There are 14 wonderful and imaginative stories in this anthology. The opening story, Cassandra Clare’s “Some Fortunate Future Day,” is beautiful, but dark. A catholic home for boys isn’t quite what it seems, in the beginning, or the end of this story.

1.Cassandra Clare “Some Fortunate Future Day”
2.Libba Bray “The Last Ride of the Glory Girls”
3.Cory Doctorow “Clockwork Fagin”
4.Shawn Cheng “Seven Days Beset by Demons”
5.Ysabeau Wilce “Hand in Glove”
6.Delia Sherman “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor”
7.Elizabeth Knox “Gesthemane”
8.Kelly Link “The Summer People”
9.Garth Nix “Peace in Our Time”
10.Christopher Rowe “Nowhere Fast”
11.Kathleen Jennings “Finishing School”
12.Dylan Horrocks “Steam Girl”
13.Holly Black “Everything Amiable and Obliging”
14.Anderson “The Oracle Engine”

Finding the names of some of my favorite authors, Garth Nix, Holly Black and Cory Doctorow, I had to grab a copy for myself. Having never read Cassandra Clare, I was delighted by her story.  There is a bit of steampunk for every taste in this anthology.

Have you jumped on the steampunk bandwagon?

All this plus a cozy throw!
Package includes:

Michael Buble “Christmas” album (Target edition with 3 extra songs) ~ $17 value

Lady Antebellum “A Merry Little Christmas” album ~ $7 value

ILU “text” Coffee mug, in honor of Dani Stone’s, “No Place Like Home” story and her crazy coffee cup collection ~ $7 value

Cozy throw to cuddle up and read Sleigh Ride with! ~ $30 value

Box full of books including:

FALLING TOGETHER by Marisa de los Santos (hardback, $26 value)

YANKEE DOODLE DIXIE by Lisa Patton (hardback, $25 value)

RECKONING FOR THE DEAD by Jordan Dane (mass market paperback, $8 value)

AND SHE WAS by Alison Gaylin (mm paperback, ARC, no retail value)

SLICKER by Lucy Jackson (trade paperback, $15 value)

SPIN by Catherine McKenzie (trade paperback, ARC, no retail value)

THE ATLAS OF LOVE by Laurel Frankel (trade paperback, $15 value)

DRAGONSWOOD by Janet Lee Carey (trade paperback, ARC, no retail value)

How to Enter:

Send (forward) your receipt from the purchase of SLEIGH RIDE by end of day Nov. 30th, 2011 to buzzbooksusa (at) me (dot) com. A confirmation e-mail in return will confirm your entry in the contest.

Where to buy Sleigh Ride: (as of 11/11/11)

print book from our Buzz Books site here

for the nook: BN.com for nook

or the print book or ebook for the kindle: Amazon

Sleigh Ride includes short stories by Samantha Wilde, Maria Geraci, Maggie Marr, Megan Barlog, Malena Lott, Dani Stone, Jenny Peterson.

Ah, Paris! I’ve never been, but thanks to author Karen Chase, I got to put a little French in my fall break. While my body was in Texas on a ranch, my mind was in Paris. Chase’s book is based on the blog she kept while living in Paris for 40 days. It’s a travel log, set up by date and numbered 1 through 40 so we get Paris as she saw it versus categories or themes.

Chase wasn’t traveling in search of love or redemption, so don’t expect an EAT, PRAY, LOVE a-ha moment in the quest, but she does do a great job of making her trip enjoyable for the reader and leaving us with some nice takeaways about life and adventure. She also includes history and facts to inform us along the way. The food bits and the Louvre, in particular, were my favorites. -ML

AN EXCERPT – ON FOOD

By Karen A. Chase
Author of Bonjour 40: A travel log
(40 years. 40 days. 40 seconds)

