In My Mailbox and Mailbox Monday - 12/13

IMM is a meme started at The Story Siren with some inspiration from Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.

Anyone can participate in IMM and you are not limited to only sharing books that arrive via your mailbox. You can also share books that you've bought or books that you've gotten at the library.

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. 



This week I got a lot of books again.  The week started with a surprise from Tor Publishing who sent me Passion Play by Beth Bernobich and Songs of the Dying Earth by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.  Thanks to Tor for these books.  Then from Nightshade books I received a copy of The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor for review; this looks hilarious and I am looking forward to reading it.

Then of course I had to buy Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, Book 6) by Richelle Mead because, well, I love this series and need to see how it ends right away!

I also bought a couple books for my Kindle A Glimpse of Darkness which was only 99 cents and was a neat experiment done by those authors where the readers got to choose the storyline.  I also purchased A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith for only $3.99; I have been wanting to read this forever and was excited to see it this cheap!  I got Merlin's Harp by Anne Crompton for free from Amazon for my Kindle also.

Lastly I got Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan from NetGalley.com; this is a choose your own adventure type fairy tale which I am really excited to read.

Then there were a few library books that I picked up which are listed here: Side Jobs (Dresden Files Short Stories) by Jim Butcher, Spirit Lens (Collegia Magica, Book 1) by Carol Berg,  The Great Cow Race (Bone, Book 2) by Jeff Smith and Eyes of the Storm (Bone, Book 3) by Jeff Smith.

For more info on these books please see below!  Hope you all have a great week of reading :-)



Passion Play by Beth Bernobich

First Sentence: "In the game of word links, a large vocabulary was not always an advantage."
From Amazon.com: ".Ilse Zhalina is the daughter of one of Melnek’s more prominent merchants. She has lived most of her life surrounded by the trappings of wealth and privilege.  Many would consider hers a happy lot. But there are dark secrets, especially in the best of families. Ilse has learned that for a young woman of her beauty and social station, to be passive and silent is the best way to survive.
When Ilse finally meets the older man she is to marry, she realizes he is far crueler and more deadly than her father could ever be. Ilse chooses to run. This choice will change her life forever.
And it will lead her to Raul Kosenmark,  master of one of the land’s most notorious pleasure houses…and who is, as Ilse discovers, a puppetmaster of a different sort altogether.  Ilse discovers a world where every pleasure has a price and there are levels of magic and intrigue she once thought unimaginable. She also finds the other half of her heart.

Sure to appeal to fans of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series."

Songs of the Dying Earth by George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois

First Sentence: "Puillayne of Giusz was a man born to every advantage life offers, for his father was the master of great estates along the favored southern shore of the Claritant Peninsula, his mother was descended from a long line of wizards who held hereditary possession of many great magics, and he himself had been granted a font strong-thewed body, robust health, and great intellectual power."
From Amazon.com: "To honor the magnificent career of Jack Vance, one unparalleled in achievement and impact, George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, with the full cooperation of Vance, his family, and his agents, have created a Jack Vance tribute anthology: Songs of the Dying Earth. The best of today's fantasy writers to return to the unique and evocative milieu of The Dying Earth, from which they and so many others have drawn so much inspiration, to create their own brand-new adventures in the world of Jack Vance’s greatest novel.

Half a century ago, Jack Vance created the world of the Dying Earth, and fantasy has never been the same. Now, for the first time ever, Jack has agreed to open this bizarre and darkly beautiful world to other fantasists, to play in as their very own. To say that other fantasy writers are excited by this prospect is a gross understatement; one has told us that he'd crawl through broken glass for the chance to write for the anthology, another that he'd gladly give up his right arm for the privilege. That's the kind of regard in which Jack Vance and The Dying Earth are held by generations of his peers.

This book contains original stories from George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Dan Simmons, Elizabeth Moon, Tanith Lee, Tad Williams,  Kage Baker, and Robert Silverberg, along with fifteen others--as well as an introduction by Dean Koontz."

The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor

Second Sentence: "Could be worse, after all, could be worse."
From Amazon.com: "The town of Lake Woebegotton, MN is a small town, filled with ordinary (yet above average) people, leading ordinary lives. Ordinary, that is, until the dead start coming back to life, with the intent to feast upon the living! Now this small town of above average citizens must overcome their petty rivalries and hidden secrets in order to survive an onslaught of the dead."

Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy, Book 6) by Richelle Mead

First Sentence: "I don't like cages."
From Amazon.com: "The epic finale in Richelle Mead's #1 international bestselling Vampire Academy series."

eBooks: 

A Glimpse of Darkness

First Sentence: "By the time Munira bint Azhar stepped out of her street-level apartment that Monday morning, she had two good reasons to turn around and crawl right back into bed."
From Amazon.com: "An original collaboration among five of the genre’s brightest authors, A Glimpse of Darkness is urban fantasy as it’s never been done before. Originally featured on Suvudu.com, this is Random House’s first multicontributor chain story in which the readers voted on the outcome—now published here in its entirety as a thrilling eBook.

