Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg 12/29/07

There are books that I’ve read that I know I’ll never read again but that I needed to read. This is among them.

SBB was an emotional read for me. While the main character, Jess, came out before I was born, the fact is that all of this happened not that long ago. Jess was still dealing with it about the time *I* came out in the 80s. It wasn’t that long ago that butch women were raped and beaten, that drag queens and trans people were brutalized. By the police who are supposed to protect us. I know, I know, naive. It ticks me off to no end that the butches and the femmes were excluded from the larger lesbian world of the 1970s. It wasn’t that different in the 80s when I came out but it was less overt.

Had I been born in a different time, would I have had the courage of my convictions? Would I come out and lived that life or would I have married a man, safe and conventional. I wonder. I would like to think that I’d have been strong enough but I don’t know if I would have.

Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton

This is the Edward book. Obsidian Butterfly is both a club and a vampire.

Edward calls Anita to come out to New Mexico to help him figure out a case.   He isn’t sure what is killing people so he needs a preternatural expert.  Also, Anita killed Harley and Edward told her she’d owe him a favor.

Edward goes by “Ted Forrester” in NM and Anita meets, shockingly, his fiancee, Donna,  and her children, Peter and Becca.

There are several bodies who have been, essentially, skinned alive but no one knows how or by what.  Lieutenant Marks takes an immediate dislike to Anita, on religious grounds.  He says to her at one point, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (quoting Exodus 22:1

Anita and Edward drive back to Santa Fe and Anita “feels” something. She asks Edward/Ted to stop so she can “feel” it and she isn’t sure what “it” is. They get to Ted/Edward’s house and Anita meets Bernardo who tries to charm her but she doesn’t fall for it.

Anita meets “Obsidian Butterfly” who is an Aztec vampire. She has several conquistadores that she has kept to punish as long as they can be punished. We’re going on 400 years or so now.

Anita and Bernardo go to Los Duenos to meet another necromancer who has a reputation for bad stuff, Nicandro Baco. AB asks him to help her with whatever that presence is that is freaking her out. He seems sort of nervous about it, too.

The victims in the hospital actually aren’t alive. Their “master” is somehow keeping them alive. Anita realizes this and goes back to the hospital to try to do something but is too late. Another creature kills a couple of officers, kills some babies and then dies. Its master is pretty ticked off about it and Anita nearly dies.

I’d forgotten that I didn’t really like this book. I skimmed through the last half since I was bored, so I can’t really tell you what happened. Other than: Peter and Becca were kidnapped but were rescued. The bad guys called Edward “Undertaker.” Now he has several aliases: Ted Forester, Death and the Undertaker.

Lots to Read

Go check out my “To Be Read” page … thanks to PaperBackSwap.com and a trip to a local bookstore, I have TONS to read!!! And there are at least two more on the way to me.

Even still, I keep re-reading the Anita Blake books. I make no sense! T

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrota 12/25/07

In some ways, this book was difficult to read. It’s *fiction* but all those sanctimonious, self-righteous “Christians” drive me to distraction. Especially when it comes to abstinence education. I get wildly annoyed at medically inaccurate informtion is given out just to scare people into abstinence.

As for the story: not good character development, I think. I didn’t get that invested in any of the characters and the plot wasn’t well-developed enough to stand alone. This book was just okay.

Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton 12/24/07

This one also is not named for a business but the fact that there is a “blue moon” or two full moons in one month.

The book begins with Anita getting a phone call from Daniel Zeeman, Richard’s brother. Richard is in jail for rape. Anita makes some phone calls and arranges to go to where Richard is, in Tennessee working on his masters. JC comes over and Anita figures out that he is insecure and jealous where Richard is concerned. The Master of the City, Colin, there does not want Anita or anyone else to come there. He views it as a threat. Anita decides to go anyway. JC can’t go but he sends Damian and Asher with Anita. Also going are Jason, Cherry, Jamil, Zane, and Nathaniel. Anita notices that Nathaniel is only 19 but she suspects a growth spurt is coming on.

Lukoi stuff: The Enforcers: Skoll and Hati after the wolves who chase the sun and moon in Norse mythology.

The woman Richard is supposed to have raped is someone he dated but not had sex with is Betty Schaffer. After arriving in Tennessee, they all go to cabins owned by Verne, the local Ulfric. The attorney that Catherine recommended to Anita calls: Carl Belisarius. Richard refuses to see him saying that he’s innocent so he has no need of an attorney. Anita goes to see him.

More talk about Brewster’s Law that would give Vampire Executioner’s federal marshal status.

We meet Shang-Da, the 6′ Chinese guy who is Richard’s Hati. Anita and Jason go to the police deparment and meet Maiden who essentially warns them that something ugly is about to happen. After the visit with Richard, they are basically attacked by some thugs. Anita, Jason and Shang-Da beat them up. Miss Millie, a local woman tries to claim Shang-Da as her grandson but no one is buying it and the local police barely let Anita and Co go.

By this time, Richard is out on bail and back at the cabins. Anita goes to talk to him and a woman comes out of his room - Lucy Winston. Richard and Anita fight then start talking about what is going on: someone is trying to say some attacks on local animals is by trolls - trolls who are a protected species and whose habitat is holding up the sale of some land. Freak the locals out, they get permission to kill the trolls, and all is well.

Richard realizes that Anita ran to Jean Claude and “pulled his body around you like a shield to keep me away.” Anita went back to her room and the vamps were up so she didn’t get any time to herself. Daniel calls and says that his mother is having an altercation with Betty Shaffer in a local bar called The Happy Cowboy. Anita goes and drags Mrs. Zeeman, Charlotte, out of the bar. Jason, it turns out, is a reader with a good vocabulary. (You never know what’s going to be important later!) They leave the bar and go back to the cabins to get a lesson in werewolf etiquette for an event that is to happen later that evening. For example, Anita learns how to properly greet the alphas and how a were asks for protection. Jamil seemed surprised that Anita had been reading wolf books to know something of wolf behavior.

While they are there, Asher and Damian bring in Nathaniel. He’s been attacked by local vampires as a warning and been infected with something that will rot him from the inside out. Asher and Damian can cure him but it’s risky to them. They suck all the “corruption” out of Nathaniel, then Damian starts to get sick.

Anita heals him. They find out that Nathaniel went with this woman, Mira, to have sex and she gave him to the vampires. She had been paid to do so. Verne shows up and Anita tells him. They form an alliance of sorts to do something or other to Colin but they dont’ know what. Verne doesn’t want to kill Colin as wolves aren’t Colin’s animal to call and who knows who will come next?

Various and sundry things happen, Anita learns that she can channel the munin with sex. Someone has kidnapped Mrs. Zeeman and Daniel, so Anita gets them back. Richard is now outed to his mother for being a werewolf.

There were a lot of other things that happened but I’ve decided that I’m sick of the play by play. From now on, just general notes plus who is who. Maybe next time I read these, I’ll write more detail in the remaining books.

Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton

Burnt Offerings in another vampire business, this one not owned by JC. Anita actually says she likes going to this place and it’s not in the vampire district.

The book opens with Captain Pete McKinnon in Anita’s office. There has been what they think is an arson and need Anita’s help. At the end of the meeting, Anita gets a call to come pick up Larry at the hospital. He’s okay but needs a ride home. He’d been called to do a vampire staking but arrived at the morgue and there was no paperwork. He went to investigate and found one of the nurses trying to stake the vamp. Turns out it was one of the doctors on staff - he’d gone into a closet when the sun came up and this woman didn’t think vamps should be doctors.

Anita gets a call from Stephen and Nathaniel is introduced. Anita killed the wereleopards’ pack leader so now she gets the job until she finds someone else. Zane has been trying to act as leader but not doing well. Zane is pretty happy that Anita outpowers him and takes over. He’d been trying but not doing a good job.