I’ve always said if you want to figure out where exactly those “really comfortable shoes” you bought are going to start giving you trouble, you could just walk around New York and your feet will find the spot. The same is true of Paris. Whenever I wasn’t writing at a café, eating, or sleeping, I was on the move. If not on foot, by bike. One day I walked from the Eiffel Tower to my apartment. That was about four miles. It doesn’t seem like much, but that morning I first biked to an early morning market. Then I walked to lunch. Shopped in the afternoon, wrote while I was at lunch and breakfast, and then after returning to my apartment to freshen up, I walked to dinner. According to my calculations, my total caloric output that day was just over 2,000. Given my average eating habits while I was there, I figure my input was about 1,500. As Ted often tells his therapy patients who are struggling with weight issues, “If the input exceeds the output, it stays put.” My output exceeded the input. So it went kaput.
The most notable difference, however, was the simple fact that not once in five weeks did I think about caloric intake or expenditure figures affecting my figure. Not once. All the above calculations were gathered upon returning home to calorie-obsessed America. (Ironically, the same country where forty-nine states have an obesity rate over 30 percent.) Here, my inbox fills with reminders from www.WebMD.com and www.RealAge.com to eat healthy, cut down, or cut out everything I coveted in France. Here, menus at restaurants tell me how many calories are in each dish. To help me? Shock me? Direct my choices with guilt? Here, magazine ads tell me I can lose unwanted pounds by actually paying for prepared or processed meals, popping pills, or tracking my every move on my new phone app. Ahhhhh! Come on! I want to enjoy life. Shuuut uuuup already!

It was so simple there. The lifestyle I had for five weeks was guilt-free and made me slimmer simply because I was moving around and eating a common-sense diet. So good-bye weight, and hello tight ass. By the time Ted arrived on Day 30, he took one look at my toned calves and thighs in a skirt and said, “Look at those! Where did you get those?”

Yes, I was touring and visiting, which made all the walking easier. But I also wrote. A lot. You can’t walk and write at the same time. But in between the lines, I was moving. Fast. Not sauntering. Not strolling. Speed-walking like every good French woman who refuses to miss a metro train. Even in heels.

—————
For more on author and to see her pictures of Paris, visit http://bonjour40.blogspot.com/.

THE RUM DIARY tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take the bastards down.

This is the second time around for Depp to pay homage to his friend and gonzo-journalist, Hunter S. Thompson. Depp previously starred as Raoul Duke in the 1998 Terry Gilliam cult-classic “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” The film opens in theaters on October 28 and will be Rated R.

And what would Hunter S. Thompson think of this latest film based on his literary works? Who knows. But if this video of Thompson debating Gilliam, and trying to make sense of bringing his words to the screen is any indication, I can confidently say whatever he would have had to say would undoubtedly be bizarrely interesting! Watch the video from the set of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Warning, the video may not be safe for viewing in the workplace, or around small children due to Thompson’s “colorful” language. Then take a minute to watch the official trailer for THE RUM DIARY, and drop me a note to tell me what you think about this upcoming film release.

With autumn comes fall parties, football, Cub Scouts – ahem, reluctant den leader – and loads of homework (for parents, too). So it’s no surprise I get a wee bit behind on reading this time of year, even though great books are still popping off the presses each week. Below is a list of reads I’ve started and have enjoyed – I’m just not done yet. I hope to finish them before the holiday rush. Let’s peruse, shall we?

BLUEPRINTS FOR BUILDING BETTER GIRLS by Elissa Schappell
You know I’m a sucker for a great title, and this one, which was sent to @bookgasm, screams MALENA WILL LIKE THIS. Okay, maybe it was my husband, speaking in a normal tone, who said it. Nonetheless, I’m sticking this one in the car to read at pick up times, since it’s a collection of stories by PEN/Hemingway Award finalist Schappell and has received great reviews, which is why this is a September BEB Top Pick.

BEYOND HUMAN: Claiming the Power and Magic of your Limitless Self by Jaden Rose Phoenix. If you’re into expanded consciousness and manifesting personal power, this might be the book for you. The author recounts ways in which she has helped create miracles for her clients as well as in her own life. It’s more new agey-sounding than some of the new spiritual, Law of Attraction books on the market, but the awareness exercises portions are simple to follow and a nice addition to some of the more “out there” stuff for newbies.

WAKING UP IN DIXIE by Haywood Smith. Seriously, where has Smith been all my chick-lit readin’ life? Her voice is fresh from page one, her characters are all relatable and the dialogue is crisp and nicely paced. The heroine came from a “white-trash” upbringing, but ended up marrying the richest guy in town (to her design), but thirty years later she’s stuck in a loveless marriage. Her banker hubby has a stroke and wakes up wanting to right wrongs and give their marriage another go.