"Dead as a Doornail" The Southern Vampire Mysteries book 5 by Charlaine Harris

"Dead as a Doornail"
The Southern Vampire Mysteries book 5
by Charlaine Harris
Published 2005 by Ace books


Damn you Charlaine Harris, Sookie Stackhouse, & HBO's "True Blood" series. You got me addicted to an fun series of books. Okay, that's a bit harsh..how about just, "Darn you?" While most of the blame for my addiction goes to Charlaine Harris, I have to also blame HBO for turning these books into a series. I watched the first episode and was hooked and then had to read the books, now I'm hooked on those. I guess there are worse situations.

Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries not only contain vampires but they also contain most of the folk from the supernatural world, there are werewolves weretigers, werepanthers, shape shifters of all sorts, menads, fairies, witches, goblins and even dwarves of myth. Not only that but each story is a real mystery thriller that is fun to solve, at least for the reader, maybe not so much for Sookie Stackhouse, who is always getting beat up.

Sookie Stackhouse is a bar-maid at Merlotte's bar in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She has what she calls a disability, she can hear other people's thoughts. She tries her best not to but sometimes it is necessary. Sookie also lives in a world where vampires have "come out of the coffin," in other words, the vampires have let the world know they exist. It's not such a bad thing because now they can drink a newly concocted synthetic blood (True Blood) and not have to feed off humans. Not all the vamps are full supporters of this which lead to some chilling moments. Sookie's boss, Sam, is the owner of Merlotte's and he has a secret, he's a shape-shifter. Now this is the interesting part, shape shifters and other mythical folk have not let their presence be known to the world, they are waiting to see how the vamps fare.

So now you have the back story, here's what goes on in this book.

Vampires, were-creatures, shifters and one fairy godmother are all up against a sniper with an apparent aversion to non-humans. As if trying to discover who's behind the shootings isn't enough, the telepathic Sookie has to cope with a few other distractions: her "Were" friend, Alcide Herveaux, needs her help in his father's bid to become the next leader of the local werewolf pack; her boss gets shot; her house partly burns down. So as you can see Sookie's calendar is full.

These books are very creatively written and, being told from Sookie's point of view, provide some great humorous moments. Humor, romance, supernatural beings, mysteries to solve all wrap up into some great stories that bring out the Scooby Doo feeling for adults. Check them out they are fun.

"Infinite Crisis" parts I & II by Greg Cox

"Infinite Crisis" parts I & II
by Greg Cox
multicast production
Produced by Graphic Audio
approx 12 hours total

I think I may have become addicted to GraphicAudio audio book productions. These guys really know how to suck you into a story and leave you, in this case, feeling as beat up as the superheroes involved. I mean that in a good way, the sound effects, music and acting puts you in the middle of the action and you feel every punch thrown. With all the action in a comic book, the transition to novelization of a series and then to audio book there lies the potential of losing some of the ambiance created by the brightly colored panels, but here's where GraphicAudio shines. Not only do you get all the ambiance, you are placed dead in amongst the action.

Infinite Crisis was a seven-issue limited series of comic books published by DC Comics beginning in October 2005. It was written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez. The series storyline was based on the 1985 series "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and it revisits characters and ideas that were from the earlier work. Greg Cox then took that series and created the novelization of the series. Then we move to audio book "Movie in your Mind" form from GraphicAudio. GraphicAudio released the production in two 6 hour segments.

For years, the rift between the Justice League's leaders has been widening. Batman's paranoia has given birth to an army of robotic assassins. Batman created the Brother Eye satellite to make sure "meta-humans" don't abuse their super powers. Somehow the satellite is hijacked and begins it's jihad against superheroes.

Wonder Woman has declared herself judge, jury, and executioner, taking a foe's life in an act that was broadcast worldwide. Superman is under the influence of mind control. With the Justice League divided and a super-villain coalition openly targeting the heroes, ordinary civilians find themselves caught in the crossfire.

The heroes have lost their way, their values, and their responsibilities. Only those who understand the true meaning of sacrifice are prepared to rectify this crisis-a crisis that originated in an alternate era when infinite earths collided in a cosmic cataclysm that erased history and lives. And those who survived are looking to restore all they have lost, regardless of the consequences.

In an epic adventure with battles taking place all around the world and even into the center of the universe every comic book fan will enjoy listening for their favorite hero. Nearly every superhero ever created by DC Comics makes an appearance and even some new ones.

Be prepared to be completely blown away with a great story by Greg Cox, created by DC Comics, and converted into a "Movie in your Mind" by GraphicAudio.

"Out At Night" by Susan Arnout Smith

"Out At Night"
by Susan Arnout Smith
Published 2009 by Minotaur books


If you're into romantic/detective thrillers you just might be interested in picking up "Out at Night" the latest book by Susan Arnout Smith. But I'll warn you, if you are interested in the back story of the main character, Grace Sescanso, you may want to first read "The Timer Game." This book is the second book featuring Grace Descanso, Grace won't talk about why, but she quit medicine altogether. Now, five years later, Grace is a crime scene tech in San Diego, going to AA meetings, scraping by and living to be a mom to five-year old Katie. Most of this is gathered from this book but it really seems as though most of the pieces of Grace's life story are missing and actually detract from what could be a great murder mystery/thriller.

