Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water, by Vylan Kaftar, never intends to be what you expect. You can feel it gearing up even from the first paragraphs, ready to undermine the darkness and damp through which we watch Bianca climb, already eager to break through. Her companion on the prison planet, her lover Chela, doesn’t want …
This week we are joined by Ray of Brute Force and Sugoi Corp. fame to discuss an a manga that none of us had ever heard of but had been listed as a good comedy book for roudy teens, The Voynich Hotel. It’s the story of a Yakuza who is living at a hotel owned …
A Winter’s Promise was one of those rare books that stood at the exact intersection of nostalgia and innovation. It had the feel of a 20th century classic of children’s literature, but invested with the insight and maturity of more modern YA. I was beyond excited to get my hands on the second installment (of …
If you’ve listened to the show before, you probably know that Kieran is a huge Green Lantern fan. Despite this, it somehow took us 65 episodes to finally review one of his books. Like most mainstream comics, the character has been rebooted to hell and back, so we decided to pick one of the reboots …
Hobbes (the philosopher, not the tiger) was right about life being “nasty, brutish, and short,” especially when it comes to the middle ages in Europe. War, famine, plague and poverty were common, and Kate Heartfield didn’t flinch from any of it when building the world for Armed in Her Fashion. Rather than populate her book …
What I loved about The X-Files (while it was still airing; not the reboot garbage) was its commitment to showing all the weird little subcultures and sub-subcultures of American life. The media and the internet was already making America smaller, but The X-Files made it seem so big. Witches and monsters and aliens and mutants …
Do you like action? What about romance? And how about apocalyptic magic that literally turns people inside out? I hope it’s all three, but even if you’re not so sure, Charlie N. Holmberg’s Smoke and Summons will convince you. It’s a wild, breathless dash through a grim urban environment, with mobsters and demons around every …
After reading The Black God’s Drums, I was extremely excited when I heard about this novella’s release. My expectations were incredibly high, and P. Djeli Clark not only met but shattered them. It was fun and thrilling, but also heartfelt and thoughtful. The novella is about Hamed Nasr and Onsi Youssef, agents of the Ministry …
This week we dive into the graphic novel adaptation of the real play Dungeons & Dragons podcast that is The Adventure Zone. It’s a fourth wall breaking, gerblin killing, dead man’s boots steeling good time. Full disclosure, this book was written by the McElroys (as I’m sure you know) and we did have Clint on …
The holidays are over, the snow is frozen into grayish piles by the corners, and going outside is just not a very good idea. Here are three books to tide you over until temperatures improve, and hopefully make the winter a little warmer. Outside the Gates (Molly Gloss) – This is a re-release and re-formatting …