Sometimes Your Biggest Fan... Writer Nicole Collins is delighted when she learns her first book will be made into a movie by Celestial Productions until she finds out who owns the company: Malcolm Bryant, her ex-husband. Nicole still loves him, but she knows Malcolm is still the same man who crumbles in the face of adversity. And then there are those threatening letters...Can Be Your Worst Nightmare. . .Somewhere out there is a deranged fan, one who has adopted Nicole's characters as his own family...and he's not about to see his loved ones distorted by the camera lens. Once Macolm's business partner is mysteriously killed, Nicole realizes this is no movie script: Her life is now in danger. With a demented-fan-turned-killer closing in, the only person who may be able to save Nicole is Malcolm the man she so desperately hopes will finally make a stand... Views: 24
Widowed architect Arthur Latimer has become a recluse in his own home: a storm-proof fortress that doubles as a shrine to his dead wife. But the outside world beckons in the form of a bizarre party downbeach.
Now, just as the biggest hurricane ever to hit the Pacific Northwest rolls in with deadly force, Art is subjected to intrusions from his past and invasions from the present. And soon he begins to doubt everything he sees or thinks he already knows. And soon you may too.
Genre: Psychological thriller.
***
From Publishers Weekly
Storms raging outdoors and in the mind of the protagonist create a maelstrom of menace in this sinuous psychological thriller by Schow (The Kill Riff, The Shaft). A whopper of a hurricane is barreling up the California coast, and renegade architect Art Latimer is planning to ride it out and test the structural integrity of his self-designed dream home. At the same time, he's struggling to batten down powerful feelings about his wife, Lorelle, whose death two years before sent him into an emotional tailspin. As the storm intensifies, a string of peculiar experiences suggest that the foundations of his reality are wobbling. He finds an old bottle washed up on the beach containing a cryptic message that speaks eerily to him. Then he's visited by a long-lost friend who mysteriously disappears without a trace from the premises. Meanwhile, a wild house party is underway down the beach and host Price, a steely manipulator who employs drugs and humiliation to control his guests, schemes to use the storm as cover for playing sinister mind games with Art. Schow works suspenseful sleight-of-hand with his story elements, skillfully underplaying the significance of clues and deftly managing character viewpoints to direct what the reader sees. His kinetic orchestration of events-action sequences, moments of moving intimacy and the richly symbolic tempest outside-and vivid hardboiled prose push the plot to a thunderclap climax that in less assured hands would seem farfetched but here is a measure of coolly calculated audacity.
***
From Booklist
Schow is a recognized name in the horror field, credited with coining the term splatterpunk and probably best known for his screenplay of the cult film The Crow. (This may be part of the reason this novel often seems more like a screen treatment than a full-bodied piece of fiction.) Evoking both John Fowles' The Magus and Ed Woods' Glen or Glenda (but leaning heavily toward campy schlock rather than higbrow lit), Schow experiments with the concepts of sexual identity, personality disintegration, and megalomania. A recluse living near the ocean gets mixed up in a confrontation with a bunch of people from a nearby house who have been fed a cocktail of mind-altering drugs. There's also a hurricane brewing. It's all fairly predictable with the exception of a gender switch involving the main character. On the plus side, the writing is generally smooth, the dark-and-stormy-night settings are well crafted, and the characters are interesting if not always believable. Schow doesn't quite make this odd book work, but his considerable following will want to see for themselves.
***
"A jagged nightmare spiked with charm, melancholy, and vicious intelligence."
-Michael Marshall Smith, author of Only Forward
"Bullets of Rain is a highly original, boldly conceived psychological thriller observed with the rapt eye and assassin's sting of the artist as fer-de-lance."
-John Farris, author of The Fury and the Power
"David Schow's Bullets of Rain is a thriller, a literary metaphor, and one dark speeding bullet of a novel. Edgy, insightful, and fearless, it's a book I couldn't put down."
-Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award-winning author of A Fine Dark Line
"In Bullets of Rain, David J. Schow has given us his boldest, most audacious fiction to date. Here, all of Schow's glittering weapons are sharper than ever before."
