Recycled [Paperback]

Selina Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

In the long-awaited sequel to 1999's Queen of Denial... Five years have passed since Drewcila Qwah set Barious on its ear by turning the entire country into a huge salvaging operation. The people are happy, the economy is healthy, and Drewcila Qwah has become the most powerful Salvager in the entire universe. But even in the best of situations, there's always someone who's going to bitch. Zarco is tired of being Drewcila's puppet -- taking orders from the woman who's supposed to be his wife and queen yet is screwing everyone but him, and who has turned his once beautiful and regal kingdom into a harborage of space scum and the galaxy's finest garbage. Van Gar is tired of playing second fiddle to his unfaithful mate, and the Lockeds-the Barions' sworn enemies-want a piece of the salvaging pie. Oh what's a girl to do? Start kicking asses and taking names, that's what!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"RECYCLED is one hot SOB. It rocks with writerly rhythm and a beautiful and funny vulgarity." -- Joe R. Lansdale

From the Author

"The Drewcila Qwah novels are the end result of way too many hits to the head, too much alcohol, working in construction for enough years to pick up the vocabulary, and my own and strong belief that all the world's true ills could be solved if only we would all clean up our own damn messes.

I am a huge believer in recycling. The idea that we generate so much garbage amazes me, and the fact that we throw away so many things without thinking of whether someone else might think they were still good or what they might now become repulses me.

We have *no* trash service. We recycle everything that comes into our home. I make blocks from tin cans, plastic trash items, etc. We burn or shred all our paper items, the ash is put into our flowerbeds, and the shredded paper is composted or put into the worm bed. I turn my aluminum in for the cash, and I make walls of glass bottles.

A few years ago Lynn's parents bought a new refrigerator. We took their old one and gave our old one to my parents, who in turn gave their old one to a boot-legger who used it to cool his beer. Now that's recycling!!!"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc.; 1st MM Pub. Ed edition (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892065932
• ISBN-13: 978-1892065933
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,117,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Selina Rosen lives in rural Arkansas with her partner, her parrot, Ricky, assorted fish and fowl ' both inside and out, several milk goats, an undetermined number of barn cats and her dog, Spud. Besides writing, editing, and taking care of the farm, she's a gardener, carpenter, rock mason, electrician (NOT a plumber), Torah scholar and sword fighter. In her spare time she creates water gardens, builds furniture, and adds to her on-going creation of the 'Great Wall of Kibler.'

Selina's short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies including Sword and Sorceress 16, Such A Pretty Face, Distant Journeys, three of the MZB Fantasy Mags, Tooth and Claw, Turn the Other Chick, and the new Anthology At the End of the Universe, just to name a few. Her critically acclaimed story entitled "Ritual Evolution" appeared in the first of the new Thieves World anthologies, Turning Points, and her second TW story, 'Gathering Strength,' appeared in the new TW anthology, Enemies of Fortune. The Bubba Chronicles is a collection of her short fiction which features ' strangely enough ' bubbas.

Her novels include Queen of Denial, Recycled, Chains of Freedom, Chains of Destruction, The Host trilogy, Fire & Ice, Hammer Town, Reruns, and novellas entitled The Boatman and Material Things.

Her new novel, Strange Robby, is due out in July of 2006 from Meisha Merlin Publishing. This will be her first hard cover release. Bad Lands, a gonzo-mystery novel co-written with Laura J. Underwood, is due out from Five Star Mysteries in 2007.

In her capacity as owner and editor in chief of Yard Dog Press, Ms. Rosen has edited several anthologies, including the award-winning Bubbas of the Apocalypse, and The Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse: Flatulence, Halitosis, Incest and' Ned, and two collections of 'modern' fairy tales ' the Stoker-nominated Stories That Won't Make Your Parents Hurl and More Stories That Won't Make Your Parents Hurl.

She also owns and operates CASTLE FARMS, an ADGA goat farm with registered Nubian milk goats.

