Just finished the ARC of GABRIEL'S GHOST (Bantam Spectra, October 2005) by Linnea Sinclair. It's advertised as a fast-paced space adventure with elements of religion, technology, romance and adventure. And it was. You got your basic religious fanatic, a mixed bag of galactic species trying to overcome natural and taught prejudices to work together as a team, a rouge troop of adventurers out to effect a "good mission" plus some good romantic entanglements. Reminded me alot of FireFly which I finally got to watch as SciFi channel is showing the entire season as a ramp up for the Serenity movie release. I missed the original broadcast and for some reason, tom wasn't interested in the DVD. He never was a Buffy fan, so I think that colored his perception. But I love Firefly and all its occupants and I'm especially entranced by the chemistry between Mal and Inara. But back to the "ghost."

I liked the book just as much as I enjoyed her previous book -- Finders Keepers -- another book previously epublished that's been rewritten for the "paper" trade. The only problem, for me at least, is it's a great universe Sinclair invented, but the books aren't connected at all! When I read a space opera, I like the continuing back story that evolves but I love the interconnected characters even better. Sheesh, I'm still looking for "Ivan's" complete story in the Miles Vorkosigan world (Lois McMaster Bujold). I KNOW that would be wonderful! And I see Honor Harrington (David Weber) has a new story out this fall. Will I fall for buying the eBook in advance? Oh, geez, I probably will! Then get it in paperback next year *sigh* I always fall for that!

What I've been reading this week

Well in paper I finished Crimson City by Liz Maverick last night before bed. Next up in paper is an ARC of Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair.

In electronic I started reading a WAY advance copy of Of Man and Monsters by Saje Williams. I'm about 6 or 7 chapters in to it so far and it's been really good so far. I can't even imagine what surprises Saje has coming yet. I guess after I finish that one I'll start over again with the review book I was reading that I just couldn't get in to so had to set aside for awhile.

In audio I finished Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts. I then started Fire Along the Sky by Sara Donati on CD. I'm on disc 9 or 10 of about 19 so far. But I know I'm missing a lot so I'll have to relisten. This is how pathetic I am... I listened to the first three books in her series on tape, borrowed from the library. They didn't have Book 4 in audio and when I asked if they could order it, they send they don't take order requests for audio visual materials. Something about how they are harder and pricier to maintain so they don't do special requests. So I confirmed that audio books could be donated to the library.

Well it was WAY too expensive to buy new so I bought a "used" copy from Amazon.com. I haven't been overly impressed with some of the books in the series but I had to finish it. LOL So I bought the used copy which actually is brand new, was even still in it's original shrink wrap packaging (still expensive but a good $60-80 cheaper then to buy a new one.) Now I'm listening to it, and will listen a second time to make sure I didn't miss anything. Then I'm donating it to the library. Yep, I bought the darn thing just to give it away. LOL But at least that way others can listen to it also.

In the car I'm on the last tape of Legends Volume 4. Next up will be Key of Valor by Nora Roberts to finish that trilogy.

I fly home to PA on Friday for a BUSY vacation of lots of running around and hardly any down time. But I have so many audio books piled up that I took out of the library that I guess I'll be taking my walkman home with me and one or two audio books so I can listen on the plane and hopefully in the rental car if it has a tape deck.

Ever Read the Award winners?

I guess this goes along with the movies too, but how does knowing a book took a prize affect your consideration of the book?

I just posted the 2005 RWA RITA(tm) winners here and I found that only a few had been entered in the database at all -- which means no one else requested them in the past year. Odd, don't you think? And when I entered them, a good third are no longer in print (the category ones) with no plans to reissue them -- even a small print run. So what's the point? I don't mean this in a mean way, but is it just a small pat on the head? I'm confused (and have been about this for years).

If a movie is nominated for Golden Globes or Oscars or even Palm de Ore (spelled wrong I'm sure, but too busy to go and look it up at the moment), they release, perhaps in small theaters, but at least they do in the big cities, so viewers have the opportunity to go out and check it out. Sorry, cash in on the award so to speak. But the Ritas don't make that happen at all. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

Anyway, I only read two books of the winners and never heard of half of them, and you all know how much I read or at least know about books. It's a mystery, I tell you!