First Book of January

It's into January, and I've already finished my first book. OK, I cheated a little. It's the graphic novel Bad Blood written by Jonathan Maberry and illustrated by Tyler Cook. I grew up loving comics, and still read a graphic novel or two every month. I finished Krampus right before New Year's Eve.

Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author, editor, comic book writer. I first started reading Maberry's Rot & Ruin series for young adults. It's a delightful mix of meaning and mayhem. A zombie coming of age story with brains and heart. The first book in the series has a place on my shelf of recommendations in the bookstore.

I was reading a post of my Facebook Friend, Nick Sharps who reviews books and is the social media manager for several small presses. He posted that he had finished his first book of the year, Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. Marko's book just happens to be on my shelf, and I shared a photo with Nick.

Nick also noticed I had the James Lovegrove book Age of Odin. James Lovegrove is a British writer who has carved a nice niche for himself. He basically invented the genre godpunk. Godpunk is a form of military-Science Fiction adventure combining high-tech adventure and ancient gods. I chose Age of Odin, because I enjoy Norse mythology, but there are several books in the series including Age of Shiva, Age of Zeus, or Age of Ra.

Nick and I continued to have a Facebook conversation about James Lovegrove and how we loved his books and it was hard to go wrong with any of them. Like most writers, he's been writing for several years, and his Pantheon series(godpunk) isn't the only thing he writes. Be sure to check out is Redlaw series.

Well, Nick is also Facebook friends with James Lovegrove, and James was happy to see that I hand sell his books, which is one my favorite parts of working in a bookstore. I love introducing a writer that I'm sure someone will love to read.James Lovegrove posted to my wall that we need more booksellers like me. I say. We need more writers like James Lovegrove...