Libromancer's Apprentice

“Librarians, Dusty, possess a vast store of politeness. These are people who get asked regularly the dumbest questions on God's green earth. These people tolerate every kind of crank and eccentric and mouth breather there is.” -Garrison Keillor, Dusty and Lefty: The Lives of the Cowboys

An Oath Taken / Diana Cosby Sir Nicholas Beringar has come to Ravenmoore Castle with the task of rebuilding the neglected castle and repairing the abused relations with the locals.  Acting on a whim he brings the desperate lad who tries to rob him in instead as a squire.  He sees a young boy, too thin, too secretive, and too scared, but his mind isn't sure what to make of young Thomas, who is actually the Lady Elizabet Armstrong seeking to free her wrongly imprisoned family.  The only way out is to trust each other, but can they? Overall, I'd say this is an about average romance novel.  Neither horrible nor amazing.  There was lust aplenty, but it left me wanting (and not in a hot and heavy way).  I don't expect high accuracy in historical romance, since, lets be honest, its more there as a backdrop, but some things still bother me, and I'm not a fan of certain tropes. First off, I'm not so sure the author understands the size of a claymore, and how...

Protecting His Witch / Zoe Forward Kat Ramsey is happy living a normal life and working as a veterinarian, but life just isn't quite normal for her.  She can pick up on thoughts and has this unwanted (and uncontrolled) tendency to dimension shift.  Most of the time, however, she keeps things under control.  But one night she ends up dimension hopping right into a high-end benefit dinner, that just happens to be hosted by a one-night stand from college that she can't forget.  Unfortunately she also can't forget how things ended, with his screaming girlfriend showing up and her ending up in the hallway of the dorm, naked. Matthew Ryan has money, power, and looks.  But ever since the disastrous end to the best night of his life, he's had this curse hanging over his love life.  When Kat stumbles into his life again his first thought is to get out of the curse... an intent largely subsumed by his attraction to her.  Now he has to keep her safe and help...

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files : War Cry / Jim Butcher & Carlos Gomez ( Powell's Books ) For fans of the Dresden File this is a great addition, but probably should be read slightly outside of the chronological order of the books unless you don't mind a spoiler for Turn Coat .  We all know that Harry gets up to all sorts of things between books, sometimes these other adventures are even referenced, but it takes short stories and comic book arcs to fill in the details. War Cry features a story of Dresden on a mission as a Warden during the war with the Red Court, something we don't get to see much in the novels.  We also really don't get to see Dresden often in the role of group leader and mentor to a group of powerful young wizards, something that has a slightly different dynamic than when he works with Murphy, Michael, the Alphas, or even Molly.  Even better than all of that for me is that we get more about the Outsiders, and it turns out that they are expli...

Rupert Giles, MLS A class listing for how to be as awesome as Giles. Radical Librarianship: how ninja librarians are ensuring patrons' electronic privacy On what fellow librarians have been getting up to in this state.  Makes me miss being in a position to actually have some say over efforts like this. 5 Ways Colorado Libraries Are Going Beyond Books From streaming content to skulls, libraries are more than books. Analysis of Privacy Leakage on a Library Catalog Webpage Something I think we need to be watching out for as librarians.  We try to protect privacy, but we need to make sure we're doing what we can across all of our services. Sign-Up Selfies: How Patrons #GetCarded at Escondido Public Library Fun (and simple) library sign-up activity that doubles as community connection and outreach. Libraries Balk at OverDrive Changes Of course we balk, because we don't know if it's actually an improvement (privacy speaking) over the old system.  Now, there ar...

Lovecraft's Monsters / Ellen Datlow (ed) H. P. Lovecraft made famous beings from fever dreams and hallucinatory nightmares.  These monsters in turn have grown as they catch our imagination and create new additions to the mythos.  Lovecraft's Monsters is an excellently curated collection of Lovecraftian tales set largely in the now or in the cthonian aftermath.  Renowned authors have created enhancing and unsettling tales. Further enhancing this collection each story starts with its own eerie illustration, and the book closes with an informative appendix for each of the monsters and their literary birth. Advanced Reader Copy copy courtesy of Netgalley ; differences may exist between uncorrected galley text and the final edition . Update: review featured by the publisher .

Unexpected Stories / Octavia E. Butler Unexpected Stories is a short book containing intriguing stories by Butler.  In "A Necessary Being" the reader falls into the culture of utterly alien 'others', yet immersive enough to make the unfamiliar familiar.  "Childfinder" delves into a what-if of telepathy and control.  Both stories delve into explorations of ethics, culture, will, and loneliness.  Perhaps an aptly named book, as the stories themselves are unexpected. One thing that does confuse me is the cover art - it has no relevance that I can tell to the stories, and while pretty, the bird is very poorly edited onto the open hands. Advanced Reader Copy copy courtesy of Netgalley; differences may exist between uncorrected galley text and the final edition.