This week has been absolutely insane. I’m working six days straight (one more day… one more day…. one more day….) AND I had my first deadline (which I hit… barely…) for Shattered Worlds. I submitted my bit in its roughest form, but that’s okay. At least I did it, and I still have time to polish it up. Due to the deadline, my website was kind of quiet these past few days. However, I pulled double duty over on SF Signal. So please check out the amazing guest post by Daryl Gregory on Special Needs in Strange worlds. And, I was in a mind meld. We talked about books that profoundly moved us. 

I haven’t really read that much this week (see the deadline bit above) but I have read a little bit, and I’m planning on really attacking these books over the weekend.

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is really doing it for me. I’m not that big on ghost stories, but this one is incredibly interesting, as it is told from the ghost’s perspective. It also happens to be the kind of book that I’d read even if the plot was pure crap (which it’s not) because the writing is so absolutely astounding. I keep wishing I had 1/16th of McGuire’s talent with prose.

Last week I went to the library and picked up The Archived by Victoria Schwab. After I read Vicious last year, I really wanted to explore more of what she’s written. I absolutely love her style, and even though I’m only two chapters in, I’m already in love with the concept. I have high hopes for this one.

The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher is one of those books that grabs you almost instantly. I’m not as far into this one as I want to be, but it’s because I’m not really letting myself sit down and read it too much. I lose track of time because I get so absorbed. Totally worth reading. I am hoping to have some one-on-one time with this one on Sunday.

So, onto books I’m eyeing. These are the books that other websites have featured and caught my attention. This is my way of giving a nod to the other websites out there who have amazing content, and deserve all your attention.

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The Dead Ground – Claire McGowen

Discovery blamed on: A Fantastical Librarian

About the Book

A stolen baby. A murdered woman. A decades-old atrocity. Something connects them all.

A month before Christmas, and Ballyterrin on the Irish border lies under a thick pall of snow. When a newborn baby goes missing from hospital, it’s all too close to home for forensic psychologist Paula Maguire, who’s wrestling with the hardest decision of her life.

Then a woman is found in a stone circle with her stomach cut open and it’s clear a brutal killer is on the loose.

As another child is taken and a pregnant woman goes missing, Paula is caught up in the hunt for a killer no one can trace, who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Company Town – Madeline Ashby

Discovery blamed on: Civilian Reader

About the Book

Meet Hwa. One of the few in her community to forego bio-engineered enhancements, she’s the last truly organic person left on the rig. But she’s an expert in the arts of self-defence, and she’s been charged with training the Family’s youngest, who has been receiving death threats – seemingly from another timeline. 

Meanwhile, a series of interconnected murders threatens the city’s stability – serial killer? Or something much, much worse…?

The Empire of Time – David Wingrove

Discovery blamed on: The Speculative Scotsman

About the Book

There is only the war.

Otto Behr is a German agent, fighting his Russian counterparts across three millennia, manipulating history for moments in time that can change everything.

Only the remnants of two great nations stand and for Otto, the war is life itself, the last hope for his people.

But in a world where realities shift and memory is never constant, nothing is certain, least of all the chance of a future with his Russian love.

Peacemaker – Marianne de Pierres

Discovery blamed on: Rob’s Blog ‘o Stuff

About the Book

When an imaginary animal from her troubled teenage years reappears, Virgin takes it to mean one of two things: a breakdown (hers!) or a warning. Dead bodies start piling up around her, so she decides on the latter. Something terrible is about to happen in the park and Virgin and her new partner, U.S. Marshall Nate Sixkiller, are standing in its path…

Virgin Jackson is the senior ranger in Birrimun Park – the world’s last natural landscape, overshadowed though it is by a sprawling coastal megacity. She maintains public safety and order in the park, but her bosses have brought out a hotshot cowboy to help her catch some drug runners who are affecting tourism. She senses the company is holding something back from her, and she’s not keen on working with an outsider like Nate Sixkiller.\

What books are you eyeing this week?