A LOW PROFILE: I Heart Marjorie Liu

Showing posts with label I Heart Marjorie Liu. Show all posts

Friday, May 15, 2009

Marjorie Liu And I Are Leftovers

Read this. And here I thought she was a such a young thang. Just take a look at her. Such an old lady.

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Marjorie Liu Just Gave Me Multiple Orgasms

Be still my heart. Go HERE and take a look at that. Now tell me you aren't in ecstacy.

Sigh. This is why I need to dig out my study.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Book of the Week

I just read Marjorie Liu's newest book, The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, Book I), her first urban fantasy. Told in first person, the story is fast-paced and epic, so if you're in the market for a meaty read, the kind that mixes myth with action, then Maxine Kiss' story is the one for you.

For those who must read in order, there is a prequel to this book, a novella titled Hunter's Kiss, in the anthology "Wild Thing." I hadn't read it, and although there were some fill-in-the-blank moments, it didn't bother my reading of The Iron Hunt.

The plot is very complex, so I'm going to make this as simple as I can:

Demon Huntress Maxine Kiss is the last Warden of the "prison" that has been holding the demons from attacking the human world for millenia. Her job/duties/destiny has been passed down from mother to daughter, each "Warden" inheriting a set of demon protectors which live as tattoos on her skin during the day and peel off her body at night. These demons are her "boys," special wards against the "zombies," which Maxine sees as the real enemy because the latter take over human minds and bodies, somewhat like a possession.

The "prison" is getting weaker and more zombies are escaping. Maxine can feel something big coming, bigger than the zombie queen that she and her ancestors had always been against. She finds out that there are worse monsters than zombies coming, so evil that even the zombies are afraid. She also finds out a lot about her heritage--who she might really be, what her destiny could be. It's the first book, so we end with more questions than answers, but Maxine must prepare herself for what is to come.

The epic feel of the story comes from the immense backstory of Maxine's kind that is only hinted by Liu. There is no infodumping and there is a slight frustration on my part that everyone around Liu knows more about her world than her, including her own boyfriend, Grant. Strange beings appear in the middle of the story that could have given her some answers, but they too appear to enjoy mocking her lack of knowledge by giving her cryptic accusations about her past; they later turn out to be protectors of a sort, but the transition to that was a bit puzzling.

Whereas the many parellel plots can overwhelm, it's the main character that holds the reader by the throat from the get-go. That Maxine is something other than human is obvious--there are demon tattoos living on her skin after all. Her sidekicks/protectors, her "boys," are almost cute, until, of course, you read about them eating weapons and devouring monsters. She is a well-rounded character--not too self-righteous about the monsters, with parent-issues the size of the US national debt, alone but not too lonely, and at times, so vulnerable, you feel for her need for love and companionship.

The romance between Grant and Maxine is already established in the beginning of The Iron Hunt (I'm assuming they met in Hunter Kiss), so the romantic elements are very light here. There are a few moments where Grant and a maybe-future rival exchanged a delicious challenging look, but that is about all the sexual tension you're going to get.

This is the book in which Maxine comes face-to-face with what she has inside her and what she must be, so in that sense, The Iron Hunt is about her hunting for her own identity. What is Maxine Kiss? What's inside her? Maybe even, WHO is Maxine Kiss? Because deep inside her, she's feeling something else awakening, and her bloodline is tinged with non-human genes. Besides that, the "protectors" mentioned earlier keep hinting about the mythological Wild Hunt and Maxine being the Huntress from mythology (hey, read up Wiki!). Like any rights of passage story, Maxine transforms as she literally goes through fire and water to become...the next stage.

I look forward to the second book of the series. Marjorie Liu's vivid imagination is a wonderful place to visit, even though she teases me with too many unanswered questions.

Oooh, edited to add...I found the marvelous trailer for the book on YouTube. Here's actually the gist of the Prologue to The Iron Hunt:

Kewl!

Friday, April 25, 2008

RT Recap: Day Four

I woke up on Saturday, coughing and hacking. Ann and Jeri, my roomates, have to shovel me out from under a pile of plasterdust. We dug a tunnel into the bathroom and screamed. We have turned into dust zombies. Instead of brains, we eat sawdust and plaster. We were going to be trapped in this hotel forever!

Jeri found an axe and we took turns swinging the mighty weapon against the wall, hacking away at it, trying to get out from the room...until I remembered how Barry Eisler showed us how to kick down a cheap hotel room door. Hi-KYAaaah! The door fell. And we made our escape...changing out of our sawdust nighties in the elevator, which fell twenty stories, even though we were on the fifth floor. We were professionals. We wiped away the last of the dusty evidence just when the elevator door opened, and Jeri, Ann, and I plastered on our happy author smiles, blinking away dirt as we walked out towards the big room for the Book Fair. Whew, made it.

300-plus authors. Over a thousand readers. Four hours of book heaven. Yeeha!

Here is a FANTASTIC video made by the Rebels of Romance, my drinking buddy Liz Maverick and her drinking buddy Marianne Mancusi ;-), of the day's events. If you want to know what an RT Book Fair is like, click on the video. You'll be amazed at the rows and rows of people. There is also footage of the Mr. Romance Contest so you can catch a glimpse of the show. Eye candy galore, peeps ;-).

Rebels of Romance Video Blog Day 4 from the Romantic Times Convention from Miss Media Productions on Vimeo.

Those two girls sure know how to have fun, don't they? Look at all the readers crowding around them!

Unlike this author below, who had to make her own sign because someone misplaced hers:

Sob. If you can't read the sign, it says, Gennita Low Will Rite Fur Fud.

One reader came to me and said, "What's FUD? (rhymed with cud)" Sigh. Another reader told me I needed an editor. Double-sob-sigh. Finally, I had to bring out the ace in the hole--I finished my coffee and holding the empty cup, I even had a rhyme going: "Save an author with a quarter."

It worked! I was hugged and loved by everyone after that:

Okay, I was just playing, in case you didn't get that. Many readers came over and talked to me, asking about Virtually Hers. I loved talking to you all and am really grateful for all the support you've given me this past year. Thanks for dropping by and buying my books, everyone.

That's Colleen Gleason, who writes an awesome Victorian vampire slayer series. She was the only author I managed to get to for a copy of her book because I couldn't get away from my seat. Everyone else that I wanted sold out! Wahhh.

I did get to see the Mr. Romance Competition. My friend, Chris Winters, won! He's a real sweetheart and a very funny person (when I first met him, he showed me how to clap with one's feet).

Unlike SOME PEOPLE, ahem, I couldn't afford the $$$ to be at the special romance model reunion dinner (it's a charity event), so I had to post the following pic of SOME PERSON WHO COULD and tell everyone that's me. Doesn't she look adorable? I'm jealous. Ah well. Hungry roofers can't waste her money on Fabio and Adrian Paul.

Oh, by the way, for those who emailed me expressing horror that I was pretending to be Marjorie Liu and telling everyone she's forty...ummm...it was a JOKE, folks. Honestly, look at the above photo again. Do you really think she's forty? Sigh. Marjorie knows I was just funning.

Anyway, that's all the RT stuff, folks. Hope you got a better picture of the convention and all its activities. It's going to be in Orlando, FL. next year! Come, if you can, because I'm going to be there again, wearing my Marjorie Liu badge.