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	<title>Violin in a Void</title>
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		<title>Violin in a Void</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com</link>
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		<item>
		<title>Review of Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/review-of-pandemonium-stories-of-the-apocalypse-edited-by-anne-c-perry-and-jared-shurin/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/review-of-pandemonium-stories-of-the-apocalypse-edited-by-anne-c-perry-and-jared-shurin/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 08:13:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anne C. Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[apocalypse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jared Shurin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Martin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jurassic London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[post-apocalypse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[short stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2344</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I debated reviewing Pandemonium. I received a review copy in November 2011, but it's only now that I read the whole thing cover to cover. When I finished, I learned that Pandemonium was a limited edition. Very limited: it was available for just over a year and now it's out of print in both paper and digital formats. Questioning the merits of reviewing a book that no one can buy, I figured I could perhaps help someone decide whether or not to take it off the tbr pile, borrow a copy from a library or friend, or perhaps check out some of the stories if they appear elsewhere. And of course there might be another print run. So, on with the end of the world!

The apocalypse is, of course, the theme of this anthology, but it's also inspired by the  work of John Martin an English Romantic painter famous for grandiose apocalyptic visions based on his intimate knowledge of the Old Testament and related mythology (such as John Milton's Paradise Lost). The cover of Pandemonium features the painting Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion, which is also the title of one of the most harrowing stories in the collection. I'd seen The Fallen Angels Entering Pandemonium  in the Louvre last year, and the anthology encouraged me to check out more of Martin's work online. And I must say - it's impressive stuff. It's epic. And I love the idea of an sff and horror anthology based on those paintings. <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/review-of-pandemonium-stories-of-the-apocalypse-edited-by-anne-c-perry-and-jared-shurin/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2344&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Pandemonium</media:title>
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		<title>Review of Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/review-of-murder-as-a-fine-art-by-david-morrell/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/review-of-murder-as-a-fine-art-by-david-morrell/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 12:12:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime thriller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Morrell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[historical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laudanum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metafiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mulholland books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mystery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ratcliffe Highway murders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas de Quincey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Victorian]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2340</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[London, 1854. A killer steps out onto to the streets to create a masterpiece of murder, a perfectly planned tableau of horror designed to evoke great pity and utter terror. His work is a realisation of the gruesome essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" by Thomas De Quincey, which details the brutal Ratcliffe Highway murders "that terrorised both London and all of England in 1811" but portrays them as a work of art.

Thomas De Quincey himself is in London with his daughter Emily, promoting his books because he desperately needs money. De Quincey became famous - or infamous - with his autobiography Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, detailing his addiction to laudanum - a combination of 90% alcohol and 10% opium that in Victorian times was commonly administered as a painkiller, even to children and babies. De Quincey's addiction is partly responsible for his literary success - he claims that laudanum opens up other realities, showing him new perspectives that he puts into his writing.

But it's also affected his health and he currently drinks enough to kill several people. Considered by many to be a degenerate, he's the first person that Detective Ryan and Constable Becker of Scotland Yard suspect. But as Emily - a strong, outspoken woman - points out, her father is too old and frail to go around murdering entire families. In fact, De Quincey might be part of the murderer's plans - he and Emily are staying in London at the expense of a mysterious benefactor who lured De Quincey with the promise of resolving a very personal mystery for him. And of course, the murderer has been inspired by De Quincey's writing.

Although Ryan and Becker are shocked by De Quincey's laudanum addiction and more than a little horrified at his fascination with the murders, they are sensible enough to see past De Quincey's reputation and Victorian sensibilities. With De Quincey and Emily's help they hunt down the master serial killer whose unbelievable acts of violence are reducing London to a state of terrified chaos. <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/review-of-murder-as-a-fine-art-by-david-morrell/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2340&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Up for Review: The Execution of Noa P. Singleton</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/up-for-review-the-execution-of-noa-p-singleton/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/up-for-review-the-execution-of-noa-p-singleton/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 15:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Up for Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime and mystery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crown Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death row]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elizabeth L. Silver]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[murder]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2333</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver (Crown Publishing) NetGalley Blurb: A beguiling debut novel about the stories we tell ourselves to survive, the scars that never fade and the things we choose to call the truth. &#8230; <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/up-for-review-the-execution-of-noa-p-singleton/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2333&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Review of Twin-Bred by Karen A. Wyle</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/review-of-twin-bred-by-karen-a-wyle/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/review-of-twin-bred-by-karen-a-wyle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 19:13:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alien breeding project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aliens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indie fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inter-species conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Karen A. Wyle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self-published]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twin-Bred]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2324</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When considering the possibility of alien contact, I worry how humanity will behave. As a species, we have frequently proven to be intolerant or hostile when confronted with difference (of race, gender, culture, nationality etc.). Sf has frequently used the alien as a metaphor for the other, exposing and critiquing modes of prejudice and oppression. Less socially conscious tales often reveal our assumptions about the other; consider the stereotype of aliens kidnapping humans for experiments or how many sf stories are about violent alien invaders, portraying other intelligent species as our enemies.

Twin-Bred by Karen A. Wyle is a case of humans behaving badly towards an alien whose motives and culture they do not understand because they can't or won't speak to them. It's an almost embarrassing portrayal of close-minded people encountering a race of technologically inferior beings who might turn hostile. <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/review-of-twin-bred-by-karen-a-wyle/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2324&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Twin-Bred2 by Karen A Wyle</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Up for Review: Murder as a Fine Art</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/up-for-review-murder-as-a-fine-art/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/up-for-review-murder-as-a-fine-art/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 11:30:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Up for Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime and mystery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime thriller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Morrell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[historical fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metafiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mulholland books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Scotland Yard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[serial killer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas de Quincey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2318</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[David Morrell, the creator of Rambo, has published 29 novels, 6 works of non-fiction, and numerous short-stories and essays. His latest novel is a historical murder mystery featuring  real-life author Thomas de Quincey. I&#8217;ve never paid any attention to Rambo, &#8230; <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/up-for-review-murder-as-a-fine-art/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2318&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Review of The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/review-of-the-bone-dragon-by-alexia-casale/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/review-of-the-bone-dragon-by-alexia-casale/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 15:17:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adoption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexia Casale]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faber and Faber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychological drama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[revenge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unreliable narrator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2313</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For four years, 14-year-old Evie has been living with broken ribs after being abused by her grandparents. Although she was adopted by Amy and Paul, who proved to be loving, devoted parents, it took three years before she trusted them enough to tell them about the pain and what it meant. When the novel opens she wakes up in hospital after her operation. As a memento, the doctor gives her the piece of rib that they removed. When she goes home to recover, Evie's Uncle Ben suggests she make something out of the piece of rib, and she decides on a dragon - her ideal pet. Uncle Ben carves the bone into shape and Evie spends her recovery time etching scales and other details into the bone.