Richard is off getting a master’s degree and pretty much being depressed and suicidal and, typical of Richard, an emotional wimp. Like *that* is going to get Anita. Sylvie is acting as pack leader in his absence. Against Sylvie’s orders to not help the wereleopards, Anita, as lupa, orders three wolves to come to the hospital and act as bodyguards for both Nathaniel and Stephen.

Anita and JC have a date at a fancy restaurant. While they are there, representatives from the Council show up. Apparently the Council is there because Mr. Oliver (who Anita killed in Circus of the Damned) was a Council member and to kill a Council member means you have to take their seat. They think that JC did it. JC doesn’t want to be on the Council because he knows that he’s not strong enough to hold the position so he’d be killed.

Asher makes his first appearance. He’s still pretty irate with JC after several hundred years because he thinks that JC let his human servant, Julianna, die. Asher was tortured by the Church with holy water so half of his face is scarred and half of his body. JC realizes that he can not feel his vampires and his wolves, so he knows that Council is at Circus of the Damned.

When they arrive, Liv shows up. Liv has gone over to the Council side and betrayed JC and all their wolves and vampires that are his. When JC and AB walk through the building, they find a person’s skin nailed to the wall with silver nails. The question is, whose is it? It takes a while for us to find out that it’s Rafael’s. The Traveler is there in the body of Willie McCoy.

Fernando comes in with Hanna, who is Willie’s girlfriend, and two wereleopards: a black one and a yellow one. Fernando is also a shapeshifter. His father, Padma, joins the party and Anita isn’t sure exactly what he is because he feels like both vampire and shapeshifter which is supposed to be impossible. Turns out the black wereleopard is Elizabeth who hates Anita for killing Gabriel. Vivian came in with Padma and seems to be appealing to Anita to help her but Anita doesn’t know why. Vivian is a wereleopard.

AB and JC find Damian with a sword in his heart. He is being guarded by a new vampire, Warrick. They aren’t sure they can save him but they do, with Warrick’s help. Yvette has Jason and had a choke collar around his neck. JC gets him away from Yvette. But that isn’t everything: Sylvie (who is a lesbian) has been raped by Fernando and is bad emotional shape as well as physical. Sylvie was tortured because she would not give up the pack. AB promises Sylvie that all of them who had hurt her will die.

They take Sylvie and Rafael to the shapeshifter hospital but tell Dr. Lillian that they are going to have to move because Elizabeth knows where the hospital is and she is with the other side. Sylvie’s partner, Gwen, is with Sylvie when AB goes to see her at the hospital. They tell Anita that she is the wereleopards leoparde lionne, the “rampant leopard” who is the protector, the defender. AB also finds out the Vivian expected AB to rescue her, so now AB feels that she has to go back and rescue her, somehow. Liv was the one who hurt Sylvie. AB manages to get them free for the night.

Belle Morte is mentioned but so far hasn’t shown up.

Dolph calls Anita to question a witness. First she goes to Burnt Offerings to talk to Detective Perry. She finds out what happened, then goes to the police station. When she arrives at the police station, there are penguins everywhere. Zerbrowski’s work, she is pretty sure. AB ignores them and goes to talk to the witness. The witness, Vicki Pierce, says that this vampire bit her and she threw alcohol on him and then lit him with a lighter. Vamps will burn until someone puts them out or they are burned to ashes. AB figures out that VP is lying.

More of Dolph’s attitude toward Anita with regard to JC.

AB goes back to the hospital and Zane and another woman, Cherry, show up. Vivian isn’t with them and neither is Gregory, Stephen’s brother. Padma said that anyone who wished to acknowledge AB’s dominance and could walk out could leave. Vivian was unconscious and Gregory’s legs were broken.

Anita is at the hospital, more or less recovering, when Richard shows up, they fight but then they go to get Vivian and Gregory. Richard finds out that Fernando raped Sylvie.

They meet Gideon and Captain Thomas Carswell, who are with Padma. Human servant and animal to call, just as AB and Richard are for JC. They all go in to get Vivian and Gregory and Richard, foolishly, tries to kill Fernando. In order to stop him, Anita takes his beast for the first time at Gideon and Thomas’ suggestion and it works. They take V and G back to Anita’s house.

