Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Wednesday Reads and an Update

Writing is slow, but I'm getting reading done! Here’s what I read the past week:

Dates read: February 8-11
Title: “Eleventh Grave in Moonlight”
Year of publication: 2017
Author: Darynda Jones
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Charley Davidson Series #11
# of Pages: 310
Paper or plastic: Paper
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from Book: A typical day in the life of Charley Davidson involves cheating husbands, errant wives, missing people, philandering business owners, and, oh yeah…demons, hell hounds, evil gods, and dead people. Lots and lots of dead people. As a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper, Charley has to balance the good, the bad, the undead, and those who want her dead. Now Charley is learning to make peace with the fact that she is a goddess with all kinds of power and that her own daughter has been born to save the world from total destruction. But the forces of hell are determined to see Charley banished forever to the darkest corners of another dimension. With the son of Satan himself as her husband and world-rocking lover, will Charley be able to defeat the ultimate evil and find a way to have her happily every after, after all?
My thoughts: Besides the fact this ended in a cliff-hanger (grrr), and that pretty much most of her later books have, I still love this series. So much fun to read. From page one I’m sucked back into Charley’s world and I love it when I get lost in a book. The books in this series are one of the rare first person stories I’ll gobble up as soon as the next book comes out. I just don’t like that I have to wait until who knows when for the twelfth book. Arrrgh!

I needed some fun reading after some of the other books I’ve been assigned (judging) to read lately (I won’t mention which books anywhere until sometime this summer, if at all). Which means I need to get back to those assigned books. I’ve got a deadline which is fast approaching. So if I don’t have a Wednesday reads next week, you’ll know why. It’s not from lack of reading, just reading stuff I can’t talk about. And man, do I hate that. I doubt I put myself through this again. Not unless I have to. It’s just not fun reading (so far) and if reading can’t be fun, why do it?

Hubby update: Prognosis is not so good. Hubby will need radiation and possibly chemo, mainly to make sure the cancer doesn’t return (since it had returned and wasn’t contained in the lymph nodes his risk factor jumped up a bunch). It’s a bummer, but at least he’ll live (yay!). He’ll just feel like a truck ran over him for the next few months (boo!). It does appear he’ll be well enough to take our planned trip to the Mammoth Caves during the Memorial Day weekend, though. Something for him to look forward to.

So… Have you ever been a judge at anything? Did it require a lot of work on your part?  Did you like it? I don’t mind judging unpublished stuff so much (the writer is asking for help, in a way), but I doubt I judge another published contest. Not unless it’s required for entering. And with the speed I write, that would only be required once every few years! Haha!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

10 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sorry your husband is going to have to go through chemo. Better than the alternative though. Let them nuke the cancer dead.
Why yes, I have judged a couple contests! Every year for the IWSG Anthology Contest. The admins read the stories and vote which ones to send to the final judges. I'm a very slow reader, so it's a real challenge for me.

Maria Zannini said...

Aw, damn. I'm sorry your hubby has to go through radiation. I know you'll take good care of him though. Email me if you ever feel like unloading. I know it can be a tough time.

re: judging
I judged a contest once. Never again.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Alex - You can't be as slow as my dental technician. She's been reading my book for 2 years. I'd take offense, but she only reads when she's waiting during appointments (and she claims she loves the book!). I could NEVER read THAT slow. Heck, I'd forget what I read!

Maria - I'm to the point where I'll only judge contests for my OWN chapter. Otherwise, what's in it for me? Nothing, that's what.

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Bummer about your husband! Here's hoping these treatments eradicate the cancer for good.

Been awhile since I have judged a contest, but I used to do a lot, including published books. That one especially was a TON of work because I was also the contest coordinator, but I met one of my best writing buds doing so!

Stacy McKitrick said...

Jennette - Sometimes I think being a coordinator would be easier than judging. Less torturous. :)

dolorah said...

Being a judge is hard. Sometime hard to choose a winner; but even harder to read through a bunch of crap. I hate that someone who thought their work was the best in the world did not win.

Hope the hubby is better in time for your trip.

JeffO said...

I'm sorry to hear about your husband, but it sounds like the long-term prognosis is good. Lots of strength for you both the next few months!

We just judged a kids' essay contest for scholarships for camp at work. Fun, but difficult, and hard to be consistent. It's always interesting to look and see how each of the judges scored each of the kids. On more than one occasion I thought, "They liked that? What is wrong with them???"

Stacy McKitrick said...

Donna - At least I'm not choosing a winner. I'm only giving the book a score. Still, I'm surprised at what's been published.

Jeff - Consistency is the hardest. I'm doing my best to stay that way by judging the book on several instances that I feel are important (conflict, romance, pacing, etc.) and coming up with an average. It's working better than picking an overall number out of the air.

The Happy Whisk said...

Sorry to read about your hubby, but glad that he will live.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Thanks, Ivy. :)