IRONTOWN BLUES – John Varley

Posted by Daniel on July 18, 2018
Posted in: MYSTERY, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I have been reading (and enjoying) the works of John Varley since the mid 1970’s.  He is one of the very small handful of authors whose books I will purchase as soon as they come out because a) I want to encourage more books from the author and paying cash for the books is my way to let the author and publisher know that, and b) I can be pretty sure that I will get a quality, entertaining story.

Forty years later and that still holds true!

In Irontown Blues, Varley blends genres as this sci-fi story of a detective has a very classic noir feel to it.  The story center around Christopher Bach, a former police officer now working for himself as a private detective.  Being a PI and living in a world where you can manipulate things around you, he sets up his office to resemble the world of the tough PI’s from the old movies.

Keeping Bach company, and working alongside of him, is his dog, Sherlock.  Sherlock is a CEC — a Cybernetically Enhanced Canine.  He is enhanced enough that part of this story is narrated by Sherlock (though transcribed by someone else). Bach doesn’t seem to realize just how smart Sherlock is, though that will change over the course of the investigation.

At the start of the story, Bach (and Sherlock) are visited by a woman…er…a dame…who is asking for the PI help to track down a man who gave her an unwanted case of leprosy.  The leprosy itself is not that big a problem – she’ll regenerate new limbs as necessary, of course.  But Bach’s investigation into finding the bio-hackers takes an unexpected turn and Bach – and Sherlock – will need to take advantage of every possible resource to get out of trouble.  But then…will they really want to…?

One of the things I love so much about Varley’s writing is that it is extremely accessible and yet there are layers that are surprising upon reflection. On the surface this reads like a fun sci-fi mystery in noir fashion. And that’s what it’s supposed to read like. And there are the CTPP (Cool Things Per Page) items that make you nod and think ‘ah, that’s pretty cool’ and then there’s the real story that surfaces the closer you get to the end.

Varley creates interesting, real, dynamic characters (even dog characters) that you can easily rally behind and care about.  His world building is, as it has been in every work of his I’ve read, tremendous – again, it might appear simple on the surface, but scratch that surface and you will come to see the depth that Varley works in.

Fans of the genres will get a kick out of his homages to some of the legends in the business.

I am thrilled that John Varley is still writing and thankful to Ace for publishing this.

Looking for a good book? Irontown Blues by John Varley is a book you will feel good about reading and you’ll likely want to recommend it to everyone you know. If you’ve never read Varley before, this is a great place to start.  If you are already familiar with Varley’s work you know that you’re in for a good time.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Irontown Blues

author: John Varley

publisher: Ace

ISBN: 1101989378

paperback, 304 pages

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DAMNATION – Peter McLean

Posted by Daniel on July 16, 2018
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I haven’t been much of a fan of this series (this is the third in the series) but there has been just enough to keep me reading and enough that has shown promise/potential.

Don Drake, our (anti-?)hero, is a loser.  He’s the dregs of society and can’t do much that is right.  He starts this book on the run – trying to get away from his last big f*-up and avoid facing anyone or anything connected to his screw-up.  He goes so far as to fall back into heavy drug use.  He’s about as low as you can go. Well … he can get lower.  He can go to hell.  Literally.

To escape his recent past, Don runs to his deeper past and finds an old girlfriend in Scotland where he hopes for some solace.  What he learns is that he is a father – has been for some time.  But he hadn’t been informed because he clearly wasn’t ‘dad’ material,  Still, given the things that have happened to him, he takes an interest in his progeny.  But so do others.

New to this book is a character by the name of Davey.  Davey could be an older version of Don himself … worn-looking, foul-mouthed, impertinent.  But Davey’s got a little bit of a secret that you’ll have to read the book to discover for yourself.  This revelation is enough in itself to warrant a read for the next volume!

What works for me with this book is that there’s just enough growth here – both in the character development and in the author’s own writing ability – that I begin to care a little bit about these people.  The relationships have become clearer and the Burned Man demon holds some fascination for me.  He (it?) did before as well, but now I feel as though there may be something coming through that will interest me beyond this volume.  Combine this with what we come to know about Davey and I’m definitely in for the next volume.

This is raw and gritty urban fantasy and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I still feel there’s better raw and gritty urban fantasy out there so this isn’t topping my recommendation list, but it’s definitely improving.

Looking for a good book? Damnation by Peter McLean is the third in the Burned Man series and shows that the series is improving.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Damnation

author: Peter McLean

series: The Burned Man #3

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857666649

paperback, 349 pages

BECOMING BONNIE – Jenni L. Walsh

Posted by Daniel on July 13, 2018
Posted in: HISTORICAL FICTION, ROMANCE, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Something I’ve discovered about myself is that I really enjoy historical fiction, particularly if it’s set sometime between turn of the (20th) century and the American Jazz Age.  And while I can’t say I’ve ever really been interested in knowing more about the criminal duo known as Bonnie and Clyde, their story definitely fits within the period that I enjoy reading and researching and so this seemed like it should be a good fit.

But let’s be clear about one thing from the very start…this isn’t ‘historical fiction’ – that is…fiction based on a person or event from history. There was a Bonnie as part of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ who robbed banks and such, but this Bonnie is only similar in name.  The historical part was thrown out in order to tell a story.  That’s okay…I’m just not sure why.  Why take a figure that is rather recognizable and change the history to tell a different story?

But… all that aside, I won’t rate the book because it doesn’t fit a particular genre.  I’ll rate it based on whether it’s interesting and holds my attention. Here the book falls flat.

Essentially we have 300 pages of a character study, showing the reader that Bonnelyn (the name made up) is a sweetheart and an honest, caring, upright citizen who ultimately gets married to someone who struggles and has fallen in with a bad crowd.  Not Clyde, mind you.  Bonnelyn doesn’t even meet Clyde through much of this book.

The big problem is that the book is just plain boring.  This set-up of character went on and on.  An entire book simply setting up the action of a second book is bad enough, but there was nothing here in the character that could sustain this.  This is a romance without any romance. This is Bonnie and Clyde without Clyde … without ‘Bonnie’ actually.  Certainly not the Bonnie that robbed banks and killed people.

This is not recommended.

Looking for a good book? Becoming Bonnie by Jenni L. Walsh, is a slow historical romance without any romance.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Becoming Bonnie

author: Jenni L. Walsh

series: Bonnie #1

publisher: Forge

ISBN: 0765390191

paperback, 320 pages

CITIES AND THRONES – Carrie Patel

Posted by Daniel on July 11, 2018
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Carrie Patel’s Cities and Thrones is a follow-up to her novel The Buried Life – the mystery/sci-fi cross genre book. In this second outing, Inspector Liesl Malone is back, as is Jane – the young woman who changed the game in the first book.  Now Jane is on the run from the city of Recoletta and Malone is the chief of the police, reporting directly to Sato.

Just as Patel did with the first book, she has done a tremendous job of world-building.  Here she brings us into a new city, Madina, that is every bit as complex and real as was Recoletta. The mystery/story is also just as strong with plenty of intrigue.

I typically don’t find political intrigue stories of much interest, but Patel manages to infuse the political story inside the mystery which is set in a steampunk-like post-apocalyptic world.  Yeah, it’s that complex.

But in the hands of Patel, the story flows very smoothly and naturally and the complexity is made clear.  Not just clear, but exciting and very interesting.

Perhaps one of the best aspects about this book is the development of the characters.  Patel gives us some character growth that just feels very real and honest within the bounds of the world and the story.  This seems like it should be a natural story-telling technique but too often we see characters promoted or moved to another level to service a plot.  Here the changes/progression come naturally with the developing story and we don’t seem to favor one over the other (character over story or vice versa). Instead, as with most good writing, we have a nice balance.

After the previous book I hoped for more character depth, and I think we got that here, and the strong story bumps this rating up a notch and I truly look forward to more growth in the next volume.

Looking for a good book? Cities and Thrones by Carrie Patel continues the Recoletta series and is even stronger than the first volume.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Cities and Thrones

author: Carrie Patel

series: Recoletta #2

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857665537

paperback, 444 pages

THE MORTIFICATION OF FOVEA MUNSON – Mary Winn Heider

Posted by Daniel on July 9, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I’ll admit that I requested this book primarily because of the title since I share a surname with the titular character.  Aside from that, I enjoy middle grade and young adult fiction, and the fantasy twist here is pretty unique and interesting.

Most of us were embarrassed by our parents at some point in our past – usually at about the age of Fovea in the book. But Fovea Munson maybe has a legitimate reason to be embarrassed … her parents are doctors who run a cadaver lab.  Seventh grade is tough enough, but when your parents work with dead bodies and body parts all day long AND they want you to become a doctor like them, life couldn’t get much worse.  Well…maybe it could.  It would be worse if their secretary quit and they hired you over the summer to work in the cadaver lab with them.

The Mortification of Fovea Munson is charming and witty and more than a tad bit quirky.  Her parents are lovable goofballs with good hearts and good heads on their shoulders.  Not everyone here is like that, though … I mean, not everyone has their head on their shoulders.

In the cadaver lab, a shelf full of heads get Fovea running as she makes promises to them in order to get them to reveal the location of a missing head. But before they’ll give a heads up, they want to sing in a barbershop quartet. With an audience. Does this make much sense? No…but we’re discussing talking cadaver heads, so we’re clearly in an ‘anything goes’ sort of situation.

