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Just finished reading "Stain of the Berry" by Anthony Bidulka. This is the fourth novel in his Russell Quant mystery series set primarily in Saskatoon. In this novel, Russell is asked to investigate the death of a woman who apparently committed suicide - or did she? As he digs deeper, Russell finds out that there is a "bogeyman" in Saskatoon who is trying to scare people to death, including his friend & long-time crush, Jared. There's also a sub-plot in the novel concerning the disappearance of Russell's friend & next door neighbour Sereena, which occurred at the end of the last novel.

All in all it was an enjoyable read. I really like the character of Russell Quant as well as the various supporting characters who are a part of his life. I love the descriptions of Saskatoon. I lived there for 5 years & it's a great city. I'm glad that Bidulka writes about it with such affection. I'm also relieved that Bidulka tied up some loose ends that had been running through the series since the first book. However, some people might find that the sub-plot at times overwhelms the main plot. That said, I think Bidulka needed to address those loose ends so in some ways that sub-plot was required.

The novel (particularly the ending) was a lot darker than the previous installments. I'm looking forward to reading the fifth novel to see how Russell & his friends deal with the aftermath of the events that happen at the end of this book.   

 

I started Caesar's Gallic War at the end of november in Fiji and... haven't read any of it since.  Been too crazy busy with other stuff.  But I hope to finish it soon.

I can tell you how it ends if you want me to.

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20 minutes into the future.

at office downloaded and saved into the computer copies of Varney the Vampire (or The Feast of Blood!) and Melmoth the Wanderer, a couple of old victorian penny-dreadful gothic-supernatural novels that the Gutenberg Project has made available as free on-line books.

so that's what i'm reading during my lunch break...along with a copy of an old Jules Verne novel, The Village in the Treetops.

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Thanks, but I don't need any help getting into trouble since I seem to manage quite well on my own.

Enthusiam. and a little bit of Twlight.

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A lady i may be but a lady i am not.

I just finished reading book 6 (Thin Air) of the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine...I have to say I wasn't sure I would like them but after I started ill Wind, I could not put them down!  Read all 6 in a matter of a couple of weeks and that's a record for me.  I spent a week in Kelowna at my Aunt's house around Christmas because I was there for my Grandma's funeral, so I had A LOT of time of my hands there.... It's nice to loose yourself in a good book for hours.  :-)  Can't wait for #7 due out in August....AND she's currently writing #8.  Woohoo!

Just started reading Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison...there are 6 or so in her "The Hollows/Rachel Morgan" series.  Almost done the book and I can't wait to sink my teeth into the next one!  Great book so far.  Next I tihink I try the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton.  I have a bunch of others on my list now too.  Soooooo many books, so little time.  LOL

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Teresa
aka SciFiCanadian
aka SciFi Canuck

Currently rereading the appendices in the Return of the King (4th printing 1967). I was reading prior to that a delightful 4 book series on the history of England by John Richard Green that appears to be written prior to the 2nd World War. Hmmm...I wonder what Robin Hood would have thought about having his nemesis Prince John become King and screw up the country so bad that no King thereafter has ever been named John....

Jack Williamson classic, Darker Than You Think. after that will be The Werewolf of Ponkert by H. Warner Munn. meanwhile in between have got Brian Frost's anthology Book of the Werewolf.

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Thanks, but I don't need any help getting into trouble since I seem to manage quite well on my own.

i always have a book in the car (okay, okay, several books) for reading during free time at meetings or whenever.

right now it's Stephen King's From a Buick 8, and, no, not much like his other, earlier automotive terror novel, Christine.

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Thanks, but I don't need any help getting into trouble since I seem to manage quite well on my own.

we've adjusted our sleeping setup this month so both of us are now downstairs. so, in the morning when i get up, i now use the upstairs bathroom for my morning think session.

so, begun reading Marvin Kaye's anthology tribute collection to Weird Tales magazine for upstairs (after finishing my sole issue, so far, of Neo-Opsis magazine from B.C.).

on the couch for reading in morning and during commercials it is Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates.

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Thanks, but I don't need any help getting into trouble since I seem to manage quite well on my own.

greggC:

we've adjusted our sleeping setup this month so both of us are now downstairs. so, in the morning when i get up, i now use the upstairs bathroom for my morning think session.

so, begun reading Marvin Kaye's anthology tribute collection to Weird Tales magazine for upstairs (after finishing my sole issue, so far, of Neo-Opsis magazine from B.C.).

on the couch for reading in morning and during commercials it is Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who reads during commercials, LOL!  My daughter gets soooo mad at me.  hahaha   What can I say...can't put this book down.  :-)   Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison...after this one, For a Few Demons More, then her next one is due out in early March.  Woohoo!

