strange and random happenstance

Murder at Teal's Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks by David Bushman and Mark T. Givens
Published by: Thomas and Mercer
Publication Date: December 28th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 335 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Hazel Drew wasn't found wrapped in plastic. She was found floating in a pond in Sand Lake, New York, on July 7th, 1908 by a group of campers. She had been beaten to death. But there was never a verdict of murder, there was one of suicide. Which suited everyone with something to hide just fine. She lived in Troy, New York, only fourteen miles from where her body was found, and that is where her death was hushed up. The town was staunchly Republican and the politics of the town were mired in corruption. As was the police. They had no interest in discovering what really happened to Hazel Drew. Instead they barely investigated at all, listening to unreliable witnesses, going after red herrings, and a wild goose or two. They never worked diligently to follow up promising leads instead focusing on impugning the reputation of Hazel herself. The victim blaming wasn't hard, she had an unsavory past and it is quite possible she was blackmailing the wealthy of Troy. But does that mean her murder should be hushed up? Yes it does. Because the truth is dangerous, as was the spectacle her death caused, with newspapers rushing reporters to the scene. And murder in a small town means one thing, that that small town isn't as it appears. Troy wanted to be viewed as the perfect American town. But underneath they were anything but. And Hazel got in their way, Hazel knew their secrets. Because in the end that is what so many murders come down to. Who are you endangering by continuing to live? Hazel was dangerous to someone. Perhaps someone powerful. Therefore her case was hushed up and forgotten about. Though stories still persisted. Urban legends and ghost stories. Mark Frost spent summers near Teal's Pond and his grandmother would tell him stories about the unsolved murder of the beautiful young girl. An idea planted in his head long ago that would evolve into the murder of Laura Palmer that had America transfixed. While Laura got her justice isn't it about time Hazel got hers?

I picked up this book for one reason and one reason only, it's supposed connection to Twin Peaks. I honestly can say I think this was all a marketing ploy by the writers. Sure, they somehow got Mark Frost to write a forward, but throughout that forward he's saying how he really didn't use Hazel Drew's murder for inspiration at all. Um... So... Why do the forward then? Your grandmother told you an urban legend once and it kind of stuck? I mean, I do think that Frost was inspired by this case, I just think it's connection is tenuous and was used to sell a very boring and inconclusive true crime book. Also, having someone who is a legit writer write your forward and then following it up with amateurish and repetitive writing, that's not a good look. The thing is, this book does a good job of setting up the time period. You get an indepth look at the history of Troy and how it was indicative of small town America at the turn of the last century. But that's all it does. Instead of writing the story chronologically they decided to go thematically. OK, that's a choice. I'm not saying it's the right one but it is one. I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara took a similar approach. But you know what she did so she wouldn't confuse her readers? She had an actual timeline of the investigation right at the front of the book. You know, where it would have been nice to actually have a map as well... As for "solving" the case? Can drawing a valid conclusion without actually supporting it with any new evidence be called solving it? You have a fine line to thread when writing true crime, especially when dealing with cold cases. You actually have to give the reader something to justify their time and energy. Going back to Michelle McNamara, her work literally caught The Golden State Killer. Sure, the investigation was heading in the right direction and pieces were being put in place, but without her, without her pushing, without her constantly keeping the focus on those cases would it have been solved? Well, I can't honestly say, but I think she is what might have been the missing piece. Her dedication. Her resolve. Here we don't get anything from the authors. At the very least we should have felt a connection to Hazel. The authors say at the very end that this book was about Hazel. It wasn't. It was about powerful white men doing what they've always done, removing roadblocks in their way. Either find the killer and present them to the cold light of day or shine a light on the life that was lost. In other words, don't do this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: David Bushman, For the Love of Book Clubs, Hazel Drew, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Laura Palmer, Mark Frost, Mark T. Givens, Michelle McNamara, Murder at Teal's Pond, True Crime, Twin Peaks, Victim Blaming

You've Got Red on You: How Shaun of the Dead Was Brought to Life by Clark Collis
Published by: 1984 Publishing
Publication Date: November 23rd, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 424 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Shaun of the Dead is one of those films like Twister that whenever you catch it on TV while flipping the channels you can't help but keep watching it. The humor, the pacing, the pathos, the music, everything is perfection. I dare you to listen to "Don't Stop Me Now" without wishing you had a pool cue in your hand. Of course it wasn't an easy film to make. At the time Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg were only known for their quirky cult comedy Spaced and here they were pitching a major motion picture that was very zombie niche. In fact, they would have been happy had this film only had an audience of one if that audience was George Romero. And if he liked it. They really wanted him to like it. This was an epic love letter to the man and the aesthetic he had created. But it took a lot of convincing to get everyone on board with their vision. At times the studio was pushing for "names." Which means, in an alternate universe Nick Frost isn't in this film but for some reason Gillian Anderson is. Which could have been a little awkward given how Tim Bisley felt about Dana Scully.... With new interviews from the cast and crew and complete access to Edgar Wright, You've Got Red on You shows a detailed behind the scenes picture of how this zomromcom came to life. The long hours shooting without air conditioning. The people whose entire job was just to maintain blood spatter continuity. What it's like being covered in blood spatter in that heat. The fact that David Bowie was really "funny" about the Labyrinth soundtrack and therefore a zombie was attacked with the Batman Soundtrack instead. I mean, Prince was their first choice, but it didn't hurt to have a backup. And then once the film was wrapped, would anyone watch it? Thankfully George Romero approved and anything else was a slice of fried gold. They didn't realize though that it would be so successful. But this was down to clever marketing. In order to break the US the trio of Pegg, Wright, and Frost toured the US. They did an old fashioned hard sell going town to town, and because of this they didn't just create a fanbase, they created true fans. Fans that would come out on their next two tours when they promoted Hot Fuzz and The World's End. Fans that would repeatedly buy all the different versions of the film that were released and would follow them to the ends of the Earth. Or at least to the pub on a Sunday afternoon.

I don't know how I first heard of Shaun of the Dead, I'm guessing a trailer before another movie in the summer of 2004, but I was an early convert. I was a member of the "Shaun Street Squad" which was a website designed to spread the word about the film and where you could earn sweet sweet swag by doing fan art and fanfic. And yes, I actively participated, cashing in my points for a pint glass and then some. And then opening day I was there in the theater having dragged my friend Matt along with me to see this film everyone was talking about. After that first viewing I became an acolyte of Simon Pegg's. Spaced, Hippies, Asylum, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and branching out, Black Books, and Little Britain, where Monty Python, Red Dwarf, and Blackadder were my formative years of British sitcom, Simon Pegg came in to inform my early post college years. So I had one question going into this book, could it give me any revelations? The answer is not really. Aside from David being written for David Walliams, which makes everything make sense to me. But it's such a well laid out and eminently readable history of the film that a lack of anything new didn't really bother me. It was also, for the most part, pretty unbiased, showing Edgar warts and all with an ongoing feud he had with the director of photography David Dunlap. And while Edgar admits to this feud Edgar himself might be the only real problem with this book in that it was Edgar's voice that was predominate. His view of how things happened. Yes, others were interviewed, but Edgar's voice and Clark Collis's reverence for him carried the narrative. And as for Collis.... It's his inferences in the end that make the book not achieve it's full potential. Because in the final analysis the author places too much cultural importance on Shaun of the Dead. Yes, it's was culturally important in bringing about the more romcom side of zombies, but was it THE REASON that zombies because popular again? No. That would be 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead comics, which were released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, whereas Shaun of the Dead was released in April 2004 in England, us in the states had to wait for a fall release. Also, I found it odd that Collis never once mentions iZombie which in comic and televisual form were both heavily influenced by Shaun of the Dead. And of course THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT was omitted from this book. Because of Shaun of the Dead we got Hot Fuzz, perhaps the most perfect movie ever.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 28 Days Later, Clark Collis, Edgar Wright, For the Love of Book Clubs, George Romero, Hot Fuzz, iZombie, Nick Frost, Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg, Spaced, The Walking Dead, You've Got Red on You, Zombies

Oxford by Matthew Rice
Published by: Frances Lincoln
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Discover Oxford, one of the jewels of European architecture. Much loved and much visited, the city offers an unparalleled collection of the best of English building through the centuries.

Matthew Rice's Oxford is a feast of delightful watercolour illustrations and an informed and witty text, explaining how the city came into being and what to look out for today.

While the focus is on architectural detail, Rice describes how the city has been shaped by its history, topography and geology, but most of all by generations of patrons who had the education and the resources to commission work from the greatest architects and builders of their day, an astonishing range of which still stands.

Ranging from the medieval to the contemporary, the book covers all the iconic buildings, such as the Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre and the college quads, as well as the distinctive details that you might otherwise miss.

More than anywhere else in England, it is possible in Oxford to take in the history of English architecture simply by walking today's streets, lanes, parks and meadows. This book is the perfect guide."

I have been wanting this book for ages and even contemplated ordering from abroad, but now, thankfully, it's finally available stateside.

The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason
Published by: Quercus Publishing
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A SHOCKING DISAPPEARANCE
A four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area, her mother only a stones-throw away.

A TRIGGERING RESPONSE
Ryan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.

A DARK WEB
Ray begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of criminal forces in the local area. But while Ray's investigation stalls Ryan brings his unique talents to unofficial and quite illegal inquiries which will bring him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force."

And speaking of Oxford... They're saying Wilkins is the new Morse. We shall see. We shall see.

What Cannot Be Said by C.S. Harris
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A seemingly idyllic summer picnic ends in a macabre murder that echoes a pair of slayings fourteen years earlier in this riveting new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Who Cries for the Lost.

July 1815: The Prince Regent's grandiose plans to celebrate Napoléon's recent defeat at Waterloo are thrown into turmoil when Lady McInnis and her daughter Emma are found brutally murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies posed in a chilling imitation of the stone effigies once found atop medieval tombs. Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy immediately turns to his friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help with the investigation. For as Devlin discovers, Lovejoy's own wife and daughter were also murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies posed in the same bizarre postures. A traumatized ex-soldier was hanged for their killings. So is London now confronting a malicious copyist? Or did Lovejoy help send an innocent man to the gallows?

Aided by his wife, Hero, who knew Lady McInnis from her work with poor orphans, Devlin finds himself exploring a host of unsavory characters from a vicious chimney sweep to a smiling but decidedly lethal baby farmer. Also coming under increasing scrutiny is Sir Ivo McInnis himself, along with a wounded Waterloo veteran - who may or may not have been Laura McInnis's lover - and a charismatic young violinist who moonlights as a fencing master and may have formed a dangerous relationship with Emma. But when Sebastian's investigation turns toward man about town Basil Rhodes, he quickly draws the fury of the Palace, for Rhodes is well known as the Regent's favorite illegitimate son.

Then Lady McInnis's young niece and nephew are targeted by the killer, and two more women are discovered murdered and arranged in similar postures. With his own life increasingly in danger, Sebastian finds himself drawn inexorably toward a conclusion far darker and more horrific than anything he could have imagined."

You know, there are just not enough evil baby farmers in literature anymore.

The Montford Maniac by M.R.C. Kasasian
Published by: Canelo
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 365 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A crazed killer. A town in terror. A mystery ten years in the making...

Lady Violet Thorn's awful Aunt Igitha arrives uninvited to stay, wreaking havoc in the household. When Violet plucks up courage to ask her to leave, Igitha's chilling threats are soon realised with deadly effect.

In a devastating series of events, a woman is impaled, another is hanged outside Violet's window, and a wild beast is delivered to her house.

Violet is soon struck by the similarities between these events, and the unsolved murders committed ten years earlier by the sadistic serial killer known as the Montford Maniac.

Could he have returned? Is Igitha behind the crimes? Or could there be someone even more terrifying on the prowl? The horrors have only just begun.

A rollicking, unputdownable Victorian mystery perfect for fans of Janice Hallett and Anthony Horowitz."

I mean, I think my breaking point would be the corpse hanged outside my window...

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz's ingenious fifth literary whodunnit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case - a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound.

Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong, and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll, until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, gaggle of shrieking children, and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and quickly offend every last one of the neighbors.

When Charles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator they can call to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?"

And speaking of Anthony Horowitz...

You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this heart-pounding debut thriller for fans of Lisa Jewell and Celeste Ng, a first-generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares past and present....

Annie "Anh Le" Shaw grew up poor, but seems to have it all now: a dream career, a stunning home, and a devoted husband and daughter. When Annie's mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie's carefully curated life begins to unravel. Her obsessive-compulsive disorder, which she thought she'd vanquished years ago, comes roaring back - but this time, the disturbing fixations swirling around in Annie's brain might actually be coming true.

A prominent art patron disappears, and the investigation zeroes in on Annie. Spiraling with self-doubt, she distances herself from her family and friends, only to wake up in a hotel room - naked, next to a lifeless body. The police have more questions, but with her mind increasingly fractured, Annie doesn't have answers. All she knows is this: She will do anything to protect her daughter - even if it means losing herself.

With dizzying twists, You Know What You Did is both a harrowing thriller and a heartfelt exploration of the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters."

Personally I'm in to for the journey as to how OCD leads to you waking up naked next to a corpse. Because that hasn't been my experience. Yet.

Wicche Hunt by Seana Kelly
Published by: NYLA
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 340 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"I'm Arwyn Cassandra Corey, the Sea Wicche of Monterey. Want a psychic reading? Sure. I can do that. In the market for art? I have all your painting, photography, glass blowing, and ceramic needs covered in my newly remodeled art gallery by the sea. Need help solving a grisly cold case? Unfortunately, I can probably help with that too.

After more than a decade of being nagged, guilted, and threatened, I've finally joined the Corey Council and am working with my mother and grandmother to hunt down a twisted sorcerer. We know who she is. Now we need to find and stop her before more are murdered.

The evil the sorcerer and her demon are doing is seeping into the community. Violent crimes have been increasing and as a result Detectives Hernández and Osso have brought me another horrifying case. I'll do what I can, because of course I will. What are a few more nightmares to a woman who barely sleeps?

Declan Quinn, the wicked hot werewolf rebuilding my deck, is preparing for a dominance battle with the local Alpha. A couple of wolves have already left their pack to follow Declan, recognizing him as the true Alpha. Declan needs to watch his back as the full moon approaches. The current Alpha will do whatever it takes to hold on to power, including breaking pack law and enlisting the help of a local vampire.

And if Wilbur, my selkie friend is right, I might just be meeting my dad soon. Perhaps he’ll have some advice for this wicche hunt. I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Such a fan of Seana Kelly!

Merciless Saviors by H.E. Edgmon
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The stunning conclusion to the Ouroboros series, a contemporary fantasy duology in which a teen, Gem, finds out they're a reincarnated god from another world.

That day at the First Church of Gracie changed everything for Gem Echols, and not just because Marian and Poppy betrayed them. Forced to use the Ouroboros knife on Zephyr, who had kidnapped their parents, Gem now has the power of the God of Air.

While for any other god things might work out okay, the Magician - whose role within the pantheon is to keep the balance - having the power of another god has thrown everything into chaos. The Goddess of Death can now reanimate corpses; the God of Art's powers are now corrupted and twisted, giving life to his macabre creations; and, while the God of Land has always been able to communicate with creatures of the Earth, now everyone can hear their cries.

As Gem, Rory, and Enzo search for a way to restore the balance without sacrificing themselves, new horrors make them question how far they're willing to go. In the end, Gem may be forced to fully embrace their merciless nature and kill off their own humanity - if it ever really existed in the first place."

I like that the God of Art is giving off some serious Dorian Gray vibes.

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation.

All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on - just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her - things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend's apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down.

But the facts about Roddy's death just don't add up, and Noemi isn't the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands.

After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy's true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers...but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried."

Mythological horror and murder! Yes yes.

My Beloved Monster by Caleb Carr
Published by: Little Brown and Company
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a linebacker - and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.

Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior.

For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests. When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb's life-long study of the literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats, helped him decode much of Masha's inner life. But their bond went far beyond academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests - a love story like no other."

I usually avoid books about pets because I can't handle knowing they're gone. But this is Caleb Carr, and for him I make an exception. Or should I say the exception is for Masha?

Scribbles, Vol. 3 by Kaoru Mori
Published by: Yen Press
Publication Date: April 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 258 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the third volume of this stunning series, Kaoru Mori-author of award-winning series A Bride's Story and Emma - shares works from her personal collection of sketches and concept drawings. From familiar characters and settings to illustrations drawn from Mori's own interests, Scribbles is a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes and into the sketch books of one of Japan's most beloved creators."

