Author: HCNewton Page 216 of 635

DETAILS:
Series: The Record Shop Mysteries, #1
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Publication Date: December 27, 2022
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: December 13, 2022

What’s Vinyl Resting Place About?

Tired of all the corporate buyouts and reshuffling in the software business, Juni Jessup returns to her home—a small town just outside Austin, TX. There, she and her two older sisters invest in a record/coffee shop. Years before, the digital music revolution had forced her parents to close the shop that had been in their family for decades. But now, the resurgence of vinyl has given them the chance to reopen—adding a coffee counter is a clever move and something that the neighborhood could really use, too.

The sisters are energized the night of the Grand Opening party—there’s a huge crowd (free tacos from a local food truck and beer from a microbrewery helped). Not only are they optimistic about the business, but the family is back together again, after Juni’s time in the Northwest. They know the future will have challenges, but for the moment, life is good.

Sadly, that first challenge is less in the future than they realized, and it’s a big one. While they’re cleaning up after the party and getting ready to open for their first day of business, Juni finds a murdered girl in the closet with their cleaning supplies. Very quickly, the police focus their investigation on the sisters’ uncle and arrest him. The family puts up the Sip & Spin as collateral for his bail, convinced that the investigation will clear him.

Then Uncle Calvin disappears and the business is in jeopardy—not to mention the three life savings they invested. The sisters, led by Juni, take the investigation into their own hands—determined not to go down without a fight.

Juni and Everyone Else

I’ve only mentioned Juni so far because of space, but the book isn’t just about her. Juni is clearly the protagonist—but the book isn’t just about her. The sisters are the core—with their mother and the husband of the eldest sister rounding out the immediate circle. The emotional core of the novel is about Juni’s return to the family and the way they’re welcoming her back (it’s not that things were ever tense, but hundreds of miles and only brief visits aren’t the same as living near each other). It’s the sense of family, the way they come together for each other, that makes sure this book (and the series, I’m sure) is filled with the warmth and comfort you need in a cozy.

Of course, you can’t have a character come back to a small town without a love interest or two popping up, too. There’s the lifelong best friend, who apparently carried a torch the whole time—he’s grown into a pretty attractive man. And then the high school/college boyfriend who suddenly and unexpectedly broke up with her one day. He’s clearly got his eyes set on reestablishing the status quo.

Also, he’s the police detective in charge of the murder. Because why should things be easy?

It’s a great recurring cast, and one that’d be easy for a series to use in new and fun ways as the series progresses—mostly because the reader can’t help but find them all endearing.

A Tiny Bonus

The music-inspired punny drink names for their coffee counter are just perfect. Too many more would’ve been too much, but I could’ve used an additional handful. They’re the kind of little touch that adds so much to a scene—you get an idea of the characters behind them, if nothing else. Like the names of the stores and restaurants in The Good Place, they add a layer of enjoyment on top of everything else.

I’m not saying I’ll pick up book two just to read what names Blacke comes up with. But I’ve had worse reasons to pick up a book.

So, what did I think about Vinyl Resting Place?

I’m a little concerned about how this can be a series—how many murders can happen in one small town record store or involving the family that owns it? I’m sure Blacke can get another one or two out of the premise before it starts to get creepy, but suspending that kind of disbelief is part and parcel of cozies like this, right? So what do I know?

The premise and genre promise certain things about this novel—and Blacke delivers exactly that. The best word to sum this experience up is pleasant—the mystery was clever, the characters are charming, and I like the overall setup for the series. And the book was exactly what a cozy should be—an entertaining and pleasant time.

I don’t see how this book won’t find fans all of whom will be more than ready for the next murder this family stumbles across.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley. Thanks to both for the opportunity. Opinions expressed are my own.

3 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: Journaling Her Investigation into the Hidden Ones of the North

By HCNewton

On December 26, 2022

In Fantasy, Fiction

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

by Heather Fawcett

DETAILS:
Series: The Emily Wilde Series, Book One
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: January 10, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 336 pg.
Read Date: December 19-21, 2022

What’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries About?

