Dinara Tengri

Reading slumps: annoying but necessary . One can only read so many books in a row, without getting fed up with words. If I'm going to be totally honest, I've been enjoying my little vacation away from books . With no more reviews filling up my calendar, I could finally take time to work on the writing projects that I've been pushing back, and catch up on the hidden goodies Netflix has to offer (coming soon: "Ten More Shows I've Binged on Netflix"). But there are so many books out there that demand to be read and reviewed and loved for the depositories of parallel universes that they are, and how can I just sit there and not do my part? Plus, I think my reading fatigue is finally wearing off. But where do I start? What book should I review next? This is where I turn to you - my bookish friends - to help me decide . I've narrowed down my choices to three novels: A Maze of Death, by Philip K. Dick Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton ...

I have read the first two books in the Scythe Wielder's Secret  series, and I enjoyed them immensely. I also had a few questions for the author, Christopher Mannino, about the series and about his writing. And Christopher graciously agreed to answer all of my questions. Take it away, Christopher! *** 1. Tell us more about yourself!   I am all about creativity. I write every day, and my wife ( www.RachelMannino.com ) is also an author. I teach high school theatre. I sing all the time. I love to travel and wish I could do so more often. I'm a nerd, and enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, and anime. The Scythe Wielder's Secret is my first published series. 2. Let's talk about The Scythe Wielder's Secret . You created a magical world where teenagers train to be the next grim reapers. How did you come up with such a mind-boggling concept? In 2011, wile finishing my graduate degree at Oxford, I became stranded at Tintagel, a castle ruin o...

       Top Ten Tuesday is back! I don't know if I'm going to post a new list every week, but now that I'm in the middle of a reading slump, I wanted to do something fun. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish . And this week's theme is "Ten most random facts about me".  1. I hate vegetables. They're flavourless. I might as well be eating grass. 2. I can't do a somersault.     3. Between the ages of 18 and 19, I wrote a lot of Ninja Senshi Tobikage fanfiction. One such story spun its own fanfiction. I was very touched. 4. I like cats more than dogs. 5. I've been to Germany no less than 9 times. And still the only thing I can say is "Guten Tag. Ich möchte ein Eis verkaufen." (and that's probably wrong). 6. I have a Bachelor degree in the "science" of social work. And I did my intership at a hospital. It was fun....

Title: Sword of Deaths Author: Christopher Mannino Year of publising: 2015 Publisher: Muse It Up Publishing Source: I received a copy of this book from Book Publicity Services in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my thoughts and feelings about the novel. Read my review of School of Deaths right here . Susan Sarnio made a choice, and will spend the rest of her life as the only female Death. Last year she was bullied and ostracized. Now, to her complete bewilderment, four Deaths vie for her affection. Yet, something is terribly wrong at the College of Deaths. When a ship carrying scythe metal is attacked, many blame the newly-freed Elementals, but Susan knows the Elementals are innocent. Shadows from the distant past come to light. Dragons circle the horizon, blood spills, and nothing is what it seems. Susan and her friends struggle to stop a war. They search for the fabled First Scythe, hoping to sway the balance, but who is the true enemy? I loved the firs...

I love Dana Scully of the X-files.  I can't help being drawn to this character like a moth to a very bright light. She's awesome . In short, this post is a loud and self-satisfying rant about the awesomeness and badassery of Dana Scully. More specifically, it's an essay about how Scully's skeptical and scientific viewpoint helps Mulder fight the supernatural. In the future, I'm going to write a more in-depth analysis of the role that Scully's science plays on the X-files. For now, I'm going to settle on listing five episodes, in which lives were saved thanks to Scully and her science. I always get so annoyed when people are saying, "Why can't Scully just believe in the paranormal? The evidence is right in front of her!" To those people I say, "What evidence?" You can loose your mind trying to count the times when Scully and Mulder fail to solve a case, and to present any substantial evidence to the FBI (somet...