The story opens with Grace on vacation with her 5 year old daughter, Katie. Grace has never told Katie about her father, but Katie's father, from the bits and pieces I could gather in this story, is a rich actor named Mac. They all 3 begin bonding in the Bahamas on vacation when Grace gets a call from her uncle, an FBI agent in California saying she needs to return because of a murder. Here's another missing piece of the background of Grace, apparantly there was a huge rift created in the family, when Grace's father married a woman the family didn't approve. The real mystery at this point is whether Grace is needed to solve the crime, babysit her cousin or is she suspected of murder.

Thaddeus Bartholomew, a history professor, is forced at gunpoint to drive to a soy field. As he lies dying, he leaves a message on his answering machine at home in Morse code: find Grace Descans-. Cut off before finishing, the FBI need to know why he asked for Grace. The plot thickens when it is discovered he was a protester at one of Grace's lectures on DNA profiling of suspects. That is the only time Grace has ever seen the man, but when she investigates the murdered man's home she finds a wall full of photographs of various people, one of those photos is Grace.

The big scare in the area is a terrorist threat towards a world conference on genetically modified foods. As it turns out Grace's cousin is pregnant and in tight with the most violent of these protester's. Grace's uncle wants her to find how deeply mixed is his daughter/Grace's cousin.

Grace uncover's the plot to wreak havoc at the conference in a deadly way and uncovers a plot to rid the world of the Caucasian race.

Once you get past the missing pieces of Grace's past the latter part of the book becomes a thrilling race against time to stop the terrorists.

"Dead to the World" Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4 by Charlaine Harris

"Dead to the World"
Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4
by Charlaine Harris
published by Ace, 2004

Continuing in the world of the Southern Vampires and the supernatural events in the life of Sookie Stackhouse, here's book 4, "Dead to the World." This book for me marked a bit of a milestone in the Charlaine Harris creations. This milestone is that this is the book that becomes more like the world of my favorite author, Jim Butcher. After all it was Jim Butcher that got me interested in the Charlaine Harris books.

What I mean by this is that when Jim Butcher writes his Harry Dresden novels he combines as many creatures as possible in his tales of the supernatural. Which makes sense, really, because if there is one creature in the supernatural world there has to be more. Charlaine Harris started this series of books with vampires and some hinting toward shape-shifters. By the 3rd book she had vampires, menads, shape-shifters and werewolves. In this 4th book she introduces the reader to witches, Wiccans and fairies. Thus creating a fun read in the supernatural world, and not just a romance series involving vampires. I will admit there were times in this book where I let out a displeasing sigh when the romance novel would burst out of the pages. But, Ms. Harris knew to keep that as a minor point and to move on with some great supernatural horror and adventure, oh, and some really funny dialogue. You gotta have your comic relief.

The stories are all told by the main character Sookie Stackhouse, a bar-maid in Bon Temps, Louisiana with the gift of telepathy. In this installment (which takes place just weeks after the previous book, "Club Dead") Sookie is ready for the New Year and her resolution is to not get beat up, a resolution that seems to be hard to keep when you run around with vampires and werewolves.

After leaving Merlotte's, the bar in which Sookie works for Sam the shape-shifter, Sookie sees a nearly naked man running in the cold night. From there things just get weirder. She stops to help the man. The nearly naked man turns out to be Eric Northman, the vampire sheriff for that area of Louisiana. The problem is that Eric does not know who Sookie is and worse yet he doesn't know who he is.

As the story unfolds it is discovered a coven of witches have moved into Shreveport, where Eric maintains his area from a bar called Fangtasia. By the way, the vampires are the only supernatural creature that, in the world created by Charlaine Harris, have made themselves known to the world. Vampire rights are an issue in this world. Fangtasia is mainly a "tourist" bar where normal people can come to stare at vampires while the vampires sip on "True Blood," the synthetic alternative to human blood.

Eric refuses the witches and they curse him. This curse sends him to Bon Temps without his memory. Sookie gets help from her brother, Jason, sending him to buy clothes and "True Blood" for Eric. Eric's second in command Pam, meanwhile tries to locate the witches so that the vamps can retaliate.

To add woe to Sookie's now Eric-babysitting service, Jason comes up missing. Thinking the witches may have kidnapped him so Sookie will reveal where she is hiding Eric, Sookie joins the retaliation by helping to recruit the werewolves of Shreveport and the Wiccans of Bon Temps.

In what turns out to be an explosive battle against this dark witch coven by Wiccans, werewolves and vampires, Charlaine Harris has written in an adrenaline fueled thriller with some great humorous moments.

These books just keep getting better.