You have four years left to prepare, because it all begins on July 18th, 2014.

At 11:53 AM, CDT, in the city of Peoria, Illinois, a man named Jonathan Dowell will be hit by a car while crossing the street at a busy intersection. Despite flying more than three yards through the air and hitting the ground with a bone-shattering degree of force, Jonathan will get back to his feet in a matter of minutes, to the great relief of bystanders and drivers alike. This relief will turn to bewilderment and terror as he lunges at the crowd, biting four people before he is subdued. By nightfall, the first Peoria outbreak will be well underway.

At 10:15 AM, PDT, in the town of Lodi, California, a woman named Debbie Goldman will be jogging along her usual route, despite the record-breaking heat and the recent warnings of her physician. Her explosive cardiac event will go entirely unwitnessed, as will her subsequent revival. As she makes her way along the road, she will find a group of teenagers out for a walk; in the struggle that follows, three of the six will be bitten. The Lodi outbreak will begin to spread shortly after two o'clock that afternoon.

At 11:31 AM, MDT, in a research laboratory just outside Denver, Colorado, two of the test subjects currently being treated with Marburg Amberlee will go into spontaneous viral amplification as the live virus bodies being pumped into their systems encounter the resting viral bodies already there. The details of this outbreak are almost entirely unknown, as the lab will be successfully sealed and burned to the ground before the infection can spread. Denver will be spared the worst ravages of the Rising until the second wave begins on July 26th. Some will say that the tragedy which follows will come only because of that temporary reprieve; they weren't prepared.

The Rising begins four years from today.

Are you prepared?

We begin today's "oh my God it's full of links" round-up post with the obligate LiveJournal review, this time by quippe, who says Rosemary and Rue is "An interesting urban fantasy whose central character is very different to the type usually found in this type of fiction and a carefully constructed world with a huge amount of potential, this is an entertaining novel and I will be reading more of this series." Yay!

Meanwhile, the Book Faery has posted a lengthy, lovely review of Rosemary and Rue, and says "I was pleased because I kept guessing. I honestly, for the life of me, could not figure out the ending to this book early on. It wasn't until the very end, when tiny hints were given, that everything suddenly began to click in my mind. So much like the delightful Toby, I was riding this story on the edge of my seat, curious." Also, she likes Tybalt a lot. So at least he has one fan, right? (Ow, ow, don't hit!)

Carrie gives us a two-fer, starting with her review of Rosemary and Rue, in which she says something that pleased me enough to quote at length. Specifically:

"Fairies, to me, are a lot like sparkly vampires: they're based on creatures which were, originally, something much worse, but they've been prettied up to fit in with the buying habits of tween girls and unmarried aunts. Fairies now mean fluttery and flowery and beautiful, but I know better than to believe that. Fairies are supposed to be nasty, bitey little creatures, and impossibly beautiful ice queens, and confusing things made of mixed together bits of tree branches and stolen shoes. They're not creatures of light and happiness, no matter how much glitter you slap on them. Too few people want to write about the dark side of fairies.

"Seanan McGuire understands the dark.

"She blends together Shakespeare, Irish legends, Japanese myth, medieval ballads, and Victorian Flower Fairies to tell a tale so familiar it doesn't occur to you to look for where she's gotten it wrong because it's all unbelievably right. Toby lives in a world that makes sense, in a sad and disturbing way, because it's our world, if you could see just a little more of it."

See, I sort of want this on the back cover of a book, someday.

Carrie also reviewed A Local Habitation, and says "McGuire keeps to the strict first-person perspective that helps set this series apart from other books in the genre. Toby doesn’t know anything that she doesn’t have direct knowledge of, which means that there are times she gets it wrong. Even better, McGuire doesn't 'cheat' by giving Toby a dozen well-informed advisers to fill her in on everything under the sun. There were a few times that I'd figured out a clue before Toby did, and that added to the feeling of anticipation. When you can see the monster just outside the window, the story isn't so much about figuring out if the monster is really there as it is finding out what your heroine will do when it finally catches up to her. McGuire gives us monsters, and Toby is a hero, however reluctantly, because the harder it gets, the more she resigns herself to never giving up."

Carrie, you sure do say the sweetest things...

Also reviewing A Local Habitation is Dana of Reading Amidst the Chaos, who was sadly a little less quotable, but was also a little more critical (these things are not connected), and provides a nicely balanced perspective. (Mind you, as the author, I'm about as biased as they come, so my idea of "balanced" is "liked it, but won't let it have the keys to the liquor cabinet yet." So keep that in mind.) And she thinks they're getting better! Yay!

My list of links is still insane, and I leave for San Diego in two days, so watch for a Feed review roundup tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to go put lotion on my sunburn and sprawl under the air conditioning vent.

Nnngh.