Book Review: Stone Mad

Book Review: Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear This is the second in the “Karen Memory” series, and this review may have some spoilers for the first volume, also titled Karen Memory. Karen Memery and her boon companion Priya have bought a little ranch house outside of Rapid City in Washington Territory, and are moving in together. … Continue reading Book Review: Stone Mad

Book Review: Lot’s Return to Sodom

Book Review: Lot’s Return to Sodom by Sandra Brannan Disclaimer:  I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate writing this review.  No other compensation was offered or requested. Following the events of the previous book, In the Belly of Jonah, mine operator Liv Bergen is mostly healed up, but taking the last… Continue reading Book Review: Lot’s Return to Sodom

Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volumes 21, 24 & 26

Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volumes 21, 24 & 26by Rumiko Takahashi Quick recap:  Rinne Rokudo is a shinigami, a psychopomp who helps lost spirits find their way to the afterlife.  He’s part-human, and must use expensive tools to make up for his weak powers.  Between these expenses and debts saddled on Rinne by his deadbeat father Sabato,… Continue reading Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volumes 21, 24 & 26

Book Review: SYLO

Book Review: SYLO by D.J. MacHale Tucker Pierce is warming the bench at his high school football game on Pemberwick Island off the coast of Maine.  In the final minutes of the game, the team’s star player scores the winning touchdown–and dies.  For no apparent reason.  Later that night, Tucker and his brainy friend Quinn… Continue reading Book Review: SYLO

Book Review: Great Thrillers: 101 Suspenseful Tales

Book Review: Great Thrillers: 101 Suspenseful Tales compiled by Stefan Dziemianowicz The definition of “thriller” is a little loose in this fun anthology, though most of the stories do have at least some suspense.  It feels more like the compiler picked a bunch of the public domain stories he liked, but didn’t have a strong… Continue reading Book Review: Great Thrillers: 101 Suspenseful Tales

Book Review: The Wanderer and the New West

Book Review: The Wanderer and the New West by Adam Bender Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate this review.  No other compensation was requested or offered. Fifty years ago, the Born-Again Patriots party was a rising independent political party with a platform of libertarianism and isolationism.  About… Continue reading Book Review: The Wanderer and the New West

Book Review: Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics

Book Review: Manga!  Manga!  The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik L. Schodt Back in the early 1980s, manga and anime fandom was tiny, with almost no material being available in English save dubs heavily edited for American children’s television and expunged as much as possible of their Japanese roots.   It required a certain amount… Continue reading Book Review: Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics

Book Review: Enchantress of Numbers

Book Review: Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852) is better known to us today as Ada Lovelace.  Her primary claim to fame is her “notes” on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which anticipated uses for this theoretical calculating device far beyond mere number-crunching, and provide the first known published… Continue reading Book Review: Enchantress of Numbers

Book Review: The Beasts of Tarzan

Book Review: The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and his lovely wife Jane have settled down in London with their infant son Jack.  I guess this is the end of the adventures of Tarzan since everyone knows that marriage and children mean that you’re never going to be interesting again. … Continue reading Book Review: The Beasts of Tarzan

Manga Review: D. Gray-Man Volumes 9-10

Manga Review: D. Gray-Man Volumes 9-10 by Katsura Hoshino In an alternate late 19th Century, European and Asian civilization is under attack by beings called “akuma.”  These monsters (made by tricking/bargaining humans into wearing mechanical bodies that then wear the skin of the original human) are under the loose control of the Millennium Earl.  He… Continue reading Manga Review: D. Gray-Man Volumes 9-10