Aug 23 2024

Tantalizing Tales — August 2024 — Part Two

We have a bumper issue for the second part of our monthly roundup this August, beginning with a book that I did get to read this month but didn’t feel quite merited an entire post of its own.

Yahgz Vol 2: The Gwash War by Art Baltazar of Tiny Titans and Itty Bitty Hellboy fame was another vivid, humorous installment of the children’s graphic novel series. A lot of stuff happens in it as our intrepid heroes traverse the planet, hoping to save the capital city from their mortal enemies. Even as some of them attempt to hold the vengeful Gwash at bay, the others seek out twin objects that could hold the secret to stopping the Gwash for good.

Despite the abundant plot, I felt that this installment felt far more like a bridge from the interesting first volume to whatever is planned for Book 3. Mr Baltazar’s art is kinetic, fun and cartoony, but so much is crammed into this book that none of it feels important as anything more than a means to an end. I’ll definitely be interested in seeing where he goes in the next volume: hopefully, it will have enough meaningful content for me to be able to devote an entire review to!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/23/tantalizing-tales-august-2024-part-two/

Aug 22 2024

Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning

I cannot be the only person who has the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song run through their head every time they come across the words of this title. Tho as I write this review, I’m listening to the horror-movie-soundtrack oeuvre of Isabel LaRosa, while shivering slightly in the unseasonable (and thankfully temporary) chill of local weather. While I’m glad it’ll warm up again soon, the weather and music combine to make the perfect atmosphere for this excellent spooky season read.

After being cancelled for an injudicious tweet — one that’s received a backlash so bad, it’s cost our primary narrator her job, her fiance and her savings — the sitcom actress most famed for her role as the perennially peppy Willow checks into Camp Castaway. The remote retreat for adults advertises itself as a place for people to unplug from all their electronics while getting back to nature and undergoing a little group therapy in the process. Attendees are encouraged to assume aliases upon arrival. Our narrator, having been too panicked and overwhelmed to read through all the promotional material her agent pressed on her before getting there, unthinkingly chooses Willow as her alter ego.

This is kind of a Freudian slip, because in many ways the actress does aspire to be more like Willow. But she’s also hiding secrets that she’s starting to believe might not be worth keeping buried any more. Ironically, she’s in a place filled with secrets, and not just because the other campers all carry guilty burdens of their own. Camp Castaway has its own sordid history, that Willow starts to piece together after a series of unsettling events begins to befall them. Another camper vanishes after telling the rest of the group the local legend of the murderous Knock-Knock Nancy, and Willow finds a creepy doll’s head in her cabin, with a threatening note tucked inside. There couldn’t actually be a vengeful spirit haunting the woods around Camp Castaway, could there? But when the bodies start piling up, and the heads literally start rolling, Willow and her new friends will have to do everything in their power to defeat a ghostly killer and survive.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/22/heads-will-roll-by-josh-winning/

Aug 21 2024

Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones

One of the weird things about reading an author’s entire body of work from the start of their oeuvre, especially if you’ve already cherry picked parts of it as a lifelong avid reader, is that you can see the themes develop throughout the creator’s lifetime and echo back and forth through the books. Dogsbody, for example, feels very much like the precursor for The Game, tho feels far more successful as a novel. Perhaps I’ll change my mind when I revisit the latter book, but for now Dogsbody impresses me as being superior, tho definitely still not without its flaws.

The story revolves around the luminary inhabiting the star Sirius, who’s known throughout the novel by the name of his star. Hot-headed Sirius is convicted of murder and, perhaps more gravely, of losing the weapon he used to kill his fellow luminary — both charges which he denies. The Zoi, as it’s known, has fallen to Earth, a planet belonging to the minor luminary Sol. As Sirius’ punishment, he’s sentenced to be reborn as a mortal on Earth. If he can retrieve the Zoi during his mortal incarnation’s lifetime, then he’ll be reinstituted as a luminary. But if he dies, he dies.

After the trial, Sirius awakens in the body of a newborn puppy. The vexed owner of his purebred mother decides to toss the majority of the mongrel litter into the river. Sirius is rescued downstream by Kathleen, an Irish girl who’s been sent to live with her distant English relatives. Mr Duffield, her uncle, is kind but oblivious, while his wife Duffie resents Kathleen with a burning passion. The Duffield’s youngest son Robin tries to be an ally, but the older son Basil is casually disdainful of her in the way of all self-absorbed teenagers.

Kathleen is determined to keep Leo for her own, begging Duffie to let her have him in exchange for doing most of the housework. As Sirius grows and bonds with Kathleen, he gradually becomes more aware of why he’s on Earth and what he must do, even as forces work against both his and Kathleen’s happiness. Will he be able to retrieve the Zoi and save Kathleen from a life of drudgery and abuse?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/21/dogsbody-by-diana-wynne-jones/

Aug 20 2024

Tower, Vol 1 by Camrus Johnson & Kelsey Barnhart

with art by ChrisCross and Loyiso Mkize, and colors by Andrew Dalhouse.

Imagine waking up in the middle of a video game, and not a fun one with multiple save points and animal friends either. Okay, so there are animal companions to be found in the titular Tower where the game takes place, but our contestants don’t find that out for a while (and these companions really aren’t the cute and cuddly kind.) In the meantime, the players all have to figure out how to survive and win whatever this competition is, even as many of them hope that this really is just a video game, and that when they kill another contestant it’s not actually for real.

That’s what happens to Casandra, Kimi and Mac, the three main viewpoint characters of this comic book series. Casandra is so disoriented at waking up under such strange circumstances that she isn’t even able to grab a weapon before running from her starting zone to find answers. She attempts to make allies by defusing fights, eventually recruiting a small team to travel together through the computer-generated maze of the tower that they’re trapped in. But as they each slowly begin to remember how they got here, distrust and the desire to win unravel whatever fragile bonds they’ve built, even as killers in the guise of computer errors stalk the hallways, destroying contestants for their own mysterious purposes.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/20/tower-vol-1-by-camrus-johnson-kelsey-barnhart/

Aug 19 2024

The Duchess Of Kokora by Nikhil Prabala (EXCERPT)

We have another great excerpt for you, readers, with a YA fantasy perfect for fans of Bridgerton and The Selection! Ngl, as soon as I read this, I knew I had to cram it into my already overstuffed work schedule, but since I still haven’t yet found the time, here’s a taster for the rest of you!

Queer romance is front and center, with tension at every turn, as a young noblewoman’s pursuit of true love takes a far-reaching turn that could have consequences for more than just her own kingdom. The Duchess of Kokora, Phera Ylir Mdana herself, has entered the marriage games of the neighboring kingdom of Ryene. But she’s not there to woo the dashing Prince Dominic. Her true objective? To win back one of the other contestants, Lady Rocelle Virae — Phera’s true love and ex-fiancee. Love proves to be a game like any other when Phera must not only mend matters with her childhood sweetheart, but conceal her true intentions in order to earn votes and stay in the competition.

As long-brewing political tensions simmer beneath the surface, the playful veneer of the competition begins to crack. Phera, Dominic and Rocelle soon find themselves united in a desperate bid to prevent a duel that threatens the integrity of the kingdom, the stability of the continent, and any hope of a happily ever after.

Read on for an excerpt that will likely endear the charming Duchess to you as much as it has to me!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/19/the-duchess-of-kokora-by-nikhil-prabala-excerpt/

Aug 16 2024

Reborn by Abraham Rodriguez

On the one hand, I’m happy for the interest in poetry that the viral success of Rupi Kaur has brought mainstream. On the other, well, you get the feeling that everyone feels that they can write poetry now.

And yes, to a certain extent, everyone can write poetry. But too often writers confuse epigraphs with epigrams, and churn out the former while utterly convinced that they’re producing the latter. Abraham Rodriguez is a talented performer and a writer with plenty of potential who has also, alas, fallen victim to this mindset. There are some really good poems in this second collection of his, but there are also several baffling choices in the shorter works that speak, I believe, to his relative youth (he’s 24!) and perhaps to a need for a more rigorous cutting process, if not outright rethinking of the shape of the finished book.

Honestly, as I was reading this collection, I kept feeling less like it was a completed entity and more like the blueprint for what could be a really impressive memoir or novel in verse. The progression of the poems goes from Mr Rodriguez’s childhood; his struggles with the church and the abuse he suffered; the pleasures and heartbreak of sex and romance, and his experiences in Hollywood, as well as the body image issues he suffered as someone who must, of necessity, trade on his looks to succeed. He writes on all these subjects with honesty and raw emotion, so there’s no doubting the creative core that lies at the heart of this endeavor. But while this collection works just fine altogether, too few of the poems are capable of standing alone. “Welcome to the closet” and “Counting my calories” are fortunately some of the stronger pieces. “Whose fault is that?” and “We take turns”, on the other hand, aren’t anywhere near as clever as they’re trying to be.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/16/reborn-by-abraham-rodriguez/

Aug 15 2024

A Phone Call Away by Rich Douek & Russell Mark Olson

Interestingly, the cover only credits the artist as Russell Olson, perhaps due to space and legibility issues. Full credit to this creative team for one of the best crime comics I’ve ever read, tho! And, given the sheer amount of crime fiction I read, that is saying a lot!

A Phone Call Away is the story of the Walker family, who survived the unimaginable to turn their grief into a fight for kids worldwide. Fourteen years ago, Emma and Andrew Walker were your typical young couple with a six year-old kid, Mandy. When Mandy was kidnapped and her mutilated body found a week later, the Walkers were catapulted into the national spotlight. Seizing the opportunity, the Walkers used the attention to build not only their careers but a charitable foundation named after their late daughter. After several years, they also had another child, Meghan, whose upbringing has been documented on their wildly popular reality TV show, Second Chances.

So when they go to wake Meghan on the morning of her sixth birthday and find her gone, it’s the worst kind of deja vu. Someone has clearly broken in and taken her, but who? As the cracks in their picture-perfect facade begin to widen, a group of people still affected by — if not downright obsessed with — what happened to Mandy fourteen years ago converge in order to uncover the truth… and hopefully save a little girl’s life in the process.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/15/a-phone-call-away-by-rich-douek-russell-mark-olson/

Aug 14 2024

That’s Not Fair by Shinsuke Yoshitake

Wit is infused into every detail of this children’s book that has just as much insight for parents as it does for their precocious kids.

The young girl who grumpily exclaims the title of the book on its cover has had enough. Adults are always getting away with bossing their kids around unfairly, so she’s going to march up to her Daddy and not only make a formal complaint, but also demand answers. Why do adults get to stay up so late after telling their not even sleepy kids to go to bed? Why do they get to order kids into baths? And how come they don’t have to eat food they dislike but kids need to eat all their green peas?

Daddy, who was happily minding his own business reading a book when she barges in, decides to answer her questions, beginning with the first. At night, he claims, Santa Claus’ investigators come to check on whether kids are being good by going to bed on time, a task his daughter has been acing. His daughter, being no dummy, is highly skeptical of this story, and continues to press for answers. Daddy starts making up all sorts of wild stories to answer her other questions, as father and daughter strive, in this roundabout way, to better understand one another. The apple, ofc, does not fall far from the tree when Daddy turns the tables and points out that sometimes kids can be unfair, too.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/14/thats-not-fair-by-shinsuke-yoshitake/

Aug 13 2024

Zephyr’s War by James R Gregory (EXCERPT)

Hello, readers! We have a fresh excerpt from a Wall Street thriller publishing today. Inspired by the author’s experience in corporate branding and international public speaking, particularly in Ukraine, this debut novel is a gripping tale of ambition, temptation and the precarious nature of wealth’s pursuit.

Growing up in the shadow of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Zep Zephyr dedicated his young life to growing sunflowers on his family’s farm. When the Chernobyl reactor exploded, Zep and his brother Ziggy set out on a journey to start anew. Driven by the overwhelming desire to embrace capitalism, Zep and his brother make their way to New York City. Zep immerses himself in the world of finance and soon discovers the alluring promise of great fortunes: an initial public offering on Wall Street. Yet his triumphs draw the attention of a sinister syndicate — the Russian mafia — who desire a slice of his success.

Meanwhile, the Securities Exchange Commission and the FBI have launched a relentless investigation into the surging criminal underworld seeking to infiltrate Wall Street’s impregnable fortress. Time becomes the enemy as the clock ticks ominously, propelling Zep into a high-stakes battle for his reputation, his future, and his very life.

Read on for a peek into Zep’s life, both old and new!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/13/zephyrs-war-by-james-r-gregory-excerpt/

Aug 12 2024

Hanami: You, Me, & 200 Sq Ft In Japan by Julia Cejas

Younger me would be absolutely shocked to hear that I no longer have the time to read full blurbs or the back cover matter of books anymore, but such are the perils of having so much to read, and so little time to do it in! Present day me was thus quite surprised to get several pages into this book and realize that the protagonists are both foreigners who come to Japan to live for an extended period of time, and aren’t a Japanese woman and her foreign boyfriend, as many of these biographies tend to be. Perhaps that is just my confirmation bias tho, as an Asian woman and reader who is often exposed to same.

But that worked out okay because this book was even better than I expected! I was thinking that this would be the portrayal of a Japanese woman’s struggle to integrate her foreign boyfriend into her local community and culture, so was admittedly a little wary of what this actually is: the tale of two Spanish citizens with no ties to Japan besides their ambitions, moving to Tokyo to see if they can make a go of life there. Marc has just lost his job as a civil engineer and Julia is still struggling to get her career as an illustrator to take off. In their early 30s and with no dependents, what better time to pool their savings and severance pay to try to live for a while in Japan? If they happen to get jobs while they’re at it, then even better, as Marc figures he can finally pursue his lifelong dream of composing music whereas Julia can basically work from anywhere with Internet.

The couple prepare for their trip by taking language lessons in advance of enrolling in a Japanese language school while staying in Tokyo. But nothing really prepares them for actually living in a country where they know so little of the language and customs. Fortunately, Julia and Marc are ready to learn, as Ms Cejas herself beautifully and hilariously details in this autobiographical graphic novel.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/12/hanami-you-me-200-sq-ft-in-japan-by-julia-cejas/