-Peter Straub Views: 24
World of the Lupi - 8.5 from Tied with a Bow (Breeds #25 Anthology) by Lora Leigh, Virginia Kantra, Eileen Wilks, Kimberly Frost Views: 24
Fresh out of a disciplinary that almost ruined her career and landed her in jail, Summer King is ready for a much needed night on the town...or at least a tour around the bar district in her local space station. But it seems this King girl can't stay out of trouble and causes a brawl within minutes of her arrival.Roz Taren is a mercenary, leader of the Wildcats, and a man who knows what he wants. Right now, that's the pretty girl in the purple dress. Rescuing her from the unwanted attentions of a bunch of drunks lands her right in his bed for the hottest weekend he's ever experienced.Then she's recalled and Roz discovers his little firebird is a fleet pilot (aka insane crazy with a side of total fruitloop). Fleet pilots live fast, die young and leave legends behind. When he receives word her ship is lost with all hands, Roz must bury her along with his heart.Only this firebird isn't your garden variety. This bird is a Phoenix...one out to tame a Wildcat. Views: 24
Sunday, September 5:Afternoon, my crib Spirit Level: Cheered Out OK, so this was supposed to be the first day of my new, totally fantastic life as a Port Angeles School Titan Cheerleader. BUT instead, it's the day that I, Madison Jane Hays, got rejected from the Titans and forced to join the dreaded, B-Squad Grizzly Bears. That's right. My name was sandwiched in between Jared "Jazzhands" Handler and "Toxic" Tabitha Sue Stevens. Oh, and the girl who can't even speak English, Katarina Tarasov. Yup, we're one big hairy family. I went from being a god-like Titan to a lowly Grizzly in like, five seconds. My life. Is Seriously. O-V-E-R. I mean, who cheers at chess matches??!! I'm never going to make it to Nationals with a team like this. All I've ever wanted to do in life is cheer for the Titans. My mom (the most gorgeous, youngest ex-Titan cheerleader of ALL TIME, BTW) must be so disappointed! How she ended up with such a spastic... Views: 24
Mandy Hardy lost more than a breast to cancer; she lost her fiancé when he dumped her a week before her mastectomy. Her ego bruised and her self-esteem battered, Mandy's sure she'll never fall in love again.Justin Seward is a headstrong Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer with a heart of gold and the supernatural ability to command the seas. He had to hide his feelings while Mandy was engaged to his best friend. Now that she's free, he's vowed to make her his.Together, they may hold the key to each other's salvation. But when Justin's past catches up with him, and Mandy's ex-fiancé wants vengeance, they realize they might not live long enough for happily ever after. The Calling is a contemporary romance with a paranormal twist. Warning: This book contains explicit love scenes. Views: 24
The cause of death is "undetermined," but the cops peg Chicago television producer Kate Conway as the main suspect when her soon-to-be ex-husband, Frank, is found dead. To make matters worse-and weirder- Frank's new girlfriend suddenly wants to be friends. Happy for the distraction, Kate throws herself into a new work assignment for the television program Missing Persons: the story of Theresa Moretti, a seemingly angelic young woman who disappeared a year earlier. All Kate wants is a clichâe story and twenty-two minutes of footage, but when the two cases appear to overlap, Kate needs to work fast before another body turns up -- her own. Views: 24
Being the youngest daughter of the Devil isn't all it s cracked up to be. The days of teenage rebellion and vows of chastity made just to tick off her father are over, and now all Faith Bettincourt wants is a nice, quiet life. Unfortunately, thanks to the unexpected arrival of her demonically-downsized sister, a ditzy succubus roommate, and dear old Dad himself, Faith s plans for a relaxing vacation spent watching reruns go up in flames.Now it's all Faith can do to keep the family reunion from Hell (literally) under wraps, and the angelically-inclined hottie across the hall from realizing there's something weird about his neighbor. And, thankfully, it's working. Until an angelic stalker shows up in a bid to steal her powers and take over the world. Forget watching reruns. With the way things are going, Faith will need the luck of the Devil just to survive until Monday. Patricia Eimer puts a fun, new spin on what it means to be the devil's daughter! ~ Linda Wisdom, National Bestselling Author, Demons Are A Girl's Best FriendReview"Patricia Eimer puts a fun, new spin on what it means to be the devil's daughter!""Ms. Eimer's twist on God and the Devil is genius. . . . Luck of the Devil is pure entertainment with satirical religious undertones that yield uncontrollable, giggles-worthy hilarity that simply adds to the fun."4 Stars "This book should come with a warning: 'There's enough laugh-out-loud high jinks to cause readers to crack a few ribs.' Eimer's comical tone flows effortlessly, with saucy flair and a warm charming touch." About the AuthorPatricia Eimer is a small-town girl who was blessed with a large tree in the backyard made for reading in on summer days. Mixed with too much imagination, it made her a bratty child but fated her to become a storyteller. She currently lives in Pittsburgh with her two wonderful kids and a husband that learned the gourmet art of frozen pizzas to give her more time to write. When she s not writing she can be found fencing and arguing about with her dogs about who s in charge. Views: 24
