common character to follow and root for, so I kept getting bored. I skimmed a lot and barely finished. (For more details, see my review.)

In the film, though, Brad Pitt's character (obviously) is the one you're rooting for throughout, which makes the story much more cohesive.

Plot: Having recently quit his job working for the state department to spend more time with his family, Jerry (Brad Pitt) is thrown into the chaos of the spreading zombie contagion. The only way to protect his family is to jump back in and tried to pinpoint patient zero, in the hopes of perhaps finding a way to counter the disease. The plot was believable and unrolled easily, with no confusion or boredom.

Dystopian World: Of course, chaos and dystopia ensue for Gerry. I thought the world building was well-done. The chaos in the cities, especially the Jerusalem scene was just so stinkin' intense, it was hard to look away from the screen. There was also a lot of talk about how it doesn't really zero in on a zombie, but I don't think that's a very fair critique. You see lots of zombies and you don't feel like you didn't get a good look. There's enough zombie gore to satisfy most die-hard zombie-lovers, and you even see the quick (12 seconds, in fact) turning of human beings to undead when they're bitten. I thought that was the most disturbing image in the film.

Twists: Being an action film, there weren't really any major, shocking twists. The plot twisted and turned as it went on it's way, though, and, as I said before, I never got bored. It was a well-paced, well-told story. 

Characters: Brad Pitt, whom I'm not always a huge fan of, did a great job. The characters felt, real, believable, and easy to root for. You just couldn't help it. 

Overall, the film was exciting, the scenery amazing, and the story, easy to follow. I think it's a great contribution to the zombie and dystopian genres. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend it!

Did anyone else see this film? What did you think of it?

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Top Ten Tuesday: Best/Worst Series Enders

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders (All covers courtesy of Goodreads.com unless otherwise linked.)

Worst Enders:

3. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis--I actually don't like putting this on a "worst" list, because it really wasn't. I didn't mind it, I was just disappointed by the final book. It's called "The Last Battle," but it's actually very slow and somewhat anti-climatic. What happened was pretty cool, but it just didn't feel as engaging as other stories.

2. The Twilight Sagaby Stephenie Meyer--I was actually a pretty big Twilight fan while the series was being put out, but I really hated the end of book 4. It felt like she changed her mind right before the end. She set us up for a huge battle, but then when everyone got there, they just changed their minds and went home. Really? I will say that, surprisingly, the movie did a better job with it. We got to see the whole battle before it was retracted, which made the ending feel more real and justified. At least to me. :D

1. The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson--I've talked about this before, but I totally hated this series, mostly because of the way it ended. Book 1 was okay, but this was a case of the author setting us up for something, then changing his mind fifty pages before the end of the series. I kept reading, hoping it would get better. Afterward, I decided it had been a colossal waste of time.

Best Enders:

5. All is Well by Gerald N. Lund--Such a great conclusion to an epic historical fiction saga! It ended on the perfect note and I totally loved it!

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4. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins--I know lots of people didn't like book 3, but I think that's to be expected. Parts of it did feel rushed to me, but the end of the book--and I mean the VERY end--kind of made the story for me. Maybe I'm a sap, but overall I really liked it.

3. Confessor by Terry Goodkind--I won't say it was all kinds of epic, but it got to the point where I really didn't know how he would end the series and solve all the problems he'd come up with over 11 books. I ended up being pretty impressed with what he did.

2. The Deadly Hallows by J.K.Rowling--I know people had some complaints about book 7, but most of them didn't bother me. I still started reading and just couldn't stop, finishing this tome in only 2-3 days. In my book, that's a pretty great finale. Plus, we got lots of tragedy, battles, and a fitting end to an epic villain. I especially liked the "19 Years Later" afterward. The line where Harry tells his son that he was named after two Hogwarts headmasters and one of them (referencing Snape) was the bravest man he'd ever known is, in my opinion, one of the best lines I've ever read. I still tear up when I think of it.

1. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson--So you totally saw this coming, right? I know I'm a broken record on the subject of this series, but I can't emphasize enough how great the final book was. The most amazing, epic, battle-ridden, awesome character arcs, in all other ways incredible series ender! Everything we could have hoped for over fourteen books and literally thousands of pages!

Bonus: Enders That I Can't Wait for (the Veronicas!):

2. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

1. Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

What are your Best/Worst Picks?

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Creative Challenge: Character Sketch

Last week, I put up an image of a landscape on Musings on Fantasia and asked my readers what it made them think of. I actually got a really great reaction to that post. So, I decided to try a similar post on this blog. Only this time, its a person, rather than a place.

Look at the image and come up with a brief character sketch of who you see.

Here's mine:

This is a character from my epic fantasy series, Dragon Magic. He's a soldier from the Deep Lands, south of the Six Realms, who participates in an invasion of the prosperous kingdom. He rides a massive, ferocious black dragon and fights with a spear that spouts brown fire.

These pale-faced, black-cloaked soldiers invade my fantasy land and kidnap several of my main characters. They come from a society that sanctions slavery and even human sacrifice in service of commerce. They dabble in magic so dark, it's forbidden in the northern lands, and use it to conquer.

And they're about to be very surprised when the Six Realms fight back...

I pinned this image  (on my Character Archetypes board) because it reminded me so much of the characters in my story.

How about you? What kind of character sketch does this image evoke for you?

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Follow Friday--I Gotta Read That!

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What book (or TV show) have you not read that seemingly everyone else has? 

There are tons! But I'll go with Julie Kagawa! Everyone I know is reading her books, but I've never picked any of them up! *Hangs head in shame* I seriously doubt I'll get to any before the end of the year, but maybe in 2014. Wish me luck! 

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How about you? What have you not read that everyone else has? 

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Thoughts for Thursday: Flashback to Friends!

Thoughts for Thursday is a new feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

I decided to do a fun one this week. I was a bigfan back in the day, and still watch a fair number of re-runs. So, this week's theme is Quotes from Friends! (For more quotes, check out my other blog.)

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Book Review: The Samaritan's Pistol

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Today I'm reviewing The Samaritan's Pistol by Eric Bishop. It took me forever to read this--but not because it's bad or hard to read. Actually, it's fantastic! I've just been so busy lately that it's taken me much longer than usual to finish a book. :D

Bishop has managed to write a modern western with a Louis-Lamour flair to it. Jim is a loner cowboy who owns a ranch in Wyoming. He's been around the block, fought in a war, buried a childhood friend, and had his heart broken.

For extra money, he acts as a guide for wealthy hikers and fishers, who he takes into the mountains and then picks up again when they're read to leave.

While heading back from such a trip, he happens on an unlikely scene that will change his world forever: a group of mafia henchmen trying to off someone who's crossed them. 

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Teaser Tuesday: Girl of Nightmares

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Whoo-hoo! My first Halloween read! :D Today's teasers are from Kendare Blake's Girl of Nightmares. I read #1 last year for Halloween and am loving book 2! :D

"Stay close," I whisper, and they press in on either side. "I tell myself every time that we're crazy for doing this," Carmen mutters. "Every time, I think that I'll just wait in the car.""It's not like you to stay on the sidelines," Thomas whispers, and on my other side, I sense Carmen's smile."Get a room," I mutter, and reach forward to pull open the door.Thomas has this annoying habit of going in hot, flashing his beam of light every which way at a million miles an hour, like he's expecting to bust a ghost mid-haunt or something. 

What are you reading this week?

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