Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Took me a bit to settle into but then I was entertained by this sequel

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

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V.E. (Victoria) Schwab has become one of my favorite authors since I found her with the 2015 release of A Darker Shade of Magic. When the sequel came out, I expressed my love for the first book to the bookseller ringing me up, they asked if I had read Vicious yet, I had not.  Vicious was my introduction to Schwab outside of the DSoM series. Shortly thereafter I devoured her YA “Monsters of Verity” duology, and in the past year read the first in her middle […]

The Fifth Season: The Earth Really is Trying to Shake Us Off

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

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Season after season the Earth is hit with cataclysmic events: volcanic eruptions, massive earthquakes, a mining accident. These events cause shifts in the continent(s) and climate events that alter the earth’s ecology again and again. These events and their aftermath are called Seasons. The Fifth Season is a generic term for an extended winter of more than six months caused by a large scale environmental alteration. There are no vehicles, no internet, no fossil fuels. This is the backdrop for the stories of three women: […]

A powerful sorceress, a tiny man, and some ponies

Nebula Awards Showcase 2012 by James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel (editors)

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I’m lucky to live near so many Little Free Libraries. According to the official website, 10 such diminutive lending centers are located in my zip code, and I’m pretty sure there are a few others that aren’t noted. Whenever I walk my neighborhood, I stop at the libraries located along my route and check out whether anything new and interesting has appeared, and occasionally contribute something to the stash. I recently happened upon a couple of Nebula Awards Showcase collections and decided they’d be great […]

Feelings, free will, and a robot adventure: CBR Bingo – Two heads are better than one, Bingo!

Cog by Greg Van Eekhout

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Completing the “Two heads are better than one” square fulfills my bingo column, “Cannonballer Says” to “Remix”, and gives me my first bingo!  I used my “Reader’s Choice” to replace “Remix” with “Classic”. Dome’Loki Greg van Eekhout is a local San Diego author who frequently does events at my favorite independent bookstore, Mysterious Galaxy.  He writes for both adult and middle grade audiences.  Greg’s two most recent books are middle grade and as a result, it has been great fun to take my kids with […]

(bad “Electric Feel” joke)

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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The Power is horrifying in a lot of ways, one of which is how parts of it are also rather cathartic, which it shouldn’t be on the whole. If that opening sentence sounded a little confused and contradictory, that’s because it reflects my feelings about the thing. On the one hand, it’s about women getting to win, but on the other hand, the violence and abuses of power by men and women make it hard to feel good about anything, because it comes off as […]



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