Recently while thoroughly frittering away an evening online, I decided to respond to a commenter who was doing a bit of trolling with some admittedly low-hanging fruit. The thread was over at io9, which actually has what I consider the rare comments section worth reading, and it was on their post about essential SF&F reads … Read more
Published: October 2nd, 2012 Publisher: Macmillan Audio Genre(s): Fiction, Technology Format: Audiobook Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins Clay Jannon is young, techno-savvy and unemployed after being laid off by an ill-fated startup called NewBagel. As his desperation for a new job grows, he starts looking for opportunities everywhere under the sun, which is why … Read more
In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Don’t Burn Your Books—Print Is Here to Stay“, Nicholas Carr discusses how the apparent decline in eReader and eBook sales seems to signify that physical books aren’t in their last gasp after all. While I do agree with the general premise of his article, i.e. … Read more
Discount Armageddon is the story of Verity Price, a blonde twenty-something cryptozoologist and recent transplant to New York City. She pays the bills by working as a waitress in a strip club, supports the family business by working to help the local populations of cryptids – monsters to the unenlightened – and secretly dreams of making it big on the ballroom dancing competition circuit. She hates public transportation, instead getting around by running parkour-style across the city rooftops, all while armed to the teeth with every kind of weapon she can hide under her skimpy waitress uniform. Oh, and her roommates are a colony of talking mice that venerate her every act with religious celebrations and feasts.
Published: October 25th, 2011 Publisher: Neil Gaiman Presents Genre(s): Non-fiction, Personal Memoirs Format: Audiobook Length: 7 hrs 13 mins I’d never heard of Ukranian-born musician Alina Simone before Neil Gaiman added You Must Go and Win to his line of audiobooks on Audible, but the combination of her background and career piqued my interest, and … Read more
Published: August 28th, 2012 Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy Format: Hardcover Length: 336 pages Note: The narrator of Every Day is essentially genderless, but for simplicity’s sake I use male pronouns throughout this review. David Levithan is an interesting standout in the young adult / fiction world. He seems more … Read more
Published: September 4, 2012 Publisher: Strange Chemistry Genre(s): Science Fiction, Young Adult, Horror Format: eBook Length: 320 pages Shift is the story of Scott Tyler, a British teenager who accidentally discovers that he has the power to “shift” between possible realities by changing his past decisions. Along with this discovery comes his entry into a … Read more
Published: February 8, 2012 Publisher: Hachette Audio Genre(s): Crime, Thriller, Comedy Format: Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 46 minutes Wild Thing, by author and physician Josh Bazell, is a sequel to his thrilling debut Beat The Reaper, which introduced former mob hitman Pietro Brwna as he tried to make up for his crimes by working … Read more
Published: August 30, 2011 Publisher: Penguin Genre(s): Science Fiction, Dystopian Format: eBook Length: 384 pages The Postmortal is pitched as a darkly comic satire about a world where a cure for aging is invented and becomes widely available. However, if it is a satire, it is of a character most similar to Jonathan Swift’s infamous … Read more
Hello, strangers! I come to you bearing book-related opinion pieces! I know I’ve stayed away for far too long, but this blog fell prey to modern life, as is so often the case. Countless blogs gather dust while their owners spend time trying to find the cutest picture of a cat on the internet. I’ve … Read more
Published: April 26, 2011 Publisher: Spectra Genre(s): Science Fiction, Steampunk Format: Paperback Length: 480 pages At first glance, Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding sounded like a sure bet. Sky pirates? I’m there. Steampunk setting? Count me in. Endless rave reviews from a dozen fantastic authors (Joe Abercrombie in particular) sealed the deal. Unfortunately, the resulting … Read more
Published: May 25, 2010 Publisher: Random House Genre(s): Literary Fiction, Humor Format: Hardcover Length: 240 pages I read Elliot Allagash in one three-hour sitting. It was mildly entertaining, and I remember laughing once or twice, but ultimately it’s a remarkably slight novel that felt like a padded novella with pretensions of bigger things. On the … Read more
When the Kindle 3 came out last August, I decided to take the leap into the digital future and pick one up. I’d recently moved across town to another new apartment, and after moving several dozen extremely heavy boxes of books, it occurred to me that it might be worth my time to stop owning … Read more
Published: December 31, 2009 Publisher: Subterranean Genre(s): Dark Fantasy Format: Hardcover Length: 136 pages John Scalzi is commonly known as an author, a prolific and long-established blogger, a man with a mischievous sense of humor, and a connoisseur of all things bacon-related. I’m not entirely sure where I first came across his work, but as … Read more
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