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Teresa
aka SciFiCanadian
aka SciFi Canuck

i think it becomes a mandatory part of our character that incorrigible readers always read during the commercials. means advertising writers have to work that much harder to get our attention.

finished Jack Williamson's Darker Than You Think (it holds up well even after more than five decades). after a break with a short-story from a werewolf anthology edited by Brian Frost, will begin Alice Borchardt's other two novels in her werewolf trilogy, Night of the Wolf and The Wolf King.

at office have read first chapter of Kitty and the Silver Bullett, the latest paperback adventure of Carrie Vaughn's werewolf heroine. good read so far and an interesting character. had heard about this series and this is the first book in it that i have found.

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Thanks, but I don't need any help getting into trouble since I seem to manage quite well on my own.

greggC:

i think it becomes a mandatory part of our character that incorrigible readers always read during the commercials. means advertising writers have to work that much harder to get our attention.

finished Jack Williamson's Darker Than You Think (it holds up well even after more than five decades). after a break with a short-story from a werewolf anthology edited by Brian Frost, will begin Alice Borchardt's other two novels in her werewolf trilogy, Night of the Wolf and The Wolf King.

at office have read first chapter of Kitty and the Silver Bullett, the latest paperback adventure of Carrie Vaughn's werewolf heroine. good read so far and an interesting character. had heard about this series and this is the first book in it that i have found.

Um Gregg....you may want to stop reading the Carrie Vaughn book, LOL!  There are actually 3 before it and you may be a little lost.  :-)  Her series is also on my "must read" list.  Here they are in order....but I think you will have to order them online.  I have yet to find any of them in our local bookstores including Chapters:

Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Kitty Goes to Washington
Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty and the Silver Bullet

I just finished reading For a Few Demons More last night and am DYING to read the next one....TWO WEEKS!!  She killed off a major character though....wow.  It was absolutely gut wrenching & heartbreaking. :-(  But then again, I'm a girl, LOL!

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Teresa
aka SciFiCanadian
aka SciFi Canuck

too late, teresa, two chapters in and already i am HOOKED!

i did know that there were other books in the series. but this is the first one i have seen and i have gotten too lazy now to just hold every series book in abeyance until i can find the ones preceding and read them first.

mind you, that is NOT a hard and fast rule. there are a couple series books that are sitting waiting for me to find their sibs (the Anita Blake ones for instance, but only because i HAVE read the first one, Guilty Pleasures, after reading Lunatic Café first on purpose for the werewolf-focus. now i have Circus of the Damned sitting at the office but it is waiting until i can get The Laughing Corpse. and then there are ALL those other books in the series...

 

at home right now finished reading "The Were-Wolf" by Clemenceau Houseman, a novelette originally printed in Atalante magazine in mid-1890s, and included in Brian J. Frost's anthology, Book of the Werewolf. now back to reading next half of The Anubis Gates by Powers. also started reading Borchardt's Night of the Wolf.

 

lord, so many books and so very little time!

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Thanks, but I don't need any help getting into trouble since I seem to manage quite well on my own.

greggC:

too late, teresa, two chapters in and already i am HOOKED!

i did know that there were other books in the series. but this is the first one i have seen and i have gotten too lazy now to just hold every series book in abeyance until i can find the ones preceding and read them first.

mind you, that is NOT a hard and fast rule. there are a couple series books that are sitting waiting for me to find their sibs (the Anita Blake ones for instance, but only because i HAVE read the first one, Guilty Pleasures, after reading Lunatic Café first on purpose for the werewolf-focus. now i have Circus of the Damned sitting at the office but it is waiting until i can get The Laughing Corpse. and then there are ALL those other books in the series...

 

at home right now finished reading "The Were-Wolf" by Clemenceau Houseman, a novelette originally printed in Atalante magazine in mid-1890s, and included in Brian J. Frost's anthology, Book of the Werewolf. now back to reading next half of The Anubis Gates by Powers. also started reading Borchardt's Night of the Wolf.

 

lord, so many books and so very little time!

Hahaha, yeah I heard it's a good series...it's at the top of my list too.  :-)  Can't wait.  I'm in the same boat as you....soooo many books I want to read and wish I had more time, although the orchids, housework, animals and my daughter are getting a little neglected anyways, LOL!

Funny you should mention Anita Blake...I finished Kim Harrison's For a Few Demons More (she killed off a MAJOR character....boy that was traumatic.  I'm still recovering), and her next one The Outlaw Demon Wails is out next Tuesday so I have to wait a bit...I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT!!!  Anyhow.... haha  I decided on Laurell K. Hamilton and just started Guilty Pleasures...awesome book so far.  I'm stopping in to get The Laughing Corpse some time this week.  I am hoping to finish all 15 of them in the next couple of months.  I can only read one at a time though!

Man, and just think less than a year ago I didn't like to read....at all.  Too funny.

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Teresa
aka SciFiCanadian
aka SciFi Canuck