Emily Wilde is a dryadologist. Imagine, if you will, what post-Darwin scientists and naturalists were doing for the study of plants and animals in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries; or what Carter and the rest were doing in Egypt; but dryadologists are studying fairies (oh, in this world, they are as real as the tomb of Tutankhamun—she’s not a literary theorist). Humans have been dealing with fairies for centuries, but what we know about them is really limited. Mostly left to legends, tales told around the fire or in an inn—where a third or fourth-hand account is rare and as close to an eyewitness as most people will ever get. Emily and her counterparts throughout the world are seeking to bring that to an end. She has a position at Cambridge but is hoping her current project is the kind of thing that will secure her tenure and allow her to further her research.

Her project is the first comprehensive Encyclopedia of Fairies (hence the title). She could publish what she has now and probably receive scholarly acclaim—and tenure. But she’s driven. She’s a completist. And, to be honest, she has a little bit of an ego and she wants more than probable acclaim. So she rents a small shack in a Norwegian village for a few months to try to find, interact with, and document the least-understood fairies in the world. The northern Hidden Ones (both the common and regal varieties) are powerful and secretive. They don’t interact much with humans—and when they do, it’s generally bad for the humans. If Emily can be the first to get any scholarly research done, it will definitely put her on the map.

Sadly, as good as she is at dealing with and understanding Fairy, Emily is bad with humans. She has no people skills, is aware of it, and doesn’t care. But in this inhospitable climate, she really needs help to survive—much less to learn a lot about the Hidden Ones.

Thankfully (?), soon after her arrival, a colleague/competitor—and her only friend—gatecrashes her trip and takes up residence in her shack with her. Wendell Bambleby is the very picture of a Victorian gentleman-scholar. He’s a charmer, and soon has the villagers eating out of his hand. He’s also pampered and demanding (would probably have been considered a bit of a dandy at the time)—and has a really hard time not wrapping his head around things like cooking for himself, working to keep the fire burning, etc. He’s decided that he’s going to collaborate with Emily (not really caring if she agrees) and that their work in Norway will be the thing to help him reclaim some academic respectability following a scandal.

He may be under a cloud, but Wendell has connections and can open doors for Emily to get her the audience she really needs. So she accepts his proposal to collaborate, assuming she’s going to do almost all of the work.

Things ensue. I really can’t say more than that.

Poe

The first fairy that Emily meets is a young brownie—she ends up referring to him as Poe. It’s great to see her in action with him. it shows that she does know what she’s doing—we don’t just have to take her word for it (not that we have any reason to think she’s lying, but it’s good to know).

Poe really ends up showing us so much about Emily—and other characters, too. He’s ultimately so integral and important to the novel—and in a very real sense, not important to the plot in any way. But through his interactions (both that the reader sees on the page and those that happen “off-screen”) with various characters, so much of the plot becomes possible and the reader gains a whole lot of insight. Really, he was well, and cleverly, used by Fawcett. I can’t say it better without spending a few hundred spoiler-filled words, but the more I think about him, the more impressed I am by Fawcett.

Knowing More than Emily

Around the time—probably a little before—I figured out that the story of the novel isn’t really what you think it is, I figured out a couple of things that Emily is utterly blind to for a very long time.

Knowing more than a protagonist can be frustrating—I spend a lot of time yelling at detectives in mystery novels in particular. But sometimes, it can be fun watching them catch up to the reader. Fawcett’s able to draw humor from us knowing things that Emily doesn’t. It also helps us empathize with both Emily and other characters as we see her work through various situations and conversations.

And then, when Emily catches up with the reader—and reality—it’s all the more satisfying. Most/all of what we know that she doesn’t really wouldn’t be that believable if we learned it when she does. We get to spend many pages urging, “Come on, come on, come on…open your eyes/pay attention/etc.” And then, finally, cheer when she does. It’s the closest many readers will get to the position of a sportsball fan yelling at their TV to communicate to someone in a stadium miles/states away.

Slamming on the Brakes

I did have one significant problem with this book. As part of her research—part of her life, really—Emily specializes in stories about faeries. She shares some of them as part of her journal. It makes sense, they serve both the character and the overall novel. They’re truly fitting.

However.

It was like slamming the brakes on. Everything that had been building, all the tension, the momentum, the development, and so on all came to a rapid stop. And then picked up again after the stories. It reminded me of a time in Kevin Hearne’s Hammered when everything stopped for some of the characters to tell stories. As fun as those stories were, it really made that novel hard to get through (that series went on for 6 more books, two spin-off series, and a number of novellas and short stories—so the jarring stop was obviously not too catastrophic).

If the transition to them had been smoother—or maybe they had been more spread out. Just something, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned them—or I’d have talked about what a great way it was for us to get an understanding of the Northern Fairies without an infodump. Instead, it came across as a stumble—one that the novel recovered from nicely. But in the moment, it really bugged me.

So, what did I think about Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries?

Stick with me for a minute—I could tell from the opening pages that this was a well-composed and well-structured novel full of fantastic world-building. But it took longer for me to move beyond appreciation and admiration for what was being done to really care about it. I did, though, the book started out slowly and picked up momentum as it went—and as it did, I got more and more invested (and my appreciation and admiration increased, too). Somewhere around the mid-point, maybe a little later, I was as invested as is possible and only my notes tell me it took time for that.

I think I just used too many words to say—it’s a slow burn of a novel in almost every conceivable way. Not unlike Emily’s rented shack—it takes a while for a fire to really start heating the place, but once it has time, it’s nice and toasty warm.

There’s a lot I’d like to talk about, but I’m not sure how. I can see later installments being easier, but so much of the novel is about beginnings. To really talk about it would be to discuss the last 20% of the novel. And no one wants me to do that.

Just because of my own prejudices, I could spend a few paragraphs on her dog, Shadow, too. As much as he deserves them, I’m going to leave it with “he’s a very good boy.” I hope to see more of him in the books to come, too.

This book is rich in character, story, world-building (and world-revealing), magic, and subtlety. I’m not sure if you can be rich in subtlety, but Fawcett pulls that off. This is absolutely something I recommend and imagine the next few months are going to be filled with people gushing over this. Readers of this post might as well get in line now to be one of those gushing.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this opportunity.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Malibu Burns by Mark Richardson

By HCNewton

On December 26, 2022

In Book Tour, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

I’m very pleased today to welcome and help kick-off The Write Reads Blog Tour for Mark Richardson’s Malibu Burns. I couldn’t fit it into my reading schedule, but if you take a look at the feed for https://twitter.com/WriteReadsTours over the next few days, you’ll see a lot of bloggers who did find the time to write interesting things about it. Still, I wanted to spread the word a bit.

Book Details:

Genre: Dystopian Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Next Chapter
Release date: September 29, 2022
Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Ebook
Length: 288 pages

About the Book:

Near-future San Francisco is a dark world where reality is changeable and different dimensions overlap.

Teen Malibu Makimura discovers she can feel people’s emotions, and senses an ominous voice growing inside her. She lands a job at a women’s nightclub drawing surrealist caricatures. One night while drawing a portrait, she feels a sinister emotion projected by a woman named Luciana, who invites Malibu to her Presidio Heights mansion.

There, she makes a peculiar request – and Malibu agrees. With each following act the evil inside her grows, and Malibu begins to wonder if she will ever be in control again… or if she even wants to be.

Book Links:

Amazon ~ Goodreads

About the Author:

Mark Richardson is the author of the novels Malibu Burns, The Sun Casts No Shadow, and Hunt for the Troll.

His short stories have appeared in numerous crime and literary publications, including Hobart, Fugue, Segue, Crime Factory, Switchback, and Nth Position.

Born in the Chicago area, he graduated from the University of Iowa, and promptly escaped the midwestern winters for sunny California, first living in Los Angeles and then San Francisco. He spent thirty years working as a writer and marketer for tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Mark now lives in the East Bay with his wife, two children, and the world’s cutest dog. He spends his time writing fiction, obsessing about the Chicago Cubs, attending his daughter’s softball games, and reading stacks of books. He loves genre-bending fiction, especially speculative writing with a noir flavor. In 2019, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and supports the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Author Links:

Website ~ Instagram ~ LinkedIn ~ Goodreads

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

12 Things God Can’t Do by Nick Tucker: 12 Reassuring Truths

By HCNewton

On December 25, 2022

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

12 Things God Can’t Do:
…and How They Can Help
You Sleep at Night

by Nick Tucker

DETAILS:
Publisher: The Good Book Company
Publication Date: May 31, 2022
Format: Paperback
Length: 184 pg.
Read Date: December 4-18, 2022

What’s 12 Things God Can’t Do About?

A lot of Theology Proper is negative*—God can’t do this, He can’t do that, He won’t do another thing. This has been the case since the beginning and is still true today.

* A lot of the rest is the omni- attributes. Theology Proper is really an all-or-nothing kind of thing.

