"Joyland" by Stephen King

Its the night of Christmas, and its time to buy yourself a gift.  Because I know you all got some awesome gift cards from Amazon in your stocking right?!!!

Now might be a good time to get yourself a copy of the novel "Joyland" by Stephen King

"Joyland" isn't what most people think of when they think of Stephen King.  Closer to "The Colorado Kid" than Misery, there are no killer clowns, possessed cars, or undead cats.  What it does have is a mystery.

(Review might have some spoilers.)

Working at Joyland is the perfect job for Devon Jones, who is a little heartsick.  He finds his true calling in dressing up at the parks mascot, Howie the Happy Hound.

While working there he hears the story of a young woman murdered a few years before in the parks haunted house.  It is said that her ghost is still haunting the ride.

Devon and his friends ride the ride to try and see her ghost, and end up looking into her life a little more.

Meanwhile Devon meets a woman and her son who live along the walk between the apartment he's renting and Joyland.

By the end of the summer (and the end of the novel) Devon is hoping to find the truth in what happened to the murdered woman, and he might just meet the person to heal his heart along the way (and its NOT who you think it might be.)

****

If that sounds interesting to you, then you might want to rush to Amazon right now.  The kindle version of "Joyland" is on sale for 75% off, and that's making it only $1.99!  (As of December 25, 2014).

And don't worry if you don't have a Kindle!  You don't have to have a kindle e-reader to read kindle books from Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices!

Dancing Dogs Stories by Jon Katz

16 Stories (mostly) about dogs.

Not all dogs are dancing in the book "Dancing Dogs: Stories" by John Katz, but at least one of them does.

If the title doesn't give it all away, this is a collection of dog stories.  Mostly.  One of them (titled Barn Cat) has a dog in it but its mostly about a cat and a rooster.  One of them is about a donkey, but I won't tell you which one, it'll be a surprise at the end.

This book has dancing dogs, working dogs, old dogs, young dogs and mind reading dogs.  There are shelties and pugs, terriers and German Shepherds.  It even gives you a humorous peek at dog heaven, which unfortunately means there are a couple of dead dogs in this book too.

There are sad dog stories that will make you cry, like Gracies Last Walk (which also happens to be the first story in the book.)

There are stories of rescue, like "Laura Passerby" who helps save the life of a chained dog, and Puppy Commando, where a normally well behaved young girl decides that she must have a certain puppy RIGHT NOW.

There are touching stories, like "Old Dogs" where and old farmer and his old dog encounter an old coyote and decide it might be time to give up the farming life.

In once case, "Ernie and the Bottled-Water Contest", there is a dog with spooky mind reading abilities.

Not all stories will give dog lovers the warm fuzzies though.  Some of them ("Ernie and the Bottled-Water Contest" again) will make any dog lover at least a little angry, and the story "Luther and Minnie in Heaven" certainly put one amazon reviewer in annoyance that life on earth is the doggy equivalent of Hell.

Over all I say this doggy short story collection is worth at least 4 stars out of 5.

The Walking Dead - Rise of the Governor

(Warning, the following review might have some MINOR spoilers in it.)

The Rise of the Governor is the first in a series of
Walking Dead novels.

The very first thing you should know about this novel is that you DO NOT have to be a fan of The Walking Dead (either the comic or the television series) to enjoy it. If you are a fan of zombie fiction in general and know nothing at all about The Walking Dead you can still easily read it and not be confused at all, other than maybe wondering why it is called "The Rise of the Governor." (The Governor is a character in both the comic and the TV series, and he's a bad bad man.)

It is about Philip Blake, who is traveling with his brother (Brian), his daughter (Penny) and his two best friends (Nick and Bobby) from Waynesboro Georgia all the way to Atlanta.

The apocalypse is still in its early stages and they are headed for a refugee camp that is supposed to be in Atlanta. It hasn't been an easy trip so far, of course, and they are trying to find a place to rest, and maybe wait out the oncoming winter.

The novel opens with them ridding a house of its walking dead occupants so they can spend the night.
For a few days it seems perfect, but you know tragedy has to make them move on, or there wouldn't be much of a novel at all.

Bad luck has attached itself to this small group of people. They seem to run into trouble at ever step. Each time they think they have FINALLY found a safe place to spend the winter, something makes them have to move along again.

Eventually they find themselves in a town called Woodbury. (Again, if you know nothing about the Walking Dead universe, the Governor is the "governor" of Woodbury."

The end of the novel caught me 100% off guard. I can't say much without giving major spoilers, but can say that it was a twist ending and wasn't what I expected AT ALL.

If you are a fan of The Walking Dead, or just zombie fiction in general, I recommend this novel 100%

Book One

I'm developing a pet peeve against books that are a part of a series.

Sometimes I would like to read a novel and have the whole story completed without having to collect 3, 4 or 6 more books before I find out what all happens.

I was loving "The Rise of the Governor" but, of course, it is part of a series.

At the end of the book Philip Blake still isn't really the Governor yet. That doesn't come until book 2.

There are 4 more published books in the series. There is also a kindle short that takes place between book one and book two.  So far I only have the first 2 books, and I did download the kindle short.

(This review was first written for Squidoo, then moved to hubpages.  I've removed it from hubpages to post here.)

DEAD(ish) By Naomi Kramer

DEAD(ish) by Naomi Kramer is a ghost story of sorts.  It is a short read, approximately only 46 pages if it were a print book.

What is DEAD(ish) About?

Imagine what it must be like to have your boyfriend murder you. Only, even though you are dead you can't move on because you are oddly obsessed with your mortal body, which is now missing. To make matters worse, your murder knows where the body is and he's not telling!

Linda is having that problem, but she thinks she has found a solution! She's going to torment her murderous (ex) boyfriend until he tells her where her body is!

Mike isn't spilling the beans though. Its not as if he MEANT to kill her. It was a pure accident and not HIS fault that she fell off of her own shoes when he slapped her!

Trent is caught between the living and the dead, and he's pretty sure that nobody is telling the truth which isn't making his job of finding Linda's body for her any easier.

****

Linda is dead, and she can't move on until she's found her body.
Mike killed her, but he's not telling where he hid her body.
There is only one thing left to do. She's going to haunt him until he tells her what she needs to know.
****

What Did I Think?

"Dead(ish)" was the very first book I read on my Kindle device. It is a short and fairly fast paced read, so I finished it in less than one day.

I'll start by saying there is a lot of talent to be seen in this work. I was reminded a bit of Christopher Moore's writing style.

Naomi Kramer did a fine job outlining a story here, but it does feel like its only an outline. It was good enough to keep me reading long enough to finish it instead of just moving on to my next title, but not quite good enough to make me want to immediately buy the next one.

The thing that bothered me most is that there was no character development at all. I didn't feel anything for Mike, Trent, Linda or any of them at all.

Secondly, the back story was hardly there at all. I'm still not 100% sure exactly what happened to Linda, and even though I know why, it was a very weak plot point.

There is also quite a lot of cursing and sexual content. (Which is no bother to me, but possibly a turn off for other readers.)

****

You don't have to have a kindle e-reader to read kindle books from Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices

****

(this review was originally published on Squidoo as nonersays, then moved to Hubpages as Noner, and now being re-posted here and removed from Hubpages)