A California Online Magazine with Local Focus and Global Appeal
For the past seven years, once a year, I stop being a crime writer and become a bookstore manager, selling every genre under the sun. From the initial experience which I thought of as ‘helping out,’ things have evolved and the job has required a more fundamental change in me than anything I’d envisaged when I took it on. I shouldn’t be surprised. Running a bookstore is a wholly different role from writing novels. I simply hadn’t thought it through.
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The best reads for many of us continue to be mysteries. For me, the mystery genre offers the challenge to discover a problem on the page then a solution that sets the world to rights again, something hard to accomplish in the world. I love the ones set in a time or place unfamiliar to me and for so long in the beginning, Golden Age Mysteries did the trick. Having read so many of those classics, after a while I looked for mystery in other times, in other genres. I’m still making discoveries and among them are the series of short novels (and one full length one) of Martha Wells, called the Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red (2017), Artificial Condition (2018), Rogue Protocol (2018), Exit Strategy (2018), and Network Effect (2020).
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Don’t miss our video review of the movie 10 Cloverfield Lane and get a coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatres.
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Immortality has been a dream shared by many, and realized by no one. Well, almost no one. Tales throughout history whisper of ways to cheat death, but often, those rumored to live forever don’t want to. Such is the case of Henry Morgan, the protagonist of ABC and creator Matt Miller’s new venture: Forever.
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Although people differ in their beliefs on what happens after we die, there’s a common thread that unites quite a few lines of thinking: resurrection. The idea of people coming back from the grave has persisted for centuries, but what if it happened in this day and age? That’s the question Aaron Zellman and ABC are trying to answer with a new series for the spring premiere season, Resurrection.
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All in all, Star-Crossed is a valiant effort on The CW’s part to give its viewers something good to watch while Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, and The Originals draw to a close for the season; however, it remains to be seen whether this series will make it past Season 1. If love stories between human women and non-human males is your thing, then definitely check it out!
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I feel like a fool, but wherever I go now, I glance over my shoulder and check: Is anyone–or anything–following me? It’s irrational, I know, but the whole thing was irrational. And what I find hardest is that I can’t decide whether I imagined it all…but then my body remembers and chills, my chest tightens, and once again, panicked, I’m struggling for breath–and I know I imagined nothing.
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Cass Jones is a British police detective and he has dealt with the otherworldly Mr. Bright’s economy-controlling associates in the past. Now, he must deal with disasters on an international terrorism scale– and something unusual.
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School is starting and what better way to prepare than by reading about the end of the world, as you know it? The “Collapse” series by Summer Lane will have you rooting, crying, gasping, laughing and needing to know what happens next. Although I know you won’t pick it up just because I’ve told you to, here are some reasons to read the series!
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Elysium takes place in a future where we have pretty much destroyed Earth and the rich have moved to a space station called Elysium above the planet where they have recreated their perfect lives with fancy homes and pretty much a replication of the world they once knew. They also have the technology to heal any injury or disease so they live long, happy lives.
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What do you get when you combine a completely ridiculous script idea, incompetent actors, and a director who would rather wear his girlfriend’s clothes than his own? Well, you get Plan Nine From Outer Space.
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If you’re looking for an interesting, yet far-fetched movie to watch, Skyline might be the one for you. I’ve never been one for science fiction, and this movie did nothing to change my feelings about that. However, if you like Sci-Fi this may be for you.
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Meet Pete, who, according to his foster mom “is a huge sweetheart”! Not only is he a fuzzy wuzzy sweetheart, but he also has a big, happy, motorboat purr that he generously shares to announce his sweetness! He loves to play and enjoys every single toy he meets! This irresistible boy is a big boy and a hugely loving addition in a wonderful forever home of his own. Could sweet purrasaurus Pete be the great new addition in your loving family? Peter was adopted and returned by his original family at no fault of his own, there was a illness in the family, he might need some time to adjust to his new family. Pete is available from the Cat House on the Kings.