Nick Tucker wants the believer to consider 12 of the things God cannot do. No, we’re not talking about foolishness like “Can he make a rock so heavy that he can’t lift it?” These are the big things—the stuff a faith (collective and individual) can be built on.

But…God…

Along with these 12 things, Tucker pauses for five interludes. These interludes look at things the God-man, the Incarnate Word, could and did do. He could learn, He could be tempted, and He did sleep. As He took on humanity, The Son was now capable of these things—and that’s proof of His humanity. He became truly human—and as such, He could (and did) redeem us.

So, what did I think about 12 Things God Can’t Do?

I’ve read a handful of books on the attributes of God over the last few years (and have one more scheduled), but this one approaches the idea from a very different perspective. Well, most of the other books touch upon Tucker’s purpose, but they have other things going on—Tucker’s more single-minded.

Most books on the topic are about advancing or defending orthodoxy, buttressing right thinking about God (and it is right to do so). Tucker’s focused on what the believer is to do with orthodoxy. What’s the whole point of understanding who God is? It’s for the reassurance, confidence, hope, and comfort of the believer—look at the way the Psalmists, prophets, and apostles used these doctrines. Reflecting their priorities, Tucker points the reader to these can’ts.

We can sleep well at night, knowing that God will not slumber. We can trust His promises because He can’t change or lie. And so on. Which makes this book one of the more rewarding reads I’ve come across lately.

Tucker writes in a simple, clear, and straightforward style. There’s a little gentle humor in his illustrations and style—but the book isn’t a showcase for Tucker’s writing. He writes to point the reader to God. This book is encouraging, devotional, and should lead to doxology. It’s wholly sound, and easy to read and, in turn, to lead to trust. It’s well worth the short time it takes to read and re-read.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Saturday Miscellany—12/24/22

By HCNewton

On December 24, 2022

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Several of you are dealing with frigid temperatures, some are dealing with power/heating issues, but hopefully even more of you are in getting an extra day or two off from work and maybe even getting to enjoy some time with friends and family. (Please, please, let the verb be “enjoy” and not something less pleasant.) Anyway, I hope you’re having a good one and are able to stay warm enough for whatever you’ve got going on this weekend.

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet We’re drowning in old books. But getting rid of them is heartbreaking.
bullet Lit Hub has collected the Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: 50 to 31, 30 to 11, and the Biggest 10
bullet How a Great Audiobook Narrator Finds Her Voices
bullet Shop Talk: The Year in Review—I’ve really enjoyed seeing behind-the-scenes with Eli Cranor’s series this year. Here, he looks back on the last year of Shop Talk.
bullet Six Classic Books That Live Up to Their Reputation
bullet We’ve got some great Best of ’22 lists to embiggen your TBR Stacks (I’m taking notes off of these and am starting to worry about the number):
bullet CrimeReads posted 9 different lists this week (so I’m not going to provide individual links), and all of them have some great stuff.
bullet LitReactor has enough staff that it took two posts to get theirs up. The Best Books of 2022 – Part I and The Best Books of 2022 – Part II
bullet These are favorite book characters in 2022, read and published in 2022.—favorite characters might be a better idea than favorite/best books.
bullet Top Five Most Dramatic Twists I Read In 2022—not only a great idea for a list, but the way Stephen writes about them without giving anything away is pretty impressive. Ditto for his Top Five Most Dramatic Twists I Read In 2022.
bullet Favourite Reads of the Year – Stand-alone Edition!—another clever approach
bullet Top 12 Reads of 2022
bullet Weird, wonderful, and under-the-radar books that Jane Alice NEEDS you to read—Not necessarily reads from this year, but some great recommendations from a local bookseller
bullet I Read 365 Books This Year And Here Are My Recommendations For Your Highly Specific Needs—I didn’t want this to get lost in the rest of the list, because…wow.
bullet How Do You Measure a Year in Reading?—Unsurprisingly, this post by Molly Templeton has a lot of wisdom and food for thought.
bullet Let’s Talk About Reviewing—the 1000th post on Queen’s Book Asylum has some good thoughts on reviewing
bullet 10 Fun Ways To Choose Your Next Read—I’ve tried several of these already but looking to use some more of them.
bullet PSA: How To Read 100+ Books A Year—for those who aren’t introspective misanthropes like the Bookstooge, he has some handy tips.
bullet What Challenges are you setting yourself for the New Year?

