Beth Tabler

“It was like trying to play chess in a pitch-dark room, where you had to determine your opponent's moves by sense of smell alone. And you had a cold. And your opponent was God.”
― Charles Soule, The Oracle Year

How can 108 predictions destroy the world? In a wildly exciting and entertaining way. The real question is whether that world can be born anew from the ashes?

The Oracle Year is the story of Will Dando, struggling bassist and all around regular guy who happens upon 108 prophecies. He received in a dream. With the help of his Best friend Hamza, they create an anonymous website and release the prophesies slowly to the world, allowing each of them time to come true. What happens, is what always happens in a story when someone has ultimate power. The real forces in the world want that power and will do everything to get it back. It's a fascinating thought experiment. What would you do if you knew what was going to happen? Would you try to make money? Would you try to save the world, or would you decide to change the world? Soule does an excellent job of making Will into a real character with real decisions and choices. Will isn't brilliant, he's a dude who likes music, and as the story progresses, Will's personality changes and makes choices that the reader won't see coming. As does the side characters Hamza and Miko. Characters grow and change, and it is well done. As much as I enjoyed Will, I think in most of the scenes where Hamza played Will's foil, Hamza stole the show. Hamza is both Honda is both clever and intelligent in ways Will is not, and I enjoyed the pairing of these two.

“None of us are meant for anything, and none of us are meant for nothing. Life is chaos, but it's also an opportunity, risk, and how you manage them.”
― Charles Soule, The Oracle Year

I know that Comic fans of Soules previous work in Star Wars and Red Devil will enjoy the style in which this story is written. It's a very approachable book. It's exciting, interesting, and sophisticated and I very much enjoyed it. Even though it started a little bit slow the narrative style and the dialogue style picked up and became thrilling. Although there are familiar tropes sprinkled throughout the story it still is a very original concept I think that anybody who checks it out will enjoy it. I am glad I picked this story up on a lark and gave it a chance, and I hope you will too.

You have seen this expression, “Harry Potter for adults” all over the place in marketing books. I know right off the Lev Grossman's The Magicians has certainly been marketed that way. It is a much closer approximation to the Harry Potter universe than this story is, but you get a general idea. Lots of books for adults want to capture the kind of magic that Harry Potter battling evil unbeknownst to muggles captures for kids. This is one of those books that loosely attempts at this.

The premise of the story is there are five families of magicians who protect the world. This isn't staged magic, although some of the members of the families make their bread and butter by doing tricks. This is real magic. They use their skills to protect humanity from the dark and more nefarious arts and those who would take advantage of humanity. Good and evil families battle for power. In the middle of the battle for power is a highly dysfunctional family, The Moonstones.

Things fall apart as members of the families get assassinated one by one, till the center cannot hold. The narrative and pacing of the story are pretty flat, you know what is going to happen from the second page. However, the assassination scenes are very creative and interesting. Where this story shines is Coipel's artwork. It is stellar. Gorgeous. It brings flat scenes up to par and makes them jump off of the page.

If you like comics with a magic bend to them, this isn't bad.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this in exchange for my open and honest review.

K Chess's debut novel, “Famous Men Who Never Lived” is a diverse blend of different science fiction, sociological, and psychological ideas. It is a profoundly cerebral collection of ideas of who we are, and how do we go on after facing the loss of an entire timeline. The premise is what if a whole group of UDP (universally displaced persons) fled their failing and dying timeline and came into ours and how survivors of that would fare in our new world. The UDP's each have a different history both large and small, and even though they have gone through an intensive reintegration program to adapt to the new timeline, they still remain a curiosity to some and a focus of outright hostility and prejudice for others.

The narrative follows a few different people as they surf the woes and difficulties adapting to living in a new timeline — specifically those of Hel and Vikram. Vikram's favorite author in the old timeline was a man named Sleight. Vikram managed to bring one of Sleight's books with him, a book that was never written in this timeline due to Sleight dying at a young age. Hel feels like there is something strange about Sleight and how he somehow caused the divergence between the two timelines and Vikram and Hel decide to figure out what that is.

“Famous Men Who Never Lived” is marketed as a science fiction novel; however, I felt it was more a character study based on a science fiction premise. Those looking for a heavy parallel universe novel should look elsewhere as the parallel universe premise is a means of talking about the effects of displacement for people. The writing is well done, the characters are well-formed and interesting, especially for a debut novel but I felt that the story did not know precisely what it wanted to be and that led to it feeling choppy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my open and honest review.

Life is so much more than the struggle because what is the struggle if you can never stop and enjoy a sunset. I think that the ability to stop and be present is one of the best parts of The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele. It warms and delights in small beautiful moments. Life has crumbled as they know it. It could be many things, was it global warming that stopped the world, or was it pollution? Was it the flu? We never really know as readers. Because honestly, “the why” is not the most important thing. The most important thing is how we go on as people.

Sometimes I am sick of the dark despair that permeates apocalyptical novels. I know it's the apocalypse. It is supposed to suck. I know this as a reader and a regular person. Having a massive upheaval in one's life, uncertainty, and the real thought that maybe it will never go back to the way it was is terrifying. And right now, those thoughts are getting closer and closer to being prophetic.

But I need to remember that that is not all there is.

And for everything that The Lightest Object in the Universe is: a love story, a story of friendship, and a tale of survival, Eisele nails that even in the darkest times, there is hope; there is community, there is more than scary things. The Lightest Object in the Universe celebrates and calls attention to small moments that give you the reason that you fight tooth and nail to survive.

“The speed of this collapse astounds me,” she writes to Carson before “the darkness” wipes out the internet. “I guess I, too, believed in some kind of American exceptionalism, though I resented it enough to think I could destroy it. Now, look. Maybe we did.”―

Kimi Eisele, The Lightest Object in the Universe
The story follows two characters: a widower named Carson Waller, a high school history teacher on the East Coast, and Beatrix Banks, an activist on the West Coast. They meet, and there is magic between them a certain something. But before they get to figure out what that magic is fully, the lights turn out. In the last communique between them, Carson tells her, “If for some reason everything implodes and the shit really hits the fan, and we can no longer send words or speak to each other, I'll come find you.”

