Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Not a great collection of stories, in my opinion.

A Universe of Wishes by ed. Dhonielle Clayton

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This was a pretty disappointing collection. I only enjoyed a handful of stories. I think the thing that frustrates me the most about YA fantasy and sf recently is that these are the genres of the imagination, and yet so many authors keep telling the same old stories, even, as it turns out, when those stories are populated by a diverse cast of characters, featuring characters of many races, genders, and sexualities. Some of these stories were dull and uninspired, some I thought were just […]

Who Belongs Here?

Sun and Sand by Jamila Rowser, Neil Brideau

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Sun and Sand is a fantastic new anthology zine from Radiator Comics and Black Josei Press. It collects ten mini comics from cartoonists living in south Florida, and explores the physical, emotional, cultural, and natural connections to the area. The artists guide readers through beaches, swamps, and the human communities woven into them.  Many of the comics in Sun and Sand explore this theme with a sense of humor: assertive cockroaches, an alligator presenting an HOA violation, animals feasting on a dropped mango while the […]

When You Make a Deal with a Nixie, remember to find out if your wife is pregnant.

The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories by Kel McDonald

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Do not judge a book by the cover is probably the first thing I learned about books. However, sometimes you can, sometimes not and sometimes there are books that you do both. The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories is one of those books that you think you know what is going on (there will be a Nixie, which looks like a mermaid/banshee/fairy, that will do something in a mill-pond) but open it up and there is something completely different. On page one we […]

This is hard to get through, even if you’re normally okay while reading books about rape.

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I have never had such a hard time getting through a book that I liked. “Liked” actually feels like the wrong word here. How can I say I liked something that made me angry and frustrated almost 100% of the way through, and which filled me with dread every time I tried to convince myself to pick it back up again? Perhaps “appreciated”? Understand is necessary? See its importance? But not liked. I didn’t expect this reaction, even though rape is a tough subject to […]

An epic fantasy anthology, cherry-picked from other sources.

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This was a pretty great anthology. I was probably destined to like it because it’s pretty hard for me to dislike most kinds of fantasy. This is also different than some anthologies because the editor didn’t commission pieces for this book, but collected them from other already published sources. I sampled a lot of authors I’ve been meaning to try for some time, although I’m annoyed that some of the stories occur halfway through a series or something like that. If you like Epic fantasy […]

Dear Authors of the World: ‘Dangerous’ doesn’t have to mean ‘Femme Fatale Sex Stripper.’ There are other options.

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This was pretty good for an anthology, but I really prefer longer stories, as it really takes a talented author to make me care for characters in such a short period of time, or to have a plot immediately interesting enough to trump my interest in the characters. Short stories also tend more towards the self-important and annoying. Anyway, this was worth it just for the Martin and Sanderson stories alone, and there were several others I really enjoyed as well including ones from Robin […]



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