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Elias, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi: Packs a Powerful Punch

By HCNewton

On December 23, 2022

In Fantasy, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Pet

by Akwaeke Emezi

DETAILS:
Series: Pet, #1
Publisher: Make Me a World
Publication Date: September 10, 2019
Format: Hardcover
Length: 203
Read Date: December 19, 2022

Also, the problem is, when you think you’ve been without monsters for so long, sometimes you forget what they look like, what they sound like, no matter how much remembering your education urges you to do. It’s not the same when the monsters are gone. You’re only remembering shadows of them, stories that seem to be limited to the pages or screens you read them from. Flat and dull things. So, yes, people forget. But forgetting is dangerous.

Forgetting is how the monsters come back.

What’s Pet About?

Jam and her best friend, Redemption, live in the city of Lucille—a city that’s evolved beyond things like bigotry, crime, inequality, and more. Just ask anyone who lives there—that’s what they’re told, that’s what they believe.

But then Jam is visited by a creature from another world. This creature is there to hunt—not everything is as good and pure as the people of Lucille believe, and this creature is here to hunt someone hurting someone. And the creature (Pet) wants Jam to help with the hunt. Pet can’t tell Jam what the issue is, their prey is at Redemption’s home.

Redemption tries to tell his family about the problem, but no one believes him—that kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. Everyone knows that.

The World

Lucille is in many ways a dream city—some sort of revolution occurred (it wasn’t entirely peaceful, but we don’t get details). And a Progressive utopia has been established for a generation or so. No sexism, no bigotry, full equality for all, no ableism, no crime, no want. And everyone (as far as the reader can see) buys into the vision for the city.

Am pretty sure those who aren’t that interested in this vision for life aren’t in Lucille anymore, whether voluntarily or not.

It feels oppressive, honestly. A benevolent oppression, it seems, but I’m not sure that’s really that much better.

One danger of this thorough monoculture, complete with everyone buying into the belief, is that humans aren’t good. There will be problems, criminals, broken people, and those who will find ways to get pleasure from hurting others (in various ways)—in short, sinners (however you want to define sinners). If the cultural orthodoxy is that this has been fixed, no one will look for the outlier. No one will look out for the victim, either. As mentioned in the opening quote—that’s a danger.

Harry Harrison painted a similar picture in his Stainless Steel Rat novels (although his outliers were frequently the heroes of the story as often as the villains—and the government was on the look for them).

Pet

I really liked Pet—particularly as he is in the last third or so of the book. I’m not entirely convinced by all his actions and what he tells Jam about himself at the beginning—it’s not that I think he was lying, I just wonder how consistent he is from beginning to the end.

I figure if I re-read the book a time or two, I’d end up being convinced, though. He’s probably the same being throughout, and I just understood him better at the end. Either way, he’s definitely someone you don’t want hunting you.

So, what did I think about Pet?

I bounced all over when it came to what to say about this novel.

It’s too short, really. Problems arise and are solved too quickly. And some of the rich, deep, thoughts weren’t given enough time and space to breathe—really, everything seemed like it was given short shrift.

But.

Oh man, this was just so wonderfully composed. Not a wasted word. Such a rich amount of world-building went into this—all the characters were so fully realized. And Emezi doesn’t need 3-4 paragraphs to do something like most writers—a sentence or two will do. Lovely and efficient prose.

This makes me think I’m wrong, and the book isn’t too short and everything is given enough space and time. But I’m not.

The worldbuilding alone is fantastic—no matter what I might think of the world. The story is haunting and disturbing in all the right ways. I can easily see why someone would become a big fan of Emezi based on this work, and I’m intrigued by the sequel/companion novel. If this wasn’t so abbreviated, I’d imagine that I’d be a giant fan (or a massive naysayer, come to think of it).

Either way, I’m glad I read this and do recommend it—there’s a lot to chew on here, and I’m looking forward to discussing it with Nisha, who recommended it to me for this Challenge. (I expect a lot of “you just don’t understand, Uncle H.” And I probably don’t)

Quick Update—called it:
3 Stars?! YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!

3 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Festivus 2022: For the Rest of Us

By HCNewton

On December 23, 2022

In Calendar Items, News/Misc.

Shunning the commercialization of Christmas*/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Santaween/Chrismukkah, we’re again celebrating Festivus (for the rest of us) here at The Irresponsible Reader.

