Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

May 15, 2010

Why no new photos in the Gallery

Filed under: My Life,My Thoughts — Suramya @ 4:40 AM

A few people asked me why I don’t upload any photos to the Photogallery anymore so I checked the logs and found that the last time I uploaded stuff to the gallery was in August of 2009. Considering that the photogallery was the most frequently updated section of the site before then, it is a long time to not upload new stuff. Plus even before then it was sporadic and not all trips/events got shared on the site.

This is not because I don’t have photos to upload and share. It wasn’t because I was feeling lazy and didn’t have time. It takes me about 15 mins to create a new section and upload new pics and most of it is spent on creating captions. The main issue is that I have gotten tired of getting crap from people about the photos I post. I spend hours deciding what photos to post and what not to post. The no of photos I post on the site are not even 1% of the total photos I have taken. The gallery wasn’t made to embarrass people, it was made to share photos of the good times I have had with friends.

When people asked me to remove a particular photo or change a caption I usually remove the photo if their reason made sense to me. Then I started getting comments telling me that I always post crappy photos of people on the site to make them look bad. If that’s what you think. Fine. Its your point of view. I am tired of listening to the crap and have people giving me shit. So I have stopped uploading photos to the site.

I take photos because I like it. I don’t HAVE to post it for others. If you want a copy of the photos I take email me and I will put them up in a private section of the site and give you access. But I am done posting these photos publicly for now. This is not a decision I have made today. Its been in my thoughts for a while but this is the first time I am writing this down.

I am seriously considering moving the entire photos.suramya.com domain to a password protected area. No public photos no BS. But its not something I have decided yet. Lets see, I am still thinking about it.

Well this is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

May 14, 2010

Victorious (The Lost Fleet Book 06) by Jack Campbell

Filed under: Reviews-Science Fiction — Suramya @ 7:01 PM


Victorious (The Lost Fleet Book 06)
by Jack Campbell

Description:

Now Victorious leads the charge again-and “Black Jack” Geary is in command…

As war continues to rage between the Alliance and Syndicate Worlds, Captain “Black Jack” Geary is promoted to admiral-even though the ruling council fears he may stage a military coup. His new rank gives him the authority to negotiate with the Syndics, who have suffered tremendous losses and may finally be willing to end the war. But an even greater alien threat lurks on the far side of the Syndic occupied space.

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Rating:

Review:Victorious is the sixth book in the Lost Fleet Series and concludes the series. In the previous books Jack “Black Jack” Geary fought his way through enemy space and has finally made it home with the remnants of the Alliance Space Fleet.

Now he has to deal with the political leadership of the Alliance while ensuring that the fleet doesn’t stage a coup in his name.

The book ties up a lot of loose ends in the plot that were left unresolved in the previous books and even though it doesn’t have as much action (space battles) as the previous books it has enough to ensure a good read.

One thing I really liked was that the author didn’t use a lot of shipping terms during the battles and if he did then they were explained so at no point did I feel like skipping the battle descriptions.

Although, the book can be read on its own without having read the previous books I recommend that you read them first so that you get a better idea of the backdrop and the current situation in the universe.

Final Recommendation: A great read.

May 13, 2010

Do Unto Others by Michael Z. Williamson

Filed under: Reviews-Science Fiction — Suramya @ 6:57 PM


Do Unto Others
by Michael Z. Williamson

Description:

The Prescot family were miners. At one time, they were contracted to develop technology for a mineral rich but uninhabitable system. Gradually, all the investors shied away. Then the Prescots broke through with the technology needed to exploit entire planets, and incidentally develop domed playgrounds for the perversely rich, including indoor ski slopes and cable cars over megavolcanos, casinos and rides. This created the economic problem of being the richest people in the universe, having more money than most governments and effectively unlimited resources.

Money is a small blessing when enemies are quite willing to spend billions for the chance at trillions. Bryan Prescot and his daughter might as well have targets painted on their backs for the thugs, kidnappers and assassins their cmpetitors would throw at them. Bodyguards were necessary’Highly trained bodyguards who could be bought once and be utterly loyal no matter the circumstances.

The altercation comes to a head inside the domes and mines of Govannon, with their enemy desperate to do anything to save their own lives, now that the gloves are off. Caron Prescot has only six bodyguards against an army, but she has two aces in the hole: The miners are on her side, and Elke, Ripple Creek’s psychotic demolition expert, has a nuke.

The problem with Elke having a nuke is that Elke WILL use it.

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Review:The book has not been publicly released as of the time of this review and this is based on the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) released by Baen Publishing.

As is the case with all ARC’s the manuscript had a lot of minor issues and notes from the author like **Cook Name** etc. But none of that detracted from the plot and it remained a fun read throughout.

The plot was quite basic with a bunch of high level bodyguards trying to save their principal (The person they were guarding) from being killed. But the skill of the author showed in the way he told the story and made it interesting enough that at no point did it feel that we were just watching a group of men/women hide and/or kill people.

The characters were well written and though some parts of the story came out as slightly unpolished I think that was because I was reading an ARC instead of the final release and I am quite hopeful that the final version will have all these minor rough edges polished out.

Final Recommendation: A good read

May 12, 2010

The Age of Ra (Age of Series Book 01) by James Lovegrove

Filed under: Reviews-Science Fiction — Suramya @ 6:41 PM


The Age of Ra (Age of Series Book 01)
by James Lovegrove

Description:
The Ancient Egyptian gods have defeated all the other pantheons and claimed dominion over the earth, dividing it into warring factions. Lt. David Westwynter, a British soldier, stumbles into Freegypt, the only place to have remained independent of the gods’ influence. There, he encounters the followers of a humanist leader known as the Lightbringer, who has vowed to rid mankind of the shackles of divine oppression. As the world heads towards an apocalyptic battle, there is far more to this freedom fighter than it seems…

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Review:The first book in the Age of Series, The Age of Ra had a great plot and an awesome storyline right up-till it got to the end, then it just made no sense. The ending of the book was horrible and completely destroyed the book.

It would have made sense if the story was continued in another book but as far as I can tell the next book in the series is not at all connected to this one.

If only the author had taken the time to flesh out the ending a little bit it would have been a great novel. As is, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t think I will be trying the next novel in the series.

May 11, 2010

Black Blade Blues (Black Blade Book 01) by J. A Pitts

Filed under: Reviews-Urban Fantasy — Suramya @ 4:56 PM


Black Blade Blues (Black Blade Book 01)
by J. A Pitts

Description:

Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for a low-budget movie, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group.

When the lead actor breaks Sarah’s favorite one-of-a-kind sword, it sends the director into fits. Sarah agrees to repair the blade to avoid reshooting scenes.

One of the extras claims to be a dwarf and offers to help her at the forge. That’s when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as he claims? Why does he want her to kill a Portland investment banker? And what is it about that homeless guy that has her on edge?

As if things weren’t surreal enough at that point, Sarah’s girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase’ ‘I love you.’

Black Blade Blues is about forging an existence in a world that is much different than one expects.

Oh, and dragons.

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Review:Black Blade Blues is the first fantasy book by JA Pitts and I really liked the book. The plot was interesting and the characters were well defined. The best part was that even though the main character (Sarah) had self doubts and was conflicted about her relationship with another woman at no point in the book did it become too melodramatic or feel like it was put in there for no good reason other than to have drama in the book.

Sarah’s reactions to finding out that Dragons are real were completely believable but it never got to the point of being idiotic. When she finally figured out that it was all real she didn’t continue to deny the fact or do stupid stuff.

Too many authors of Fantasy books allow their characters to adjust to a radical change in their world view instantly and that just doesn’t sound realistic.

The supporting cast could have been defined a bit more in detail but was still sufficient enough to carry the book forward.

Final Recommendation: A good read

May 10, 2010

Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires Book 08) by Rachel Caine

Filed under: Reviews-Young Adult Fantasy — Suramya @ 4:48 PM


Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires Book 08)
by Rachel Caine

Description:

A new chapter in the New York Times bestselling Morganville Vampires saga.

Vampire musician Michael Glass has attracted the attention of a big- time producer who wants to cut a demo and play some gigs-which means Michael will have to enter the human world. For this, he’s been assigned escorts that include both a dangerous immortal as well as Michael’s all-too-human friends. And with that mix of personalities, this is going to be a road trip from hell…

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Review:In this latest installment of the Morganville vampire series the war in Morganville has finally ended and things have calmed down a lot.

