Rachel Aaron received a degree in English Literature from the University of Georgia in 2004. She lives a lovely, nerdy, bookish life in Athens, GA with her son, loving husband, and obese wiener dog. She also writes action packed, romantic Science Fiction under the name 
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
In the opening scene of The Spirit Thief (2010), Rachel Aaron’s charming debut novel, the notorious thief Eli Monpress is trying to escape from the royal dungeon of Mellinor. Since he’s not just a thief but also a wizard, he does this by quite literally trying to charm the dungeon’s door into opening: not by casting a spell on it, but rather by persuading, cajoling and wheedling it into letting him through, explaining that it really would be much better off without those annoying nails keeping it together (which results in the memorable line “Indecision is the bane of all hardwoods.”).
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The black, white and blue is VERY striking, and carries the sense of a night sky and mystery.
Thanks, Kat, great input!
Marion, thanks for the audiobook article! Interestingly, they list All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Here's part of my review…
And, oh...as to that 2.5-star rating: I think I gave Damon Knight's "Beyond the Barrier" a similar halfhearted rating earlier…
And speaking of mixed, that's how the book left me...mixed! As in MIXED UP!