Let’s begin our observance!

Here I am with my Festivus pole. I really appreciate the very high strength-to-weight ratio, it’s a mighty fine pole.

Note the lack of distracting tinsel. It’s very important.

And now, let the Airing of Grievances begin.

Yes, some of these are only slightly revised from previous Festivus posts. Which is to be expected, it’s not like the entire universe fixed itself after I posted one lil’ post. I’ve got to keep up the pressure.

AI’s takeover of publishing, from covers, to audiobook narrations, to writing and illustrating! It’s just too much. This is about human creativity, not close approximations of it. Also, you’d think that people who publish/sell/read dystopian fiction and SF would know better than to give the reins of anything to an AI.

The Goodreads “update” or “upgrade” or “redesign” or whatever they’re calling it. It’s uglier, it’s flakier, it’s less functional, and just plain worse. I don’t disagree that the site needed a makeover and improvements, but what we got wasn’t what we needed.

I have a grievance with the book publishing/selling/marketing industry. It’s 2022, why are we still placing stickers on books? If we have to do that, why hasn’t Science come up with a sticker that doesn’t leave a gummy residue behind? C’mon, Science, if you can’t give us a cure for cancer, a pill so people with Celiac disease can eat bread, or an Oreo that will help me lose weight—at least you can give us stickers that don’t leave gunk on our books! Especially, especially when it covers the ISBN number for those of us trying to scan them.

What’s worse than stickers are those things that look like stickers, but aren’t. Just stupid, garish circles that have been printed on the cover and really only serve to obscure the image. What’s the point?

I have a grievance with Movie/TV covers on books. C’mon people, this is stupid. Sure, it maybe helps sell more copies of the books—but has any book been improved by one of these covers? No! Knock it off! And especially, stop it with sticking pictures of actors on books in a series that haven’t been adapted, just because some have (yeah, I’m looking at you, Longmire).

Similarly, what’s up with publishers changing the look of series covers—and or the height of the books—in a series? I like when they match and I resent having to go buy second copies of the old ones to have a nice matching set. (which I generally avoid, but I think about doing it a lot).

It’s another year without the next installment from Rothfuss/Martin. No, my grievance isn’t with them, it’s with the entitled “fan” of the work, whinging at every conceivable moment about how long it’s taking them. Because there’s nothing else around to read? Let ’em get it right and use that energy to support someone whose books could use it.

(still—Martin, Rothfuss, Lynch…c’mon…)

Whether it’s from a mainstream publisher, indie press, or a self-pubbed book, we have the technology and (theoretically??) the education so there’s no reason for there to be missing/extra punctuation or misspelled words in books.

Obviously, this doesn’t apply to book blog posts. No one paid for these.

I have a grievance with the Book Blogging Community. There are way too many good book bloggers out there to keep up with. Some of you need to write less often! Also, you make the rest of us look bad.

I’ve got a grievance with running out of places to put books and bookshelves that aren’t like a bag of holding or TARDIS and can’t take an increasing number of books. So…physics, I guess. Yeah, that’s right, Laws of the Physics, I’m calling you out. Get your act together!

And what’s more…I lost my train of thought. Still, I managed to get a little off my chest, that felt good.

And now, the Feats of Strength…

This is going to be a doozy. Possibly my greatest Festivus Feat of Strength to date.

For my Feat of Strength, I’m going to watch the Netflix movie, Spenser Confidential. Theoretically based on Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland by Ace Atkins, directed by Peter Berg, with a screenplay by Sean O’Keefe and Brian Helgeland, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, and Iliza Shlesinger. That’s not a big deal, really, I endured it before.

However…this time I’m going to do it without complaining to anyone—friend, stranger, wife, child, or dog—while doing so. I will not write about the experience, post anything on the Internet or social media (beyond this post), or do anything of a similar nature. I will keep all of my comments, complaints, criticisms, or comparisons to the novels or previous TV/film adaptations to myself. Furthermore, I shall endeavor to enjoy the experience. I honestly don’t know if I can pull this off, but I will attempt it.

Let’s see how the rest of you do with your feats.

* I’ve gotten a little feedback about this—it’s pretty clear I’m a Christian. So why do I do a Festivus post instead of something about Christmas? While I do think that believers have the liberty to celebrate the Nativity if they desire to, I’m ambivalent toward the day, and hesitant to make a big deal out of it. So, I don’t. If you’re curious, I thought this episode of The Heidelcast did a decent job of articulating many of the issues (without getting nasty about it).