Now Michael has been approached by a big time producer to record a CD in Dallas, Texas and he along with his friends are to take a road trip from Morganville to Dallas. Unfortunately for them the trip didn’t turn out quite as planned and instead of having a fun enjoyable trip it was business as usual with death, destruction and mayhem.

The plot of the story was a bit weaker than the other books in the series but wasn’t too bad, the fast pace of the book made it easy to ignore the small issues in the plot. Some of the unresolved issues from the previous books were resolved in this book.

I think the author should stop writing more books in the series unless she can think of a completely new angle and plot for the future books ’cause this is a good book to end the series on a high note.

Final Recommendation: A decent read

May 9, 2010

Bewitched & Betrayed (Raine Benares Book 04) by Lisa Shearin

Filed under: Reviews-Urban Fantasy — Suramya @ 4:42 PM


Bewitched & Betrayed (Raine Benares Book 04)
by Lisa Shearin

Description:

My name is Raine Benares. I’m a seeker. I find lost things and missing people ‘ usually alive. Finding the specters of six evil mages who escaped the Saghred, a soul-eating stone of unlimited power, was easy. Stopping them before they unleash Hell on earth just may be the death of me.

Being bonded to the Saghred wasn’t my idea ‘ neither is hunting down its escapees. Especially not when one of them is also hunting me. He’s regenerating his body by taking the lives of powerful victims, along with their memories, knowledge, and most important of all, their magic. The dark mage wants control of the Saghred, and if he gets it, he’ll become an evil demigod whom no one can stop. The only thing in his way is me.

One of us doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

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Rating:

Review:In the 4th book of the Raine Benares series Raine is searching for the six souls of evil mages that had escaped from the the Saghred, (a soul-eating stone) in the previous book in the series.

The plot in the book is quite fast paced and it is a different take on a world with Elves and Goblins. Usually most of the books that feature Elves portray them as a long lived peaceful race and Goblins as an evil race. In this case both races are shown to have their plus points and their negative points.

The humor in the book is mostly dry and slightly sarcastic which is why I loved it. The characters are well defined and the back story is given to as as the current book goes along so you don’t spend three chapters learning what happened in the previous books but also gave enough information that the reader doesn’t need to refer to the previous books for information.

Final Recommendation: A good read.

May 8, 2010

Barely Bewitched (Southern Witch Book 02) by Kimberly Frost

Filed under: Reviews-Paranormal,Reviews-Romance — Suramya @ 4:40 PM


Barely Bewitched (Southern Witch Book 02)
by Kimberly Frost

Description:

Welcome to Duvall, Texas, where new witch Tammy Jo Trask has just unleashed an accidental Armageddon-Oops.

Tammy Jo-s misfiring magic has attracted the unwanted attention of WAM, the World Association of Magic. Now, a wand-wielding wizard and a menacing fire warlock have come to Duvall to train her for a dangerous mandatory challenge. But is there more to their arrival than they claim?

When a curse leads to a toxic spill of pixie dust, the town comes unglued and the doors between the human and faery worlds begin to open. To rescue the town and to face the impossible magical test, Tammy needs the help of incredibly handsome Bryn Lyons, but WAM has declared him totally off-limits. To avoid deadly consequences, Tammy probably ought to follow the rules this time.

On the other hand, rebellion is an old Texas tradition.

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Review:The second book in the series picks up right after the first one ends. By now Tammy’s misfiring magic has brought her to the attention of the World Association of Magic and she has to pass a certain test before she can continue with her life. However if she doesn’t pass the test she will be executed so the incentive to pass if quite high.

To train her for the test two new characters (Incendio and Jordan) come into town but Incendio and Tammy develop an immediate dislike towards each other and a spell that would curse the person who spoke a lie in the meeting is released by Tammy.

While under the influence of the curse she dumps a box of pixie dust on the town making the people in it crazy. Now she has till Halloween to fix everything or the gates between the world would open destroying the world.

This book further expands the characters introduced to us in the last volume and has the same quirky sense of humor as the rest. Zach’s character is a lot more sensible this time and doesn’t make you wish he wasn’t there in the book. On the other hand Incendio’s character makes absolutely no sense at all and seems to have been put there just to make Tammy’s life harder. We are given no logical explanations for his actions or the destruction he creates.

