Quick Review: THE WORDS OF EVERY SONG by Liz Moore (Windmill/Broadway)

November 3, 2020November 3, 2020 Civilian Reader Review Broadway Books, Cornerstone, Crown Publishing, Fiction, Liz Moore, Music, New York, Windmill Books, Words of Every Song

An interlinked tour through the New York music industry, and some of the lives it intersects with…

The Words of Every Song takes the form of fourteen linked episodes, each centering on a character involved with the music industry. There’s the arrogantly hip, twenty-six-year-old A&R man; the rising young singer-songwriter; the established, arena-filling rock star on the verge of a midlife crisis; the type-A female executive with the heavy social calendar; and other recognizable figures.

Set in the sleek offices, high-tech recording studios, and grungy downtown clubs of New York, The Words of Every Song offers an authenticity drawn from Liz Moore’s own experience and brings an insider’s touch to its depiction of the music industry and its denizens.

Liz Moore’s The Words of Every Song takes readers on a trip through the contemporary music industry, as witnessed through the eyes and lives of a mixed cast of characters. Each of these episodes is linked with at least one of the others, and is an interesting collection of character studies. I enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Quick Review: LOLA by Melissa Scrivner Love (Broadway Books)

January 30, 2019 Civilian Reader Review Broadway Books, Crime, Lola, Lola Vasquez Series, Los Angeles, Melissa Scrivner Love, Oneworld, Point Blank

An interesting twist on LA crime fiction

The Crenshaw Six are a small but up-and-coming gang in South Central LA who have recently been drawn into an escalating war between rival drug cartels. To outsiders, the Crenshaw Six appear to be led by a man named Garcia… but what no one has figured out is that the gang’s real leader (and secret weapon) is Garcia’s girlfriend, a brilliant young woman named Lola. Lola has mastered playing the role of submissive girlfriend, and in the man’s world she inhabits she is consistently underestimated. But in truth she is much, much smarter — and in many ways tougher and more ruthless — than any of the men around her, and as the gang is increasingly sucked into a world of high-stakes betrayal and brutal violence, her skills and leadership become their only hope of survival.

It took me a while to get around to reading this novel — another case of on Kindle, can’t see it on a shelf, so out of mind… I’m very glad that I finally got to it, though: this is a very good, interesting and well-written crime novel. Continue reading →

New Books! (August)

September 5, 2015August 23, 2018 Civilian Reader New Books Adam Roberts, Alison Littlewood, Andrew Michael Hurley, Andy Weir, Anna Waterhouse, Barry Lyga, Ben Bova, Ben Tripp, Black Library, Bradley Beaulieu, Broadway Books, Charlie Fletcher, Da Capo Press, David de Sola, Derek Haas, Gav Thorpe, Gerrard Cowan, Ian McDonald, Ian Winwood, Jo Fletcher Books, Julia Knight, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kieran Shea, Kyle Mills, Lila Bowen, Lilith Saintcrow, Matthew de Abaitua, Max Wirestone, Mike Lawson, Orbit, Peter Facinelli, Pyr Books, Rajan Khanna, Robert DeFranco, Sam Hawken, Seth Dickinson, Seth Patrick, Simon and Schuster, St Martin's Press, Stephen Aryan, T.R. Richmond, Titan, Tom Doyle, Vince Flynn, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Zen Cho

Featuring: Matthew de Abaitua, Stephen Aryan, Bradley Beaulieu, Ben Bova, Lila Bowen, Zen Cho, Robert DeFranco, Seth Dickinson, Tom Doyle, Peter Facinelli, Charlie Fletcher, Vince Flynn, Ryan Gattis, Derek Haas, Sam Hawken, Andrew Michael Hurley, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rajan Khanna, Andrew Klavan, Julia Knight, Mike Lawson, Alison Littlewood, Barry Lyga, Ian McDonald, Kyle Mills, Seth Patrick, T.R. Richmond, Adam Roberts, Lilith Saintcrow, Kieran Shea, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, David de Sola, Gav Thorpe, Ben Tripp, Anna Waterhouse, Andy Weir, Ian Winwood, Max Wirestone Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE GIRL IN THE ROAD by Monica Byrne (Broadway Books)

December 1, 2014 Civilian Reader Upcoming Broadway Books, Dystopia, Girl in the Road, Monica Byrne, Random House, Sci-Fi

So this novel was already published in May 2014 to rave reviews, but on February 17th, 2015, Monica Byrne‘s The Girl In The Road will be released by Broadway Books in paperback with a much better cover (right). I must say I found the original cover a little bland, and not particularly eye-catching. The synopsis is interesting, though:

When Meena finds snakebites on her chest, her worst fears are realized: someone is after her and she must flee India. As she plots her exit, she learns of the Trail, an energy-harvesting bridge spanning the Arabian Sea that has become a refuge for itinerant vagabonds and loners on the run. This is her salvation. Slipping out in the cover of night, with a knapsack full of supplies including a pozit GPS, a scroll reader, and a sealable waterproof pod, she sets off for Ethiopia, the place of her birth.

Meanwhile, Mariama, a young girl in Africa, is forced to flee her home. She joins up with a caravan of misfits heading across the Sahara. She is taken in by Yemaya, a beautiful and enigmatic woman who becomes her protector and confidante. They are trying to reach Addis Abba, Ethiopia, a metropolis swirling with radical politics and rich culture. But Mariama will find a city far different than she ever expected—romantic, turbulent, and dangerous.

As one heads east and the other west, Meena and Mariama’s fates are linked in ways that are mysterious and shocking to the core.

Thanks to Damien Walter for Tweeting the new cover. Hadn’t spotted it before.