Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Mysteries and sci-fi fandom

Ten Little Fen: A Spade Paladin Novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

At Witt’s End: A Spade/Paladin Conundrum by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Really Big Ka-Boom: A Spade/Paladin Conundrum by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Unity Con: A Spade/Paladin Conundrum by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Early Conundrums: A spade/Paladin Collection by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

by Leave a Comment

These books and stories were all read together in a bunch, although the writing of them probably spanned decades.  The stories are all set at various speculative fiction cons – featuring two main characters who only really interact at these cons.  Spade – a large guy who made money in the early days of computing and acts as one of the “Secret Masters of Fandom” and helps keep cons going.  He acts as a form of detective.  Paladin – a slight woman who acts as […]

Fabulous sci-fi saving the world

The Ultra-Fabulous Glitter Squadron Save the World Again by A.C. Wise

by 1 Comment

This was a fun read, but hard to describe.  So i took a look at the publisher and this is a book suggested  when one chooses “I want to read something that’s genderqueer…” .  And that is fair. This is a collection of stories and vignettes about how each of the members of the ultra-fabulous glitter squadron came to be part of the group and some of the challenges they have faced.  While it is a collection of stories, they do lead to a finale […]

The Interwebs were correct – these books are great

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna

by 4 Comments

Once again, I have done as told by the Interwebs, but failed to record which website recommended it.  This was either Vulture or Pajiba, I’d wager.  What an excellent recommendation.  It should be required reading for my whole family (but they never do as they’re told). We meet Deka in the Gilded Ones on the day of her purity test – when all of-age girls are bled to make sure they bleed red, not gold.  If this sounds like some solid gold bullshit to you, […]

Size positive novel with an amazing friend group

Chubby & Charming by Mary E Thompson

by Leave a Comment

This is one of the few truly size positive books I’ve read.  I’ve seen a couple of reviews at amazon that were super negative about this, and wow, I am unimpressed. I hated Mandy’s attitude of ‘I’m too fat to be lovable’.’  Mandy was just a whiny b*tch who didn’t deserve Xander, not because of her weight but because of her personality. The above is a paraphrased summary of a review that really bothered me, because I am fat chick, like Mandy, and I found […]

Poppy is a delight!

Digging Up Dirt by Pamela Hart

by Leave a Comment

What a charming book this was!  I’m thrilled to realise I’ve got several more of these to read over the rest of the holidays. Poppy works for the ABC, writing educational videos for kids, which she then produces.  She’s bought a cute little place somewhere in Sydney (this is described, but my mental map of Sydney is awful), but renovations find bones under the floorboards that may be human.  While they turn out not to be, they’re still old enough to have to call in […]

I liked this a lot better than the series

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

by Leave a Comment

This one chased me for a while, then went on special right before the the tv series came out. I liked it a lot (and had consequential high hopes for the series that were not realised in the pilot.  Our readings of the novel may differ, but I never noticed time flickering and changing small things in the way it did in the pilot, and was not happy with the change).  The protagonist is Kirby, the girl who got away, hideously injured (and the dog […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo