Akiko: Pieces of Gax by Mark Crilley

Akiko has come a long way from when she was an 11 year old going after Alia Relapor; now she's two years older and has undergone training from the Training Masters and become a cadet in the Galactic Police. But when her friends Mr. Beeba, Spuckler Boach, his robot Gax and their Trooglian friend Poog show up at her aunt's house, she is surprised to see them.

They have come to take her on a pleasure trip to the city of Gollarondo on the planet Smoo. Gollarondo is a city built entirely upside down, but nobody knows why, since asking the natives of Gollarondo is forbidden, and they never talk about it themselves. In fact, the Gollarondians believe theirs is the only city built right-side up, and that everyone else has built upside-down.

However, when Gax falls through one of Gollarondo's crumbling balconies in an attempt to save Akiko from falling to the same fate, he lands in the Moonguzzit Sea and automatically becomes the property of Nugg Von Hofflehiff through an agreement with Gollarondo and Smoo itself. Spuckler attempts to rescue his friend, but Hofflehiff's forces catch them and assert his claim to Gax. In attempting to reclaim Gax, Akiko and her friends wind up being charged with theft from Von Hofflehiff!

But in the court with Von Hofflehiff as the judge, they manage to win their case. Unfortunately, Gax has already been broken up for parts and sold to three different buyers! To get Gax's robot brain back his body parts, they will have to find the buyers and convince them to return Gax's parts. Little do they know, though, that this will be much harder than it sounds.

Gax's neck was sold to a woman named Wimmaneen Slarf as a toy for her pet, one that grows larger and fiercer the angrier it gets. And taking away its toy? Makes it very, very angry! His body was sold to a scientist named Eckston B. Gridstump, who went to school with Mr. Beeba and now studies "very nearly extinct" volcanoes. But the scientist seems to have a grudge against Mr. Beeba. Can Akiko save him before Dr. Gridstump makes Mr. Beeba *extremely* extinct? And Gax's wheels were sold to another Gax unit, this one of the third generation to Gax's tenth. But when the kindly old robot turns out to be far less kindly than it seems, can Akiko defeat it and save the day, not to mention Gax's wheels... and the rest of him?

Akiko continues her best-selling adventures on the Planet Smoo. In this book, she is promised a restful vacation, but as usual, it turns out to be anything but. Akiko is a bit older here, but her fans will continue to enjoy her continuing adventures and the crazy people she meets on Smoo. This one has everything that Akiko fans enjoy: endless arguing between Spuckler and Mr. Beeba, strange people and creatures, and a fantastic new location to enjoy.

Akiko is still the peacemaker between her friends, but she's become a bit more proactive and is still the one that ends up saving the day *and* her friends. This one is more like three mini-adventures in one, but it's all good and enjoyable. Parents will definitely want their kids to get to know Akiko, and maybe they'll read her adventures as well. Silly, but enjoyable.

Mail Order Ninja Volume 2 by Joshua Elder and Erich Owen

Timmy McAllister used to be one of the most picked-on nerds at school. But all that changed when he sent away for his own Mail-order Ninja, Yoshida Jiro. With Jiro's help, he suddenly became the coolest kid in school. But that didn't sit well with Felicity Huntington, the former school "Queen" who found herself suddenly unseated by Timmy's meteoric rise.

She's not about to take that lying down! She buys herself her own army of mail-order ninjas, led by Hakuuryu Nobunaga, Jiro's longtime foe, to take down Timmy and Jiro and make herself Queen all over again. Invading the dance party Timmy has thrown, she and her ninja take Jiro hostage, and Felicity unveils a statue with a gem called "The Heart of Darkness" that gives her power over Darkness and the ability to take over the town of Cherry Creek once and for all.

All the adults have been brainwashed with a mind-numbing nutrient paste, and the kids are forced to declare allegiance to "Queen Felicity" and her regime. But when Ms. Melton breaks free of her mind control, she is kidnapped by two White Ninja thugs, Goemon and Mitsuhide. But this is the final event that makes Timmy and his friends agree to fight back against "Queen" Felicity, but can they win with so much of the power on her side?

This was a cute book that plays with the idea of a mail-order ninja (for $249.99, no less!) and how ordering one made him from a loser to a winner. But in this volume, Timmy has to fight himself to restore order and freedom in Cherry Hill, and is instrumental in taking out Queen Felicity while Jiro fights Nobunaga. Can both of them win against their enemy's "ultimate techniques"?

Being an American manga, the book is rather slim, but still manages to pack in a reasonable amount of story into its pages. Still, at under 100 pages, it looks pretty anemic compared to other manga on the shelf, but is also cheaper, priced at just $5.99. As for the story, it's nothing exceptionally great, but does keep your attention and is just over the top enough to make you smile or laugh.

While it isn't the best Tokyo Pop title out there, it does have the Kawaii factor on its side. It's also geared for grade-schoolers rather than teens, but for all that, it's not bad.

Carnivores of Light and Darkness by Alan Dean Foster

Etjole Ehomba is a simple herdsman of the Naumkib tribe, a small tribe in the south, on the Semordrian Ocean. But when a strange group of pale-skinned Northerners wash up dead on the beach one morning, it will propel this man who questions everyone and everything, called the Catechist, on a journey across the known world to rescue a beautiful woman from an dark foe named Hymneth the Possessed.

One of the men, Taryn Beckwith by name, is still alive, and he begs Etjole to rescue a woman called the Visioness Themaryl from Hymneth the Possessed. Then, he dies in Etjole's arms, but leaves Etjole feeling that he is in some way burdened by the man's death, and would be less than true to himself if he did not so this Taryn Beckwith's bidding and rescued the girl. So, taking a few items from his village, and more that the woman of the village press on him, he bids farewell to his home and family. But before he leaves, he takes some beach pebbles from the beach near his home with him, so he can remember the smell of sea salt from his village.

He spends the first night with some intelligent monkeys, and helps them drive off their foes, the Slelves. He then goes on to encounter an entity who is actually corruption, and kills it with a sprinkling of pure, blessed dirt from his wife's garden. In doing so, he gains a companion, Simna ibn Sind, a mercenary swordsman who seeks gold and riches in life and cannot be convinced that Etjole is not also seeking the same things in his efforts to free the Visioness. Determined to share in the riches his new companion is seeking, Simna says he must offer his services to Etjole in return for saving Simna's life. Etjole, knowing he can do nothing to dissuade the swordsman, and already tired of his chattering tongue, reluctantly agrees.

He quickly gains another companion in the form of Ahlitah, a great cat who is half Lion and Half Cheetah. His fur is black with tawny rosettes, and he has a mane, and the long legs of a cheetah with a lion's body and tail. They meet him outrunning a tornado, and it turns out he boasted he could outrun the wind... and did for a day and a half when the tornado took up the boast and challenged him to race. But when he lived up to his boast, the tornado turned on him and tried to kill him. Since Ahlitah needed to eat and sleep, he was scarcely able to stay alive. Again, in thanks for saving his life, the cat agrees to aid Etjole in his travels.

But even as they encounter other perils on their long journey through the dangerous north, Etjole finds it impossible to defeat one thing: Simna's belief that Etjole is a powerful sorceror, concealing his true nature beneath a humble-seeming exterior. But when the companions encounter an Eromakadi, an eater of light, will Simna be proven correct about Etjole after all?

I like this series. I found the quiet and unprepossessing Etjole, whose people are apparently not above cannibalism in their harsh arid home, an interesting choice as hero. He is never arrogant or prideful, and in fact, he is extremely self-effacing. But he is also brave. He is told that he will die if he takes up his quest to rescue the Visioness Themaryl, but he continues on regardless.

He also seems to be the only ungifted individual in a village where everyone has some talent that is nigh on magical in himself. His talent beyond herding, hunting and keeping watch over animals in the night, is the fact that he is intensely curious and is always learning and striving to know more. It is this talent that helps him on his way, as much as the little gifts he brings with him from his fellow villagers. But it's not hard to see that there is more to Etjole Ehomba than he claims to be. But what is the truth, and will we ever find out?

The Dragon Earl by Jade Lee

Evelyn Stanton is about to be married when her wedding day is interrupted by three strangers, all dressed as Chinese monks. Two of them actually *are* Chinese, but the other claims to be none other than Jacob Cato, the long-lost heir to Earldom of Warhaven, and her promised husband, since Evelyn is promised to the Earl of Warhaven.

She is surprised to see that he is white, but cannot but think that he is a charlatan come to her wedding for money. Pay him enough, she thinks, and he will move on, seeking some other rubes to con. But when she has paid him fifty pounds, she is suprised to find him giving that money, as well as much, much more than that, to the Bishop of the Church.

With her wedding to her former Fiancee seeming further and further away at every moment, both Evelyn and her Fiancee question Jacob to see if he might be telling the truth. To her shock and dismay, not only does he seem to be telling the truth, but she is finding herself attracted to him. It is another shock when she finds out that he doesn't want to be Earl, but he wants to become a monk, and that his abbot, a wise man who Jacob trusts, forced him to return to England to put that part of himself to rest before he could join the order with the other monks.

He protested, but finds that he still feels a great degree of anger towards the person who caused his parents to be killed, and perhaps some towards the servant who escaped the carnage but never said that Jacob was still alive allowing Jacob to wait for years in China to be rescued. He at last succumbed to his apparent fate and began training to be a monk, and now he wants nothing else but to return to China.

But time in England is slowly making him see that he is truly a man without a country, and is neither Chinese nor white, but a strange admixture of both- wanted nowhere and comfortable in neither place. The only thing he wants is Evelyn. But can he have her and his vengeance, too?

I found this book to be somewhat disjointed. It seemed to be more about the pasts of both of the characters than about their romance. For so much of the book, they are at cross-purposes: Evelyn only wants Jacob because she is physically attracted to him, and he only wants her because his abbot was adamant that Jacob take everything that was supposed to be his. It's a very slow process of them admitting they like and care about each other... at all, much less than for reasons other than why they came together in the first place.

Even her reason for staying together at the end were less than about love. Evelyn realizes that she will be freer staying with Jacob than with the man she was about to marry, Christopher. It is Jacob who has come to realize how much he loves her, and that he cannot bear to be parted from her. She, too, loves him, but I had to wonder how much of that love was grounded in her being more free to do as she pleased and wished than it was about actual affection. While the ending was sentimental and pleasing, I found something suspect about the Happily Ever After that we are presented with.

This was an okay book, and as such, I really wish I hadn't spent my money on it. It's not so good that I want to keep it, and I really would have been happier if I had rented it from the library. There's nothing in my mind, good or bad, that will make this book stand out from a rank of other romance novels, and perhaps that's the most telling condemnation I can make.

Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge

Luna Wilder is a cop, and a good one, but she also has the problem of being a werewolf. And worse, an Insoli werewolf, which means she goes without the support or help of a pack. But Luna wouldn't have it any other way, since the man that turned her raped her before he bit her, and she was able to take him offguard and run for her life... quite literally, in this case.

Now, Luna lives apart from her family, which is composed of Moon Witches, those who get their powers from moonlight and the earth, not blood, sex or demons. The only one who she gets along with is her sister, Sunny. Sunny has been trying to cure Luna of her werewolfism, or failing that, to mitigate the effects of the full moon. One of their projects is the tattoo on Luna's back, which blunts the harmful effects Luna normally experiences as the full moon approaches.

When Luna is called to the scene of a dead dancer, she begins to suspect that something isn't right about the case. And then she finds another dead girl, killed in exactly the same way, in a bedroom in the seedy part of the town. It seems that the son of the local DA, who was found with the second girl, may be the one killing girls. But the cases have similarities to the killings of a black magic practitioner who was trying to summon and control a demon back in the 70's. And his crimes had links to another serial killer who operated during the 1930's.

Luna has her own liking for one of the suspects, the boyfriend of the first murdered girl she investigated, Dimitri Sandovsky, a Redback werewolf. But her belief that he might be the one killing the girls soon takes a back seat to her hormones going into overdrive when he's around, and she has to face the fact that the man she might be falling for might also be a serial killer harboring secret black magic rituals for invoking Asmodeus, a fallen demon who is still trapped between the worlds.

But if he isn't the killer, she just might need his help to defeat the real killer, since because of her interference in the case, Luna is now at the top of the list for the very last sacrifice... the one that brings the demon to earth and binds him to the summoner. Can Luna save herself and Dimitri's sister Olga from a man who only cares about summoning a demon?

And, yet another book about a kick-ass werewolf/vampire/fill-in-the-blank-here who pushes people away from her, gets called a bitch and ends up having hot, hot sex with a hunk-ahunk-a hot guy and yet ends up saving the day, not to mention her job. Yeah, that's what this book could have turned into, but I found the plight of Luna, the outcast werewolf, to be a bit more compelling than the usual run of the mill "Hot supa-naturel action grrrl".

Perhaps it was that she had to figure out everything on her own, and I do mean *everything* about being a werewolf. Or the way she actually accepts help. No, more than that... asks for help, and mostly without being a bitch about it. It was a nice change from the "I can do everything myself without needing anyone's help" gals that seem to be so present in the genre. Or maybe it's the city itself, which is almost as big a character in the story as some of the side characters, even though it is also given a standard Post-apocalyptic/magical castastrophe background.

In any case, although the larger set-pieces have been done before (and some might say overdone), I actually liked the story and seeing Luna's growth and slow falling for Dimitri. Her interactions with the CSU geek were also nice and non-stereotypical, as is Luna's relationship with Sunny, her sister. So, while this novel could have been an entirely "been there, read that 100 times before" type book, this ended up being more than the sum of its parts, and I enjoyed it for that.

Dark Vengeance by Ed Greenwood

Orivon Firefist was stolen from his home as a child, taken by the Dark Elves that live under the earth to be a slave. As time passed, he became a smith and forger, working for the Niflghar. Then, the Dark Elf city he worked in was wracked with rebellion and change, and he was caught up in it, along with the Nifl-she Taerune Evendoom, who eventually found herself outcaste from her home city, Talonnorn and clan when she was maimed, losing her hand. Since the Goddess who ruled the city, Olone, felt that Niflghar who were maimed were less than even the Hairy Ones (humans) who toiled as slaves, Taerune fled along with Orivon and found herself relying on this human who hated her for help in staying alive.

Eventually, Orivon made a new hand for her, a cup with a sword-blade attatched that helped them both stay alive on the run. She stayed below with a group of Niflghar ravagers, bandits that give allegiance to no city or goddess, while Orivon returned to the surface, trying to find a new life amongst the people he no longer knew. Meanwhile, in Talonnorn, Taerune's father has disappeared on a mission to the Wildlands, and her brother, Jalandral, has risen to the head of the house. He has plans to rule Talonnorn, but so far, they are just plans.

Above, Orivon found that his village was destroyed, and is rebuilding his life in another village, Orlkettle, where he has become the village blacksmith. When four children are abducted in a Niflghar raid, Orivon feels that he has failed them, despite the fact that he roused the town to the attack, and it is only because of his warning that they fought it off. He recognizes the few dead Niflghar as residents of Talonnorn and decides to bring the children back from the city as a repayment for letting them be taken in the first place.

But as the Underdark falls to war and chaos, other foes are gathering around Talonnorn, and they have just as great a reason to want Talonnorn dead and gone. Orivon, too, attracts attention in the Underdark, attention from those who would kill him, tame him or make him their tool. Can Orivon remain free and find the children he has sworn to retrieve, or will the nameless, countless monsters and terrors of the Underdark kill him before he can even return to the site of his long imprisonment and slavery? And if he can, will the childrem still remain alive for him to find?

This is another series by Ed Greenwood, the same writer who writes Elminster books and the "Swords of the High King" series. This particular series is based around the Norse sagas and the Norse worldview, with Midgar, the world of the Gods, and the Underworld, all linked and separated by Yggdrasil, the world tree.

The story itself is well-written and I had no problem reading it, but the character of Orivon just wasn't that interesting to me. He's ostensibly the main character, but I found his character to be the least interesting one in the story. The dark elves, the Niflghar, were more interesting characters to me, especially Aloun and Luelldar, two watchers in the service of Olone's fellow goddess, Ouvahlor. And when secondary characters are more interesting than the supposed hero of the book, you know there is something wrong. I just wish we could have seen more of them.

Perhaps the problem is that there is so much going on in the book with the war on Talonnorn coming from so many different directions that Orivon got pushed into a much smaller part in the book than he should have been, and his plot suffered by comparison. I'm not sure. But I do know I'm not going to run to seek out this series in the future, even if there is a future book. It just didn't entertain me very much.

Why Can't You Read My Mind? by Jeffrey Bernstein PH.D and Susan Magee

Everyone seems to have an image in their mind of how it will be when we finally fall in love. But one of the most pernicious beliefs is that our beloved will somehow be able to read our mind and know what we want when we want it, and that we will never misunderstand each other, or will never make each other worry. But when we enter an actual relationship, it never quite turns out this way. We find ourselves growing upset at the other person and we slowly grow distant, rationalizing that the person we are with now is not the person we fell in love with. Eventually, if it goes on long enough, we call it quits and look for love once again.

But it doesn't have to be that way. To keep yourself from falling into the relationship vicious circle, Psychologist Jeffrey Bernstein has formulated ways for you to keep your relationship fresh and alive, and keep from falling into the pits that come from miscommunication. There are nine toxic thought patterns that relationships fall into, and sometimes couples fall prey to more than one at once. For example, there is the "All or nothing" pattern, where one accuses the other of "always doing" or "never doing" such and such. The second is jumping to Catastrophic Conclusions, where you let your fears run out of control, seeing the situation as worse and worse and allowing your fears to drive you crazy. The Third is the "Should" Bomb, when one partner thinks the other "Should" do or not do something, or feel some way when they obviously do not. Fourth, Labelling, usually in the worst way. Calling someone a name, such as "Loser", "Couch Potato", "Idiot" or another such name, even in jest, leads you to think of the person as that label, and not a real person.

Fifth is the Blame Game, laying all the blame for your problems on the other person in the relationship. If you see yourself as a victim, it may make you feel a little better, but it doesn't help the relationship at all. Sixth is the Emotional Short-Circuit, when one partner thinks the other's emotions can't be handled and then absolves themselves from doing so. Seventh is an overactive imagination, where one partner sees situations that don't exist, such as infidelity, in the relationship... mainly because they themselves are feeling insecure in the first place. Eighth is the Head Games, where partners ascribe suspect motivations to the other, such as being nice only because they want to get something out of the other person. Last is Disillusionment Doom which comes when one partner has unrealistic expectations of the relationship and because those expectations are not fulfilled, feels that the relationship has lower (or no, or little) worth.

But even if you have fallen into one of these traps of toxic thinking, there is hope, and this book lays out how to get out of the trap and reconnect with the partner you fell in love with, but it isn't an easy road, or a short one. It does work, though. Not all problems in a relationship arise solely out of that relationship, however, and sometimes Ghosts of the Past will intrude, making a problem worse than it is already. Issues of abandonment, cruelty, fear and jealously can linger long, adding to problems in any relationship, but the best way to overcome most kinds of Toxic thinking is to develop empathy, which the book shows how to start.

Though this book is written as a self-help book, the stuff within is really the kind of instruction where it might be best to have a third party helping, someone who is neutral and won't be supporting one side or another. It seems to me that this would be more helpful than just consulting a book, because you could more easily fall prey to the "Oh, no, that's not me" sense of denial. And from the stories presented in the book, it seems that is quite easy to do, even without the aid of a third party. This is a good book with a lot of solid ideas, but I am not convinced that it would be as easy to use this on your own without some sort of outside help to keep both parties honest and working to resolve their differences.

Panic in Level 4 by Richard Preston

Richard Preston is a best-selling author of books that rely on real life-situations and problems for their plots. In "Panic in Level Four", he returns to these real-life stories and tells the true tales that got him started writing books such as "Hot Zone".

The book is broken down into six main chapters that cover some of the strangest fringes of science, from killer viruses that appear periodically from different areas in Africa and the hottest, wettest, most inaccessible places on the planet. It talks about the language of viruses: Ebola, Hantaviruses and other pathogens that take human lives as easily as we snap our fingers, and of the scientists and doctors that spend their lives trying to find out what makes them tick and how to overcome them.

One chapter discusses Pi, the mathematical formula, and two brothers who built their own computer to calculate Pi to, literally, billions of digits, looking for any repetition in the long string of numbers that makes it up. While I personally have memorized Pi to 13 digits (3.14159265358...), it takes a special kind of person to go looking for Pi in that many numbers, much less to build a supercomputer in their own apartment that will not only let them find that many digits of Pi, but check those same digits for any repeating digits. And yet, this is a story of two Russian brothers who did exactly that, and why they did so.

Then there is a story about a tiny insect named the Fuzzy Algeid and how it is slowly killing off trees in the National Parks, and what the park service is doing to try and save trees that are in some cases hundreds and thousands of years old from this pest and others like it. But is it already too late? With the government cutting funding for the parks, it is likely that many of the trees are already doomed.

The Human Genome Project was started to sequence the human genome. But even though many wanted to see it done, there are already fights breaking out over the way the genome should be sequenced, and whether the results should be free to anyone or if specific genes should be copyrighted for use by biotech companies to make profits off of. And then there is Craig Venter, who has garnered much ire for his decisions about the way he wants to sequence the genome and what to do with the results.

The next story concerns the Unicorn Tapestries, and the discovery that was made when, for the first time in hundreds of years, the tapestries were taken down for cleaning and incredible discoveries were made when the backing was rolled away and the backs of the tapestries were revealed for the first time. One of the Chudnovsky brothers, who we first met in the chapter on Pi, is also involved here, crunching numbers to show how the tapestries would have looked when they were first made, before time and age diluted some of the colors.

Last, we find the saddest story yet, tales of people, mostly men, who have a single error in their DNA that makes them see their own hands as opponents, leading them to mutilate their own bodies in a feverish effort to kill their limbs before the limbs can do the same to them. And at fault is a chance in one letter in the strings of their DNA. Because the damage, such as it is, is genetic, there is no way to cure these men or to keep them from biting off their own fingers or otherwise mutilating their bodies.

This is a fascinating book, by turns sad and beautiful as well as awe-inspiring. These stories made me think and laugh and shake my head in dismay. This is the real fringe of science, stories that no newspaper or magazine seems to cover and which are rarely spoken about. It's a book that draws your attention to these stories and others. How many stories are out there now that we are ignorant about? Is there any way to tell? Perhaps this book will open your eyes to the wonder, mystery and tragedy all around us every day... if we could only see...

The Pride of Baghdad

This comic tells the "ripped from real life" story of four lions who escaped from the Baghdad Zoo in 2003 during an American bombing raid. Later, the lions were shot by American troops when the lions charged them during a patrol. This graphic novel tells the story of what those lions saw, experienced and talked about during their time of freedom and just before it.

The Pride is made up of Zill, an adult Male, Safa, an old lioness who is blind in one eye, Noor, a younger lioness who is trying to escape their habitat at the zoo and be free, and her cub, Ali, a young male lion who is still a child. Despite being the top predator at the zoo, the lions are not well-fed, so when they are thrown the carcass of a mule, partially skinned, Zill is only too ready to eat it. But that is when the attack comes, and though the human keepers have fled, the cats take shelter in their enclosure den.

Afterwards, most, if not all, of the animals are loose and stampeding in fear. In the confusion, the Monkeys capture Ali and want to make him part of their pack, by cutting him with a sharp stone. Noor, who wanted to stay in the zoo enclosure, stirs herself to free him by killing the leader of the monkeys, then decides to go with the others as they leave the zoo. Along the way, they encounter a turtle who tells them why the two-legs are fighting: over a black poison that lives in the earth and poisons any creature who comes into contact with it. He is the only survivor of a group of turtles when the river was poisoned by the floating black stuff, and so he has given up caring about anything the humans do.

The pack is hungry and goes hunting for meat, encountering a group of stampeding horses. They follow them into Baghdad, and find a temple which is now home to a bear who fights with the lions, but they defeat him after Zill injures him and Noor and Saba stampede the horses over the bear's body. Then Ali takes them up a hill and they watch the sunset before being killed by the troopers.

The story is sad, and examines the nature of freedom. Though they are imprisoned at the start by the bars and concrete of their enclosure, the story examines what it is to be free, and what freedom truly means. For even though their bodies are free of the enclosure for most of the story, they all are in different kinds of chains. Noor's chains are the clearest: she is imprisoned by her memories of life in the wild and how she was raped by her brother and his friends, other lions who didn't have a pack of their own. Ali, by contrast, has never known freedom or the wild. He was born in a cage, and constantly wonders what life in the wild is like. And of course, he will never know.

This book left me with a sad and melancholy feeling, and the ending made me cry, for even as the lions lay dead, the carnage still went on all around. Is anyone in Baghdad truly free? or is death the only freedom they can hope for, like the lions? The book invites you to decide for yourself, even as the picture it paints is bleak. This is an excellent graphic novel that gives more questions than it answers, and asks you to examine the nature of freedom amidst the violence. Highly recommended.

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

Piper McCloud was born knowing how to float, and she did most of the time. When she got older, she taught herself to do more than float, to actually fly. Her parents were troubled by this, and as a result, kept her from going to school or interacting with other children because they were afraid what others would say.

But when Piper got older, her parents took her to a picnic, cautioning her to keep her feet on the ground. For the first time, Piper got to meet other children her age and to make friends. But during a baseball game, Piper flew to catch the ball and became an overnight sensation.

People came from far and wide to see her, including a woman named Dr. Letitia Hellion. She took Piper away to a special school to learn to use her abilities, with other children who were similarly gifted. Piper hoped that she would make friends there, real friends who shared powers like her own.

But when she gets to the school, she's in for a big shock. The school is full of nasty, backbiting kids who seem determined to see the others fail. Dr. Hellion asks Piper to keep her flying abilities secret for now, but she fails at that on her first day when a boy named Conrad Harrington, a supergenius who makes the adults and other children afraid of him, takes away another boy's project and sends it floating up near the ceiling. Piper stacks desks and chairs to reach it, and eventually just flies up the extra few inches she needs to grab it. But this seems to focus Conrad's hatred and anger on her and he tries to bully her.

Piper tries not to let him get to her, but when he throws a bird her father carved for her into the incinerator, she finally loses her temper and clobbers him. In the attempt to retrieve her bird before it is destroyed, she enters one of the other levels of the school, to find out the horrible truth about the place: they are taking children with abilities to make them lose them, and to destroy any animal or plant with similar changes. Why? Because these things make people uncomfortable, and to be normal is to be safe. Piper rescues a black cricket and brings it back with her to the school. There, Conrad reveals to her what he has known all along, and his plan for her and him to leave this dreadful place.

Piper, however, refuses to leave without the other students, and manages to talk them into helping with Conrad's plan using their own abilities. But can a group of gifted children, even determined, gifted children, prevail against the powers of adults with guns and other weapons? Or is there another way out that they hadn't concieved?

This is a wonderful book. Piper is an optimistic, determined little girl with a special gift that both gives her joy and causes her innumerable problems. Just by being who she is, she gets the other students, who have been drugged into complacency and forgetting their powers, back to who they are and enables all of them to make a change for the better in their lives. She even ends up getting Dr. Hellion to open up, and brings the kids out of the dungeon of the school and into the light of day.

But to do so, Piper has to go through some very dark times, and risk alienating the people who she loves most, her parents. The ideas of whether it is better to wear a mask and conform, or be yourself and possibly be rejected, is explored, along with the realization that when you wear a mask for long enough, you become the mask, and it becomes you, and when you wear a mask, you are being shallow and not true to yourself, and explores Dr. Hellion, who decided to don a mask, then shows what damage that mask did to herself and others.

This book shows kids why they should be themselves, even if they might be rejected, and is a wonderful book for any child nearing or at puberty. Teens, too, could benefit from this book, even though it is generally classed a child's book, and the protagonist is only eleven or so (The book doesn't make this clear, but it doesn't really matter: the story is universal). I recommend this for any child, and even for parents, too.

Trinity Blood Volume 7 by Sunao Yoshida and Kiyo Kyujyo

Abel Nightroad travels with Astharoshe Asran to a meeting of the Assembly, the body that governs the Tzara Methuselate. She is unchanging, ageless and beloved by her subjects. There, he and Asthe meet her uncle, Suleyman, Duke of Tigris. He is a minister of the state and a strong warrior. Soon the Emperor, her majesty, addresses the Assembly, and tells them that in five days there will be a celebration in honor of the 800 years the Empire has existed. But the meeting is quickly taken up with the "problem" of Baron Ion Fortuna and how he has betrayed the Empire.

Asthe is about to object to blaming Ion for his grandmother's death when her uncle does it first. He defends Ion and says they should get substantive proof of his treason first before accusing him. But then another vampire steps forward to attest to the truth, Radu Barvon, Ion's longtime companion and attempted slayer of the Pope and Caterina Sforza, thought dead after the attack on Carthage.

Meanwhile, Ion and Sister Esther Blanchett are sitting on the streets of the city, having sneaked out of Asthe's house, watching the crowds go by. Ion explains to her that there are no taverns because anything that could badly affect the health of Terrans is outlswed in the city. However, alcohol is sold in the office of life, where it is combined with blood to keep the city's vampires alive. Blood is an expensive commodity, and some of the lower class sell their blood to survive in lieu of welfare.

They are interrupted by the arrival of a squirrel named Abel, and its owner, Seth, who immediately gets on Ion's bad side by calling him cute and assuming that Esther is his girlfriend. Esther asks her if she knows where an apothecary named Mimar is located, as she wants to thank him for saving their lives, thinking he was so kindly he could never have anything to do with the attack on the home of Ion's grandmother.

But when they get there, Ion smells blood and he and Esther find that Mr. Mimar has been killed by a man in black, wearing what looks to be like a gasmask on his face. Ion kills the man in black, and learns that Radu Barvon is responsible for Mr. Mimir's death from the dying man, but he says this is impossible, for Radu Barvon is surely dead. Just then, they are attacked by a similarly-clad man, and Esther calls out to warn Ion, who kills the man, but she is injured in the attack. Ion wants to take her to the hospital, but Esther says no. They'll be found out at a hospital.

Seth reappears and offers to help them, and Ion, for all his being a Methuselah and noble, is unable to look her in the eye. He asks her who she is, but she grins and winks and tells him she's just another pretty girl.

Back at the assembly, Abel slips away to meet the Emperor, and meets with a beautiful woman, but he asks her who she is. She says she is in the Emperor's garden, who else could she be but the emperor. She also seems to recognize him from a description, but before the conversation can go further, they are interrupted by Baibars, one of the Emperor's servants, who tries to kill Abel. The woman, however, protects him, and he manages to escape.

Soon enough, they discover an attempt will be made on the life of the Emperor. But with the city crowded with people coming for the celebration, can they make it to the Emperor in time and save her?

I really do love this series, which has wonderful artwork, although many of the characters are tall and reed-slender, there are also women with bosoms and broad-shouldered, muscular men, which provides more than a single body type, unlike some manga artists. I also like the idea of the Cruznik, a avmpire who lives on the blood of other vampires, and fights them, and that the Vampire and the Cruzniks are the results of Nanomachines. It makes the series a mix of the medieval and the futuristic, all at the same time.

The idea of a vampire Emperor/Empress who treats everyone in her empire, human and vampire, exactly the same, and who wants to make peace with the Vatican, is an interesting idea, and now the group from the Vatican, along with the vampire Ion Fortuna, are dedicated to saving her from those who would turn the vampire nation to war with the human-controlled nations.

I'm not sure where the story is going, but I want to be along for the ride, This is one of the series I will actually buy and pay money for. I enjoy it a lot, and recommend it to anyone who will listen. So, try it and see for yourself.

The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is a marine of the Confederation, fighting on behalf of the Elder Races in their ongoing war with the others. Recently, she survived a firefight on a world claimed by the Silsviss people, who had decided to join the Confederation, but, being a people where only the strongest lead, they decided to push the Confederation to see how far they could go before the Confederation pushed back. In the battle, she was one of the survivors, but because the Silsviss are so new to the Confederation, she is tasked with briefing the higher ups on the Silsviss and answering questions about the mission.

And she gives many, many of these briefings. So many that she is sick and tired of talking about what happened to her on the planet of the Silsviss. Her former officer, Major Svensson, was also in that fight, and had been reduced to a brain and spinal cord. But regenerating in a tank has brought him back to something like his old self. However, there was so little left of him that one of the doctors, Dr. Kathleen Sloan, had to use biological plastics to reconstruct his left arm.

Now, to test his new body, Svensson is being sent to Crucible, the planet where young marine recruits are tested and recieve their first taste of battle. Although the scenarios are supposed to be non-fatal, accidents can and do happen, so there is some chance of death or injury. To test Major Svensson's new arm, it has been decided that he go to Crucible with the latest round of Marine Recruits to test out his arm in relatively safe combat conditions. He asks Torin to go with him as his aide, and she, tired of what feels like endless briefings and questions and scrutiny, is glad to agree.

Before she leaves, however, she gets a visit from her lover who presents her with a real problem. When they left the planet of the Silsviss, they had captured an Other vessel called Big Yellow. They escaped in one of its escape pods. Since Craig Ryder, her lover, makes his living by salvaging, he wants the escape pod, which he brought back, as salvage. But nobody besides he and Torin ever seem to remember it existing. They can only conclude that, since the ship scanned them and passed them through one of its floors, it did something to their brainwave patterns that kept their knowledge of the escape capsule from being wiped from their minds, since no one else seems to remember it. But there was one other person with them on that ship, the reporter Presit a Tur durValintrisy, so she asks Craig to track down the Katrien reporter and ask her if she remembers the Pod. It is possible that one of the Elder Races has wiped the information from everyone's mind except for them. Craig doesn't like it, but he does what she asks, wanting to get to the heart of the mystery.

On Crucible, though, things go wrong very quickly. There is supposed to be an attack on the morning of the second day, but it never comes. Instead, it seems as though the computers that run Crucible have run mad, and instead of instituting the relatively safe scenario that they were supposed to run, it is instead shooting at the recruits with live ammo and doing its best to kill them all. Add to that the Senior Drill Instructor going through his version of puberty and becoming a breeder, which has him suffering epileptic shocks and seemingly going crazy, and Torin finds herself taking on much, much more than she ever counted on.

And the major's new arm is glowing at night... and a real honest-to-god missile has taken out the orbital platform that was their only hope of immediate rescue.

With no other choice, Torin, Dr. Sloan, Major Svenson and the other marines make for a nearby "town" that, in some scenarios, the marines must assault or take. They hope that the fake town has a real anchor, an indestructable building that carries the colony through space to land on a new planet. If they can hole up in there, they will have a nearly-impregnable place to hole up and be safe from attack until they can be rescued. But with the town full of drones representing enemy troops, and the inexperienced marine recruits around them, can they survive to get there, take the town, and find out who reprogrammed the computers before the attacking machines, and the cold weather, take them out first? She went along for a vacation, but this mission is turning out to be anything but!

It's been a while since I read the first two Confederation books starring Torin Kerr: Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor, but reading this book was like coming home to an old friend you had forgotten. Torin is a take charge, take no crap kind of woman who is amazingly competent at her job, and is an excellent leader.

Seeing her lead the marines and deal with yet another alien race is both a mix of the best science fiction and kick-ass and take names military writing. Because when it's all down to shooting, only she can keep the young Marine recruits alive and in one piece long enough to find the real enemy, communicate with it and be rescued, even if she takes damage herself from doing it. She's rude, crude and good at combat, and reading about her is completely refreshing.

So if you like military sci-fi, strong on the military aspect, this may be one of the best books you'll ever read, or for that matter, the best series. Try it and see for yourself.

Murder on the Brighton Express by Edward Marston

When the Brighton Express suddenly goes off the rails and collides with another train, the Engine crew of the oncoming train is killed, along with the driver of the Brighton Express and six of the passengers. However, despite the wreckage of both trains, most passengers are only injured, and the fireman of the Brighton Express escapes with only a few injuries, none of them mortal.

The Railway company brings in Robert Colbeck, known as the "Railway Detective", a policeman with a great love of trains who has already solved many crimes that occurred on Railways. And once again, he has the assistance of Sergeant Leeming, an officer firmly of the middle-class, and distrustful of the railways as newfangled and unknown.

But this time, he also has competition, Harvey Ridgeon, the Inspector General of Railways, who believes the entire thing was merely an accident caused by the dead driver when he ran the train too fast. But Colbeck had met the dead driver, Frank Pike, before, on another case, and the man he knew was too careful and cautious to do such a thing. He also determines that the bolts holding the rails down were removed, along with a section of track, and finds a pick-axe that probably did the removing in the bushes nearby. But Ridgeon is adamant, and wishes Colbeck gone and away from the site of the wreck.

Colbert discovers that two men with very unpopular public opinions are on board, one a government official bigoted towards foreigners, the other a former railway executive let go from his post. Both were sharing the compartment directly behind the locomotive, the one likeliest to sustain damage in a railway crash or disaster. But they were not alone, sharing their compartment with a Brighton Clergyman, the Reverend Follis, and two lovers, a married man and his unmarried female lover. The Reverend brings this to Colbeck's attention, but he doesn't excoriate the lovers for it, instead, he looks on them with sympathy, a very unusual position for a clergyman.

As Colbeck investigates the people who might have a grudge against the railroad itself, he also investigates people who might have a grudge against the Lord and the Railway executive. But something about the crime isn't adding up... who would go to such great lengths to kill so many people just to get revenge on one man? And then Ridgeon releases a report to the newspapers that makes Colbeck seem just this side of a crackpot, seeing saboteurs under every bridge and trestle. With this hanging over him, will Colbeck and Leeming be able to catch the killer before he or she kills again?

This book gave us many possible targets for the attack on the train: attack on the railroad, attack on one of the passengers, and so on, but what's unusual about this one is that Robert Colbeck takes so long chasing the wrong trail, and who the actual target of the attack turns out to be. Edward Marston does draw attention (in a very subtle way) to the wrongness of character about this particular person long before you realize who the actual target of the train crash was. And even though we learn who did the deed fairly early on, catching the culprit, let alone finding out who hired him for the purpose, takes far longer... again, not until the end of the book.

I did enjoy the book, as well as the encounters between Colbeck and the woman he loves, Madelaine Andrews, who no longer simply acts as her father's housekeeper, but has a career as a railway artist, drawing railroads in action. Their interactions are warm and wonderful to read, and she helps him out a great deal of the time, though he tends to keep her in the dark about how she is helping him in this novel. However, he did want her unbiased opinion, so it was acceptable as to why he kept her in the dark.

I recommend this series to anyone who loves mysteries, and historical mysteries, or who enjoys railroads and their history. The writing is smart and the dialogue practically snaps as you read it. The story is leavened with just enough romance to leaven the mystery and make it truly great. If you enjoy any or all of these things, give this series a try.

Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Acheron Parthenopaeus is the leader of the Dark Hunters, but he's not really quite one of them. Born in Ancient Atlantis 11,000 years ago as the offspring of two Atlantean Gods, Archon and Apollymi, he was cursed by the fates with being the ending of all things, making his divine father want to kill him even before he was born. Apollymi saved his life at the cost of being imprisoned herself, but sent her attendant Xiamara to put him into the body of a pregnant queen, to mingle her son'e life force with her own. But for refusing to give up her son, Apollymi was imprisoned, only to be freed when her son was dead.

Apostolos, as his mother named him, was born again as the son of the Queen of Didymos. But from the time of his own birth he was rejected as unnatural by both his human mother and father for his eyes, which were solid silver. The only one who cared for him or showed him any affection was his sister, Ryssa, and she was limited in what she could do because she was only a girl.

When Acheron was only a small child, his father banished him from the palace and the city, sending his unwanted second son to his brother, who lived in Atlantis. Ryssa was relieved that her father could no longer beat and abuse her brother, but when she went for herself to see how he was years later, she found out the awful truth: her brother had been trained as a sex slave, and was beaten if he didn't comply. His ability to eat was predicated on his ability to take in customers and make money. If he couldn't work, he wouldn't eat. Something about him makes people desire him, even his sister, although she never acts on it, unlike the others around him.

Ryssa rescues him and takes him back to Didymos, staying at the summer palace during the winter. But Acheron is abused again and again on the journey. It is only when the two of them are living alone but for the servants that he finally comes to trust Ryssa. But not long after he does, her father finds them living in the palace and has him dragged back to Atlantis again.

More years pass while Acheron is imprisoned, and when Ryssa's uncle finally dies, he is free. Or is he? He knows nothing but the life he's led. He can't even read or write. Instead of returning to the father that hates him (his mother drank herself to death years before), he prefers to do what he has been taught to do. And now that he has become a teenager, his sexual attraction is stronger than ever, making his father hate him even more. He leaves them with nothing to his name but Ryssa's cloak that she throws over him to protect him.

Later, he finally returns to the palace, so burnt out by the life he has led that he is no longer able to care about anything. In return, his father throws him into the dungeons. But when Acheron attempts to take his own life to escape the pain of the life he has, his brother Styxx, whose life his is linked to, falls ill, and his father has him force-fed to save both their lives.

Finally, he just tries to live apart from his family, save Ryssa. She is being prepared for being sacrificed to Apollo, and she needs his help to know what to do. Acheron, still feeling something for his naive sister, helps her, but his looks continue to cause him nothing but pain. When his brother and the rest of the family are making a sacrifice to Apollo, he is refused entry to the temple because of who he is. He runs and takes shelter in the Temple to Artemis, and eats some of the food left for her. Artemis is furious and appears in person to punish him.

But instead of being cringing and supplicant, Acheron would like nothing *better* than to die, which confuses the goddess mightily. Having never met a man like him before, or reacted to one with such inherent sexuality, she finds herself agreeing to become Acheron's friend and sharing a kiss with him that sets her blood ablaze.

Artemis tells Acheron that he must keep their friendship secret. As a virginal goddess, it would ruin her reputation to be seen with him. But love and friendship between a spoiled greek Goddess and a human can never work out. Though Acheron actually does try to be her friend, she, like other women he has known, rejects him once they have had sex. She does come back to him, but she really only likes him when he is acting subservient to her, and Acheron soon finds himself wishing she would leave him alone.

More horrible things happen to him. When his brother is betrothed to an Egyptian princess, she comes on to Acheron in the bath, and when she is discovered with him, she accuses him of almost raping her. Due to his past, she is believed, and his father and brother have him castrated. When Artemis doesn't come to save him, his faith in her as a friend is shattered. But when his sister is slain, along with her child, Apollo's, Acheron's brother Styxx blames him for the deed, saying he did nothing to prevent it. Apollo kills Acheron, which also kills his brother, then finds that children of his own, the Apollites, killed her. He curses them with dying at the same age as Ryssa, 27.

Meanwhile, Acheron travels to the Kingdom of Hades, where he just wants to be left alone. But his death frees his mother, Apollymi, and she is livid with how his human family rejected him, and she takes revenge, not only on his human family, but on the other Atlantean Gods and Goddesses, including the Goddess of Physical Love, who laid her hands on him before he was born, thus "gifting" him with that potent sexual aura. She then goes on to kill everyone in the castle where he lived, and she finds his body, which had been thrown into the sea. Weeping for her child, she plans to take her revenge on the Greek Gods as well, and the entire world.

This throws the Greek Gods into chaos, and they plead with Artemis to bring him back to life to save them from the wrath of Apollymi. She does so, but mixes some of her blood into the Ambrosia that brings him back to life, making him have to feed on her blood to survive. If he does not feed, he turns into a chaotic destroyer of life, perpetually enraged.

For Acheron, this is the last straw, and he curses Artemis, but now he needs her, too. With his resurrection, Apollymi is imprisoned once more, and he cannot meet her without setting her free to destroy the world. However, she does make Acheron a palace to live in, based on the palace he lived in, and she gave him Simi, the daughter of her now-dead friend and attendant Xiamara to care for. Since Simi's Daimon species take a long time to grow up (1 year for every 1,000 years that pass in the human world). This is not a task to take on lightly. But Acheron has other Gods on his side, like Savitar, who can see anyone's future except his own.

Acheron is also persuaded by Artemis to train the Apollites she has resurrected to become Demon Hunters. But for every concession he asks for, she makes him serve time in her bed, making him hate her even more for the way she uses him and his body. He never wants to be used again, but here, Artemis holds all the cards, and he hates it, and her, intensely.

At this point, the book flashes forward to the present day, where Acheron and Artemis have come to the Parthenon to hear a speech given by Dr. Soteria Kofieri, an archaeologist who has devoted her life to the dreams of her father and grandfather: Finding Atlantis. But Acheron is horrified to find that she is on the right track, and has actually discovered one of the diaries of his sister, Ryssa. Because it is written in Atlantean, not Ancient Greek, she hasn't yet been able to decipher it, but Acheron knows he must act fast in order to protect himself. He asks a series of insulting questions and gets everyone in the crowd laughing and calling her a crackpot. Discredited, she leaves, but Artemis doesn't want anyone knowing about Atlantis, either, and that diary could contain the story of how she and Acheron were lovers, which would destroy her reputation.

So, she sets her followers, who destroy and cover up evidence of Atlantis, and tells them to get the diary and kill Soteria. Soteria, meanwhile, is still trying to decipher the diary, and asks for help from an academic friend of hers. He says he can't read it, but he knows someone who might be able to, and sends her to his friend, who turns out to be Ash.

Ash finds himself attracted to Soteria, and when he realizes that someone wants to kill her, he takes her in to protect her. She is as attracted to him as he is to her, but her earlier resentment lingers and so she tries not to show it. But she is intrigued by Ash and his apparently magical relocating tattoo. But when Artemis' assasins fire on them and cause him to crash his bike, he is bereft and uses his powers to bring her back to life. Still badly injured, he gets her to the hospital, where she has surgery to save her life.

Afterwards, the killers show up again at the hospital, so he takes her to a sanctuary run by Weres to keep her safe. There, they give into the passion they feel for each other, and Soteria learns the truth of who Ash is. But they will still have to deal with Artemis' hunters and a set of Daimons who want to use Soteria to get revenge on Ash. And when Apollymi and Artemis enter the fray, can Soteria survive?

This was another *HUGE* book, over 700 pages, and very hard to read... not in the way that the writing is bad or hard to get into, but in the way that Ash's life is so hard and terrible that it's difficult not to feel depressed over what happens to him. It's made phenomenally clear that Ash was a little boy who only wanted to feel loved by his human parents, but they thought he was a monster and mistreated him horribly, followed by just about every other human who touched his life, save for some young children and a woman who was blind.

And while some fans of the series were wishing that he and Artemis would end up together, she treats him just as badly out of fear, anger and pride. The way she makes him need to feed from her when she brings him back to life was a particularly unforgivable sin against him. His entire life was being taken advantage of, along with abused, and it's sickening and disheartening to see it happen over and over and over again, not only with humans, but with Artemis as well.

Once we get to the modern day, the story gets easier to read, as the series picks up the smart dialogue and wisecracking that we have come to know and love in the Dark Hunter series. Soteria is portrayed as a dogged and determined woman who knows no fear and will do anything to protect those she loves and their dreams. Her ability to stand up to goddesses, Daimons and other assorted people trying to pull her and Ash apart was admirable and allowed her to fight not only for him, but for her right to be with him.

I enjoyed this book a lot, even the parts that made me uncomfortable and sick for Acheron. Maybe even especially those parts, as it's rare that a writer can make me feel so deeply for a character. That being said, this isn't really a single book, but more like two books in one. The first book is very different in tone and pacing from the second, and the only thing they really seem to have in common is the character of Acheron Parthenopaeus. The biggest flaw is that so much that fans wanted to see is glossed over or given short shrift, like Acheron's first meeting with Savitar. We see them becoming friends quickly, but would someone as abused and used as Acheron was trust him that quickly?

If you are a fan of the Dark-Hunter series, you will definitely need to read this book. For those who haven't read it before, you'll want to start with a different book before you read this one, as this isn't the best example of the series for someone who isn't already familliar with the series and some of the other characters.

Kyle's Bed and Breakfast by Greg Fox

When Kyle Graham opens his Bed and Breakfast, he gets his first client within days. Brad Steele, a minor league baseball player, walks in and asks for a room, saying that it's perfect and if Kyle gives him a break on the rent, Brad will act as a general handyman. Kyle has a bad reaction to Brad at first, and tells him it's a *Gay* B&B, whereupon Brad blurts out that he *is* gay, and then suffers a moment of remorse, since he has never told anyone before. But in the end he asks to stay, saying he thinks it would be fun to stay there... without anyone else on his team finding out, of course.

Then Kyle's friend Richard walks in and wonders if Kyle's business is going to make it. But Kyle managed to get his B&B into the Athenian Gay Directory, so business is sure to pick up. Soon after, Lance Powers, a high-powered business director, moves in, followed by Richard and Eduardo, a gay teen kicked out of his house by his parents when they found out he was gay. These become the main characters of the strip, and there is a rotating cast of temporary characters who move in and out of the B&B as the others get on with their lives.

Each of the temporary characters has an effect on the guys, though, from Kyle's temporary team mate Richard Olson, an out gay who gets passed around from Team to Team because of the fact he is gay and isn't ashamed of it, to Father Sean, an Irish priest troubled by his homosexual leanings who came to stay in the B&B for a while to see what he was giving up. He ended up leaving the priesthood, not only for his sexuality, but for other reasons as well, feeling that it wasn't right for him to stay. Or Glenn Mercer, a married man who came out to his wife, and got divorced. He and Kyle end up having Kyle's first sexual relationship in the B&B, but in the end, he goes back to his wife for the sake of his kids.

What I really liked about this series are all the different kinds of gay men you see, from the Stereotypical Club-hopper who seems to have nothing on his mind but scoring (Richard), to the closeted Brad, living in dire fear that his secret will come out and ruin the life he has built for himself, to Kyle himself, an older gay man (30's rather than 20's) who has been through the gay "scene" and knows that isn't what he wants for himself, but instead wants a stable relationship and seems attracted to older guys and guys his age. We even get to see Andrew, a gay man who adopted a child while in a relationship and who is comitted to doing the best for his kid.

This is a fascinating look at a group of men whose only thing in common is their sexual attraction to other men, and the stories of how they live and work with each other. It's a sort of "slice of Life" story, and fascinating and extremely good as you see the ups, downs and sidewayses of the lives of gay men of all kinds. It even shows how some Gay men prey on others, when a French Grifter who charms money out of his lovers moves into the B&B and takes some of the other men there for quite a bit of money before he is caught. Kyle makes sure he pays everyone back by getting him a real job, but the experience is, an experience, for everyone involved.

Not only is this the first collection of "Kyle's B&B" strips, but so far it's the only one. I'd like to see more published at some time in the future. You can also buy a copy by contacting kylesbnb@aol.com. Or go to: http://members.aol.com/kylecomics/page2.html

You'll be glad you did!

Superior Saturday by Garth Nix

Ever since Arthur Penhaglian recieved the Minute Key from a dying man and been declared the Chosen One, he has been battling the Immortal Trustees of the Will. He has managed to retrieve 5 of the pieces of the will but now he must go after the two strongest Guardians, Superior Saturday, the oldest thing in existence in the Universe, and supreme sorceress of the House. Luckily, she has her attention more on taking over the Incomparable Gardens and dethroning Lord Sunday.

To facilitate her schemes, she has the lower house destroyed by the forces of Nothing, allowing the trees that support the Gardens to stop growing and enabling her to finally come within reach of her longtime foe. And she isn't alone in this. All the sorcerors in the house save Doctor Scamandros serve her, and with their powers added to hers, she is well-nigh invincible.

Arthur, back in his own world after rescuing a load of Patients with his new friend Leaf from Doctor Friday, gets a call from his brother Eric saying that because of the sleepy plague that Doctor Friday initiated, the military is going to deal with it by setting off a bomb at the East Side hospital, and he needs to take clothing, food and supplies into the basement and stay there while the bomb is set off in approximately ten minutes. Arthur frantically tries to get in touch with Doctor Scamandros, but he cannot be found, so he orders his wand to keep the hospital safe, which it does by freezing time around the hospital. He then returns to the lower house just before it is destroyed by the Nothing.

Use of his powers has another side effect, though. It is slowly turning him into a denizen of the house, and the more he uses them, the faster the effect. Arthur is already noticing how his anger and sense of superiority have grown, and he fears he will continue to act like that if he turns into a Denizen. He finds Doctor Scamandros and talks with him, and then has a conversation with the Old One, the God imprisoned in the basement, while fearing he has become too much of a Denizen for the Old One to stomach him. But no, he still thinks of Arthur as a human, and promises to free him if he gets control of the house.

After that, he visits the Will and convinces her to split herself to take care of the two major problems besetting the house. Then, he must travel to the Upper, Upper portion of the House even though Superior Saturday has blocked it off just to prevent him from getting in. But he is helped by the Raised Rats, who, along with the aid of Doctor Scamandros in turning him temporarily into a Rat, send him through a magical bottle into the upper house along with his friend Suzy Blue, a Piper's Child.

There, Arthur will have to search for the Will and get the wand of Saturday from Superior Saturday. But can he do it without becoming a denizen and being stuck in the house forever? Or will the magic turning him into something else- which has made his hair blonde, his eyes brilliant blue, his teeth shiny and perfect and his blood golden be able to be stopped so that he can be just human, as he always was?

This is not really a long book at all, but it packs a lot of punch into its pages. In fact, the story ends on a cliffhanger, so we cannot know if Arthur really won against Superior Saturday or not. Given that the following book, Lord Sunday, will be coming out, I'll hazard a guess that he does.

The stakes keep getting higher, and Arthur wins this one (if he does) by the very skin of his teeth. I want to read that last book and see what happens, and I hope it comes out soon. This is a great series for kids and teens, and even adults as well, with issues of power, abandonment, fear of losing control of your body (Arthur turning into a Denizen, meaning he will have to leave his family behind forever), and even health and friendship.

I recommend this series, which is by the same writer who gave us the wonderful series Sabriel, Liriel, Abhorsen, Garth Nix. Check it out.

Mage-Guard of Hamor by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Rahl was once a native of Recluce, who declared him a Natural Ordermage and exiled him from their shores, claiming he was too difficult and dangerous to teach after he somehow exploded a black wall near the harbor at Nylan. Before he was exiled and left for the Country of Hamor, he met and fell for a healer named Deybri.

Once in Hamor, he worked for the Nylan Merchant bureau but discovered that his superior was helping to support piracy and rebellion in Hamor with the help of the Jeranyi. When Rahl found out, he helped prevent a huge shipment of Cammabark (an explosive substance) from being taken to the pirates by exploding it, and taking out the ship it was on after defending himself and killing his superior.

Afterwards, he was dosed with an agent that made him forget who he was, and he was sent to a iron-processing plant at Luba. But when the clerks there found he could read and write, he was made a clerk, and then an enumerator, a sort of accountant. It was there, after much trial and error, that he regained his memory and was taken under the wing of Taryl, one of the Mage-Guard of Hamor, who trained him to be a mage-guard. From there, he and Taryl are sent back to Recluce, to Nylan, to tell the people there what happened at the port.

On his return to his home, he is distrusted not only for his previous behavior, but also for joining the Mage-Guard of Hamor. As he explains to the Magisters at Nylan what happened at the Merchant Compound, Taryl tells him to go see Deybri and take her to dinner. Rahl does, and finds that his feelings for her are unchanged. In fact, they have grown and deepened. But they are only able to share the single dinner before Rahl and Taryl must leave.

But Rahl continues to write her as he and Taryl are reassigned to take care of Golyat, the elder brother of the current Emperor of Hamor. He was taken out of the succession for the throne because of his complete unsuitability to rule, but members of the armed forces, and the mage-guard itself have convinced him that he would make a wonderful emperor and he should fight for the throne. So he has taken part of the country for his own and is gathering men and materiel to fight his brother for the throne. Hamor has a larger navy than army, so fighting the war is going to be a struggle.

Taryl is assigned as Overcommander of the Army, due to his former position as one of the Triads of Hamor. The Triads are meant to rule the country along with the Emperor, providing him with assistance and advice, but Taryl was forced from his post and now serves merely in the Mage-Guard.

Unfortunately for Taryl and Rahl, the superior of the army is an arrogant, yet cowardly man who chastises his subordinates for doing their jobs yet losing men, but is hesitant to send his forces to attack the rebels. Rahl is assigned to a scouting company, and uses his order senses to look for traps and keep the other soldiers safe. As they advance closer to the area where Golyat and the rebels are holed up, Rahl finds himself running into more and more traps, some of which he cannot break or defuse without losing some men in his squadron.

For this, he recieves scorn from the army commander, and even Taryl seems not as grateful for what Rahl is doing as he pushes Rahl to keep training his order senses and powers. Every time Rahl thinks he has mastered or got a handle on what Taryl is teaching him, Taryl adds more, along with telling him to keep his shields up so that no one else can tell his true feelings. He won't tell Rahl why, just that it will stand him in good stead later.

Rahl continues to write to Deybri, missing and thinking of her always, posting his letters to her whenever he can. She writes back, and he treasures the letters. Meanwhile Taryl replaces the sub-commander and then the commander, as they fail in cowardice, leaving Taryl in true command of the army. Slowly, the army pushes towards the coast where Golyat is holed up, killing the forces he leaves behind to slow and delay them, often with Rahl's help. Then, when they have made one of the coastal cities held by the rebels, Rahl finds a surprise waiting for him. Deybri! She has left Recluce for love of him and joined the Mage-Guards as a Guard and Healer, both of which Hamor is desperately in need of.

But the final battle is ahead, and two of the Triads, Dhoryk and Fieryn, have come to assist the army, both Chaos Mages. Given their obvious dislike of Taryl and the way they dismiss his efforts so far, can Taryl and Rahl win them over before the end, or is there a different reason for their scorn?

This novel is massive, 619 pages, and it takes a long time to read, but those readers who have read the previous novel by L.E. Modesitt Jr, Natural Ordermage, will enjoy the resumption of Rahl's story from where it left off in the last book. Here, Rahl continues training, and discovers that the Magisters of Recluce were wrong. He *can* be changed, but not in the way they train ordermages. And since they feel that their way is the only way, it's nice to see that they can be wrong, since many of the previous books showed how they were right.

Rahl's story is long but fascinating, and he slowly gains depth, going from a callow youth on Recluce to a strong, confident, gifted leader of men and tremendously powerful Order Mage. By the end of the book, no one in the Mage Guard is unafraid of him, so he must be assigned to a position where he can answer to Taryl, who has been his superior, and unafraid of him, all along. This also allows Rahl and Deybri to finally marry, as one of Rahl's little quirks is that his sperm is super-potent, Any time he lies with a woman, he will make her pregnant, unless she is barren or is already pregnant. Being a woman, I found that kind of a bummer. Why? Think about it. You can never have sex just for fun. You always know you'll get pregnant. Way to kill the mood real fast! Boy, Rahl and Deybri are going to have *lots* of kids! In fact, she's already pregnant with his son at the end of the book.

In any case, if you can't already tell, I liked this book a lot. In fact, I'd like to read more about Rahl at some point. Hopefully without him being turned into a Geriatric through overuse of his powers... In any case, read "Natural Ordermage" first, but read this book. You'll be glad you did.

The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur

Riley Jensen is a half vampire, half werewolf who has been tapped to be a guardian, one of the supernaturals who keeps other supernatural creatures in line. In the past, she has dated the vampire Quinn, but they broke up over her inability to have just him as her lover. He wanted to be her one and only, but she wanted kids, even though her screwed-up physiology made it unsure if she would ever have kids or not. So they parted ways, but Riley is still feeling lots of things for Quinn.

In "The Darkest Kiss", Riley is assigned to look into the death of a businessman who was also the head of the nonhuman rights league. Not only has the man been killed, but clawed by what looks to be a cat. Looking into Gerard James' background reveals he was squiring around a member of the local rich girls' club better known as the Toorak Trollops. The TT are ex-wives and daughters of local nobs who better themselves by offering themselves as high-class dates, lovers and mistresses to anyone who can afford to keep them in the style to which they have become accustomed. Although they are supposed to be friends, there is subtle game of competition and one-upsmanship amongst them as they compare the men they have caught to the ones the others have, and the one with the highest-status man "wins".

But now the Toorak Trollops seem to be dying along with the men they dated and fought over, but the question is, why? All the killed seem to share is dying in increasingly bloody ways, as well as the cat claw marks somewhere on their bodies. Could the killer be a cat-shifter? Or given the size of some of the cuts, a Tiger-shifter?

Meanwhile, Riley is called in by a wolf-shifter friend of hers to the site of an attack on a friend of his, and is just able to save another friend from being slain in his apartment. However, the apartment building he lives in is infested with vampires, at least 40 of them. This is strange because it seems impossible for young vampires to live together at all, but these vamps are different, living off emotions instead of blood, which apparently allows them to circumvent some of the restrictions that bind blood-drinking vampires.

Riley goes and talks with the leader of this vampire group, a woman named Vincenta Castillo. She was willing to allow whatever tried to kill Ivan, the friend of Riley's club-owning friend Ben Wilson for a payment of money, and because Ivan is undergoing the process of being turned into a vampire, and even if he was killed, he wouldn't die. She's willing to tell Riley what she knows in exchange for a kiss on the lips, which Riley reluctantly allows, but the information doesn't allow Riley to track the man down.

She discusses the case with her twin brother Roan's mate, Liander, who says the man's name sounds familliar, but he doesn't know where from. Then, there is another attack on Ivan, and this time, his head is ripped off, which allows for no resurrection, even that as a vampire. Riley attempts to track the creature that did it, but it gets away from her.

As she continues to try and track down the killer, Riley attends a function where her old ex-boyfriend and lover Quinn is attending, along with a member of the TT she needs to talk to. She and Quinn hook up, but when she goes to talk to the woman, there is something wrong about her, and she discovers that the killer is using the appearance of the TT to get close to the others. The chase leads to the home of the TT, who is found slain. Whoever the killer is, they are becoming more and more unhinged and violent with each murder. Quinn helps Riley interpret the clues and discovers that the killer is a Bakoneko, a demonic cat-like creature. It seems that the creature blames the TT for its mistresses death, and has been slaying not only them, but the men who supported them. But since it can take on any form, how can Riley track it down and kill it?

Meanwhile, Liander has found out why the name of the murderer Riley seeks is familliar... it's the name of someone who was in his class in the 10th grade. But then something bad happened to him and the rest of the class seemed to fall apart, and the kid's parents moved away. Riley does some checking, and everyone who has died in the case was in that class. But when the killer abducts Liander, can Reilly and Quinn help Roan keep it together while they go after the murderer who keeps him hostage? Or will Roan lose his mate, go insane, or lose all will to live and simply give up and die? Or can she and Quinn keep that from happening?

I enjoyed this book a lot. The action and the story whipped along, carrying the reader along with it, and yet there were no mistakes, or bad writing that act as a stopping block to knock you abruptly out of what I was reading. There was also nothing that made me think to myself, "Riley would never do that," or "That's so out of character!"

Keri Arthur continues to improve as a writer, and seeing Riley and Quinn get back together now that she has no hope to have children was nice, as was the fact that they appear to both want to work to rebuild their relationship from the ground up. if this will work for them to actually both be happy together... well, we'll see.

I can't wait to read more of this series, and I am already waiting for the next one with a sense of anticipation. This series is a good read you'll have a hard time putting down. I highly recommend it!

In Darkness, Death by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler

Seikei, a former merchant's son, was adopted by the famous judge, Ooka, who is a samurai as well as a judge, after helping him solve a mystery on the Tokkaido road. Now, Seikei is living with the judge and trying to learn to be a real Samurai, but he has far to go in pursuit of that goal.

When the judge is summoned to the death of the Lord Inaba after a party the night before welcoming him to Edo, the judge suspects a ninja was responsible for the death. But first he must question the servants, and the guards who guarded Lord Inaba. From a lowly servant girl, Seikei and Judge Ooka discover that the ninja left only one thing behind: an origami butterfly, now stained with Lord Inaba's blood.

To trace the paper used to make the butterfly, Judge Ooka and Seikei visit the Paper-maker Ogawa and his daughter, Michiko. While both father and daughter agree that the paper used in the butterfly is made only in temples, its maker is a man named Bakkoro, who lives in the north.

Judge Ooka sends Seikei to visit Bakkoro along with Tatsuno, a ninja who he captured and who he seems to know. Seikei and Tatsuno pretend to be pilgrims making a religious pilgrimmage, but Seikei twists his ankle and they must stop in a small village to see a doctor.

The Doctor, Genkai, helps them, and asks them to carry a message to Lord Inaba, asking him to cut down the taxes on the land of the farmers around them. Two years in a row, the crops have failed due to insect attacks, and yet the Lord is still demanding the same taxes. The farmers and their families are starving and cannot pay their taxes. They tried sending a message to Lord Inaba to that effect, but he returned without nose, ears or lips. Perhaps Seikei, being a Samurai, will have more luck. Seikei writes down their names and complaints, and goes to see the new Lord Inaba. Tatsuno refuses to accompany him, and when Seikei sees the new Lord, he soon learns why.

Yuuto, the new lord, sends his Samurai out to kill the farmers whose names are on the petition, and when Seikei tells him he is on his own, the new Lord has him thrown in the dungeon to rot. But he is rescued by Tatsuno, and the two of them travel to Nara, where Judge Ooka will be meeting Seikei. Along the way, Tatsuno disappears, leaving Seikei with only a small purple-green stone that Tatsuno gave to him earlier.

Seikei returns to the Judge and gives his report. Since the judge asked him to keep a lookout for who might have wanted to kill the old Lord Inaba, Seikei confesses that he wants to kill the new one. To find answers, the judge and Seikei must travel to the Okami mountain shrine to search for the Ninja who has taken refuge on its slopes. But since Seikei has possession of the gofu, a stone that carries the power of the Kami, he must go alone to find out who hired the Ninja to kill Lord Inaba. But can Seikei, so young and mostly untrained, find and convince the Ninja to talk?

I liked this book, which is rich with details about Japan in the Feudal Era. Judge Ooka was a real person, and is considered to be something like Japan's Sherlock Holmes, finding and bringing perpetrators to justice even in the most puzzling cases. Though Seikei, his adopted son, is nothing but fiction, the novel brings plenty of detail that will delight readers, from how paper is made to various medicinal treatments in Japan.

Better than that, the mystery is solid and intriguing, although adults and smart kids or teens will figure out who hired the killer partway through the story. I stil recommend this small book as a good mystery for anyone to read. Well done.

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

Continuing the Alpha and Omega story from the "On the Prowl" collection, Anna has travelled north with Charles, the Alpha Wolf she cares for and is coming to love. But her introduction to the Marrok's pack leaves her feeling more like an outsider than ever, despite everyone being welcoming.

One of the Marrok's wolves, a supposedly insane wolf named Asil, tells her he'd be more than happy to take her off of Charles' hands if she ends up being unhappy. Not only is Asil supposedly insane, but his mate was killed long ago, and with the advancing years, he feels as though his sanity is drifting. Before he can go completely insane, he wants Bran, the Marrok, to kill him so that his soul can join that of his mate in the afterlife.

Charles, whose inner wolf has accepted Anna as his mate, finds his control tested. But since he was wounded with silver in the "Alpha and Omega" short story, he's really in no condition to fight Asil. Luckily, Charles' brother Samuel is home, and is trained as a doctor, so he checks Charles' wounds and finds a bit of silver still in one of them, which he removes, allowing Charles to heal faster. Shortly after a funeral for Bran's longtime friend Doc Carter, who was changed into a werewolf but went mad and had to be killed during the change, Charles is sent into the cold north country to track down a rogue wolf who has been killing humans.

Anna won't hear of anything but to go with him, and being Omega, she can't be ordered into staying behind by Charles, since Omegas don't follow orders at all, being outside pack hierarchy. They travel to the area together, only to be attacked by a wolf. When Charles takes off after the werewolf, Anna is confronted by a woman who claims to be a searcher looking for a missing hiker.

But the woman is not really a searcher, but a witch, and this witch has the power to both remain unchanged and unaging, and to command the power of the pack. Not only does she have animals following her, but the spirit of Asil's wife, who she slew and turned into a guardian, a spirit creature who is stronger and faster than even the werewolves. However, her spirit is still that of Asil's wife.

But when Bran comes searching for Asil and Charles and is captured by the Witch, can Charles and Anna take her down before she figures out that with the Marrok under her control, she could control the Werewolves of North America through him? Or will Bran be forced into his berserker mode and kill everyone and everything as his rage at being captured breaks out in a most appalling way?

I liked this book a lot. Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite authors. I've loved her Mercy storied, and now there comes Anna, who is both like and unlike Mercy. But while Mercy is a werecoyote (and not even really a were, but a shapechanger), Anna is a different kind of outsider, an Omega Werewolf. Omegas have both their good points and bad. One, most werewolves cannot even concieve of harming an Omega. Two, Omegas calm down other werewolves, and help them adapt to their powers, so a pack with an Omega in it will have more of its werewolves survive their first change. Three, Omegas do not have to follow the orders of anyone, even an Alpha. And since Alphas are meant to command other werewolves, there is no way to control them.

The drawbacks, of course, are that One, They are outside of the pack hierarchy, so most werewolves who have never met an Omega are terminally confused by them. And two, They are exceedingly rare in the Werewolf population, so most werewolves have never seen, met or heard of one. Even Charles, who is son of the Marrok and right hand to a being who rules over almost the entire werewolf population of North America, has only heard rumors of their existence.

Luckily, one of Anna's Omega qualities makes it simple for her to defeat the witch, although it doesn't seem to be possible until she actually does it. Anna herself is a mass of contradictions. She's a werewolf and should be strong, confident and potent, but her victimization at the hands of her packmates leaves her feeling weak, outcast and much, much thinner than she should be. Charles spends most of the book trying to build her up, but it isn't until she realizes the strength of her position as Omega that she comes to believe in herself.

I liked watching Anna's growth from abused woman struggling against what has been done to her by the people who should have been treasuring her to a stronger, confident woman who knows she can take care of herself. It was wonderful to read, even though it was somewhat cringe-inducing at certain parts for the way she felt about herself and the way in which some characters treated her. I recommend this book highly, and will be recommending it to my friends.