various – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

Sci fi/Fantasy/Short Fiction Wrap Up

Binary by Michael Crichton

Grave Descend by Michael Crichton

Tales of German Imagination by Various

Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M Martin

Amazon Shorts by Rainbow Rowell; Suzanne Redfearn; Chimamanda Adichie; Chandler Baker

Southern Belle Insults by Keke Palmer; Jasmine Guillory

Nothing Like What I Imagined by Mindy Kaling

Currency by Jia Tolentino; Cristina Henriquez; Tom Perrotta; Curtis Sittenfeld; Yiyun Li; Justin Torres; Emma Cline; Kiley Reid

December 29, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Binary 2/5 Stars A thriller written by Michael Crichton in the early 1970s. Even though this is a John Lange book, it feels very much like a Michael Crichton book, and even more like an Ira Levin or Thomas Harris book. It’s a terrorist thriller wherein our protagonist is sent to spy on a known provocoteur who is making weird moves in his public and private experiences. What we come to understand is that he is planning to either kill a bunch of people, assassinate […]

You’ll never look at a giant space worm the same way again.

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by Various

September 28, 2021 by TylerDFC Leave a Comment

When it comes to Star Wars two distinct story universes have to be discussed. The first, the movies, tend to be simplistic and aimed at children and pre-teens. The movies largely follow the Skywalker family and those ancillary to them, and while there are interesting tangents, they follow a pretty safe, unsurprising track. Even the movies that try to do something different such as The Last Jedi are eventually course-corrected back to the path that provides maximum merchandise sales and the least amount of controversy. […]

Amazon Originals Presents, a mixed bag.

Faraway by Various

Hush by Various

If the South Had won the Civil War by MacKinlay Kantor

Lost Children by Francesca Lia Block

Trafik by Rikki Ducornet

April 23, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

A collection of short stories that are either based on fairy tales (like specific ones) or based on fairy tale elements and tropes. So this makes this collection a two-fer in terms of possible issues. The first i s that modern day retellings of fairy tales are very hit or miss. Sometimes they’re great ala Angela Carter and a few others, and sometimes they’re very weak. And the same thing happens in this collection. And of course in any kind of solicited short story collection […]

Assorted Nonfiction I

The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe

Citizen by Claudia Rankine

Let Us Compare Mythologies by Leonard Cohen

A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk

You Do You by Various

Here is New York by EB White

Bad Faith by Mike Daisy

April 2, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

The Painted Word – Tom Wolfe – 4/5 Stars I haven’t read a lot of Tom Wolfe (white suit, not Southern writer) but he was one of those public figures who was just around in my childhood watching tv. He made a guest spot on the Simpsons for example. This essay takes a look at contemporary art about up to 1975 ending more or less with pop art and photorealism. The essay begins with a paraphrased idea that art used to work: the art drives […]

Assorted Short Fiction I

Nimona (audiobook) by Noelle Stevenson

The Armies of those I Love by Ken Liu

Fashionably Undead by Meg Cabot

Miscellaneous 0125 by Berri George

Zeta Family by Gretchen Enders

Temporary by Hilary Leichter

The Fool Who Thought too Much by Ishmael Reed

Bedtime Stories for Cynics by Various

Escape from Virtual Island by Jon Lutz

April 1, 2021 by vel veeter 1 Comment

Nimona – 5/5 Stars I really do love this book a lot. It’s so full of charm and joy and fun. It FEELS whimsical at times, and I generally do like whimsy, but it’s a much more tightly controlled and structured narrative than whimsy would suggest. I have owned three copies of this book and have had three copies get “borrowed” by students and never returned. I feel like everyone knows what the book is, but a quick recap. We are in a far-off magical […]

Thinking of Winter in Summer

Winter: A Folio Anthology by Various

June 17, 2020 by kittenkong42 Leave a Comment

I ordered my brother a set of Hornblower novels from The Folio Society as a birthday present (his planned present of a trip to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child being delayed by Coronavirus) and they sent me this delightful little anthology on the theme of winter as a free gift. I promised I’d read and review it and managed to do that over lunch today. There are little anthologies for all the seasons containing poems, snippets of stories, fables, and documents relating to […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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