Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

We stan a vintage janky paperback in this house.

Special Deliverance by Clifford D. Simak

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This wasn’t nearly as good as Way Station, which I read back in 2020 and gave five stars, but I still had a good time with it and will continue my project of collecting all of Simak’s books in their vintage janky paperback editions. Special Deliverance was once of the last books Simak published before his death, and it does bear the hallmarks of a later work in his career, with a revisiting of themes, and a bit of tiredness in sections of the plot (something […]

Not As Many People Die as You Would Expect

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

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“Present day” in The Twelve is set about 5 years after events in The Passage. Some of the former cast of characters are tracking down virals, or trying to, at any rate. Others are slaves in Iowa in a settlement of sorts run by “redeyes” – people who are essentially “familiars” to the virals. Their nefarious plan is to have the 11 remaining virals move into something like a bunker in the town so they have a steady supply of food (i.e., people and livestock) […]

Quite an Epic

The Passage by Justin Cronin

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Where to start? There so much that happens in this 800-page novel, which almost defies genre. Is it science fiction? Dystopian? Horror? Probably all of those, and more. The novel starts in the near future, or what was probably the near future at the time it was written over a decade ago. Humans have discovered a naturally-existing virus that, when it doesn’t kill them, essentially turns people into vampires: long-lived, strong, easily heal, don’t do well in sunlight, etc. As mankind is wont to do, […]

“I have been activated, therefore I have a purpose, the bot thought. I have a purpose, therefore I serve.”

The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer

Bots of the Lost Ark by Suzanne Palmer

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In catching up on reading end of CBR14 reviews I clocked narfna’s review of Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 132 since she titled it “Attention: Murderbot stans: I have a short story for you.” Consider my attention grabbed. I love Murderbot very much and anything that gives similar feels is something I want to at least peruse, and narfna so helpfully provided links to both The Secret Lives of Bots and Bots of the Lost Ark (and if you click those titles – so have I!). Suzanne […]

Now only the really tragic sections of the story are left

Sandman, Act III by Neil Gaiman and Dirk Maggs

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4.5 stars Act III of the full-cast audio adaptation of The Sandman was suddenly released with what felt like absolutely no fanfare or previous advertising. Suddenly, one day, it was just there on Audible. This installment covers the two collections Brief Lives and World’s End, as well as some of the stories collected in the anthology volume Fables and Reflections (the very first volume I ever read). It means we finally get the full and tragic story of Dream’s son Orpheus and his beloved Euridyce, […]

It’s the biggest and most dangerous dating show in the universe!

Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews

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This is not the place to start The Innkeeper Chronicles, as it’s the sixth installment overall (four full books and a novella come before it). This story has a LOT of callbacks to previous stories, so just start with Clean Sweep if you haven’t tried this yet. Innkeepers Dina DeMille and Sean Evans are still trying to recover from the last cosmic adventure that taxed them when they discover that Wilmos, the aging werewolf who’s pretty much Sean’s surrogate grandfather has been abducted. The traces […]



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