Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned – Book One: The Charmer (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton, Jessica Ruffner, Ron Lim (Illustrator)

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LAURELL K. HAMILTON’S FAN-FAVORITE VAMPIRE HUNTER RETURNS! Anita Blake walked away from her last case with more than a few bruises–but those wounds are nothing compared to the scrapes that lie ahead in this blood-soaked adaptation of Hamilton’s third erotic thriller. To find a killer targeting the undead, Anita must descend into the dangerous, supernatural demimonde operated by the master vampire Jean-Claude. It will take all of Anita’s wits to survive

Hardcover, Graphic Novel, 120 pages Published February 9th 2011 by Marvel (first published January 19th 2011) ISBN 0785146881 (ISBN13: 9780785146889)

A new body is found that has several bites from different vampires. This leads Anita to believe there is a new group of vampires in town. She feels no choice but to turn to Jean-Claude, master vampire, to see if he knows who could be killing the victims.

Jean Claude thinks it’s time to have a little fun and games before helping her. While on a visit to his new club, The Circus of the Damned, Anita is put in the  middle of a little game of jealousy between the vampire Yasmeen and her human slave. It seems that Yasmeen likes watching the human slaves fight each other, of course Anita has the upper hand, but when a shifter joins in the fun, someone is bound to get hurt. Luckily, a mutated giant snake has started attacking people. The group decides to end their games and work together to kill the snake.

Anita makes a new enemy of the Humans First group who’re out to kill the master vampire – the
same master vampire that Anita currently has ties to. and those ties that are getting more intense by the day. Anita shows the same stubborn ability to piss off a new group of people, and protect those she believes have not done anything wrong.

We finally get a hint at a romance in this one. But how is Anita going to be able to fit a romance into her already hectic lifestyle? I’m pleased to say that Anita stays true to form; a lot of bad assery and very little complaining.

Great visuals along with equal amounts of dialogue; full colored glossy pages, gore, and some language and nudity.

Once again I have to thank the amazing Austin Designworks for creating what I wanted out of a few vague ideas. They have never let me down and always exceeded my expectations!

To celebrate, I’m reposting the news that the Sentients of Orion series will be available in the USA soon. While the series has it’s own minnie website, all news pertaining to the books will be reposted here. This is what I said yesterday:

It’s been a while since I announced the release of Sentients of Orion in e-book form in the US. Things went quiet then because it’s taken me months to organise some admin biz to do with the release. Finally that’s completed, so I hope to have a release date for you soon.

I’m also very excited to whisper that Wayne Haag (the amazing artist ANKARIS) and I will be doing some work together on the Sentients series release in the USA and maybe other projects in time. Details to come!

For those of you who have supported Sentients during its release in the the Commonwealth (particularly my then editor, Darren Nash), I thank you from the bottom of my heart. As some of you know, I wept blood over this series. I’m so happy to think it will get a wider release. If the ebook sales go alright, then it may be available POD.

So when the time comes, I will ask you to spread word for me.

love

Marianne xo

The Battle of Blood and Ink: A Fable of the Flying City by Jared Axelrod, Steve Walker (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 144 pages Published May 8th 2012 by Tom Doherty Associates (first published November 8th 2011) ISBN 0765331306 (ISBN13: 9780765331304)

If you’re visiting the flying city of Amperstam without the latest printing of The Lurker’s Guide, you might as well be lost. This one-sheet is written, edited, and printed by Ashe, a girl raised on the streets of the flying city, and is dedicated to revealing its hidden treasures and deepest secrets—including many that the overcontrolling government doesn’t want anyone to know. The stakes are raised when Ashe accidentally uncovers the horror of exactly how Amperstam travels among the skies and garners the attention of those who would rather that secret be kept in the hands of the city’s powerful leaders. Soon Ashe is on the run from thugs and assassins, faced with the choice of imperiling her life just to keep publishing, or giving in to the suggestion of a rich patron that she trade in her voice and identity for a quiet, comfortable life. It’s a war of confusion for Ashe, but one thing is very clear: just because you live in a flying city, you can’t always keep your head in the clouds.

Ashe and her friend Tolbin have a little one page paper that they disperse among the city. One day her journalistic adventures lead her to find out how the city is able to fly. She struggles with the idea of letting the secret out or not, but the leader of the city, Provost knows that she has found out and is after her. This is where most of the excitement and action comes into the story. Ashe can really hold her own and is flawed, yet strong and really kicks butt.

The story is very fast paced, all black and white pictures with mostly bold black lines defining the characters and settings. Not very much shading at all and no colored pages. In the very beginning pages we get a sample of the paper that she puts out and it gives the reader a lot of details about characters, setting and world.

I loved Ashe, she’s feisty and fierce. This was my first look into a steampunk graphic novel and the thought of a flying city really appealed to me.

After doing a little research online I found that Jared Axelrod also has a podcast that discusses this series and if you’re interested to give it a listen here is the link to episode #1 from iTunes.

Jared Axelrod – Fables of the Flying City – http://itun.es/isJ9rQ #iTunes   and in which he introduces you to the website as well http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/

I would suggest checking out the podcast and the websites first as they give a lot of background information, character info and world building.