Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Two and a half cigarette men!

The Sundown Motel by Simone St. James

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I saw this recommended on reddit, bought it on audible and literally the next day zirza panned it on here. Sadly, zirza was right, it’s not great. A cross between a mystery and a ghost story, The Sundown Motel tells the story of nefarious things happening in the small town of Fell, NY, where Viv Delaney disappears after her night shift at the titular motel in the 80s, while her niece Carly investigates the case in 2017. The POV switches between these two women and […]

A Historical Fantasy, A “Neon-Noir” Horror, and Litfic with Magical Realism

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

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Emily’s Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales I loved being back in the world of Emily Wilde, so I had such a warm feeling reading this book, even though the stakes in this book are higher in some ways compared to the first two in the trilogy. In this one, Emily and Wendell go to Wendell’s home realm in Faerie to reclaim the throne and are met with some challenges along the way. Just as we did in the first two books, we get occasional reminders […]

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

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Please note I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review. This was honestly a nail biter of a horror story (pun intended, you will get that after you read about one of the main characters). I thought that it was nicely set up, Wendig did a good job of staying firmly in the past until he jumped forward again to the present, and the explanation behind the staircase was a scary and sad one all put together. I also […]

An old 16 millimeter camera and a real fantasy world

Final Cut by Charles Burnsa

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I gave Final Cut by Charles Burnsa a four for the illustrations. They are complicated and straightforward. The story is complex to the point of almost not understanding it. There is no real action (unless you count the two couples who get down and dirty with some mad monkey love), yet a lot is going on. There is language, drug use, alcoholism, nudity, and vomit. There is actually a story behind why I wanted to read this book. And I have no idea what it […]

The fame, the wealth, the surveillance system in her body

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

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I started Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase sometime in early 2025. It took me until March 30, 2025 to read. Not because it was a bad book, necessarily,  but because it was a dense, hard read. There were a lot of descriptions of what was happening (even if it was just trying to get out of bed, let alone the technical parts), cultural references and even the way of speaking that was not what I was used to. The idea of a future where we […]

Countless dreams, countless nightmares, one eerie mystery

Nightmare Hunter #1: A Graphic Novel by Brady Smith

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I was looking at my online readers and found one for Nightmare Hunter #1: A Graphic Novel written and illustrated by Brady Smith. Due early April 2025, I almost waited to read it as the cover was not completely “grabbing me” and I was not sure it would be something I liked. It felt as if it would be too “out there,” trying too hard to be funny, going with the “gross out” and frankly, somewhat dumb and not funny, so-called humor. Instead we get […]



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