Category: Fiction Page 10 of 317

Nugget’s Tenth Life by Adam Holcombe: The Backstory I Didn’t Need, But Am So Glad I Got

Cover of Nugget’s Tenth Life by Adam HolcombeNugget’s Tenth Life

by Adam Holcombe,

DETAILS:
Series: Chronicles of Gam Gam
Publisher: Bounty Ink Press 
Format: eBook
Length: 32 pgs.
Read Date: September 23, 2024

There is a saying among humans that a cat has nine lives, but this is not entirely accurate. See, it is simply that cats are notoriously skilled at almost dying. It is only by the ninth time that the dying tends to stick.

What’s Nugget’s Tenth Life About?

For those who are familiar with Gam Gam the Necromancer, you are familiar with her familiar*, Nugget. If you haven’t read anything about Nugget before—let me introduce him to you.

Gam Gam is a newly graduated necromancer, despite being…well, a Gam Gam. Her familiar is a cat she revivified—I guess it’s better to call Nugget the animated skeleton of a cat—with all the memories, habits, and attitudes of the stray cat he was before he needed revivification to prowl around.

This would be his tenth life—this short story is the recounting of the previous nine lives he enjoyed (or at least lived through). It’s about his Brother, Sister, Mother, and his Sister’s two kits as well—but primarily about Nugget doing his best to help his family survive and keep their shelter.

* A phrase that I wrote without forethought.

So, what did I think about Nugget’s Tenth Life?

Maybe (very likely) I’m in the minority here. But I was not curious at all about Nugget’s life (or, lives) before Gam Gam. I was curious about Gam Gam’s backstory. I was curious about the Knight Revenant. I can see reading more about Mina. But an elderly necromancer (or any necromancer, really) with a skeleton familiar? That seems fitting and generally unsurprising—I didn’t need to know any more about him.

But now??? I’m so glad we got this. I loved that opening I quoted above and was quickly invested in Nugget’s story.

Getting that little bit of time with Gam Gam at the end reminded me how much I liked the character—and I’m now more than ready for The Wishing Stone‘s release next month so I can spend some extended time in this world.

This would make a decent jumping-on point for those who haven’t tried this series before. If you have, I probably don’t need to encourage you to give it a shot (but I will anyway).

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Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien: A Nice Bit of Insight into Middle Earth

Cover of Pictures by J.R.R. TolkienPictures by J.R.R. Tolkien

DETAILS:
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Publication Date: November 16, 2021
Format: Hardcover 
Length: 104 pgs.
Read Date: September 21, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

Why this Book Today?

Last Spring, I read Lashaan Balasingam talk about this book at Roars and Echoes and put it on a wish list instantly. I was given a copy of it last year, but aside from glancing through it then, I hadn’t taken the time to really sit down with it. But with Hobbit Day yesterday, I made time Saturday to do just that—so I could post about it today (and maybe add this and some other things to a recurring thing like I do with Towel Day).

You should really see what Lashaan had to say about it, not only does he do a (typically) better job of it than I’m about to, but he liked it a lot more than I did.

What’s Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien About?

Well, it’s pictures drawn by Tolkein in his spare time—when he wasn’t teaching, creating new languages, writing epic fantasies, or smoking his pipe (well, he probably did both of those at the same time).

The Publisher describes it this way:

With Christopher Tolkien as your guide, take a tour through this colorful gallery of enchanting art by J.R.R. Tolkien, as published originally in the first groundbreaking Tolkien Calendars of the 1970s.

This collection of pictures, with a text by Christopher Tolkien, now reissued after almost thirty years, confirms J.R.R. Tolkien’s considerable talent as an artist. It provides fascinating insight into his visual conception of many of the places and events familiar to readers of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Examples of his art range from delicate watercolors depicting Rivendell, the Forest of Lothlorien, Smaug, and Old Man Willow, to drawings and sketches of Moria Gate and Minas Tirith. Together they form a comprehensive collection of Tolkien’s own illustrations for his most popular books.

Also included are many of his beautiful designs showing patterns of flowers and trees, friezes, tapestries, and heraldic devices associated with the world of Middle-earth. In their variety and scope, they provide abundant visual evidence of the richness of his imagination.

This enchanting gallery was personally selected by Christopher Tolkien who, through detailed notes on the sources for each picture, provides unique insight into the artistic vision of his father, J.R.R. Tolkien.

How’s the Writing?

Well, it’s pretty bland. It’s just straightforward descriptions of the pictures, where it came from, where it was originally published—who added color (sometimes), and so on.

It’s not bad, it’s not good—it’s just there. And that’s good enough, this isn’t supposed to be about Christopher Tolkien’s wordsmithery—this is about the pictures.

How’s the Art?

Well, I think it’s clear why we think of Tolkien as a writer, scholar, and storyteller and not a visual artist. Don’t get me wrong—I can’t hold a candle to his drawing. But it’s nothing stellar.

But it does deliver the flavor of Middle Earth and its denizens in a way the books can’t quite manage (or does manage, in a different way). You get a real sense of the scope and scale of the world. It’s clear that Jackson and his team spent some time with Tolkien’s art and drew a lot from it—and you can see why they’d want to (beyond just trying for authenticity). I did like it—and could easily spend time studying the details.

Lashaan’s post has a couple of samples if you’re curious. But honestly, if you’re basing getting your hands on this book on the quality of the art, you might be missing the point. (still, check out the samples to get a feel for it)

If you want great fantasy art, may I suggest starting with Larry Elmore, Chris McGrath, or Isabeau Backhaus? But there’s something about seeing it from the hand of the creator, you know?

So, what did I think about Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien?

As a book, it’s…fine. As a collection of pictures, it’s…nice enough. As a way to get to know a different side of Tolkein and how his brain, his creativity, and his personality worked? It’s pretty cool. I’d love to see sketches, drawings, and even paintings by other authors to get inside their heads (okay, no one wants inside Thomas Harris’ mind, but you know what I’m saying. Keep the visuals for Hannibal and the rest locked away.)

Am I glad that I own this? Yes. Am I glad that I finally got around to taking it out of its slipcase and really worked through it? You bet. Am I just a little underwhelmed by the whole thing? Yup.

But I will return to flip through it and pour over the contents repeatedly.


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.
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Candle & Crow by Kevin Hearne: Growing, Changing, and Moving On

Cover of Candle & Crow by Kevin HearneCandle & Crow

by Kevin Hearne

DETAILS:
Series: Ink & Sigil, #3
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 352
Read Date: September 13-18, 2024
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What’s Candle & Crow About?

What isn’t this about? Al has to address a potential treaty violation of a group against some British citizens, which leads to some treaty re-negotiations; Gladys wraps up business she started in the last book, prepares to leave her job, and sees some shite; the Morrigan tries to settle among humans in her new body; Al, Buck, and Nadia are targeted by the police; Al has to help out his American counterpart with a tricky problem; Al gets a line on who cursed him; and…a few other things that I can’t figure out how to describe in a phrase or two.

Seriously, this book is busy. But somehow, it doesn’t feel crammed or over-stuffed; everything gets as much time as it needs to be addressed; everything makes sense; you don’t lose track of any plotlines; characters get to grow and develop (and be introduced!). And the last couple of chapters are so satisfying that I don’t care that I can’t finish this sentence properly.

A Trio of Druids

Fittingly for what Hearne has stated will be the last book in the universe of the Iron Druid Chronicles (I’m waiting for him to change his mind. Maybe a foolish hope, but it’s one nonetheless), we get to see all three of the Druids from that series for a little while—and none of them togther.

Working with his students has been good for Owen, Atticus—I mean, Connor—is in a good place (in several senses of that word), and Granuaile is…well, still Granuaile. I think I’ve mentioned she was getting on my nerves toward the end of IDC, and she’s still there. But she’s still essentially the same character—so if you weren’t annoyed by her, you’ll enjoy her appearance (I did, even with my attitude).

We got just enough time with them all to get a sense of where they are, what the future holds for them, and to see that they’re doing well—the events of Scourged are far enough past that they’ve settled into the next stage of their lives. It’s a good way to say goodbye to this world.

Deities

Since at least book 3 of the IDC we’ve had a good understanding of how gods, goddesses, and lesser deities function, live, and have power both now and throughout the ages. Hearne’s had Atticus and Al explain it a time or two since then, so faitful readers will get it.

But in these pages, we are given two examples (or three, depending on how you want to count something) of how this functions toward entities that aren’t part of the major pantheons (or minor ones, either—how would you describe Perun’s?). They are two divergent types of entities and the application of what we know about deities in this world is quite different (while linked).

I think it’s clear that I’m struggling to describe this without giving something away (if you haven’t noticed, let me assure you that I am). However, for fans of this world and fans of just good worldbuilding—Hearne does a great job with this stuff, if I didn’t know better*, I’d say that he started building toward this novel in Hammered.

* Okay, I don’t know better, he might have had this as part of his Master Plan all along. But I’m willing to bet he didn’t.

Al and the English

Al has to deal with a representative of the British government a few times over the course of this book as a part of his sigil agent duties. I honestly don’t know if I’ve been so purely entertained by Hearne (outside of an Oberon-heavy moment) as I was in reading Al’s narration during these parts.

He really doesn’t like this guy—and it’s tough to say that Al gives him a real chance before deciding to write him off—but the reader can understand why. I think that Al gets close to mean in his attitude and actions toward this man, but I don’t think he crosses the line. Then again, I was chuckling and highlighting so much in these interactions, I might have missed it.

So, what did I think about Candle & Crow?

I have said many good and complimentary things about the books in this series—and I stand by them—but this is what all of the Ink & Sigil books should’ve been like, at least at their core. We’ve seen a little of the Sigil Agent life, but there’s been a lot of other things going on, and not that much of it has to do with the administration and enforcement of contracts. It was just so cool to focus on that as much as we got to here. Yes, the big action stuff, taking on whacky monsters and nasty people experimenting on supernatural creatures and whatnot is pretty cool, too. But we get that kind of thing in all sorts of UF—we don’t get to see a lot of supernatural people wrangling with human governments over the wording of a hundred year old document* and the deadly ramifications of that wrangling not going well. It’s a shame that Hearne embraced this aspect of Al’s life so completely here at the end.

* Well, we get glimpses of that in The Rivers of London series, don’t we? But it feels very different.

I enjoyed every bit of this book—and am not sure how to talk about it without just blathering on and on about how good everything was. The action—and despite what I may have suggested earlier, there was plenty of it—was gripping and moved well. The emotional arcs of the characters were done with Hearne’s typical deftness (and maybe more than typical deftness). The humor was Hearne at his best. The magic at work was perfect, and…yeah. I just have nothing but compliments upon compliments here.

If you have any kind of emotional investment in Buck, Nadia, or Al going into this book, you will love the ending. It was a real treat, the last chapters just made me feel all warm inside.

I was so enthusiastic about this book that i think i might have convinced a friend to pick up the first IDC book just so he can catch up and appreciate all of this book—and another friend who’d read Hounded through Scourged to pick up this trilogy. And I’m more than ready to do that to anyone else reading this post.

I don’t know what Hearne’s next project will be, but I’m ready for it. In the meantime, I’m just going to bask in how wonderfully satisfying that Candle & Crow was.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine | Del Reyvia NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


5 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.
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The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 56: What We All Want by R. T. Slaywood: That Seems Like a Mistake…

After the episode I read yesterday, I didn’t want to wait a week


Cover Image for The Ballad of Bonaduke by RT SlaywoodThe Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 56: What We All Want

by R.T. Slaywood

DETAILS:
Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #56
Format: Kindle Vella Story
Read Date: September 20, 2024

“Got it, got it.” I said.

“So what about you Bonaduke, what do you want now that you’re up to speed?”

This time I was the one wanting to change the subject.

The Story So Far…

A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift (with maybe some sort of magic/magic-like “help”) to win on a scratch-off lottery ticket so he has money to buy more to drink. He pulls off whatever he did, gets his money and some booze and stumbles off into the darkness to drink himself into oblivion so he can start again the next day. He’s hit by dark memories (probably what’s driving him to the drinking) of fire, pleading, and screaming. There’s going to be a price to pay for his grift, and he’s trying to be ready.

He’s abducted by some representatives of a mysterious group who subject him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too). He passes—and is brought somewhere for answers, or maybe training, or maybe another test. Time will tell (or things are going to get really annoying). Answers aren’t quick to come—but the mysteries and questions keep piling up.

Things get hairy and Bonaduke leaves and finds himself back in the neighborhood he started from. He takes refuge in a homeless encampment shortly before a police raid. He’s apprehended and finds himself an interrogation room and shortly escapes after using his grift (but with results he didn’t quite intend). He finds himself by a group of squatters who seem to have strapped a woman to a chair for reasons that can’t be good. He attempts to rescue her before he even realizes what he’s doing, and seems to have succeeded—well, the two of them got away from the group anyway—breathing but bruised. They make their way to a fast-food taco joint and Bonaduke really needs to refuel to keep going. He tries, but fails to get food because he keeps passing out. Thankfully, the clerk is the same guy from the liquor store and he both recognizes him and gives him first aid. The woman (Zero) wakes up and shows some abilities of her on as she helps them escape from her captors who’ve tracked her down. One thing leads to another—Zero and Bonaduke’s magics don’t mix well (at least until they understand what each other can do?), and they end up in a video-game race against the squatters in a tricked-out version of Eric (the clerk’s) car. Note, I said video-game race, not a video-game-style race. They’re actually in one. When dumped back into reality, he’s surrounded by bruised and broken bodies (of people and cars). And then he gets into a supernatural fight and survives…just.

Or maybe not. But he gets better. And then his new…friends? Acquaintances? People who keep popping up in his life?…start explaining exactly what’s going on to him while they set up a new HQ and try to teach him about his abilities (and everyone tries to understand them) while they try to fund their further work. This plan doesn’t go so well, they end up stealing a book that contains (for lack of a better word) a malignant presence (something like a demon or nasty djinn), and things have gone really poorly since then. It’s almost like they’ve been cursed.

What’s What We All Want About?

The guys go around the room, talking about their goals/desires for the circle and why they want to lock horns with the Omnicrats. One idea seemed sort of…odd to me, but I can accept it working for this world. The other two make a lot of sense. Then they ask Bonaduke what he wants.

And we get the exchange above and it moves on from there…Bonaduke confronts them with some of his theories about what’s happened in the last few weeks. They try to respond, but he’s not buying it (I’m not sure I blame him) and then he takes a step to get some answers that seems like a bad idea. Like someone lighting a match in the control room of the Hindenburg bad.

So, what did I think about What We All Want ?

This was interesting–even the bits that seemed strange (even for Fantasy fiction), and it helped me understand these guys so much better.

And then Bonaduke and his self-delusional, self-destructive brain took him down the path at the end of the episode and…eh. Things will be a hopping in episode 57, I bet.


3 Stars

The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 55: Cursed by R. T. Slaywood: ANSWERS!! Explanations! Backstory!

After a 2 month break, I’m back to this. Hopefully, I can pick up the pace and catch back up…


Cover Image for The Ballad of Bonaduke by RT SlaywoodThe Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 55: Cursed

by R.T. Slaywood

DETAILS:
Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #55
Format: Kindle Vella Story
Read Date: September 19, 2024

“Out of curiosity, have either of you taken the time to explain what we’re doing?” Om asked the others.

“I’ve been busy.” Zero said

“Same.” Alan added though less convincingly.

“Honestly I’ve gotten used to it.” I said and leaned back in my recliner.

“Well I commend your patience. Ok, first let’s call the circle to order. Then we’ll go over what has happened up to this point.”

The Story So Far…

A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift (with maybe some sort of magic/magic-like “help”) to win on a scratch-off lottery ticket so he has money to buy more to drink. He pulls off whatever he did, gets his money and some booze and stumbles off into the darkness to drink himself into oblivion so he can start again the next day. He’s hit by dark memories (probably what’s driving him to the drinking) of fire, pleading, and screaming. There’s going to be a price to pay for his grift, and he’s trying to be ready.

He’s abducted by some representatives of a mysterious group who subject him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too). He passes—and is brought somewhere for answers, or maybe training, or maybe another test. Time will tell (or things are going to get really annoying). Answers aren’t quick to come—but the mysteries and questions keep piling up.

Things get hairy and Bonaduke leaves and finds himself back in the neighborhood he started from. He takes refuge in a homeless encampment shortly before a police raid. He’s apprehended and finds himself an interrogation room and shortly escapes after using his grift (but with results he didn’t quite intend). He finds himself by a group of squatters who seem to have strapped a woman to a chair for reasons that can’t be good. He attempts to rescue her before he even realizes what he’s doing, and seems to have succeeded—well, the two of them got away from the group anyway—breathing but bruised. They make their way to a fast-food taco joint and Bonaduke really needs to refuel to keep going. He tries, but fails to get food because he keeps passing out. Thankfully, the clerk is the same guy from the liquor store and he both recognizes him and gives him first aid. The woman (Zero) wakes up and shows some abilities of her on as she helps them escape from her captors who’ve tracked her down. One thing leads to another—Zero and Bonaduke’s magics don’t mix well (at least until they understand what each other can do?), and they end up in a video-game race against the squatters in a tricked-out version of Eric (the clerk’s) car. Note, I said video-game race, not a video-game-style race. They’re actually in one. When dumped back into reality, he’s surrounded by bruised and broken bodies (of people and cars). And then he gets into a supernatural fight and survives…just.

Or maybe not. But he gets better. And then his new…friends? Acquaintances? People who keep popping up in his life?…start explaining exactly what’s going on to him while they set up a new HQ and try to teach him about his abilities (and everyone tries to understand them) while they try to fund their further work. This plan doesn’t go so well, they end up stealing a book that contains (for lack of a better word) a malignant presence (something like a demon or nasty djinn), and things have gone really poorly since then. It’s almost like they’ve been cursed.

What’s Cursed About?

So, it’s been three weeks of everyone licking their wounds from the last episode (good time for me to take a break from the series, too, it turns out). Bonaduke hasn’t had much to do to recover, but the rest have.

At the end of the three weeks, the team—well, circle—meets in order to regroup and move into the next phase. The meeting starts with the above interchange, and then…hold on to your hats, readers. The characters explain things to Bonaduke and the reader! Not in the kind of detail that I’d like—but enough. Then they start looking to the future.

So, what did I think about Cursed?

With that last line of the quotation above, Om is now my favorite character in the series. No contest. Yeah, I’d have a appreciated more details, but after the drought we’ve been in since Bonaduke was taken off the streets by them, this little bit of information was enough.

I can care about the circle, I get an idea about their goals and what they’re trying to avoid. I want to see them succeed for reasons beyond “they’re who we’re spending time with.” Yes, I want more—but I’m greedy that way. I’ll take what we’ve been given.

And it’s tantalizing to think we might be getting a better idea of their goals in the next episode, too.

Beyond that, it was good to see the group take some time to recover. To slow down, and not just bounce from escapade to escapade.

All in all, one of my favorite episodes thus far.


4 Stars

REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Opening Lines

Today is turning out to be a bad day for me to post things, but I’ve been inspired by Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub’s thread on Twitter to revisit this post (and a similar one). So, why not repost it while I consider revising the list? From wayyyyyy back in 2020.



The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is Opening Lines.

Part of what made cutting last week’s Top 5 Opening Lines down to just five was that I knew this was coming. I let myself go a little long with these, hopefully not annoyingly so. These may not be the best openings I’ve ever read, but they’re the most memorable.

10 White Noise

White Noise by Don DeLillo

This is just one of those novels that imprinted on me in ways I don’t fathom, and it all started like this.

The station wagons arrived at noon, a long shining line that coursed through the west campus. In single file they eased around the orange I-beam sculpture and moved toward the dormitories. The roofs of the station wagons were loaded down with carefully secured suitcases full of light and heavy clothing; with boxes of blankets, boots and shoes, stationery and books, sheets, pillows, quilts; with rolled-up rugs and sleeping bags; with bicycles, skis, rucksacks, English and Western saddles, inflated rafts. As cars slowed to a crawl and stopped, students sprang out and raced to the rear doors to being removing the objects inside; the stereo sets, radios, personal computers; small refrigerators and table ranges; the cartons of phonograph records and cassettes; the hairdryers and styling irons; the tennis rackets, soccer balls, hockey and lacrosse sticks, bows and arrows; the controlled substances, the birth control pills and devices; the junk food still in shopping bags—onion-and-garlic chips, nacho things, peanut creme patties, Waffelos and Kabooms, fruit chews and toffee popcorn; the Dum-Dum pops, the Mystic mints.

I’ve witnessed this spectacle every September for twenty-one years. It is a brilliant event, invariable. The students greet each other with comic cries and gestures of sodden collapse. Their summer has been bloated with criminal pleasures, as always. The parents stand sun-dazes near their automobiles, seeing images of themselves in every direction. The conscientious suntans. The well-made faces and wry looks. They feel a sense of renewal, of communal recognition. The women crisp and alert, in diet trim, knowing people’s names. Their husbands content to measure out the time, distant but ungrudging, accomplished in parenthood, something about them suggesting massive insurance coverage. This assembly of station wagons, as much as anything they might do in the course of the year, more than formal liturgies or laws, tells the parents they are a collection of the like-minded and the spiritually akin, a people, a nation.

9 The Violent Bear It Away

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor

O’Connor’s the perfect mix of Southern sensibility, Roman Catholic worldview, and glorious prose.

FRANCIS MARION TARWATER’S uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Saviour at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up. Buford had come along about noon and when he left at sundown, the boy, Tarwater, had never returned from the still.

The old man had been Tarwater’s great-uncle, or said he was, and they had always lived together so far as the child knew. His uncle had said he was seventy years of age at the time he had rescued and undertaken to bring him up; he was eighty-four when he died. Tarwater figured this made his own age fourteen. His uncle had taught him Figures, Reading, Writing, and History beginning with Adam expelled from the Garden and going on down through the presidents to Herbert Hoover and on in speculation toward the Second Coming and the Day of Judgment.

8 The Doorbell Rang

The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout

I could’ve filled this list with Stout beginnings. But I limited myself to this one.

Since it was deciding factor, I might as well begin by describing it. It was a pink slip of paper three inches wide and seven inches long, and it told the First National City Bank to pay to the order of Nero Wolfe one hundred thousand and 00/100 dollars. Signed, Rachel Bruner. It was there on Wolfe’s desk, where Mrs. Bruner had put it. After doing so, she had returned to the red leather chair.

7 Dead Beat

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

The first words I read by Butcher, got me hooked but good.

On the whole, we’re a murderous race.

According to Genesis, it took as few as four people to make the planet too crowded to stand, and the first murder was a fratricide. Genesis says that in a fit of jealous rage, the very first child born to mortal parents, Cain, snapped and popped the first metaphorical cap in another human being. The attack was a bloody, brutal, violent, reprehensible killing. Cain’s brother Abel probably never saw it coming.

As I opened the door to my apartment, I was filled with a sense of empathic sympathy and intuitive understanding.

For freaking Cain.

6 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This was the hardest cut from last week’s list, but I just can’t resist the moocow.

You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.

Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece—all gold. It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well, Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round—more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.

5 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

I remember in our English class in High School when we were assigned this book, pretty much no one was interested. When Mr. Russo passed out the paperbacks, a few of us flipped it opened and read these first words—and suddenly we were open to the idea (didn’t last long for all of us, but that’s beside the point, we’re focused on the opening lines here). It’s stuck with me for almost 30 years, that’s gotta say something.

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….

4

Neuromancer by William Gibson

This sentence was love at first glance for me. Still love it. Naturally, no one knows what color this is referring to anymore.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

“It’s not like I’m using,” Case heard someone say, as he shouldered his way through the crowd around the door of the Chat. “It’s like my body’s developed this massive drug deficiency.” It was a Sprawl voice and a Sprawl joke. The Chatsubo was a bar for professional expatriates; you could drink there for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.

Ratz was tending bar, his prosthetic arm jerking monotonously as he filled a tray of glasses with draft Kirin. He saw Case and smiled, his teeth a webwork of East European steel and brown decay. Case found a place at the bar, between the unlikely tan on one of Lonny Zone’s whores and the crisp naval uniform of a tall African whose cheekbones were ridged with precise rows of tribal scars. “Wage was in here early, with two joeboys,” Ratz said, shoving a draft across the bar with his good hand. “Maybe some business with you, Case?”

Case shrugged. The girl to his right giggled and nudged him.

The bartender’s smile widened. His ugliness was the stuff of legend. In an age of affordable beauty, there was something heraldic about his lack of it.

3

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Oft-parodied. Oft-imitated. Often-celebrated. Does it get better than this?

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn’t have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the vizor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. he didn’t seem to be really trying.

2

Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Why bother saying anything here?

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

1

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This planet has—or rather had—a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.

REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Opening Lines

Today is turning out to be a bad day for me to post things, but I’ve been inspired by Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub’s thread on Twitter to revisit this post (and a similar one). So, why not repost it while I consider revising the list? From wayyyyyy back in 2020.



I love a good opening line. A solid opening paragraph or page is great, but an opening line that sells you on the next 200-500 pages? Magic. When I saw this list topic listed, these 5 jumped to mind—they may not be the best I’ve ever read, but they’re the most memorable.

(I tried, tried, tried to limit myself to the opening line, but I failed on a couple of them, couldn’t help myself.)

5 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

I remember in our English class in High School when we were assigned this book, pretty much no one was interested. When Mr. Russo passed out the paperbacks, a few of us flipped it opened and read these first words—and suddenly we were open to the idea (didn’t last long for all of us, but that’s beside the point, we’re focused on the opening lines here). It’s stuck with me for almost 30 years, that’s gotta say something.

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….

4
Neuromancer by William Gibson

This sentence was love at first glance for me. Still love it. Naturally, no one knows what color this is referring to anymore.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

3
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Oft-parodied. Oft-imitated. Often-celebrated. Does it get better than this?

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

2
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Why bother saying anything here?

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

1
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I’ll go on and on about this book next week, so I’ll just keep my trap shut here. But man…there was something about these lines that got into my blood.

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This Is Who We Are Now by James Bailey: One Corvette Short of a Textbook Mid-Life Crisis

Cover of This Is Who We Are Now by James BaileyThis Is Who We Are Now

by James Bailey

DETAILS:
Publication Date: October 23, 2023
Format: eBook
Length: 240 pg.
Read Date: July 23-24, 2024

“Sorry.”

“For what?” Her honey brown eyes are equal parts amused and curious when she looks up into mine.

I don’t have an answer. Sorry is just a word you say when you have nothing substantive to offer. I’m sorry you missed your bus. I’m sorry your boss was in such a foul mood. I’m sorry everyone is such assholes these days. I didn’t cause any of these problems, and I can’t make any of them better, but I can offer you some useless empathy. I’m sorry your life didn’t turn out to be more fulfilling. Rest assured, however, in a parallel universe in which we didn’t break up, you’re happier. Maybe. And I’m sorry if you’re not. Or at least the parallel me is. He’s the one that let you down there.

What’s This Is Who We Are Now About?

Henry drags his wife and sons to his parents’ house for a few days. One son doesn’t want to leave his girlfriend behind, his wife is trying to finish organizing a charity activity that takes place while they’re away, and Henry really doesn’t want to be there because his family will be celebrating Henry’s 50th birthday.

When they arrive, his parents are having a yard sale, selling a lot of memorabilia from Henry’s childhood and he’s upset by that. A rivalry with his brother reheats, and he keeps running into his incredibly serious high school/college girlfriend.

Things go bad with his wife, his brother, his parents, and his kids. Henry repeatedly tries—and sometimes succeeds—to keep their connection alive. But the challenges (many self-created) continue. Can Henry make it through the visit with his family intact? Is it too late to come-of-age when you’ve hit 50?

So, what did I think about This Is Who We Are Now?

I can defend everything I’ve done since we arrived. Even the worst of Denise’s complaints, in isolation, would be waved away by most objective observers. Collectively, however, maybe it’s not a body of work to stake a flag in. Maybe the picture when all the dots are connected isn’t a flattering one.

I have struggled with this post—especially because I’ve had to write it in bits and pieces over a couple of weeks, which I do often enough that’s not the issue. But I keep changing my mind about the book every time I write—which leads to a lot of editing, re-editing, re-re-editing, and I just give up and walk away.

Even when Henry was making it really easy not to like him (which was often), there’s something very charming, very effortless, and pretty entertaining about this book. His moments with his sons would largely make you wonder why his family is in such a precarious state—then you remember he doesn’t have/make/take the time when they’re at home to be this kind of dad. Then there’s everything he says to, reacts to, or treats Denise…it’s just painful.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about Henry’s sister, Margo, on the other hand. Her strengths, her bad decisions, and how she reacts to them are easily the saving grace of the novel.

I enjoyed this novel while reading it. But I haven’t been able to decide what I think about almost any part of it that doesn’t involve Margo or Henry’s kids. I think that says something about how realistic Henry, Denise, and their problems and family are. But I don’t know how real I want a book like this to be.

I like Bailey’s writing, I think he’s amusing enough when he wants to be, he gets you invested in his characters, and I wanted to like this a lot. But at the end of this day, I like it just enough to recommend it (most days, other days I could like it a lot more or a lot less).


3 Stars

20 Books of Summer

Cover Reveal: A Dress to Kill For by Tessa Hastjarjanto

I’m very pleased today to welcome the Cover Reveal for Tessa Hastjarjanto’s short story A Dress to Kill For to this patch o’ cyberspace this morning! Before the main event, let’s learn a little bit about the story and author, shall we? It’ll just take a moment, and then we can all take a peak at the cover.

Book Details:

Book Title: A Dress to Kill For by Tessa Hastjarjanto
Genre: Horror, historical
Length: 4k words, (21+/- pages)
Release Date: September 30, 2024
Content warnings: Occultism/demons, murder, physical violence (stabbing), ableism, physical permanent injury, chronic pain

About the Story:

How much are you willing to sacrifice to gain everything you ever wanted?

Lady Claire Rosewood lives on the fringes of society, pitied by the people she used to call her friends, and her husband is no longer the suave businessman he once was. Frustrated with both her status and her marriage, she longs for more.

When an opportunity presents itself that allows her not only to be part of higher society, but to mingle with the elite, she needs to make a choice. Every rise to the top comes at a cost, but is she ready to pay with blood?

A Dress to Kill For is a horror short story, perfect for those who love The Picture of Dorian Gray and Crimson Peak.

Links:

Universal Book Link ~ Goodreads
Newsletter subscribers receive their free copy on September 28th. Signup is on her author site www.tessahastjarjanto.com

About the Author:

Tessa Hastjarjanto is a Dutch/Indonesian writer from the Netherlands. She writes speculative fiction, and blogs at narratess.com about books, fountain pens, and writing.

From a young age, she imitated popular stories and games in creating her own worlds. This love eventually led to a master’s degree in media and game studies at the University of Utrecht. However a mundane desk job was enough to inspire her to follow her creative passion. The first fanfics were written in lunch breaks and soon original fiction followed.

With the support of her husband, she now focuses on her writing career while battling chronic pain. Swiss white shepherd, Shiro, acts as a therapy dog to keep her healthy and reduce stress through extensive cuddle sessions.

Author Links:

Website ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Book Bub ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads>

and now…

The Cover

If you’re in the mood for this dramatic reveal in a video, click here (I can’t get it to display here for some reason). Otherwise, scroll down a little further…

cover for A Dress to Kill for by Tessa Hastjarjanto Woman with dark red hair wears a Victorian evening gown made form black satin. The bottom of the skirt is blood red, forming a gradient towards the black. She stands with her back towards the camera and holds open the red velvet curtains, walking through them. Shadows surround the whole image. There's red text at the top, Tessa Hastjarjanto (author), and next to the woman, on the shadowed curtain, A Dress to Kill For.

