Happy Birthday eldithadisciple !

I hope you are doing well!

Happy Birthday octopedingenue !

Wishing you a day filled with good friends, good books, and cake!

Ha Ha, Silly Me ...

Well, artillie was right to be suspicious of the publisher's response in the case of the cover of Justine Larbalestier's book Liar. As unusualmusic has pointed out on Alas! A Blog and Angry Black Woman - yes, there is now going to be a young African American woman on the cover, but in point of fact, she still doesn't look like the protagonist of the story, and the cover is still problematic.

Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad (Minister Faust)

Hamza Senesert was once a contender, a creative grad student with a talent for writing. Now he washes dishes in a trendy "fun" restaurant. His best friend Yehat Gerbles is in a similar state of career petrification: he works as a clerk in a video store, even though he's a (mostly) self-taught engineering wizard. Together, they share a house in a vibrant multi-ethinic neighborhood of Edmonton (Canada) called Kush, where they are the Coyote Kings, well-liked operators of a camp/afterschool activity center for the neighborhood kids and connoisseurs of science fiction, comics, and role-playing games.

Their weirdly pleasant world (weirdly, considering their job situations and Hamza's writer's block and broken heart) becomes a lot more weird and much, much less pleasant when Hamza meets and falls for a truly impressive woman of mystery named Sherem. All at once, these endearingly geeky lifelong buddies are mixed up with comic book-type villains who are all too real and deadly, strangely seductive drugs, and bizarrely horrific cults.

I really enjoyed this book, which plays right into my love of buddy stories and generalized geekdom. I will note that Faust is in love with language, and writes like it: this is in no way a straightforward narrative (indeed, it begins with an epilogue). It also includes several very gruesome, violent scenes, and Sherem is the only female character with more than a walk-on part.