 Genre: Science Fiction | Horror Themes: Biological Contamination, Government Conspiracy, Psychological Fortitude, Supernatural Lifeforms All I can say is—Wow. I LOVED this book. It dug its tentacles into me from the very first page, and I’m not sure it’ll ever let go. Certainly not until after I’ve devoured the other two books in the Southern Reach trilogy.
Annihilation is smart. It’s creepy. It’s challenging. It makes you think, and it doesn’t give you all the answers. I only wish I’d picked it up sooner, instead of letting it sit and gather dust on my “To Read” shelf for the past four years because I’d heard it wasn’t very good.
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 Book Report by Kelly Greenwood Genre: Non-fiction Themes: Far North, Wildlife, Native Eskimos, Natural History I know I’m late to the game on this one, but that is the wonderful thing about books—they are reborn every time a new mind opens their cover. And my mind is blown away by Arctic Dreams. Lopez is well known for invoking a deep sense of place in his work, and since I began reading this book my mind has not strayed far from the wild white world of the north..
 Genre: Non-fiction | Writing Themes: Writing Fiction, Publishing, Social Media, Monkeys & Bees *Explicit* (In other words, he swears a lot) Wow, what to say about Chuck Wendig? He’s the blogger at www.terribleminds.com, he’s very funny, and he’s a kick-ass writer. All three of these characteristics of Chuck are wrapped neatly into his book, The Kick-Ass Writer.
This book bears a somewhat lengthier report, simply because my reasons for reading it were more personal than for many of the other books I read. Post by Kelly Greenwood  I heard once that the books you read when you are eleven are the most formative books you will read in your life. Sounds like pretty soft science, unprovable in the tangled mess that is human life, but interesting to think about. Especially given that the books I read when I was eleven were among the genre of The Call of the Wild and My Side of the Mountain, and now I lead wilderness expeditions and teach environmental education. So maybe there is something there.
 Genre: Fiction | Horror | Graphic Novel Themes: Ghosts, Haunted woods, Murder A delicious trip through visual and lyrical craft. Carroll chills not only with words, but also with texture and color: violent splashes of blood-red across the page, eyes obscured by haunting shadow, and the ever-present woods, black and menacing. Carrolls dark tales are full of twist and intrigue, and just short enough to freeze the breath in your lungs until the last word.
 Genre: Fiction Themes: Themes: On-the-run-thriller, Crime, Coming-of-age, Father-daughter relationships Sam Hawley is not a good person.
He’s broken all the rules, and he’s got 12 gunshot wounds to prove it. Hawley is a criminal through and through, guilty of crimes all the way from theft to murder. Hinti makes no excuses for Hawley’s behavior; it’s simply the only life he’s ever known.  Originally published in Sick Lit Magazine Test Subject 65382 came out of the vat at 16. Older than most, older by far, but no matter; she was beautiful—perfect, really. Dr. Gilpin couldn’t have asked for better, and he secretly congratulated himself for the decision to leave her in past the customary gestation period. He was alone in his thinking; his colleagues disagreed with his methods, thought he’d become obsessed—dangerously so—and that his disregard for protocol would put the entire team at risk.
 Genre: Science Fiction Themes: Virtual Reality, Utopias, Puzzles & Video Games What was once required reading at Oculus VR is now primed for Hollywood, scheduled for release on the big screen in 2018 by Steven Spielberg.
Ernest Cline’s 2011 science fiction epic, Ready Player One, is a delightful journey down memory lane—that is, if you were lucky enough to be kicking around during the 80s.  There are stories in the clouds. My mother used to tell me that.
“That one there,” she’d say, pointing to the sky, “is a spaceship, come to land in the Nevada desert and colonize the Earth.” We’d lie there for hours, stretched out on a blanket and looking up at the bright blue sky. Her words fascinated me, and I believed every one of them. Post by Kelly Greenwood Putting words on a page can be a daunting task. Sometimes the words flow like a spring river, other times they trickle in like teenagers arriving reluctantly to class. The worst, as all writers know, is when they refuse to come at all.
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