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princesscolumbia · 24 days

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Cape and Capability - A Review

So a week-ish ago a reblog from fellow author @beedok came across my dash for a collection of fiction that was 100% trans-centric. Given how much of my own writing is unabashedly about the trans experience, I took a look and, to absolutely nobody's surprise, there were a couple titles in the bundle that I was already marking for purchase at a later date, so since the bundle came along I went ahead and pulled the trigger for it.

Thanks to itch.io's very end-user friendly DRM free options and the authors opting to allow it, it was no big deal to get all the books downloaded and converted for use on my eReader (a fairly recent model Kindle) via the open software Calibre. By virtue of the alphabet, Cape and Capability was the first book I opened up to read through.

Unfortunately, I don't know if the author is on Tumblr or I'd link to their profile (if you're the author and want the linkage beyond the above, please let me know and I'll edit this post accordingly). They are also on Scribblehub, so if you have an account there you can give them a follow.

Okay, let's get to the compliment sandwich:

First off, I enjoyed this book. It had me smiling at the majority of it. My girlfriend can attest that there were several times I put the book down to gush about the passage I had just read or some clever plot element. It reads like someone who knows the tropes of the superhero genre. It reads like fanfiction for a fandom you're not familiar with. It's adequately descriptive enough that you can track everything easily and it's clear the author has done a solid amount of world-building to make this seem 'real.'

The 'reads like fanfiction' cuts both ways in this case. The initial character development is rough. There were points in the first few chapters where I had to flip back a page or two to make sure I knew who's POV I was reading for, as there wasn't quite enough development for me to really distinguish the differences between Alice/Ifrit and Sandra/Cascade. The pacing was also a challenge, feeling quite rushed throughout the book. Typos were also present, though not egregiously so.

I say this so you know what you're expecting going into the book, because even with all that, I still enjoyed it enough that I would gladly have given it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. It's tropey and cheesy and somewhat predictable, but ultimately fun and heartwarming and I'm very glad I got it.

#cape and capability #fiction review

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wrongpublishing · 11 months

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BOOK REVIEW: Cosmic Horror Monthly's Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction

by Elizabeth Broadbent, Staff Writer.

I stan Bertha.

You will too once you read Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction (Cosmic Horror Monthly). Rage-made art, editor Joolie Toomajan’s anthology howls into the dark night of oppression; its fury-crafted stories push back against the true horrors of our marginalization. Come for the politics—all proceeds go to fund abortion rights in America—but stay for some of the year’s best stories, which shine against the tarnish of injustice.

There’s spec fic here for everyone: literary retellings, a redone fairy tale, sci-fi, fantasy, surrealism, ghost stories, serial killers. Fury seethes through them: fury at abandonment, fury at erasure, but (justly) often fury at objectification. We are baby-carriers, walking wombs. Our sexuality is villainous. We endanger the patriarchy by refusing to die, a la Mrs. Rochester in Laura Blackwell’s “The First Mrs. Edward Rochester Would Like a Word.”

I finished the first two stories in this anthology (Jennifer Lee Fleck’s brutal “The Girls of Channel 9” and Joe Koch’s “By Their Bones You Shall Know Them”, which reminded me of Brian Bilston’s “America is a Gun”) and had to walk away. “This is one of the best anthologies I’ve read all year,” I told my husband as I took a breather. “I’ve only read two of them and holy shit, this is good stuff.”

You knew, of course, that Haley Piper’s would be a standout. You didn’t know how much of a standout. I might’ve cried while reading “The Girls with Claws that Catch”—bonus points if you can ID the reference. William Faulker wished he’d written Moby Dick; I’d’ve given a lesser toe to pen this one.

I might’ve cried while reading a lot of these.

Remember the tears you shed when you heard about Roe? Here they all, wrapped up into speculative fic.

I could wade through every story and rave about its uniqueness, its bravery, its place in the Golden Age of Indie Horror (then thank the God of Horror Writers—nomination for Black Tezcatlipoca, Aztec god of nighttime and darkness—that I’m lucky enough to review right now). I’ll spare you, expect to say that someone other than Joolie Toomajan’s winning a Stoker for this, and I’m not sure who.

Special shoutout Laura Cranehill: Nectarine, Apple, Pear is her first published short story—and she wrote it in the midst of parenting three small kids. Laura, we best see more of your work soon.

Buy Aseptic now; don’t wait for StokerCon. Like Ai Jiang’s Lingham, this book’s gonna sell out.

Watch the launch party hosted by P. L. McMillan and Chelsea Pumpkins—you deserve these stellar readings in your life.

Cosmic Horror Monthly Twitter: @ CosmicHorrorMo Instagram: @ cosmic.horror.monthly

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sangrenight · 11 months

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I waited too long to write reviews for Fortuna Sworn so I'll just say this after finishing the entire series (spoiler free) (also warning bc this is v critical):

It was probably the most convoluted and retconned plot I've ever had to work my way through. Constantly contradicting itself, from one paragraph to the next, and though I tried it was impossible to look past the inconsistencies and felt maddening at times. But I got in too deep and kept reading anyway, and I will be continuing when the next books release. I kept going after 1 purely because I wanted to see what would happen with Oliver and Laurie, the only characters I cared about. It got to a point where I would literally cheer when Laurie appeared because the other characters were so insufferable (Fortuna and Collith namely). Collith is a wallflower with barely any substance and Fortuna is just awful and difficult to root for or sympathize with. Would probably put book four as the best in the series. 2 was ok until the end, and 3 was a slog. I thought she had no editors only to learn she has two, but maybe that was only in later books? I hope w the publishing deal they do a lot more cleanup! It would do wonders to not be tripping over inconsistencies so often. I do look forward to book 5 and seeing how some things resolve, particularly where Cyrus's story goes which will hopefully get more development! Will we ever get a resolution for Oliver or Laurie? Probably not until book 6, I would guess.

#fortuna sworn review #fortuna sworn #neg review #romantasy #fantasy romance #fiction review

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pintsizeddeepthoughts · 2 months

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25 of 250 Favorite Fiction - Ender’s Game

Author: Orson Scott Card

Date of Publication: 1985

Country: United States

There are two quotes that best summarize Orson Scott Card’s signature novel (one of the few to simultaneously win the Hugo and Nebula awards for Novel of the Year) and encapsulate the themes found throughout his work.

Ender Wiggin, all of six years old, has been drafted to fight in a war against an alien race known as “the buggers”. To say that he goes through trials meant to hammer and mold his raw military talent is an understatement. As one might expect from a child, he wonders about his own happiness. However, greatness does not behoove happiness. According to Ender’s mentor, Mazor Rackham, “Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.” Much of the novel’s tension comes from Ender’s teachers asking for more from him and Ender determining how much he’s willing to give.

In order for Ender to win his “game”, he must do something that at once seems counterintuitive to a soldier in the face of the enemy. Using an impeccable line of logic, Ender realizes “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.” To his horror he realizes that this terrible intimacy is what allows him to destroy his enemy via an iconic twist. The ending of the novel explores the consequences of this with sensitivity and wisdom, understanding the weight of this love and the destruction it wrought.

#25 of 250 #fiction review #book review #favorite books #science fiction #ender's game #orson scott card

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larissa-lee-scribbles · 10 months

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[Fiction Review] "The Name-Bearer" by Natalia Hernandez

Full Title: The Name-Bearer: Flowers of Prophecy Book 1Author: Natalia HernandezPublished: October 11, 2022 by Amazon Publishing (KDP)Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Hispanic & Latino American LiteratureEdition Details: 296 pages, ebookSource: PurchasedRating: {4/5 stars} This is a spoiler-free review. No details will be shared from the storyline itself that aren’t available or…

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#Fantasy #Fiction Review #Hispanic #Latino #LGBTQ+#Young Adult

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quirkycatsfatstacks · 1 year

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Review: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Series: The Inheritance Games #1Author: Jennifer Lynn BarnesPublisher: Little, Brown Books for Young ReadersReleased: September 1, 2020Received: Library I’m a few years late to the party, but I finally sat down to read The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (all thanks to my library for this impulsive grab!). This series blends mystery and thriller elements into a young adult story,…

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mediashadowreads · 3 months

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[REVIEW] STARLING HOUSE BY ALIX E. HARROW

Book info ⭐ Name: Starling HouseAuthor: Alix E. HarrowRelease Date: October 3rd 2023Edition: Illumicrate HardcoverPages: 308Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Gothic Synopsis: Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished,…

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slickdungeonsblog · 5 months

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Illyadra - Book Review

Check out my review of the high magic fantasy epic Illyadra!

Illyadra by Adriel Wallaker Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here. If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here. (Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no…

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#books #Fantasy #Fantasy Review #fiction #fiction review #Illyadra #literature

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rapti-b · 1 year

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Out of the Woods, by Neikehienuo Mepfhu-o

Published 2022 | Fiction A boy caught between the real and an ‘alternate reality’, ‘Out of the Woods’ by Neikehienuo Mepfhu-o takes a look at the struggles that mental health illnesses bring with them – for the person and their immediate family members. During a recent trip to Nagaland, I decided to pick up a book or two written by local authors, and ‘Out of the Woods’ by Neikehienuo Mepfhu-o…

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paolojcruz · 16 years

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The Journey of a Millennium

REVIEWS : FICTION

James Luceno’s Millennium Falcon takes readers on a joyride through Star Wars history.

This review was originally published in Fully Booked Zine, October 2008.

Every vehicle, real or imagined, has its own unique life history, from the pioneering Ford Model T, to the average Pinoy jeepney. But few vessels have quite the storied past as Han Solo's dependable Millennium Falcon. Not only did it play a key role in bringing down a tyrannical Empire, it notoriously made the Kessel Run smuggler’s route in “less than twelve Parsecs”. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, it seems…

The Falcon is the subject of James Luceno's eponymous novel, the latest book in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Though it directly follows the events of Invincible (the final installment of the melodramatic Legacy of the Force series) it's accessible enough for readers who have a passing familiarity with the original space opera trilogy.

Largely self-contained, the narrative fleshes out the character of Allana Solo, the Force-strong granddaughter of Han and Princess Lea. The feisty youth joins her graying Lolo and Lola aboard the titular YT-1300 light freighter, for a warp speed intergalactic joyride that spans the Falcon's crowning moments, as well as the horrors to which it has been a silent witness.

But Allana's quest is more than just some indulgent nostalgia trip for Jedi geeks. As is customary, the Fate of the Universe rests on the success of her mission. So the motley group's escapades put them at loggerheads with a colorful assortment of individuals: bounty hunters, vicious space pirates, crooked officials, and even fallen comrades!

Millennium Falcon doesn’t attempt to reinvent the Star Wars canon. Frankly, it doesn’t need to. It holds its own as a fun, standalone romp, highlighting a single vehicle that’s become a darling part of the series’ mythology.

#review #fiction review #novel #star wars #millenium falcon #sweu #expanded universe #james luceno

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scruffygruffy · 1 year

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FAQs WHICH NO ONE QUESTIONS OR ASK FREQUENTLY (a little presumptive, for sure, but still)

Hello! I’m Charlie and I am an aspiring writer who will chime in on this blog from time to time. This will serve as the macro-microblog companion page (microblog at https://poweredbygay.social/@scruffygruffy). This post will be updated from time to time, though less frequently.

1. Who are you??

Well, for one, I am an aspiring writer that is using the new year (2023) to make some changes. I have been writing fiction for the past ten years and am back at it after taking a two year hiatus that should have not been.

2. Why are you--

I’m using this blog as a log to keep track of longer thoughts I have on the books I read as I go through the year. This, in combination with my microblog, should serve as some key accountability measures to try and read more. At least until September 17th or whatever, fingers crossed.

3. What are you reading?

Currently, I am finished reading Ulysses by James Joyce (via audiobook) and am now reading his preceding novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (also via audiobook). I’ve written elsewhere that I am committed to reading the following for this year (2023):

1. In Transit by Dianna E. Anderson

2. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce

3. Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust (yes, this is Volume 1 of In Search of Lost Time)

4. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer (Terre Ignota Book 1)

5. The Plague, by Albert Camus

6. Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen

I will do my darnedest to hold myself to read through these. Any updates here will be to address what I am reading and if I add any new titles here. This includes reading the second Terre Ignota book or delving into Volume 2 of In Search of Lost Time.

My intention here is that I will read these books and then write up a post that delves into some curiosities that I picked up while reading said books. I guess you could call them book reports, but 1) no one would want to read them, and 2) I don’t want to write them. I promise they will be more shooting-from-the-hip, but nothing too sloppy where I feel like I miss every time.

4. Wait, you’re a writer...will you share some of your writing??

Maybe. In writing this shortly after the new year (2023), I’m standing firm on that this blog is, unfortunately, not the place to share my fiction. At least, not yet. Maybe.

I am working on a short story anthology and am writing almost every day, though these are adjacent short pieces. This is more or less in a daily writing prompts sort of fashion. If I’m particularly proud of one of these prompt responses and want to polish it, then I’ll probably share here. My goal for the year is to publish a short story in a lit mag or equivalent, though that’s outside the scope of this blog at the time being.

5. Do you accept tips?

No. I’m not comfortable asking people for tips (especially through Tumblr, no offense), so I won’t for the foreseeable future. Further down the road I might consider Patreon, but that would only be if there’s considerable interest in what I do. I’m not really expecting that at this time.

6. How else can I support you if I can’t tip??

If you like what you see, then please reblog on this site, interact with each post, and share across the internet. I would really appreciate that, more than anything, to know that my ramblings have some inherent critical value.

7. Where else can I find you?

As I mentioned above, the microblog companion of this macro-microblog can be found here, @scruffygruffy (Mastodon). I am not on the Funny Blue Bird site, as one microblog is enough and the site is currently undergoing some *changes*. I might branch out to other platforms and can update this page accordingly if I do.

8. What are you working on now??

Well, a lot of things. Related here, I’m writing nearly daily via writing prompts and my short stories project, and am working my way through reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man after finishing Ulysses. I’ll post a thing about Ulysses on here. When I’m finished with Portrait, I’ll post a thing or two about it here and move on to the next book.

#introduction #wrtiting #book review #fiction review #nonfiction review

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wrongpublishing · 1 year

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You Should Diversify Your Horror Rec List (Rec List Enclosed)

by Rae Maybee.

If you’re a Western reader, hopelessly in love with horror as hard as I am, you might have found you’ve gotten bored of the common tropes involving demons, poltergeists, vampires, and zombies. While it might be part of the fun for genre elements to provide reliable elements to a book that you’ll know you’ll enjoy, a predictable ending might conversely not be as hard-hitting and well… scary.

Psychologist D. Zillmann proposes that enjoyment is the result of suspense and specifically, the anticipation of a resolution.* For this sense of suspense to be at its most acute, a reader must not know exactly how the plot is going to resolve—for better or for worse—because the resolution itself is technically less important than one’s anticipation of it. Dr. Neil Martin, summarizing multiple studies of horror film viewers, also proposes that enjoyment is associated with destruction, excitement, and unpredictability.** In other words, fans enjoy horror because they find it new, interesting, and stimulating; entertainment comes from the exposure to new ideas. (Usually, horror does this well by shocking and appalling.)

Dr. Matias Clasen’s 2012 biocultural approach to horror, furthermore, examines monsters specifically as an adoptive storytelling form designed to help readers encounter and deal with innate fears.*** Most interestingly, he argues that there is a depth to horror that taps into our upbringing and the instincts we’ve evolved to survive—that is, environmental factors brought on by our culture and other surroundings.

While it is true that many cultures share fears and conceptualize similar ideas revolving around those fears, it is also true that there is a wealth of unfamiliar concepts waiting to be explored outside the boundaries of intra-national fiction. Using Dr. Clasen’s model, one could surmise that writers of different cultures will have grown up with varying fears, based on their unique geographies and socio-political climates. A writer from one continent might write a monster inspired by an animal that another continent doesn’t encounter, to give one broad example. And horror consumers will attest that religious and mythological elements play a big part in many subsets of the genre (those tend to be known for inspiring fear.)

To give an example from my own experience, when a reader who has consumed nothing but American horror is exposed to say, a demon possession in a book they’re reading, they may be able to predict its strengths and weaknesses (ergo, an exorcism). However, that same reader picking up a book from, say, Bolivia, might find themselves introduced to a threatening Pishtaco and especially worried about the powers it might yield.

Of course, if you’re reading this and you’re already well-acquainted with the monsters of the Andes region of South America, fear not. I’m excited about a few other recommendations for books that will pique your curiosity.

Violet Kupersmith’s Build Your House Around My Body is a good example of a novel that winds around itself and consistently keeps the reader guessing. The story revolves around a young Vietnamese-American woman who has traveled to Saigon to teach English—and, hopefully, reconnect with her heritage. She gets far more than she bargained for, though, as her story intersects with almost fifty years of Vietnamese history coming back to (quite literally) haunt.

Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians is a novel about four Blackfeet Native American men struggling with tradition, identity, and the wrath of a spirit hard-bent on vengeance. Readers are kept on their feet by the intense imagery and shifting points-of-view which never let the tension slack for a moment.

The Queen of the Cicadas, by V. Castro, follows a woman who’s returned to Texas for her best friend’s wedding. Once there, she comes face to face with a local legend, la Reina de las Chicarras, who was born from the unsolved murder of a Mexican farmhand. Part detective story, part tale of revenge, this book introduces readers to a number of goddesses and ghosts—and all the worse, the very harsh realities faced by migrant workers.

Whether it’s with the books above or beyond, I highly recommend seeking out and supporting authors from cultures and nations different to your own. Fear is such a universal emotion, and not only will more international interest boost chances of further translated works (we always need more), their perspectives simply demand to be heard. After all, it’s a big, diverse, and terrifying world out there. You already love it; why not wander further into the darkness?

Rae Maybee is a graduate student from Emerson College’s Publishing and Professional Writing program, and she’s published the following pieces online: “Momentary Imbalance” in The Bluffton University Literary Journal and “Challenging the Best to be Better” in Moreover.

*D. Zillmann (1996). “The psychology of suspense in dramatic exposition” in Suspense: Conceptualizations, theoretical analyses, and empirical explorations eds. P. Vorderer, H. J. Wulff, and M. Friedrichsen (New York: Routledge, 1996).

**Neil Martin, “(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films” Frontiers in Psychology 10 (2019). 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02298

***Mathias Clasen, “Monsters Evolve: A Biocultural Approach to Horror Stories” Review of General Psycology 16, no. 2 (2012): 222-229. https://www.ucentral.edu.co/sites/default/files/inline-files/monsters-evolve-cineclub-julio-2020.pdf

#review #gothic fiction #gothic literature #book review #horror books #fiction review #horror fiction #horror literature #tbrbooks #horror tbr #essay #lit essay #horror industry #literary criticism #horror novels #gothic lit #horror lit

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thefugitivesaint · 1 year

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Alicia Austin, ''Science Fiction Review'', #39, Aug. 1970 Source

#alicia austin #american artists #science fiction review #magazine covers #cover art #fanzines #science fiction fanzines

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pintsizeddeepthoughts · 1 month

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25 of 250 Favorite Fiction - And Then There Were None

Author: Agatha Christie

Date of Publication: 1939

Country: United Kingdom

Ten strangers arrive on an island. They dine and bristle at each other’s company, unsure of why they are here. A record played after dinner accuses all ten of them of being responsible for someone’s death. All but one denies the charges. Another sips a drink and promptly falls dead. After some investigation and deliberation, the elderly Judge Wargrave pronounces: “One of us in this very room is in fact the murderer.” Thus begins one of the best selling novels of all time.

Agatha Christie is at times considered light reading, her stories pigeon holded as elaborate, cozy mouse traps that are (despite their subject) bloodless. Christie did write her fair share of mundane puzzles devoid of characterization and thematic heft; however, her best work hides an ocean of darkness in which characters often drown and the ending, while providing justice, does not offer sunshine.

And Then There Were None is definitively the latter. There are no heroes in this story, no good people. While the poem at the heart of mystery is an elegant and devious guide and the key to Christie’s genius plotting, it also “others” the characters. By the nature of their crimes, they have violated society’s rules and thus stand apart - symbolized by the ten figurines on the dining room table. As those figurines disappear with each death, the novel builds to a frightening and twisted crescendo in which the karmic debt these “others” have incurred is repaid in ways that have thrilled for 85 years.

#25 of 250 #fiction review #agatha christie #and then there were none

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larissa-lee-scribbles · 11 months

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[Fiction Review] "This Gilded Abyss" by Rebecca Thorne

Full Title: This Gilded AbyssAuthor: Rebecca ThornePublished: June 6, 2023 by self-publishingGenres: Fiction, LGBTQ+ Horror, LGBTQ+ FantasyEdition Details: 287 pages, ebookSource: ARC – requested directly from authorRating: {5/5 stars} This is a spoiler-free review. No details will be shared from the storyline itself that aren’t available or inferred from the book jacket and online…

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#Fantasy #Fiction Review #Horror #lesbian #LGBTQ+#Romance

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quirkycatsfatstacks · 1 year

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Review: The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang

Author: Ruth Emmie LangPublisher: St. Martin’s PressReleased: November 15, 2022Received: Own (BOTM) Book Summary: All Nora Wilder wanted to do was fly away. And then, one day, she disappeared. Her elder daughter, Zadie, always felt like she should have seen this coming. Literally – that’s her gift, to see glimpses into the future. Zadie’s little sister has a different gift – to catch echoes of…

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#Book #Book of the Month #Book Review #Books #BOTM #Family #Fiction #Fiction Review #Literary #Literature #Review #Ruth Emmie Lang #The Wilderwomen #The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang

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