Lindsay S.

  • Book review: New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear

    The year is 1899 and America is ruled by a distant king sitting on Britain’s Iron Thrown. In the colony of New Amsterdam, dissatisfied citizens spread whispers of war while Crown Investigator Abigail Irene Garrett uses sorcery to find a murderer. During her investigation into a brutal and possibly supernatural killing, Abby Irene meets amateur… Continue reading

  • Book Review: Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk

    Magic to the Bone introduces readers to an intriguing new world of dangerous urban fantasy. In a new society of legalized, scientific magic usage, there is a physical price to suffer through everyone time someone casts a spell-sometimes it’s a mild cold, sometimes it’s a severe headache, and for Allie Beckstrom, the price is occasionally… Continue reading

  • Book review: The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu

    By day, Maxine Kiss is a super-powered demon hunter with inhuman strength and intricately tattooed, armor-plated skin. By night, the tattoos peel away and become a pack of deadly demons standing between Maxine and the creatures from across the Veil. When the veil drops, it’s up to Maxine and her demon “boys” to round up… Continue reading

  • Combining noir and urban fantasy

    In A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Death goes missing and the angels turn to the one person with the unique skill set they need to find him. Remy Chandler is a private investigator living in Boston and he isn’t all that surprised when some of God’s worker bees show up asking… Continue reading

  • Book review: Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow

    Night Shift introduces readers to a super-powered hunter called Jill Kismet. Jill is one of the few people brave enough to stand between humanity and all the demons of the nightside. When something from the dark tears through five cops and continues on with a killing spree that spreads death across the city, Jill must sift… Continue reading

  • Book review: Madhouse by Rob Thurman

    The boys are back in Rob Thurman’s Madhouse, a story that combines action, sharp humor, and a seriously creepy bad guy. When Niko and Cal Leandros take a job tracking down a few lost artifacts for a museum, they have no idea how dangerous things are going to get. Rob Thurman has a real gift… Continue reading

  • Book review: Dog Days by John Levitt

    After Mason is attacked by a giant magical spider, he realizes things around San Francisco are even weirder than normal. Since he used to be a supernatural enforcer, his threshold for “weird” is a little higher than the average jazz musician’s. In an effort to get to the bottom of what’s going wrong in his… Continue reading

  • Reality with a twist

    Back in May, Shelf Talk presented readers with a series of lists I wrote featuring authors who focus their work on vampire fiction. The goal of these lists was to provide readers with new opportunities to delve into the world of vampires and hopefully get a few suggestions for ourselves (and we did, so thanks!). It… Continue reading

  • Book review: Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready

    When former con artist Ciara Griffin gets a job as a marketing intern at a dying radio station, she’ll do anything to stop a corporate takeover—even if that means exposing the DJs’ undead status in an effort to boost ratings. Wicked Game is a good story with a strong, engaging plot and interesting approachable characters. … Continue reading

  • Book review: Dead to Me by Anton Strout

    When Simon Canderous accidentally drops his drink through the ghost of a beautiful woman, he knows things are going to get weird. Luckily, as the newest member of New York Cities’ Department of Extraordinary Affairs, “weird” is his profession. Armed with the ability to see the past of anything he touches (psychometry), Simon stumbles his… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 3: From traditional to modern

    When people hear the words “vampire story” two authors come to mind — Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. These writers pioneered the world of vampire fiction, with Bram Stoker basically creating it and Anne Rice redefining it into what most readers know today. But as we’ve proven in previous lists, Stoker and Rice are not… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 2: Urban vamps

    If you’re looking for vampires, the best place to find them is in the library. I’m serious. Even the undead like to read. You can also check the bank, the grocery store, the gas station, and, considering current gas prices, probably even catching a ride on a Metro bus. The point is, in the parallel… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 1: Love Bites

    So you want to read a vampire story. Your interest is understandable — they are compelling. But before you begin this journey, I warn you, once you start on this path, there’s no turning back. There are legends of a cure of course, but really, once a vampire groupie, always a vampire groupie. What’s worse… Continue reading

  • A Chicago-based wizard turns hard-boiled detective in The Dresden Files

    The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher chronicles the adventures of Harry Dresden, the world’s only wizard-for-hire, as he investigates crimes with a magical twist and saves the city of Chicago from assorted minions of evil, including vampires, demons and fiendish goats. While some of the basics mechanics of this series aren’t new — magical… Continue reading

  • Demons Are a Ghouls Best Friend by Victoria Laurie

    When professional medium MJ Holliday hears that a boarding school in Upstate New York is being haunted by a terrifying phantom, she and her business partners rush out to banish the bad guy. With the help of the Lake Placid townsfolk and a friendly specter named Eric, MJ attempts to learn the truth about the… Continue reading

  • Book Review: Moonshine by Rob Thurman

    When good girl psychic Georgina King goes missing in Moonshine by Rob Thurman, it’s up to Cal and Niko Leandros to bring her home. Using wits, wiles and blunt force trauma, the guys manage to infiltrate the werewolf mafia and locate the one treasure that can save the girl. If you like gallows humor, don’t… Continue reading

  • Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

    Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. When Jody becomes a vampire, she realizes that even though being young and beautiful forever is kind of cool, there are a few serious draw backs — like blood thirst, dropping dead at dawn, and the problem of finding suitable employment. So what’s a girl to do when she can’t… Continue reading