I am a female geek. There are way too few of us out there.

Most of the books I read come from either the Science Fiction/Fantasy section, or would be classified in the (now difficult to find) Horror Section. Many of my favorite books include vampires, zombies, dragons, or were authored by Stephen King. I play World of Warcraft each and every day, and have not one, not two, but three completely different characters. I read manga, enjoy anime movies, and know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. I don’t have a whole lot of female friends who understand why I like these things.

My reading list of late has reflected these interests. If you are as much of a geek as I am, you might enjoy the following books as much as I did.

Paths Not Taken by Simon R. Green

I’ve never read one of his books before a friend handed me this one. I think they are part of a series. Green takes time to explain a lot of important things to his readers, so I found it easy to follow along with the story line despite having skipped over his other books.

John Taylor makes his living by finding things. He works in a city called Nightside. Basically, Nightside is the place where all the monsters and evil things go. They live there, they work there, they shop there. It’s the kind of place where anything at all could happen, magic runs rampant and unchecked, and one can find absolutely anything. It’s big and scary and dangerous. It’s the bar scene from the first Star Wars movie taken to the extreme. Fortunately, John Taylor is the son of a very powerful being, and has a real bad reputation. He scares the monsters.

In this book, John is asked to solve the case of a man who is being “haunted” by past and future versions of himself. All of them are angry as hell, and this man can’t figure out how to make them go away. John teams up with Tommy Oblivion, a (sort of) friend who can change reality just by talking persuasively, and Suzie Shooter, a friend whose name says it all. Eventually, they are led to find John Taylor’s mother, who turns out to be none other than Lilith (of the biblical myth). She created Nightside, and John is trying to stop her before she can destroy it.

Filled with twisted humor, bloody battles, and random magic, this book is a fun read! For example, there is this part where John Taylor says:

“Many of the self-styled prophets recognized me, and made the sign of the cross at me. Some made the sign of the extremely cross, and shook handmade charms and fetishes at me.”

The book changes in tone a bit once John Taylor and his friends start trying to find Lilith. It gets darker, a bit more serious, and brings up some concepts that are deep and disturbing. Still, I found it to be a good enough read to consider seeking out some of Green’s other books someday.

Diablo: The Sin War: Birthright By Richard A Knaack

I played the hell out of the Diablo game, (if you will excuse the pun), and was delighted to find this book series that is based on that world. Diablo is made by Blizzard Entertainment. I’m not real sure if the game itself or the online version is still available now. It’s not necessary to have played the game to get into the book series, however. Each book is an original story.

This book is the first part of what I believe will be a trilogy called “The Sin War”. In short, The Sin War refers to the ongoing battle between Heaven and Hell where each side wants to control the fate of all creation. This trilogy starts as the war is pushing into “Sanctuary”, which is where the people are.

Uldyssian is a farmer. He lost almost his entire family to a plague, except for one younger brother, Mendeln. They live in a small village where everyone knows everyone else, and has for years and years. One day, bodies are found outside the village, Uldyssian gets accused of murder, and suddenly powerful men from each of the two prevailing churches are after him.

Uldyssian finds that he mysteriously has developed some magical powers. He has no idea where these came from, or what to do with them. Fortunately, he meets a noble woman, Lylia, who helps him figure it all out. They leave town, along with Mendlen, (who has had his own share of odd occurrences he’s not telling anyone about), Achilios, (Uldyssian’s best buddy who is a great hunter), and Serenthia, (a woman who is in love with Uldyssian, but who is loved by Achilios). That’s when things get more complex.

Nothing is as it first appears in this book. Powerful beings from both Heaven and Hell are searching for Uldyssian, but why? Where did Uldyssian get these powers from? What’s up with Mendlen and the stones with the ancient writing on them that he can somehow read? Most of these questions are unanswered at the end of the book, and you have to read the second book find out what happens next.

*SPOILER ALERT* Strangely enough, Lylia turns out to be none other than Lilith. I didn’t expect to find a common link between the book by Green and the book by Knaak, but there it is.
*END OF SPOILER*

Warcraft SunWell Trilogy #1 Dragon Hunt written by Richard A. Knaak, illustrated by Jae-Hwan Kim

Blizzard Entertainment is also the maker of the World Of Warcraft Online game I spend so much time playing. This book is the first of a manga series based on the World Of Warcraft game. I think the only people who will enjoy this series are people who already play WOW. The artwork is good, but the story line is a bit flat. Reading this manga feels very similar to playing the game. There is a lot of action, and many of the races found in WOW are represented here. What made me buy this manga was that it was written by Knaak, the author of the Diablo books that I like so much.

The cover of #1 has a blue dragon and a blond, barely dressed young woman. She holds up the dragon’s head, and his wing is protectively around her. Makes one think things like “Their relationship is probably doomed”, or “Hmm… guess whose dating specifically to piss off her parents!”

Fortunately, this manga isn’t simply the story of star crossed lovers. First, the reader will find several pages of text explaining the universe in WOW. The story starts with a dwarf and three orcs trying to kill a dragon. The dragon crashes to the ground, changes into a man, and is found by the blond woman on the cover. She somehow knows he is a dragon, and isn’t phased by it. She immediately brings him home to mom and dad, whose house appears to be an “underground railroad” station for dragons. Yeah, I don’t really get it either.

I will say that the story line gets better if you keep reading. More characters are introduced, and some foes become friends. I don’t think the ending could have been more obviously set up to get you to read the next book. I realize the most mangas are a series, and each one is supposed to connect to the next one, but still! This one makes it all too obvious. It is almost as if this series was designed to be easy for readers who are new to the manga or graphic novel format, as well as a promotional tool to get you to think about playing WOW. Even still, the book is a fun quick read, and I was impressed by the artwork.

Summer is here, and the weather is hot, humid, and sticky! Looking for a book to read when its too darned hot to focus on much of anything? Then you are in luck! Here are a few books that I have been enjoying lately. All of them are quick, easy, and fun.

Diablo Moon Of The Spider is written by Richard A. Knaak. He is the author of the majority of the books in the Diablo series. These are the books loosely based around the Diablo RPG, but, it is not at all necessary to have played that game to simply be able enjoy these books. This is the fourth book in the series. I recommend that you either have read the third book before starting this one, or, not be upset when this fourth book reveals some of the ending to the third book.

Anyhow, the story is a good one. Two characters from book three, Zayl, (a necromancer who is devoted to restoring the balance between good and evil), and his sidekick Humbart,(a mostly intact skull of a long dead man that Zayl animated in the previous book), are main characters in book four. The main story line surrounds an ancient and misunderstood artifact, power hungry nobles, visits from beyond the grave, zombies, (well, ok, unorthodox zombies, but you get the idea), lots and lots of spiders, (none of whom are friendly), and an ubernecromancer who just may have turned to “the dark side”! This book has nonstop action scenes that really move. Almost as exciting as playing the game itself!

Wishing you could just go vacation on an island somewhere? Maybe you just miss watching some of the good tv that ended right as summer began? If so, then you are in luck! There are now books based on my favorite TV show, “LOST”!

I have only read one of these books so far, but believe there might be a total of three. Each book focuses on a minor character who was also on the island when the plane crashed, and throws in a few of the main characters we all love to make it that much more interesting. It is not simply a repeat of an episode of the tv series!

LOST : Signs Of Life is written by Frank Thompson. The focus of the story is on Jeff Hadley, who was an artist from Scotland before he got on Oceanic Flight 815 and stranded on the island with the rest of the survivors of the plane crash.

Jeff is still creating art, but not the same art he used to create. What he makes now are little sculptures and drawings that have these primitive looking symbols in them, and also some monsters. They scare Jeff. He doesn’t have an answer for the other survivors who ask Jeff where he got the ideas for this new creepy art. All he knows is that he has been getting bad dreams.

Jeff has mostly isolated himself from the rest of he survivors, and spent too much time thinking about his past, his art, his lovers, and his choices. A mystery unfolds as you read through this short book that links Jeff’s past and his current life. Stranger things start to happen after Jeff agrees to go on a boar hunt with Locke, Michael, Charlie, and my favorite character from the tv series, Hurley! Hurley is in this book quite a bit. (There are also brief cameos by Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, and Walt).

The back cover of the book seems to have a typo. It calls the main character, Jeff Hadley, “Nick Hadley”, and I have no idea why. The front cover of the book has Locke on the cover. That should help you find it.

Too humid to focus on much more than pictures? Try a manga! I just finished reading the second book of the Tsubasa series by Clamp. (You can read my review of Tsubasa volume 1 by looking it up in the past reviews I have done for Bookwyrm U.S.).

Tsubasa volume 2 picks up where volume 1 left off. Sakura is still unconscious, and Sayoran (who loves her) is still trying to restore her memories by finding them in different “worlds”. He is still accompanied by Fai, (a happy go lucky sorcerer), Kurogane, (a disgruntled ninja), and Mokona, (a round, white, animal like thing that can somehow sense when one of Sakura’s memories are nearby). They start out in the world they were still in at the end of volume 1, the Hanshin Republic.

Off they go to try and find the piece of memory. In this volume, they learn what a “Kudan” is, and how to get one. There are many battle scenes, all of which have artwork that seems to move very fast around the page. They meet a few people with very powerful Kudans, battle them, and save a new friend along the way. It is a quick read. Most of this book is exciting, and many parts are funny. The ending has something really good and really bad happen, (and its the same event), and also a scene linking to what might happen in Tsubasavolume 3. I can’t wait to read the next volume!