Bill Gates' Questionable Conduct, The Antidote Freelance Review, Dark Winds Season 3, Don't Mess With Dolly Parton, The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith, Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent, The Cabinet of Dr Leng by Preston and Child, and the Crimson Road by A.G. Slatter

It's the last lap of February, and I'm struggling with a lot of things right now, which has lead me to turn to the comfort of reading books just to keep myself upright and moving forward. Things are turning more grim nationally as well, as our current fascist POTUS and his evil sidekick EM go on rampages to remove American's right to read, or to retire or to immigrate. It's become a country in turmoil because the right wing rich guys don't care if the rest of us starve and perish. Be that as it may, here's some current tidbits and 4 book reviews. Hang in there, bookish folks. Keep me in your prayers as well, if you're so inclined.

 

Sadly, this doesn't surprise me anymore. Disgust me, yes, surprise me, no.

 

Turns Out Bill Gates is a Scumbag, Just like other Billionaires

In 2021, The New York Times published an article called Long Before Divorce, Bill Gates Had Reputation for Questionable Behavior, which included discussion of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The same year, Business Insider published a timeline of all of Bill Gates’s “questionable conduct” , among many other outlets’ coverage. But four years later, his memoir is on the bestseller lists, showing just how short the internet’s memory is—or how nonexistent “cancel culture” is. As for how Gates addresses any of this, in an interview with Wall Street Journal promoting the book, he calls his meeting with Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein had been convicted of child sex trafficking “foolish.”

This sounds like a great book that I will have to keep an eye out for in the future.

 

Freelance Review: The Antidote

It's been a considerable wait for Karen Russell--author of highly

praised and eclectic short story collections including St. Lucy's Home

for Girls Raised by Wolves--to produce another novel since her first,

Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012.

Happily, The Antidote, a deeply imagined blend of gritty realism and

alluring fantasy about the American Midwest in the Dust Bowl era, will

amply reward readers for their patience.

On April 14, 1935--Black Sunday--a catastrophic "black blizzard" swept

across the already beleaguered Great Plains of the United States.

Russell's locus for her account of that devastating dust storm and its

aftermath is the tiny fictional southwestern Nebraska town of Uz, an

"ugly and uninviting place" that shares its name with Job's biblical

homeland. The town, whose desperate citizens are "all in the market for

miracles," is home to bachelor farmer Harp Oletsky and his 15-year-old

basketball-obsessed niece, Asphodel, who becomes his ward when her

mother falls victim to a serial killer terrorizing the region.

Another resident is immigrant Antonina Rossi, a "prairie witch" whose

pseudonym provides the novel's title and who claims to store the

memories townspeople share with her for a fee in her "Vault." They're

joined by Cleo Allfrey, a young Black photographer who's been dispatched

by the Roosevelt administration to document the farmers' plight in hopes

of persuading Congress to fund New Deal aid programs.

Shifting among the voices of these characters, supplemented by periodic

brief contributions from a sentient scarecrow, Russell exposes the scars

they each bear from the events of their pasts and the hardships of daily

life in a dying town. Most moving are the stories of Antonina's longing

to be reunited with the son taken from her after she gave birth to him

as a 15-year-old in a home for unwed mothers, and Asphodel's ache for

the mother she barely knew. Russell energizes the plot with a

brilliantly conceived, profoundly moving dose of magical realism

involving Cleo's photography that becomes central to an effort to derail

the reelection bid of Uz's corrupt sheriff and save an innocent young

man from execution.

But like Cleo changing her lens from portrait to wide angle, Russell

skillfully pulls back from the travails of her characters to excavate

out of the formerly rich soil of this barren earth the story of how

immigrants like Harp's Polish parents--fleeing German oppression in

their homeland--ruthlessly displaced the Pawnee and other Native

American tribes and then exploited the land in ways that set the stage

for its eventual ruin. In doing so, Russell has created both a tender

story of how our memories sustain us in the face of significant loss and

a frank reckoning with a painful period of American history. --Harvey

Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

I've enjoyed the first season (and some of the second) of this program, so I'm glad to see that the show has another season coming up. I watch it on Amazon Prime.

 

TV: Dark Winds Season 3

AMC and AMC+ have released a sneak peek clip from the third season

premiere of Dark Winds <https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgOLxO8I6a1hcBgkEg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67EWcWnpoMLg-gVdw>,

based on the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman. The TV

series returns March 9, on AMC and AMC+, with additional availability on

AMC Networks' BBC America and Sundance TV. Subsequent episodes will

continue to debut weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMC/AMC+.

Directed by Chris Eyre and written by John Wirth and Steven Paul Judd,

the series stars Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, and

Deanna Allison, along with a new guest star roster that includes Jenna

Elfman and Bruce Greenwood. The series is executive produced by Roland, Wirth, McClarnon, Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin, Chris Eyre, Tina Elmo, Jim Chory, Vince Gerardis, and Anne Hillerman.

The Midwest (where I'm from...Iowa to be exact) is becoming a backwards morass of ignorance, corruption and censorship, which is heartbreaking, because when I was growing up, I was able to check out any book in the library that I wanted to, and read to my heart's content. Dolly Parton is a saint, and the fact that Indiana doesn't support her books for kids program is terrible.

 

Don’t Mess With Dolly

Funding for the Imagination Library, Dolly Parton’s program to encourage early literacy by sending children under five years old a free book each month, is not in Indiana’s proposed budget. The State of Indiana had previously supported the program, which Parton started in 1995 inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, through a funding match. Over the past two years, the Imagination Library has reached more than 125,000 children in Indiana alone. Urging Indiana Governor Mike Braun to reconsider, Parton said this:

”The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all—regardless of politics—because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.”

With U.S. literacy on the decline, we could use all the help we can get.

The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith is a YA romantasy that reads like a fantasy soap opera written by an adult who remembers what it's like to be a teenage girl. Here's the blurb: 

London, 1848—For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.

As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family’s social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy’s marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram’s hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can’t fix, a crown certainly could.

Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner—with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram’s brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother’s heart…for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen’s increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there’s more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.

 

This book is a real roller coaster of teenage girl emotions and romance, and while it moved fairly quickly, I found the ending to be abrupt and one that came to no resolution of the storyline at all. I also found the six chosen girls to be thin on character, and ridiculously gullible. I was also disappointed at how the author threw in a lesbian romance toward the end of the book for appearances sake, likely pandering to the YA audience who like to see LGBTQ characters represented in romantasy novels. The actual time spent on the romance between two girls was thin and felt like an afterthought. I'd give this novel a C+ and only recommend this to YA readers who like cookie-cutter plots that hit all the major spots of popular romance novels...but since it fails to be original, it will fall flat with readers looking for something out of the ordinary.

 

Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent is a short but well written romantasy that is a prequel to Broadbent's Crowns of Nyaxia series (which I've read). Broadbent's prose is succulent and succinct, and her plot glides along like an elegant ballerina. Here's the blurb: A standalone fantasy romance set in the stunningly epic world of Carissa Broadbent's New York Times bestselling Crowns of Nyaxia series. This short novel is perfect for readers of The Serpent & the Wings of Night and The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King and features beautiful case wrap art!