Kaoru Mori is a genius. This book is a must buy. Seriously, you MUST BUY IT!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Bride's Story, Anthony Horowitz, C.S. Harris, Caleb Carr, Emma, H.E. Edgmon, Inspector Morse, K.T. Nguyen, Kaoru Mori, M.R.C. Kasasian, Napoleon, Nick Medina, Oxford, Seana Kelly, Sebastian St. Cyr, Simon Mason

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Published by: Gateway
Publication Date: 1974
Format: Kindle, 403 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Anarres and Urras are the twin inhabited worlds of Tau Ceti. Anarres is barren. Nothing more than a planet to be mined. Yet around two hundred years previously The Odonian Revolution saw Urrasti anarchists settle on Annarres in a peace treaty of sorts. Since then life has been hard for the Annarresti. But they have eked out a living free of the constraints of the capitalist patriarchy on Urras. There is no contact between the two planets except for once a year when Anarres ships Urras their consignment of precious metals. The two planets live in unwavering ignorance. They might need each other, but they will never talk about it. Which is where Shevek enters. Shevek has spent his entire life on Annarres. Despite the hardships of his existence he has a family and a career. He is a physicist attempting to create a General Temporal Theory. He believes that this will revolutionize life for the Annarresti. Yet there is pushback within academic circles. His duty to the Annarresti should come before anything else, before personal power or glory. Therefore Shevek must perform his civic duties, putting the society's needs ahead of his own. For four long years he does punishing physical labor. At the end of that time he gets to return to his true calling. His theory has won him a prestigious award and he has decided to go to Urras to accept it and finish his work. This decision alone causes political unrest. His mentor claims that he is being selfish and threatening the stability of the political separation of the two worlds. And yet Shevek goes. He makes the journey, he gets his vaccinations, he arrives in A-lo and is feted like a returning hero. After all, he is technically coming home. But if he thought he was going to a utopic society he is sadly mistaken. All the troubles that led his ancestors to flee still exist. He's disillusioned by the Ieu Eun University. Will his work really help his people or will it be exploited by the Urrasti? Perhaps it's best for him to just go home. If he can.

I believe as it stands my book club has now read more books by Ursula K. Le Guin than any other author. Getting to discuss so many books of hers with a small group of friends lets us get into the wide variability of her work. Therefore there are hits and there are misses and then there's this. Commies in Space! Yes, yes, I know, perhaps referencing The Muppet Show isn't the most academic or done thing, but, seriously, that's what this book is. But taken to eleven. Yes, I know I've moved onto Spinal Tap, I just can't help myself. The Dispossessed is the sixth book in Le Guin's loosely connected Hainish Cycle. Seeing as I haven't read any of the previous volumes I don't know if they'd add any depth to my understanding of this volume, but I doubt it. It's pretty straightforward if taken to a comical degree. The series started at the height of the sixties when people became disillusioned with American society, so it makes sense that Le Guin would try to work out her feelings about socialism versus capitalism in the far reaches of outer space, which oddly is also where Andy Weir set his book Project Hail Mary. The problem I have is her exaggeration of these two societies. Annarres with it's socialism is like Russia in the bleakest of bleak midwinters only with dust instead of snow. Urras is oddly, kind of like the opulence of the Zamundan court of King Jaffe Joffer from Coming to America. There's pageantry, there's sex, there's lots of female flesh on display. I mean, seriously, what is going on in Urras Le Guin!?! The way you describe female fashion for the upper class I kept envisioning some weird Time Lord getup where the women's breasts were on full display. I mean, what's that about!?! I get the whole, women as property and the men wanting to show them off, but this is a step too far. If it wasn't so serious I'd almost think this was a parody like The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, released the same year as Rocannon's World. But the sad fact is this wants to be "serious literature" and the execution makes it a depressing slog.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anarres, Andy Weir, Capitalism, Communism, For the Love of Book Clubs, General Temporal Theory, Hainish Cycle, Project Hail Mary, Shevak, Socialism, Tau Ceti, The Dispossessed, Time Lords, Urras, Ursula K. Le Gun

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Published by: Custom House
Publication Date: May 27th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

The death of Cora Seaborne's abusive husband means she can finally cast aside the shackles of the life she was forced into. She can indulge her desire to be the next Mary Anning. Taking her household, which consists of her companion Martha and her disturbed son Francis, to Colchester, she spends her days mucking about the countryside wearing men's boots and unflattering clothing looking for ammonites. Once she even tangled with a man trying to rescue a sheep from the muck. But soon Colchester is abuzz with rumors of the Essex Serpent. It's hunting the estuaries and killing children and pets. Cora doesn't believe in something so fanciful, but she does wonder, could a creature from long ago have survived in an out of the way place to be discovered in the present day? Might she find a living fossil? Science doesn't deny it is possible and her hero, Mary Anning, often hoped to make such a discovery. Cora longs to have her name next to such a find in a museum and therefore jumps at the opportunity that fate hands her. Through mutual friends she is introduced to the Ransomes who live in Aldwinter. As fate would have it the Reverend Will Ransome is the man she helped to rescue the sheep. Despite such an inauspicious beginning the two become fast friends. Cora is fascinated by a pew in his church which is carved to represent the serpent, while Will is incensed by his parishioners obsession with folk tales and threatens to destroy the pew. Will and Cora argue over everything, from religion to science, it is a meeting of true minds. Everyone comments on their closeness, Cora even moves to Aldwinter. Yet Will's wife Stella doesn't seem to mind, and Martha, well Martha has more important things to worry about. But then there's an incident at the school. Cora begs her friend, Doctor Luke Garrett, to come down and investigate the medical reason behind the hysteria. This causes a breach between Cora and Will. A breach that will be healed and ruptured on one fateful night. So while they might not survive, the question remains, does the serpent?