The book sort of explains why Tammy’s magic doesn’t work reliably but I think the explanation is not quite complete and future books will explain things a bit more.

Final Recommendation: Even with all the drawbacks mentioned above the book was a good read.

May 7, 2010

Would-Be Witch (Southern Witch Book 01) by Kimberly Frost

Filed under: Reviews-Paranormal,Reviews-Romance — Suramya @ 4:37 PM


Would-Be Witch (Southern Witch Book 01)
by Kimberly Frost

Description:

The family magic seems to have skipped over Tammy Jo Trask. All she gets are a few untimely visits from long-dead, smart-mouthed family ghost Edie. But when her locket – an heirloom that happens to hold Edie’s soul – is stolen in the midst of a town-wide crime spree, it’s time for Tammy to find her inner witch.

After a few experiences with her dysfunctional magic, Tammy turns to the only person in small-town Duval, Texas, who can help: the very rich and highly magical Bryn Lyons. He might have all the answers – and a 007 savoir faire to boot – but the locket isn’t the only heirloom passed down in Tammy’s family. She also inherited a warning: stay away from Lyons.

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Review:Would-Be Witch is the debut novel by Kimberly Frost and takes us to Duval a small town in Texas and introduces us to Tammy Jo Trask.

Tammy is from a family of witches but magic seems to have skipped her for some reason and she is perfectly happy with that. She rather bake or cook than learn how to practice her witchcraft.

When her locket – an heirloom that holds Edie’s soul (the family ghost) is stolen she decides to try using magic to find it, unfortunately for her the results are varied but none of them lead her to the locket. So she turns to Bryn Lyons for help even though she is supposed to stay away from him.

While she is trying to find the locket a group of were-wolves has decided to kill her and Lyons. They try a variety of solutions before finding a fix.

The book was a very fun read, light hearted without becoming annoying. The main character Tammy is portrayed quite nicely and even though she is a bit ditzy and not all her decisions are logical I still ended up liking the character. The other support cast was also quite detailed and well crafted out. Though I didn’t much care for the love triangle between Tammy, Lyons and Tammy’s Ex husband (Zach).

In fact Zach was one character in the book I could have done without. The fact that Tammy kept coming back to him even after he acts like as ass was something that made no logical sense to me.

Other than that I loved the book, the plot wasn’t too deep but was still fun to read.

Final Recommendation: A fun read.

May 6, 2010

Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin Book 02) by Jennifer Estep

Filed under: Reviews-Paranormal,Reviews-Urban Fantasy — Suramya @ 4:35 PM


Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin Book 02)
by Jennifer Estep

Description:

Curiosity is definitely going to get me dead one of these days. Probably real soon.

I’m Gin Blanco.

You might know me as the Spider, the most feared assassin in the South. I’m retired now, but trouble still has a way of finding me. Like the other day when two punks tried to rob my popular barbecue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the barrage of gunfire on the restaurant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren’t aimed at me. They were meant for Violet Fox. Ever since I agreed to help Violet and her grandfather protect their property from an evil coalmining tycoon, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really retired. So is Detective Donovan Caine. The only honest cop in Ashland is having a real hard time reconciling his attraction to me with his Boy Scout mentality. And I can barely keep my hands off his sexy body. What can I say? I’m a Stone elemental with a little Ice magic thrown in, but my heart isn’t made of solid rock. Luckily, Gin Blanco always gets her man . . . dead or alive.

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Review:In this second book in the Elemental Assassin series, Gin aka Spider has retired from the Assassin business to honor her mentor’s final wish. But trouble has a way of finding her and she gets pulled back into the game thanks to her curiosity and sense of honor.

The book gives us a bit more background on Gin and how she got into the Assassin business. As in the last book the background info is given to us in glimpses with not a lot of details. This gives the character a bit of mystery but not so much as to make it annoying.

The series has a different take from the normal elemental magic books and gives us a different view of the action from the viewpoint of an assassin. I guess you can classify Spider as a dark heroine and she is not in it for money or kicks, she just wants to survive at any cost.

Even though the book is self contained it sets the stage for the next book in the series and I can’t wait to read it.

Final Recommendation: A great read

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