That’s a good level of creepy for this time of year and this type of story, right? Cover designer: Tessa Hastjarjanto; Cover art: Feastock/Depositphoto
Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Saint the Terrifying by Joshua Mohr and Release Day for “Size Queens” by Slummy

I’m very pleased today to share this spotlight for Joshua Mohr’s upcoming release, Saint the Terrifying, and also, it’s the release day of the single “Size Queens” by Slummy. Why, you ask, do I mention both of these? Great question. The materials I received put it this way:

Author Joshua Mohr spent his formative years in the East Bay punk scene playing in various bands. Now with eight books under his belt, Mohr was offered a combined book and record deal through Los Angeles presses Unnamed Press and Rare Bird. The book is the first in a trilogy, entitled Saint the Terrifying (Unnamed Press, 2024), and is based on a character named Saint, an East Bay punk musician with Viking roots. Saint’s band is called Slummy, so that is the name that Mohr recorded under for the EP entitled The Wrong Side (Rare Bird, 2024), which will be pressed to vinyl and out on the same release day as the book, October 22nd, 2024. Mohr recorded at Grandma’s Warehouse in LA with local band Movie Club backing him up for the songs he wrote as his own fictional character.

So let’s talk about them both.

Book Details:

Title: Saint the Terrifying
Genre: General Fiction
Format: e-Book/Paperback
Length: 290 pages
Publisher: Unnamed Press
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Cover to Saint the Terrifying by Joshua Mohr

About the Book:

In the first installment of Joshua Mohr’s Viking Punk saga, a West Oakland musician acquires a new name and new calling. Chasing down a gang of thieves, Saint the Terrifying turns a gritty urban detective story into the stuff of legend.

Saint’s an ex-con still coming to terms with his origin story.

Raised in the wilds of Norway by an artisan father famed for his glass-blown birds, Saint trained daily in ancient Norse martial arts with a bear as his sparring partner. One day, his father makes a critical mistake, forcing Saint to leave his home forever, and move to San Francisco.

Years later and fresh out of prison, Saint finds himself immersed in the Oakland punk music scene. On stage, he’s struggling to find his identity as a guitar player in a mediocre band. Off stage, his uniquely Norse skillset suddenly turns Saint into a one-eyed punk gumshoe after sinister thieves start targeting local bands’ gear. But it is only when Saint meets Trick Wilma, the powerhouse lead singer of another (better) band, that he begins to see the glimmer of salvation in her eyes.

Propelled by a broken Baroque of punk language, Saint the Terrifying examines tensions between community and individual identity, social activism and vigilantism, while taking the reader on a roller coaster ride of hard-boiled twists and hardcore music. Saint is the badass protagonist that answers the question: What if Johnny Rotten had a baby with The Rock?

Book Links:

Unnamed Press ~ Bookshop.org ~Author’s Website

Music Details:

Album: The Wrong Side
Single: Size Queens
Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Cover for The Wrong Side by Slummy

About the Music:

“I didn’t really write these songs,” says Mohr. “The main character in my book did. I captured his sound, his riffs, and his lyrics to really feel the demented whimsy in his soul. So did the book lead me to his music, or was it the music that allowed me to write his trilogy of novels? That’s the magic of Saint. He’s a galaxy.”

“Size Queens” is out Sept. 13th and will be the only single off The Wrong Side. The music video is a mini action short film starring a punk squatter couple who are being stalked by an insane clown cop. The video is directed by writer/musician Jessamyn Violet and features an all-musician cast including Eva Gardner of P!NK and Mars Volta, and Fox Deluxx of local LA punk band Pez Heads.

Links:

Promo the EP ~ Signed First Edition Book + Limited Edition Blue Vinyl

“Size Queens” Video

About the Author:

Joshua MohrJoshua Mohr is the author of several books, including Damascus, which The New York Times called “Beat-poet cool.” He’s also written Some Things that Meant the World to Me, one of O Magazine’s 10 Terrific reads of 2009, and he’s won the Northern California Book Award twice. Termite Parade was an editors’ choice on the New York Times Best Seller List. His latest project is a trilogy of novels all to be published in one calendar year, starting with SAINT THE TERRIFYING in fall ‘24. In his Hollywood life, he’s sold projects to AMC, ITV, and Amblin Entertainment.

Author Links:

Website ~ Instagram


My thanks to Katz Domino of Junkfood Media for the invitation to post this and for the materials they provided.
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