The general story is pretty off-the-wall, but Fovea (yes, the name seems a little strange and she addresses it in the book) has some struggles that will be recognizable to age-appropriate readers – friends, bullies, embarrassment, feeling like an outcast, and struggling to find her own way when it seems like others are trying to steer her in a different direction.  These are real-world, pre-teen (and teen) problems and author Mary Winn Heider addresses them head on within the bounds of this funny, freakish fantasy.

The story gets a little bit bogged down about two-thirds of the way through as all the various story-lines and subplots start to wrap up.  It’s a poignant comedy so everything has to wrap up. But this is where we discover that maybe there was just a tad too much included (personally, I don’t think Grandma Vann really added anything to the story).  Still, this is a riotous romp and a heck of a lot of fun.

Looking for a good book?  The Mortification of Fovea Munson by Mary Winn Heider is a delightful, whimsical, and very poignant tale for middle school readers.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Mortification of Fovea Munson

author: Mary Winn Heider

publisher: Disney-Hyperion

ISBN: 148478054X

hardcover, 336 pages

WICKED WONDERS – Ellen Klages

Posted by Daniel on July 6, 2018
Posted in: SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I’m sorry to say that I know nothing about Ellen Klages.  I’m sorry about this because this was a really tremendous collection of short fiction.

I’m not quite sure how to define these stories – there’s a wonderful, eclectic mix of fiction here, from style to genres, dramas and comedies. The stories flow easily and the characters are smart, clever, funny, sad, and very, very real.  As Karen Joy Fowler writes in her Introduction:

Ellen’s young protagonists are both tough and sensitive. Like so many of us, they don’t quite fit in. So they’re always looking for the chance, unavailable in their homes and schools and communities, to be their true selves. This desire to live authentically, to speak with one’s true voice, is where Ellen’s work cuts the deepest.

There really isn’t a bad story in this collection and I haven’t been this excited about a collection of stories since I read Margaret Atwood’s Bluebeard’s Eggs back in 1986. A few stories stood above the rest….

In “Hey, Presto!” a young girl visits her father – a magician – in London and the two bond over the science behind the tricks.

Like many nerds, I consider myself a gamer – board and card games, not video games – and “Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s” had an interesting game theme that really hooked me.

“Goodnight Moons” is the most science fiction-y story in the collection and yet, like most great fiction, it’s about people. In this case, a woman has fought her whole life to be an astronaut on a Mars mission. Once in flight, a serious complication arises and the woman, Zoe has a serious, life-changing decision to make.

Possibly the best story in the collection, “Woodsmoke,” is intense and beautiful in some way.  The sense of nostalgia is strong for those of us who are old enough to remember summer camp with some fondness. The story is really powerful.

“The Scary Ham” is a very funny story which is more of a memory than a piece of fiction.  Here Klages brings us into the room with her remarkable writing, whether we want to be there or not.

It is because of books like this that I keep reading works by authors I am not already familiar with … the delight in ‘discovering’ a powerful literary voice. This collection is highly recommended.

Looking for a good book?  Wicked Wonders by Ellen Klages is a collection of short stories that are powerful, touching, and very much worth reading.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Wicked Wonders

author: Ellen Klages

publisher: Tachyon Publications

ISBN: 1616962615

paperback, 284 pages

KILLING RACHEL – Anne Cassidy

Posted by Daniel on July 5, 2018
Posted in: MYSTERY, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I have often enjoyed YA novels but it’s only been in the last couple of years that I’ve come to enjoy mysteries so this is possibly one of the first books I’ve read that is a cross between the two.  It also happens to be one of the oldest books in my Advance Reading Copy queue.  And now I wish it had stayed in the queue.

First, this is apparently a second book in a series – though I’m not convinced that it matters.  The problems with the book aren’t about character back story or our not understanding a character motivation because it might have been set up in a previous book.  No, the problem is probably more to do with lack of motivation.

Rose’s parents went missing a few years ago.  Rose is convinced they are dead, but her brother Joshua thinks there’s a conspiracy afoot that has them in hiding. Rose and Joshua get different stories from others and the case of their disappearance appears to be coming to a close.

This is the story that is carried over from the first book (or so I gather).

Here, Rose is getting calls and texts from an old friend, Rachel, asking for Rose’s help. But Rose and Rachel had a falling out and Rose is not particularly keen on helping.  In fact….

Rachel has been found dead, drowned in a lake near her school. It’s ruled a suicide but Rose doesn’t believe that to be true.  She takes it upon herself to investigate.

This book was DULL.  For a mystery, with two running plots, this was excruciatingly slow. And part of what makes this slow is that the characters aren’t very interesting.  The most interesting character in the book is the missing parents.

There is no ‘chemistry’ between any of the characters and you really just don’t care about anyone and you could almost understand Rachel’s death as a suicide in this very dull world.

Looking for a good book? Me, too, because this wasn’t it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Killing Rachel

author: Anne Cassidy

series: The Murder Notebooks #2

publisher: Walker Childrens

ISBN: 0802734162

hardcover, 352 pages