Failure and Success #MarthaWells #Murderbot #MondayRecommends #NailArt

My #2 Daughter gave me a gift certificate to Bookshop.org, where part of every purchase benefits local book stores. As you might suspect, I had no sooner received the certificate than I spent it. I bought the final (so far) Grishaverse duology by Leigh Bardugo, natch, but I also bought a novella by Martha Wells.

I can’t remember who recommended Martha Wells to me, but I’m grateful for it. The book I chose at random was ALL SYSTEMS RED, the first novella in THE MURDERBOT DIARIES. Listen to this first paragraph:

I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.

Martha Wells, ALL SYSTEMS RED

How could I resist that? I couldn’t, that’s how. I’m about halfway through, and still loving it.

My nails this week are pretty snazzy. The base coat is Live Love Polish’s Artemis, a blue/purple color shift magnetic polish which I magnetized on the diagonal. The stamping polish is Born Pretty’s In Fire, and the stamping plate is Maniology’s Bundle Monster + de briz BM-XL215.

And remember: If you buy anything from Maniology, use my coupon code MomGoth10 at checkout for 10% off.

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Someone is bad at a job it’s good to be bad at.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Failure and Success #MarthaWells #Murderbot #MondayRecommends #NailArt

    • Author

      Marian Allen

      October 4, 2021 at 9:33am

      Glad you like the nails. šŸ™‚ The book is a treat. But now I have to buy the rest in the series. Woe is me! šŸ˜‰

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  1. acflory

    October 5, 2021 at 8:01am

    Coincidence? I love both books.:)
    I first read Martha Wells when she was an Indie. Brilliant writer. Ditto Leigh Bardugo. Wells’ Books of the Raksura is a 5 volume series that has wonderful characters and world building but there’s not a human in sight. Some of her stand alone stories are great as well. I haven’t read the rest of the Murderbot series because it’s now way out of my price range, but I’m sure it’s as good as the first book. Enjoy!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      October 5, 2021 at 8:13am

      I’ll have to look for the Raksura series. The Murderbot novellas aren’t pricey if you buy them in paperback. Or maybe I can just afford them while I’m not going to conventions to sell books (and buy stuff and eat and pay for a hotel).

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      • acflory

        October 5, 2021 at 10:19pm

        lol – every time I’m on Amazon I look at the paperback and used prices and sigh. The books may be cheap but getting them out to Australia costs and arm and a leg. Them’s the breaks.
        Btw the price hikes for both Wells and Bardugo occurred after they signed with publishers. That makes me sad because they were already famous as Indies. Not sure what they’ve gained by signing on the dotted line.

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        • Author

          Marian Allen

          October 6, 2021 at 8:59am

          I just can’t believe (except that I do believe it) that Amazon.au doesn’t have the books for local delivery! Try another place. See if Bookshop.org operates IN Australia.I just did a search for indie bookstores in Australia and found quite a few, including Boomerang Books Online https://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/. Good luck!

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          • acflory

            October 6, 2021 at 7:10pm

            I heard that Amazon is going to open a POD facility in Australia. When I don’t know. Once the facility is up and running, Indie books will be much cheaper. Not sure about trad. pub. books. Any book that has to be imported will still cost an arm and a leg. That’s one reason I became an early adopter of ebooks. I’ll check out boomerangbooks. Thanks for the link!

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            • Author

              Marian Allen

              October 7, 2021 at 9:22am

              I hope Boomerang can help. Do that search, too, because it pulled up lists of “10 best indie book stores in Sydney”, etc.

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          • acflory

            October 6, 2021 at 7:16pm

            p.s. just checked out Bardugo at Boomerang and Six of Crows would cost me about $24 AUD including postage. Ah well. Thank goodness I have the e-versions. šŸ™‚

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            • Author

              Marian Allen

              October 7, 2021 at 9:23am

              Like you, I like eBooks for the price (sometimes — sometimes the eBook costs what I THINK a paperback should still cost), but I like paper books, because Amazon can never decide to delete the paper books from my bookshelf.

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              • acflory

                October 8, 2021 at 1:16am

                I agree with you re Amazon. The thought that all my ebooks might simply disappear one day is the worm in the apple. I still love the feel and…smell…of print books, but even without the price consideration, I need to be able to make the font bigger or wear glasses like the bottom of a coke bottle. šŸ˜‰

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                • Author

                  Marian Allen

                  October 8, 2021 at 10:22am

                  Yup. And getting Large Print paper editions adds another layer of price.

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                  • acflory

                    October 9, 2021 at 1:12am

                    Yes, especially for someone like me who devours books like there’s no tomorrow. Before ebooks came along, I’d only buy new books from my favourite authors. In between times, I’d read and re-read the books I already had. I’ve read the entire Dune series about eight times. šŸ˜‰

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                    • Author

                      Marian Allen

                      October 9, 2021 at 11:37am

                      Oh, my gosh! I’ve read most of the Dune series once. Loved what I read, but I guess I got distracted by something else shiny. I even started a fanfic filk song. It was to be sung to the tune of Do Not Forsake Me, Oh, My Darling and it started out “Do not forsake me, Gurney Halek”.

                    • acflory

                      October 9, 2021 at 6:41pm

                      LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a crazy woman. Love it. My secret pinup was more Duncan Idaho but….;)

                    • Author

                      Marian Allen

                      October 10, 2021 at 10:33am

                      Which one? Original or new and improved? Or new or new or new or new or new?

                    • acflory

                      October 10, 2021 at 6:50pm

                      Damn…that’s hard. I liked the original but the new improved version had a much bigger better storyline. Hmm…now I’m going to have to read them all AGAIN. Dammit…

                    • Author

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