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Blog Launch
Hello! My name is Joe Kessler, and I’ve been blogging in one form or another since 2004. This is the launch of my new home for that, where I’ll be posting book reviews and other short pieces of writing. I’m also debuting a Patreon site for anyone who would like to support my efforts through… Read more
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Book Review: The Fisherman by John Langan
Book #110 of 2026: The Fisherman by John Langan I’m of two minds over this supernatural horror novel, which is only fitting, since it offers a very bifurcated plot. The first and last quarter of the text are delivered to us by the main protagonist, a middle-aged widow who starts fishing as a way to… Read more
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Movie Review: Doctor Who (1996)
Movie #33 of 2026: Doctor Who (1996) Objectively, there’s a lot about this TV movie — a continuation of the Classic Doctor Who run of 1963-1989 and failed pilot for further onscreen adventures — that doesn’t really work. The technobabble plot is difficult to follow and crams in unexplained references to things like Daleks that… Read more
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Book Review: This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum
Book #109 of 2026: This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum Overall a fairly generic Gone Girl knockoff, in which a guy shows up at his best friend’s house to record the podcast that they host together, only to find that she and her husband are each missing amid signs of a struggle.… Read more
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Book Review: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Book #108 of 2026: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia #2) [Note: this is an updated version of my review from 2020.] This is the second volume of its series by internal chronology, but I maintain that these stories are best approached in publication order instead.… Read more
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View Askewniverse movies, ranked
Overall rating: ★★★☆☆ Previously on Film Franchise Fridays:
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Movie Review: Clerks III (2022)
Movie #32 of 2026: Clerks III (2022) This latest View Askewniverse release has two distinct modes, neither of which is entirely effective. It’s partly another slice-of-life drama like its predecessors, though less about low-wage drudgery at this point and more just catching up with the two main characters, who by now are small business owners… Read more
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Book Review: The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum
Book #107 of 2026: The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum Seventeen-year-old Hollis is a troubled kid, getting into fights at school, suppressing a certain suicidal ideation, and resigning himself to the fact that he’s going to be stuck in his dying blue-collar small town forever. That makes him the perfect victim for the… Read more
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Book Review: Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian
Book #106 of 2026: Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian (The Strata Wars #1) [Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with the first author.] This collaborative foray into the urban fantasy genre leaves a lot to be desired, and reading between the lines of the co-writers’ public statements, it sounds like the… Read more
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TV Review: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, season 2
TV #31 of 2026: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, season 2 On an episodic level, this second and final run of the late-aughts Terminator show works alright, I guess. The character dynamics of a fraught relationship between mother and son and the awkward peace with their spectrum-coded cyborg ally remain compelling, and the action sequences… Read more
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Book Review: Minute Cryptic by Angas Tiernan and Liam Runnalls
Book #105 of 2026: Minute Cryptic by Angas Tiernan and Liam Runnalls Cryptic crosswords are a sort of puzzle, more common in England, in which the answers to clues involve creative wordplay rather than outside trivia. Generally the solution will be a synonym for either the start or the end of the prompt, with the… Read more
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 