Book Review #001

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinetter Kowal

Summary

In the 1950s, Elma York and her husband Nathaniel York were on a short vacation, when a meteorite fell from the sky and crashed into the Chesapeake Bay. Destroying a large part of the East Coast, but that was not the only devastation. The whole world is at peril, making the choice for the whole human race.

My Thoughts

I listened to The Calculating Stars when I was in the hospital with Covid-19. I was on my stomach, struggling to breathe. Traveling to the past and then the stars seemed plausible. Mary Robinette Kowal did a wonderful job writing this series and narrating the novel. The story didn’t start with this book. The story started with a short story called The Lady Astronaut of Mars. The Calculating Stars is a prequel to that short story. Full disclosure I haven’t read the Lady Astronaut of Mars; I haven’t listened to the Relentless Moon yet. The Calculating Stars is a decent prequel, the best I’ve come across so far. I admire the skill Mary Robinette Kowal has to make the past, futuristic.

Mary Robinette Kowal is a co-host of a writing podcast called Writing Excuses. It has been running for almost 16 seasons. She is not a co-founder but when they brought her in as a host, she introduced the method of writing called the MICE quotient. She has explained it in the early episodes and just recently did a kind of in-depth class about the MICE quotient in season 16. It is something I saw throughout the story in The Calculating Stars, and I enjoyed it.

If you listen to Writing Excuses and she says that the Calculating Stars is about women being the computers in NASA. For the most part she is right, both Dr. Elma York and her husband Dr. Nathaniel York work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) before the disaster. Once the International Aerospace Coalition (IAC) is established they resume their roles. However, there is so much more going on. Despite Elma being a brilliant mathematician and licensed pilot, who was part of the WASP program during World War II, all the requirements to be part of the astronaut program. She faces anxiety, misogyny and deals with them in a clever ways. Elma and other women, some also working as computers in NASA and some are qualifying pilots decide to strive to become the much needed female astronauts during this time of desperate trouble for the world. They are still underestimated, belittled, and outright disregarded. In this book, there is grief, racism, and microaggressions. Undaunted Elma speaks about it all, and to be clear she is not always on the right side of the equation. The interesting part of this is that Elma realizes this, apologizes, and does better. One of the things I realized with this book is that being wrong does not make you evil. Sometimes a person needs help, understanding, I think that is one of the many themes in the series.

The Calculating Stars deserved all the awards it won in 2019. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hollywood is knocking down Ms. Kowal ‘s door for movie rights. I have given this book five stars.

End

Wednesday Pastimes

It is the middle of the week already. This year is ending faster than I thought. Seriously sometimes I wish I was jellyfish. I know with climate change and pollution the oceans are not the best place for sea creatures. The idea of just being in water floating wherever the waves take you is really appealing to me. It is also ironic because I don’t know how to swim. I would have loved to say neither do jellyfish but a quick google search dissuaded me of that whole line.

This useless paragraph was put together because I lost my thoughts on what was supposed to be in this post. Coming up with something interesting to write about is as difficult as reading.

At a loss of what to do for this entry. I will report what I’ve been listening to. I will apologize in advance because I fear some of my words may be redundant. I had completed the Forgotten Empires series by Jeffe Kennedy, the week before Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the whole series; the last book The Promised Queen had a twist I did not expect and one that I did. Overall, I enjoyed the three books and could listen to them again.

The day after Thanksgiving, I started to relisten to the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole but only the Lykae stories. The series includes all kinds of supernatural beings. Some I’ve heard of and others I have not. Some have been tweaked for the benefit of the series. There are seventeen books in print. The series is paranormal romances in the audiobook version – not safe for work or headphones only. The narrator was a man named Robert Petroff and he was very good. The tests are female characters and various male characters. None sounded wrong for the story, even when a scene got intense, the voice or voices were distinct and held up. The stories were not in print order: A Hunger Like No Other -book 2, Pleasure of the Dark Prince-book 9, Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night- book 4 and MacRieve, book 14. In 2022, the 5th lykae based story will be out for readers, Munro. I think it has been on hold for 3 years. I hope it comes out, but I am not putting all my hopes into it. This book has missed a deadline before. It was never clear why there was a delay, at least I never delved too deep into the business side of this issue. It could’ve been the author’s problem or the publishing house. Nothing was ever clear. Fans were just disappointed. So now we wait with crossed fingers. I also hope that whatever the situation was it worked out well for Kresley Cole. Even though I know how difficult it is to produce a book much less a series of near 20 books, I still get belligerent when I’m wearing a fan hat. I had fun for the last two weeks, reacquainting myself with the IAD universe. I might continue with the vampire stories next, because Robert Petroff is that good a voice actor. Or I might listen to something completely different.

As the year comes to a close, some of my plans may be clear. Wednesday is still a day for review posts. I know I have not said much about the books I have listened to. A more in-depth review may show up at a later date. What I have been doing to make that goal plausible is developing a reader journal. I had a stray composition notebook and decided I could make good use out of that book. It is something to look forward to next week.

That is all I have to write about my pastimes. Things that I do when I am not writing. I think I might give myself a reading or listening challenge to complete as much of the books I started but DNF’d. If the reason was neglect and not dislike. I will see how far I can get with this. If any of you remember the list I put up on this blog, suggest a book from that list. Constructive comments are also welcome. I hope this entry finds you all doing well.

End

Book Review #6

In 2015, Entertainer Issa Rae wrote in her book Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. That maybe it would be beneficial for Black women if they dated and married Asian men.

Some people in the black community wanted to criticize her suggestions. Interracial Romance Authors decided to take her suggestion and run with it. The results are phenomenal. There are thousands of interracial romance stories featuring Asian men and Black women. This is just one series; I began reading in 2019 and came back to while I was in the hospital. I was looking for happy endings and I found some of them here. These two books are part of a four-book series. They can be borrowed if you have Kindle unlimited. They are exclusive books sold only by Amazon.

Sweet Sweet Revenge By Nia Arthurs

Joon Gi Kim was once a successful businessman, engaged to a\ beautiful woman Hanna Park and admired by many. An anonymous tip to authorities changed all that. He is arrested and charged with a white-collar crime. The stigma of being a criminal has turned everyone in his social community against him. He loses his business and fiancée. Down and out, he resorts to offering his business knowledge, to a baker Sky Johnson and her struggling shop Sweet Treat. Sky is a kind-hearted woman, who chooses to see better in people than there actually is. She hires Joon Gi even though she is sure he is up to something. Joon Gi vows revenge against those who have wronged him. He thinks he knows who they are. Besides a struggling business Sky also has relationship issues that need to be dealt with.

The attraction is evident between these two and during a series of events, love springs up between them. Joon Gi and Sky’s relationship blossoms and it changes them both. Sky stands up for herself and Joon Gi puts aside his plans for revenge to help Sky and her shop when she needs it. Joon Gi’s enemy is revealed and it is a twist. The story ends with the shop being saved. Sky and Joon Gi committing to each other.

Sweet Sweet Disaster By Nia Arthurs

Sun Gi Kim is a successful businessman and younger brother of Joon Gi Kim. He saved the family’s fortune when Joon Gi was arrested and is engaged to his brother’s ex-fiancée, Hanna Park. Ignoring is brother’s advice not to marry a woman he has no feelings for, Sun Gi ignores this and continues with wedding plans. Sun Gi is attempting to prove something that can’t be done. Joana Lee Gregory is a part-time worker at Sweet Treats and a good friend to Sky Johnson. She is a biracial woman with a Korean mother and a Black father and aspiring-to-be-discovered singer. She prefers to go by the name Jo. She has a crush on Sun Gi since they were introduced in Sweet Sweet Revenge. However, is quite sure that Sun Gi would never be attracted to her.

This, of course, is not true. Sun Gi is seduced by Jo’s beautiful voice when she secretly performs at a nightclub. He searches for this “Nightingale” only to realize she was always in front of him.

Jo appears to be confident in herself and life choices however there are cracks like she feels she will never be enough for her Black and Korean families. She wants to be a vocalist, however getting recognition without a support system is very difficult.

Meanwhile through complicated circumstances Jo leaves her job working with Sky. There is an introduction of a new character Jewel. Jo ends up working at a store but soon fate work for her and she gets the job as Sun Gi’s executive assistant. Their attraction to each other grows but Sun Gi is still engaged to Hanna Park.

A plot twist occurs that can only be describe as K-drama melodramatic goodness. Sun Gi and Joon Gi who have been estranged since book one, work out their brother issues. Hanna and Sun Gi decide not to get married. Jo and Sun Gi become a couple.

These two stories were interesting to me for different reasons. There are some things I liked about it and there are some things I didn’t. But overall, it was an enjoyable read. Arthurs left the mean evil ex-girlfriend trope and came up with a plot twist I was not expecting. Also, the story is set in a part of the world that I never really thought about. It seems like something strange and completely stupid to write. Belize as the setting for the story was different than what I am used to in romance stories. Usually in these stories set in not the United States or Canada, the main female character is visiting, the new wonderful tropical land. Full disclosure at the time I read these books it had been a couple of years since I’ve read a contemporary romance with no supernatural or speculative fiction element to it. The world building felt normal. I believe that was something I needed because my real world was very uncertain. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a pleasant read.

End

Review #5

October Faction vs. The October Faction

the October Faction IDW

October Faction Netflix

Faction is defined as a small group dissenting in an organization. The Netflix series and the IDW publications are definitely factions of each other.

On January 23, 2020, Netflix premiered the October Faction. The series is created by Damian Kindler and based off of the comic or graphic novel by Steve Niles and Damien Worm.

I saw a tweet supporting the lead actress Tamara Taylor and the show, I watched the trailer and looked forward to watching it. I am all about that supernatural/speculative fiction life, and it starred a black woman and kids. It starred Tamara Taylor and J.C. Mackenzie as the leads, Aurora Burghart and Gabriel Darku as the kids.

In my own words, this is what I understand from watching. Fred and Delores Allen hunt the supernatural, they are very good at what they do. They work for an organization called Presidio. Their kids Geoff and Viv are twins very smart children but have no idea what their parents do for a living. Fred was raised in a monster-hunting family and does not want to mess his kids up the way his parents messed him up. Delores and Fred knew each other in High School but didn’t necessarily interact with each other. After Delores’ s father, the Sheriff, was killed in “an animal” attack. They bonded. Fred’s family is all kinds of dysfunction and its malaise kind of spirals out into the whole town. The Allens are the richest people in the town of Somewhere-on-the-Hudson. Townspeople love and hate that fact.

Geoff and Viv are interesting kids. Due to the fact that they constantly move around from school to school, because of their parents’ job. They have developed two different kinds of personalities. Geoff seems to be outgoing. Viv appears cautious of her surroundings. It is easy for Geoff to make friends, for Viv not so much. However, they love and get along with their parents.

Their school life is disrupted yet again, first because of the death of Fred’s father, I forgot the name they used in the show, so I’m calling him Old Man Allen [1]. Then the fact that their parents decide to stay in the town they hate for personal reasons. Fred is facing burnout or a mid-life crisis. Delores wants to resolve her high school past. Outgoing Geoff has popularity issues and awkward Viv becomes the bait for the town’s mean girl. Adjusting to this new town and school is complicated.

Of course, not knowing the world they live in, the children unleash something dangerous and supernatural. Once Geoff and Viv realize what their parents do for a living, they become conscientious objectors. The trusts of their parents go right in the mansion’s fireplace.

There is another subplot of Old Man Allen not really being dead, the organization is turning against the Allen family. A man/machine haunting the woods of Somewhere-on-the-Hudson. Viv bonds with the creature because he saved her from a nice-guy rapist.

Mrs. Allen [1], Fred’s mother comes back into their lives. She can only be described as a sassy no-fucks-to-give older lady. It seems Fred had an older brother that died when he was a senior in high school. After that Old Man Allen forgot about his wife, he barely tolerated Fred his second son.

Secrets come to light when the dangerous supernatural turns out to be Viv and Geoff’s biological mother, a warlock. The reason Fred was hell-bent on not letting the kids know about Presidio is not only because of his shitty upbringing, but they would also be on the hunted list. It may seem that Delores wanted to tell the kids the truth and train them for their own protection.

The organization turned on the Allen family at the same time the warlock takes the kids. There is also a monster organization hunting the warlock. Delores and Fred’s hunting caught the attention of the local sheriff, a high school friend of Delores.

Things happen and what we were told at the beginning of the show is not what becomes the truth in the end. It is too much to go into detail. I have written too much as it is.

My overall opinion of the show is that it is worth watching despite the issues and threads that annoyed me. I won’t say it is binge-worthy, which is sad because I wanted it to get that binge-worthy status. I don’t think it is hated like Bright, but I don’t think it was as liked as the Umbrella Academy or Witcher. I have come across three YouTube video reviews.

Now let me tell you about The October Faction by Steve Niles and Damien Worm. It was brought to my attention because of the Netflix show. I only read volume 1. I haven’t got into the mystery that is stirring up to be exposed in future books. I enjoyed it a lot better than the Netflix show. Here are my reasons. Geoff and Viv know about their father’s previous job as a monster hunter. Fred Allan has retired from that life and he now teaches about the occult and monstrum at a college or university. He is still burned out and possibly going through a mid-life crisis. What Delores does besides raising the kids and knowing what Fred did in the past is not explained in this first book. What is explained is that there was a rut in the marriage. Delores did some unauthorized investigations that got her beat up. She unleashed a teenage boy/machine being, who wanted to kill her husband. Fred is made aware of all of this by a friend who is now a werewolf [2].

Geoff and Viv are not twins. Geoff appeared to have graduated and Viv is in her senior year of high school. She is still awkward and hates high school. These kids both know about the supernatural and they are enthusiastically interested in it. Viv still kind of bonds with the Robot face boy. It is obvious that Geoff and Viv have abilities, like being mediums and seeing dead people. Geoff has unsettling interactions with High School football star Phil or Philip [3]. Geoff can see dead people that are hanging around Phil like drapes. It seems the whole Allan family can see it.

The October Faction is a book about a family of “orphans” coming together. The Robot boy was hell-bent on killing Fred and he was fine with that. He believed he took care of a more serious threat but that is relieved to be false. There was something more sinister conspiring against the Allan family. Geoff and Viv want to be trained in the family business. They have worn Fred down and he has seemed to agree. Fred and Delores’ marriage may have been at risk but after her attack. They have seemed to mend it a bit.

The October Faction of the comic is a chosen family, who agree to work together for the family greater good.

The artwork is dark. Someone tweeted that it reminded them of Tim Burton’s films, and I have to agree. There was a macabre tone throughout the book. The living character appeared like they were sickly; they were pale and lackluster expressions. The dialogue is what kept everyone alive.

So, which is better? Honestly, I am on the fence on that issue. Both have value. In fact, one led me to the other. The Netflix show had a diverse cast. I was happy with female representation, the heroines and villainesses. I was annoyed with the whole high school representation, the tropes were overdone, awkward former friend girl to mean girl, closet gay jock. It seemed like every character has a reason for their behavior and it was the twins who got to decide what was acceptable and what was not. This could be a response to being older.

The book series may have more diversity, for women, there is only about Delores, Viv, a creepy henchwoman and her mention mother, in volume one. Fred Allan’s partner Lucas is a black man and a werewolf, and the local sheriff also looks like a black man. There is a mystery brewing and I was almost compelled me to buy volume 2, alas I had to also get things like groceries. It will be worked into my budget, next month. I will also like to see a season 2 to the Netflix October Faction.

End.

P.S. check out the side notes below

Side notes

Old Man Allen and Mrs. Allen take on the appearance of Fred and Delores Allan of the comic book. In the comic, Fred and Delores are a white couple.

In Netflix show, Fred becomes allies with a werewolf commando. In the book, this person Lucas has been Fred’s partner for years. The werewolf status did not change their friendship. Although once this friend went wolf, he retired.

In the Netflix show, Geoff still had interactions with HS star Phil. The slightly tweaked it for what I can only see as diversity reasons. Geoff in the show is openly gay. Phil is in the closet. A thread was for Geoff and Phil’s relationship. Instead of Phil being responsible for something horrific, he gets to feel that he did something horrific and caused death. I have an issue with that.