On the other hand, Festivus is just silly fun. Hope you don’t mind…

The Friday 56 for 12/23/22: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

By HCNewton

On December 23, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 (and 57) of:
Pet

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

He was threaded with nothing but gentleness. Even when he fought, Redemption fought for the beauty of what his body could do, for the frailty of being human, the power and vulnerability tangled up in being flesh. It wasn’t personal; it wasn’t about his ego. It was about being alive. She remembered when he’d explained this to her, when she’d asked him why he loved something so violent.

“I don’t hold violence in my hands,” he’d answered, holding them up in front of his face…She watched as he rotated his wrists to look at his palms and then the backs of his hands, a few nicked scars marking his knuckles.

You fight, she’d said. Of course you hold violence in your hands, she meant.

Redemption heard what she hadn’t said out loud, and shook his head. “Here,” he said, tapping his chest. “Here is where I hold it, and I look at it and I fold it into something aise. Even when I fight, it’s not about letting it out. Especially when I fight.”

Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz: To Destroy, or to Be Destroyed

By HCNewton

On December 22, 2022

In Urban Fantasy

Sacrifices

by Jamie Schultz

DETAILS:
Series: Arcane Underworld, #3
Publisher: InterMix
Publication Date: July 19, 2016
Format: eBook
Length: 351 pg.
Read Date: December 14-16, 2022

I look around, though, and I ain’t stupid. How’s this end? Just keep going like this forever? Naw. People gonna die.

What’s Sacrifices About?

That opening quote sums it up—the story, characters, and events of this trilogy can’t keep going. This ends—and not everyone is going to make it out alive. Maybe no one does.

After the end of Splintered, things were bleak—the team was, well, splintered. People were dead. Demons had infected (for lack of a better term) two of the team—and the biggest and most powerful one seemed to be working with the crime boss/would-be supernatural force that they’d been working so hard to get away from. But even Sobell didn’t seem to be fully in control and might be in danger from this demon.

This brings us to Sacrifices, Karyn had a vision/prophecy that gave hope that there was a way to defeat Belial. If they could just figure out what it said—of course, Belial heard it, too, and was at work to prevent anyone from fulfilling it. The FBI is lurking around—they may be willing to help, but are more interested in slapping the cuffs on Sobell and anyone else they could.

Now it’s just a matter of seeing what happens. Will their (literal and figurative) demons defeat them? Will Belial end up wreaking destruction on Los Angeles/the world? Will…actually, I don’t know if the reader—or any of the characters, actually—really gets a picture of the ultimate stakes here. I don’t think our minds could comprehend it—but it’s big, nasty, and possibly apocalyptic.

The solution to all this may lie in the fact that demons have an enemy. An enemy even more terrible and awful (especially if you look at older definitions of those words). But what will have to be given up to secure their presence?

I’m So Glad this Isn’t a Scratch ‘n Sniff Book

It came to her that this was the world as it really was, just thin tissue floating atop an unknowable black ocean teeming with horrifying, malicious creatures— creatures at the command of the demon before her. For the first time, she saw him as much greater than simply another enemy, if more revolting than most. For the first time she really understood that he was also unspeakably ancient and filled with knowledge and power beyond reckoning. This was the type of entity she dealt with each time she delved into magic

Some authors will mention the smell of sulfur or something like that and talk about rot and decay when talking about demons. Other authors will basically make demons out to be Byronic hunks (the Cullening of demons). Schultz does not do that—either of them. He dwells on the rot, the decay, the blood, grime, disease, and filth that comes with demonic possession, power, and or presence.

His demons aren’t misunderstood, they’re not occasionally benign or honorable, and there is nothing to them other than destruction and power—they may seemingly aid a human for a time, but it’s for a price. A price that no one should pay.

Schulz’s descriptions of the demonic effects—and just the life in L.A.’s heat for those without much in the way of resources—are so vivid that you feel a little grimy just reading it. From the description of the clear bottle that one man uses as a spittoon, bloody sweatpants that have been worn for days, various wounds, and so much more—Schulz makes sure that your visual images of these events are real and substantial.

A quick personal note

I’d fully intended on jumping on this book when it came out in 2016—and cannot tell you why I didn’t. It’s just been sitting there collecting dust on my Kindle since then—and it’s been so long at this point, I didn’t think I’d remember the story enough to make it worthwhile.

