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Book Review: Saga, Vol. 3

2/28/2017

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Book Review:
​
Saga, Vol. 3

​Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
 
Image Comics 2014
 
A+

The Basics:
 
Alana, Marko & co. are hiding out with their favorite author, D. Oswald Heist, while the hunt for their illicit fledgling family continues. The Will & co. debate their continued pursuit of the family on hallucination planet, Prince Robot IV is malfunctioning, and a pair of reporters of uncertain allegiances enter the search.
 
The Downside:
 
It would not be a stretch to call this arc a lull in Saga’s action. That said, action needs an occasional lull, and a lull with these characters remains more riveting than most characters at their best.
 
The Upside:
 
Novel lovers and especially writers will get a lot of private laughs out of the interlude spent hiding out with Heist, which are hopefully not too boring for everyone else. There’s a lovely skewering of the old adage “kill your darlings.”
 
We’re introduced to several intriguing new characters, including the Will’s sister, the Brand, a fellow mercenary whose shadow he’s had to live in, and in spite of their estrangement, his closest family. Then there are Upsher and Doff, the journalist couple newly investigating the fugitive family, whose relationship is straining painfully under not only their planet’s anti-gay sentiment but their own conflicting interpretations of journalistic ethics.
 
The lull in action is clearly not an accident or a simple matter of rhythm but a deliberate reflection of the way life is sometimes most difficult between catastrophes, in the day to day activities of getting by. Having made their escape for now, Alana and Marko have to figure out what kind of life they’ve escaped to, how to provide for their daughter, and how to balance being parents with being people. After losing her husband, Marko’s mother is living the bittersweet progression of falling in love again, if not in exactly the same way, and after being liberated from Sextillion, Sophie faces the monumental task of reclaiming an identity she barely had the opportunity to develop in the first place before having it taken away.
 
That’s not to say that Vol. 3 is completely lacking in action. Marko and Gwendolyn finally have the confrontation he’s been dodging from the start, and The Will’s group’s encounter with mind-controlling hallucinogens spills characteristically way out of hand. It's a joy, as ever, that makes you want to turn the page even and especially when the pages run out.


​

Agree? Disagree? Comments are always welcome (just keep it civil, folks)! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!

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Book Review: Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

2/21/2017

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​Book Review:

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances

​John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
 
Speak, 2008
 
B+


The Basics:
 
On the night of a Christmas Eve blizzard, Jubilee is trapped in a strange town after her parents’ arrest, Tobin and his two best friends embark on a quest for a Waffle House full of cheerleaders, and Addie is determined to prove her capacity for selflessness at least to her friends, if not to the ex she can’t let go. The three searches for love, each written by a different rightly renowned YA author, interlock and collide amid holiday miracles.
 
The Downside:
 
The last story of the three, Addie’s, falls into the unfortunate role of having to tie all the threads together for the others, making it the weakest in its own right, and leaving Addie’s personal epiphany feeling as though it’s sparked simply by reaching the point in her arc where she’s supposed to have an epiphany, rather than by natural progression.
 
The use of a Waffle House full of snowed-in cheerleaders as the unifying ingredient across the three stories doesn’t always come across quite as sensitively as is clearly the intent. After seeing them used as a symbol and canvas for several other characters to project their differing attitudes, I would have loved to see the multi-perspective format used to take us inside the life of one of the cheerleaders to see how she views herself, but no such luck.
 
The ultimate message seems to be that they’re not mystical creatures, they’re not property to be controlled, and that the coolest girls are the non-cheerleaders who don’t allow themselves to be used as sexual accessories to the more respected exploits of boys, which is all good stuff. However, the female perspective to this effect rings a bit hollow when the characters providing it are always in a position of jealousy, and the male dehumanization of the cheerleaders is harder to accept as the curable youthful ignorance and lack of communication it’s meant to be when those male characters are endowed with all the intellect, perceptiveness, and perspicacity required to deliver John Green dialogue.
 
The Upside:
 
Whatever accidental inconsistencies they may cause in the characters’ social awareness and aptitude, John Green’s sharp wit and evident heart are as enjoyable as ever in Tobin’s struggle with the terrifying prospect of taking a chance on the female best friend he loves, rather than searching for the next pretty girl he’s not afraid to lose. Lauren Myracle brings her usual vivid rendering of high school friendship in spite of the confines of the final story, and Maureen Johnson (the one whose other work I’m least familiar with), starts things off with a bang, or rather, with a double-dose of the humor and genuine sweetness that runs throughout all three storylines.
 
