#35 Rise: A Newsflesh Collection by Mira Grant

This is a collection of previously published and new material set in the Newsflesh universe. Most of these are novellas and two of them are brand new with one of them set after the trilogy and feature Shaun and George.  I've read most of the material previously but it was nice to read them all again. What made it nice was there is never the same main character over and over again in the stories. Mahir does show up in several but he is the main POV in only one of them.  If you are a fan, then you are picking this up for the last two stories and I have to say those are worth the price of admission. But I may be a little biased on that since I dearly love these books.  To pick this up cold it would be a good read but would ruin lots of the plot of the trilogy. The stories are mostly written chronologically with the Rise with the exception of "All the Pretty Little Horses" since it is one of the new ones.  The only problem I have with this is now I want so much more out of the universe.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

#36 The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman

This nonfiction collection reads like Neil Gaiman is sitting down and telling you lots of cool stories about writing and people he knows. The collection is sectioned out with talks about his writing, speeches he has given over the years, introductions he has written for books. The only problem is this really isn’t a complete collection but more of a greatest hits of some of the introductions. After reading this there are some writers I want to track down just from reading Neil talk about how wonderful they are.  The nice thing about this collection is it doesn’t need to read in one sitting and it makes for a great book to dip in and out of.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

#37 Harley Quinn Vol. 4: A Call to Arms by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Chad Hardin

This story arc collection has Harley recruiting a gang to fight crime as a cross between vigilantes and private eyes. After losing half her gang for reasons I will not explain and with the new business venture being in debt she takes a job to rescue a girl from a cult in California that falls in her lap thanks to her day job at the retirement home and being friends with Sy. The job pays off in the end even though it doesn’t work out like Harley thought it would.  There is a one shot story at the end with a girl’s road trip consisting of Harley, Ivy and Selena.

I really like these and I wonder if they will end this version with the new DC reboot coming up.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss