Tuesday, August 19, 2008




If you're feeling like some zombie related reading:


World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”




The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead

The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

A little Latin Lesson

Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!

May barbarians invade your personal space!


Just 'cause.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Prairie Bridesmaid


I read this one over the last couple of bedtimes. I wasn't sure what to expect with it - was it going to be too fluffy chick-lit? It was very good. It made a great couple of evenings entertainment, I could totally identify with this woman and her conversations with the squirrel who lives in her backyard and it kept me interested in her life right to the end.... All in all a perfect light read that's not too fluffy.

The Prairie Bridesmaid: A Novel

From the Publisher:
“Teacher. One of the most unsexy jobs ever. Why couldn’t I have been in film school or architecture? I had to pick the Faculty of Cotton Pants.” Just cresting her thirties, Anna Lasko is a frustrated high school teacher whose almost ex-boyfriend, Adam, is away on temporary assignment in Europe. She finds herself tricked into a break-up-with-the-bad-boyfriend intervention by her supportive but meddling girlfriends. To cope with it all, Anna starts smoking again, keeps nightly counsel with her backyard squirrel, Buddy, and starts sessions with a caring but fashion-challenged therapist. Her well-intentioned family adds to the emotional workload when her beautiful and free-spirited sister decides to move to the Middle East with her boyfriend. Luckily, Anna has her gun-toting grandmother who constantly says it like it is, refuses to conform to anyone’s requests, and continues to live on her prairie farm half-blind, happy, and alone. Spectacularly fun and rich with wit and savvy, The Prairie Bridesmaid is a delicious debut novel about the bonds that break and make family, friendship, and love

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Gurf Morlix Saturday Aug 16th

Saturday August 16th We will be hosting another Coffee House with special guest Gurf Morlix and Local band the Headframes.

Gurf Morlix has been a professional musician since 1966. He can play just about any instrument he might find lying around.

He has produced, recorded with, or performed with a veritable "Who's Who" of the music business. He worked with Lucinda Williams for eleven years, serving as guitarist, vocalist and bandleader, as well as producing her critically acclaimed albums Lucinda Williams (Rough Trade/Koch) and
Sweet Old World (Chameleon/Elektra).

He has released four solo albums: Toad Of Titicaca, Fishin' In The Muddy, Cut 'n Shoot, and his latest - coming out February 2007, Diamonds to Dust .

Gurf spends most of his time holed up in his home studio in Austin, Texas, producing albums for many well known artists, but he gets out once in a while to tour on his own or with some of his friends.

Ticket price $5.00

Gurf will also be playing at the Miner Tavern in Cobalt on Friday night!!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

The Summoning - Kelley Armstrong



I read this one this weekend and it was super! I had read her other novels but this is the first YA title for her. I like how it didn't write down - it just happens to have teenage characters. If you're looking for something to read now that you've finished all the Stephenie Meyer books look no further...

The Darkest Powers Series, Book 1: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong.

From the publisher:

After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…

Tuesday, August 5, 2008



New J.K. Rowling book!

It’s called The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and contains five stories alluded to in the Harry Potter novels:

Tale of the Three Brothers
Fountain of Fair Fortune
Warlock’s Hairy Heart
Wizard and the Hopping Pot
Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump

Introduction and Illustrations by JK Rowling, and notes by Professor Dumbledore

Release Date December 4 2008!!!!!

This is a fundraiser for The Children's High Level Group.
http://www.chlg.org/who-we-are.asp

Back from the Bush

Back from the bush a little sun tanned and bug bitten, but refreshed and ready to get back to work...really we are...just hand me that pot of coffee and I'll be right with you.