Yes, I fully admit to picking up The Essex Serpent due to Tom Hiddleston. Will Ransome is a role Hiddles was born to play in my mind. But I picked up the book a second time mainly because of that adaptation. Yes, The Essex Serpent was also picked for my book club, but I wanted to wade back into the world of Cora and Will, a world that the adaptation made seem so shallow and hostile. To have wasted such talent on taking a multidimensional book and making it so one-dimensional just infuriates me. Yes, the book is rather light on plot but The Essex Serpent is beautifully and lushly written and has so much substance. It fits more into the style of Gothic literature and romance from the 19th century than what we necessarily think of as Gothic now. The book is all about duality as epitomized by the word "cleave," to cling and to separate all at once. The serpent is both a supernatural entity and a rather large fish. Stella is both dying and luminous. The world runs on both religion and science. Cora and Will's romance is both everything and nothing. Two states of being happening simultaneously. This recurs over and over again, reality versus fallacy. And at one point, the hysteria of Aldwinter with regards to the serpent reaches such a fever pitch that the young schoolgirls act out in a way that would best be described as Salem in 1692. And the fact that the doctor swings in and brings up ergot poisoning made my dorky history heart soar! Because it could very well be hysteria OR ergot OR none of the above. The Essex Serpent is about the mysteries that science hasn't yet explained but even when they eventually are they are still magnificent. Look to the Fata Morgana that Will and Cora saw. They literally saw a ship with red sails sailing across the sky but it is just an optical illusion. Did knowing what it was make it any less amazing? No it didn't. But we go back to the duality of superstition and science, there are those that will meet wonder and invention with hostility and those who will welcome it with open arms. That is why Will is such an interesting character, while he will embrace an illusion in the sky and turn his flock from superstition he still won't embrace medical science. He is the essence of duality. A mystery that resides in us all and will keep me coming back to this book time and time again.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adaptation, Aldwinter, Cora Seaborne, Fata Morgana, For the Love of Book Clubs, Living Fossil, Mary Anning, Reverend Will Ransome, Sarah Perry, Science, Superstition, The Essex Serpent, Tom Hiddleston

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo comes a spellbinding novel set in the Spanish Golden Age.

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to improve the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen - and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive - even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both."

THE BOOK of the year. Seriously, I can not wait.

Against the Darkness by Kendare Blake
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This epic finale to the Buffy: The Next Generation trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake (Three Dark Crowns) features the next generation of Scoobies and Slayers who must defeat a powerful new evil.

For generations, the Slayer was supposed to be the chosen, the one girl in all the world with the power to stand against the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness. When Willow used the scythe to call up all the potential slayers at once, it changed everything. For years, the slayers have been working and fighting together as a team.

Then the Darkness came, killing many slayers and trapping the rest in an alternate dimension. And Frankie Rosenberg, the world's first Slayer-Witch, found herself fighting evil alone. Sort of.

After their latest confrontation with the Darkness, the Scooby gang is more fragmented than ever. Jake is having a werewolf identity crisis, and the return of his troublemaker brother Jordy is only making things worse. Hailey is off pretending to be one of the rogue slayers. Sigmund is burying his broken heart in books. And Frankie's mom, Willow, and Watcher, Spike, only seem to care about bringing Buffy back.

Now, Frankie must forge her own path, save the slayers, reunite her friends, and lead the charge to defeat the Darkness once and for all."

Willow will always be obsessed with bringing Buffy back... The more things change the more they stay the same.

Catchpenny by Charlie Huston
Published by: Vintage
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A thief who can travel through mirrors, a video game that threatens to spill out of the virtual world, a doomsday cult on a collision course with destiny, and a missing teenager at the center of it all. With the world on the brink of every kind of apocalypse, humanity needs a hero. What it gets is Sid Catchpenny.

Sidney Catchpenny has had a bad run. Laid low by a years-long bout of debilitating depression, he's all but squandered his reputation as one of the most uniquely talented thieves in LA. There aren't many who can do what Sid does. He's a sly, a special kind of crook with the uncanny ability to move through mirrors. And the spoils he's after are equally unusual. Forget jewels and cold cash - Sid steals curiosities - items imbued with powerful mojo, a magical essence gleaned from the accumulated emotion that seeps into interesting, though often banal objects. That spot on the carpet where your old dog used to lay at your feet? The passed-down family heirloom nobody wants but everybody refuses to throw away? These curiosities are full of mojo, which is both the currency of the criminal underground and the secret source of magic in the world.

When a friend from Sid's past comes looking for his help with an important client, and the chance to pay off old debts presents itself, Sid seizes the opportunity...as best he can. But the case he stumbles into is more complicated than it seems, and it portends a seismic shift in the world, one that will leave no one untouched. As the fog of his depression begins to lift, Sid sees connections everywhere he looks, and the once disparate threads of the case - a missing teenage girl, an entire bedroom saturated with mojo, and Sid's own long-dead wife - begin to coalesce."

Mojo dojo catchpenny housebreaker? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

The Vacancy in Room 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass
Published by: Graydon House
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When Anna Hartley's husband, Henry, calls her with a terrible, guilty confession, she can't believe what she hears. It has to be a bad joke - the mild, predictable artist she married would never hurt a fly, let alone commit murder. But her confusion turns to horror when police find his body washed up on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Desperate for answers to the millions of questions his untimely death has raised, Anna checks in to The Sycamores, the run-down motel turned apartment Henry rented as an art studio. As she absorbs every bit of gossip the eclectic mix of residents are willing to share about her husband and each other, she begins to piece together a picture of a very different man than the one she married, and the life he led behind her back. The more she learns, and the less sense things seem to make, she finds herself wondering: Did she ever really know Henry at all?

