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All posts for the month February, 2019

FRAMING FAN FICTION – Kristina Busse

Posted by Daniel on February 15, 2019
Posted in: NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I have a tremendous interest in fandom and fan interests having been one of the early participants in fandom (mid-1970’s). I’ve been interested in other books published by the University of Iowa that have been about fandom and fan interests, and those that I’ve read have been quite interesting.  Unfortunately I can’t say that about this particular volume.

First, let’s start with the writing itself.  It is pretty clear, to me at least, that this was written as a thesis. That doesn’t necessarily make it ‘bad’ but in this case the presentation is incredibly dry and dispassionate. It is a critical look without any apparent desire … which is strange because author Kristina Busse mentions being a part of fandom. You would never guess by the writing here.  I attribute this to professors who want to see this sort of not-involved/observer writer.

We also get that classic school writing that has Busse starting each chapter telling us what we’re about to read and then a conclusion telling us what we just read. And rather than footnotes or end notes we get a constant array of parentheses citing sources throughout the book.

I’ve read books like this before and without being an academic myself I’ve just never found this sort of writing particularly interesting.

The subtitle of this book is “Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities.” Okay, aside from sounding like a thesis paper, this is quite interesting to me. This is part of the reason I requested to read this book. Fan fiction and fandom can create a real community and I was curious how Busse would report on the social aspects, as well as the writing, of these fan communities.

But she doesn’t.

Or, what I should say, is that she gets much more specific. I think that the bulk of this research paper is about the erotic fiction in fandom.

The book is sectioned into three parts.  The first part is titled “Slash as Indentifactory Practices.” For those who aren’t familiar with the term, according to Wikipedia: “Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on interpersonal attraction and sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.”

The second section is titled “Canon, Context, and Consensus” which only touches on sex in the third of the three essays.

Part three is “Community and Its Discontents” which doesn’t sound like it would discuss erotica, but the three essays are: “My life is a WIP on my LJ: Slashing the Slasher and the Reality of Celebrity and Internet Performances”; “Geek Hierarchies, Boundary Policing, and the Gendering of the Good Fan”; and “Fictional Consents and the Ethical Enjoyment of the Dark Desires”.

I’m not opposed to a research book on the eros in fan fiction, but I sure would like to know that’s what I’m about to read.

I will say that it’s clear Busse is quite knowledgeable on the subject and has done a tremendous amount of research here and I’d like to see her write something that isn’t meant to be graded.

Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work on too many different levels.

Looking for a good book? Unless you’re looking for a potential classroom textbook, Framing Fan Fiction by Kristina Busse is probably not going to hold much interest for the casual reader (or fan).

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

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Framing Fan Fiction: Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities

author: Kristina Busse

publisher: University of Iowa Press

ISBN: 1609385144

paperback, 258 pages

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THE LOST KINGDOM – Matthew J. Kirby

Posted by Daniel on February 13, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Take an adventure story from Jules Verne, give it a Young Adult set of characters, and toss in a pinch of Steampunk and you get something very close to Matthew J. Kirby’s The Lost Kingdom.

Bill Bartram and his father, along with scientists and members of a secret society of philosophers adventure into the American wilderness of pre-Civil War times, to find the followers of Madoc – a Welsh prince. A war with France is brewing and the Bartram’s believe that the Madoc people can help them with the coming war.

With some French soldiers on their heels, the adventurers take a flying ship to the largely-unexplored wilderness in the American west. Just as one might with Jules Verne, they encounter all sorts of terrifying, pre-historic-like creatures. Surviving the journey will be the toughest part of their adventure.

This book is just a heck of a lot of fun.

Bill Bartram is a classic ‘Everyman’ …er, ‘Everyboy‘ type of character.  He’s full of spirit and wonder.  Smart, but not annoyingly over intelligent – dumping information at every opportunity.

The adventure is fast and furious.  There is a constant ‘out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire’ feeling, which is exactly what you want in this sort of book.  Think Mike Mars, or Tom Swift, or any other pulp-age adventure series. And the adventure is three-fold: there’s the goal; there are the encounters on the way to the goal; there is the chase. There is definitely enough to keep a reader engaged.  Add a little mystery with the secret society and you’ve piqued the interest.

This is my first book by Matthew J. Kirby, but I see he’s written a number of others and I look forward to reading more of his work.

Looking for a good book? The Lost Kingdom by Matthew J. Kirby is a delightful adventure for YA readers, reminiscent of Jules Verne.

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

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The Lost Kingdom

author: Matthew J. Kirby

publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 0545274265

hardcover, 348 pages

THE BIG GET-EVEN – Paul Di Filippo

Posted by Daniel on February 11, 2019
Posted in: MYSTERY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

There is really nothing wrong with this book. But there’s nothing special about it, either.