Six roses. Six vials of blood. Six visits to a vampire who could be her salvation… or her damnation.

Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood―the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire…and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.
Though I love the fact that the main protagonist is a female heroine, it still bothers me that she's the only person who seems willing to do something to save her entire town and her last remaining family member. Everyone else is either too cynical or dead or just gives up, which is unacceptable. Of course Lilith triumphs, but also of course, since she's a woman, she will be derided for generations for doing the right thing and giving everything to find a cure, because no good deed ever goes unpunished when it comes to female heroines. BTW, the book itself is beautifully produced. Still, it was a good read, and I'd give it an A-, and recommend it to those who liked the CON series.

 

The Cabinet of Dr Leng by Preston and Child is a science fiction/time traveling thriller that has some romance and horror mixed into the plot for spice. Here's the blurb: Preston & Child continue their  bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they cross paths with New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and now his greatest foe.

AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

Astoundingly, Constance has found a way back to the place of her origins: New York City in the late 1800s. She leaps at the chance to return…although it means leaving the present forever.

A DESPERATE OPPORTUNITY

Constance sets off on a quest to prevent the events that lead to the deaths of her sister and brother. But along the road to redemption, Manhattan’s most infamous serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng, lies in wait, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

UNIMAGINABLE ODDS

Meanwhile, in contemporary New York, Pendergast feverishly searches for a way to reunite with Constance—but will he discover a way back to her before it’s too late? 

 

Perhaps because it was written by two middle aged white guys, the female protagonist, Constance, really f-s up the other world's timeline because she's intent on saving her siblings from a horrible death at the hands of Victorian serial killer Dr Leng (who is a combination of Moriarty and Dr Mengele the Nazi scientist). Of course the Sherlock Holmes stand-in, Pendergast, must re-create the time machine and "save" this damsel in distress, though it turns out that, due to his hiring of a venal engineer, he's too late to save her sibling Mary. Granted, this book is the 21st on this series, and I've never read any of the other books, so perhaps this is a theme in them all, but the casual misogyny kind of threw me. Still, the whole time machine concept was fascinating, and the rapid-fire prose, along with the clear and swift plot made this book an easy reading page-turner. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to those who like time-travel and Sherlock Holmes stories.

 

The Crimson Road by A.G. Slatter is a YA gothic vampire romance story that was well written and plotted. It's also beautifully produced with a striking cover and lovely font for the text. Here's the blurb:

A captivating dark gothic fantasy set in the same universe as the award-winning author's All The Murmuring Bones.
Violet Zennor has had a peculiar upbringing. Training as a fighter in underground arenas, honing her skills against the worst scum, murderers and thieves her father could pit her against, she has learned to be ruthless. To kill.

Until the day Hedrek Zennor dies. Violet thinks she’s free – then she learns that her father planned to send her into the Darklands, where the Leech Lords reign. Where Violet’s still-born brother was taken years ago. Violet steadfastly refuses. Until one night two assassins attempt to slaughter her – and it becomes clear: she’s going to have to clean up the mess her father made.

By turns gripping and bewitching, sharp and audacious, this mesmerising story takes you on a journey into the dark heart of Slatter's sinister and compelling fantasy world in a tale of vampires, assassins, ancient witches and broken promises.

 

 

 

 I was fascinated by how hard Violet was willing to fight to have a life of her own, especially after the death of her horrific father. When she finally manages to get to the heart of the 'leech' (vampire) problem, the story careens in unexpected directions until it reaches a satisfying conclusion. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to those who like gothic fantasies featuring fearsome feminists.

 

 

 

Reuters Wins AI Copyright Suit, Hunger Games Meets Yellowstone, Novel Neighbor's Galentine's Extravaganza, A Farce Fit For SNL, Goodbye to Kindle Feature, Iowa Advances Librarian Criminalization Bill, Wild Country by Anne Bishop, Holmes is Missing by James Patterson, The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune and Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen

Hello book fiends and dragons! We're already coming up on the end of February, and everyone is anxiously awaiting some spring sunshine in late March or early April. Though I'm not really a sunshine and warm temps gal, since I prefer reading indoors, I'm normally not one to count the days until my seasonal allergies kick in when Spring blooms open up. That said, this year has been particularly cold and snowy and stormy, and even indoor cats like myself are hoping for a reprieve from gray skies and storms. So anyway, here's some alarming/unusual book tidbits and some reviews for ya'all. Keep warm, folks, sunshine's on its way! 

 

I've been against artificial intelligence using stolen works of human writers to re-create so-called original written works for people to lazy or wealthy or ignorant to do it themselves (or hire an actual human writer to do it for them). I'm thrilled, therefore, that the venerable news agency Reuters has won their case against AI stealing copyrighted works.

 

Thomson Reuters Wins AI Copyright Suit

In what has the potential to be a landmark decision, Thomson Reuters has won the first major AI copyright case in the U.S. The media and technology holding company filed suit against Ross Intelligence, a legal AI startup, in 2020, alleging that Ross reproduced documents from Westlaw, a legal research firm in its holdings. In a summary judgment, US District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas found in Thomson Reuters’ favor, stating that, “None of Ross’s possible defenses holds water. I reject them all.” Ouch.

Here’s what publishing will be paying most attention to: key to the ruling is Bibas’s determination that Ross Intelligence’s use of copyrighted material fell outside the protections of the fair use doctrine. This doesn’t bode well for other AI companies facing similar suits, as fair use is a linchpin of their defenses for things like, oh, you know, using copyrighted material from 183,000 books to train large language models. This is an encouraging result, but don’t pop your bottles just yet. We are still in the early days of what is certain to be a years-long process, this ruling will almost certainly be appealed, the law remains years behind AI’s development, and the current administration seems pretty friendly to tech’s “move fast and break things” approach. One to watch, for sure.

 

I've been a big Yellowstone fan for years, and I'm glad to see that the much-maligned cowboy, Jimmy, has found work post-Yellowstone narrating the latest Hunger Games...go Jimmy!

Hunger Games Meets Yellowstone

The latest book in The Hunger Games series will be narrated by Yellowstone actor Jefferson White! “It’s an honor to be a small part of a world I’ve loved for so long — Suzanne Collins is a genius and it’s equal parts exhilarating and terrifying to be back in Panem,” said White. Suzanne Collins’s Sunrise on the Reaping, which tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy, will be available in print, ebook, and audiobook on March 18.“

I love the idea of Galentine's Day taking over Valentines Day, so to read that a romance novel publisher went all in on this celebration is a bit of good news in an otherwise dark and depressing news cycle.

 

Image of the Day: Novel Neighbor's Galentine's Extravaganza

Open Door Romance at The Novel Neighbor https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgOIle0I6a1hIBx-Tg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67EWpSlpoMLg-gVdw, Webster Groves, Mo., teamed up with Berkley Romance for a Galentine's Extravaganza. More than 550 people turned out for (l.-r.) Kristina Forest (The Love Lyric), B.K. Borison (First-Time Caller), and Ali Hazelwood (Deep End) at the Keating Center for Performing Arts, in a lively conversation about their books and how romance builds community and brings people together. The store staff annotated copies of each of their books, which were then raffled off in support of the bookstore's nonprofit, The Noble Neighbor.

 

LOL! I love Tina Fey, even though I'm a Boomer myself.

 

A Reply All Farce Fit for SNL

“Dear Boomers,” Tina Fey wrote in the thread at 9:38, with a link to an instructional YouTube video for senior citizens on how to read, reply, and forward emails when using a Gmail account.

There truly was no other way to introduce this story about a bunch of boomers replying all to an at first innocuous in-conversation event invite sent by Susan Morrison, the author of the new Lorne Michaels biography. I want to say, “This is why the BCC button was created, people,” but I admit I’ve always been entertained by the train off the tracks energy of reply all fiascos and hardly have I met one with so many actual comedians.

 

Having been a Kindle owner for years, I think this is total BS. Thanks for making things harder for ebook readers, Amazon. Pfft.

 

Say Goodbye to This Kindle Feature

The next time someone laughs at me for holding onto my Columbo: The Complete Series DVD set, I’ll loan them my copy of Just One More Thing and point them to this article about Amazon retiring a feature that allows Kindle users to download purchased books to their computers. While the feature is mainly useful for users who can’t transfer straight to their device via WiFi, it’s also another way to hold onto your purchased copy in case Amazon slides in and removes or modifies the title, which has happened. Not to get too Nineteen Eighty-Four, copies of which Amazon removed in 2009, but the point The Verge ‘s Andrew Liszewski made here isn’t random: “It’s a reminder that you don’t actually own much of the digital content you consume, and without the ability to back up copies of ebooks, you could lose them entirely if they’re banned and removed.” The download option will be gone starting February 26th, but you can find instructions for how to access the feature between now and then in the article.

Just another horrifying bit of news coming out of my home state, Iowa. Why such a literate place would allow book banning Nazis to get away with criminalizing Librarians doing their job is beyond me. I'm actually glad that I left Iowa in my early 20s and have never looked back. Washington state, where I've lived for 30+ years, is much smarter about such things, and would never allow a bill like this to pass. Shame on the Hawkeye state! Censorship is fascism!

 

Iowa Rushes, Advances Librarian Criminalization Bill

Iowa has quickly advanced a bill in a show of partisanship that “would erase protections that public libraries and educational institutions have related to ‘obscene’ materials.” Learn more about this bill, including why it was rushed and the harmful impact it would have, in this Literary Activism piece.

Wild Country by Anne Bishop is a tale from the world of the "others," a paranormal fantasy series about a world where humans are the invasive pests, and the land itself has lethal creatures that protect it from human destruction and pollution. It's a world also populated by vampires, werewolves, blood prophets and medusa-like female creatures who can kill with just a look. Bishop's prose is strong and stunningly evocative, while her plots move at a measured pace (which is not to say that they lag, but they are slow to start and take their time getting to an HFN ending). Here's the blurb:

In this  powerful and exciting fantasy set in the world of the Others series, humans and the shape-shifting Others will see whether they can live side by side...without destroying one another.

There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance.
 
But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the outlaw Blackstone Clan will either unite Others and humans...or bury them all. 

 

Though I enjoyed learning more about the inhabitants, both Others and Human, of Bennett, I was rather upset that the male protagonist was such a nasty piece of work who never did seem to soften towards his new human female deputy. But I did enjoy the way that Bishop strove to show that people and others can get along and accept one another and live in the same town, if only they keep an open mind and heart. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who has read other books in the Others series. Though its a bit too long, its worth it in the end.

 

Holmes Is Missing by James Patterson and Brian Sitts is the second book in their mystery thriller series, and, as the previous book proved, quite a page-turner that will have you reading into the wee hours. Here's the blurb: In Holmes is Missing, PI Brendan Holmes has committed the perfect crime—he’s made himself disappear.
 
Success has come quickly to Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. The New York City agency led by three detectives—Brendan Holmes, “the brain,” Margaret Marple, “the eyes,” and Auguste Poe, the “muscle”—with famous names and mysterious pasts is one major case away from cementing its professional reputation. 
 
But as a series of child abductions tests the PIs’ legendary skills, the cerebral Holmes’s absence leaves a gaping hole in the agency roster.
  
Only by closing ranks and solving the mystery within can they recover all that’s been lost. 

 

My first complaint about these three fascinating characters (who all take after their ancestor namesakes) is that Poe is a philandering, oversexed, car-afficionado who comes off as something of a wealthy creep, whereas his ancestor, EA Poe, was more of a lovelorn sadsack when it came to the adoration of the opposite sex. It's also bothersome, and somewhat misogynistic, that Marple, being the only woman, has to mother the male characters and their bad habits and fragile egos while still maintaining the firm's reputation by working on and solving their impossible cases. It's the old dicotomy set up by religion, of women being seen as both angels and whores, because men can't handle reality or life without someone more mature than themselves getting sh*t done....and it's usually a woman or women who are tasked with "doing it all" and making businesses and society run, often to their exhaustion and detriment to their health. Too bad Patterson and his co-author weren't able to move beyond this tired trope and have Holmes and Poe actually do their fair share of the work of their agency themselves. And, inevitably, Marple, because she's a woman, has to be paired off with either Holmes or Poe, because women can't live without having a sexual relationship, even an inappropriate one with a colleague, right? Sigh...so disappointing that a woman as smart as Marple would fall for someone as damaged and drug addicted as Holmes. She has been portrayed, up to this point, as being super smart and resourceful, but suddenly she lusts after this idiot who is self destructive and often cruel? Why? Ugh. I'd give this book a B, primarily for the excellent prose and swift plot, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers and the classic mystery novels of Doyle and Poe and Christie.

 

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune is a bizarre science fiction/adventure/thriller that defies categorization. I've read all of Klunes other novels, which were found-family cozies and always left me with a tear in my eye, but this particular book is not related to them at all, and is a standalone that even the author describes in his afterword as "weird." Here's the blurb: 

A spine-tingling standalone novel by TJ Klune―a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government.

There's nothing more human than a broken heart.

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC.

With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not.

Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.

Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.

This book reminded me of a Gay/Queer version of an X-Files episode from the 90s. Not to get too woo-woo, but Artemis is an alien who doesn't actually have flesh and blood (or emotions) in her normal state, but she can take over a human body and use them to experience and learn about the human world. Unfortunately, the government gets ahold of her and tortures her in the bodies of two different people for decades, until one of her guards, Alex, falls in love with her and realizes that what is being done to her is wrong (and that they will kill her out of fear), so he escapes with her in the body of a child and the two go on a wild adventure, meeting Nate and bringing him into their found family along the way. As is usual of Klune's novels, there are moments of laughter and tears and a lot of poignancy to their experiences and escapes, but beneath all of that is the yearning love story of Alex and Nate, and how their relationship with Art heals their bodies and minds. the ending is abrupt as it fast-forwards in time, but the actual ending about the invasion of the body-snatchers is wobbly and off-center at best, and doesn't answer a lot of questions brought up in the novel about the nature of the aliens and why they'd want to colonize humanity in the first place...and how they'd keep the military from getting involved in a destructive capacity, again. I'd give this odd work a B-, and recommend it to those looking for works with gay male love stories and bizarre X-Files storylines.

 

Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen is a funny romance novel that is somehow unsatisfying in the end. Here's the blurb:

From the author of Recipe for Second Chances comes a swoonworthy romance bursting with wit about a therapist who falls for the wrong man…but perhaps the right one was hiding in the margins all along.

As a relationship therapist, Nora helps patients explore their feelings honestly. But she’s hiding an embarrassing relationship secret of her own: she’s in love with someone she’s never even met.

J edits the advice column Nora’s been writing anonymously for the last seven years. He’s in London, she’s in New York, and they communicate solely through shared files. When he confides that his girlfriend’s out of the picture, and her boss asks her to come to London, Nora takes both as a sign.

But that’s not the only thing on her mind. A client’s ex-boyfriend just moved into her co-op, directly beneath her. Eli blames Nora for his breakup and seems determined to make her life miserable, gleefully planning a noisy renovation.

Yet despite all his bluster, Nora eventually starts to see the softness behind Eli’s brusque, charming exterior…and after a slipup reveals a startling secret, Nora wonders whether someone can be two things at once.

 

Anyone who has ever read a romantic comedy novel knows where this plane will land, and I was therefore unsurprised that J and Eli were the same guy...in fact, I figured that out after the second chapter of the book. There was little explanation for why Eli, who comes off as a real toady jerk, is so kind and nice as J, the copyeditor who never has an unkind word for his favorite columnist, Nora. It never makes sense how he can be a shitheel in real life and a totally different person over text-email. I also didn't see how Nora could be so attracted to him when he was constantly doing things to needle and irritate her, or just make her angry. That kind of person, especially that type of guy, isn't sexy. I don't care how many muscles he has, if he's a rampaging jerkface, he is not boyfriend or bedmate material. This book assumes all women are stupid and helpless to control their emotions or sexuality around guys who are very handsome and have muscular frames. Since Nora's a therapist about relationships, she would know better than to fall for Eli, and also better than to forgive him immediately after finding out that he's J, and has been hiding his true identity from her. I would not forgive someone who did that to me, nor would I fall into his arms and swoon with lust. Insert eye roll here. I really dislike that romance novels tend to turn women into complete idiots unable to control their libidos or yearnings for love. So I'd give this ebook a C+ and only recommend it to those who don't mind outdated and sexist tropes.

 

Publishers File Suit Against Idaho Book Banning Law, Neil Gaiman's Nanny Files Civil Lawsuit, Obituary for Marion Wiesel, Two Obituary Notes for Tom Robbins, Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson, Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian, The Summer Job by Lizzie Dent, and Hellcat's Bounty by Renae Jones

Greetings book people! It's Valentine's Day week, and I'm hoping for a trip to the bookstore instead of flowers or candy this year. My TBR is getting small and anemic! Anyway, I've had to resort to reading a lot of cheap ebooks, so forgive the shorter reviews. And here's hoping for no more snow and ice in the coming couple of weeks.

One of the first things that fascist regimes do, historically, is ban or burn books, jail or harass intellectuals and teachers, and attempt to rewrite history to make themselves the heroes/those in the right/on God's side. It's reprehensible how our current POTUS is following this script, making oligarchs/rich white guys his acolytes and taking money and power and intellectual/educational freedom from the poor and everyone else. I'm so glad to see that there are people fighting back!

Publishers, Others File Suit Against Idaho Book Banning Law

Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, authors Malinda Lo, David Levithan, and Dashka Slater, and others have filed a lawsuit in Idaho challenging the book removal provisions of a law signed last July that restricts books in public and school libraries. The Idaho law, called HB 710, forbids anyone under the age of 18 from accessing library books that contain "sexual content," regardless of the work's literary or educational merit; the law's definition of sexual content is "broad, vague, and overtly discriminatory," the plaintiffs said.
The law allows county prosecuting attorneys and the state attorney general to bring claims against any school or public library and "incentivizes private citizens to file legal complaints against public libraries or schools through a bounty system." The plaintiffs noted that "many libraries, including those in rural areas that are the sole book providers in their communities, cannot afford to be sued because they cannot cover the cost of a defense."
Plaintiffs charged that the law has "resulted in a chilling effect across the state, with libraries preemptively removing hundreds of books from their shelves.
Plaintiffs said the law has been applied to "classics such as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; and bestsellers including Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Forever... by Judy Blume." The law also affects nonfiction, "imperiling access to factual resources such as The "What's Happening to My Body?" Book for Girls by Lynda Madaras, and erasing history by removing books about the Holocaust and other historical events. The law makes no distinction between infants and 17-year-olds--books are classified as harmful regardless of the age and maturity level of the child."
Plaintiffs seek to have the court to declare the law "unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, issue preliminary and permanent injunctions barring its enforcement, and award plaintiffs their costs and attorneys' fees."
Michael Grygiel, an adjunct faculty member with Cornell Law School's First Amendment Clinic, the lead legal representation in the suit, said that the law "has resulted in the removal of classic works of literature from library shelves across Idaho as libraries attempt to protect themselves from liability under the law's vague and overbroad provisions. This type of self-censorship is inimical to First Amendment liberties and has suffocated the right of Idaho students to read books deemed appropriate for their age and maturity level by their parents. In short, the law is an affront to the Constitution. It is a privilege to represent the publishers, authors, libraries, parents, and students who have joined this lawsuit to challenge HB 710 and stand up for the First Amendment rights of all Idaho citizens."



More dirt has surfaced in the case against Neil Gaiman, who has been accused of sexual harassment, rape and abuse. It appears that his ex-wife Amanda Palmer helped him procure young women to abuse. SHAME on you, Ms Palmer.This whole thing fills me with disgust and despair, that such a talented writer/author is, in reality, a sexual predator and total creep. I don't plan on reading or watching any more of his work.

Neil Gaiman Accuser Files Civil Lawsuit

Scarlett Pavlovich has filed a civil lawsuit against British author Neil Gaiman https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgDblOUI6a1ick9zTw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HCZWtpoMLg-gVdw and his estranged wife, musician Amanda Palmer, accusing Gaiman of repeatedly sexually assaulting her while she was working as the couple's babysitter and nanny, the Guardian reported.
Pavlovich filed the lawsuit in federal court in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New York earlier this week. She was one of eight women who had detailed allegations of assault, abuse, and coercion against Gaiman in an expose published by New York magazine last month. The civil lawsuit also accuses Gaiman of rape, coercion, and human trafficking, and Palmer of "procuring and presenting" her to Gaiman "for such abuse."
Gaiman has denied all allegations, saying he thought the relationships were consensual. (Editor's note: This is total BS, because Gaiman is way too smart not to know the difference between consensual sex and forced or coerced sex).

Two of Gaiman's publishers, HarperCollins and W.W. Norton, have said they have no plans to release his books in the future. Others, including Bloomsbury, have so far declined to comment, the Guardian wrote, adding that Dark Horse Comics announced in January it would no longer release its illustrated series based on Gaiman's novel Anansi Boys. In addition, a production of Coraline has been cancelled, while Disney has paused a planned adaptation of Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Netflix is still scheduled to release a second season based on The Sandman, but has announced it would be the last.


I remain a huge fan of the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel, and I am saddened to hear that his wife and translator Marion has passed. She lived a long and colorful life.

Obituary Note: Marion Wiesel

Marion Wiesel, who translated many books written by her husband, Elie Wiesel, including the final edition of Night, and who "encouraged him to pursue a wide-ranging public career, helping him become the most renowned interpreter of the Holocaust," died February 2, the New York Times reported. She was 94.
The Wiesels met in the late 1960s and married in 1969. Elie Wiesel had already achieved acclaim with his memoir Night (1960), which was originally translated from French by Stella Rodway. "Friends, relatives, and writers all attributed the moral stature he achieved partly to the quiet influence of Marion," the Times noted.
"In the alignment of stars that helped make Wiesel the international icon he became, his marriage to Marion was among the most significant," Joseph Berger wrote in Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence (2023). Berger noted that of the 10 million copies of Night that have had sold, three million came after her 2006 translation, which was also promoted by Oprah Winfrey and became a widely assigned book in high schools.

Like her husband, Marion Wiesel was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. One of her major impacts on his career was through translation. She "shared her husband's cosmopolitan knowledge of European culture and fluency in several languages. She quickly began translating his writing from French to English, ultimately working on 14 of his books," the Times noted.
Describing Marion Wiesel as her husband's "most trusted adviser," Ileene Smith, the couple's editor, observed that "as his translator from the French, Marion pored over every sentence of Elie's work with astonishing insight into his interior world, his literary mind."

Once my husband (at the time he was just my boyfriend) and I landed in Seattle after driving diagonally all the way across the United States in 1991, I set out to learn about the cultural atmosphere of the Pacific NW by reading some local authors. The Center for the book recommended Tom Robbins, among others, and once I got ahold of a copy of Jitterbug Perfume in 1993, I was hooked. I read his other famed works and watched the movies based on those books, and as a stalwart fan, I had hopes that I would be able to meet him at a book signing event in the Seattle area. Though it was not meant to be, I am still saddened to read of his demise. RIP to a wonderful, fun and brilliant author.

Fare Thee Well, Tom Robbins

The novelist Tom Robbins has died at the age of 92. Known for infusing his work with humor and whimsy, Robbins penned bestsellers— Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Skinny Legs and All, Jitterbug Perfume —in addition to essays that revealed a voracious curiosity. Robbins, who was aware that "establishment critics…write me off as a counterculture writer," knew his work was about much more than LSD-fueled imagery and countercultural themes. As professor Catherine E. Hoyser, who once wrote a guide to Robbins’s work for her students, told NPR, "People who believed that he was a drug-taking bon-vivant that wasn’t particularly serious in his work actually don’t pay attention to the profound nature underneath that humor." Those who read more closely will see that Robbins "was an advocate for feminism, social justice and the environment."

Obituary Note: Tom Robbins
Tom Robbins, author of bestselling books, including Jitterbug Perfume, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Still Life With Woodpecker, died February 9. He was 92.
His "early books defined the 1960s for a generation and [his] publishing career spanned more than 50 years," the Seattle Times wrote. Robbins "was unclassifiable, and he liked it that way. He was a shy, dreamy kid who became a class clown and bad boy, a native Southerner who moved to Seattle from Virginia."

Speaking on behalf of Robbins' family, friend Craig Popelars said: "Tom's wise and weirdly wonderful novels were filled with magic, mayhem, mythology, imagination, and high-wire humor--always humor. His books touched readers in the most profound ways, and up until his death he continued to engage with them by responding to their fan mail, sending them hand-written thank you letters. He loved connecting with readers in every way imaginable."

After arriving in Seattle in 1962 to attend the University of Washington's Far East Institute, he also started working at the Seattle Times. He soon "left graduate school and evolved into an art critic, and his freewheeling style earned him the label 'the Hells Angel of Art Criticism,' in the words of one Seattle Art Museum associate director," the Seattle Times wrote.

His second novel, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976), led Rolling Stone to call him "the new king of the extended metaphor, dependent clause, outrageous pun, and meteorological personification." By 1978, his first two novels had sold two million copies. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into a 1993 film by director Gus Van Sant.
Robbins published 12 books, including the novels Skinny Legs and All (1990), Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994), Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000), and Villa Incognito (2003); a children's book, B Is for Beer (2009); and his memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life (2014). In a New York Times interview about the memoir, journalist Rob Liguori asked, "Have you ever been to Tibet?" Robbins responded, "I didn't go to Tibet for the same reason I never slept with Jennifer Lopez. Sometimes it's better to imagine things."

In 1997, he won Bumbershoot's Golden Umbrella Award, which recognizes "one artist from the Northwest whose body of work represents major achievement in his or her discipline." He was a "member at large" of the nonprofit service Seattle 7 Writers.
The Seattle Times noted that Robbins once described his books as "cakes with files baked in them..... I try to create something that's beautiful to look at and delicious to the taste, and yet in the middle there's this hard, sharp instrument that you can use to saw through the bars and liberate yourself, should you so desire."
Eventually Robbins married Alexa D'Avalon and together they created a joyous and adventurous life, lovingly surrounded by family, friends, art, the natural world, and cosmic interlopers. D'Avalon shared, "Tom's hope was that his books would continue to be discovered and embraced by new readers, and that we would all find every opportunity to smile back at the world."


Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson (and co writer Brian Sitts) is a mystery/thriller that is fast-paced and exciting, as well as imaginative in the conceit that the descendants of famous fictional detectives would band together to solve crimes in the current century. Here's the blurb:

In this thrilling story of crime and corruption, three detectives keep their identities secret, and NYPD’s Det. Helene Grey is on a mission to unmask them—no matter who gets killed along the way.

In New York City, three intriguing, smart, and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts?

Brendan Holmes—The Brain: Identifies suspects via deduction and logic.

Margaret Marple—The Eyes: Possesses powers of observation too often underestimated.

Auguste Poe—The Muscle: Chases down every lead no matter how dangerous or dark.

The agency’s daring methodology and headline-making solves attract the attention of NYPD Detective Helene Grey. Her solo investigation into her three unknowable competitors rivals the best mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Edgar Allan Poe.  

The prose was tight and clean, aiding a fascinating plot that will keep readers turning pages into the wee hours. I couldn't put it down, and yet I was troubled in reading that Holmes was still saddled with a hard drug problem that hampered his ability to help with the team's investigations. It's also sexist that Ms Marple is the one who has to drag him out of his drug induced stupor, and get him help. Someone who is obviously such a liability should be banned from the team until he's sober for at least a year. Anyway, other than that, I enjoyed this fascinating ebook, and I'd give it an A and recommend it to anyone who likes classic mysteries and classic detectives solving them.

Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian was a YA romantasy that started out with a fascinating premise and then scuttled the rest of the book by turning the trio of sisters into emotional wreaks who couldn't manage to do what they'd been trained to do, or to sacrifice their plans on the altar of love and make things right again in their adoptive kingdoms. Everything is, of course, blamed on their horrible mother, who is manipulative and psychopathic enough to only see her children as tools to be used and then murdered for her ambition. Here's the blurb:

A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series.

Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, at age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their prince.

Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence, with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies—and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria.

The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers. Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?

The farther along I got in this book, the less I liked the sisters, who pined for each other and seemed to be unaware of their mother's over-reaching ambition to seize control and then assassinate each of them. The ending was particularly abrupt and terrible, enough so that it put me off of reading the next two books in the series. I'd give this uneven text a B- and recommend it to anyone who finds fairy tales about princesses lack grit and bloodshed.

The Summer Job by Lizzie Dent is a contemporary romantic comedy that isn't actually humorous at all...it's just sad that the main character is is an immature idiot who can't do anything right. Of course, she blames her crappy life and awful behavior on her parents, because she doesn't have the decency or maturity to take responsibility for her own actions, though she's an adult and has been screwing things up for years. Here's the blurb: What if you could be someone else? Just for the summer...

Birdy has made a mistake. Everyone imagines running away from their life at some point. But Birdy has actually done it. And the life she's run into is her best friend Heather's. The only problem is, she hasn't told Heather.

The summer job at the highland Scottish hotel that her world class wine-expert friend ditched turns out to be a lot more than Birdy bargained for. Can she survive a summer pretending to be her best friend? And can Birdy stop herself from falling for the first man she's ever actually liked, but who thinks she's someone else?

One good friend's very bad decision is at the heart of this laugh-out-loud love story and unexpected tale of a woman finally finding herself in the strangest of places. 

I didn't find this story of a serial liar funny (let alone laugh out loud funny) at all...I found it sad and pathetic and sexist (why are women always the bunglers in these stories, where they're infantilized, and why are the men who rescue them always so perfect as to never step a foot wrong?) By the end of the book, Birdy still hasn't "found her purpose" and she still has no passion other than to be "included" and be "loved" by the side characters and the male protagonist, of course...gag. How ridiculous and childish. I'd give this book that lionizes lying and cheating to get ahead a C+, and I would only recommend it to people who enjoy watching young women screw up repeatedly and still get "their man" in the end. 

Hellcat's Bounty by Renae Jones is a "Rosewood Space Western" and part of a series. Because this is the first book, there's a certain amount of unavoidable set up, but it doesn't really mar the first few chapters at all, due to the snappy prose. Here's the blurb: 

Lesbian romance meets adventure in the first Rosewood Space Western.

The hellcat of Rosewood station is the best of the best. Anelace Rios is a good old-fashioned troublemaker, fiercely independent, and best of all, a steady hand with a flamethrower. Carnivorous amoeba are slowly taking over the half-abandoned mining port, and the freelance exterminator rakes in big bounties killing them off—then she spends those bounties in a grand way. Work hard, play hard.

Meidani Sintlere's reputation is exactly the opposite of her wild friend. She's the station’s hardworking black market doctor. She’s shy. She's nice. She's got a weakness for imported chocolate and pastel dresses. And she gets mad as a sani-vacced cat when Anelace shows up missing chunks of skin.

The hellcat never lacks for a willing partner. Even so, Meidani's got notions to cut to the front of the line and stay there. She upends everything Anelace knows about good girls and the bad girls who don’t deserve them, and in a blisteringly hot night they go from friends to lovers.

But their new closeness forces the kind of reckoning even tough Anelace can't escape unscathed. She thrives on her job, relishes the payoff, but now she's endangering more than her own adrenaline-junkie hide—every run risks Meidani’s happiness. For the first time, Anelace is risking her shot at love.

This book starts a bit slow, but builds up speed like a steam locomotive, and before you know it you're at the HEA. I enjoyed the main characters, and found the intersection between Westerns and Space Opera/Lesbian Romance to be riveting. The plot isn't too obvious and the characters very well drawn. I was pulling for Meidani and Anelace, and I had hopes that the space critters that were killing people would be erradicated by the end of the book...while that didn't happen, at least Anelace managed to kill more than her fair share, and used her bounties to set up a life for herself and her beloved. Sigh...I love a good HEA. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to those in the LGBTQ community who like cozy space stories.

 

Dark Horse Drops Gaiman, Who is Officially Taken to Court, Recreating Anne Frank's Annex, DOE Dismisses Book Bans, Dark Winds Season 3, Dune's Litany Against Fear, NYPL Case Study, Children of the Jungle Movie, The Baby Dragon Cafe by AT Qureshi, The Stone Witch of Florence by Ana Rasche, Candle and Crow by Kevin Hearne, and Vipers and Virtuosos by Sav R Miller

Welcome to February, my fellow book fiends! I've been putting off updating my blog because of issues with my husband (who had a hip replacement about 2 weeks ago) and my own health issues (a respiratory infection and degenerative inflammatory arthritis in my neck and shoulder), so I've been exhausted and busy trying to make doctor's appointments and get labs/Xrays done. I've also been reading some ebooks and one physical book that was so awful I wanted to actually burn it in the street, which is rare for me. Even the ever-popular but extremely poorly written Twilight series only made me want to toss it against the wall, not eliminate it from the earth entirely. Still, it's time to get these things in order, and first off, here's the latest tidbits on the evolving NG scandal, which is horrific and makes me seriously angry, that someone would hide being so evil as a pedophile, rapist and plagiarist. It makes me sick that Amanda Palmer, his ex-wife, was also named as a human trafficker. Seriously, Palmer, how would you feel if someone trafficked your young son? Shame on both of them!

  

Dark Horse Comics Drops Neil Gaiman

If you read the excellent and truly disturbing reporting on the sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman, it might come as no surprise that Dark Horse Comics has announced they will no longer publish Gaiman’s works. Or maybe it won’t come as a surprise since the silence around the allegations from publishers who work with Gaiman and publishing media was deafening. Dark Horse made the announcement after the author posted a statement to his blog denying the allegations. In addition to stating that they take the allegations seriously, in their post on X Dark Horse confirmed that they cancelled a planned Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume. In an era where entities and individuals are emboldened by a post-MeToo sentiment and a majority of Americans decided they could stomach a president found liable of sexual abuse, I’m sad to say the low bar of standing on principal here is wild and heartening.

 

Neil Gaiman Officially Taken to Court

Scarlett Pavlovich, who was a central figure in Lila Shapiro’s shattering story on Neil Gaiman, officially sued Gaiman in the Western District Court of U.S. , claiming rape and human trafficking. Amanda Palmer was also accused of human trafficking in the filing. This is a civil suit not a criminal one (individuals of course cannot file ) criminal charges, and in civil court the standard of guilt is somewhat different. So in this example, a jury is instructed to convict if they believe “the preponderance of the evidence” shows that the accused did whatever it was they are accused of. Often this is described as a 51% chance that they did it, which is quite a bit lower than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” I have now read Shapiro’s piece, and I will say that even before people are under oath and discovery and the whole machinery of the legal process gets underway, Pavolovich’s chances seem to me quite strong.

 

 I believe this is a great idea, to replicate the space and to remind people of the horrors inflicted on the Jewish people during WWII.

Recreating Anne Frank’s Secret Annex

In the Center for Jewish History an 800-square-foot room with scant furnishings and photos of bygone celebrities offers visitors a glimpse of the space where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis. The exhibition, opening today on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, was created by the Anne Frank House, which has a museum in Amsterdam with a starkly different version of the space–one “pillaged by the Nazis and left bare.” In addition to the replica, the Manhattan exhibition displays 79 editions of Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl in different languages. As Fast Company‘s Elissaveta M. Brandon points out, the show feels all too timely. I was just reading about how Elon Musk, speaking on video at a far-right event in Germany, said, “There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.” To that I say, there is no better time than now to reflect on our ability to be complicit in acts as great and horrifying as holocaust, genocide, enslavement and all manner of inhumanities, and to learn from and act against them.

Just another reprehensible thing that our current POTUS and his band of fascists are doing to keep American children ignorant of anything but WASPs and racist oligarchs. I remember reading James Baldwin when I was in high school and feeling as though I'd found a kindred spirit through his words. That won't be possible soon, with these insane book banning people taking books by POC, by those in the LGBTQ community and by those authors highlighting racial/social inequality out of libraries and student's hands. These are dark days for democracy and freedom of the press.

Department of Education Dismisses “So-Called” Book Bans Under Trump Administration

The U.S. Department of Education is rescinding all guidance against book removals, has dismissed current and pending book ban complaints, and got rid of the book ban coordinator position for the investigation of unlawful book removals. In a statement, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said, “The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities. Parents and school boards have broad discretion to fulfill that important responsibility.”

No mention of how pressure campaigns to remove books by and about queer, BIPOC, and other underrepresented people run by private, partisan groups like Moms for Liberty undermine the ability of local educators, librarians, and parents to give kids the education and access to information they need. And let’s not forget about state legislated censorship. Publishers Weekly reported on the swift condemnation and criticism of the DOE’s decision from PEN America, Authors Against Book Bans, and other organizations.

Speaking of BIPOC authors and TV series, I really enjoyed the first two seasons of Dark Winds, which is a well written show about Indigenous people/Native Americans.

TV: Dark Winds Season 3

AMC Networks has released the official trailer for the third season of

its noir drama series, Dark Winds, based on the Leaphorn &

Chee book series by Tony Hillerman. The TV series returns with all-new

episodes exclusively on AMC and AMC+ on March 9, with new episodes

airing weekly on Sundays.

The cast includes Zahn McClarnon (The Son, Westworld, Fargo), Kiowa

Gordon (The Red Road, Roswell, New Mexico), Jessica Matten (Rez Ball,

Tribal, Burden of Truth), and Deanna Allison (Accused, Edge of America).

Joining them as guest stars this season are Jenna Elfman, Bruce

Greenwood, Raoul Max Trujillo, Tonantzin Carmelo, Alex Meraz, Terry

Serpico, Derek Hinkey, Phil Burke, and Christopher Heyerdahl. Returning

for season 3 are guest stars A Martinez and Jeri Ryan.

Dark Winds is created by Graham Roland, with John Wirth serving as

showrunner. The series is executive produced by Roland, Wirth,

McClarnon, Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin, Chris Eyre, Tina Elmo,

Jim Chory, Vince Gerardis, and Anne Hillerman.

I found myself reciting this in my head while watching Dune Prophecy this past weekend. These are dark and frightening times, and Frank Herbert, who was writing the Dune series during a time of great social upheaval in the 60s and 70s, understood that we cannot let our fears overwhelm us. So take a deep breath, and repeat after me:

 

From Dune, the Litany Against Fear

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.--Frank Herbert, author of the original Dune series

 

They didn't need a study for me to understand this in my bones...places that house books, like libraries and bookstores, are sacred spaces to me, and necessary for my continued well being.

Libraries & Well-Being: A Case Study from The New York Public Library

Canvassing more than 2,000 participants, The NYPL did a survey last fall about how people feel about their library and, most novel to me at least, how people actually feel after using the library. There are many interesting findings here, but a couple stand out. After visiting the library, 70% of respondents report feeling “on top of everything I do” and 75% report feeling “engaged and/or stimulated.” I might be projecting here a little, but these are two feelings I think I many of us could use a little more of. Feeling stagnant? Harried and somehow also helpless? Maybe a trip to the library can help.

 

I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott, and I look forward to watching this movie adaptation when it premiers.

Movies: Children of the Jungle

20th Century Studios will develop a film adaptation of Children of the

Jungle, based on investigative journalist Mat Youkee's book Forty Days in the Jungle: Behind the Extraordinary Survival and Rescue of Four Children

Lost in the Amazon. Roberto Bentivegna will write the script, Deadline

reported, adding that Giannina Scott is producing through her Cara Films

banner alongside Scott Free's Ridley Scott and president of film Michael

Pruss.

Giannina Scott "brought the project to Scott Free and won a competitive

auction for Youkee's book proposal together with the Scott Free team.

Around that time, in May 2024, the story became global headline news,"

Deadline noted.

 

The Baby Dragon Cafe by AT Qureshi is a fun and cozy fantasy that, though it felt like it was written with a younger YA audience in mind (preteens and early teens), was still entertaining for those of us who just enjoy a good lighthearted yarn. Here's the blurb:

When Saphira opens her cafe welcoming pet baby dragons, she isn’t expecting it to be quite so hard to keep the fires burning. But her young dragon patrons keep incinerating her furniture, which means selling coffee isn’t covering all her costs.

Local heart-throb Aiden is a gardener, though his disobedient baby dragon is a major distraction from his beloved plants. However, Saphira’s café gives him an idea – he’ll ask Saphira to train his dragon, and pay her enough to keep the cafe afloat.

They know they’re the answer to each other’s problems, but happy-go-lucky Saphira and gorgeous-but-grumpy Aiden couldn’t be more different. Can they find a way to work together – and maybe even ignite some fire of their own?

The perfect dual POV, grumpy sunshine cozy fantasy, with HEA guaranteed!

 

Though it's easy to see where the plot of this novel is going, it's an enjoyable walk in the sunshine to get there, and I was glad that the author didn't feel the need to add a bunch of sleazy sex scenes or "spice" to make it feel like a real romance. Some good parenting tips are laced throughout, even though they're for dragons and not human children. I'd give this easy, breezy book a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes cute dragon babies and tropey romances.

 

The Stone Witch of Florence by Ana Rasche is a paranormal historical fantasy about folk magic and medicine that wise women wielded, much to their detriment in the 14th century (they were accused of witchcraft and murdered). Though it was a touch too long, I felt the elegant prose and florid plot kept this novel moving at a thumping pace. I liked Ginevra and her ability to use gemstones to heal people, as well as her smarts for finding ways to hide her talents so she could remain alive. Here is the blurb: A woman's secret. A deadly Plague. Unleash the hidden magic…

1348. As the Black Plague ravages Italy, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned to Florence after nearly a decade of lonely exile. Ginevra has a gift—harnessing the hidden powers of gemstones, she can heal the sick. But when word spread of her unusual abilities, she was condemned as a witch and banished. Now the same men who expelled Ginevra are begging for her return.

Ginevra obliges, assuming the city’s leaders are finally ready to accept her unorthodox cures amid a pandemic. But upon arrival, she is tasked with a much different mission: she must use her collection of jewels to track down a ruthless thief who is ransacking Florence’s churches for priceless relics—the city’s only hope for protection. If she succeeds, she’ll be a recognized physician and never accused of witchcraft again.

But as her investigation progresses, Ginevra discovers she’s merely a pawn in a much larger scheme than the one she’s been hired to solve. And the dangerous men behind this conspiracy won’t think twice about killing a stone witch to get what they want…

 

As usual, it's misogyny and men at the bottom of the conspiracy, looking for more ways to gain power at a woman's expense. Once you get into the thick of the book, it's hard to put down. I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone interested in the history of witches, medicine and wise women.

 

Candle And Crow by Kevin Hearne is the third book in the comedic fantasy Ink & Sigil series, and the one that ties all the loose plot points together. Here's the blurb: From the bestselling author of The Iron Druid Chronicles comes the final book in the Ink & Sigil series, as an ink-slinging wizard pursues the answer to a very personal mystery: Who cast a pair of curses on his head?

Al MacBharrais has a most unusual job: He’s a practitioner of ink-and-sigil magic, tasked with keeping order among the gods and monsters that dwell hidden in the human world. But there’s one supernatural mystery he’s never been able to solve: Years ago, someone cast twin curses on him that killed off his apprentices and drove away loved ones who heard him speak, leaving him bereft and isolated. 

But he’s not quite alone: As Al works to solve this mystery, his friends draw him into their own eccentric dramas. Buck Foi the hobgoblin has been pondering his own legacy—and has a plan for a daring shenanigan that will make him the most celebrated hobgoblin of all. Nadia, goth queen and battle seer, is creating her own cult around a god who loves whisky and cheese. 

And the Morrigan, a former Irish death goddess, has decided she wants not only to live as an ordinary woman but also to face the most perilous challenge of the mortal world: online dating. 

Meanwhile, Al crosses paths with old friends and new—including some beloved Druids and their very good dogs—in his globe-trotting quest to solve the mystery of his curses. But he’s pulled in so many different directions by his colleagues, a suspicious detective, and the whims of destructive gods that Al begins to wonder: Will he ever find time to write his own happy ending? 

 

Hearne's prose is never anything less than golden, and his plots never flag. Here he brings in characters from other series old and new to help solve the case of who put the curses on Al, and how he can get them removed swiftly. There's plenty of laugh out loud moments and some complex paragraphs that will have fans searching their memories for a tidbit about a character or his time period when things get messy. We also finally learn who "Alice who has seen some shite" really is! Delightful!  I won't spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that those of you who suspected she was some kind of goddess weren't far wrong. I'd give this final book in the series an A, and recommend it highly to those who have read the rest of the series. I must also mention that, as a pen afficionado, I enjoyed reading about hand made inks and beautiful pens used to make the magic sigils.

 

Vipers and Virtuosos by Sav R Miller is, though it purports to be otherwise, a horror-porn-"romance" that contains very little about romance, virtuosos and more than enough about people who are evil vipers, from rapists to sexual and physical abuse practitioners to stalkers and pedophiles. There's not one decent human being in the entire novel. It's disgusting, and sickening, and if I weren't afraid of setting the house on fire I would have doused it with gas and burned it to cinders.   

Miller seems to be under the wrongful impression that children who have been the victims of physical sexual assault (that literally scars them for life) and abuse somehow hunger for that same treatment of non consensual sex, ie rape, and physical abuse/pain and degradation, when they become adults. THERE IS NOTHING SEXY or desirable about RAPE. Having been a survivor of date rape, and having met and spoken to many other rape/sexual assault/domestic abuse survivors I can honestly say that none of us were at all interested in being treated so violently and painfully again. Most of the mostly (98%) women that I spoke to spent years in therapy just to attempt to lead a "normal" life and try to develop loving, trusting, safe relationships. 

Millers female protagonist craves humiliation and rape at the hands of her creepy evil stalker, a former rock star who follows her for 3 years after he doesn't do any sort of sleuthing to find any proof as to whether she let leak a rumor that he committed sexual assault on her, and thereby tanked his career. Even though no charges were ever brought against him and the young woman whom the press is told was the victim disappears, somehow this alone is able to ruin a rock star's career. With no proof or even a victim statement to the police?! Seriously? It seems a thin enough reason for the author to get the failed, bitter and evil rock star together with the mentally ill victim so many gruesome sex scenes that seem to be lifted right out of a porn film (for men) with lots of discussion of the "beauty" and size of the evil rock star's penis and the tremendous fountains of ejaculate that flow out of him onto her (and even into her hand cream bottle, which gives her a rash, EWWWWWW), on repeat throughout the book, as if that is, again, somehow acceptable or sexy or even romantic. Meanwhile, the female protagonist is repeatedly harmed, raped, humiliated and controlled, while also being described as child-like, delicate, angelic and tiny/petite...all code for pedophilia. Disgusting and gross! Miller adds to her list of crimes by putting in ridiculous footnotes on what she was thinking as she wrote various stupid things into her book, as well as trying to rationalize rape as not being rape because "deep down" the female protagonist "wants the handsome rock star whose poster she had on her wall as a child." EWWWWW...seriously? Also, the vanity footnotes were all stupid and embarrassing, and made me want to burn the book before I made it through the first 3 chapters. I kept thinking "SHUT UP ALREADY!" and let me, the reader, enjoy the story without repeated interruptions, like ads only more egotistical. I'd give this book an F. I can't for the life of me imagine why it was even published, and I can't think of anyone but some creepy scumbag who is in prison for raping children who would find it good reading. Please, read something, anything else. This is a book that brings more darkness than light into the world.