While the three stories are each capable of standing alone (the first two especially), and all three authors play to their own strengths, occasionally even with some gentle fun poked at each other, the snowed-in town and the tone of romantic holiday spirit are seamlessly cohesive.
 
Let It Snow is like a smaller scale, teenage version of Love, Actually, without the inexplicable fat jokes or creepy theme of powerful men exploiting female subordinates, but with all the unabashedly heartstring-tugging sentimentality and double the smiles.
 
Pity this review is going up in February, thanks to receiving the book as a perfect Christmas present, but… belated Valentine’s Day reading, anyone?




​
Agree? Disagree? Comments are always welcome (just keep it civil, folks)! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!
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Cover Reveals and Pre-Orders for The Prospero Chronicles!

2/13/2017

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Hey, everyone, I've been working on getting these listings up and functioning for a couple weeks now, but I think the time's come for an official announcement.

As you can see by the fancy little countdown widget to your right, we do, finally, at long, long last, have a release date for Slivers, book 3 of The Prospero Chronicles!

That's right. Ben, Mina, their mismatched friends, and their shapeshifting foes will continue their battle for the odd little forest town of Prospero and the fate of all humanity on July 6, 2017.

Yes, this July.

"But wait!" you cry (or I hope a few of you do), "I can't even get my hands on the first two volumes of The Prospero Chronicles, since those darned contract squabbles pushed them out of print!"

Well, good news! Leading up to the release of Slivers, Matt and I are also going to be releasing our independent new editions of volumes 1&2.

With snazzy new covers, naturally.

So who wants a peek? I do, I do!


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Under normal circumstances, Ben and Mina would never have had reason to speak to each other. He’s an easy-going people person with a healthy skepticism about the paranormal; she’s a dangerously obsessive monster-hunter with a crippling fear of betrayal. But the small Northern California town of Prospero, with its rich history of cryptid sightings, miracles, and mysterious disappearances, has no normal circumstances to offer.

When Ben’s missing childhood friend, Haley Perkins, stumbles out of Prospero’s surrounding woods and right into her own funeral, Ben and Mina are forced to work together to uncover what happened to her. Different as they are, their unlikely friendship may be the only thing that can save the town, and possibly the world, from its insidious invaders.



"A snapping, crackling, popping homage to classic horror that alludes to no optimistic resolution—all the more reason for a series." -Kirkus Reviews


"A promising series opener, this will satisfy those readers who like their scary stories to be as clever as they are chilling." -Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books


This one's coming back on June 6, 2017, and this time the ebook edition will be hitting digital shelves at $0.99.

Pre-order links? Oh yeah, we've got 'em:


Amazon (Paperback)

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Smashwords

Indigo


Looking for the Kindle edition? The Kindle store listing won't be up for a couple months, but Smashwords has Kindle format available to preorder now.


But what about book 2?


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When autumn descends on Prospero, California, Ben hopes the normality of the new school year may offer a reprieve from the town’s paranormal horrors. Mina knows all too well that there are no reprieves and no normality to be had in Prospero, but even she can’t prepare for what the coming year holds.  

On top of the vivid hallucinations that have plagued Mina since the attack on the Warehouse, and the brewing Splinter civil war that threatens all of humanity, inside the walls of Prospero High, Ben, Mina, and their expanding Network face a vicious campaign to destroy their friendship, and a mysterious assassin picking off human rebels – an assassin with powers like no Splinter they’ve fought before.  

Ben and Mina’s one hope rests with a mysterious old man hiding in the woods outside of town; a living legend who may be able to teach them how to fight this dangerous new breed of Splinter. That is, assuming he doesn’t kill the pair of them himself. 

 
 
“Titchenell and Carter hold nothing back in this solid sequel that thrills and expands on its predecessor. Aided by swift writing, relatable characters and unexpected scares, Shards is a chill-inducing delight.” —David Powers King, co-author of Woven.
 
“Maintaining the same level of popcorn-munching fun, Titchenell and Carter are taking The Prospero Chronicles in a promising direction.” --Joe Dell'Erb, Washington Independent Review of Books.



This one's coming back on June 20, 2017.

Pre-order links:


Amazon (Paperback)

iBooks

Kobo

Smashwords (Kindle & Nook formats available here)

Indigo



And finally, the never-before-released book 3!

Drumroll...


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Ben
Growing up is hard, and growing up in Prospero is even harder, but I think we manage. I mean, yeah, my friends and I spend more of our time fighting a race of shapeshifting aliens than we do hanging out, but we have our fun. We go to parties, help each other with our classes, maybe even fall in love…

I’ve no illusions that we live ordinary lives, but they’re our lives, and I’m going to make sure we make the most of them whether the Splinters want us to or not.

Mina
The truce is temporary. We will not humor the Splinters forever. It's only until the Slivers can be stopped, until the army of Shards being planted among our classmates can be disassembled, until we get our hands on the thing I'd almost given up believing in.

The humanity test.

For the chance to know, once and for all, who can be trusted, some dealings with monsters must be excusable. Inevitable. Just like this feeling between Ben and me.

And that has to be temporary too.


Release date: July 6, 2017

Pre-order links:

iBooks

Kobo

Smashwords (Kindle and Nook formats available here)

Indigo

Sadly, paperback pre-orders likely won't be available for this one until shortly before release time, but yes, there will be paperbacks, so if you like that physical charm, mark your calendars!

So... who else is excited?





Comments are always welcome (just keep it civil, folks)! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!

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Book Review: Saga Vol. 2

2/7/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture

Book Review:
​
Saga, Vol. 2

​Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
 
Image Comics, 2013
 
A+

The Basics:
 
The little fugitive family of Alana, Marko, baby Hazel, and Isabel the undead babysitter expands with some growing pains to include Marko’s parents, while the original courtship and escape of Alana and Marko from their opposite sides of the conflict is recounted in more detail. Meanwhile, reeling from the recent murder of his on-and-off true love, The Will (with a The), one of the mercenaries formerly pursuing the family, joins forces with Marko’s vengeful ex and agrees to carry on the hunt, in exchange for her help rescuing a six-year-old from indentured prostitution. Prince Robot IV also continues his search for the family, knowing his father won’t allow him to return home to his pregnant wife until his mission is complete, with only a copy of Alana’s favorite book as a clue to their course.
 
The Downside:
 
For the sake of finding one, the excerpts given of Alana’s book, the secretly subversive one she and Marko first bonded over and the inspiration for their ship’s current heading, seem to come from a bland melodrama. But even that may an intentional part of the point, reflecting the way recognizing and sharing the value in a book sometimes requires the willingness to sound like a crazy person to anyone who’s only seen said book’s ordinary or even silly-looking surface.
 
The Upside:
 
Alana and Marko continue to be the lovable couple you’re compelled to root for, both in flashback and in their more complicated present, where they’re faced with reconciling their sudden union with the in-laws. Marko’s parents are both loving and badass, but carry the prejudices of a generations-long war full of atrocities on both sides. The friction around the news of their son’s interspecies marriage isn’t shrugged off easily, and Alana acquits herself with all the self-respect and sardonic wit we’ve come to expect of her, but ultimately the desire to stay close wins out, forcing all the lifelike patience, trust, and annoyance that comes with family.
 
As usual, the backdrop of all manner of sci-fi crazy does absolutely nothing to detract from the down-to-earth relatability of the characters and their struggle. Sure, this is an illegal mixed marriage in wartime. Sure, for them, the family thing is “complicated.” But the implication is, isn’t it always?
 
It’s sure complicated for The Will, with his new partner of convenience, their sort of adopted new six-year-old, and their lie-detecting cat, who cuts to the heart of whatever the group tries to cover or embellish with more efficiency than paragraphs of internal monologue could manage.
 
It’s complicated for Prince Robot IV, who’s trying to swallow his crippling PTSD and do whatever’s necessary to satisfy his father and get home to his wife.
 
And as a result, it’s intensely, nail-bitingly complicated for the reader, figuring out what to feel for these characters who do terrible things for inescapably understandable reasons, chasing stakes we can’t root against, at the expense of characters we can root against even less.
 
This is the paradox that continues to make Saga truly un-put-downable.




Agree? Disagree? Comments are always welcome (just keep it civil, folks)! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!
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