Review: Sweet Poison Wine (InCryptid #0.5) by Seanan McGuire.

Sweet Poison Wine by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another InCryptid prequel tale, the fifth in Frances (Brown) and Jonathan Healy's interesting life together. As with three of the previous stories, this is available for download free on the the author's website.

In this installment, Fran and Jonathan are happily married, and spending their honeymoon in Chicago. Because this is a world steeped in cryptid worldbuilding, though, leaving Jonathan's hometown doesn't mean there are no cryptids. The mice only put in a short appearance, but they're there in spirit. Jonathan and Fran's hotel is run by lesser gorgons, and they rescue a man from hungry freshwater sea hags. They're drawn into moonshine and liquor smuggling circles, and, as with all good trials, grow closer and learn things about one another.

As with previous installments, I felt like I was missing out on something, not having read "Flower of Arizona" in Westward Weird, which I plan to remedy as soon as my TBR pile will let me. But the entire story is there, and this is the most dynamic and interesting of the installments. It had the most opportunities for banter, and I felt like this best highlighted the relationship between the newlywed Healys.

One needn't have read the previous InCryptid books for this to make sense. It may save you the heartbreak, actually, of knowing their eventual fate. These stories are a lovely way to remember these characters.

Seanan McGuire has written on her blog that she'll write more InCryptid short stories, which is delightful news. I so enjoy these glimpses into the Price/Healy family past.


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Review: Married in Green (InCryptid #0.4) by Seanan McGuire

Married in Green by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the fourth InCryptid short story, available for free on the author's website. (The first is part of the Westward Weird anthology, and therefore unavailable.) The stories cover the courtship of Frances Brown and Jonathan Healy, the great-grandparents of the current generation of Price children, whose story is told in the InCryptid books. (So far, that comprises Discount Armageddon and Midnight Blue-Light Special, but there are more on the way.)

This is about Jonathan and Fran's wedding. Fran is very pregnant, and Jonathan has invited her circus family to attend and provide the facility in which they'll be married. But Fran's friend reads her cards, spelling a short life ahead if Fran goes ahead with it.

There's little question about whether she'll marry Jonathan. She's already made up her mind in "No Place Like Home," and any InCryptid reader knows what happens to these two. Still, it's fun to get a closer look at these characters and what went through their minds in their day-to-day living. And any excuse for the mice to celebrate and meet another outsider is a good one.

I'm glad these are available to read. I look forward to more.


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Review: Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women by Nancy Madore

Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories For Women by Nancy Madore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a collection of fairy tales with an erotic spin. The author states in the foreword that she deliberately framed them as common female fantasies, which sets it apart somewhat from other such collections. Overall, it has hits and misses, and is ultimately repetitive and forgettable.

"Beauty and the Beast" posits that Beauty prefers the Beast to his human form, because the Beast is more enthusiastic and well-hung. (It also contains the cringe-worthy, "It's not going to fit!" nonsense.)

"Bluebeard" has a room full of S&M delights, and the wife is punished for her curiosity, but not with her life. The BDSM is actually rather tame.

"Cat and Mouse" has the two protagonists competing in a series of contests, with the final stakes being that Mouse has to marry Cat if she begs him to have sex with her. Many other readers have singled this out as their favorite, but I was rolling my eyes too hard to enjoy it.

"Cinderella" catches up with the princess after she's married, and the fairy godmother has given her magical sneakers that motivate her to pursue what she wants instead of sitting passively by.

"East of the Sun and West of the Moon" seemed the most seamless of the tales; I couldn't remember why the hero of the story had to work so hard to hide himself, if he wasn't sleeping with the heroine. The premise of her working her way through a room of 100 suitors to find her true love was an intriguing one, too.

I was glad "Goldilocks and the Three Barons" changed the species of the homeowners Goldilocks breaks in on, and the story just begged for another too hard/too soft/just right line. It was a creative take.

"Mirror on the Wall" is the first of two Snow White adaptations, this one with the premise there's a spell on the land that makes only artificial beauty seem attractive. Unfortunately, there's a level of detachment in the story that made it difficult to connect to the characters.

"Mrs. Fox" is about a pair of wives who plot to trick their husbands and swap for one night, and they wind up valuing their own husbands all the more for it (though they also have fun).

"Snow White in the Woods" is the second Snow White tale, and this one has the seven dwarfs transformed into princes with a kiss. Snow White can't choose between them, so they don't make her choose.

"The Empress's New Clothes" involves an exhibitionist empress and her clever husband, who commissions a device to allow her to show off all she likes without risking her political career.

"The Goose Girl" changes the relationship between the princess and the maid so that they're in love with one another, and the maid repents for her betrayal by the end of the story. It's a very different kind of happily ever after, and I think it was an improvement over the original tale.

"The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing" has a woman dressing up as a prostitute for her husband, and being treated accordingly. This is the weakest story in the collection, both for the wife's musings about the role of women in society, and the impassive narration.

"The Ugly Duckling" is the least erotic of the stories in the collection, but one of the most enjoyable. Instead of growing into a beautiful swan, the ugly duckling finds a husband who loves her, and winds up happier than the sisters who set out to exploit their beauty.

While the collection does have its high points, I found it overall repetitive, with little variations in the sex scenes. It's entertaining enough, but I can't see myself rereading it.


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Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book has generated a lot of buzz. I usually steer clear of books everyone's talking about, because I tend to intensely dislike books everyone likes. In this case, though, I saw it wasn't universally liked, so I thought it was worth a shot. I'm not sure if I'm glad I read it, but I did get a lot out of it.

Gone Girl is about Nick and Amy Dunne, a married couple about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary in North Carthage, Missouri, when Amy vanishes from their home. They met in New York City, but moved back to Missouri to be near Nick's ailing mother after Nick and Amy were laid off. Nick blames the internet for the loss of his print journalism job, while Amy seems to be making the most of it. If you go by what's on the surface, anyway.

But of the many themes in this book, the strongest is that you can't trust what's on the surface. It explores the notion that we don't really know one another, and how much of a risk we take when we devote our lives to another person. Nick, it turns out, is selfish and immature and unable to communicate, while Amy is manipulative and toxic. It occurred to me about halfway through the book that these two were meant for each other, and not in a good way.

Within Nick's perspective sections, we're treated to some additional themes about the changing American landscape, misogyny, inheriting the sins of one's parents, and of the best self brought about through strife. Through Amy, we get some commentary about masks and personas, feminism (though her use of feminism only serves her as far as it creates a convenient narrative), and power plays.

What a lot of other reviewers seem unaware of is that both narrators are unreliable, in their own ways. Nick desperately wants the reader to like him, so he explains his actions away to the very end. Amy wants the reader to see how smart and superior she is, so even her emotionally driven choices are justified with philosophical underpinnings. It's a story about masks, so of course the main characters continue to wear masks throughout the book.

I liked neither of the main characters by the end, but I was driven to find out what happens to them. I hoped for a comeuppance, while waiting for certain plot seeds to come to fruition. Gillian Flynn writes cleanly; all of the twists and turns in the narrative are telegraphed well ahead of time.

The ending hit me pretty hard. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was what the narrative called for. It took me a few hours to even figure out if I'd liked it. It certainly wasn't uplifting.

I listened to this book on audio, narrated by Kirby Heyborne and Julia Whelan. It's interesting how their impressions of other characters' voices sounded so similar, and their impressions of the other character's speaking voice even sounded like the other voice actor. That's difficult to pull off in a collaborative audio book, and I thought they did it pretty seamlessly.


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Review: Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages by Dean Koontz

Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages by Dean R. Koontz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read Oddkins when I was a kid. I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I must've been at least ten. I remember being frightened, but also very impressed, and absolutely enamored of the illustrations. So, when I saw it was available on Kindle, I picked it up without hesitation.

Oddkins is about a group of stuffed animals who have to go on a journey to find the new toymaker. There are toys bent on stopping them so the toy workshop will go to the forces of evil, instead. Meanwhile, the nephew of the former toymaker and current owner of the workshop spots the animated toys, and is also chasing them to find out of they're real.

