Chaotic Ninja

Because memory fails.  Situation rectified. SAFE by Kate Hanney This is a “please-sit-down-let’s-talk-about-this” kind of book. It’s something that you’d want to discuss with people who’ve read it. Or perhaps beg people to read it just so you can talk about it. Danny Watson is a fascinating character. Tough. Hardened by life. A kid forced to become an adult because of circumstances.  What could possibly go wrong, yeah? Just. About. Everything. This a gritty portrayal of a life on the fringe. It’s a very dangerous place (and situation) to be in and author Kate Hanney takes the reader to that dark place. It deals with hard issues that no young adult should ever deal with. This is a brilliant book with a “controversial” ending.   ★★★ ★ ★  5/5   GARDEN by Jane Yates It takes an utterly imaginative mind to come up with a story that puts together elements of steampunk, sci-fi and fantasy and not overwhelm the reader (‘til...

No Snobby Reader was hurt in this conversation. SNOBBY READER: What are you smiling about? KINDLE NINJA: Just finished my list of top 10 books for the year. SNOBBY READER: Let me guess, 9 of 10 are crime and mystery books by Koontz, Patterson, Lehane, and Brown, and one token outlier, possibly a memoir. KINDLE NINJA: Hah! Not even close. These are mostly indie books. Here, have a look - from #10 to #1.   SNOBBY READER: Ah, obscure titles, from unknown authors. KINDLE NINJA: Is that disdain I detect? SNOBBY READER: You know how I feel about crappy books. KINDLE NINJA: There will always be crappy books, indie or not. SNOBBY READER: I read books that challenge the mind. KINDLE NINJA: Calculus books do that, but they’re no fun. You should try to read books outside of your preferred genre. Meet obscure authors. Mingle with the commoners, your Highness. SNOBBY READER: They don’t measure up to the Classics or the Nobel winners. I take plea...

Welcome to Episode 25 of  Conversations over Milk & Cookies  hosted by Kindle Ninja. Hi, Kindle Ninja here, you know, the ninja who occasionally stalks indie authors and invites them to conversations over Milk & Cookies.  What is this madness, you ask? It's my way of supporting indie authors. We interact with them everyday, directly through tweets, or indirectly through re-tweets, but we don't really know much about them. Their personalities really don't shine through in 140 characters.  Of course, that changed considerably when the Milk & Cookies segment was born. Since its inception, we've seen the funny side, silly side, dark side, and all other sides that these wonderful authors don't let show.  Today, I'm having a conversation with author Jane Yates .  Jane, a dyslexic, mother, artist, and story teller. Lives in Oxford and works at the Pitt Rivers Museum, a museum of anthropology and world archaeology. Her...