Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Ever get the feeling that you’re being watched?

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

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Well, my library is being watched at least. I keep reading myself in circles; themes from one book bleed into another; people, places, statements, snippets of songs- this year is becoming one giant, roiling, swirling brew of a book. Peter Grant and the Falcon Family (tm tm tm!) are back in London, up to their necks in the Thames and sinking fast. Luckily, the river is full of gods who are just as willing to save them as they are to let them drown. Last […]

In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.

Dune by Frank Herbert

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So this is my third reading of this book. The cover I put in this post is from my first 1990 copy of it, and it’s how I think of it. I’ve seen the movie a handful of times, and the miniseries twice, and I honestly feel both are terrible (David Lynch’s movie has a lot of good in it), and I think it all comes down to what feels impossible to convey in a film version without some real trying. I think the new […]

“Nobody died. how can you kill an idea? How can you kill the personification of an action?” “Then what died? who are you mourning?” “A point of view.”

The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake by Neil Gaiman

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This is the second time while reading this series I have been sorely tempted to give one of these five stars, and I probably will when I revisit in future. What’s holding me back right now is that for most of this, I was only mildly emotionally engaged, but the very last issue, “The Tempest,” is one of my favorite things in this series, and maybe that Gaiman has ever written. I got a little teary while reading it, and in a different state of […]

A refreshingly complete story to start a magical series

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith

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Elena is a toad, though she knows she knows that she should be a witch. Thus starts The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith. Elena breaks the curse on herself and returns to her home, Chateau Renard, a famed vineyard in France. What she finds is that her home has been sold to a lawyer-turned-winemaker who, instead of relying on a vine witch to support and augment the growth, harvest, and fermentation of grapes into wine, relies on science to create his wine to disappointing […]

No one ever said elves are nice

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

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Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice.” I was three quarters of the way through a 900 page beast […]

Man, Magic, and the Machine

The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Hossain

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This is a delightful novella.  It’s fresh and weird and engaging, a sci-fi-fantasy set in near-future Kathmandu.  An interesting mix of traditional magic elements (djinn!  I love djinn.) with traditional sci-fi elements (vaguely creepy AI!), and pretty bonkers…but weirdly lovable?…characters.  The themes and the narrative are brutal, whimsical, funny, and sobering, sometimes all at once.  This was riiiiight up my alley, and I recommend it to anyone looking to mix it up a little. Melek Ahmar, the Lord of Mars, the Red King, the Lord […]



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