Legends & Lattes And Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

    Remember last year when Cozy Fantasy was the rage?  Now it seems that Romantasy has taken the "Latest Fad" crown. Which is fine, but I have to admit I DNF the #1 example of Romantasy The Fourth Wing. However, the #1 example of Cozy Fantasy, Legends and Lattes, I absolutely loved and the recently released Bookshop and Bonedust continues that love affair, The main protagonist and the first-person narration is Viv, a war weary orc in Legends & Lattes and a young warrior looking for fame and fortune in Bookshop & Bonedust. 

    First let me give a shout out for the fabulous cover art by Carson Lowmiller for both books. I do love a cover that gives you an image of the characters. These are characters are familiar to any serious fantasy reader. Still, it nice to see an artist rendering to help with your imagination. 

        What both books have in common is excellent pacing and plot development.  And a love for Baked Goods. And the importance of Friends.  

       

Decided to try to Learn the Thai Language, wish me luck!!!!

 

     As if learning a new language is not hard enough, trying to learn Thai is a real challenge as it will require rote memory in a brain where that is not its strong suit at this stage in by life.  The main killer is the 72 characters in the Thai alphabet. The second killer is there are no spaces in written Thai. So, a sentence is written out as one continuous Thai characters stream. What you see in the picture is a phonetic version of the Thai sentence, as I learned in my first two Thai language class, which I signed up for in attempt to give my life a little bit more structure. 

     Yes, I began to feel like my life had become a bit unmoored.  I fell into the "Staying up Late and Sleeping most of the Day" like I was back in my 20s, not like my true old man age of near 67. (Oh, it hurts type that!)  

    So, when I found a Thai language course that I could easily afford that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 90 minutes, I thought to myself there is my anchor. It helps that the teacher, Ms.Jom, is entertaining and informative, and not afraid to correct you when your pronunciation is off.  

  My fellow classmates are all young, in the range of 20 to 30.  One of the easiest visas to get for person under 50 is an Education Visa for 15 months. The two main options are a Language or a Muay Thai Boxing school. Either one will kick your ass. I am the only old guy in the class, but everyone is super nice. 

   So, what are my goals? To be able to do easy tasks without the use of Google Translate and have short breezing conversations with the local community.  Don't think I will be reading any books in Thai, but I hope signs should be an easy goal to attain. As it is I figured out the " buy one get one" thanks to a local clerk at the Big C, my local market. Hope by the end of the year I will be able to read instead of guess sale signage. 

 

Penric & Desdemona- One of my Favorite Novellas Series

 I will start off by helping those not into the literary world as much as I or many other readers with the official description of the Novella.  I myself spent many decades not knowing, throwing everything into the Novel/Short Story duology. A novella ranges between 10K to 50K words, or roughly 100 to 199 pages, just long enough to sink your teeth into and finish in a weekend. 

     Which brings me to the Penric and Desdemona Series.  The world this novella is set in is the same as Lois McMaster Bujold's World of the Five Gods Trilogy, which starts with The Curse of Chalion. The good news is you can read the Penic stories without reading the novel series. In the now 12 novellas stories, the world is explained as needed to flesh out the story.  

    From the get-go I fell in love with main character, who in Penric's Demon ,  the reader will met a young man not too happy with his life prospects.  Then a happenstance changes everything for Penric. There is a bit of the very reliable "Fish out of Water" trope in the first novella but is the succeeding novellas each one employs a different plot device to add to the reading enjoyment. 

Here is the Penric and Desdemona in order, 12 so far: 

“Penric’s Demon”
“Penric and the Shaman”
“Penric’s Fox”
“Masquerade in Lodi”
“Penric’s Mission”
“Mira’s Last Dance”
“The Prisoner of Limnos”
“The Orphans of Raspay”
“The Physicians of Vilnoc”
The Assassins of Thasalon
“Knot of Shadows”

 “Demon Daughter” 

    All are priced at the $3.99 price point, which for a novella is the sweet spot of price point.  Nothing gets my blood boiling then the $11.99 price point for a novella. 

     The latest story in the series, Demon Daughter is as delicious story as they come. One that tugs on the heartstrings and makes the reader feeling better for the rest of the week, if not the month, after reading it.  

My Favorite 5 star Books Released in 2023

      I had a really good year reading wise. I had only 1 DNF and it was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.  I got to the point where the main POV was walking in front of the dragons, and one of her teammates was fried and the whole scene was written in such a bland way I could not go forward. Now I don't know if my tolerance was so low because the book I read before I tried it was my favorite book of the year?

    The Book that Wouldn't Burn is my Favorite book of the Year by a small margin, but still an easy choice. Loved the characters and plot twist and turns, Mark Lawrence is one of my many pre-orders every new release author.

I had two continuing novella series that released 5 stars stories. 

Across The Sorrow Sea by Anthony Ryan BK 5 of the Seven Swords series. Amazon thinks that is the end of the story but the ending of this novella indicates there is more to come. 

System Collapse by Martha Wells.  Bk 7 in this fabulous series that just gets better with every new instalment. Looking forward to the TV series. Was kind of hoping for it to be animated like some of the realistic looking Love, Death & Robots Episodes. Still have high hopes. 

I had a few 2nd book in the series that lived up to the promise of Book One. 

Words of Kings and Prophets by Shauna Lawless. Ancient Ireland History and Mythologies mixed in with Vikings, Plus, 2 main female POVs.  Have a soft spot in your heart for Cersei Lannister? You will love Gornflaith. 

Bitter Crown by Justin Lee Anderson.  Book One had a delicious plot twist that was my favorite Finalist for SPFBO 6 and, not only did it win, but was also picked up by Orbit Books. Book two had a great concept of having the main character suffering from the PTSD from the action in the book 1. 

Legacy of Brick and Bone by Krystal Matar.  I had Book One tied on top with another in SPFBO 7.  Love the worldbuilding and the character development in this series. Book 3 can't come fast enough.

House of Odysseus by Claire North. Been a fan of Ms North for a long time and this retelling of Penelope is fabulous.  North has Penelope doing more than making a weaving. If you are a fan of the book Circe you will love this series. 

Books that landed the landing in finishing up a series. 

The Traitor by Anthony Ryan.  Yes, I am a Fanboy of Anthony Ryan and He can do no wrong. In my humble opinion. 

Esrahaddon by Michael J Sullivan. Yes, I am a Fanboy of Michael J Sullivan and He can do no wrong, In my humble opinion. 

Fantastic starts to a New Series. 

Hexologist by Josiah Bancroft.  Been waiting for this and it delivered a fantastic read, The rare happily marriage couple are the main characters and I love them. Easily my second favorite book of the year. 

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey. Was a bit worried, but one of my favorite SF writers took on the Quantum Universe and produced a great start to a new series. 

Will of the Many by James Islington.  I thought I was done with the "Kids in School" trope, but I guess not because this book took off after the main protagonist goes to school. 

   Well, that is it. Had a lot of 4 stars too. Like I said before I had a really good 2023 reading Year. 

 

Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey- A Review

 

        

     I first discovered M.R. Carey with his book Girl with All the Gifts.  Had I known the plot of the book, I probably would have skip it.  I was thoroughly burned out on that sub-genre, but the buzz on the book got me to read it without any prior knowledge. What I found was an innovating book that was so well written, I became a Carey Fan. The follow up, Boy on the Bridge, was a pre-sequel and a post-sequel, which again showed off Carey's writing skills. Carey followed up with the Rampart Series, three shortish books that came out all in one year.  When I first began to read Book of Koli, the first book in the series I got the impression it was going to be Carey's first foray into the Fantasy genre, until some tech flew in. The Rampart series turned out to become one of my favorite dystopia novels of all time. Later I listened to an interview with Carey, who stated his intention to write a fantasy novel, but it morphed into a dystopia almost of its own free will.  This glimpse into the creative process made me more of a fan of Carey, if that was even possible at that point. 

     So, if I am such a big fan, why did it take me so long to read to read this first entry into a new series. Frankly, I forgot.  I had so many books come in March and April of 2023, May 2023 book got slightly overlooked.  And when I got to think about my favorite books of 2023, I realized one of my favorite authors was unread. But in a way, I was glad I waited. 

    Infinity Gate is set in the multiverse, and I am glad I was able to watch Marvel's Loki.  It helped get my mind in the right mind for this novel.  There is a lot going on with this novel.  A Hot War turns into a Cold War, spies, and a wildcard all concepts that inhabit this first in the Pandominion series.  Multiple POVs spin the tale.  The Wildcard is one POV, a Watcher is another POV, a Criminal POV is added in the mix and a rabbit type student POV another.  Carey skills as a writer makes it all work. 

     After Marvel's foray into the Multiverse concept, first with Avengers, then with Spiderman into the Multiverse and finally Loki, it was really nice to have my first literary foray to be by one of my favorite authors. 

      

Napoleon- a review of Ridley Scott's Epic

     I guess my first introduction to the character of Napoleon came in the form of cartoons.  The figure of Napoleon came to represent a person who thought themselves crazy.  The hat and the hidden hand inside the vest came to represent someone who was not in control of all their mental capacity. Junior High and High School was heavy on the French Revolution and the Terror with scant lessons on Post Revolution France.  In college I got more French Revolution and even a bit of Pre-Revolution France. What I am telling you is that my Napolean Era knowledge is severely lacking. So, is Napolean historically accurate?  Who cares?  Not me. Is it a good film, that is more important. 

     The film looks fantastic.  From the get-go, the death of Marie Antionette scene, you felt like this is how it looked.  See the movie if only for the gorgeous cinematography! The two leads, Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, carry the film. Most of the of film is about the dynamic between the two. I saw the IMAX version of the film for the battle scenes, so I was a bit surprised by the amount of the film that featured just those two actors. Did not need IMAX for that Lovey Dovey stuff,  

      In conclusion, this will get a Best Picture nomination along with Best Cinematography nomination.  Both leads will get nominations.  It is Epic film making at its finest.    

Sistah Samurai- Tatiana Obey

The Cover Art on this novella caught my eye. So, another shout out to Felix Ortiz who should get a Hugo nomination for this cover. 

      This novella took me back to the 1970s, a time when there was an era of Blaxploitation films that starred the great Pam Grier, among others.  The last samurai is fighting demons that kill and steal the souls of the dead.  Ink has become the currency of this world. Sistah fights both the demons and those who seek to corner the Ink market. Tatiana has written a "samurai anime" inspired tale, drawing on her years spent in South Korea. 

  It also has the proper price point for a novella at $2.99.