Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

Stormqueen! by Marion Zimmer Bradley My rating: 5 of 5 stars Interesting, intriguing. A story with a clear line to it, no jumping about from scene to scene, no confusion. Reading the Darkover books in the order they were written in has been a little confusing, however thankfully there are others who've read the books before me, have written notes about the books, who help me understand and take away some of the confusion with handy maps and explanations of who's who. This book did not feel like a confusing jumble as some of the other (earlier) Darkover books have, it felt like a clear story with a beginning and an end, a story I enjoyed reading and felt a part of. Although the story of Darkover intrigues me and I am determined to read all the books, I am glad that in this book I was able to get to know the characters, to really get into the story and feel that I was part of the action. View all my reviews

I love it when a plan comes together... Err... No, wait... I mean... I love it when someone else likes books / authors I like! Six authors mentioned on this list of Paranormal Staff Picks. And five of those six write books (and series and short stories and...) I really, really really (really, REALLY really) enjoy! Five authors I love and one I've never read. Guess I know whose books I'll be looking up today! * Doing a Happy Dance while heading over to Goodreads... * Check out Paranormal Staff Picks from Hope Ellis - Penguin USA Blog Posted by Anne Bishop's Courtyard on Friday, 12 June 2015

Being of the Field by Traci Harding My rating: 5 of 5 stars There are some authors whose next book you simply must read no matter what, because you enjoy their work and the way their minds work. Traci Harding is one of those authors. I've been a fan of her writing and her thinking for over a decade now (fourteen-ish years? Seriously? Wow!) and while sometimes a character makes me wonder if maybe they're not too perfect (and good at almost everything to boot!), it is the story that keeps me coming back for more with every book. Traci Harding takes her readers on an amazing adventure that I hope will continue through many more books, stories, characters, countries, worlds and universes. I enjoyed getting to know Taren, Lucian, Zeven and the rest of the crew of AMIE. They were new characters yet felt like old friends - books two and three explained why that was, exactly. I actually squealed and couldn't stop smiling upon realising where these books were taking me. The ideas t...

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton Just heard this quote on Criminal Minds and liked it. Feels very true.

I do love being a geek! :-) Post by Fantasy and Sci-Fi Rock My World .

I love language and especially love reading books and stories that play with language or show the author's love for language. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is one such story. I'd known the story of Alice in Wonderland for years before actually sitting down to read the book as an adult. What struck me was not only how much I enjoyed the fun and craziness of Alice's adventures, but how much I enjoyed the author's way with words. The simple yet exquisite beauty of the words on the page as they come together into a whimsical whole is simply amazing to me. Source: Quote HD.com I also love tales set in magical or fantastical worlds like the amazing Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books or J. R. R. Tolkien's extremely intricate world of Middle Earth . Alternate realities are very interesting to explore as well, worlds that are similar to yet different from our own. I like how they often provide great insights into our own world and our own thinking, despite so...

Today, totally out of the blue, I came across a review in the St. Louis Post - Dispatch for a new book by one of my favourite authors. The reviewer sounded like he enjoyed the book and explained a bit about the books in the process - always fun to read a review like that! I first picked up a book by Laurell K. Hamilton a few years ago after being introduced to her work by fellow fans of Anne Bishop's books. Enjoyed the first few books in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series a lot and by the time I'd read those, was hooked enough that I kept on reading as more books came out.  The Anita Blake books have taught me a lot and have helped me deal with real-life issues. The question " What would Anita say / do ?" crosses my mind several times a month even when not actively reading or re-reading the books. Anita Blake starts off as a tough as nails animator and vampire slayer - a professional who is good at her job, enjoys it and draws a lot of satisfaction from livin...

I am trying to decide what to read next. Could do with a re-read of a loved book or series. Could read a new and inspiring book. Which one, though? I've just re-read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Have also read several Laurell K. Hamilton books in the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series. I'm familiar with the worlds created by the authors and know the books and the characters. I am looking for a similarly familiar series to read or re-read. To explain 'similarly familiar' : I love stories about vampires, were-animals, dragons, aliens, magical worlds and such and know those genres. Whether one reads Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris or Stephenie Meyer, they are all writing about vampires and how these walking undead interact with humanity and with the world around them. Whether the vampires sparkle, fly, question organised religion or fall in love - the basics of vampirism (is that even a word?!) stay mostly the same and thus the story feels familiar. I like b...

I tend to jump from website to website in search of news on my favourite TV shows, without really remembering how I got to a given site. Found this quite awesome guide to seasons 1, 2 and 3 of Doctor Who online and decided I'd share. It's the Doctor Who Guide by Matthew at the Daemons TV website. In short single-paragraph episode descriptions, there's an explanation of where an episode fits in the overall Doctor Who / Torchwood saga and what major things are explained / revealed in it. Not a hugely comprehensive guide by any means, yet still an interesting and valuable one!

I've been reading the first few books in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs these past few days. Some of the things talked about like vampires, werewolves and fae I have a pretty good understanding of through folk tales, fiction books, movies and TV series. Other things, I'm learning lots about! Some of the things I'm learning about are now also things I've Googled. What does a coyote look like exactly, or a VW Rabbit, and oh yeah - how about a map of the area the stories are set in?! As I'm looking these things up, I figured why not store the links / photos / descriptions in one easy place. And where better to store something than here, my very own blog! Coyote  First, of course there's Mercy. She's a walker. Something I've never heard of before. Patricia Briggs' website links to a forum (which I just discovered about 10 minutes ago... Oh Bliss !!!) that has a page with lots of info on walkers . Basically - she can shapeshift/...

I'm a big sci-fi and fantasy nutter really - as long as a story involves aliens, magic, time travel, strange creatures, vampires, werewolves, dinosaurs, or really anything paranormal or supernatural - count me in. Think I've watched pretty much every episode of oh let me think... Star Trek (all series), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Tru Calling, Dollhouse, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Primeval, Charmed, The Vampire Diaries, Torchwood, Supernatural, Earth: Final Conflict, Babylon 5... I'm sure the list is longer than this, but hey, you get the message. I'm a Trekkie, Trekker, Star-Trek nutter, call it what you will. And I'm proud of it! Deep Space 9 is my favourite series, however I also enjoyed Enterprise a lot. And Voyager. And The Next Generation. And the DS9 relaunch books. And the books set after The Original Series. And... Well, you get the point. Supernatural is currently in it's 4th season on TV over here, and while I read episode des...

I'm a huge fan of Australian author Traci Harding. She's written quite a few books by now, has an online community dedicated to her work and the ideas that inspired her work, and would very easily qualify as "one of the authors who has inspired me the most". I came across her first book, The Ancient Future , some time in 2002. It looked like an interesting and entertaining story of a modern Australian woman, Tory Alexander, who accidentally goes back in time through a stone circle while on holiday in Britain, then finds herself in Wales some 1500 years ago where she meets and marries the love of her life, Prince Maelgwn Gwynedd. She becomes Queen of Gwynedd (in modern-day Wales), enforces new child- and female-friendly laws and teaches the ancient Britons a new way of fighting and with it, a new way of thinking. As the book unfolds, Tory learns that her coming to the 6th Century wasn't an accident but deliberate, and was orchestrated by Merlin - yes the Merlin...