Well, hopefully everyone had an adequate if not awesome Valentine’s Day yesterday. I took my rugrat to a chocolate store and we each had one piece of chocolate, then we got a bag of Bertie Bott’s style beans and did random selections on the way home. In regards to books, it’s been a pretty good month, but I haven’t read as much as I should have because I’m scrambling to get a massive editing project done. (Which got put off by a full week because I was sick. Argh.)

(The weekly check-in meme was started by Sam at Taking on a World of Words )

As usual, covers link to Goodreads.

Mid-February Reading Update

What We’re Reading

Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds

This is a self-purchased audio book. It was published on October 27th, 2005.

” 2057. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. But when Janus, one of Saturn’s ice moons, inexplicably leaves its natural orbit and heads out of the solar system at high speed, Bella is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach.

In accepting this mission she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny-for Janus has many surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome…” – Goodreads

Ubo by Steve Rasnic Tem

This is a Netgalley review book. Publication date is February 14th, 2017.

“Daniel is trapped in Ubo. He has no idea how long he has been imprisoned there by the roaches. Every resident has a similar memory of the journey to Ubo: a dream of dry, chitinous wings crossing the moon, the gigantic insects dropping swiftly over the houses of the neighborhood, passing through walls and windows as if by magic, or science.  The creatures, like a deck of baroquely ornamented cards, fanning themselves from one hidden world into the next.

And now each day they force Daniel to play a different figure from humanity’s violent history, from a frenzied Jack the Ripper to a stumbling and confused Stalin to a self-proclaimed god executing survivors atop the ruins of the world. The scenarios mutate day after day in this camp somewhere beyond the rules of time. As skies burn and prisoners go mad, identities dissolve as the experiments evolve, and no one can foretell their mysterious end.” – Goodreads

Zombie Bigfoot by Nick Sullivan

This is an author-submitted review book. Publication date is September 1st, 2016.

“Bigfoot is real. That’s what Sarah’s father told her before his academic disgrace and untimely death.

Now, primatologist Dr. Sarah Bishop is eager to restore her father’s good name. Survival show host Russ Cloud is just as eager to boost his plummeting ratings. They’ll both have a shot at redemption when they find themselves hired by eccentric billionaire Cameron Carson. After a series of his publicity stunts end in spectacular failure, Carson has a plan to redeem his tarnished image: capture a live Sasquatch.

Sarah and Russ join an expedition with an eclectic crew: an Afrikaner safari hunter, a ‘roided out former wrestling star, a Shoshone master tracker full of surprises, a heavily tattooed Russian warrior woman, a pair of wise-cracking nerds, and a cute gum-chewing intern with some hidden skills. Will they find Bigfoot?

There’s something in the woods… but it’s not what they’re expecting.” – Goodreads

 Nightmares edited by Ellen Datlow

This is a Netgalley review book. Publication Date is November 1st, 2016

“Unlucky thieves invade a house where Home Alone seems like a playground romp. An antique bookseller and a mob enforcer join forces to retrieve the Atlas of Hell. Post-apocalyptic survivors cannot decide which is worse: demon women haunting the skies or maddened extremists patrolling the earth.

In this chilling twenty-first-century companion to the cult classic Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, Ellen Datlow again proves herself the most masterful editor of the genre. She has mined the breadth and depth of ten years of terror, collecting superlative works of established masters and scene-stealing newcomers alike.” – Goodreads

Human Again by Christian Santos

This is an author submitted review book. Publication Date is July 28th, 2016.

“Something evil has come to Eden Springs, Pennsylvania.  Familiar faces are luring their loved ones to dark corners. Severed limbs flood the streets. And a tall figure in a dark suit and tie is preparing for one final, grand feast.

It all traces back to English Teacher Gabriel Torres, whose perfect life collapses after his wife, Zoe, is murdered in a random attack. When a mysterious elderly woman offers him a chance to see Zoe again through a process called “dream manifestation therapy”, Gabriel doesn’t hesitate. But shortly after he traverses back to reality, he learns something else has crossed over with him.

Navigating through a town engulfed in chaos, Gabriel’s only aid comes in the form of a troubled adolescent skateboarder, a tattooed gas station clerk on the run from her abusive husband, and the gun-toting blind ghost of Zoe’s favorite country singer, Connor Vaughn.

Time is slipping. The lives of Eden Springs’ remaining survivors are in jeopardy. Now Gabriel must conquer the dark force he helped summon, even if it means letting go of the only thing he’s ever loved.” – Goodreads

What We’ve Read Since February 1st:

• A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• The Harvesting by Melanie Karzak
• Stone Cold Bastards by Jake Bible
• The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
• Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
• Skyjacked by Shirley Golden
• Skin Deep/Ordinary Monsters by Frank Martin
• The Lovecraft Squad by Stephen Jones
• Upside Down by Jaym Gates & Monica Valentinelli

What’s Up Next in February 2017

Only the next 4 are being listed. (5 apparently formats a bit oddly.)