Carson sets his focus on Beatrix. It gives him hope in the face of having lost everything. Maybe she is more imagined and magical than who she is in life, but she is a connection to all that was lost and all that could be.

Carson begins his long epic trek through the wastelands of what was the United States. While walking, and as any historian would, he records the moments and experiences he has while he trudges through a broken America. He writes these down in a journal, and that journal becomes almost totemic. Beatrix, however, hunkers down and works with her neighbors in creating a small community. They band together to learn about chickens, bikes, home remedies, and their own experiences.



Narrative Structure
The book is written as a dual narrative; Carson's ambulatory experiences juxtaposed against Beatrix's stationary ones. While they are so different, it is easy to see the compatibility of these two characters. It isn't gushy over overly saccharin. It is a love story like two crashing waves heading for each other: one from the east and one from the West.

The book's entire experience is the anticipation of the moment when circumstances allow these two lovers to meet. Does it happen? That is not for me to tell you, but for you to discover yourself because it is a twisted and windy path that Eisele lays before them fraught with death, love, starvation, and the indelible human spirit and when faced with so many unknowns, no one can know what will happen.

Protagonists Vs. Antagonists
Each of the two main character's deal with antagonists. In Carson's case, it is the world at large and the pervasive hunger that he faces. He is given moment after moment to stray from his path. So for him, his struggles are “man vs. himself.” This trek is a monumental task he is facing, even in the best of circumstances. In Beatrix's case, she is faced with a boogie man of sorts. A Preacher on the radio named Jonathan Blue. A voice who tells you that all your troubles will disappear if only you give yourself over to him. It is alluring and seductive. His voice wafts through her small community as the pied piper but heard on the radio. It underminds everything that Beatrix is trying to do with her small community.

Should You Read This?
Is this book for everyone? Probably not. In some ways, it's descriptions of the beauties and quietudes of life after the apocalypse will seem mundane and, at the worst, naive to some readers. But for some, like myself, in a constant state of anxiety because the world I found this book beautiful. It reminds you to take a look at the beauty on a micro-scale, instead of getting swallowed by how massive a societal collapse is. It isn't grandiose or expansive, and it reminds me much of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. But The Lightest Object in the Universe is pleasant, romantic, lovely, and I think most importantly right now uplifting. Because dreams are worth chasing, after all, isn't that the whole point in living? Those dreams exist and should be fought for, even if the dream is another person that shines like a beacon of light through the vastness of the dark two thousand miles away.

I felt good after reading this, and I hope you will too.

If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my site at www.beforewegoblog.com

I received an eARC of this novel from Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for my open and honest review.

“Rhen Tellus opened it simply to see if she could scrape off the ink and derive which substances it's been created from. Using her father's strangely fashioned microscope. Which is how she discovered that this time the lettering was created from two types of resin, a binding paste, gold flecks, and a drop of something that smelled quite remarkably like magic.”

To Best the Boys is a lot of great and grand things. It is surprising, exciting, sad, bittersweet, and most of all remarkable. Mary Weber wrote a noteworthy book. It is a YA dipped in light fantasy without coming off as silly or unsophisticated, a rare feat nowadays. I cheered Rhen, she is a hero that young and teenage girls can look up to. Who says that women can't be excellent at science and math? Who says they can't look at dead bodies and not squeal. Rhen can! Rhen is the person capable of doing the saving, and if you listen to her, respect her opinion, she might help you out along the way and be your savior instead.

Rhen is a woman in her late teens trapped in her families financial situation. They dare to be working class people. Rhen's parents, her mother born an Upper and her father born a lesser, fell in love and married against her mother's families wishes. Rhen's family has been shunned by her mother's side her entire life. But, in a city built on familial connections, Rhen has been associating with her Aunt and cousin Seleni most of her life. In a bid to help her out of the Lesser social class. Rhen is a bit of a prodigy in math and sciences, and along with her father work tirelessly to find a cure to whatever is ailing the poorer classes in her port town. Those affected include Rhen's mother. Here is the impetus of the story. Rhen must work tirelessly to find a cure, but Rhen is a woman and therefore not worthy of having her opinions heard. She is stuck in a catch-22 unless she can change the social equation. Each year a wealthy aristocrat and inventor holds a contest of magical and mathematical tests.

“All gentlepersons of university age (respectively seventeen to nineteen) are cordially invited to test for the esteemed annual scholarship given by Mr. Holm toward one full-ride fellowship at Stemwick Men's University. Aptitude contenders will appear at nine o'clock in front of Holm's Castle entrance above the seaside town of Pinsbury Port on the evening of 22 September, during the festival of the Autumnal Equinox.”

If Rhen can win the tests, she can gain access to the education that is necessary to help her friends, family, and people of Pinsbury Port fight off this spreading disease. She has the need and drive to succeed in this. What she faces as a contestant is fantastical creatures, science, math, and logic puzzles. As well as other contestants conspiring against her. You know she can do this, but Weber affectively amps up the suspense of the story until the reader is on proverbial pins and needles.

How does this story mimic our world today?

Although we live in a reasonably forward-thinking world, generally speaking, little girls face the same challenges of sexism when it comes to STEM(science, technology, engineering, math). Woman are still considered too illogical by some to be analytical enough to be a scientist. There are still real sociological and environmental barriers that girls need to overcome to become immersed in STEM. This story echoes that. Rhen is a woman continually being told that she does not have the mind and attitude for male-dominated STEM subjects.

Different men in Rhen's Life

A quality I appreciated in this story was how men were depicted. Men are just as varied in personality, intelligence and spirit as women are. The author could have gone the route of stereotyping the male characters, but she didn't. There was no type-casting for characters. Each of the players in this story has an individual mind and personality that mimics the variances in actual culture.

Political opinions and class warfare

Rhen comes from a poorer class, and although it is a peripheral plot point, Rhen's working-class neighbors and friends have to deal with out of touch upper-class people thinking they know what is best for them. Those decisions cause a significant calamity for the working middle class and poor people of this village. It is an important vignette that mirrors political and social change taking place in our world even as we speak.

What I did not like
There is very little not to like with this story. My only slight complaint was that I felt like maybe there were one too many ideas in the plot. The plotline with the town's fisherman seemed just a little much. Maybe that plotline would have been better seen in book 2.

Should you read this?
Absolutely. I cannot stress this enough, I loved this book. It is exceptionally well written, the plot is interesting, the characters are cheer-worthy. The message is one that can resonate with young girls, and when you get to the end, the reader feels empowered. You want to do better in your life and for those around you after reading this book.

Quotes taken from eARC are subject to change upon publishing.

Superheroes can be complex characters, and none more so than dr. Fid in Fid's Crusade by David H. Reiss. Gone are the days of herculean knights swooping in to save the damsel in distress while simultaneously grinning at the camera with a twinkle on a tooth. Readers are asking more of their characters. It is not enough to be super anymore; we want super and complex—no small feat. It is this desire for more is why Fid's Crusade is such a successful story; Fid is an incredibly intricate villainous superhero.

Fid's Crusade is the story of a master villain and his endless quest to punish the unworthy. Who the real villains of the story change and develop as the narrative progresses. In that, it reminds me of Garth Ennis's The Boys. None of that is why you would read the book. The plot in itself is interesting, but not why I kept turning pages. Fid and the roundness of his character was why I did. Essentially, Fid is a man with the temperament, intelligence, and moral compass to punish those who deserve it. And when I say punish, I mean that if Fid finds you wanting, he will rain unholy hellfire upon you, destroy everything you hold dear in life, and walk away feeling as if he did an adequate job. I appreciate the thoroughness of his villainy.

In comparison, this could have been a flat story. Reiss could have borrowed from “Batman” and Tony Stark's cultural mythos and created an amalgamation of characters who just happened to fall on the dark side. That would have been lazy writing. What he did do was give us a broken man, wracked with pain and emotional trauma, fighting to make things right, and he gave us a character to empathize with and understand why he did horrible things. Essentially, David Reiss gave us an anti-hero who is morally gray in the form of a superhero book.

“In the end, it may take a villain to save the world from those entrusted with the world's protection”

Fid's Crusade by David H Reiss was the 2018 Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize winner. In an interview regarding why he tackled an antagonist, the author David Reiss said, “I read John Gardner's Grendel when I was young. That's a deep dive into the mind of the beast from Beowulf. Ever since then I've wondered what the antagonist was thinking throughout a story whenever I saw what the hero was doing. In superhero stories, the villains are more proactive. The heroes all react. The villain's robbing a bank, so the heroes run to save the day. But the villain's the guy that has to start things rolling. I was trying to approach the genre from what initiates conflict.” While all that is very true. Approaching a story from a villain's perspective because the villain's actions are the catalyst for plot movement is different. However, all I could think of having finished Fid's Crusade was “Every fairy tale needs a good old fashioned villain.”

The action scenes are intense in this story. They usually involve technical jargon about Fid's suit, weapons, and bloody battles with the “good” heroes. At the beginning of the story, this is overwhelming. We start the story right in the middle of a fight; Dr. Fid wields his weapons and intellect like a cudgel against his opponents. I wasn't sure what I was in for from the first chapter. But as the story progresses and we get into Fid's backstory, it becomes a much more engaging read. Instead of the technical jargon and fight scenes being the story's meat, they become details that help us understand Fid's intellect.

I want to be very clear; Reiss did not write this story with any pretense that the reader will like Fid. I wouldn't say I like Fid as a person. Some of the things he does are horrifying. But that isn't important. What is important is I loved reading about him as he is morally gray and complicated. I empathized with his journey, and I understood the foundations of his villainy. Even when he starts moving away from his violent tendencies and finds some peace, and yet again is faced with a personal tragedy that sends him reeling to the dark side, I got it. When a reader can empathize and understand a character like that, it is good engaging writing.

Fid's Crusade is a complicated story to explain pacing wise. Reiss takes a long time with nuanced writing to explain Dr. Fids backstory. It is smart in that it would be very easy for a reader to fall into a trap of not liking Fid and not empathizing with his plights. However, because of the nuanced writing and the time Reiss took to create a clear mental picture of Fid as a villain, I didn't have that issue. But, because of the long buildup for Fid, I found the novel slowing down a bit. All of the detailing Reiss was putting in was important, but I can see some readers feeling like that section of the story is overlong. I think how you react to the first section of the book will come down to personal preference. It all becomes seamless as plot and character creation come slamming together, but it is a meandering path.

Fid's Crusade stands heads above its superhero novel contemporaries. While some readers may have difficulty with Reiss's meandering path to the plot denouement, I found that it was all worth it. Fid's Crusade is a great story, well worth the time reading it.

I am looking forward to checking out the other books in the series.

It has been so long that I can barely remember the fine details of this story, but I just want you to know that as a child I lived and breathed this story. I remember the beautiful purple cover that I got from a scholastic book fair, the way the pages smelled and the adventure that was kept inside. I remember that I loved this story, the princess, and Phantasmagoria. I know that when my child is old enough I am going to buy her a copy of this so that she can carry it around everywhere with her as I did. It was a magical book then, and a five star read for a little girl with a blossoming love of reading.

Docile is a swirling vortex of abuse, non-consensual sex, and money. It is an uncomfortable read that has left me dumbfounded. This isn't a romance, although I have seen it touted that way. It isn't a BDSM story because nowhere in this story is the most important aspect of BDSM, and that is the ability to say no. Yes, Elisha is given a safeword, but when your future and your family's future is swirled up in your ability to give over a choice, it isn't BDSM; it is coercion. 

This is an uncomfortable story that has left a bad taste in my mouth and a raw and worn spot on my soul. 

Docile is the story of a young man named Elisha. Elisha is the oldest son in a family of debtors. As a means to save his family from debtors prison, Elisha agrees to enter the debt cancelation program where he signs over a certain amount of life in the service to his patron. This patron, in turn, pays off the agreed-upon debt. The catch is that in this indentured servitude, the debtor takes a drug that removes all of their ability to make choices or desire to care. The patron has full control of every aspect of their property. This can include sexual abuse. It is a part date rape drug/heavy duty benzodiazepine that the debtee takes every day during term. The quirk of this particular story is that Elisha refuses the medication, which is one of the few rights afforded to people entering this program. This is based on his experience with his mother Abigail becoming stunted and mentally broken as an aftereffect of the drug. 

As their relationship progresses the lines of control blend. Alex exercises his ability to inflict punishment for infractions, even if they are minor. And, Elisha begins to lose his ability to see beyond his master, Alex. Love is spoken about. But can you love someone who has given up their free will, and conversely love someone who has taken it?

This story is told from the perspective of two points of view, Elisha, the debtee, and Alex Bishop, his patron. This story is touted as a dystopian queer romance? I had a difficult time suspending disbelief that any of this was palatable or even possible. Elisha is such a meek and timid character in the first place; it didn't seem like much of a stretch that he was brainwashed into a permanent sub position. Alex was a much more believable character, but again I had a difficult time stomaching his point of view. I could not get past the graphic sex scenes set in the context of a lack of consent. Alex is never mean to Elisha, but Elisha cannot say no. Thus no matter how you dress up the novel in love and pretty words, it is still a lack of consent and was not a pleasant read for me.

However, uncomfortable or not, this story is well written and achieves its goals. I think of it much like A Clockwork Orange. Hard as hell to read and uncomfortable, I won't be rereading it, but I can appreciate the detail and written skill it took to pull it together. 

I can understand it, but I do not like it. 

There is always one thing that you can depend on in life and reading. You can depend on the sun rising and you can depend on Anne Bishop writing a beautiful book. Every single time I have ever read a book of hers whether it is of the jewels line or the Others series they have never They are not always perfect. But in the end, I have loved them and loved what few imperfections they ended up having. The writing ends up flowing like prose. The world-building is so well done that you can almost see the rain falling on the blades of grass in the courtyard in The Others. You can feel the goosebumps travel your skin from hearing the Arwood. Not many authors can do that. It takes a steady hand and the ability to push and pull details, to add just enough here, and pull just enough there to get things just right and she is a master at it. And once again he did not disappoint. Wild Country was a high and delicious delight.

It was a delight that I so desperately needed. I have been fighting illness last month. It was able to take me from my misery and pull me into the world I have become so fond of and again immerse me in a fast-paced story with new characters that almost seem comfortable to me.

Speaking of characters. Something that Anne Bishop does, that I know of no other author that is doing is to not humanize or anthropomorphize werewolves, vampires, or any other lupine type creature. They are not human and will never be human. They are others and will always be. It adds a dividing line through the novel that I respect and admire. They can be friends as much as their species can come to understand each other, they can be lovers, as much as their species can allow. But they can not me mates, fall in love, or anything else. That can not be. It is a refreshing take on a somewhat tired out genre. Also, Anne shows how dangerous humans are. We are just dangerous in other ways. in much more dangerous and devious ways. Less respectable ways. It is in good balance with the rest of the novel.

The pacing was fantastic. Each section moved the story moved with each section have a specific purpose to the plot that added a noteworthy element to the plot. Not a word was wasted.

If you like stories that have werewolves, vampires, and creatures of others but are not stupid. No sparkle here folks. Just fantastic and interesting writing, about a town on the frontier trying to get started dealing with brigands and horse thievery, vagrants, and the like. This is the story for you.

I can not give this high enough praise another fabulous story out of Anne Bishop!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this to me in exchange for my open and honest review.

First off, I want to say that Richard Kadrey is the man and hands down one of my favorite authors. The Sandman Slim saga is a story that has made me cheer for the dark antihero, the fallible Slim. It is dark and twisted, and in my opinion, one of the perfect urban fantasy series out there. It has it all, which is why I did backflips when I got approved. The Grand Dark was my most anticipated release of this year so far. That is why it pains me to DNF this at 50%.

The Grand Dark is not a bad book in any stretch of the word. Kadrey is a master worldbuilder. The world he creates here is rich, lusty, and dark. It has vice and wonder, with just a tinge of steampunk. The pervasive drug use and the bisection of classes add a very interesting visual to an already cool world. What made me stop was the pacing. The pacing is slow, plodding. At times it is so slow that I can't find a plot amidst the rich language and description. The intercuts of the story between chapters would have added a great backstory to a faster-paced book, but in this book, it turns things into a slog. I stopped reading it because I was not the right reader for this type of storytelling, but the correct reader is out there. If you like languid storytelling very much in the vein of Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, this is a good fit for you.

If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my page on beforewegoblog.com

The Wall by John Lanchester (author of numerous books - both non-fiction and fictions works) touches on familiar themes found in dystopia and speculative fiction: propaganda, militarism, the concept of “the other,” and isolationism. Lanchester tackles the results of severe climate change and flooding and the isolation of a large island by 10k miles of wall. In this future dystopia, large scale flooding has diminished useable land to the point this country felt that it had to build a giant wall encircling their island. It creates a “haves” and “have not” scenario. Those inside the circumference of the island are blessed and deserved of their circumstance, while those outside the wall are not. There is something inherently wrong with the outsiders. They should be demonized and destroyed. You see echos of this in the real world with countries isolationism and migrant issues. Lanchester took those issues and turned it up to 11.

A defender writes this story. Defenders are citizens that have been conscripted to perform two years of service on the wall. They need to watch and stand at attention and kill any who attempt to cross the wall into the promised land of the island. The cost of failure is the deportation off the island into the water. Either you defend, or you most likely die in the water. It is very stark black and white logic, and I think that is where this story lost me. The philosophy and actions were so polarizing that it threw me out of the story. Life is not as black and white as it is depicted in The Wall; it is full of subtleties of grays. People have more thoughts and values that “those people are bad,” and “I am good.” I know it was a conscious choice by the author to depict humanity that way, but for me, as a reader, I found it offputting.

The world-building is well done. The descriptions of the wall and society are clear and easy to visualize. The constant state of fear that is drilled into defenders is scary. You are on a knifes edge most of the novel wondering what is going to happen. The needs of the wall are relentless.

At the end of the story, I wonder, “why?” What was the author trying to tell me, it wasn't clear. The story ended with a Deus ex machinea that came out of leftfield. Again, “why?” Why did the characters do what they did? Overall the story was interesting, but it left me feeling uneasy and off-put. Maybe that was what the author was going for, but it left me unsettled.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

This anthology is a who's who in current science fiction and fantasy writing. The stories are varied and all well written with various takes on the future of American culture and society. There are stories about everything from a book store that stands firmly on the dividing line between The United States and the country of California, to one about a world where contraception is outlawed, and feminists are considered terrorists. Even amid the various stories, there seems to be a thread of hope: hope for a better future, a dream of escape from the horrible now, hope at love, or a world that understands us. That is important in a collection such as this because without hope a collection of stories about the vagaries of the human condition could be depressing. This book isn't. Standout must-reads for this collection are “The Book Store at the End of America” by Charlie Jane Anders. A story about what divides us can ultimately bring us together and “The Synapse will Free Us From Ourselves” by Violet Allen. Allen's story is about high tech gay conversion therapy. It is sad, scary, and poignant. Check out this collection, you will be happy you did.

On the surface, Jason Pargin's Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia could be written off as another semi-futuristic funny dystopia. It certainly seems as if his book doesn't take itself too seriously. However, what is unique about Jason Pargin's writing, I include the entire “Zoey Ashe” and “John Dies at the End” series, is that Pargin is a brilliant satirist. You should take his work seriously because his slicing, biting wit and take on today's politics and popular culture are interesting and often painfully accurate. He is in good company with Hunter S. Thompson, Catch 22, and “Transmetroplitan.” I could see him and Spider Jerusalem having a lot to say to each other right before Spider loses his shit and pulls out his Spider Jerusalem bowel disruptor on the annoying people in the restaurant.

As a side note - I would love to know if that gun got a nod in this novel in the form of an umbrella.

“That guy is a turd in my teeth.”
― Jason Pargin, Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia

Zoey is to Drunk for this Dystopia, is the third in the Zoey series following Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick. If you are unfamiliar with Pargin's work, the basic premise of the “Zoey Ashe” series is that Zoey is a reluctant and farcical heiress to a fortune built on dirty money. Her absent father, who recently passed, was a kingpin in Tabula Ra$a, and his fortune was left to a very ordinary Zoey, much to her surprise. All of a sudden, people are trying to kill her. She has a team that works to protect her, and her choices of what to do with her father's wealth have a massive impact on the people of Tabula Ra$a.

In this book, Tabula Ra$a is hosting its huge annual music festival in the desert, with history's most ridiculous mayoral election in the background. It is a battle of perceptions between the candidates. “As tensions ratchet tighter, Zoey realizes that this is a battle of narratives: Every culture needs a collective story to believe in, so it's just a matter of coming up with one and then carefully sculpting reality to make it fit. How hard can that be? They have the whole weekend.”

“Where you find demand, you find people willing to fill that demand.”
― Jason Pargin, Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia

Pargin touches on issues that impact everyday life—fronted by the absurd. For instance, Tabula Ra$a is a city in the middle of the Utah desert. The irony here is that Utah is one of the most conservative states, and Tabula Ra$a... isn't. Zoey's world is the excesses of anything goes, but she is shackled by what she can do by celebrity. Everything said and done is recorded and broadcast on various social networks. Everyone has an angle and an ache to get a finger in the Tabula Ra$a pie. The narrative of what is true and what is a lie is constantly changing and shaped by the viewers' perception—this becomes stochastic terrorism. Perceptions are wielded like a cudgel. Politics aside, stochastic terrorism is a very effective and prevalent threat used widely by both the media in general and media personalities in the real world, and it is matched to the absurd degree in Zoey's world.

The writing is thoroughly engaging. Party in the desert that sounds a lot like burning man to the nth degree, riots, stunts, drugs, sex, danger, action, buildings blowing up, angels set afire...there is a lot to digest here.
This book has some harrowing scenes, one with a fake sinking ship, one with an artificial meat product, and one with a moving drink machine.

It is strange even to put these words together, harrowing and synthetic meat products, but it is true.

Even with this being the third book in the series, it is still one of my best reads of the year. I enjoy the characters. Zoey is entertaining and a lot more complicated than you would initially think. As the series progresses, we learn more about Zoey's team, who they are, and where they come from.

I can't say more about the plot because I don't want to give it away, and even if I could, it is so unbelievable that it is hard to explain. Just trust me. Please don't miss this series! His novels are truly worth the read.

Humans can be many things. Saviors. Sinners. Hunters. Hunted. Monsters, or the divine. We are given ample opportunity to show our true colors during our lifetimes. Often our true colors are somewhere in the grey area as no one is any one thing. We are a collection of moments. Most writers often overlook the many faces of human nature. But great writers give a plurality to their characters. It may not be easy to understand who is good and evil without thinking about it, but isn't that real life? Mira Grant aka Seanan Mcguire is one of those great writers that celebrate the pluralism of morality in her characters, and this novella is an excellent example of this.

Dr. Izzy Gauley, the protagonist, is as morally gray as any character could be. She is distraught and caught in the guilt of her previous choices, and she must continually make ethically ambiguous decisions to further what she believes is the truly right thing. Those choices may or may not bring the entire proverbial glass house on top of herself. Much of the plot hinges on whether her choices in this story are wicked and self-serving or genuinely in the best interest of all are up to the reader. She is a good character. But, this is not surprising as Mira Grant tends to write real people.

Plot-wise, Grant has written a novella that is terrifying to a parent. What happens when herd immunity fails? The whole premise is based on a parent's worst nightmare, losing their children. Even worse is that it is through the parents own actions that global calamity happens. Although the delivery of the message regarding immunizations and the importance thereof is a bit ham-fisted at times, her point comes across. Vaccinations are essential and the backbone of a healthy society. What I liked about the plot is that it developed from, “How important immunizations are,” to a discussion on bodily autonomy. Do we sacrifice bodily freedom for the sake of a healthy society? This argument is a very real and prescient argument that could play out in the courts in the next upcoming years.

I hope to see this turn into a full-fledged series. There is enough meat on the bones of this novella to expand the characters and plot into a great story very much in the vein of the “Newsflesh” series.
I am so glad the Mira Grant is such a prolific author. I enjoy her work often and repeatedly. She is one of the few authors that seem to be just as good on a reread as it was initially. I can't tell you how many times I have read Newsflesh and October Daye. If you have an opportunity to check out this novella, I dearly hope you do.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

This is perfect gift for the intersection of people who love cats and fans of the movie. It is friggin adorable.

I have read a lot of Ellis over the years. Next to Gaiman he is my favorite graphic novelist and Frankly transmetropolitan is absolute genius. That being said this was just eh for me. His writing is always good, and graphically this is well done. So it isn't those things, but the story arc felt so flat. It felt flat and combat magician is kind of a thing in urban fantasy right now and sorry to say they did it better. Gravel reminds me of Dresden and John Constantine but without Dresden's heart or Constantine's swagger. I wanted to like gravel but he lacked the hook that made me empathize or understand him at all. He was a G.I Joe with magic. It's still a decent read. I don't think Ellis can put out anything terrible. He is like pizza, even when it's sorta bad it's still damn good. I just don't think it's one of his best. I'll continue with the serious the ideas and plot are very interesting. We shall see where it goes.

If you would like to read more of my reviews or various other bookish things, please come by my blog at https://beforewegoblog.com/

The ironic thing about the novella, Permafrost, is that in Permafrost, nothing is permanent. The name belies the content. The future, the past, and the present are all malleable constructs.

I haven't read any Alastair Reynolds books previously, although I am very familiar with his books. I have wanted to read Redemption Ark forever. If you are looking for sincere and hard science fiction, he is your man from what I hear. In Permafrost, Reynolds utilizes the much-overused time-travel trope. It would take an excellent writer with a fresh perspective to bring anything new to the time travel type novel. He does it here. Instead of being hackneyed, this story comes off fresh and exciting. I liked how he explained time as a stream; someone who travels the flow goes backward and forwards like swimming in a river. Where you are in a stream is always relative to other points. It is an excellent way to explain a difficult concept without a Deus ex Machina explanation.

In some ways, the story is a scary premise. The future, 2080, has been destroyed by a malignant virus type thing that systematically destroys all the insectile species on the planet. Insects are a keystone, so soon, other animal and plant systems start to collapse, and finally, the whole pyramid, with humans at the top, crumbles like Jenga. The WHO(World Health Organization) is the only government type organization still in existence. They have a shot of saving the future by going into the past. Now, this is a shortish story. There is not a lot of time for explanation. So it is bare-bones, and much of the time, Reynolds only gives the reader the barest glimpse of the history and backstory. Sometimes it is like trying to see things through a blizzard. It is just enough to provide a springboard for the imagination of the reader to take hold. Valentina Lidova, the main protagonist of the story, is a 71yr old daughter of the inventor of the science of time travel. It is her consciousness, along with a few others, which are sent back through the past to save the future. Protecting the future is not what you think it will be. It is a twisty story that grabs your heart, intelligence, and emotions and ties them in knots. Although that doesn't sound fun, it is.

This is an incredibly exciting novel and worth the time it takes to deep dive into this brilliant environmental dying Earth story.

“It is time to whip a God,” John Scalzi wrote in this Hugo Award-nominated novella, The God Engines. The God Engines, is a lot of things. Dark and cruel, fantasy, horror, and religion all blended in a twisted story of power from a writer customarily known for his charm and humor. But this, this is Scalzi out of his usual comfort zone. There is no charm or humor in this story. This is him reaching into the darker parts of his storytelling ability and bringing forth the cruel and worm filled and serving it on a silver platter.

“Captain Ean Tephe entered the god chamber, small lacquered, filigreed chest in hand. He found blood on the deck, an acolyte spurting one and lying shivering on the other, and a god prostrate in its iron circle, its chains shortened in the circle floor...The God giggled into the iron its mouth was mashed into and flicked its tongue over red lips.”

There is one true God in this land. One God, above all others. He is attended to by the Bishopry, much like a church of believers. This God is nameless, and all the other gods must be defiled and abased below him. So much so that their abasement, and suffering, power the Bishopry ships. The ships are fueled by faith. Because above all things, religion and belief are what give a God the highest power. Ean Tephe is the captain of the Righteous, one of the Bishopry's ships. His job is to control the God powering his ship and cower him.

“Tephe took the whip from the case, stood, and lashed hard into the God, the slivers of iron tearing into its flesh. The God screamed and kicked as far as its chain would allow. Godblood seeped from the gash.”

But Gods are growing bold, fleet-wide. They are attacking and lashing out at their captors and are not cowering in fear as they once did. Tephe is summoned to the council and told of the true God's plan on obtaining more faith. Faith can be found in the fires of a fresh convert.

You can see where the story is going.

Scalzi has crafted a story here that integrates faith and what religion is and how it is interpreted. Who is a god? Is a god one who has more power than another? Are humans Gods to ants? If you are looking at a deity, and consequently whipping them, what is faith then? It is an exciting thought. Maybe the “gods” are not gods, but other extraterrestrial beings, and this is a war for power, with humans as pawns. Scalzi touches on many of these in this tight novella. The plot moves at a brisk pace and keeps the reader engaged. I would have loved for this to have been written as a full novel, as backstory and dialog could be explored more. But as at stands, this is quite an engaging read. Well worth the nomination it received. It goes to show you that Scalzi is not a one-trick pony. He can write both the dark and light of fantasy.

I Kill Giants is one of those graphic novels that will speak to each person who reads it at least once in their lives. No one wants to take a direct look at pain and grief, especially when that pain is in the form of how a child sees the world. But, I Kill Giants tackles grief to show how imaginative children can be without ever dumbing down the content.
It is intense, and once you understand what is going sad and brilliant.

“All things that live, die. This is why you must find joy in the living, while the time is yours, and not fear the end. To deny this is to deny life. To fear this... is to fear life. But to embrace this... Can you embrace this?”

It starts with the protagonist fifth-grader Barbara and her disconnected view of the world. She is everything you would think of an eccentric, intelligent kid of her age should be. She wears bunny ears, doesn't connect with other kids, and goes out and slays giants.

Giants aren't real, right? According to Barbara, they are. Due to her obsession with giants, kids at school are cruel. Which, as someone who survived 8th grade, can attest to is real. Due to her overactive imagination, Mrs. Molle, the school counselor, takes an interest in her and wants to help her. Armed with her bunny ears, Barbara sets traps to catch the giants. And, she bravely believes that she can face the giants and be the hero.

“You are stronger than you think.”

The pain of this story is Barbara's reality. Instead of dealing with the pain of her Dad's departure and her mother's illness, she slays giants. Things she can control. All of this is not immediately obvious. It is a graphic novel; Barbara could be a girl who truly goes out and slays giants. But, this story is deeper and more profound. It is a story about grief and loss and how people channel that. Compartmentation seems like such an adult concept, except that it isn't.

I know that the concepts in this story are not everyone's forte. Dealing with depictions of grief is difficult for some readers, but what I liked most about this story is, sadly, every person in this world will have to deal with grief. Along with joy, grief is one of the most human of emotions. It helps define our lives. And, even though I wanted to take Barbara in my arms during most of the book and tell her that everything will be ok, I couldn't. It wasn't going to be ok; Barbara's mother is going to die. This story is one to get the tears rolling.

Graphically, I Kill Giants has a very crisp exaggerated Manga style. Many of the panels were explosive—Especially those dealing with the giants. The pain in her life is immense, and the giants are too.

I love Barbara, I have been Barbara, and I will someday, sadly, be Barbara again. If you want a well-written story, exciting visuals, and a character that you will empathize with and cheer for, you should read this.

I very much enjoyed the Snowpiercer movie, and thus when I saw at the library there was a three-part series of graphic novels to go along with the brilliant film, I was stoked. If you aren't familiar with the film, it is about a future society that travels around on a train. The rest of the world is a snowy wasteland, but the last remnants of the world are divided by class on this gigantic train. We don't know why the train is the only viable escape route for humanity, but it just is. Snowpiercer is a story that requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.

Writing in this story is both its strength and a weakness. The writing is tight and exciting. The dialog is concise and engaging; the problem is that it is so heavy-handed and overwrought. I found myself confused and shaking my head. There is such a thing as subtlety in writing, not every idea needs to be pounded into the reader's head like a nail into a piece of wood. This story doesn't quite get that.

Art-wise, it is done beautifully. But you have to like this type of artwork. The shading is quite stark and dramatic, which, on the one hand, adds to the drama of the story. But, on the other hand, it could be distracting and again overwrought to the reader.

If you are a fan of the Snowpiercer series, I say check out this book even if it is for a sense of completion. However, I would not go out of my way to read this.

“Graphic Novels. They Aren't Books. They have no literary value.”

Sigh.

I have often heard this. Repeatedly. Books like Stitches are the reason that the argument against graphic novels not being literature heavyweights is so brainless. This story is poignant, as well as painful and oh so very real.

David Small is a famous children's illustrator who took his childhood memories held them, squeezed them, and wrapped them up into a ball and served us this novel. His childhood was not a happy one; “Dad was never there except occasionally for one of mother's dry, burned little meals; mother coiled tight inside her shell of angry, resentful silence; my brother in his, and I in mine.” This is a story full of angry moments. At the beginning usually from his mother, later into David's adolescence, the anger belonged to him. It was full of lying and cruelty on the part of his parents. Often when reading this, I had to put the book down and take a moment to appreciate my own family, my own parents, and myself as a parent. I am doing better than I think I am.

Most of the story centers on a lie David's parents told him regarding his health and the casualty cruelties accompanying it. What was supposed to be an easy cyst removal in his neck was actually cancer and left David disfigured and mostly mute. His parents never acknowledge what had happened to him until much later. This leaves him with both physical scars, “A crusted black track of stitches; my smooth young throat slashed and laced back up like a bloody boot,” and understandably the mental scars that would come with that.

I am sure at this point you are wondering why someone would read something like this. It sounds like a long story of pain, and it is. However, David's story is also one of hope and overcoming your past. It is beautiful and tragic and heartbreaking. But this is a story that will dig into your mind and stay with you. There is a reason it is considered one of the best graphic memoirs ever written. Stitches is a collection of profound moments, and by the end of the story, we understand that even in the worst of circumstances one can find their own voice, and be who they want to be even if they are mute.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

I have been following Joshua Becker and http://www.becomingminimalist.com/ for years, and I am a fan. This book did not disappoint. Joshua Becker has a way of putting things in his writing that makes something like minimalism less daunting. He goes room by room and illustrates different ways to simplify your home. This is useful and practical without being preachy and unapproachable. Also, I love the philosophy of Joshua that, “the goal of minimalism is not just to own less stuff. The goal is to unburden our lives so we can accomplish more.” It is so much more than how many socks you own. Great book. Read it if you want to dive into this type of philosophy.

Making graphic adaptations of beloved books is a tricky business. Firstly, you need to take the overall feeling of the story and translate it to another media. Adaptation is hard on several fronts. Firstly, the source material can be pictured in a million different ways. Then the tonality of the source material needs to come across similarly. Usually, when dealing with adaptations, this leads to lackluster storylines, missed narratives, and an overall picture that is duller than the source material. There is a similar problem with adapting movies from books. A movie is rarely better than the sourcebook. 

That is why this graphic representation was such a treat. This adaption is about as good as it gets for graphic novel adaptations. It is faithful to the original story, it gets the character's right, and most importantly, it got the desperate, hopeful, and slightly scary feel of the book. The Stand, next to The Gunslinger, is King's opus. It is a tome at 1152 pages. A lot is going on, and this novel did it just right. Adapter Aguirre-Sarcasa cut the fluff that was not integral to visual representation, kept the important stuff, and kept the compelling narrative. The only reason it got four instead of five is that I wanted more story. I am missing some parts of the original story in the adaption. But that is entirely my opinion. 

If you are a King fan, this is great. Even if you aren't, it is well done and worth checking out. 

Paternus: Wrath of Gods is a continuation of the epic urban fantasy tale from book 1, Paternus: Rise of the Gods. As many authors suffer a Sophmore slump or a slowing of tone as they fill in the exposition, that is not the case with Dyrk Ashton. Quite the contrary, Dyrk could have coasted a bit into book 2, Took a step back, and slowed the pace down. I honestly, and knowing Dyrk a bit through his hilarious tweet feed, do not think he is capable of such a feat. It is a hell of a ride start to finish.

To quote the Sound of Music, “Let us start at the very beginning. A very good place to start” The cover art on this is top-notch. I would have bought the entire series in hardback before even reading or knowing anything about the series...oh, wait. I did do that, and sadly there they sat for months on end forlorn and staring me in tone. Secondly, unlike many other series where the overall series is one large arc, Paternus is not really like that. Sure, the kids and mythological creatures/people face issues, old grudges, and waining power. But there wasn't much of a mini-arc except, “Jesus, we must save Peter.” Then “Jesus, we must save ourseves.” Then “Holy shit, is that Jesus?” I am desperate for a family tree for these books to hang on my wall because it all is muddling together into the epic family genes of awesomeness.

The story takes off right at the end of the first Paternus book, Paternus: Rise of the Gods. Zeke and Fi (henceforth known as the kids) are attempting to help Peter and Zeke's uncle Edgar gather the firstborn creatures/folks of legend for an epic battle pitting good against evil. The most fun part of this book is connecting the creatures and deities dot to dot. I love a good a-ha, and these chapters give them to me in spades. And, being that I am an enormous mythological story geek, I ate all of Dyrk's impeccable research with a spoon.

In the second book, we are introduced to new creatures/people of power and legend. I especially enjoyed the characters from the Hindu and Buddhist pantheons, specifically Ganesh and Shiva. Although I do not know much about the history and stories, I know the characterizations are spot on from what little I do know. I think, more importantly, I want to learn more. Paternus is a kind of series that makes you want to research and delve deeper into the mythologies of everything.

In the first book, Paternus: Rise of the Gods, we are introduced to Zeke, Fi, Peter, and Edgar. But, as there are many characters in the Paternus series, some are more fleshed out than others. Now with the second book, we can learn more about the backstory behind the power. Fiona and Zeke are especially fleshed out and focused on. This focus is great because you can see a transition from childhood to adulthood very quickly, and you can also see the inner strength that the two of them have. That strength will be tested as the series goes on, and Ashton did a great job in pushing their stories forward.

Unlike the first book, Wrath of the gods goes at a steady and exciting clip. It is one of the most compelling books I have ever read. I don't say that lightly because, at this point, I am practically gushing over this series, and it is slightly embarrassing. But Ashton writes fights very well, and there is a lot of fighting in this book. You can also see Ashton's comfort in this book. It is as if Ashton sat down, eased in, and wrote. The first book of the series did not seem like he had the same comfort level.

I do need to comment on the narrative style Paternus is written in. I enjoy it and have no problem with it, but I know that some readers have difficulty with the switching of perspectives. Sometimes on the same page. I found that because each character had such a unique voice, and I listened to part of it as an audiobook, I had no problem staying with it. But your results may vary. My only advice is to stick with it. It pays off highly as we come to the climax of the series.

Dyrk Ashton's Paternus: Wrath of the Gods is urban fantasy at its best. Urban fantasy gets many naysayers thinking that it is only the realm of sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves. Now, before I get hate mail, I am not knocking on paranormal urban fantasy. I have read a lot of it and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, Urban fantasy is a vast genre with many facets, and this is one of them. It is an exciting, gritty, and violent fantasy that is well researched and engaging that just happens to take place in our “now.” I believe that if you take on this series, you will be just as excited as I am about it because it is just that good. Now, on to Paternus: War of the Gods. Let's do this!!

They sing of a red-headed devil, one who fights with strength that borders on supernatural and agility as if a sword were born in her hand. But isn't this devil, this dervish, just a serving girl? So goes the tale of The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix Harrow. This brilliant short story is part of a continuing series of bite-sized fantasy offerings from acclaimed authors Lev Grossman, Nghi vo, Tomi Champion-Adeyemi, and more. They are described thus, “Some truths are carefully concealed; others merely forgotten. In this spellbinding collection, seven acclaimed fantasy authors create characters who venture into the depths where others fear to tread. But when forbidden knowledge is the ultimate power, how far can they go before the darkness consumes them?”

Alix E. Harrow is easily one of the best short story fantasy authors writing today. If you are someone who looks at CVs, you would see Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominations and wins. As this young girl in Six Deaths of the Saint battles as if a sword had always been in her hand, Harrow writes as if she was born with pen and paper. That is why this series of stories, and by extension Harrows is such a decadent treat to read. She had me at The Saint of War, be still my shriveled dark fantasy-loving heart.

“I would rather love a coward than mourn a legend.”

The story's protagonist is a servant girl on the verge of death, spared by The Saint of War. “Always mindful of the debt she owes, the girl finds her worth as a weapon in the hand of the Prince. Her victories make him a king, then an emperor. The bards sing her name, and her enemies fear it. But the war never ends and the cost keeps rising—how many times will she repeat her own story?”

There is a unique difficulty in writing a short story; the author must get to things quickly and concisely. The characters must have agency, and be well-rounded in, usually, less than 30 pages. It is a tall order.

“I could have killed you,” you said, and he had answered obscurely, “You never do.”

However, instead of world-building, The Six Deaths of the Saint is a deep character story. Yes, there is gore and battle. Ones that are so vivid that you swear you can smell the copper penny stink of blood and iron, but all of the fighting and descriptions of gore support the characters in their struggles. What struggles, you ask?

I can't give that away. It would ruin the fun.

However, I commend Harrow on creating characters that are now on my favorite ride-or-die list in 30 pages. When you read this, you will know exactly what I am talking about. You should give this story a go, especially if you are a fan of Harrow's other work.