Linnea Sinclair Rebels and Lovers

Linnea Sinclair Rebels and Lovers


Linnea Sinclair writes science fiction romances. This is a sequel to the novel Hope's Folly. Hope's Folly was nominated for the Reviewers Choice Award by Romantic Times. It is a story of forbidden love and rebellion. Devin Guthrie, the scion of a wealthy family is chasing after his nephew, Trip Guthrie who has run off to join the rebellion.



Devin and Trip must avoid imperial forces and criminals who are attempting to kidnap Trip. There are many classic devices used; the bar fight, the chase, the family betrayal, the evil imperial bureaucracy. It makes for light hearted escapist reading.

While this is happening Devin falls in love with Makkaiden Griggs, a down on her luck starship captain. She needs a bit of saving. The saving adds a bit of spice to the love scenes.

There is just the right amount of technical wizardry to make it science fiction. Trip hacks the computer of a spaceship, there are laser pistols, a few aliens, and even a medical malady caused by exposure to toxic chemicals.

If you want to read some lighthearted science fiction romance, Linnea Sinclair's novels are very entertaining. I especially liked The Down Home Zombie Blues, it had some poetry and musical lyrics in it. Her website is at http://linneasinclair.com/books.html

Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair

Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair

I picked up a copy of Hope's Folly on February 6, 2009 at New York Comic Con. They were displaying The Down Home Zombie Blues at the Bantam booth for science fiction and I asked them if they had a new book by Linnea Sinclair. They gave me the Advanced Reading Copy of Hope's Folly. It is due out on February 24, 2009.

It is deeply satisfying to be able to read a good book before anyone else does. There are a few minor elements that probably will be changed, but with an Advanced Reading Copy, it is very close to the finished product most of the time. Linnea Sinclair has written many award winning romance books. She has won the RITA, The Sapphire, and the Prism awards for romance novels. Her website is at http://www.linneasinclair.com/ .

There is a playlist of music in the front of the book which she listens to. She even lists a website for the recordings. http://www.blacktigerrecordings.com/ .

This book is what Star Trek might be like if it included hot sex, and more violent political intrigue. Including this adds spice where most space operas don't have it. This is the major reason I like her stories so much.

The dynamic of older man and younger woman is done very well. The older man is the commanding Admiral Philip Guthrie and the younger woman is his security officer, Rya Bennton.

What also makes this story so good is the political intrigue added to the typical shootouts and space battles. There are saboteurs on board the ship the Hope's Folly and Rya Bennton must find them. Also there is an assassination and a kidnapping attempt against the Admiral Guthrie. This makes for a fast paced story with excitement at every turn.

The setting is the classic rebel ship fighting an empire torn asunder space opera setting. The rebel ship of course is outnumbered and outgunned.

The book is printed by Bantam books. I don't think this book is purely formulaic. If you like science fiction and a little romance you will really like this book.

Daily Thoughts

The Reading Girl, marble sculpture by John Adams Jackson (1825–1879), now displayed in Mudd Library, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA.

Daily Thoughts

I got a little extra sleep today in anticipation of my split day. I am going to be reading some poetry at 4:00 p.m. at my library. Hopefully, it will be a good turnout. It is not too cold like last time. It was 18 degree outside at the last open microphone. I think more people will show up this time.

Black Dust

The sky burned red

A Poisoned wind blew

From the eastern oceans

The wind blew cold

Taking away summer

Freezing hard cold earth

Plants wilted brown died

Animals littered the plains

The earth took them

They are black dust

The earth is poisoned

Blackened with ruin

A man treks across

Plains, mountains, cities

Searching empty ruins

He travels northward

No hot sun shines

In the perpetual grey

He finally reaches the

The equator where the

Poison did not fall

Light comes through clouds

This is an attempt at a poem about nuclear winter.

Shatter

Shatter your preconceptions

March forward ever onward

In the open world

I should be going to the O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in a few minutes. I think that I'll be a little more ready this time. I still have the second part of the first day of the conference to write up. I got some extra sleep last night.

I spent the morning listening to the keynote speakers at the conference. Then I wandered through the exhibitor floor, checking each exhibitor and seeing what was there. There were things there which I heard about and saw which were astounding. The New York Times is developing a customizable newspaper kiosk where you can have a customized newspaper printed for you on the spot. There is a turnkey machine for printing completed books which they are planning on leasing or selling to large libraries.

I saw the future written large. It was clearly more change than most people can imagine coming within the next year or two. Stanza, the most people ereader for the iphone in their presentation said they had their software for reading ebooks on iphones downloaded over 1.3 million times. They were planning to also provide software for other platforms as well.

I held the Plastic Logic ebook reader which is a half inch deep, 8 1/2 x 11 inch book reader. It runs on electronic ink and is almost completely made of polymers. It appears to be very light and very readable. It is as readable as newsprint.

I am beginning to think electronic ink very well could be a Gutenberg moment in the written word. There may be a more immediate world where every bit of information is on demand and right there in front of your face. It is coming faster than you might imagine.

