Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Probably the most creative werewolf book you’ll ever read.

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

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Oh, dang, I thought I had written a review of this one, but going through all my 2022 books to Review Amnesty, I see I have in fact, not done so. Real quick, if you’re looking for a starter horror/starter Stephen Graham Jones, this one might actually be a great book to read. And this book isn’t even all that horrific. It’s only really classified as horror because werewolves and because Stephen Graham Jones, but it’s really a coming of age story about a young […]

Romantically imaginative

This is a Poem That Heals Fish by Jean-Pierre Simeon

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A perk of my job is to see the books ordered by customers as I process them. I had seen the title This is a Poem That Heals Fish on the list to be ordered and was thinking it was going to be odd.  And when it came in, I gave it a small peek. Yes, it is odd. But Jean-Pierre Simeon’s work is more than just odd. It is a poem within a poem within a poem (I think I captured all the layers). […]

“Human nature could be so hideous, but it persisted in this ugliness by insisting it was good.”

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

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Look at me, reviewing a book I just finished yesterday*. I am determined to review all my October books in a timely fashion** so as not to make my backlog problem worse than it already is. (Sigh.) This was sort of a bummer one to start my October spooky reads on because it was all serious and stuff, no fun at all to be had here. But I can’t deny it was very well done. *But posted here in December, whoops. I finished this in […]

Dan is a good kid, and this is a good book

A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat

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A First Time for Everything is a delightful read about one summer and the trip of a lifetime. Some people dream of a trip like Dan’s, others have nightmares, but regardless this is a great coming of age book that we all can relate to (a modern reader will love seeing the late 1980s) and enjoy. There is a lot going on and a must read. Dan Santat’s signature style illustrations the adventures that await. Dan’s adventures start in middle school, where he is asked […]

Thought provoking stories

How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

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This was a really interesting novel told through stories – not nearly as madcap as A Visit From the Goon Squad but a similar idea / form. The establishing story reveals the origin of what will be a super bug, a pandemic with horrific consequences. Each subsequent story picks up on a related aspect of the ensuing hundreds (or, in some cases, thousands) of years during and post pandemic. Each story explores something a little different – grief writ large, as the world experiences during a […]

Another Indifferent Science Fiction Collection from the 60s.

The Year's Best S-F: 10th Annual Edition by Edited by Judith Merril

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At this point I’m starting to question my decision to work through these 60s/70s SF/F collections, but I continue on because each of them does have a few notable stories, and I am interested in the history and foundation of the field. I think what I got the most out of this one was seeing famous authors breaking onto the scene and the background information on magazines Merril was pulling from, as well as her opinions on current events and the state of SF/F in […]



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