You can contact Selina through her personal website www.selinarosen.com, or just Email her at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The kitschy formula fails in this sequel, February 25, 2004

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Recycled (Paperback)

With Selena Rosen's first book in this series, Queen of Denial, she brought out a fresh and yet trashy new heroine named Drewcila Qwah, a salvager who turns out to be the Queen of Barious with part of her brain removed. While Queen of Denial was an adventurous romp under the tactless and crude guidance of the best garbage scow pilot in the galaxy, the formula fails with Qwah being bound to one planet.

Drew's stock in Qwah-Co is plummeting, so she heads pell-mell off for her home planet of Barious to stop her husband-in-name-only from starting a war with the Lockhedes, the people that the Barions share their planet with. Zarco, Drew's husband, is determined to control her this time at any cost, and thwart her efforts to obtain peace between the people of Barious through a trade agreement. Zarco is tired of being a figurehead, and re-establishes the nobles to positions of authority within the castle and starts a war. He imprisons Drew, and its up to her friends Arcadia and Dylan to try and rescue her. In the meantime, Van Gar, her furry sometime-mate has run off to join a religious cult of his fellow Chitzsky people only to find out he has been duped. He must get the ship back from Pard-Jar, the cult leader, and return to Drew where he knows he belongs.
Drew and Zarco butt heads as we know they will, and it is a battle of the wills between taking the country to war or leading it into peace.

I'm not exactly sure where the formula failed; there is a plot of sorts and the saucy dialogue, but what worked in space travel becomes tedious in this second effort. I loved Drew in the first book, but in this sequel she becomes rather...tedious; perhaps a little too forced. Even on the cover art she looks less mischievous and more skanky, rather a "rode hard and put out wet" countenance that reflects what happened to her in this book. The story went from Kitschy to Klutzy; and while the prose was jumpy in QofD (as I mentioned in my review of it) the prose in Recycled is stuttering and erratic. Pieces of the plot vital to the story are tossed around like...well...garbage, added in at the last minute in an effort to explain something already occurring out of context.

While I still liked Drew's story, I found this sequel to be more of a chore to plow through than a delight like the first book. My recommendation? Read Queen of Denial, and if you are really enchanted then give Recycled a try. If not, don't bother with this one, but don't ever give up on Selina Rosen as an author! She is fresh and interesting and envigorating and unique, and a delight to sit back with and read her work. This particular item just did not catch my fancy or my attention as well as her other stories.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The brand new adventures of Drewcilia Qwah, June 20, 2003

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recycled (Paperback)

Drewcila Qwah is a woman whose dreams have come true. She's now filthy rich and the owner of a salvaging empire that spans the galaxy. She's got more sex and alcohol on a regular basis than even she can handle. To top it off she's bought peace and prosperity to Barious, her very own kingdom - now the centre of her recycling empire.

However, its all about to explode on her. Her lover Van Gar is tired of being Drew's lackey and when he finds her sleeping with 3 men, 2 women a midget and a goat he decides he's had enough and leaves her for a new life as a farmer. In the meantime, her husband the King of Barious decides that he doesn't like the fact that his previously regal kingdom is now the happy and wealthy universal hub of "filth" and plots to start a war with the neighbouring Lockheeds to regain what he sees as his kingdoms lost glory.

For Drew this is not good news and most importantly its going to cost her a lot of money in lost profits and under no circumstances is that to be allowed! Drew is a foul mouthed over-sexed larger than life character. Her quest to stop the profit drain and get back to the things that really matter in life like sex, beer and a peaceful garbage scow in space make this a fun book that's as enjoyable as its predecessor "Queen of Denial". This is a funny book to read, so in the words of wisdom from Queen Drew......"So kick back, pop a brew and wait for the fireworks" and enjoy a well thought out and plotted book that could come from no other author, but don't buy this book if you intend to take it too seriously - this is a book written for laughs - so sit back and enjoy it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whoo Hoo, the queen of trash is back!, June 16, 2003

By 

bev hale (Oklahoma City, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recycled (Paperback)

I have been waiting for this sequel to Queen of Denial to come out for over a year. Thank God it's finally in print, for I dearly need the laugh. Selina Rosen's work will shake you up, ruffle your hair, surprise you, make you laugh, make you think and probably depants you in process. Queen Drew is smart, sassy, bawdy, competent and surprisingly ethical. So pop open a cold one, or mix up a pitcher of hurling monkeys and enjoy yourself.