The plot is exactly what you might expect, given the title.  A group of people want to ‘get even’ with someone who never seems to get his comeuppance. Does this plot sound familiar?  Think The Sting; think Ocean’s 11; think any revenge book or film.

So if the plot is not extraordinary (and it’s not) then the only thing to redeem it would be the characters and the characters here are a stereotypical average rag-tag bunch of misfits: a disbarred lawyer, an arsonist, and a woman who will sleep with the enemy to keep him off-balance.

Much of my distaste for the novel comes from the heavy-handed misogyny.  It’s one thing to have characters speaking poorly of women and/or treating them like nothing more than sex objects.  That can be a definite means to establish a character (albeit a pretty easy way to do so). It’s another thing to have the author doing it.  For instance … our lazy, unmotivated (by his own admission) protagonist wakes up to a blow-job from the nubile front desk girl, because … well, he’s so manly and she’s just a stupid, cute young thing – of course she would want to pleasure him!

As you might expect in a one-dimensional story, three-quarters of the book is set-up (and sex). We know what the plan is pretty early on and author Di Filippo doesn’t deviate from that.  The only question is: will they succeed? There’s a lot of story you have to get through before you can find out, and Di Filippo does manage to give us a couple of false endings before the last page, and the last two chapters are actually pretty interesting.

The writing itself was fine, the characterizations lacking, and the plot paper-thin.  This does not make me eager to read another Di Filippo novel and I can not give this much of a recommendation.

Looking for a good book? Cookie-cutter characters, poor impressions of women, and a one-dimensional plot make Paul Di Filippo’s The Big Get-Even a novel worth missing.

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

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The Big Get-Even

author: Paul Di Filippo

publisher: Blackstone

ISBN: 1504783913

hardcover, 345 pages

quotes – Feb 2019

Posted by Daniel on February 9, 2019
Posted in: Thoughts, Uncategorized. Tagged: . Leave a comment

“Sex can kill you dead. To show a woman love is to ask for trouble…”
Peter Wolfe, quoted in Hard-Boiled Anxiety

“I like smooth shiny girls, hard-boiled and loaded with sin.”
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, quoted in Hard-Boiled Anxiety

“A good woman gives sex to get love.”
Karen Huston Karydes – Hard-Boiled Anxiety

“Surely you don’t sleep with the guy unless you know him well enough to know if he is being sensitive or heartless, right?
Fiona Wood – Wildlife

“When the lights are low and the moon-mantas are spreading their wings across the sky, and a girl’s fingers might get the urge to go plowing in the fields.”
Seanan McGuire – Every Heart a Doorway

“When he talks it looks like oral sex.”
Richard Christian Matheson – “Whatever”

“Well, hullo hormones, I thought you had laid down and died.”
MC Beaton – The Blood of an Englishman

“…turns out, if you post an ad on Craigslist saying you’re a horny girl with herpes, guys will deliver themselves to your door like they were pizza. … Pizza that lies about how big it is.”
Ferrett Steinmetz – Flex

“He’d need more than love to turn back time.”
Ferrett Steinmetz – Flex

“I knew what I needed. Simple. To love and be loved. Ambiguity was my enemy.”
Michael Moorcock – The Whispering Swarm

A CIRCLE OF ELEPHANTS – Eric Dinerstein

Posted by Daniel on February 8, 2019
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Just over two years ago I read and reviewed What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein. It was a tremendously beautiful novel. Now Dinerstein is back with a follow-up … A Circle of Elephants.

Thirteen-year-old Nandu works for the Royal Elephant Breeding Center – a newly established program that houses and protects the royal elephants. The center in on the edge of the jungle, which is good for the elephants to have some native land nearby. But even with the protection of Nandu and the others at the Royal Elephant Breeding Center, the animals and humans alike will be challenged by nature and by men.

Poachers are getting more and more bold, killing rhinos and elephants in the area for their tusks, and even the Royal breed are potential targets for these men without morals. Among these men is a poacher with a personal score to settle with Nandu for the trouble he caused earlier (in the previous book).

As before, Dinerstein’s writing is so natural and casual that it is easy to forget that this is a work of fiction and not an actual journal of events. We can’t help but fall in love with the elephants and wilderness that Nandu clearly cares for. And because we’re brought into the story so nicely we also feel the same fear and concern when the animals are in danger.

This book has just a bit more of a didactic feel to it, as if the goal were to make sure we understand the real dangers for the animals, rather than telling a story and letting us recognize those dangerous as we go. Even so, this is too beautiful a book to ignore and I would love to make sure that every middle school student reads the adventures of Nandu – the world couldn’t help but become a better place if youngster could be brought into a world like this.

