protean depravity

It always sucks a little bit when the summer ends; the days get darker and shorter, the weather gets chillier, the city gets fuller, the leaves change colors... But pre-fall, September and early October, is still a nice enough time before hell ascends to Berlin and stupid winter begins. And this year it's an even better time than usual, because there's so much going on that it's head-spinning!

Full of spoilers, as always! Make Room! Make Room! , one of the best predictive science fiction works of its time, and one of the most underrated too, foresaw in 1966 that the end of the century would be a time out of hell for New York City, opening the flood gates to an even more hellish new millennium: Climate change and scorching heat burning the planet down; the world bursting at its seems with extreme overpopulation; serious food and housing shortages; barely any water to drink and as a consequence, the lack of a vital infrastructure pushing the masses into crime... Not an ideal place at all. The book shows how people from different backgrounds cope under these utterly dire living conditions. Against this hellish backdrop we focus on Andy, a police detective tasked with investigating the seemingly mysterious death of the ultra rich mobster Mike O'Brien, Big Mike, who in fact has been killed by Taiwanese-American street boy Billie Chung in an attempted robbery. During the inves...

Having read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" last week and afterwards re-watching and comparing the book to Blade Runner in my review was so much fun that I'm repeating it this week with another book, and I even found a goodreads friend, Debbie, who is ready to read with me the book on which a famous movie is based off on a regular basis. We will then try and watch the movie around the same time and compare the works, but the focus will of course be on the book since I'm a bookworm and not a film critic in no way. And I'm opening a new column called "Based on Books" to sort these reviews in. Back around the time it was first released (2013-2104?) I had tried to watch the movie Under the Skin but unfortunately fell asleep while watching and so I couldn't claim I watched it. That was before yesterday, because after finishing Michael Faber's book I succeeded in watching it and here are my thoughts on both.

Finally, I have the feeling that there's some revving up in terms of good books coming my way as I have read numerous of them these past weeks. I'm really trying, but also struggling a little bit to balance all the new publications with the book group and buddy reads with my many challenges and back list. No need to stress, though, I guess the tbr list is something never ending, and once you accept that truth it gets easier to accept I'll never be able to read everything, sigh.... Enjoy my short reviews on that melancholy note!

Enjoy the new short reviews!

In a chat with the Shine & Shadow group, author and editor Clarence A. Haynes explains how the project "Nubia: An Awakening" came to fruition, the core ideas and intents behind it and anything you might wonder about the book he co-authored with actor Omar Epps. In order to make full sense of this conversation you may want to read the book or some detailed reviews. In terms of reactions, firstly, I've noticed that some people are picking up on some of the elements of the book that defy expectations of the genre, for instance Zuberi being a girl character who's really unapologetically determined, willful and powerful in the decisions she makes, what makes her feel strong, etc. This was something Omar and I purposely did. In the same way, Uzochi is more sensitive and emotional, internal, overtly frightened, is growing into his role as protector in a way that Zuberi already knows how to handle. Most of the cast we wanted to play with expectations in some way and make ...

I have a much better reading month behind me, luckily, so this time the short reviews won't be as grumpy and peppery as my last ones. Having read really all over the place these last few weeks, the reviews are a bit mixed too in terms of genre but the emphasis is, as always, on a bunch of horror books, mostly because all the Halloween-related reading challenges I took part in. But I actually read an unusual amount of good thrillers and crime novels too and I'll be reviewing them separately because they're so many. Hope you're enjoying the cooler reading weather!