Book #28 of 2024: Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian The Weird Western vibes of this adventure novel are delightful, presenting a version of the post-Civil War midwest that’s populated with demons, ghouls, and similar entities, all treated matter-of-factly as threats that an unwary traveler might encounter like any other. I’m less sold on the plot, …
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TV Review: True Detective, season 4
TV #8 of 2024: True Detective, season 4 Officially subtitled Night Country, the latest installment of this sporadic anthology series takes place in a remote section of Alaska, during the time of year when it stays dark for weeks on end. Unsurprisingly, that turns out to be a great setting for showcasing the program’s typical …
Book Review: Book of Thunder by John Peel
Book #27 of 2024: Book of Thunder by John Peel (Diadem #4) The third Diadem story wrapped up the major plot arcs that had been driving the action thus far, which means that this next volume has to function as a bit of a proof-of-concept for the saga moving forward. What are these books about, …
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Book Review: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Book #26 of 2024: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig This 2023 title is a major new biography of the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., representing the first such work to be published in over three decades. It draws on extensive interviews with his surviving loved ones and colleagues, as well as …
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TV Review: Animorphs, season 2
TV #7 of 2024: Animorphs, season 2 At just six episodes in length (following 20 the year before), this second season of the late-90s TV adaptation of Animorphs plays out rather like a cheap afterthought. While I ultimately found some of the first run‘s quirks to be mildly endearing, it’s harder to mount a defense …
Book Review: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott
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 Review: The Marvels (2023)
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 Review: Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
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 Review: In the Company of Gentlemen by Victoria Goddard
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 Review: Doctor Who: The Star Beast by Gary Russell
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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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 