Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Listen to me or don’t. But if you don’t, you’ll be dead. And then where will you be? Dead, that’s where.

Redshirts by John Scalzi

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The failure mode of clever is ‘asshole.’ ― John Scalzi, Redshirts If knew you were going to drug me, kidnap me, and take me back to the dark ages with out my pants, I never would have slept with you. ― John Scalzi, Redshirts Andy Dahl has seen plenty of strange things. A former acolyte of an alien religion, Andy was scooped up by the Universal Union when the religious factions on his adopted planet went to war. Now, with a couple of years of […]

“They have vegan cheese.” “No, they don’t. They have shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for.”

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

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I was looking for something light after a few dense reads and this came recommended by a friend as a fun romp for the brain, or in the author’s own words, a “pop song” of a book. Scalzi had me at page 21, with this hilarious exchange. “They have vegan cheese.” “No, they don’t. They have shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for.” And yes, I know that vegan cheese certainly exists, but as a person who unabashedly loves […]

thoughtful villains to start the year off right

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

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Starting the year off right by a) fudging the read date of my first few books and b) writing reviews soon after finishing them!!! Let’s see how long this lasts this year. Many recommendations for this book from the Cannonball community, and really this should have been an easy one to pick up given how enjoyable The Kaiju Preservation Society (just tried typing “Kaiju Appreciation” and didn’t find anything) was. I’d characterize Scalzi as a unique voice amongst those writing today–you can really tell the […]

Much lizard, so destruction

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

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The Kaiju Preservation Society is about a masters graduate who loses his job and falls into doing menial labour (via a loosely-rebranded Uber Eats stand in) when the pandemic hits.  His job brings him back into the orbit of an old friend from college, who hits him up with the mysterious job opportunity of a lifetime. After preparing his will and getting shot full of vaccines, he’s whisked away to a world of nightmares to, in his words, ‘life heavy things’.  It turns out he’s […]

Ian Flemming Goes Cozy and Slightly Comedic

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

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I don’t know how John Scalzi would feel about his work being labeled “cozy” but that’s basically what Starter Villain is, a cozy adventure riffing in Scalzi fashion this time on the James Bond spy thriller. If you’ve read any of Scalzi’s more recent work, especially The Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain will be kind of familiar. Take a down on his luck smarter than he might initially appear regular person, a former journalist now substitute teacher named Charlie, and throw him into an improbably […]

Of course cats are sentient and working with villains

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

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CBR15 Bingo: Adulthood – Charlie struggles with many of the downsides to adulthood, loans, parental loss, divorce, and barely scrapping by.  Bingo #3! History (replaced with Nostalgia) to Europe. John Scalzi is almost an auto buy for  our household.  However, the most recently trilogy had us feeling a little cold.  Then last year’s The Kaiju Preservation Society was a spectacular showcase of what makes Scalzi such a fun writer.  Based on The Kaiju Preservation Society I was already looking forward to my preorder of Scalzi’s newest […]



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