Miscellaneous Monday: The Monstrous Beauty Edition

Here's are a few interesting things I've come across.

The first is Elizabeth Fama's debut YA novel, Monstrous Beauty, which will be released on August 21. Terrific title and the story sounds terrific, too: The cover image fits the title: initially it's quite beautiful, but then you see the creepy ridges and texture of the mermaid's tale.

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

You can find out more about Elizabeth's book and her writing at her fun author website.

I don't know if I mentioned the Vampires for Guys site before, but it's worth checking out even if you aren't a guy. I like the description: "dedicated to the manly appreciation of vampire fiction.) Today Vampire Guy has a positive review of the Fright Night remake and says:

It seemed to have exactly the right balance of keeping the best of the original while changing enough things to keep it interesting. So “fright night” is a website and live Vegas act instead of a late night TV show. Peter Vincent is still a phony but in a completely different way. What I really liked was the way all the characters had a little more depth.

You can read Kate Krake's more in-depth compare and contrast review over at Vivid Scribe.

Colin Farrell makes a surprisingly good vampire – he’ll never be Chris Sarandon though. Maybe it’s the lack of cable knit sweaters.

I can certainly understand how putting Colin Farrell in a cable knit sweater would make him more terrifying -- but if it was an Irish fisherman's cable knit sweater, he'd be terrifying and romantic...a monstrous beauty.

Has anyone read The Native Star by M.K. Hobson? It's the first of her Veneficas Americana series and came out a few years ago. The Wild West setting for the steampunk is a refreshing change from all the big city steampunks. Here's the summary:

The year is 1876. In the small Sierra Nevada settlement of Lost Pine, the town witch, Emily Edwards, is being run out of business by an influx of mail-order patent magics. Attempting to solve her problem with a love spell, Emily only makes things worse. But before she can undo the damage, an enchanted artifact falls into her possession—and suddenly Emily must flee for her life, pursued by evil warlocks who want the object for themselves.

Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from New York City whose personality is as pompous and abrasive as his name, has been exiled to Lost Pine for mysterious reasons. Now he finds himself involuntarily allied with Emily in a race against time—and across the United States by horse, train, and biomechanical flying machine—in quest of the great Professor Mirabilis, who alone can unlock the secret of the coveted artifact. 

Tatiana at Goodreads said:

"The Native Star, IMO, is the real deal, a well thought-out and original alternative universe romp. ..her magical system is one of the most interesting and complex I've ever seen. Hobson incorporates it into her story seamlessly. In the author's vision, magic permeates American history and all parts of people's lives in a very organic and realistic way...This mix of history, magic, adventure, gadgetry and love is right up my alley."

Okay, I'm adding this to my to-read list. The second in the series is The Hidden Goddess (April 2011), and The Warlock's Curse will come out this year. M.K. is diving into the self-publishing world with The Warlock's Curse. You can read more about her steampunk series and writing at her fab Demimonde website.

I really enjoyed designer/illustrator Lee Moyer's critique of why the cover for Native Star works and what went wrong with the cover for The Hidden Goddess didn't.

My own assessment is that the cover for The Hidden Goddess makes me think that an earwig crawled into the character's hair at night and ate its way into her BRAIN! But, since it's a steampunk story, the earwig is actually a tiny evil robot that will now be controlling her entire life in its quest for WORLD DOMINATION!! I know...it's a monstrously beautiful plot idea.

GRATUIOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

The theme is new videos set to songs with "monster" in the title.