The illustrations in the story are lovely, and I recommend the full color versions, if you have a device that can support it. The story, itself, is full of dangers and tension, though the dialogue often sounds wooden or contrived.

Oddkins is written as a middle grade novel, which can make its target age hard to pinpoint. It's too mature for 8-year-olds; it starts with a death, and its references to The Dark One, violent toys, and Nick Jagg are a bit much for that audience. Its use of sentient stuffed animals as the protagonists and a storybook tone makes it a hard sell for the preteen crowd. I would advise any parents considering giving this to their kids read it first and make the call about whether it's too mature or scary. It could be an excellent bedtime story to read to your kids, provided you help your kids understand that it's just a story, and their toys aren't going to come to life to hurt them.

Nostalgia value counts for a lot, and I'm sure I like this as much as I do because I loved it when it first came out. I'm very forgiving of the flaws, and I honestly can't tell if the plot is predictable or I just remembered it that well. If this was a part of your childhood, it may well be worth the investment. If it wasn't, though, I wouldn't blame you one bit for skipping it.


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Review: Erase Me (Positron #3) by Margaret Atwood

Erase Me by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third installment of the Positron serial story by Margaret Atwood. I'm told there's supposed to be another, but I haven't found any solid details, so I'm left just crossing my fingers. While this was a good episode of an overall serial, it felt incomplete.

This episode has Stan returning to the Consilience prison, where people struggling with crippling debt have sold themselves into a lifetime of living for one month in prison, one month with the illusion of freedom in a gated, self-sustaining community, throughout the year. Stan has found a loophole. Or, rather, his captor has. She works for security, and she's disillusioned with the system. So she's going to free Stan entirely by making it look like he died. At the hands of his cheating wife.

Stan has a good amount of uncertainty in the plan, and Charmaine's heartfelt breakdown over what she has to do is memorable. We're very much with Stan and Charmaine in this installment, where before readers might have felt distanced from their activities.

The parallels to 1984 seem a lot more pronounced in this installment than in the last two. Even some of the language spouted by the spokesman for Positron sounds Big Brotherly.

I hope there's more to the story. Because, while this does resolve the immediate conflict in a satisfying way, I still have a lot of questions about the overall picture. I'll be watching for news of another planned installment.


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Review: Choke Collar (Positron #2) by Margaret Atwood

Choke Collar by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second episode in Margaret Atwood's serialized Positron story, about a near-future society where people willingly go to prison to get out of their crippling debt.

Where we last left off, Stan was fantasizing about the sexy note he found under his fridge. He assumes it's written by the woman who lives in the house he shares six months of the year, alternating, with another married couple who have also signed up for the Positron program. He was wrong, and he now finds himself forced to reenact the recorded encounters between his wife and her husband. His cheating wife, meanwhile, is stuck in the prison for an awfully long time, and demoted to laundry folding, to boot.

All is not as it seems, neither in the prison nor Stan's house. He gets a glimpse at a little more of the picture. Any reader, meanwhile, might see shades of 1984 in the world Atwood is positing.

Having read
  In Other Worlds

has enhanced my appreciation of this serial novel, but it's not necessary. It clarifies some of the concepts and gets into Atwood's head a bit.

I was glad I picked up the third episode for my Kindle before I started reading this, because the cliffhanger was almost more than I could take.

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Review: Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism by Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy

Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism by Temple Grandin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For my day job, I help people with disabilities maintain jobs in the community. Some of my co-workers, meanwhile, match people to jobs and try to get them those jobs. We serve a few people with an autism diagnosis, so I thought this might help as a resource. It contains a lot of perspectives I hadn't considered before, and is absolutely packed with vocational information, for such a short book.

Temple Grandin is best known for her autism diagnosis, either because you've seen her HBO-produced movie where she's played by Claire Danes, or because you've read about her in Oliver Sacks' Anthropologist on Mars. She's also a brilliant woman, and has served as something of a translator between the neurotypical and autistic brain.

This book is mostly addressed toward those with mild autism: questions to ask oneself about learning style, talents, and things to start thinking about. The book is divided into short sections about preparing oneself for the working world in various ways, and pointing out factors many neurotypicals take for granted. People with intellectual disabilities aren't prepped for a career the way neurotypicals are, or at least they weren't when Grandin was writing the book a decade ago.

The final section includes details about various professions, including the training and skills needed, how to prepare, and accommodations that may be necessary. Each career is explained through a person who works in that field. I was rather surprised to find that I knew one of the people discussed in that section, and not through my job, but from childhood.

This book seems like it might be useful, especially for kids with a mild autism diagnosis who are in middle school or just entering high school, or for their parents. It raises a lot of good questions to think about when preparing for the wider world, and anyone equipped with this information early on would have a greater shot at success. It discusses a lot of factors I've seen in my capacity as job coach, but it also brings up a lot of things I hadn't thought of. I was glad I read it.


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Review: The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius, edited by John Joseph Adams

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius by John Joseph Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once again, I've read an anthology, and come away with a mixed impression of the overall work. I loved the story I bought the anthology to read, and it was worth the cost of the book, but not all of the stories stacked up to that one. Here are my impressions of each, in the order they appear in the anthology:

"Professor Incognito Apologizes: an Itemized List" by Austin Grossman
I already knew Grossman could write mad geniuses, having loved his Soon I Will Be Invincible when I read it a couple of years ago. This is told in the form of a letter to the mad scientist's girlfriend, who has stumbled across his lair and discovered his secret identity. 5/5 stars.

"Father of the Groom" by Harry Turtledove
Mad scientist father turns the blushing bride into a literal bridezilla, wreaking havoc on the mall and surrounding suburbs. The men are clever, misunderstood geniuses, while the women are shallow airheads. Sigh. 2/5 stars.

"Laughter at the Academy" by Seanan McGuire
This is the story I bought the anthology for, and, as I said above, it was worth the cost of the book. I read it right before bed, though, which I don't recommend. I had bizarre and vivid dreams. In this, being a mad scientist is about whether one has a mental illness, and this latent tendency is being triggered all over the country by a very clever psychological scientist. 5/5 stars.

"Letter to the Editor" by David D. Levine
A mad scientist has a justification for his evil acts, and writes to tell the media. Creative take, and entertaining. 4/5 stars.

"Instead of a Loving Heart" by Jeremiah Tolbert
The AI trapped inside an ailing robot body has no choice but to do as his master instructs. Does it care what happens to the human race? Or does it have a soul? Typical of a sentient robot story, but I enjoyed it. 4/5 stars.

"The Executor" by Daniel H. Wilson
A mad scientist sets up an impossible test one has to solve before one can inherit his outrageous fortune. Generations later, the family is at one another's throats, still vying for the inheritance, which has grown. A man outside the family squabbles gives it a shot, so his infant daughter will live. Confusing narrative, but I liked the ending. 3/5 stars.

"The Angel of Death Has a Business Plan" by Heather Lindsley
An evil villain makes ends meet by coaching would-be supervillains on their monologues, costumes, and confidence. I liked how smart the character was, and the resolution had me grinning. 5/5 stars.

"Homo Perfectus" by David Farland
A scientist engineers himself to be the perfect man, and tries to find the perfect mate. His chosen candidate is dosed with pheromones, rohypnol, and some other inhibition-lowering substance, wherein she's reduced to a panting, begging animal, and he's too disgusted with her to take advantage. This story made my skin crawl. Creepy and gross. 1/5 stars.

"Ancient Equations" by L. A. Banks
A lonely mad scientist discovers where math and magic intersect, and summons an ancient goddess. Gets exactly what he bargained for. The dark-skinned goddess's use of ebonics wasn't appreciated, nor was her falling in line with the lusty, low-moral stereotype. I liked her attitude, but not the racial stereotypes. 3/5 stars.

"Rural Singularity" by Alan Dean Foster
A reporter goes to New Mexico to investigate a claim of a living two-headed chicken, and discovers a scarily precocious child. As he's planning how he might exploit his discovery, he makes one slip. Disturbing, in a good way. 4/5 stars.

"Captain Justice Saves the Day" by Genevieve Valentine
Tales of a mad scientist's assistant. At the end of the day, everyone has bills to pay. But one doesn't always have to perform one's job at 100%. Brenda's resourcefulness made me chuckle. 5/5 stars.

"The Space Between" by Diana Gabaldon
The longest selection in the anthology, and not worth the pages. If you're a fan of the Outlander series, you'll enjoy this one. I found it pointless, overwrought, and oversexed. 2/5 stars.

"Harry and Marlowe Meet the Founder of the Aetherian Revolution" by Carrie Vaughn
The spunky granddaughter of Queen Victoria investigates a steampunk mad scientist. It had all the elements of a story that should appeal, but it somehow fell flat. Maybe I was still mad about "The Space Between" when I read it. 3/5 stars.

"Blood and Stardust" by Laird Barron
A woman cobbled together by a mad scientist betrays her maker, for very good reason. She's clever, but the story didn't leave me with an overall positive impression. 3/5 stars.

"A More Perfect Union" by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Mad scientist specializing in political genius helps a promising candidate move up in the world. Forgettable story, and it felt significantly padded. 2/5 stars.

"Rocks Fall" by Naomi Novik
A lower-rung superhero meets an infamous supervillain, and they have a chat while waiting to be rescued. The mad scientist comes off as far more sympathetic than in any of the other stories in this anthology. Good characterization, and even a little touching. 5/5 stars.

"We Interrupt This Broadcast" by Mary Robinette Kowal
Post-WWII mad scientist is dying of TB, and is taking out Washington, DC before he goes using the primitive punchcard computers of his time. Doesn't want his lovely assistant to know he's dying, because he's in love with her. Bittersweet. 4/5 stars.

"The Last Dignity of Man" by Marjorie M. Liu
Alexander Luthor in a world without superheroes, who wants desperately to be the comic book villain so a Superman will emerge. The only story in this anthology with a gay protagonist, and he's sympathetic and redeemable, at that. Entertaining, but excessively gross in parts. 4/5 stars.

"Pittsburg Technology" by Jeffrey Ford
A disturbing little tale about signing up for one minor change in one's life to create a cascade effect that turns one's life around. But, if you're looking for that little change, you can ruin everything. Intriguing concept. 4/5 stars.

"Mofongo Knows" by Grady Hendrix
Supergenius ape foiled by his nemesis is a sideshow attraction in modern America. What happens when his nemesis is no longer around to keep him in check. Felt a bit padded. 3/5 stars.

"The Food Taster’s Boy" by Ben Winters
All-powerful despot sets up a young boy to become his nemesis, and spends the days until his return mentally mapping out how their final confrontation will go. Didn't like the dispassionate narration, and felt like the story was ultimately pointless. 2/5 stars.


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Review: The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book for a book club. It's not one I would've picked for myself, but I'm glad I read it. It's the most entertaining nonfiction non-memoir I've read in some time.

The Psychopath Test follows Jon Ronson through several interviews and meetings with people confirmed to be psychopaths, or who may well be. Along the way, he learns the twenty criterion from Bob Hare, interviews a notorious businessman known for firing people without remorse, sees a young man freed by Scientologists, and solves a mystery.

There is information within this book, but most of it serves as a darkly funny narrative about the dangers of misdiagnosis and the quirks of the psychological industry. Ronson never really gets into how a diagnosis requires that the disease interferes with everyday life or poses a threat to others, nor does he interview anyone for whom a diagnosis has helped. He also shows a lot of sympathy for Scientology and its claims about the total uselessness of psychology.

Still, the book gets points for its entertaining narrative, as opposed to the dry rendering in the last few nonfiction books I've read. The story is an amusing one, and it's easy to get through. I learned just as much about the narrator as I did about the subject at hand.

I listened to this book on audio, narrated by the author. Jon Ronson is British, which is always pleasant for this American to listen to. He speaks clearly and understandably, and his tone certainly adds to the humor of the story. If you decide to pick this up, I recommend the audio version.


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Review: Guns by Stephen King

Guns by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short nonfiction piece by Stephen King about his views on gun control. He, himself owns guns, and grew up in a conservative part of the state of Maine, but he argues a point that comes straight down the center.

Stephen King's nonfiction is very different in tone from his fiction. He uses the same bad words, and can be just as graphic in his descriptions, but the tone is more conversational. He has no wasted words in his nonfiction, whereas his fiction can be rather more descriptive. This feels like sitting down to a conversation with Stephen King. You get the idea you really did voice some of the protests he addresses within this essay, and that he's answering you.

The solution he comes up with is nothing novel; it's the solution the vast majority of the US supports. It's the way he presents it, as a reasonable solution that one would be crazy not to agree with, that makes this a compelling essay. He calls for common sense and human decency, and who could make a stand against those principles?

I started out this essay agreeing with the principles Mr. King argues in favor of, but I think even those fighting for even stricter controls and even more freedom could see the wisdom in his words.


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Review: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I consider myself a morbid person. My sense of humor tends to be dark, and the virtues of cremation versus burial doesn't seem an odd topic to discuss with a newfound acquaintance (provided said acquaintance is game). I thought, therefore, that this book would be right up my alley, filling in my gaps about what happens to our containers after we die.

I was unprepared for this particular book. While I did learn several new things about decomposition and environmentalist body disposal, I spent most of the experience of this book clutching my stomach and hoping she'll crack a joke soon.

Many of the jokes struck me as morbidly funny, but they were few and far between. Most of the book consists of graphic descriptions about terrible things happening to dead bodies (or to living ones with dead flesh transposed). The least terrible thing that might happen to your body, if you donate it to science, is you'll be dissected by a medical student, who'll treat your old container with respect bordering on reverence. If not, your flesh will rot in the ground, be burned and released into the atmosphere, or be used in crash tests. Or, maybe you'll have access to new ways of bodily disposal, like being dissolved in lye and flushed down a drain (but for powdery remains that can be scattered), or freeze-dried and ground up to feed a memorial tree.

My two older sisters, who have both dissected cadavers, once mentioned how it made them hungry. I didn't believe them until I read this book. My appetite has never been healthier. Considering the stomach-churning descriptions, it's bizarre, but true.

I didn't think the graphic descriptions were entirely necessary. Roach creates a euphemism for maggots which manages to soften the disgusting reality. Why, then, didn't she also spare us the knowledge of which foodstuff liquefied brains most resemble?

The book definitely got me thinking about what I'm going to do with my remains, and it had a lot of potentially useful information, if I needed to know about the whole industry behind dead bodies. But in the end, I could've done without the rather ghastly descriptions.

I listened to the book on audio, narrated by Shelly Frasier. I have no complaints about the audio, except that I couldn't skim past the parts that made me squirm the most.


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Review: Zorro Rides Again by D.J. Arneson

Zorro Rides Again: A Radio Dramatization by Jerry Robbins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a fan of Zorro, having watched some of the movies when I was younger. I recently read Isabel Allende's take on the legend, and felt I should go back to the pulpy source material. This is only based on McCully's original stories, and it's all the cheesy adventure one might expect.

The story comes in years after Zorro has gone into retirement, for no reason explained in the text. Someone is posing as the hero and doing cruel things, so he has to return to the masked vigilante life to clear his name.

A number of characters return: Don Diego de la Vega, of course, and his alter ego, Zorro. There's Friar Felipe, love interest Lolita Pulido, and Sargeant Gonzalez, and of course the faithful but mute Bernardo, whose hand signals are depicted in the radio edition by woodwind instruments.

The story introduces Captain Rocha, the Governor's nephew and leader of a movement to discredit Zorro in the eyes of the adoring townsfolk.

Despite his long absence and the nasty rumors about his recent behavior, Zorro is still a much-loved figure in his hometown, and lots of allies are willing to stick their necks out to protect him. Most take him at his word that he's innocent, though a trial by combat is needed to prove his word, in one case.

I listened to a radio play dramatization, so the dialogue was spoken by actors. In an action format, that means that sometimes people have to narrate what they're doing, or bystanders have to keep the listener updated. Sometimes, it sounded a little silly, but it worked, in the long run.

Overall, this was a fluffy, entertaining couple of hours. I wanted a silly, pulpy tale before diving into my next book, and that's exactly what I got. I have another radio adaptation of a Zorro story, and I plan on listening to it soon.


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Review: A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies by Ellen Cooney

A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies by Ellen Cooney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book I've read on my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge, which is comprised of books I've been meaning to read but hadn't gotten around to. Once again, I'm shaking my head at myself, wondering why I'd waited so long.

In this case, the answer is that, on its surface, this is another "cheating book." The action is sparked when Charlotte Heath, a headstrong young wife recovers from a long illness to discover her husband kissing another woman. She runs away to Boston, where she holes up in the Beechmont, which is not a fine hotel for upright citizens at all, but a place where the ladies' physical needs are serviced by male staff members.

Ellen Cooney taught Creative Writing one semester at the University of Maine at Farmington, and I was lucky enough to be in her class. She'd asked me to come read to her students at MIT, but I'd needed an operation during the week I would've taken her up on her invitation. My acquaintance with Ms. Cooney certainly makes me more tolerant of certain literary conventions I wouldn't put up with by other writers. But I also think I'd be missing out on some lovely writing.

Charlotte is far from the perfect narrator. She isn't an unreliable narrator, but she is unworldly, uninterested in current events, and indecisive. She keeps her secrets, even from the reader, and makes decisions based on fleeting emotions. She has an appreciation for Shakespeare beyond that of her stuffy in-laws, but she's no scholar, and she gets as caught up in the romanticism as any high school student.

A reader might get to the ending with no idea as to why she makes the decision she does. I know, but not in any way I can vocalize. It's in the spaces between, in the things she doesn't articulate. It's in what she values, and where she can get what she needs. I didn't need her explanation of why she decides what she does, but some readers might. Some readers might vehemently disagree with her decision, too. I doubt I'd've done the same, in her place, but then, I'm living over a century later, aren't I?

This is the sort of historical fiction that couldn't have taken place, but that might have. Not the details; I've never heard of a counterpart to the Beechmont, nor of the baby races detailed in one chapter late in the book. But Charlotte Heath may have existed, she may have fled her husband for the very reason she does in the book, and she may have stepped on a very similar path, once. The people inhabiting this book feel flawed and human and like they really could've existed in that time period.

I enjoyed this book, and, while I usually like to be in a perspective character's head a bit more, I thought it was used to good effect. I didn't expect the ending I got, and I can see where it turned off other readers. But, after I slept on it, it seemed like the ending this story required.


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Review: Earth Below, Sky Above (Human Division #13) by John Scalzi

Earth Below, Sky Above by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the final episode in The Human Division, the serial novel by John Scalzi. Scalzi has announced on his blog that there will be a season two, so anyone dissatisfied with where this ended can hang on for more.

This isn't a matter of holding it over our heads to see if we wanted it; it's that this is where this story ends, and, because it worked out as well as it did, hooray, there's more.

And thank goodness. While Earth Below, Sky Above does explain where the missing ships went and what the apparent endgame was, and does so in quite the exciting story, we still don't know who's behind the nefarious plot. Colonels Liz Egan and Abel Rigney have their speculations, but those are just speculations, and little is revealed that the reader doesn't already know.

Which leads me to my biggest complaint about this installment: for a story wrapping up an epic tale, there sure were a lot of "as you know, Harry" recaps in dialogue that were completely unnecessary. Characters rehash information they already know, and that the reader is well aware of. It seemed sloppy writing in an installment that was otherwise fun and exciting.

In the end, The Human Division is the sum of its parts: a self-contained tale that leaves questions for another time. Had I not been aware, while listening to this last installment, that there would be more, I might be annoyed. But, I know I'm going to sign on for season two, and probably the rest of the Old Man's War universe, while I'm at it.

I listened to this installment on audio, narrated by William Dufris, and remained pleased with his ability to narrate the tale. He had good flexibility and pronunciation, and modulated his voice well so I knew when characters whispered or shouted, but didn't have to adjust my volume. He was an excellent choice for narrator for these episodes, and I hope he reads season two, as well.

If you didn't want to read the installments as they came out, The Human Division will be coming out in one collection, with extra bonus material, also discussed on Scalzi's blog. I don't know how different an experience it'll be to read all at once, but the option is there.


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