But within a few pages, I was right back—Schultz did a little bit of recapping, but not much. Mostly it was the tangibility of this world and these characters, just seeing them brought it all back to me, and it was like no time had passed at all. There are few authors that can pull that off, but he did it. And I’m impressed as all get out by that.

So, what did I think about Sacrifices?

“Funny, isn’t it? Lack of a demon isn’t usually a problem to be addressed. Quite the opposite.”

“I’m not laughing.”

Sobell made a clucking noise. “That’s your prerogative, but from my position, I’d have to say that if you don’t find any of this funny, you’ll find it unspeakably bleak.”

On the whole, this book is closer to the unspeakably bleak end of the spectrum, but there are a couple of moments of brightness (and maybe a little bit funny). And I do mean a couple of moments, a handful at best.

Even the more optimistic statements and moves come with the air of “This is probably not going to work, but it’s something to do.” The only characters that are operating without a sense of impending doom are those who are on the outside of the occult happenings in the city. The futility of every scheme, plan, and idea taints everything—but these people (and/or magical/spiritual entities) keep moving forward, scrabbling after the chance that someone will make it out alive. This is hard to read—I wasn’t even sure the planet would exist when the book ends—but once Schultz got his talons into your brain, there’s just no way that you stop reading—you have to know what’s around the corner, even if it will leave you despairing.

This is a great UF trilogy, and one that I am so sad that didn’t get the attention it deserved (including from me for the last 6 years). Pick up the set, you won’t be sorry.

4 Stars

The Irresponsible Reader’s Guide to Picture Books That Aren’t Necessarily for Kids

By HCNewton

On December 22, 2022

In Fiction

I have to follow up yesterday’s post with this one. Not every picture book is written for kids, some are for all-ages, some are for an older audience. Playing with the format in this way really draws me in. You should check these out.

Goodnight Brew

by Ann E. Briated, Allie Ogg (Illustrator)

It’s a simple idea–parody Goodnight Moon, replacing the items in the child’s bedroom with the things found in a brewery. Throw in a little educational bit in the end, and you’ve got yourself a fun read for adults.

P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

by Raj Haldar, Chris Carpenter, Maria Beddia (Illustrator)

This is funny stuff, good artwork, and correct–but not actually helpful–information. “S is for Seas” and “H is for Heir” for sure–but try using those for spelling something.
My full post about the book.

A Die Hard Christmas: The Illustrated Holiday Classic

by Doogie Horner, JJ Harrison (Illustrator)

The premise: Take Die Hard one of the greatest action films ever made, one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made, and an all-around pop culture touchstone, then turn it into a (NOT for kids) rhyming picture book. A great holiday tradition.
My full post about the book.

Go the F*** to Sleep

by Adam Mansbach, Ricardo Cortés (Illustrator)

There’s not a parent alive that can’t relate to the frustration of the parent in this book. This goes firmly in the “it’s funny because it’s true” arena. The art looks more like something drawn for adult audiences (but not too much) than the rest of this list, which leans toward the kind of thing you’d find in a kid’s book.

The ABCs of Metallica

by Metallica, Howie Abrams, Michael Kaves (Illustrator)

This one might be good for kids, but I don’t know how much they’d appreciate it. It will appeal to Metallica fans who can be lighthearted about their fandom. Some nice info, cute rhymes, and fun ways to come up with something for every letter. The illustrations are great and (like the text) are kid-friendly and adult-friendly, too.
My full post about the book.

Mommy Has A Tattoo

by Phil Padwe

This is actually aimed at a young audience, and probably should’ve gone on that list. But my wife bought this a few years ago, and I typically think of it with the rest of the books on this list. The child at the center of the book is freaked out by seeing (a nice looking) tattoo sleeve on a man in the neighborhood, his mom assures him that tattoos are okay and nothing to be afraid of–utlimately showing him her own ink. It’s a cute book.

The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Thing Beneath The Bed

by Patrick Rothfuss, Nate Taylor (Illustrator)

Rothfuss calls this “a dark twist on the classic children’s picture-book. I think of it as Calvin and Hobbes meets Coraline, with some Edward Gorey mixed in.” I love the twist here. The art’s cute–deceptively so–and the story is great. I’d gladly read a handful of these.