But Henry's secrets aren't the only ones; as Anna's search for clues expands, Cass, the mysterious, jaded motel manager, seems more and more determined to keep Anna in the dark. And when threatening letters start appearing at her door, Anna has to decide what's more important - the truth, or her own safety."

Oh, you know Anna will choose the truth. They all do.

The Vinyl Detective: Noise Floor by Andrew Cartmel
Published by: Titan Books (UK)
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Vinyl Detective plunges into the world of electronic dance music in his seventh adventure. Expect laughs, LPs, cats and the return of fan favourites, Nevada, Tinkler, Stinky Stanmer and more.

The Vinyl Detective enters the fraught and frenzied realm of electronic dance music.

Lambert Ramkin aka Imperium Dart, techno trickster and ambient music wizard of the 1990s, has gone walkabout, disappearing from his rather palatial home in Kent.

This isn't the first time he's pulled a vanishing act, but he's never been gone so long before and his wife - wives, actually; it's complicated - are worried and hire the Vinyl Detective to find the old rascal.

They theorise that wherever the missing man is, he won't be able to resist turning up at a record fair somewhere in search of 12-inch white label acid house singles, which he collects compulsively.

And no one knows the world of record fairs better than the Vinyl Detective.

They're not wrong...

But once our hero finds the wandering Lamb the trouble really begins - including terrifying mind-fucks with a side order of, if things break the wrong way, mass murder."

I just learned about this series last year because of Andrew Cartmel's work with Ben Aaronovitch on the Rivers of London graphic novels. So I'm very excited to see what this world is all about.

The Poison Pen by Paige Shelton
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Poison Pen, the ninth installment in the Scottish Bookshop series by Paige Shelton, set in a specialty bookstore in Edinburgh called The Cracked Spine.

Edinburgh is mourning recent the death of Queen Elizabeth II when Bookseller Delaney Nichols's boss comes to her with a most unusual assignment. An old friend of his, living in an estate in the village of Roslin, has found what could be a priceless relic on her property, and Delaney is tasked with investigating. Could Jolie possibly have an item of breathtaking Scottish historical significance in her possession? But when Delaney arrives at Jolie's estate, she is greeted by a legal team with a vested interest in the property. Jolie manages to remove the interlopers, but as they're examining the priceless item, they hear a scream, and meet a much less welcome discovery: a body.

As Delaney digs deeper, she discovers Jolie's own fascinating history. Jolie's mother had long claimed that her daughter was the rightful heir to the throne, not Elizabeth II, because of an affair she claimed to have with King Edward VIII. The only evidence, however, is in the form of a purported journal that one of Edward's secretaries kept. The puzzles become more confusing when a connection is uncovered between this far-fetched story and the murdered man. Delaney will have to read between the lines to put together the pieces...or become history herself."

Oh, pretenders to the throne!?!

Death in the Details by Katie Tietjen
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Inspired by the real-life mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee, and featuring a whip-smart, intrepid sleuth in post-WWII Vermont, this debut historical mystery will appeal to fans of Victoria Thompson and Rhys Bowen.

Maple Bishop is ready to put WWII and the grief of losing her husband, Bill, behind her. But when she discovers that Bill left her penniless, Maple realizes she could lose her Vermont home next and sets out to make money the only way she knows how: by selling her intricately crafted dollhouses. Business is off to a good start - until Maple discovers her first customer dead, his body hanging precariously in his own barn.

Something about the supposed suicide rubs Maple the wrong way, but local authorities brush off her concerns. Determined to help them see "what's big in what's small," Maple turns to what she knows best, painstakingly recreating the gruesome scene in miniature: death in a nutshell.

With the help of a rookie officer named Kenny, Maple uses her macabre miniature to dig into the dark undercurrents of her sleepy town, where everyone seems to have a secret--and a grudge. But when her nosy neighbor goes missing and she herself becomes a suspect, it'll be up to Maple to find the devil in the details - and put him behind bars.

Drawing inspiration from true crime and offering readers a smartly plotted puzzle of a mystery, Death in the Details is a stunning series debut."

I've been obsessed with anything to do with Frances Glessner Lee since I read Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious books!

Cast a Cold Eye by Robbie Morrison
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In 1930s Glasgow, partners Jimmy Dreghorn and Archie McDaid face a danger that threatens to set their city aflame - the second novel in the acclaimed mystery series that began with Edge of the Grave.

Glasgow, 1933. Murder is nothing new in the Depression-era city, especially to war veterans Inspector Jimmy Dreghorn and his partner, "Bonnie" Archie McDaid. But the dead man found in a narrowboat on the Forth and Clyde Canal, executed with a single shot to the back of the head, is no ordinary killing.

Violence usually erupts in the heat of the moment - the razor-gangs that stalk the streets settle scores with knives and fists. But firearms suggest something more sinister, especially when the killer strikes again.

Meanwhile, other forces are stirring within the city. A suspected IRA cell is at large, embedded within the criminal gangs and attracting the ruthless attention of Special Branch agents from London.

With political and sectarian tensions rising and the body count mounting, Dreghorn and McDaid pursue an investigation into the dark heart of humanity - where one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, and noble ideals are swept away by bloody vengeance."

One of my friends has been spending a lot of time in Glasgow so I'm now a little Glasgow obsessed. OK, a lot Glasgow obsessed.

The Clock Struck Murder by Betty Webb
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"One woman's trash is another woman's - lost Chagall masterpiece?!?

Expat Zoe Barlow has settled well into her artist's life among the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris. When a too-tipsy guest at her weekly poker game breaks Zoe's favorite clock, she's off to a Montparnasse flea market to bargain with the vendor Laurette for a replacement. What Zoe didn't bargain for was the lost Chagall painting that's been used like a rag to wrap her purchases! Eager to learn whether Laurette has more Chagalls lying about like trash, Zoe sets off to track her down at her storage shed. With no Laurette in sight, Zoe snoops around and indeed finds several additional Chagalls - and then she finds Laurette herself, dead beneath a scrap heap, her beautiful face bashed in.

With Paris hosting the 1924 Summer Olympics, the police are far too busy with tourist-related crimes to devote much time to the clock seller's murder. After returning the paintings to a grateful Marc Chagall, Zoe begins her own investigation. Did the stolen paintings play any part in the brutal killing? Or was it a crime of passion? Zoe soon discovers that there were many people who had reason to resent the lovely Laurette. But who hated the girl enough to stop her clock permanently? When Zoe discovers a second murder victim, the pressure is on to find the killer before time - and luck - run out."

Wait, I just realized are they doing the Summer Olympics in Paris this year because it's been a hundred years since these Olympics? Also, as much as I dislike the Summer Olympics, I'd totally go if I could find a lost Chagall masterpiece.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.

Space exploration can be lonely and isolating.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS - a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.

While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer's hasty departure than opening up to her. That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia's worst nightmare starting - a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what's happening. But trust is hard to come by...and the crew isn't the only one keeping secrets."

I love what amounts to haunted house stories in outer space.

A Slice of Fried Gold: Taste My Memories by Nick Frost
Published by: Mango
Publication Date: April 9th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"How the Joy of Cooking Saved Me.

Follow comedic actor Nick Frost's journey with family recipes that reconnect him to memories and loved ones from long ago.

A cookbook of laughs, tears, and stroganoff. Known for comedy movies such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Nick Frost has touched the hearts of millions throughout his career. Now, he shares his culinary side in an all-new celebrity memoir that mixes humorous advice with honest truths. A Slice of Fried Gold is a love letter to cooking, the people who inspired him, and how his emotional connection to food has impacted his life and relationships. Full of delicious recipes, familiar faces, and touching moments from Nick's life, discover how cooking can create bonds that last a lifetime.

Make every meal a memory. When twelve-year-old Nick first recreated his mom's beef stroganoff, he found that it brought out a version of her that he only saw when she was sober: pride. Now, years after her death, he continues to make it so he and his family can still know her and her best moments with every bite. With many other memories about how the joy of cooking helped him cope with the loss and chaos in his life, Nick's story will inspire you to find your own uplifting way of reconnecting with loved ones and your happiest moments with them.

Inside A Slice of Fried Gold, you'll also discover:

-15+ meaningful recipes and how Nick Frost adds his own techniques to each meal
-How cooking has helped with his ADHD
-His experience of sharing his famous Pie in a Bowl with friend and co-star Simon Pegg
-Ways to cherish memories and traditions with the next generation

If you liked celebrity cookbooks such as Snoop Dog Presents Goon with the Spoon, Pie is Messy, or How to Cook That, you'll love A Slice of Fried Gold."

I love this book if there is not a single mention of a kibbutz, unlike his previous book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrew Cartmel, Betty Webb, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charlie Huston, Katie Tietjen, Kendare Blake, Leigh Bardugo, Nick Frost, Paige Shelton, Robbie Morrison, S.A. Barnes, Seraphina Nova Glass, The Familiar

Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
Published by: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: May 31st, 2022
Format: Kindle, 272 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Like most people during the pandemic David Sedaris lost a family member with whom he had a complicated relationship. Lou was not a good man, a liar who would belitle his son and seuxlaize his daughters, much as David would sexualize an encounter with a young boy in France. And by young I believe the child was naked and twelve and in his bed. Hopefully unlike most people their fathers hadn't been accused of sexual abuse by one of their siblings. But David, Amy, and the rest didn't believe Tiffany and now she's dead by her own hand. They claim the suicide indicates she was mentally ill, but what if it was the only solace someone who was abused by someone who was supposed to love and protect them was left with after the rest of her family denied her truth? What's more, David seems destined to fill the void left by his father, commenting on things best left unsaid. Like most people during the pandemic David Sedaris's day to day life changed. He would wander the empty streets of New York for hours begrudging the loss of his favorite pastime, window shopping, while determined to get his steps in. After all he is a man who spent $5,000 on a fur coat not because he liked it but because if he didn't buy it someone else might or might not and he couldn't stand that. And what's $5,000 anyway? Unlike most people during the pandemic he continued living his life as he pleased, damn what anyone else thought. He'd host lavish dinner parties and bemoan why anyone would need a stimulus check. He'd not see the needed social change that brought about the BLM protests, instead he'd see ways to make his way across town in the swiftest manner possible by "joining" the protests . David Sedaris is the one percent. He doesn't see why he shouldn't live as he chooses. Random strangers on the street who have crooked teeth should be thankful if he's willing to pay to have them straightened so that he doesn't have to look at them. After all he had his own teeth straightened and they make him feel better, even if Amy and Hugh don't agree. It's David's world and everyone else is merely players, fodder for his stories. Because his gaze no longer looks inward so much as a gimlet eye out to eviscerate others.

I first read David Sedaris back in 2002. I got Me Talk Pretty One Day for a Christmas present and I was left deeply underwhelmed. But I think the reason the book was so successful is that people could relate to it. I know I read it and thought, I could write this. I'm not sure everyone had that reaction, but, what it boils down to is that they could see themselves in David. But now? He is so cocooned in his entitlement that he is completely detached from reality. I was either appalled or revolted, there was no inbetween. There is such a cringe factor I can't even. And it's not just the revelations about his father or the young boy in France, there was multiple levels of cringe from the sexual to just the plain out of touch. I came away from this book picturing David as Marie Antoinette with me baying for his blood. Not just because of his flaunting of Covid safety protocols, but the actual incomprehension that a check for half the price of his fur coat could actually matter to someone. You know what David? Those stimulus checks saved me. Repeatedly. I don't know what I would have done without them. And you, you look down your nose at them? I just can't with you. I literally just can't. Universal basic income is the way forward to a society with parity. But I guess now that you're part of the one percent with one apartment on top of another just "because" you wouldn't like parity. Not with your homes in France and England and North Carolina... All told Google is telling me you have eight homes. EIGHT!?! Which is also how many million he is worth. To play devil's advocate against my prosecution, some people in my book club pointed out that perhaps this book didn't "work" because it was written in lockdown. David Sedaris is known to travel constantly giving talks where he hones his material. OK, fine, perhaps that made this less "refined" of a book, but editing couldn't have made this less offensive. The only explanation is he's reached J.K. Rowling levels of fame and they just publish whatever he spews forth, and yes, at points he could easily be compared to that other hateful author. For myself I like to think of some intern gleefully sending this to press knowing that David's head would role because that intern was someone who needed their stimulus check.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Covid, David Sedaris, Entitled, Father, For the Love of Book Clubs, France, Happy-Go-Lucky, J.K. Rowling, Marie Antoinette, Me Talk Pretty One Day, New York, One Percent, Pandemic, Stimulus Checks, Teeth

Our Friends From Frolix 8  by Philip K. Dick
Published by: Mariner Books Classics
Publication Date: 1970
Format: Kindle, 208 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

22nd century Earth is ruled by two groups, the New Men, with their large craniums and IQs to match, and the Unusuals, who possess psychic powers from telepathy to precognition. There are only six thousand New Men ruling with the help of four thousand Unusuals. And yet the majority of the world, literally billions, is made up of Old Men, excluded from any form of job other than the menial. Nick Appleton is an Old Man. He works as a tire regroover. Yet he doesn't think to question the system until his son Bobby fails his Civil Service examination. The test is designed to fail Old Men. Bobby didn't have a chance. And this wakes Nick up. He is politicized, buying illegal booze and political tracts. The booze he gets from an alcoholic named Denny, the tracts he buys from Denny's girl, Charley. It's really for the sixteen-year-old subversive Charley that Nick is willing to be radicalized. He has fallen for her and through her learns more about the Under Men. A third group which wishes to lead but can't because they are composed of Old Men. Their second in command, Eric Cordon, is imprisoned and awaiting execution, but his tracts still reach the ears of those who will listen. But news comes that the leader of the Under Men, Thors Provoni, is returning to Earth. He has been to the outer reaches of the galaxy in what many thought was a vain attempt searching for help in unseating the ruling powers. There he found a "Friend from Folix 8," a sentient 90-ton gelatinous protoplasmic slim being known as Morgo Rahn Wilc. Needless to say this sends the New Men and the Unusuals into a tizzy. This is literally the alien invasion they have always feared coupled with the possible overthrowing of their government. Their leader, the Council Chairman of the Extraordinary Committee for Public Safety, Willis Gram, a telepath, starts making erratic calls. He has Eric Cordon executed, he has Nick Appleton labelled "subversive," and he asks for Charlotte "Charley" Boyer to be brought to him. What any of this has to do with stopping Thors Provoni we'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps Gram sees something no one else does?

Philip K. Dick can sometimes be amazingly precinct. Perhaps he himself is an Unusual? Because one of the first things that stood out to me when reading Our Friends From Frolix 8 was that Dick proclaimed that God is dead, they found his carcass floating out in space in 2019. And that folks, right there, explains everything that has happened since. 2020 and the pandemic predicted in 1970. Otherwise this is a very typical Dick novel, morally ambiguous male protagonist searching for meaning clings onto very one-dimensional woman. And if you know anything about Dick's personal life and his number of marriages, his inability to understand women is par for the course. It just so happens that Charley is unfortunately only sixteen so there's a major creepy pedophile factor which actually dovetails right into the Donald Trump of it all. Willis Gram is a bombastic and manipulative politician. He was obviously meant to be Richard Nixon. Reading this after Donald Trump became president makes it all the more eerie. Because Willis Gram IS Donald Trump. A man driven by base desires and revenge. A corpulent man who wishes to have his wife murdered by his enemy, Eric Cordon. Live on TV. Because it would kill two birds with one stone. Plus, the pageantry and the outpouring of sympathy for himself while he stalks closer to Charley is a dream come true. Sound familiar? You'd feel sorry for Mike Pence if he ever came out and condemned Trump for attempted murder, but that would never happen from Trump's bootlicker in chief. And the Trump of it all is my problem with this book. Willis Gram is the only interesting character and he's Trump. I don't want to think about Trump. I don't want to read about Trump. I want absolutely nothing in my life in any way connected with Trump. So reading this book was hard. I mean, as satire it's amazing. It's so spot on it's eerie. And I know the importance of using satire to emasculate our enemies, just look to Charlie Chaplin and Nancy Mitford during World War II. But there was something too immediate here. I just couldn't get past the Trump of it all. Perhaps one day when Trump is history without the "recent" qualifier I will reread this book and enjoy it more. Until then it still makes me shudder.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Charlie Chaplin, Donald Trump, For the Love of Book Clubs, Nancy Mitford, New Men, Nick Appleton, Old Men, Our Friends From Frolix 8, Philip K. Dick, Richard Nixon, Thors Provoni, Under Men, Unusuals, Willis Gram