Just a Cool Kermit the Frog GIF…

Found this on the ever-excellent io9. Kermit, surrounded by New Yorkers lots of Animals…

That is all. Carry on.

Well…

Reviewer Emotions: That Didn’t Work As Intended…

There comes a time in every reviewer and blogger’s tenure on the internets, I’m sure, when we try something a little different. An attempt to be “clever”, “provocative”, and/or “funny”. Often times, this won’t work. If we’re lucky, readers won’t notice that were trying to be “clever”, “provocative”, and/or “funny”, and just think of it as a normal, perhaps slightly off blog post. If we’re unlucky, we’ll come across like unabashed internet trolls. So far, I think I’ve managed to avoid the latter. Regardless, when this happens, the feeling is often akin to this:

Happy New Year!

Wishing everybody a very Happy New Year. I hope 2013 will bring you plenty of happiness (in the shape of books or otherwise) and success.

I shamelessly pinched this from Scott Snyder’s Twitter feed.
Unfortunately, I don’t know who it’s by…

If you will permit me a bit of a digression, I also wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to Alyssa: without her, I would be a very miserable curmudgeon. She has helped me edit and improve so many of my reviews (if you find a typo, garbled sentence or any other flaw, it is my mistake alone). In other words, she makes me look good.

Alyssa has brightened up my life in every way. We met when I had been ill for many years, but she looked after me and didn’t run away. She enables and at least looks fondly upon my many geeky passions and obsessions, and has never judged me for my tastes. Here is to many more years together. I love you, and hope I make you as happy as you make me.

Farewell, 2012

After 552 posts and 182 books read in 2012, I want to also thank everyone for reading Civilian Reader – site traffic has exploded this year, with many more new and returning readers and subscribers. I’ve added comic and graphic novel reviews, expanded the range of publishers covered, and continued the near-weekly series of author interviews.

I hope you have discovered many new authors, novels and comics to enjoy. And so 2012, we bid you good night…

Reviewer Emotions: The Secret Revealed!

How we feel when a deliciously devious bait-and-switch is unveiled in a novel or TV series (*cough* Gossip Girl – don’t judge me *cough*) that we’ve been reading or watching for so long, and it was not at all what we expected…

Reviewer Emotions: Owning It

You don’t like my taste in fiction? You sneer at my fantasy or sci-fi novels? Well, I shall continue to read them openly, proudly and exhibiting the same amount of passion and attitude that Abu does while eating this snack:

Like a boss, I shall read my books…

Reviewer Emotions: Just What I Always Wanted!

This is how we are when we either get an ARC of our favorite author’s latest novel, books for Christmas, or eBook vouchers:

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I imagine I look like this an awful lot…

This was also true for the last couple of years of my PhD… I hope my life continues to be filled by writing. Perhaps with a little more sophistication…