Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Zombie driving school and werewolf cops

Hi and welcome to your Wednesday fix of Shapeshifter Seductions. This week I will be reviewing “Moon’s Fury” by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. This is book five of the Tales of the Sazi series. It was first released in 2007 and re-released just a few months ago, so you should be able to find it pretty easily.

But before we get to the book, I want to point out what a fantastic job we have all been doing in making the Others feel welcome and at home with the 21st century. A few weeks ago, a vampire ran a car off the road in Fruita, Colorado. A few days later a leprechaun was spotted at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. (If you’ll remember, there’s a Sazi wolf pack up there.) And just this week a car load of zombies was in a car accident trying to get to a party in Portland, Oregon. While some people think this is a sign of young humans acting like dorks, I just know it’s the contribution of us fantasy writers and you loyal readers making the Others feel like they belong.

Just think about it: a vampire was willing to expose himself to ridicule by trying to hitch hike… Well, maybe it isn’t such a good idea for vampires to be trying to hitch rides, but there was nothing wrong at all with a leprechaun going grocery shopping. Seriously! When was the last time you saw a leprechaun willing to part with his hard earned gold long enough to hit the produce sale at Safeway? And, well, I guess the zombies really need to take driving lessons. But maybe now they will be allowed to join a driver’s ed course. Heck, even the responding police officers were caring. One was quoted as saying, “We are just glad nobody died, even the undead.”

And if you don’t believe me, just do a Google search. Honest to god, all three storied made national news!

So, without further ado, I present “Moon’s Fury”:

The Sazi have survived time immemorial by hiding within the ranks of human society. While there aren’t a huge number of them, they do come to the attention of human authority from time to time. Good thing there are Sazi hidden within those ranks, too.

Cara Salinas is Alpha of her pack of Mexican Red Wolves in western Texas, but she’s also the county sheriff. Adam Muller is Second in the Minneapolis pack of timber wolves and also a beat cop in one of the city’s toughest precinct. When the Sazi Council orders the huge pack in Minnesota to reduce pack size, Adam is sent down to Texas to reconnoiter the area, since half a dozen families were to head down there and join Cara’s pack. Too bad no one bothered to tell Cara about the plan.

Cara has her hands full trying to figure out how to make six families of outsiders work in her small, rural community where everyone knows everyone. To make matters worse, she isn’t feeling nearly as offended at having Adam, a wolf dominant enough to be a pack leader in his own right, in her territory. If that wasn’t enough, she has the new leader of Wolven, Lucas Santiago, breathing down her neck and serial killing Sazi birds kidnapping girls and killing human traffickers!

I enjoyed this book- it has a spicy zing that keeps you turning pages. It takes most of the book for Cara and Adam to admit to their intense attraction to each other and find time to actually act on it. I love the way secondary characters are lively and likeable, adding a lot of depth to this story. Of special interest in the secondary cast is Sam, the Wolven agent/Texas Ranger/ancient bald eagle shifter from the Comanche tribe. He gets plenty of character development to make him easy to like and just enough background info to make you yearn to know his secrets- and he seems to have plenty of them.

Ok, to the nuts and bolts of the story plot. I won’t go too in-depth, but this is the first book of the main story arch. Where the first four books seemed to be hinting of bigger things happening, this book comes alive with hidden plots being revealed. We will get to see a new side of Lucas Santiago, and why he was so sad the Jack Simpson had to die the way he did in book four. We will also get to see a new, darker side of the raptors and snakes as we see a master plot for world destruction- not domination- unfold with them at the heart of it. And thought the general tone of this book is dark and hectic, the hero and heroine have a very happy ending, even though it’s a bit bitter sweet for Cara.

Next week, I’ll be reviewing book six of the series, “Timeless Moon,” where we will meet again the mysterious Aspen/Josette Monier and the husband she’d thought she lost. Untill then, have a safe and festive week. And remember, it’s fine to support the “Others” in your community, but don’t pick up any vampire hitch hikers!

Rebecca Gillan
RebeccaLGillan.com

11 comments:

Rebecca Gillan said...

Ah! I posted too quickly! I just found an article about a possible la chupacabra pack being found in Hood County, Texas. So that's vampires and leprechaus for the 4th of July week and zombies and goat-sucking chupacabras this week. Makes me wonder what interesting "Other" is going to be comming out of the closet next... ;)

Anonymous said...

OOH! How about Bigfoot? Honestly, I think we have one roaming around here! There had been reports ---and searching in a town about half an hour from where I live. But now, at night Ive been hearing "strange" noises! Heavy footfall. Low grunts. Now a logical conclusion to this (IF I LIVED IN THE CITY) would be a prowler. I live in the country --- and we're the only home for miles!

LOL! Stranger things have been known to happen!

Anyhoo! GREAT post Rebecca, I loved it!

hugs, Kari Thomas, www.authorkari.com

Pat C. said...

I heard about the zombie car wreck on my morning radio show, but not the others. I didn't realize paranormal folk got so active around national holidays. Time to stock up on the rock salt?

Savanna Kougar said...

“We are just glad nobody died, even the undead.” ... lol!

Wow, I hadn't heard about the Zombies or the shopping leprechaun... yep, like I've been saying magick and the magickal critters have arrived and are arriving more and more these days.

Rebecca, great review!

Savanna Kougar said...

Kari, truthfully, it could be a big foot. I've heard many a nighttime radio show featuring serious researchers and folks who have encountered Big Foot.

Serena Shay said...

Ah, a la chupacabra sighting. I'm jealous! I kept my eyes peeled for the 10 years I lived in Texas, but never saw one. ~sniff~ I knew there had to be there somewhere. ;)

Great blog, Rebecca!

Rebecca Gillan said...

The photo they had of the dead one looked like el coyote with mange if you ask me. But la chupracbra makes a better story. ;)

Reading the news is so much more fun if you've got a vivid imagination!

Savanna Kougar said...

Rebecca, from the pic I saw of the poor thing. It looked a hybrid... maybe coyote and a Mexican hairless dog... or, they do use greyhounds to hunt coyotes and coyotes are known for consorting with their enemies to gain their genetic strength.
The actual head didn't look like just a coyote to me.
Plus, there are black ops secret labs in Texas. Gawd knows what they're experimenting with.
I know one person who found one of those poor things hit by a car several years ago and did their own independent gene analysis. Despite, what the mainstream media reported, that critter was not JUST A COYOTE!!! There were unidentifiable genes and other anomalies.
So, really, who knows?
Though, it's not a Chupa.

Pat C. said...

It's a coyote street gang known as Las Chupacabras. They spread rumors and stories to stir up panic among us poor monkeys. The bodies are roadkilled dogs they've doctored with their own shifter blood to mess up the DNA results.

And I just plotted another story. Sometimes a vivid imagination is not a good thing.

Savanna Kougar said...

Oooooh, Pat, another paranormal mystery solved!

Happy story penning!

Rebecca Gillan said...

And a few really good story ideas in the making!