If I Believe Beyond Redemption Is The Best Book Then It Is!

When I first saw Michael R Fletcher’s Beyond Redemption I was interested. Both the title and the cover art caught my eye. The premise captured me. I knew I’d be reading it soon and started shuffling my book plans to include it in! I’m very glad I did!


Beyond Redemption has become one of my favorite books from 2016 and will stay one of my favorites for a long time! This Dark Fantasy is rich in character, plot, and concept development! A very well executed story that draws you in. 


The premise of the story (Belief shapes Reality) is one I’ve often thought about, and I’m happy to see it dealt with in a Fantasy setting. The comparisons made between great power and great delusion are so interesting to see as they play out in the story. 


This is not a book for those who want clean cut heroes with stories that end happy. As the name implies these characters are bloody, gruesome, rough, dark, and difficult to be friends with; but you end up loving them anyways. Some stories TRY VERY HARD to be dark and in so doing become ridiculous or grotesque. This story doesn’t try to be dark, it is beautifully dark. It grips you and compels you to read on, from the quotes that start off the chapters, through the twists and turns of the story, and on to the final page. I couldn’t be happier with it and I have already purchased the sequel to go on further in the story! 

You can find the author on twitter here and you can find the book for sale here. Give it a read and see if you can figure out who the title refers to! Just be prepared for a beautifully dark and thought provoking story! 

How To Remove Pesky Stickers From Book Covers

Years ago while working with a book store I learned an easy method of removing those pesky stickers off of the cover of a book without damaging the book! This little handy trick has helped me through the years as many of mine own books are purchased through used bookstores. Today I’m sharing this with my fellow book lovers so that you can eliminate some hassle in your life by getting rid of those pesky stickers without leaving glue residue all over your books! Here’s what you’ll need:


A book with a sticker

A hair dryer

A butter knife (or an icing spreader)

A wet cleaning wipe (not pictured here but you can use a Lysol wipe for this)

Step One: Heat it up!


You’ve got to heat up the sticker to melt the glue beneath and cause it to loosen its death grip upon your beloved book! The time differs for each sticker of doom you encounter, but you at least want to be able to work your finger under a corner of it. 

Step Two: Peel it back!


Now that the evil glue has loosed its hold on your book you want to take your butter knife (or icing spreader) and start working it along the sticker as you slowly peel it back with your free hand. You may find that after you’re about halfway you need to pause and give the sticker a blast of hot air from the hairdryer. Some of them refuse to go without a fight. The logic behind using a knife for this part is it keeps the hot melted glue off of you and spares your fingernails. 


Step Five: Wipe out!


Take your wet wipe (I use the Lysol wipes, but I’ve seen it done with Windex and paper towels too) and wipe off the remaining glue. This should be the final step! If you’ve taken your time and not rushed through it your book should now look like this:


Yay! Sticker free! Perfect and ready to go for your next Bookstagram Photoshoot! 

It’s really an easy method of solving the book sticker crisis! Allowing you to enjoy your books and not fear what stickers they may place upon them. Thanks for reading! Hope this helps!

And a special thank you to L.E. Modesitt Jr for writing this omnibus and the store that stickered it up so that I could share this knowledge with y’all! 


For Christmas My True Love Gave To Me…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our home to you and yours! Here’s hoping your days have been filled with joy, peace, love, cheers, and books! Mine have been and I want to brag for a moment on one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given:


My lovely wife knows how much I love books so she created a book specifically to let me know how much she loves me! This wonderful book might not be on GoodReads but it deserves a review of its own!


The author is my favorite author! I loved her work so much I married her! 🙂


The book captures all that my wife loves about me and us and even our little puppy Piper. It’s a wonderful gift that captured my heart. Thank you, Luv. 


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The Winner Of RedStarReviews’ Favorite Book Of 2016 Is….

Each year I select my “Favorite Book Of The Year” and it is definitely a difficult task! I have tried to keep the book selection to one of the more current books I’ve read in that year which helps me narrow down the selection process, but as this is a subjective award I feel free to award it to any book I read in the calendar year. That said let’s look over the past winners of the award and then announce 2016’s Favorite Book Of The Year!

First up is 2013’s winner of Favorite Book Of The Year:


Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It fought off tough contenders in 2013 such as Ship Of Fools to win this award. It is an interesting tale marvelously told. A multi perspective character to start things off with a bang! Seriously the primary character starts off with multiple view points and that’s neat to me! Also this book challenges gender bias and does so in a unique and interesting way. Excellent SciFi. 

This leads us to the 2014 winner of Favorite Book Of The Year:


Red Rising by Pierce Brown takes The Iliad and combines it with Warhammer40K style action and weaves a grand tale of betrayal, intrigue, vengeance, and heartbreak. Imagine your people slaving away in dangerous conditions in mines never to see the light of day, dying young, risking everything, with only the belief that you’re doing this so that mankind itself won’t perish keeping you strong. Now imagine that after sacrificing everything you learn that all that you know is a lie and your people are merely slaves being used to enrich your masters above you…. That’s where this story starts, and from there an amazing adventure takes place. Red Rising beat books such as Half A King, Consider Phlebas, The Southern Reach Trilogy to win the award. 

The book that won the 2015 Favorite Book Of The Year award is:


The Girl In The Road by Monica Byrne which is a beautifully told story that will place you within the hearts of the characters and let you see life through their eyes! Monica Byrne has a way of pulling you not only into the story but also into the characters too. This tale is an outward adventure that reflects the inward journey our characters are on. It is a masterpiece and it’s one that causes you to see this world we’re in through different perspectives. I had thought Golden Son would be my favorite of 2015, or Armor, or Half The World, but in truth The Girl In The Road surpasses them!

Which brings us to…

The WINNER…

Of the 2016…

RedStarReviews…

Favorite…

Book…

Of…

The…

Year…

Award!

And the winner is:


Jeffrey Alan Love for his book: Notes From The Shadowed City! 

This book is AMAZING! It is an illustrated tale of a man who has forgotten who he is while finding himself inside a magical city filled with dark and dangerous wonder. I love the artwork and was completely captivated by the story. This is a book to fire up the imaginations of the readers! A fantasy that introduces you to some of the lessor known magical swords hidden away within the Shadowed City. This beat Passage At Arms, The Incorruptibles, Children Of Fire and all others to carry away the award this year!


I am looking forward to finding out what book will win the award in 2017! 

December Reading Plans! Attacking The Currently Reading Stack

This past February I decided to clean up my currently reading list. The goal was to finish the books I had started in 2015. It was a great goal yet it was a little ambitious for such a short month. So now I’ve decided to try something different and set December aside as the month to attack my currently reading stack!


This means I’ll attempt to work through these seven books in December! I fully expect to fall short and probably to start reading an extra book or two alongside these seven, but it’s nice to have goals! I figure that with December being such a busy month it is a better time to try and finish books I’ve already started rather than start new books. We’ll see how it goes!


Betrayer by Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the 24th book of the ongoing Horus Heresy series I love so much. Always good to have some GrimDark Military SciFi on hand!

The Worlds Of Frank Herbert is a short story collection from the master of SciFi and a good way to prepare me for January’s Vintage SciFi Month!

Awakenings by Edward Lazellari is an Urban Fantasy that is starting off in a very kick ass grab your attention fashion. 


Gene Wolfe’s Book Of The New Sun series is a masterpiece of SciFi and I’m loving it. The goal is to complete the second book The Claw Of The Conciliator.  

Gail Z Martin’s War Of Shadows is the third book of her awesome Ascendent Kingdoms saga. Post magic apocalypitic fantasy? With good characters? Easy to enjoy!


These last two are the long reads that I doubt I’ll complete in December and expect to be reading into 2017. 

Bloodheir by Brian Ruckley is the second book of The Godless World trilogy and I couldn’t keep myself from starting it after I finished Winterbirth. 

House Of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski is off to a creepy start and I know this one will take me a while. 

So that’s my December Reading Plans! Finishing up 2016 and getting ready for new reads in 2017! 

999 Books? 999 Books!

Acorrding to GoodReads I just read my 999th book. 999. That’s pretty cool!


Book 999 was A Hat For Mrs Golden by Michelle Edwards and G Brian Karas. It was amazing. A really touching story about knitting and love that brought a tear to my eye. Cute illustrations and great storytelling combine in one book. This one is well worth your time!


999 books read. I know this doesn’t count rereads, and also I’m sure I’ve forgot to add all the books I read as a child to the list; but still 999 books read is pretty cool!


I’m currently reading 8 books right now. Whichever one I finish first will be my 1,000th book read. I’m just shaking my head and thinking how cool that is. I’m also thankful for something like GoodReads that has helped me count up and keep track of initial reads of books and helped me remember my thoughts on those books. 


We’ll see which book becomes the 1,000th book read and then excitedly see which is book 1,001 and then 1,002 and then 1,003 and so on! Because the joy of reading should never end! Looking forward to my next 999 books! Happy reading everyone! 

Ship Of Fools Discussion Part Two: The Dead Ship *SPOILER ALERT*

Time for the second Ship Of Fools discussion! This time we tackle Part Two: The Dead Ship. This will cover pages 97-209 so please don’t spoil anything by reading this post until you’ve read this part of Richard Paul Russo’s masterpiece of Horror SciFi. 


An eerie section of the story! Bartolomeo is set free from his jail cell only to be used as a political pawn by both the Captain and the Bishop. He’s sent as a sacrificial lamb to the alien ship, and yes the ship seems dead! But even in death you have to ask yourself is the ship evil? Or just hostile to alien life?


The ship is the central character to this part of the story. As we explore it and get to know it we are left with more questions than answers. Gravity that shifts? A room full of razor wire? A room that reminds our explorers of the horrors they found at the abandoned colony? What is the terror that lurks behind the closed doors? And finally the surprise of all surprises: a human! What is she doing on the ship? What is her story?


And yet in the midst of all of this you’re left wondering about the quiet war between the Captain and the Bishop. At first the Captain seemed noble but now you know the level of betrayal he’ll stoop to in self preservation. The Bishop has always seemed self advancing but now with the mystery of his secret visits to the ship he starts to take on a sinister characteristic….

We are approaching the resolution of it all! Finishing up the book and part three this week! Hope you’re enjoying this read of Ship Of Fools. 

VintageSciFiMonth Is Approaching!

January is VintageSciFiMonth and it is fast approaching! It’s time to select some books, comic books, movies, tv shows, or radio shows that came out prior to the year you were born and enjoy them this January!


VintageSciFiMonth is really that easy to join! The “rules” are easy: you just read and enjoy older SciFi and/or Fantasy! Instead of getting into a huge debate about what qualifies as VintageSciFi the founder of the month LittleRedReviewer just asks that the book be from before the year you were born. Even this rule isn’t set in stone so if you’re wondering where to find SciFi from before you were born feel free to enjoy some from a few decades back regardless of the year of birth rule! We just want folks to join in and have fun!


If you have no idea where to start may I suggest DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson from 1959. I’ve read this book twice now and loved it both times! To help a few of my friends ease into the world of VintageSciFi I’ll be reading it again starting 01/01/17 and you are welcome to join in! It is an awesome SciFi that will give you a good feel for SciFi around the 60’s and help you to get your feet wet! 


After DORSAI! I’ll be jumping four books ahead into The Childe Cycle by GRD and reading The Tactics Of Mistake because each January I read a little more of this excellent series of books. After that I’m still collecting my reading list but I expect it to include some Frank Herbert as well! 


TITAN by John Varley might sneak into the list since I bought it last year then realized it was published shortly after my birth…. we’ll see! 🙂 


Please join us in January for this awesome month of reading! It is amazing to see the future through the eyes of the past, and it is so much fun every year. If you’re on Twitter you can follow @VintageSciFi_ for news, updates, and features! Let me know if you need book suggestions. Looking forward to the sixth year of VintageSciFiMonth! 

Our Weekly Dark Horse Presents Volume 24

Our Weekly Dark Horse Presents Vol 24

Hey! We’re getting better at this weekly thing!


Ok this volume was excellent. Simply excellent. This is the sort of stories that caused DHP to be a favorite of mine! 


Aliens has now joined the lineup! Mark Nelson and Mark Verheiden craft and interestingly thoughtful take on Aliens that will set the stage for the greatness that is to come in later volumes. 


Leopoldo Durañona’s Race Of Scorpions is one of the more beautifully illustrated tales that graces the pages of DHP. The art makes me think of Moebius. The story is interesting and engaging! Our heroes escape the town to encounter danger in the desert and then unknown peril in the city. I love this story. 


Homicide by John Arcudi with art by Grant Miehm is a worthwhile read that kicks off a continual favorite within these pages. John Arcudi does an excellent job with hard boiled detective stories and serial tales. Really happy to see it from its earliest stages!


Rick Geary again makes you shake your head at his tales in Police Beat. His mind is so interesting. 

Next volume continues some amazing tales and introduces more! 

Ship Of Fools Discussion Part One Insurrection *SPOILER ALERT*

Ok so let’s talk Ship Of Fools by Richard Paul Russo! If you haven’t read the first part of the book (pages 1-95) please don’t read this so you won’t have anything spoiled for you! 
Part One is aptly named Insurrection. We have a Generational Ship that’s been lost for generations without destination or purpose. You have a rigid class structure designed to benefit those in power, dissatisfaction from the lower classes that know they deserve freedom, and vicious infighting amongst the leadership. Then throw in an abandoned colony that appears to have not been abandoned but rather brutally wiped out! This ship is ready for a mutiny!


However in the midst of this is thrown a terrible mystery. Who destroyed the colony? Who set up that beacon? Why did they do it? To warn others away or to draw them in? 


Then have you noticed that the main character isn’t the most likable of characters? He’s got a few rough edges. But I like him. He’s a thinker, and he’s willing to change. However he is hated by those above and below him, and that’s a difficult burden to carry. How much can you change when people aren’t willing to let you change and just want to use you? 


What are your thoughts on all of this? Any early emotions towards the characters? Did the scene where Bartolomeo thought he saw something in the building give you chills? What did you think when they found the colonists? 

Next Saturday I’ll cover Part Two: The Dead Ship