The conference was eye opening. I am just starting to process everything which I have learned in the last few days. It is not easy. I have a lot to think and write about.

I had to run to work to get things going on time. The first thing I did was make sure the open microphone poetry reading was going to be set up on time. It was a little late. We had the AARP tax people finishing up their free tax preparation. Still, the reading went well. A local poet volunteered to do a workshop on poetry writing in April. There were eleven people and a bunch of kids who came over from the children rooms who wanted cookies and soda from the refreshments.

After the poetry reading, we have a business workshop for starting a small business in the community room right now. There are ten people downstairs listening to a presentation on entrepreneurship. I am hoping that it will go well.

Everything seems to be happening at once.

I finished reading Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair on the way home from work. This may take me a little bit to write a proper review for it.

Meandering Thoughts

So-called Sappho, fourth style fresco; Pompeii, Region VI, Insula occidentalis. A young woman is shown with a pen (stylus) that is used to enscribe writing on the wax tablets she is holding. The net in her hair is made of golden threads and typical for the fashion of the Neronian period.

Meandering Thoughts

Today was fairly quiet after the collection development meeting. I still have to design some flyers for a Sunday family film program and think about putting together a survey for patron use of the library.

On the way home on the train, I started reading Linnea Sinclair, Hope's Folly. It is romantic science fiction. The setting is on a military ship. One of the things I like about her writing is that there is a lot of intrigue in it. They have already tried to assassinate one of the main characters twice. It reminds me of Star Trek a bit except for with sex and violent intrigue. I reviewed Linnea Sinclair's Down Home Zombie Blues earlier. I like her writing a lot.

I am not reviewing anything tonight because I think it would be a bit too much. I relaxed did a bit of yoga and listened to the hypnosis tape from I Can Make You Thin.

I am planning on going to the conference early tomorrow, spending half a day, then going to work. It would be a split day. So I am turning in early to catch some extra sleep.

Romance Books

It has been a rather interesting day like all lovely days.

Romance Books

My director asked me to place a large order of romance paperbacks. Apparently, our racks were emptying. So, I went to http://www.romantictimes.com and picked out a variety of romance paperbacks. I actually don't mind trashy romance paperbacks.

I sometimes read Elizabeth Lowell, and I reviewed Linnea Sinclair's The Downhome Zombie Blues which is kind of like Star Trek except for with sex. Elizabeth Lowell wrote as the science fiction author, Ann Maxwell, and was nominated for a Hugo award for her science fiction romance, Name of A Shadow.

There are a number of authors who are popular at our library in the romance section, Donna Hill and Gwynn Forster are two best selling black romance authors. I also like Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series which is quite interesting, it is a vampire romance story. There are of course all the campy contemporary authors like Amanda Quick, Candace Camp, and Linda Lael Miller.

In addition to spending time at Romantic Times, I also visited the Eharlequin site http://www.eharlequin.com . Eharlequin bought out BET Black Entertainments line of romance novels, so they now have an extensive set of African American romance books, including the Kimaru series. The other romance publishers I looked at were Avon Romance, Tor/Forge has a science fiction romance section, and Bantam/Dell. Dorchester Publishing which does the Hard Case Crime series of hardboiled mystery noire paperbacks also has a romance line which looks very campy. http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/NewRelease.cfm?L1=2&L2=0

I am about halfway through my order of mass market romance paperbacks. I'll probably finish it tomorrow.

I was busier than usual today, again. We had a meeting to discuss the agencies that served the disadvantaged and we divided up the telephone list to call different agencies for an open forum discussion.

Other than that, I spent some time as usual on the reference desk, did some weeding, and cleaned up my desk a bit more. It was a quite full day.

Good Afternoon

Persepolis ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemanid Dynasty

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon. I finished reading Wikinomics on the train to work this morning. Basically the book is about collaboration between different groups using a computer. I am going to write a review for the book soon. It might take a little while to get all my thoughts together.

This morning, I faxed in the request for a free pass to the New York Anime Festival and put in my paperwork for work to go there.

One book came in for me this afternoon, Linnea Sinclair, Shades of Dark. I really enjoyed her other science fiction romance novel, The Down Home Zombie Blues. I hope this novel is just as good.

I did some more weeding of books this morning. I am starting on the oversize or quarto books focusing on business. There are a lot less of these than in the regular collection, so it should go fairly quickly.

I also wrote my monthly report for my supervisor. It was a little shorter than usual this time. I'll probably be making up for it this coming month. I think there will be a lot for me to do. More than ever.

One of my favorite graphic novel artists is Marjane Satrapi. She has written a number of graphic novels that I have really liked including Embroideries, Chicken With Plums, Persepolis, and Persepolis II. Her graphic novels are about everyday life of ordinary citizens in Iran. The stories are quite interesting and very sophisticated.

I just placed the movie she adapted from her graphic novel, Persepolis on hold. The animation won the Jury Prize for the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar. It has won numerous prizes. I am really looking forward to seeing this film. I am currently #29 in the holds queue for the item, so I may have to wait a couple of weeks to get it.

Good Morning

Young Romance Comic Book

Good Morning

Good morning, I'm up, I've had my coffee. I put a science fiction romance paperback on hold Linnea Sinclair Shades of Dark. I actually read romance novels on occasion. Mostly science fiction and horror romances. There is just a lot more sex and relationships than in most science fiction and horror which tends to have cardboard cutout action heros as the main characters.

I think a lot of science fiction writers could learn something from reading a few romance novels. The exceptions of course are Philip Jose Farmer and Tanith Lee who have written science fiction novels about love. One of my favorite novels was Name of A Shadow by Ann Maxwell. It is a science fiction romanc that was nominated for the Hugo award. I think it probably would have won if people had less prejudice against the romance genre.

Romance is the most read genre of fiction. There is nothing like sex and relationships. Another author who started out as a writer of gothic romances is Marion Zimmer Bradley. She then switched to science fantasy with her Darkover novels. I rather enjoyed reading them when she was writing them. I don't particularly like the author who took her place to continue the series.

The Down Home Zombie Blues-- Linnea Sinclair-- Review

Illustration by Howard Pyle; Pirate Romance

This is a science fiction romance. It is what you might get if you read star trek or stargate and added a decent amount of sex and romance to it. The book is campy and fun. It is full of cliches about science fiction.

Guardian Force Commander Jorie Mikkalah is hunting biomechanical zombies in the earth system. She must slip in with her crew and destroy the zombies without the earth people knowing about it.

Things don't go quite right and suddenly Jorie is hot and heavy with a greek cop from Miami named Theo. Theo saves Jorie from one of the monsters by using Jorie's laser pistol to burn out a zombies eyes. He understands how to use the pistol because it looked like something from Deep Space 1.

What will Jorie do? She has become involved in forbidden contact with an earth man. And eventually forbidden sex. Jorie really likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Theo. Earth food is wonderful and earth men must be even more wonderful.

Theo is taken aboard Jories ship where he is told that he will be sent to Paroo, a tropical island planet like Hawaii, because he has seen a guardian force ship. Then, Jorie convinces her crew that Theo should help them out. He knows about earth and can help them kill the zombies. The crew is kind of amusing. There is "something like a miniature Wookie".

Theo brings the alien Guardians to his house where they set up a base of operations with an invisible forcefield and get ready to hunt zombies. Theo wonders what the neighbors will think, he needs a cover story for Jorie which he can explain to his aunt Tootie. This is pretty silly. He has a hot woman in his house.

Things go wrong and Jorie's ship disappears. There is a secret group of evil aliens on the planet controlling the zombies. Things get scary for Jorie (and really steamy between Jorie and Theo).

The Tresh, a group of aliens that look like absolutely perfect humans with a love of giving others pain are on the planet. The Tresh remind me of Khan Noonien Singh played by Ricardo Montalban in the Star Trek episode "Space Seed."

There is the dichotomy of pain and pleasure going on in the background. One of Jorie's crew must be rescued from the Tresh who have taken over Theo's house. Jorie and Theo retake the house. They must take a rescued crew member to a veterinarian to have the pain implant removed. Jorie is very pleased, veterinarians are the highest form of doctor on her world. If you pay close attention to the novel there are a lot of ridiculous things like this in the novel.

Eventually, alone and isolated on the planet, Jorie and Theo seek out help to destroy the remaining zombies. Theo manages to convince a few of his friends to help him kill zombies by showing off some of Jorie's super alien toys. Look we have a forcefield, a holoprojector, and a laser rifle, wow aliens.

There is a final showdown with the alien zombies. The showdown kind of reminds of a video game. The zombies are much larger than before. They must get past the big zombies to shoot the super big boss ending the zombies. It is a boss fight.

For the final cliche, Jorie's ship reappears and she is promoted to Captain. Of course, there is a happy, sexy ending. Jorie gets assigned to earth to watch it for future "alien zombie infestations" and Tresh. She can be with her alien lover whenever she wants.

A trashy, campy, sexy, sometimes ridiculous, and funny science fiction romance. Apparently Linnea Sinclair has won quite a few romance book awards for her speculative fiction romances, like the 2006 RITA award for Paranormal Romances, 2003 Prism Award,2nd Place for Best Futuristic Romance, 2002 Affaire de Coeure Award for best Futuristic Romance, and many other romance awards. I am used to things like the Philip K. Dick, Campbell, Arthur C. Clarke, Nebula, and Hugo awards.

There are two songs before the book opens, they are The Down Home Zombie Blues Lyrics by Linnea Sinclair & Ed Teja, Music by Ed Teja (ASCAP), and the Downhome Divorced Guy Blues words by Ed Teja and Uncle Steve, music by Ed Teja.

I found this paperback listed in Locus magazine in their new books for December section. They don't usually list science fiction romance books. This is better than most. Despite some of the ridiculous qualities in the book, I couldn't put it down until I finished it.