Okaaay, a different subgenre of comedy, I guess. The “Stoner Novel.” It is designed to appeal to people who do a lot of weed and don’t want to know and don’t care about the consequences of their actions in a meaningless world. “Stupid world. Stupid life. Another day in my boring existence.” The saving grace […]
“Cryptofauna” by Patrick Canning
Finally a novel about a video game that doesn’t read like a video game. While loosely based on a game format, this novel has a definite story arc and realistic, developing and wildly charismatic characters. It also has weirdly creative humor reminiscent of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which results in such absurdities as traveling […]
“Calico Thunder Rides Again” by T. A. Hernandez
This kind of Fantasy ought to have its own sub-genre. Sort of “steampunk art but modern-day with fantasy creatures thrown in.” The plot of this novel involves a late 19thcentury traveling circus with dragons and griffins and twenties-era gangsters with trolls as enforcers. So much for creativity. The story is peppered with Characters with a […]
“Moon over London” by Shawna Report
As you already know from the five stars, I really enjoyed this book. While perhaps not portraying the complexity of “A Hunt by Moonlight,” the first in the series, it’s a real page-turner. Great characters, a complex plot, a difficult crime to solve and many levels of conflict all combine to keep the reader’s interest […]
“The Last Cleric” by Layton Green
I finished my review of the second book in this series with “There has to be a Book Three.” This is it, and I’m a touch disappointed. This book has all the trappings of a “potboiler,” a book in the middle of a series where the author is running on automatic, including all the things […]
“The Second Life of Eddie Coyne” by Louis K. Lowy
This book is one of those “what if” fantasies that uses the possibility of a something-after-death to explore the development of a character. Eddie Coyne is a man with a gambling problem whose life is spiraling out of control when a fatal accident dumps him into limbo or purgatory or whatever you want to call it. […]
“The Journals of Incabad Reyl” by Gregory Tasoulas
Most fantasy writers start a book and create a world in which to place it. A very few spend years creating a fantasy world and finally write a book about it. Gregory Tasoulas is one of the latter. Picture a universe where once every few thousand years the whole basis of the world undergoes a […]
“Kingdom Cold” by Brittni Chennelle
“Kingdom Cold” is a bit of a stylistic olio. The opening chapters introduce a Medieval Fairy Tale setting with characters molded in modern terms. The Princess is on a hunger strike, and soon tops it by getting drunk at the wedding feast and throwing up in the hallway. These are very modern, realistic people, dealing […]
“The Realm of Beasts” by Angela J. Ford
I find this book very much like its cover: a beautiful medley of images, but so unrelated that I cannot quite understand the logic that places them together. It is ostensibly the story of a character with gaps in his memory who is trying to learn both his past and his present in a new […]
“Arcatraissa” by Lacy Sheridan
This story is based on the “only children can see fairies” plotline with a modern twist. Cassie is no longer a child but she can see them, as can her dying aunt. However, the rest of the adults consider this ability mental illness, with all the hush-hush and secrecy that abounds where that topic comes […]