Looking for a good book? A Circle of Elephants by Eric Dinerstein continues the adventures of Nandu and elephants in India which could have positive life-changing results on young readers.

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

* * * * * *

A Circle of Elephants

author: Eric Dinerstein

series: Nandu #2

publisher: Disney-Hyperion

ISBN: 1368016588

hardcover, 288 pages

SCARLETT HART: MONSTER HUNTER – graphic novel

Posted by Daniel on February 6, 2019
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Ummmmm… no.

I’ve tried to be a little pickier about the graphic novels I request and review, but since I’m not really familiar with a lot of the authors and artists working in the graphic novel industry today, occasionally one slips by me that doesn’t appeal on any level.  Such as this one.

Scarlett Hart is a teen (or pre-teen?) and comes from a family of monster hunters.  She is determined to prove that she is ready to fight monsters as well.  With the aid of the family butler and a number of steampunk-like weapons – often larger than she – Scarlett fends off a number of monsters. But perhaps the most perilous of monsters is Count Stankovic – the family arch nemesis who is out to discredit the Hart family.

I recognize that this is targeted to a younger reading audience, but even school aged children deserve fiction that has plot, motivation, and character development. This is primarily lots of preparation sequence, followed by a quick fight, then a threat, then more preparation…repeat.  It is dull and repetitive and the threat of Stankovic (nice name!) is only slightly redeeming.

The last portion of the book – if a reader can make it that far – is a little bit interesting, when Scarlett finds the family airplane (an unusual gadget that she flies quite easily), but even this doesn’t reach much potential.

The artwork is incredibly sub-par. I was so hoping that this was just a rough draft, but nothing describes it this way.  The sketches included at the end of the book are better drawn and more detailed than the ‘finished’ art throughout.

I found nothing about this book that would make me want to buy it or recommend it to any aged reader.

Looking for a good book? We’ll have to keep looking because this isn’t it.

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

* * * * * *

Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter

author: Marcus Sedgwick

artist: Thomas Taylor

publisher: First Second

ISBN: 1250159849

hardcover, 211 pages

 

HANNA WHO FELL FROM THE SKY – Christopher Meades

Posted by Daniel on February 4, 2019
Posted in: OTHER, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Hanna has grown up in a quaint, secluded village where men have multiple wives and trade their daughters to friends for favors. Or perhaps take a daughter for a wife. Hanna is now promised to a man her father’s age and she would be his fifth wife and the expectation would be that she’s to bear children. But perhaps that’s better than the uncomfortable touching her father does to her. And perhaps her new husband will protect her from the police officer brothers who try to rape her.

And then Hanna meets Daniel – a boy her own age who tries to let her know that she has options, choices, and that could mean a very different life for herself and for her sister.

Since she was a little girl, Hanna has been told that she’s special. Her mother often said that Hanna wasn’t born the way other children were, that Hanna fell from the sky and that her parents were only her guardians. When push comes to shove (literally), Hanna comes to believe this tale, which may make her decision easier to make.

What author Christopher Meades does quite well is provide a tone for the novel that puts the reader into a specific frame of mind while reading this.  He’s also given us a really interesting character in Hanna. She’s both an innocent young girl and a strong young woman depending on the situation she is in, and this contradiction works nicely.

What doesn’t work so well for me is the mystery surrounding Hanna’s fall from the sky, and the ‘backward’/commune community that Hanna is raised in. I understand that there really are communities like this today, but we are never really brought into this world. It feels like a community from the 1800’s … and then they drive cars.  There is no strangeness in an area that should feel strange sometime.

I also felt like Emily, Hanna’s sister, was a lost piece to the book.  She’s in integral part of the opening and the ending – to the point that this feels like Emily’s story – and then she becomes quite secondary throughout the middle portion of the book until we need her again to help the ending move along.

There was also a very strange moment when Hanna’s mother told her to avoid the police-brothers at all costs; that the mother recognized their evil-ness and power.  Her warning is strong and is pointed and she doesn’t let up until Hanna verbally acknowledges that she understands.  And then…!  Just a breath or two later the mother tells Hanna that it’s very important that she retrieves a package that Hanna had left in the brothers’ police car.

I was also extremely uncomfortable with the sexual threats that Hanna faced.  Whether the incest or the rape, these moments made me almost stop reading.  I recognize that making me uncomfortable was possibly the intention and, sadly, there are possibly people who would recognize these moments and look to Hanna’s responses as something to emulate.

Overall, this book did not work for me, but I can understand how it might be a wonderful read for others.

Looking for a good book? Hanna Who Fell From the Sky by Christopher Meades is a frustrating book in which the world-building/setting doesn’t work but the tone really grabs the reader.

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

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Hanna Who Fell From the Sky

author: Christopher Meades

publisher: Park Row

ISBN: 0778328732

hardcover, 342 pages