The Silent Death by Volker Kutscher

4 Stars

"Why shouldn't the Commies and the Nazis bash each other's heads in?" one of them asked. "It would save us a lot of work."

The Silent Death is the second in the Gereon Rath series set during the Interwar Period in Berlin. The period markers between the World Wars are really well done, integrated into the storyline perfectly. 1930 and talkies are taking over the cinema leaving behind one art form for another. The conflict, the change in equipment, and shooting strategies are all touched upon throughout as Rath follows up on a homicide.

Rath has the ambition and personality to create waves and ruffle feathers. His transfer from Vice to Homicide hasn't changed that; he's still rubbing colleagues the wrong way and aggravating his boss, DCI Böhm. Rath gets himself into hot water multiple times, yet manages to find a way to flip the tables. Question is, when will his luck run out?

This is definitely a new favorite series, so I'm glad to see that Goldstein was just released in English (British) translation.

Equoid (Laundry Files, #2.9) by Charles Stross

3 Stars

Bob gets mucky in this one. The most Lovecraftian work I've read by Stross. To be fair, I've only read three short works and one full length novel, but this wins hands down. I've visited Sussex, it seemed like such a nice place, not here. Bucolic charms are twisted into a rather gruesome tale of grotesque glamour.

Do not trust unicorns. If you wish to remain a devotee of the sparkly joyous version of the species, do not read this. Yikes.

The League of Regrettable Sidekicks: Heroic Helpers from Comic Book History! by Jon Morris

3.5 Stars

A quirky collection of odd bits lurking in comic book history.

Zeitgeist abounds with Super-Hip from The Adventures of Bob Hope whose weakness is Lawrence Welk music. Not sure how poor Frobisher from Doctor Who got in here; doesn't seem right. The Doctor's companion can be anything. The oddity of penguin form selection and unexplained yet hinted at sad backstory seems more tragic than regrettable. Just straight up winner for WTF goes to Elf with a Gun from The Defenders, a randomly appearing psycho who kills people and disappears, with no connection to the ongoing plot line of that issue.

There's the unexpectedly hilarious Agatha Detective Agency who partners up with Captain Future. Somehow, Captain Future's secret identity Dr. Andy Bryant gets hooked into helping his girlfriend's aunt by following a case into a Turkish Bath. The things you do for love.

Nameless in Metal Men epitomizes a big problem with women in comic books, or females. Nameless was built by Tin, a member of Metal Men who falls in love with her. Relationship develops, trauma ensues, and in the end she sacrifices herself to save them.

Then there's instances of the not quite thought through to the end before introducing the sidekick, like Comet the Super-Horse who's reincarnated from an ancient Greek centaur and can turn into a human when a comet passes through the solar system. Not a bad idea, right? Until masquerading as bronco rider Bill Starr he dates Supergirl. Hmm...yeah, Supergirl's relationship with Bill becomes problematic when he turns back into Comet. You can love your horse, but you can't love your horse.

This is one of those fun books to leaf through. I plan on giving it as a present because 1) snort-worthy, 2) interesting compilation of just odd lots.

Glasshouse by Charles Stross

3.5 Stars

I can be very creative when comes time to get violent.

Hmm... bit of a sleeper. Starts off with the gorgeous, wild panorama of unbridled awesome futuristic visions and then veers wildly into archaic visions--visions much more like now. Don't be fooled, it's just lulling you into complacency. Stay alert, and read on.

Leans towards geeky tech speak, the fact that I actually followed along means I've been infected. It's hard for me to judge how geeky, I spend most of my time with people who have advanced degrees in engineering and computer science, and trying to explain that while I'm really interested in this work they've been doing, that no, I don't have the horses to follow their tensor mathematics. All of this made sense to me, but not sure if that's everyone's takeaway.

I also wonder if dudes read this and go, that's interesting, and chicks go, let me out--let me out!

Commentary of society and technology. Reward mechanisms of societies, how states use power to control, kind of Marxy. Examination of gender roles, sexuality, and free agency. IF all our dreams of technology were to come true, and there were no longer enforced mortality or scarcity would we be better? Would we? Or would we still be kicking the same problems down the road? Different can, different street.

[A]n island of thinking jelly trapped in a bony carapace endless milliseconds away from its lovers, forced to squeeze every meaning through a low-bandwidth speech channel.

3.5 / 4 stars: Didn't write like I was an idiot, decent execution, but nothing I haven't seen before. Nicely wrapped though and I laughed, usually at all the inappropriate times, so keep that in mind when considering my rating.

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente

4 Stars

Flickering through recycled realities, losing myself in myself, over and over.

The Refrigerator Monologues is a mashup of The Vagina Monologues and comic book history. Valente uses some pretty well known female comic book characters and riffs off them. Each character's place in Deadtown is introduced and then she shares her origin story and how she got "refrigerated", written out.

Trouble is, my story is his story. The story of Kid Mercury crowds out everything else, like Christmas landing on the shops in August while Halloween tries to get a bat in edgewise.

It's funny, and a great rage read that makes you laugh even though some of it makes you want to cry at the same time. If you can't laugh it's just sad. Right?

It always stings when there's this whole story going on and you're really just a B-plot walk-on who only got a look at three pages of the script. 

I like an outraged political statement that's thirty years out of date. If they'd had one that said Warren G. Harding Is the Anti-Christ, I'd have grabbed that one, too. Occupy Yesterday, baby!  

I called him my manic pixie fucktoy.

Yeah, we've all pick up toys and realized we should have left them on the shelf. Plenty of reasons to throw him back, let someone else have that "catch".

But the longer I'm dead, the more I think the universe is a big blackboard with the rules scrawled all over it in chalk and stardust and it's just that the damn thing is flipped over and turned away from us so we can't see anything but the eraser, which is death, hitting the floor. Write out your life one thousand times, kid, or you'll have to come back and finish tomorrow.

Valente's knowledge of ancient Greeks is evident throughout the story, but I guess I just really love how she describes the Hell Hath Club and Deadtown because they sound exactly like shades. The dead are jealous of the living for precisely this reason:

Everthing tastes a little thin, a little slight. It's more like we were buried with the memory or the idea of hunger, and now it's stuck to us like old toilet paper.

Also, calls Odysseus a dick--knew I loved this writer for a reason. Yes, if you follow my reviews every time he appears I will totally call him out for the liar and thief he was--he's not a hero; he's an asshole.

The underworld's come a long way since Helen and Medea and Iphigenia and Clytemnestra painted the town black--the original Hell Hath Club.

As women we keep saying that, but when do we get to the end of road? Why aren't we there, yet? Anyway, highly recommend this book if you can comprehend the amount of suppressed frustration and rage women carry around with them or if you do.

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel

5 Stars

This is actually incredibly insightful with short lesson/information section followed by exercises for both groups and individuals without critique/collaborative feedback partners. If you don't have the resources or opportunity to take an art class then this is a fantastic substitute. It addresses everything an interested comic book artist could want from materials to layout to narrative to technique. I am legit impressed. Granted this isn't my particular cup of art, hence why I'm reading it--can't help it, I'm naturally curious. I would buy this for an emerging drawing artist as a resource.

Comet the Super-Horse

Not difficult to see why this plot line died quickly. Supergirl can love her horse; she can't love her horse. The backstory of Comet being a reincarnated centaur from ancient Greece--pure gold. Hard to see how this one will be beat for Best Regret.

Captain Future Takes One in the Turkish Bath

This is the opener for The League of Regrettable Sidekicks.

Down on the Farm (Laundry Files, #2.5) by Charles Stross

3 Stars

In usual backwards style, I saw this cover while perusing my library and decided to read it even though I've never read anything by this author. Going in blind, and it was entertaining in its 'low man on the totem pole' gets stuck with the job no one wants and discovers some rather disturbing things even for his odd line of work. Geeky with Lovecraftian elements and terrifying Nurse Ratchet Daleks.

Sold me on reading the series, now. Good job, short story.

Love that cover. Love it.