Munira bint Azhar, the half-human daughter of a djinn, is a skilled Retriever in the city of Port Nightfall. Now the powerful sorcerer Temesis has given Munira a dire ultimatum: steal a magical lantern—the Light of Ta’lab—from the horrific undead kingdom below the city, or watch her father die at Temesis’s hand. Will she be able to retrieve the lantern and save her father’s life, or will they both perish in the process?

With an Afterword featuring the choices readers were given at the end of each chapter."

A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith

First Sentence: "From the tower lookout in the royal castle-highest tower in all the kingdom of Nym-Princess Rhis peered down through the misting rain at a messenger on the main road."
From Amazon.com: "Rhis, princess of a small kingdom, is invited along with all the other princesses in her part of the world to the coming of age party of the Crown Prince of Vesarja, which is the central and most important kingdom. When Iardith, the prettiest and most perfect of all the princesses, is abducted, Rhis and her friends go to the rescue.
What happens to Rhis and her posse has unexpected results not only for the princesses, but for the princes who chase after them. Everyone learns a lot about friendship and hate, politics and laughter, romantic ballads and sleeping in the dirt with nothing but a sword for company. But most of all they learn about the many meanings of love.
Sherwood Smith is the author of over 25 books, in particular stories for children and young adults. She has been writing fantasy since age eight, and her best known novel CROWN DUEL is currently in its ninth printing."

Merlin's Harp by Anne Crompton

First Sentence: "When I was yet a very young woman I threw my heart away."
From Amazon.com: "When I was yet a very young woman I threw my heart away. Ever since then I have lived heartless, or almost heartless, the way Humans think all Fey live.
Among the towering trees of magical Avalon, where humans dare not tread, lives Niviene, daughter of the Lady of the Lake. Her people, the Fey, are folk of the wood and avoid the violence and greed of man. But the strife of King Arthur's realm threatens even the peace of Avalon. And while Merlin the mage has been training Niviene as his apprentice, he now needs her help to thwart the chaos devouring Camelot. Niviene's special talents must help save a kingdom and discover the treachery of men and the beauty of love..."

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan

First Sentence: "Cinderella's shoulders quivered with fatigue as she tipped the twenty-seventh wooden bucket into her stepmother's bath.
From Amazon.com: "In this fast-paced story full of adventure and romance, Cinderella is more than just a servant girl waiting for her prince—she's a tough, fearless girl who is capable of taking charge of a dangerous situation. Seeking to escape the clutches of her evil stepmother, Cinderella perfects her ninja skills and magic talents in secret, waiting for the day when she can break free and live happily ever after. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Cinderella and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!"


From Library:

Side Jobs (Dresden Files Short Stories) by Jim Butcher

First Sentence: "
From Amazon.com: "Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher-a compendium of cases that Harry and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious. Also included is a new, never-before-published novella that takes place after the cliff-hanger ending of the new April 2010 hardcover, Changes. This is a must-have collection for every devoted Harry Dresden fan as well as a perfect introduction for readers ready to meet Chicago's only professional wizard."

Spirit Lens (Collegia Magica, Book 1) by Carol Berg

First Sentence: "Philosophers claimed the Blood Wars had irredeemably corrupted magic."
From Amazon.com: "In a kingdom on the verge of a grand renaissance, where natural science has supplanted failing sorcery, someone aims to revive a savage rivalry...
For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery's decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life's bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria's last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the king of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled.
As the king's new agente confide, Portier - much to his dismay - is partnered with the popinjay Ilario de Sylvae, the laughingstock of Sabria's court. Then the need to infiltrate a magical cabal leads Portier to Dante, a brooding, brilliant young sorcerer whose heretical ideas and penchant for violence threaten to expose the investigation before it's begun. But in an ever-shifting landscape of murders, betrayals, old secrets, and unholy sorcery, the three agentes will be forced to test the boundaries of magic, nature, and the divine..."

The Great Cow Race (Bone, Book 2) by Jeff Smith

First Sentence: "The spring fair!"
From Amazon.com: "In THE GREAT COW RACE, volume 2 of this 9-book epic, Fone Bone and his cousins plan to return home after visiting the village of Barrelhaven with Thorn and Gran'ma Ben. But Phoney risks everything on one last get-rich-quick scheme for the town's annual Great Cow Race. As usual, Phoney's plans go disastrously awry, and Boneville seems further away than ever. Meanwhile, ominous signs indicate that a war is brewing, and Fone finds himself helping his friends defend their valley from a formidable enemy."

Eyes of the Storm (Bone, Book 3) by Jeff Smith

First Sentence: "High aloft in th' cross-trees was that mad Tashtego!"
From Amazon.com: "In "Eyes of the Storm," volume three of the nine-book BONE saga, Lucius, Smiley, and Phoney survive an attack by the rat creatures and return safely to Lucius' tavern in Barrelhaven. Phoney, desperate to win a bet with Lucius, stokes the townspeople's fear of dragons and boasts that he is a professional dragonslayer. Back at the farm, Fone Bone and Thorn are troubled by strange dreams, and Gran'ma Ben's reaction to them is stranger still: She reveals long-kept secrets and warns of great danger. Thorn, Fone Bone, and Gran'ma Ben may have to leave the farm forever."