Vivian won’t let any of the men touch her so Anita has to carry her but she is still wearing the high heels and dress, so it’s hard and she at one point has to send someone to get Cherry to help. Cherry comes and takes Vivian and Anita goes to see why there are so many butterflies around and is that really a vampire she sees lurking around her woods? It is. It’s Warrick. Turns out he’s a master vampire after all and Yvette has somehow been keeping his powers under wraps, so to speak. Turns out, he thinks this is all a sign from God that he isn’t eternally damned.

Ronnie and Louie show up at Anita’s ready to run. Ronnie and Louie are dating. Richard is there. At some point, earlier in the book, JC and the other vampires went to Anita’s to sleep in the basement. He also took a bunch of gifts, including flowers and strew the gifts about the house. Richard isn’t happy about it. Ronnie doesn’t like JC and Anita realizes that Louie, who is Richard’s best friend, doesn’t like her anymore. Richard and Anita fight again and a delivery man comes and tries to kill Anita.

Another subplot: there is a terrorist group trying to re-enact “the Inferno” or “Day of Cleansing”, depending upon your viewpoint and is targeting all vamps and also the non-vamps who are known to be associated with them. There was a fire at the main branch of the Church of Eternal Life and Anita goes to help. But first, she goes to the hospital. She has to try to help Nathaniel. She winds up “calling the munin” - channeling Raina, essentially and nearly having sex with Nathaniel but she doesn’t and he’s healed anyway. Anita sends them all to her house.

Off to the Church of Eternal Life. There are “revenent” vampires there who attack some fire fighters and Anita. Larry is there, along with Detective Reynolds, who he is dating but both are okay. Anita wants to go to the Council for help. She figures out that the Council being there is what is causing all these vampires to wake up early and the new vampires to go revenent. The Traveler came to the Church and took over the body of the revenent vamp and stopped the attack. Turns out Vicki Pierce was dating Harry, who owned Burnt Offerings and a human anti-vamp guy. She staged the scene at Burnt Offerings so that it wouldn’t be the only vamp business not to have been hit.

Finally, they had to go to “dinner” with the Council. Anita wins over Asher, shockingly enough. Yvette gets mad that she doesn’t get what she wants. Padma gives up Fernando and Liv to be killed by Sylvie. Once again, Anita and JC get themselves out of trouble. Elizabeth joins Anita’s pard (the wolves are lukoi, the leopards are pard.) Warrick burns himself and Yvette to death.

The leopards call Anita their Nimir-Ra or “leopard queen.” Nathaniel wants to move in with Anita but instead she pays for his aparment. Nathaniel is a ‘pet’ and needs someone to take care of him. Stephen and Vivian are dating. Asher stayed in St. Louis.

Lukoi: thronos Rokke - the Throne Rock people.

Council Members: Belle Morte, Padma, the Traveler, Morte d’Amour, Oliver/Earthmover (dead)

Magazines

I also read a lot of magazines, so every month, I’m going to include the list of magazines I’ve read but I’m only going to do the one post each month and update it as I add new ones.

Remember: Category = year and magazines, tag = the month

The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton 12/21/07

This is one of the few books that doesn’t take its name from a club or other business. “The killing dance” is the werewolf’s description of both sex and the fight for succession.

The book begins with Dominic Dumare, Sabin and Jean-Claude in Anita’s office.  Sabin wants Anita to help cure of his “rotting disease.”  Grossly, that’s exactly what happens: Sabin is rotting but being a vampire, he won’t die.  Just rot.  Dumare is also a necromancer and offers to teach Anita more about being a necromancer.

In this book, Anita is JC’s acknowledged human servant but what no one else knows is that she does not have the marks so she isn’t, in the truest sense of the word, his human servant.

Anita leaves that meeting to go with Richard to a dinner party at Catherine’s.  Catherine likes Richard and wants Anita to dump Jean-Claude and marry Richard.  Also there are Monica and Robert.   Monica is the one that nearly got Catherine killed and Robert is now her husband.  Monica is pregnant.  While at the party, Anita finds out that someone has put a hit out on her for $250,000.  They called Edward, who refused.  He thought he’d get to kill more people guarding Anita.  If he took the hit, he’d only get to kill her.

Richard and Anita help Mrs. Pringle take a new TV into her apartment and Custard (Mrs. P’s dog) lets Anita know that there is someone in her apartment.  Murder attempt number one.  Anita has to go to the police station and give a statement.

Anita has to spend the night at Richard’s to avoid putting her neighbors at risk. While there, Edward calls and tells her that the price has increased to $500,000. Anita must know what the hit is out for her for but she just doesn’t know it.

Also, while they are there, Richard checks his messages and there is one from Stephen who is trying to avoid being in one of Raina’s movies. Richard and Anita go rescue him. On the way, they fight about whether or not Richard should just kill Marcus. Richard also gives Anita a lesson in werewolf culture. Ulfric is pack leader, Lupa is his mate and alpha female. Lukoi is what werewolves call themselves. Freki is second in command. Geri is the second second. Freki is one of Odin’s wolves, Odin being the chief Norse god. King Kykaon of Arcadia (Greek) was a werewolf and they call themselves lukoi in honor of him. Richard is now Fenrir, the challenger. Fenrir was the giant wolf who killed Odin.

When they get there, Anita realizes it’s a set up. Sebastian challenges Richard because he knows that Richard will not kill. However, Richard is much stronger than Sebastain and forces him to “eat power” and so Sebastian can not make the challenge. Jamil shows up. They all want Richard to stop with his boy scout act.

Anita hears Stephen scream and goes to find and rescue him. There she finds him being raped and his brother participating. Richard does what he needs to do then joins Anita. Again he is challenged. He tells the wolves there not to bother Stephen and they say “yeah, so what? You tell us this but you won’t do anything about it!” Anita announces that she will kill anyone who harms Stephen.

Anita and Richard fight on the way home. Richard goes out to patrol for assassins and sends Stephen in to sleep with Anita because he’s scared. She wakes up with him and realizes that this is the very first time that she has actually spent the entire night with a man. Anita waks up and hears voices, so she goes out to investigate. Richard has called a meeting of “his” wolves and they are there. Dr. Lillian is there stitching up Richard. Richard and Anita have another fight. This is when Anita first really begins to think that she will have to break up with Richard. He won’t kill, which is a character flaw in Anita’s opinion, given that he is a werewolf.

The lukoi have their meeting, along with Rafael,Louie (wererats) and Christine (weretiger). The tell Anita that JC has withdrawn his support of Marcus and given it to Richard. Sylvie (a lesbian) threatens to make Anita a werewolf. Richard says no one is to be infected against their will, it’s his order. He’s challenged. Rafael says he will kill to protect Anita. Richard finally says he will kill anyone who goes against his orders. Richard says to the pack “this is my lupa/ KNow her scent, know her skin. She has shed our blood, and shed her blood for us. She stands as protector for those weaker than herself. She will kill for us, if we ask. She is your alpha.” Sylvie and Neal refuse to acknowledge her as alpha. Neal challenges Anita and Anita wins but it’s pretty much by luck. Sylvie acknowledges her as alpha but not as dominant to her.

Edward arrives to find the mess and tells Anita that the contract has been picked up again. Anita has a date with JC to go to a club opening (Danse Macabre) that night and she is “outed” as dating the Master of the City on national television. She isn’t happy about that.

Anita meets Liv, a female vampire. She isn’t impressed by The Executioner. They have an exchange. Anita finds out that JC isn’t having sex with anyone. Damian shows up. We meet Cassandra, a werewolf. Sabin is at the opening. Willie and Liv both try to guard Anita. Damian goes on stage and uses his powers to bespell a human, Anita stops him. Anita tries to talk to the woman (Karen) but Liv comes over and Karen faints dead away. Anita sends Liv on her way while she, Cassandra and a new woman Anabelle Smith take Karen into the bathroom. Raina shows up, shows off and tells Anita that she is JC’s partner in Danse Macabre, which Anita did not know. Raina announces that there is a cab waiting for Karen to take her home and Anita sends Cassandra out with Karen to meet the cab. Raina leaves. Turns out, Anabelle is the next assassin and tries to kill Anita but Anita kills her first. Ooops. Now there are police involved again.

Anita is being interrogated by Detective Greeley and Rizzo when Dolph shows up. He takes Anita to a crime scene. It’s Robert. Zerbrowski is there and Anita is glad to see him all healed after his attack by a shapeshifting witch. This is the first time we see that Dolph is bothered by Anita dating JC and Richard. Detective Reynolds is introduced -a detective witch. The first detective with any magic and she specifically asked for RPIT. Monica had to go to the hospital because she nearly lost her baby after finding out Robert was dead. That probably sucked … I’m sure she thought that marrying a vamp would ensure that she would never be a widow. Edward calls and tells Anita she needs to go into hiding at Circus of the Damned until he can find out who is trying to kill her. Richard, JC and Anita all manage to get into various and sundry fights, then the try the triumverate business again and it works. Pretty well … Anita raises several zombies and 3 vampires: Damian, Liv and Willie. Anita isn’t sure she can put them back and still have them wake up as vampires. She calls on Dominic who is also a necromancer to help. They think she can heal Sabin. They put the vamps back to bed but Anita passes out because when she tries to send Damian back, something in him pushed her out of him.

Edward shows up and tells them that the person who put the hit out on Anita is Marcus. Richard decides he can, in fact, kill Marcus. Edward introduces Harley to Anita.

Cassandra helps Anita dress for The Big Event. Richard goes to challenge Marcus and changes while on top of Anita. She freaks, goes back to The Circus of the Damned and has sex with JC. Richard comes over the next morning, figures it out and freaks out. Cassandra shows up to help clean up the mess, punches Anita and takes her to Gabriel and Raina. Cassandra is Damian and Sabin’s shapeshifter third, they too are a triumverate. Anita manages to kill Gabriel because Richard and JC give her 3 of the 4 marks. She has their power and she kills Gabriel and Raina. Harley and Edward show up but Anita has to kill Harley because he loses track of Edward and starts to freak out.

In the end, Richard gets mad at Anita and refuses to talk to him. Anita loves him but there isn’t anything she can do.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult 11/16/07

I finished this at about 1 am this morning! That and the excessive amount of snow outside are why I am not at church. Well, that and the fact that I am going to a Christmas party this afternoon as well as grocery shopping and that’s enough time to leave Peggy Sue at home alone. But I digress.

I loved this book. One of Picoult’s strengths is her character development and cd was outstanding in this book. She clearly does good research too. I’ve read quite a lot of fiction about the Amish and she came up with things that I didn’t know, which is always cool.

Here’s the basic premise: Katie Fisher is accused of having a baby out of wedlock, killing it to hide it from her family (who didn’t know she was pregnant) and then lying about it. Did she do it? She claims she was never pregnant but medical tests prove otherwise. There is a dead baby but did Katie kill it?

From a psychological perspective, I have no idea if the ideas presented in the book are valid but they are definitely interesting. The conflict between Amish culture and “English” culture are also explored. It’s somewhat surprising to me to realize the depth of the “otherness” of the Amish and that Katie didn’t grasp simple concepts of the American judicial system. Her very Amish-ness could get her convicted, whether she did it or not.

This is now among my favorite Jodi Picoult books.

The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno 11/14/07

Interesting book.

One of the things I hate about “healthy eating” books is that the food is boring. I mean, a girl can only eat so many meals that consist of a chicken breasts, some vegetables and a carb before she goes mad. At least one who likes to cook. Between the book and the magazine I got, there are recipse that range from very simple to mildly challenging. Which, you know, is at least better than the meat/veggie/carb combo that requires nothing but a goddamn grill. We’ll see. I just ordered the cookbook and the exercise book, so we’ll see how it goes.