So, that’s the sad news.  The happy news is that the Dan Wells signing at Little Professor went really well Friday night.  We had fun.  We had laughs.  We had cake!  I’ve got four signed copies of Partials and five signed copies of The Hollow City to give away.  To enter just leave a comment on the previous post.  You can see pictures from the signing over on the Little Professor facebook page.  He was very nice and only made fun of me a little bit.  He did tell the story of how we met, but I suppose, since I told that story on this very blog earlier I can’t complain too much.

My 100 Books in 2012 challenge is going well.  I’m currently working on book #56, so I’m a couple of books ahead.  Honestly, that’s mostly due to Laurell K. Hamilton because I plowed through the Merry Gentry series in about a week.  Now, I can’t settle on what to read.  Please, by all means, give me suggestions.  I’m currently listening to Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey.  It’s one of her Elemental Masters books set at the beginning of WWI, my favorite period.  I like it much more than I did Home From the Sea, which came out this year in the same series.  I’ll get more into that when it comes up in a few posts.  On with the reviews:

#37. Beauty in the Beast by Christine Danse

I listened to this on audio, although I believe it is also available as an ebook.  I got it because it came up when I did a search for steampunk at audible.com.  I wouldn’t really call it steampunk though.  True, the characters have a sort of clockwork, steam powered sled like thing.  But I wouldn’t say that the novella had an overall steampunk feel.  It’s still fairly interesting. 

The premise is that a group of performers have broken down on their way to a winter fair.  To repay the man who has taken them in they tell stories.  Some of them a brief, but Tara (our protagonist) tells a fairly long story about a girl who was orphaned and taken in by the fey.  She grows up and lives for a long time with the fey, but eventually becomes curious about the human world.  She steps back into the world to take up a mortal life.  But the fey are sure to tell her that she has but to call them and they will come.

Rolf, the host, tells a story of his own.  He talks about a scientist who, much like Dr. Jekyll, wanted to explore the chemical nature of man’s primitive side.  He manages to regress some lab animals to a more primitive state.  Then, accident befalls him and he is tainted by his own experiment.  Tragedy strikes and he retreats from the world for the sake of the people he might encounter.

It’s not a long book, nor is it especially complicated.  The writing is fairly good, and the reader well with the different voices and accents.  However, the romantic elements between Tara and Rolf weren’t especially compelling.  He was rough and tortured and she was curious and attracted.  Yay?  I would classify this much more as fantasy or fairytale than steampunk.  Outside of the sled the promised steam entirely failed to punk.  For $5.00 it whiled away a few hours and I certainly didn’t feel cheated.

#38. The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Lilian Jackson Braun

This is another in the Cat Who series.  In this particular volume, Qwill meets Thelma Thackery, an octogenarian who has moved back to Moose County after a successful career as a Hollywood restauranteur.  She plans to set up a supper club in Pickax with the help of her nephew.  However, as the renovations move forward things begin to go wrong for the would be hostess.  First her pet parrots are kidnapped and ransomed.  Later a dead body turns up in a delivery van.  Questions are even raised about the accidental death of Thelma’s twin brother.  Did he really fall or was he helped over the cliff?  Qwill and Koko are on the case!

#39.  Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

And again, we know I’m a crazy Jonathan Maberry fan.  So, I’ll spare you the histrionics.   This is book #2 in the Benny Imura series.  It’s six months after Benny tumbled Charlie Pink-eye off the edge of a mountain.  He and Nix have settled into a relationship, which, while not perfect, works pretty well for them.  Benny even has a pretty good relationship with his brother Tom. 

Tom, Benny, Lilah, and Nix are getting ready to head off into the rot and ruin in search of the plane they all saw right before the big battle.  Lots of people in town don’t want them to go.  They see it as Tom’s duty to defend them, but they don’t do anything about defending themselves.  There are also tensions within the group since Morgie and Chong won’t be going with them.  Tom offers Chong a slight reprieve.  He can come with them for two nights, to have some extra time to say goodbye.  Then Tom will have some friends bring him back to town. 

Then things start going wrong.  Very, very wrong.  New forces are moving in the great rot and ruin.  Someone new has stepped in to fill the shoes left by Charlie Pink-eye.  Rumors are floating around that Gameland has reopened.  And Tom is leading the kids straight through all of that.  Benny thought that he had seen the darkest times of his life.  He thought that nothing could be worse than facing down Charlie and the Motor City Hammer, or dealing with the zoms he’d already faced.  He had no idea how much worse it could get. 

Book 3 doesn’t come out until September.  Which is making me crazy.  On the bright side, it does come out on my birthday!  On the downside, it comes out after DragonCon so I’ll have to wait until next year to get it signed.  Le sigh.

Tara Cooper and three of her friends; Frederick, Miles, and Elizabeth; are on their way to London’s Frost Fair. They don’t have much luck since they are traveling by sled during a snow storm. They let us know that they are entertainers who were going to perform at the fair. Tara has a sense for things and she senses that there is something dark out there. They decide that they need to seek shelter.

The house that they stop at belongs to a trapper and his name is Rolph. In appreciation of Rolph’s hospitality, they suggest telling him some tales. Beth is first and tells a tale using her puppets. “Beauty in the Beast” is set around the time that the automatons were in their heyday. http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf If you watch this video, you will have an idea of what they do.

Tara is the next to tell a tale – a fae tale. She also asks Fred to provide some music. If you feel so inclined, you may want to put on some nice soft instrumental music while you read her tale. Her tale also has a lesson to it. After Tara’s story, it is then Mile’s turn. His tale also involves the automatons. If you want to read something about them, you can start at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton, and you can always stop by your library and see if they can give you any more information.

After Miles finishes his story, Tara asks Rolph if he has a tale to tell. His story is about alchemy. His story is dark compared to the other tales. Once all stories had been told and they ate Rolph’s stew, they proceeded to go to bed – all except Tara and Rolph that is. In the morning, they find that in order to fix their stomper they must travel into town.

I love how Christine describes the shop that Tara goes into. By her descriptions, I would be like a kid in a candy store. I would love to know if those types of stores still exist or at least be able to travel back in time to visit one.

That evening Tara and Rolph have an intimate moment together and Tara finds out what Rolph really is. No I’m not going to tell you. You will have to read this story to find out. And believe me you will want to read it. It’s the perfect story to read if all you have is a little time and want to read something great. It is a romance but it’s also something more. The romance is not what the story fixes on. It fixes itself onto the characters. I was almost sad to come to the conclusion. I wanted to read more of Tara and Rolph’s story.

I give “Beauty in the Beast” 4 1/2 stars.

The Past Week

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

Beauty in the Beast by Christine Danse

Firelight by Kristen Callihan

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

Reading Now

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Week Ahead

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley

Bought

• Pegasus by Robin McKinley
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
• Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsay
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
• One Day by David Nicholls
• The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
• Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig
• Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis
• The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
• Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr

For Review

• World on Fire by Hayley B. James (from NetGalley)
• The Merchant’s Daughter by Melanie Dickerson (from NetGalley)
• Firelight by Kristen Callihan (from NetGalley)
• Beauty in the Beast by Christine Danse (from NetGalley)
• Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard (from NetGalley)

Received

• Disillusionists trading cards (thanks to Carolyn Crane!)
• Wild & Steamy Anthology by Meljean Brook, Jill Myles, and Carolyn Crane
• Thief! by Megan Whalen Turner
• Eddis by Megan Whalen Turner

Beauty in the Beast focuses on a traveling troubadour group of puppeteers, singers, and

Beauty in the Beast by Christine Danse

storytellers stranded on a winter night. Though the story is short, Danse manages to allow all the main characters to have their own storytelling peace, telling tales that range from fae folklore to a startingly unique take of werewolf lore grounded in the novel’s steampunk premise. Danse utilizes the stories-within-a-story format to give us a glimpse at each character’s persona as they all contribute their own tale to the fireside storytelling roundabout. The stories themselves were quite charming, somewhat reminiscent of Patricia McKillip’s style of fairy tale retelling while never sounding rehashed or dated. I could easily see Danse filling an entire anthology with original fairy tales and would gladly pay to read it.

Had Danse chosen to stretch her short story into a novella, she might have managed to make the overarching plot more believable and compelling, but unfortunately I wasn’t sold on the quick connection forged between Tara and Rolph. I wish Danse had opted to push herself to embrace a novel-lenth format, because the bones of this story are quite good. Her writing is fluid and engaging, and the manner in which she ultimately ties together seemingly disparate plot threads is novel. Yet she never really reaches her destination, despite how pretty the ride there might be.

I’ll be looking out for more from Danse in the future, and recommend Beauty in the Beast as a worthwhile contribution to the steampunk genre, original fairy tales, paranormal romance, and Beauty and the Beast retellings.

Field Journal of Jonathan Orms, 1893

En route to polite exile in the Galapagos Islands (field work, to quote the dean of my university), I have found myself marooned on a deserted tropical paradise. Deserted, that is, except for my savior, a mysterious American called Marcus. He is an inventor—and the proof of his greatness is the marvelous new clockwork arm he has created to replace the unsightly one that was ruined in my shipboard mishap.

Marcus has a truly brilliant mind and the gentlest hands, which cause me to quiver in an unfamiliar but rather pleasant way. Surely it is only my craving for human companionship that draws me to this man, nothing more? He says a ship will pass this way in a few months, but I am welcome to stay as long as I like. The thought of leaving Marcus becomes more untenable with each passing day, though staying would be fatal to my career…

Island of Icarus, a bit of gay steampunk by Christine Danse, takes place in the 1800s and was the first GLBT (Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender) book I had read. I was unsure of what to expect. Was it going to be trashy and exploitative? Have gratuitous sex or be nauseating? It was none of the above.

The protagonist, Jonathan Orms went through life the same as any other healthy young male. He taught at University and was engaged to be married – both completely normal events – until he lost his arm in an accident. He was fitted with a clockwork prosthetic arm that helped him function normally, but was heavy, bulky, and clumsy. After the accident, his fiancé dumped him, as some are wont to do.

Those two events, in and of themselves, would be enough to depress anyone, and Jonathan was no exception. Hoping a change of scenery would help him recover, the University sent him abroad to do botanical research. The thought that they no longer needed him depressed him even more. After many weeks at sea, he’s washed overboard during a terrible storm and wakes up on a deserted island. Deserted except for a genius doctor named Marcus who does research of his own. His most ambitious project is creating clockwork wings that will allow him to fly, hence the reference to Icarus.

Marcus not only nurses Jonathan back to health, he also builds a smaller, sleeker, more responsive arm for him. Nothing untoward occurs and there is nothing to indicate the doctor is anything other than what he appears. Because he is reluctant to have his sexuality known by someone who may not approve or might harm him because of it, Marcus keeps that side of himself hidden.

The friendship between Jonathan and Marcus develops like any other friendship, slowly, tentatively. Through her sensitive writing, Christine allows Jonathan to explore his deepest, darkest feelings, deny long-buried urges, despise himself for his thoughts and longings, and eventually come to terms with his newfound sexuality. His journey of self-discovery is well written, illustrating the angst that many GLBT people feel as they try to discover their own path in life.

The love scenes are well written rather than going for the shock factor and there are many poignant moments throughout. The author could easily substitute a female character in Jonathan’s role and have a beautiful, sensitive love story; instead, it is the beautiful and sensitive love story of two men.

Given the recent deaths of gay and lesbian students who are bullied, beaten, or intimidated until they choose suicide over a life filled with harassment, this book highlights their dilemma and handles it in a very positive way without condemnation.

Find Christine Danse:
Website | Blog | Twitter

Book provided by Carina Press. (NetGalley)
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=paperbackdolls-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004774YN6&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr