What I Did on Black Friday - November 27, 2010

I have never stood on line anywhere on Black Friday. This year was no exception. I did go out to breakfast with the small humans. We chatted with other diners who had been out since 3:00 a.m. shopping. They were fueling up for the next round of shopping.

After breakfast, we headed over to a bookstore. I picked up the first three books in the Skinners series by Marcus Pelegrimus. Book 4 was released in October, and I picked it up at release. Sometimes when buying books from a new to me author, I get a book well into a series. Then I pick up the earlier books.

Blood Blade (Skinners, Book 1)
HarperCollins Publishers
(January 2009)
Welcome to the nightmare . . .
There is a world you don't know about, inhabited by supernatural creatures of darkness—vampires, werewolves, and all manner of savage, impossible beasts that live for terror and slaughter and blood. They are all around us but you cannot see them, for knowledge of their presence—so close and so hungry—would surely drive any ordinary human insane.

But for centuries a special breed of hunter has kept the monsters at bay, preventing them from breaking through the increasingly fragile barriers protecting our mortal realm.

These guardians are called skinners.

But beware . . . for there are very few of them left.

Howling Legion (Skinners, Book 2)
HarperCollins Publishers
October 2009

No one said fighting monsters was going to be easy . . .

You can't see them, but they're here: hiding in the pools of shadow outside a Chicago burger joint . . . wreaking havoc in Kansas City . . . feeding in sleazy "blood brothels" that cater to humans who itch to get bitten.

Cole was designing video games when he learned the truth—that foul creatures of the night lust for our blood . . . and our world. Now he's a "Skinner," a member of an ancient secret society of warriors entrusted with keeping the terror at bay. Monsters once chained to the wilderness are suddenly free and descending, razor claws ripping, on the unsuspecting city. No one knows what's coming—but Cole and his seductive partner, Paige, will be the first to dive into the meat grinder.

 
Teeth of Beasts (Skinners, Book 3)
HarperCollins Publishers
April 2010

Horrible things move through the shadows of our world—bloodsuckers, Full Bloods and mongrel beasts, shapeshifters and minor freaks. For centuries creature hunters known as Skinners have protected humankind. But who protects the Skinners . . . from madness?

Unbeknownst to the human population, a pestilence is raging through an unseen community of low-level monstrosities. What seems, at first glance, a boon for the mortal cause has horrific connotations—as the Skinner team of Cole Warnecki and Paige Strobel races across the Midwest to uncover the shocking secret of the “Mud Flu.” For a nightmare of destruction and blood sacrifice is looming—one born of an unholy meeting nearly two centuries ago—that will pit man against beast, and Skinner against Skinner.

 

Vampire Uprising (Skinners, Book 4)
HarperCollins Publishers
October 2010
A legendary Skinner has passed. Among the articles he left behind are runes, potions, and powerful weapons to aid in the ongoing war against the unspeakable creatures that prowl the shadows outside normal human consciousness. But there is something else: the remains of a terrifying beast no other Skinner has ever encountered. And it isn't dead.

Skinners, partners, lovers, Cole Warnecki and Paige Strobel are well armed with the tools the late Jonah Lancroft provided. But even his best weapons may not be enough to defeat the monstrosity they now face. A new terror has risen up to infect them both with its virulent malevolence, even as Paige confronts the secrets of her astonishing past. The purest evil walks the world again—the First Deceiver, humankind's darkest nightmare, the self-proclaimed King of the Full Bloods.

I also did a little online shopping. I purchased Zumba Fitness (Majesco) and The Twilght Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection (Image Entertainment).

One of The Twilight Zone openings: