Good day fellow book dragons...it looks like its going to be a cold and rainy March going into St Patrick's Day, next week. I've been watching several streaming series on various platforms so as to stretch my book reading out farther, as we're running into money problems and there's barely enough for groceries, let alone books from even cheap places like Half Price Books in Tukwilla. Still, I have four reviews for this edition of my blog, and I think I should be okay until April, when I guesstimate that my primary TBR stacks will run dry. Fingers crossed that I will be able to make a bookstore run in early April!
Bezos and Elon Musk aren't doing themselves any favors by buying up and destroying cherished American institutions, whether it be social security or the James Bond franchise...I can't believe he persuaded Broccoli and Wilson to hand over the suave British spy to a philistine like Bezos.
Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos--License to Be a
Killjoy
It's not my fault that Jeff Bezos seems
typecast to be a James Bond
book/movie villain (bullet head,
ineffable wealth, extreme ambitions to
conquer Earth and outer space).
Recently, however, he has taken his
Bondian bent up a notch. Having
previously acquired Bondish screen
rights through Amazon MGM, Bezos
recently ponied up the cash (future
movie title: License to Be a
Killjoy) to convince siblings Barbara
Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
[EON Productions] to relinquish their
remaining oversight and approval
control so "Amazon can do with
Bond what they wish," as the Telegraph
put it.
Amazon was described by the Hollywood
Reporter as "the powerful
international organization run by a
bald-headed billionaire
who hangs out in a hollowed-out volcano
(well, a yacht, but big diff)."
"The ink could hardly have dried
on the contract" before Bezos posted on social media: "Who'd
you pick as the next Bond?"
The Guardian wrote that EON had kept
the quest for a new Bond "behind
completely closed doors, like a sort of
state secret, but Bezos's first
act has been to throw the gates open,
with an Elon Musk-esque act of
quasi-crowdsourcing. It may be just a
PR-grabbing gesture, but it
demonstrates that Amazon is planning to
do things differently from now
on."
Collider noted that host Conan
O'Brien's opening monologue directly
addressed Amazon's Bond franchise
takeover: "O'Brien joked that Amazon
had named their Senior v-p of Global
Affairs, Steve Belsky, as the new
007. He also poked fun at Amazon chief
Jeff Bezos for supposedly being
delivered to the ceremony by a careless
delivery man, only for the
camera to pan to an empty seat with
security footage showing that the
Bezos box was actually stolen by a
daring thief."
Halle Berry said at the Oscars tribute
that Bond evolves,
but GQ wrote that "no matter how
British he might have been, the James
Bond that existed in the 63 years
between Dr. No and last month was
also, symbolically, a creature of
Hollywood, and on some level we will
not see that guy again, and it was
pretty crazy to see the Oscars poke
Big Tech by acknowledging that--in true
Oscar fashion, with a big old
flashy dance number ."--Robert Gray, contributing editor
This is horrific and nearly unbelievable...the Iowa Writers Workshop, as it used to be known, has been one of the most successful writing programs in America for over 50 years. That they've gone international was good news for potential scribes all over the world. Now the idiots in DC have decided to cut funding to such a wonderful program?! Someone should be protesting this, loudly!
Major
Writing Program Loses Federal Funding
The
University of Iowa International Writing Program has been notified
that it
will lose federal funding that
supports its summer youth program, distance learning courses,
Emerging Voices Mentorship Program, and other programs. In their
notification to the IWP, the U.S. Department of State wrote that the
awards no longer aligned “with agency priorities and national
interest.” IWP participants Han Kang, Orhan Pamuk, and Mo Yan have
won the Nobel Prize in Literature. It’s more than disheartening to
watch as valuable and enriching programs that work to bridge gaps
between cultures and places are stripped of their ability to continue
the good work. I know this can’t be anything but rhetorical in
2025, but if that’s not in the national interest, what is?
This looks great, and I will be on the lookout for GRRM and Robert Redford in Dark Winds.
TV:Dark
Winds Cameos
Last Sunday night's premiere of the
third season of Dark Winds, based on the Tony Hillerman novels,
included surprise, high stakes cameos by two of the project's eminent
executive producers.
The debut episode featured a scene in
which Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn
McClarnon) is checking a holding cell
containing two old-timers playing
chess. The cellmates were played by
actor and filmmaker Robert Redford
and author George R.R. Martin. Leaphorn
offers some unwanted (by
Redford, at least) advice on Martin's
next move.
Dark Winds' season three features
all-new episodes weekly on Sundays at
9 p.m. Eastern on AMC and AMC+.
I don't blame Louise Penny one bit...in fact, I am surprised that any Canadian authors want anything to do with the USA and our clown in chief. I am so embarassed to be an American right now.
Celebrated
Canadian Author Says Peace Out For Now, U.S.
Louise
Penny, author of the award-winning Armand
Gamache series of
murder mysteries, is bowing out of U.S. appearances in light of the
current trade war happening between the U.S. and her home country,
Canada. Penny, who’s been touring the U.S. for the past two
decades, said this in a statement posted
to her site
and her
Facebook:
I
can hardly believe I’m saying this, but given the ongoing threat of
an unprovoked trade war against Canada by the US president, I do not
feel I can enter the United States. At least not until that economic
sword, that could throw hundreds of thousands of Canadians (as well
as Americans) into poverty, is removed completely. There are, of
course, other things the American president is doing that make
visiting the USA unpalatable.
The
U.S. is playing a terrible game of tariffs with countries including
Canada, which
is putting up a good fight.
Canada has removed
U.S.-made alcohol from shelves
and threatened
a tariff on electricity sent
to their neighbor in response to steep tariff threats from the White
House (not to mention Trump’s wild insistence that Canada become
our 51st state). So, who could blame Penny? There are folks in the
U.S. who wish they could boycott the U.S.
I read the first four books in the Shannara series, but I thought they began to get a bit too sexist, with all the women coming off as mother figures or sexual bondage assassins, for my taste. I am glad that Brooks is handing over the series to a woman, however, so perhaps she can remove some of the overt misogyny and get the story back on track.
Terry
Brooks Passes Shannara Series to Delilah S. Dawson
This
year’s Galaphile:
The First Druids of Shannara
will be Terry Brooks’ final Shannara novel. The prolific author
announced his retirement at Emerald City Comic Con and that he was
passing
the Shannara series on
to the author of Guillotine
and
host of Star Wars books, among other works. Brooks explained that he
wasn’t following the traditional route of passing series on
posthumously because he wanted to see what came of it next, and it
sounded like he might have a voice in Dawson’s direction with the
series. This wouldn’t be the first time Dawson collaborated with
another author– Kill
the Farm Boy
was co-authored by Kevin Hearne–and she’s similarly not new with
spinning tales from existing, epic stories considering her work with
the Star Wars franchise.
Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman is a magical realism fictional tale that contains all of Hoffman's greatest hits, with spectres and magic and found family. Here's the blurb: Hoffman's prose is, as always, gorgeous and elegant, and her plots move fluidly, never slowing or lagging for info-dumps. Reading this particular short novel was like lucid dreaming, with that mesmerizing prose outlining a disjointed world that makes sense in an odd way. Still, I didn't like the fact that Arlyn (and other characters) were willfully niave and blind to anything outside of their desire for elusive love (and drugs). While this book wasn't my favorite of Hoffmans works that I've read, I'd still give it a B+ and recommend it to those who are daydreamers and big fans of impossible romantic love.
The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor is a lovely book outside that hides a dark YA academic fantasy full of dangerous magic and slow-burn romance. Here's the blurb: The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique returns with this stunning dark academic fantasy full of deadly magic and dangerous secrets, perfect for fans of Divine Rivals and A Study in Drowning...(editors note, I've read both the aforementioned and this book isn't really like either one).
Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost everything: her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.
Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words: Your father was innocent.
To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.
Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.
Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost everything: her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.
Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words: Your father was innocent.
To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.
Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.
While I am aware that many people would go to any lengths to clear their parents of wrongdoing, it has always struck me as somewhat sexist that it's usually their daughters who are willing to risk life and limb to save the family name, while the sons just go out into the world and create a new life for themselves. In this case, however, Maeve's life will be vastly better if she can prove that her father didn't do the deed, while she will also be able to learn to control her own magical talents. the prose here isn't quite as flowery as it was in Hotel Magnifiique, but its still bright and evocative, smoothing along a slightly bumpy ride of a plot. the ending was well done. I'd give this page turner an A-, and recommend it to anyone who liked The Night Circus as well.
Love on Paper by Danielle Parker is a YA romance that sounded almost too good to be true via the rec's and blurbs that I noted before buying it. Turns out that it wasn't too good at all. Here's the blurb: Written inexpertly with way too many tropes and cliches, this kind of Mary Sue book generally nauseates me. It's easy reading because it's all surface with no depth in characters or plot. I've no idea why any publisher found this bit of fluff worthy of printing, but considering how glowingly the author speaks on nepotism, my guess is that she "knew someone" who got her a contract for this novel. I sincerely hope that the authors talents mature before she tries again to create fiction. We shall see. I'll give this unsatisfying, dorky novel a C+, and only recommend it to those in search of something that is an easy read for the beach this summer.
Murder Takes the Stage by Colleen Cambridge is a fun mystery novel patterned after Agatha Christie's works, with more modern prose. Be aware that though it can be read as a standalone, this is the 4th novel in a series. Here's the blurb: Though I'm a thespian myself, I didn't like how Cambridge portrayed all the actors at the various theaters like cardboard cut out villains, only interested in getting a better part or more publicity. The actors also seems rather stupid and vain. My experience in the theater has been the opposite. Lots of caring, inclusive and unselfish folks willing to pitch in together to make the show one to remember.
The fact that one of the siblings of an actor was willing to kill others in order for their sister to move up in the play was outrageous and bizarre. Still, the prose here was light and airy, and kept the plot from being too intricate and plodding. I'd give this novel a B-, and recommend it to anyone who likes the old fashioned whodunnits by Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers and Dash Hammett.
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