Menace Under Marswood by Sterling Lanier

This entry is part 33 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this weeks and weeks after I read it. Well, weeks, anyway.  The back cover copy of this paperback seemed to promise a kind of planetary romance voyage tale, like a more modern (circa 1980s) take on Burroughs’ Mars adventures: a trip into the Martian “outback” to investigate a new threat among the people living in the Martian wilderness. It starts out very slow. The setup preceding the adventure proper—which I’d expect a writer today to cover in 5–10 (or maybe 15) pages—takes about a third of the book, with base politics, an encounter with a shaman and …

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Saga, Volume 2 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples

This entry is part 32 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this weeks and weeks after I read it. Well, weeks, anyway.  As I recently mentioned, I’ve got the entire Saga series (so far) on my iPad. I read the second volume recently, and enjoyed it. What really grabbed me was the voice: our narrator for a lot of the volume is the future voice of the infant in the present time of the story. The other thing I enjoyed about it is the fact its handling of in-laws: they can, after all, be a real trial for any couple, but when you’re star-crossed lovers from cultures …

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Roman Britain by David Shotter

This entry is part 31 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this weeks and weeks after I read it. Well, weeks, anyway.  I picked up this book at a university booksale in Jakarta many years ago; I apparently read it in 2016, though I didn’t realize it until near the end, when I reached the most memorable portion of the book—that which discusses the role of religion in Roman Britain.  (I’m sure some of the viewers of Raised by Wolves would be interested in that chapter, since it has a discussion of the rivalry between the Mithraic cult and the Christians in that context. Nodens also comes …

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Sirenswail by Dave Mitchell

This entry is part 30 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this quite a while after finishing the book. This was given to me by my friend Ahimsa Kerp, to whom I shall be returning it soon.   Dave Mitchell’s Sirenswail is a 2016 old-school adventure. It’s basically The Wicker Man in the age of Cromwell with some magic and weirdness mixed in. The historical setting is, obviously, because it was designed for use with LotFP, but you could adapt it to any old-school game and, with some work, to any setting you’d use for an elfgame.  It’s a part of that familiar subgenre of adventures focused on …

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The Graveyard Book Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell

This entry is part 29 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this weeks and weeks after I read it. Well, weeks, anyway.  I sometimes feel like I’m the only person I know who’s never actually read a novel by Neil Gaiman. I have read a couple of short stories and a few of the Sandman comics, yeah, and I’ve seen Coraline, but I’ve never read one of his novels. Decades ago I signed out Good Omens (his early collaboration with Terry Pratchett) from the library: this was back in high school, and I never got very far into it. (I haven’t even looked at the copy of …

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Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating by Jane Goodall

This entry is part 28 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this weeks and weeks after I read it. Well, weeks, anyway.  This book was a present I received many years ago. I’ve felt more of a draw to nonfiction than fiction lately, and it was on the top of the nonfiction pile, so I dug in.  My reaction was mixed: I have a great deal of respect for Goodall, and her advocacy was and is undoubtedly both good and noble. However, I felt a bit frustrated reading this book, mostly because… well, to be honest, not much of what it contains was news to me. (It …

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Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas

This entry is part 27 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

I read this back in June, between the end of spring semester and the start of summer semester. I’ve been slow posting these—I’m about twenty books behind, so I’ll probably pick up the pace now.  Love is the Law has been on my Kindle for quite a while now, but I finally got around to it early this summer. It’s a spiky novel bristling with bitterness and snark, which makes sense given the fusion of punk, underground Communism, and Crowleian occultism embraced by its protagonist, who is investigating the murder of her occult mentor, or… well, the relationship is complicated, …

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Saga Volume 1 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

This entry is part 25 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As always, I’m posting this weeks and weeks after I read it. Well, weeks, anyway.  I’m pretty sure I first saw a volume of Saga during a visit to Singapore in 2012, or maybe in 2014, when the series was relatively new. I didn’t pick it up then, but it did stick in my mind, especially as I’d recently read all of Y: The Last Man and, despite its flaws, enjoyed it. When I saw the entire series (I think?) available in a Humble Bundle earlier this year, I went ahead and bought the bundle: I have an iPad now, …

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Scourge of the Scornlords: Meatlandia Book III by Ahimsa Kerp and Wind Lothamer

This entry is part 26 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As with other posts in this series, these #booksread2022 posts go anywhere from a few weeks to a month after I’ve read them. I read this particular book last week, though!  Before I begin, some disclosures: Ahimsa Kerp is a longtime friend, and I’ve gamed with both him and Wind Lothamer in the past. I was one of the playtesters for this book. I’m currently working on a project with them.  So, with that out of the way: Scourge of the Scornlords is a supplement for old-school RPGs from the Meatlandia series by Knight Owl Publishing. It’s been out for …

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Fish F*ckers by Kelvin Green

This entry is part 24 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As with other posts in this series, these #booksread2022 posts go anywhere from a few weeks to a month after I’ve read them. I read this particular book last week, though!  This is a module containing a seaside town called Innsmouth, where a cultist has set up a lucrative situation: Deep Ones are fornicating with villagers, bringing gold and offerings of fish. The villagers are conflicted about this setup, but they’re actually the abusers, while the Deep Ones are forced magically to do this, and dislike it. (The poor monsters want this magical binding to be ended so that don’t …

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