S. Boyd Taylor's Blog, page 7

Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the debut novel by Urban Fantasy powerhouse Jaye Wells.

Sabina Kane is a gritty, hardboiled half-blooded Vampire on a quest to take down a dangerous cult leader and save the world on behalf of Vampire society. Along the way she falls for a hunky Mage, gains a pet Demon disguised as a cat, and learns that she may be a pawn intended to start a larger war.

If you're wanting action-plus-supernatural, with just a d...

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

HOWL, Part 1 is the best poem ever written in the English language. Many may disagree with me, but this is my opinion.

This is compact, dazzling emotion. It brings you somewhere most people never go and then brings you out the other side. It is raw and powerful and truthful and amazing, and one day I hope to write something this good.

That said, I don't like Howl, Part 2 much at all. It is weak and vague and too ...

So… I've been chasing plot bunnies recently. If you don't know what plot bunnies are, they're little ideas for stories — and once you start working on one, another pops up, and another.

And the stories I'm working on are novels, and novels take a long time and a lot of effort, so… I've had to pull back.

I've put Silly Hitchiker's-Guide-Monty-Python-inspired madness novel on hold. I've put the rewrite of Debut Epic Fantasy Novel for Epic Fantasy Series #1 on hold. I've put plotting Epic...

Night by Elie Wiesel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most moving books ever written. It is one boy's experience of the concentration camps in Germany, Berkinau to Auschwitz, and it is intense. I do not use that word lightly. It is I N T E N S E. Because it is real. Because it is so terribly, terrifyingly true.

These are the things that once you see you cannot unsee and once you imagine you should not forget. Part of me feels that everyone needs to read this book...

Blindsided: Poems by Jack Elliott Myers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My poetry teacher in college was an apprentice of Jack Myers, and I still remember when Jack came to class and read the poem about glasses from this book.

Ever-so moving in ever-so few words. This is the true art of Jack Myers, compression combined with imagery and eloquence.

Highly recommended.

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Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A. Lee Martinez's most widely-known book, and, arguably, one of his funniest.

This is a typical buddy story about a redneck werewolf and a geeky vampire oddcouple, Duke and Earl, who — in search of beer and pie in rural Texas — accidentally save the world from a giant Cthuloid horror.

Wait… Okay, so that's not typical at all. But it's a blast. Some of the best parts of this book are when Earl, the vampire, is ...

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one starts out slow, but picks up tremendously around page 80, again at page 200, and is addictive and impossible to put down by page 300.

I'm not sure what makes this novel so strong — the writing is strong, the story (as the back cover says) is one you've read before, but I think it's really the character of Kvothe that does it. In real life, you might hate this guy out of pure jealousy — he's incredibly ...

My dystopian/horror/surreal/weird post-apocalyptic ebook "Teddy Bears and Tea Parties" NOW FREE on Amazon Prime for a limited time!

And a 67% discount for we non-prime mortals.

NYT Best Seller David Brin calls it, "Way unconventional, dreamlike, and fun."

Nebula Award Winner Eugie Foster says, "Homicidal teddy bears, man-eating houses, a really creepy clown, and one scary little girl. S. Boyd Taylor has crafted a seriously sinister and unforgettable tale."

Lots of great illustrations, by my good ...

Ever start reading a book and you think, "This sounds cliched and slow, maybe I should move on?" DON'T STOP READING. This book is cliched and slow at the beginning, yes, and the early pyschological observations seem overly simplistic, yes — but, still, don't stop reading.

By the time Timothy Leary goes to West Point — the future psychedelic drug guru of the entire western world in the most conservative and rigid part of US society — the book becomes riveting. And after that, it never stops.

Tim...

If you're looking for something unashamedly Pythonesque, read by on of the members of Monty Ptyhon, this is it. Graham Chapman's autobiography, read by Chapman himself.

The central premise of this book is that you never know what's true and what's a lie. Pretty daring for "non-fiction" — Werner Herzog before Werner Herzog.

There are some obvious fictional elements — long passages from the fictional British flying ace Biggles's point of view, a few purloined Monty Python sketches — and...