Book #25 of 2024: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott (The Sun Chronicles #1) The hook for this 2020 space opera is that it’s loosely based on the life of Alexander the Great, as represented here by the female heir to a future queer-normative interstellar empire. In practice, however, I find myself wanting more of that …
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Movie #1 of 2024: The Marvels (2023) A bit of a strange sequel to 2019’s excellent Captain Marvel film. In addition to teaming up the returning cosmic superheroine with the now-adult Monica Rambeau (introduced and given powers on WandaVision) and teenage fangirl Kamala Khan (introduced and given powers on Ms. Marvel), this title takes place …
Book #24 of 2024: Strong Female Character by Fern Brady I’m not familiar with author Fern Brady’s comedy work, but she’s written a heartfelt and eye-opening memoir about her experiences as a woman on the autism spectrum: how getting that diagnosis as an adult in her thirties both helped her navigate her life going forward …
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Book #23 of 2024: In the Company of Gentlemen by Victoria Goddard I’ve been bouncing around the timeline of author Victoria Goddard’s Nine Worlds cozy fantasy series, the volumes of which are interconnected but pretty forgiving of any specific reading order. This novella recounts one particular tale of the Red Company, her infamous band of …
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Book #22 of 2024: Doctor Who: The Star Beast by Gary Russell Novelizations are a bit of an odd genre in terms of their target audience, especially in this day and age when the original piece of media that’s being adapted is generally accessible to all. (Decades ago, buying or renting a movie / show …
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Book #21 of 2024: Book of Magic by John Peel (Diadem #3) Somewhat surprisingly, this third Diadem novel wraps up the major plot arc that’s been driving the action thus far, and from what I can recall, things are pretty episodic from here on out. One wonders if the series was originally planned as a …
Book #20 of 2024: Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward Author Jesmyn Ward’s usual lyrical prose is on fine display in this latest novel, and it wouldn’t surprise me if other readers enjoy the surrounding work more than I have. It’s certainly a brutal read, depicting a young enslaved woman in the antebellum south who …
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TV #6 of 2024: Classic Doctor Who, season 10 Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor still has another year to go before he regenerates into Tom Baker, but this penultimate run feels like a farewell tour for his era in so many ways. The final story, The Green Death, culminates in the exit of costar Katy Manning …
Book #19 of 2024: By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie (Tommy and Tuppence #4) The year is 1968, and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford are no longer the “young adventurers” that they were originally dubbed in their 1922 debut. While not quite old enough to land in Ms. Marple‘s cohort — Tommy even …
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TV #5 of 2024: Star Trek: Prodigy, season 1 This animated program gets better as its first year goes on, but I remain confused about who exactly the target audience is supposed to be. On the one hand: the tone is fairly YA, the majority of the main characters are young teens (or the alien …
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