Book Review: The Dirty Streets of Heaven
The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the first in a trilogy about a “working” angel named Bobby Dollar (angelic name Doloriel) who is an advocate for departing souls against hellish representatives. But things go quickly askew: he’s stuck with an advocate-in-training he doesn’t trust, he lusts after a beautiful demon, the Countess of Cold Hands, souls are disappearing before they get judged, and a monster older than death is chasing after him.
Dirty Streets is a gritty, sardonic novel as entertaining as reflexive. It’s not an in-your-face contemplation of good and bad, or whether God, Heaven and Earth exist, but Williams has created a three-level world so bureaucratized you start to question the definitions of what is Heaven, and what is Hell, and, by the way, does God really care?
This is the first Williams book I’ve read so I can’t compare with others, but this one was great fun to read and compelled me to seek his other novels. Oh, and warning: there is explicit sex in it. After all, minions of hell are involved.
A highly recommended read.
Can-Con in September
If you’re an SF reader, writer, editor, fan, comic book lover, etc., come to Canada’s Capital Can-Con this September. Can-Con is the Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature and is happening in Ottawa over the 21-23 September weekend. Lots of cool guests and panels. If you’ve never been to an SF Con, this is the place to start. It’s small enough not to be intimidating, but it’s full of dedicated, enthusiastic people who love every form of Speculative Arts and Literature. Check out the website regularly at http://can-con.org, and “like” the FB page at https://www.facebook.com/
Travel Blog — Italy
My husband and I were in Italy –mainly Rome– for the month of April although we forayed into Umbria with a visit to Orvieto and went back to Tivoli, this time not to see the famous gardens but to amble through Villa Adriana, an amazing city-like complex close to two thousand years old and fairly well preserved. Read my posts on our travels there on my other blog, The Other Word.
February: Zumaya Thriller Month Kindle Sale
From Zumaya Publications:
For the month of February, Zumaya will be placing Thrillers and other genre work with thriller elements on SPECIAL!
All the titles below will be listed at the low price of $2.99. A great way to try out these great authors and fill out your Kindle libraries.
Week 1 Feb 5 – Feb 11 – Science Fiction Thrillers
Week 2 Feb 12 to Feb 18 – Thrillers
 Too Many Secrets by Linda Guyan |
Week 3 Feb 19 to Feb 25 – Fantasy Thrillers
Week 4 Feb 26 to Mar 3 – Mixed Thrillers
Name the bear
From Elizabeth Burton -
Twenty-odd years ago, my mom bought me a little white wizard bear at an after-Christmas sale. When I joined Zumaya Publications, he/she became our unofficial mascot.
Now, we’re going to make the bear our OFFICIAL mascot, but he/she needs a name. So, for the next month, until ArmadilloCon 33 in August here in Austin, send us your suggestions for what to name the bear. If your name is chosen, we’ll send you a new Kindle loaded with Zumaya ebooks and some other cool swag or a terrific computer attache full of signed Zumaya paperbacks—your choice. We’ll give prizes to the nine runners-up, too.
Send your suggestion to zumayaebooks@gmail.com; please include your address with your entry. Entries will be judged by a panel of Zumaya authors and the winner announced on August 28th. You may enter as often as you like, but you must be 13 years old or more to enter. Sorry–legal stuff. And Zumaya authors and their immediate families will have to forego the fun, too. I’ll make it up to y’all, I swear.
Let the contest begin!
Here’s a picture