She only wishes her dragon could be real: "my chest was tight with longing. If I had a dragon, I'd never be powerless again". And, inexplicably, Evie's desperate wish comes true - the dragon comes to life at night and becomes her tiny but powerful guardian. Under the dragon's direction, Evie sneaks out of the house at night and roams the almost mystical marshland of her neighbourhood. It is the dragon's way of helping her heal and come to terms with the abuse and neglect she has suffered. But the dragon has a mysterious plan too, and he's guiding Evie in the preparations for it. There is unfinished business that Evie cannot handle on her own, and that Paul, Amy and Ben could never handle for her. <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/review-of-the-bone-dragon-by-alexia-casale/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2313&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>The SA Fiction Collection: Shark&#8217;s Egg</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/the-sa-fiction-collection-sharks-egg/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/the-sa-fiction-collection-sharks-egg/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 May 2013 17:51:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The SA Fiction Collection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coming of age]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Henrietta Rose-Innes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kwela Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South African author]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[south african fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2309</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first post for my SA Fiction Collection reminds me why I love second-hand bookstores. It was also the first book I bought on my recent visit to South Africa. I spent two days in Joburg staying with Lu from Sugar and Snark, and she took me to Outer Limits, a comic book store in Melville. Among other geekery like games and figurines, Outer Limits has a small selection of new and second-hand genre fiction, and I spotted this slim, obscure title on the shelves: <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/the-sa-fiction-collection-sharks-egg/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2309&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Sharks Egg</media:title>
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		<title>Review of The Cutting Room by Mary Watson</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/review-of-the-cutting-room-by-mary-watson/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/review-of-the-cutting-room-by-mary-watson/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 10:34:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cape town]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ghosts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mary Watson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Penguin Books South Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychological thriller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[south african fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2302</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Lucinda is a cutter. She doesn't cut herself with blades - she cuts and edits film - but the sense of menace and the hint at harm and self-harm are not to be ignored. For the second time in their marriage, Lucinda's husband Amir has disappeared. The first time he went to do 'research', and left without saying a word to her, only sending an sms to say that he was ok. This time, Lucinda suspects that Amir has actually left her for good, although she has no way of knowing for sure because he hasn't communicated with her at all. Their marriage had become strained, and Lucinda finds Amir too inscrutable to understand what exactly has gone wrong. Is it her fault, or is it something else?

 Lonely and frustrated, she fills her days with work, dinner parties, and nights with trendy, pretty boys at bars in Long Street, Cape Town. Her nosy, paranoid neighbour keeps worrying about how vulnerable she and Lucinda are, as two women living alone in the crime-ridden Cape. Lucinda finds this annoying, but one night she is attacked with a knife in her bedroom.

Trying to get on with her life, Lucinda joins an old friend on his latest project - a documentary about a supposedly haunted house in the small town of Heuwelhoek. She doesn't believe in ghosts, and yet the house draws parallels with the figurative ghosts in her own life, and the problems that continue to haunt her.  <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/review-of-the-cutting-room-by-mary-watson/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2302&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Review of Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/review-of-wolfhound-century-by-peter-higgins/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/review-of-wolfhound-century-by-peter-higgins/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2013 19:04:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alternative history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[folklore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gollancz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gollancz Geeks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mythology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Higgins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[series]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thriller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban fantasy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2295</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I judged this book by its cover. I took one look and assumed it was a political or military thriller within the sf genre. A perfunctory glance at the blurb -  "SF thriller… alternative Russia" - and I moved on. Only when Gollancz Geeks sent out an email about the book and possible review copies did I take a closer look and realise that Wolfhound Century is actually the kind of weird, hard-to-categorise genre fiction that I like. It's still, in part, a political thriller but it's far more bizarre and surprising than I'd expected. 

It's set in an alternative Soviet Russia known as the Vlast, where for over three centuries angels have fallen from the sky, supposedly killed in a heavenly war. Their massive stone bodies have been used for buildings, machines, and biological modifications that serve the totalitarian state of the Vlast.  <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/review-of-wolfhound-century-by-peter-higgins/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2295&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins</media:title>
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		<title>Up for Review: Strange Bodies</title>
		<link>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/up-for-review-strange-bodies/</link>
		<comments>http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/up-for-review-strange-bodies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:32:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lauren</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Up for Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faber and Faber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marcel Theroux]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speculative fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/?p=2290</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The cover&#8217;s shit, but the plot summary made me curious. And hey, it&#8217;s written by Louis Theroux&#8217;s brother! I know that doesn&#8217;t mean the book will be good, but it made me read a bit more about Marcel Theroux. He &#8230; <a href="http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/up-for-review-strange-bodies/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=violininavoid.wordpress.com&#038;blog=14245931&#038;post=2290&#038;subd=violininavoid&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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