Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews: 2024

Sunday, May 12, 2024

May's Reading List

I started out well but bad weather and Internet troubles forced me to postpone the final three books to this month. But they were finished and with plenty of time to spare so on with May.

Devil Cries Stones: A Memoir Book 2 by Tina Soctoy

But One Life by Samantha Wilcoxson

Virtuous Women by Anna Goltz

Masters of the Star Machine by Joe Crawford*

The Boy From Two Worlds by Jacob Offut

Freeze Frame by Rob Santana

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and The Aviation Girls by Tom Durwood

Vegas: Arcana Deck Runner’s Gambit by James Anderson Foster

Soul of a Shoemaker by Susan Cork

Motivated Mastermind by Johnny Shaheed Miller

There's Something Weird Going On: Ten Stories of Existentialist Science Fiction by ego_bot

Tipani Walker and The Nightmare Knot by Jessica Crichton

Dr. Fixit’s Malicious Machine: The Legend of Guts and Glory Book 1 (Guts and Glory: Freedom Fighters of Nil) by Jessica Crichton

The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn

The Unholy Trinity: A Collection of 99 Stories L. Marie Wood

Demons Also Dream: Summoned (Deadly Sins Book 1) by Ava Locke

The Word Thieves by Carol Riggs

Traeger Grill and Smoker Cookbook: 1000 Days Smoke & Delicious Recipes, Expert Tips, and Pro Techniques for Mastering the Art of Wood-Fired Cooking by Dr Clare

The Lebanese Cuisine Cookbook: An Authentic Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Culinary Journey with Delicious Modern and Traditional Easy-to-Make Homemade Recipes Directly from the Heart of Lebanon by Maysa M. Rehman

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*These are books reviewed for LitPick and will not be featured on my blog, only on LitPick's site.

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Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading.

The Twisted Road A Barrister Perris Mystery by A.B. Michaels; Historical Mystery Develops the Progressive Era

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: A.B. Michaels’ Barrister Perris Mystery, The Twisted Road, is one of those Historical Mysteries that knows how to bring the past to life: warts and all. Set in 1907 San Francisco, it takes shots at labor struggles, gender roles, class division, artistic expression, political unrest, immigration conflicts, all of the things that made the Progressive Era a fascinating and difficult time in history.

Jonathan Perris, a barrister who emigrated from London, finds himself in a bind when his girlfriend, Lena Mendelssohn is found murdered and Jonathan was the last one to be seen with her. While trying to prove his innocence, Jonathan and his team peer into Lena’s life and discover more layers and deception into the late Austrian socialite than Jonathan initially thought.

This book is a great combination of a detailed historical mystery and has a memorable team to explore it. The effective team begins with their leader. Jonathan Perris is a protagonist with many mysteries of his own to unravel and fits in well with this year’s theme of “Troubled Historical Detectives.” An aristocrat, he is in possession of some second sight abilities that are inherited from his mother that he calls “the cadeau” (French for “the gift”.) While the second sight could veer this book into supernatural mystery territory so far it’s not overdone and seems to be written as deep intuition and deductive reasoning, traits that make Jonathan good at his job. He has ongoing questions of his own in wondering where his mother disappeared to and possibly just as afraid of learning the answer. He is also estranged from his titled brother and is still reminded of the scandals of his frere’s past, some which were instrumental in Jonathan leaving England for California. He is a troubled man who helps others so he doesn’t have to look at the conflicts in his own life.

Jonathan is good at his job in being a barrister and helping his clients but he is also adept at picking an efficient team and they get as much attention and convey as much interest as their boss. One of Jonathan’s more progressive attributes is recognizing talent in those who society would have otherwise overlooked, particularly in Cordelia Hammersmith. Cordelia is a sharp tongued strong willed attorney who is ready to prove herself in the legal field. She is someone who takes copious notes and is ready for a saucy comeback when others call attention to her gender. She wants to let her qualifications and expertise speak for themselves so she gets irritated when Jonathan overcompensates by overly defending her as he does at a party. She fits the archetype of the New Woman that was so present in the time period in which she lives.

Cordelia is hired to defend Emmett Barnes who has been accused of murder during a labor union protest and has to use her sharp wits and observational skills to not only investigate this case but Lena’s when she learns that the two are linked.

Dove Davydov is an investigator who also offers his own unique stamp to the firm. A sketch artist, he doodles his information as much as Cordelia writes and Jonathan senses. He grew up in the rough side of San Francisco and is unafraid to visit the bars, brothels, fights, and violent rallies that his higher class more sophisticated colleagues would be uncomfortable visiting. He has many contacts within the underworld and a shady past which suggests that he is familiar with the opposite side of the law.

Dove first investigates Aunt Susie’s, the brothel where Lena worked. He is then led to an art class and a Socialist organization. Using his working class experience and his somewhat rebellious sardonic nature, he is able to bond and glean information from the various people in Lena’s life who might be put off by Jonathan’s class and sophistication or Cordelia’s gender and abrasiveness.

The group is rounded out by Oliver Bean, a naive new partner and Althea, the motherly office manager. They don’t get as much mention in this book as the others but they have some memorable moments. Althea has a running gag in which while her colleagues run around chasing leads, she remains in the office to “obfuscate.” Oliver has a delightful bit at Aunt Susie’s where Dove uses his familiarity with the ladies to ease through interrogation sessions, Oliver is overwhelmed by the attention from the plethora of beautiful women. By the time they are ready to go, poor Oliver is completely surrounded and leading them in a game of Three Card Monte much to his coworker’s amusement.

The mystery leads Jonathan and his team through various facets of early 20th Century San Francisco. Like many Historical Mysteries, The Twisted Road is a time capsule of the period in which it is set. In investigating Lena’s death, Jonathan and the others chase connections through a class of iconoclastic artists, a Socialist organization whose plans are moving beyond peaceful protests, a prostitution ring with an intercontinental stream of high profile clients, and a recent labor strike that resulted in a gruesome death and Barnes’ arrest. These different leads show what the Progressive Era was all about and what it represented within history.

Mostly, the Progressive Era was a time when the status quo of wealthy white American men was being challenged. Immigrants, unions, women, and many others were speaking out loud and making their voices heard through action, speeches, protests, art, volunteering, and social work. It was a time that looked for great change and sometimes change involved violence and deaths. Sometimes unscrupulous types took advantage of those who needed help and wanted to do the helping, causing more problems in the long run. Sometimes people were so enamored with their causes that human life became secondary and they were willing to put lives on the line just for their dream society to be realized, a society that may not be as perfect as the one they visualized (especially if they have to commit violence to achieve it).

The Twisted Road shows that transition in American history when people called for change and that change started to be made.

Somewhere East of Me by Sean Vincent O'Keefe; Quirky and Contemplative Road Trip Across the U.S. and Into One's Memories and Soul

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Sean Vincent O'Keefe’s Somewhere East of Me is a road trip novel that brings plenty of weirdness, plenty of heart, and plenty of wisdom. It's the type of trip where the characters that you meet early on are not the same ones that you encounter later.

Jake coasts through his life with his ex wife,Angel. He then receives a call from his sister who informs him that their late mother's body is being exhumed from her South Carolina cemetery and they need a family member to witness it. Jake is unwillingly chosen so he drives from Colorado to South Carolina and along the way encounters some bizarre stops, kooky locals, and unwanted memories of his troubled past.

Somewhere East of Me is a book that is part quirky humor and part contemplative character study. We learn a great deal about Jake’s life before he takes his trip. He barely ekes out a living by writing content for various websites, buying and selling stuff on Craigslist, and living off the residuals of his one published novel which was well known enough to have been made into a horrible movie. He shows some signs of talent as his previous novel shows. On his trip, he meets people who have actually read and liked it. He also produces an interesting article about the inner child that receives a lot of buzz. These are flashes of talent which are buried under dry cynicism and a world weariness caused by a lifetime of scraping by.

Jake’s relationship with Angel alternates between charming and frustrating. It’s sweet that the two former spouses are still in each other’s lives enough to live and work together and to speak well of each other even when the other is not present. But they also recognize each other as a crutch and a relationship that should have ended in a clean closing rather than just hanging on out of habit. The flashbacks to their meeting and how their relationship evolved from romance, to marriage, to divorce, to this awkward semi-”divorced but not really” phase reveals who they are and why they stay together. They hang onto one another as though they still need that soothing balm against the outside world. The relationship may not be wise or healthy but it’s all that they have.

The highlight of the book by far is the Road Trip. Anyone who has driven cross country will recall the small towns with weird names, the seemingly endless roads, the off road restaurants and diners, and the strange tourist traps. It’s definitely a fun vicarious experience and a great mental vacation for those who are curious about the so-called flyover states. From Colorado, to Kansas. Missouri, Tennessee, and South Carolina, the Reader is treated to the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the various states. It’s enough to make one want to pack their bags, rev the car, and drive cross country with the top down.

One of the quirkiest chapters is when Jake visits Prairie Dog Town, a tourist spot which is what it says on the tin: a home for prairie dogs designed to look like a small town. It is a fun scene that explores the eccentricity of people who can make a tourist site out of anything. It’s tacky, silly, funny, creative, original, and upholds that kind of unique spirit that these towns and their residents are known for.

Jake also encounters many of the locals, mostly in dining spots. They vary from helpful and kind to taciturn and morose. Jake and the locals share interests, thoughts, goals, motives, memories, and advice.

The trip becomes a counter to Jake's relationship with his family. Flashbacks explore Jake’s complex and troubled relationship with his family, particularly his late mother. We experience why Jake turned out to become the hollow husk that he is and why he feels compelled to return to a home in which he was unhappy. His love hate relationship with his mother is tantamount to the person that he later became and in some ways wants to move beyond. This trip is a means of coming to terms with his upbringing, how it hindered his current life, and how he can let go and start over with new fresh insights.

It’s interesting that in the final analysis, Jake develops close bonds with strangers on his trip more so than he does with members of his own family, perhaps because there is a distinct lack of baggage and dashed expectations. The locals give Jake some insights into his own character and peer into his relationship with his mother in a mature and nuanced way.

By the time Jake reaches South Carolina, he has reconciled his past of unease, sadness, and disappointment with his recent present of someone who has actually seen life instead of just floating along within it. This experience permits him to take charge of his life, let go of his past, and finally plan for a real future.

The Ingenious and The Color of Life by J.Y. Sam; Intelligent and Character Driven Science Fiction About Genetically Engineered Genius Children

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I can never truly say that I am tired of a genre when there are books out there that are set to prove me wrong. Just as Darren Frey’s Psychonautic, Blythe Gryphon’s The Genius of Our Wiles, Ian Conner’s Cardinals, and Stacy Keenan’s Love is Eternal did with Vampire Romances so J.Y. Sam’s The Ingenious and The Color of Life does with books about Superheroes and Children With Magical/Psychic Abilities. It shows that there is still enough life left in that genre to impress even the most bored reviewer. In fact, it is a top contender already for one of the Best Books of 2024.

Years ago, a secret project was created called Project Ingenious to create genius children through genetic engineering. Things went awry, the project ended, and the children were separated. Years later, someone is hunting down these kids. The doors of the project are forced to be reopened as three of the kids are located. They are Milicent Bythaway, a genius with a photographic and eidetic memory, Calista Matheson, a beautiful tech expert, and Tai Jones, an empath who can see auras. They are led by Professor Harald Wolff who wants them to hone their gifts, find the other missing kids, and keep safe from whoever wants to kill them.

Sam develops the protagonists through their abilities and personalities. Their origins and previous experiences are diverse and play into who they are as individuals. Milicent was raised by one of the former scientists who conditioned her to avoid using her gifts in school to avoid detection. She knows that she has these powers but mostly keeps them to herself. However, they manifest in different ways such as suddenly learning new languages just by reading them in phrase books or feeling her late mother’s spirit literally communicating with her. This remains mostly within herself until she accidentally rescues a young boy at her workplace. Since Milicent’s abilities allow her to absorb knowledge and information, she is the most intelligent of the trio and is usually the first to provide information and make strategic plans.

Tai also has an interesting backstory. While Milicent is ordered to hide her abilities, Tai does not have that option. His second sight appears whether he wants it to or not and it ends up helping to save his life when he has to face homelessness. Unlike Milicent who was protected by loving but overprotective parents, Tai was abandoned by his mother and left to face a harsh impoverished world alone. Despite his difficult upbringing, he is the kindest character of the trio, even in the whole book. His empathic abilities are exacerbated by his kind nature, one that is displayed when he cares for a family of cats like they were his own children. He is able to feel the cats’ pain and see the colors reflecting their moods as he helps them.

Calista is a much more extroverted character than her colleagues and her background builds on that. She hid her abilities in ignorance. Unlike Milicent who had to hide her intelligence and talents behind an average facade, Calista cultivated a beautiful public image and downplayed her intelligence almost too successfully. There is some implication that the “dumb beauty” role was foisted upon her by parents who wanted her to stay hidden and she fell into it so well that she became that role. Some of her early dimness is held up as comic relief, but the implications make it a dark comedy as she is unable to be who she really could be. It is only when she is a teen and meets her boyfriend, Jake, that she is able to free the potential that had been inside. Calista and Jake’s relationship interests her enough to study computers and to absorb the information to the point that within a short time she is able to hack into classified government information after Jake mysteriously disappears.

When Professor Wolff brings them together, one would expect them to become a superhero team, start saving innocent lives, and take on evil forces. Okay, some of that happens but it’s less to do with the characters becoming a force for good than it is about them learning about and expanding on their abilities and above all keeping safe from those who will harm them. It’s less about the greater good than it is about their personal good. They are tutored and trained by colleagues in various advanced academic subjects, self defense, and techniques to hone their powers. They are also kept isolated in Wolff’s compound and being teenagers, they get cabin fever and are ready to defy orders. These acts of defiance end up challenging and enabling them to work together as a team. Ironically, even though they weren’t intended to be a team of superheroes, that is exactly what they become especially after they locate others with special abilities and recruit them to join their team.

The darkest part of the book is an extended flashback which fills in the blanks about Project Ingenious and what it did. Milicent, Tai, and Calista have to see through the memories of another character, one who was driven insane by the experiment and the abuse and mistreatment that they endured. There are many disturbing things revealed in this flashback notably that it begins inside the womb through the character’s mind and includes the scientists’ discussions and thought processes outside. This reveals that these characters were meant to become geniuses even as fetuses. Imagine having full awareness of your surroundings even before you are born, being able to think, plan, and reason before you understand basic concepts like love, warmth, home, and family. It would be enough to drive a person insane and that is what happens here.

Because of what we learn in the flashback, it’s hard to see the characters in simple black and white, good and evil terms. Wolff’s true motives are highly suspect. He appears to genuinely care about the geniuses beyond being experiments but many of his goals and motives are questionable. Is he a scientist who realized that his original project was wrong and is trying to redeem himself? Is he a potential megalomaniac who has his own ambitions for what he wants to do with the young people? It’s hard to tell and this book can go either way.

The shades of gray in which the characters inhabit are particularly unveiled in one of the most puzzling chapters. Milicent, Calista, Tai and their other new friends do something questionable to counter an enemy. For spoiler’s sake, it won’t be revealed but it raises a lot of ethical concerns in whether the characters overstep their boundaries in committing this action. To be fair, they are called out on it and there are some hints that they opened up a huge problem for themselves that wouldn’t have been there if they hadn’t acted. It’s a definite open ended decision that will potentially take the next book to reveal the consequences.

With interesting characters, unique abilities, and shades of gray, Ingenious and the Color of Life proves itself to be a cut above most in the superhero subgenre.

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

In The House of A Demon: A Memoir Book 1 by Tina Soctoy; Tension and Sense of Immediacy Fill Memoir About Kidnapping Victim

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Tina Soctoy’s Memoir, In the House of a Demon is probably the closest that many Readers will ever get to experiencing Stockholm Syndrome. It tells of a kidnapping through a survivor’s point of view with all of the tension and Immediacy that situation would provide.

When Soctoy was six years old, she was recruited to join a secret Soviet program to create child soldiers and spies. The book is set primarily within the first few months when she was held captive by a soldier named Sasha who molested and isolated her. Despite arguing and trying to escape, Soctoy eventually capitulated to her captors and became their willing pawn.

Throughout the book there is a sense of immediacy that puts us on the same level with Soctoy, the child. We are not given the particulars of her predicament within the text of the book itself, only in the "About the Author" section. In reading the book and not knowing the situation beforehand, the Reader is left uncertain who has Soctoy, for what purpose, what they are going to do to her, and when, if ever she will be free. We only see this situation through her terrified and confused six year old mind.

She doesn’t know her captor’s names except one is called Sasha. The others are just the Men. We don’t know where she is being held except a few context clues suggest that it’s an isolated and wooded area. This adds to the overall suspense that we are kept in the same ignorance as Soctoy and can almost visualize ourselves looking upward at these larger men who overpower her.

Her captors are master manipulators. They appear nice one minute by giving her food or speaking in an almost tender tone of voice. Then the next minute they threaten her and her mother. This puts her in a false sense of security so she becomes obedient rather than do something that will change their moods. She is raped and then made to feel like she was willing to do it, so she will consider herself fallen and damaged beyond all repair. The sex is humiliating and a sign of dominance that says that Soctoy can’t even feel alone in the comfort of a bed.

The captors also deceive her by promising that she will be reunited with her mother then put suspicion on her towards her parents. Since we aren’t given much background information, we are put in the same situation as Soctoy where we question her family’s loyalty as well. We wonder if Soctoy returns home, whether she will be put in a similar or worse situation than the one in which she is in.

Many times the dialogue and action between Soctoy and her captors get repetitive but it adds to Soctoy’s mental state. The more her captors repeat the same scenario over to her, the more Soctoy starts to believe it. Time and space is altered so she doesn’t know what day it is or how long that she has been there. Even basic facts like whether it is day or night are unknown to her. She becomes dependent on her captors to tell her anything.

A few times Soctoy manages to fight her captivity by arguing and escaping but these become hollow victories. They always catch up to her and they use physical and psychological torture to silence her objections. The more that she remains with them, the less likely she is to run away.

By the end, she is completely broken and is theirs to do whatever they want to her.

Soctoy wrote two more books about her young life. Maybe we will get more concrete answers to what happened to her, what the ultimate goal was, and what resulted from it. For now, we just received her six year old perspective and that was scary enough. The rest of the memoirs are bound to be even more horrifying.

A Dream Called Marilyn by Mercedes King; Wistful Introspective Historical Fiction Of Marilyn Monroe and the Golden Age of Hollywood

A Dream Called Marilyn by

Mercedes King; Wistful Introspective Historical Fiction Of Marilyn Monroe and the Golden Age of Hollywood

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Mercedes King’s A Dream Called Marilyn is the third book in two years, after Isaac Thorne’s Hell Spring and Lee Matthew Goldberg’s Immoral Origins that I read that features Marilyn Monroe. But it is the only one which stars Monroe herself and not a demon or con artist/assassin that looks like her. Here, she is a complex vulnerable and troubled woman and the highlight of this book.

Monroe comes to the attention of Dr. Charles Campbell, psychiatrist to the stars. Monroe has just been fired from what would be her final film, Something's Got to Give and is considered an addict and deeply paranoid. The more Charles talks to her, the more drawn he is to the real woman underneath the glamorous facade. But her sessions begin to reveal some darker secrets about a certain President of the United States, one John F. Kennedy. Charles finds himself the target of some sinister people who want Monroe to keep those secrets to the grave.

By far the most intriguing aspect of the book is Marilyn herself. She embodies the persona of someone who is surrounded by people, is the center of attention, and is still very much alone. She gives off the image of a beautiful bubbly kittenish unattainable goddess-figure but she is more complex and nuanced than her surface shows. The world doesn’t see a woman packed with fragility and insecurities egged on by the pressure of looking glamorous and making appearances. It doesn’t see a once lonely little girl abandoned by her mentally ill mother, deprived of love and security, and looking for them in every bad relationship that comes around.

The world doesn’t see a hopeless romantic who is so enamored with the fantasies that she sells onscreen that she genuinely believes that Kennedy will divorce Jackie and marry her so they will live happily ever after. Charles sees all of that and so does the Reader. She is depicted as a lonely troubled misunderstood soul who needs someone to love her for herself and not the image that she conveys. She stands out in her therapy sessions with Charles to the point of stealing every moment that she is in the book.

She almost takes the spotlight from Charles but he proves to be an intriguing character in his own right. He has plenty of issues that suggest that he could use a few therapy sessions himself. He has a Hero Savior Complex that often pairs him with troubled women: Marilyn and his wife, who has her own mental health issues and a careless attitude towards their children. His fantasies about Marilyn increase the more that he gets to know and definitely violates the doctor-patient relationship.

As Marilyn needs to be cared for, Charles has a need to do the caring despite his marriage, job, and the difficulties that come with being with a public figure. Their relationship puts Charles in some dangerous territory and increases his and Marilyn’s dependence on each other. It is not a healthy relationship and is made even worse by the scrutiny and danger.

If there is one complaint with the characterization it is that it is at the expense of the plot, at least the type of plot that King puts them in. There is a strong implication that Marilyn’s troublemaking persona is manufactured by a studio wary of publicity and she really is the target of potential assassins. That is an interesting angle but King wrote Marilyn with so many personal issues that it becomes hard to believe that her problems stem solely from outside forces and not within herself.

Perhaps King could have written Marilyn as more self assured and stronger, the type of person that would make one think, “Maybe, someone is after her.” Of course sometimes you can be paranoid but actually have someone after you at the same time. Certainly the stress that Marilyn is under would trouble even the hardest of hearts. But in this case, Marilyn seems like someone who may be worried about being poisoned but could just as easily reach for the bottle herself.

The strongest overall tone in this book is wistful and introspective. There is a realization that this represents the end of an era and it does. Charles is looking back on his life as an older man who has seen the Vietnam War, the Millennium, terrorist attacks, economic insecurity, and the inevitable decay of the American Dream. His time with Marilyn marks the last of his golden years and those of the country, a world where Presidential scandals are hidden and assassination is not a by word. Marilyn represents a time gone by as well, the end of the studio system where movie stars were unattainable and where films reflected our dreams more than our reality. Of course this is nostalgia and nostalgia wasn’t freely handed out to everyone. For people like Charles and Marilyn, this was a happy time. For many other people, it wasn’t.

However, Charles and Marilyn are involved within the field that produces manufactured dreams so people can live idyllic fantastic lives every time they enter a cinema, the field that often contributes to if not outright creates the nostalgia. It is the lie that they sell and they have to, no matter how much it costs them personally. The reality is hidden but the fantasy and the nostalgia remains.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

The Crystalline Crucible by Adam Rowan; Witty and Satirical Treasure Hunt with A Quirky Cast of Seekers

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The Crystalline Crucible could be considered one of those treasure hunt adventures in the tradition of Cameron Jace’s Anne Anderson and Avanti Centrae’s Van Ops Series. Though instead of going for thrills, it goes for laughs. Instead of the prize being an ancient and valuable object or buried wisdom, it's a few minutes of Internet fame.

Max Jacobs is definitely an odd one. He is an amateur treasure hunter who belongs to various social media groups where members look for hidden prizes. Max’s latest hunt is for the Crystalline Crucible, a prize offered by a mysterious organization that is rumored to be the Illuminati. To help him, Max recruits two acquaintances: Rosie Shaw, his would be girlfriend and Khalil Ahmed, a coworker and rival.

Everything about this book is both odd and strangely adorable in its oddness. The treasure hunt itself has some intriguing clues that require knowledge and accessibility to various English locations. (It’s a good thing England is a somewhat small country so the Crucible hunt can be completed in such record time. One can only imagine how long the hunt would be if it was set in the United States.) Max and Co. find themselves in some pretty uproarious situations to achieve the clues. The book begins as Max breaks into a local museum to receive a clue, only to be arrested, interrogated, and later learn that the actual clue was on the museum’s website all along.

The hunt is made even stranger by the hunters themselves. The emphasis on most hunts is wealth and knowledge. There is some potential wealth that could help them. Max wants to provide funding so the local library won’t be shut down. Khalil wants to support his family and get some dangerous gangsters off his back. Rosie wants to travel the world and fulfill a lifelong dream by having her children’s book published. But equally important than the money that they hope to gain is the fame. If they find the Crystalline Crucible the trio will achieve the pinnacle of niche success: the achievement of looking cool among their army of social media treasure nerds. You have to take the victories where you can find them.

Naturally a strange hobby would feature strange people pursuing it and we are given some weird ones. Max is probably the strangest of the trio. He is obsessed with Medieval history and carries a sword and speaks in faux Middle English. The treasure hunt gives him a chance to fill out his quixotic fantasies of being a hero on a noble quest. His obsession with certain things like trivia and the Miss Marple series add to his overall quirkiness.

His treasure seeking cohorts are quite colorful themselves. Rosis is a Math teacher and is called to lend her expertise when the clues become numerical and analytical. Rosie’s fascination with trivia is greater than Max’s own to the point that she is the founder and leader of a group called the Quizties who participate in trivia tournaments and she is just as obsessed with that as Max is with finding treasure. Her children’s book consumes her thoughts so much that she sometimes visualizes her friends as anthropomorphic animals.

Khalil is somewhat of the normal one of the group but he also has his eccentricities. He is a photographer and first encounters Max during a nightly photo session of the local area. Partly because of his history with criminal activity and partly because of his suspicious personality, he is on the lookout for any sort of rivalry, competition, or troubling activity. Even something as innocuous as working in a co-op market causes him to sense conspiracy when he is forced to work with Max and then when Max recruits him to join the hunt. The subplot concerning Khalil’s involvement with gangsters gives a dark perspective to a book that did alright without it but it also emphasizes Khalil’s different status from the rest of his friends. They live in their fantasy world of medieval quests and anthropomorphic animals. He lives in a grittier, more realistic world of a crime thriller. He can’t hide in his imagination like they can. He has to face the violence especially when his friend’s lives are in danger.

Much of the humor of the Crystalline Crucible lies in the meta commentary. This book knows what genre it is in and what tropes are at play and they acknowledge them even by adhering to and playing with them. When Max and Khalil agree to join forces, Max scoffs that this doesn’t mean that they will become friends bound together by their journey. Of course not even a few chapters later, they admit to becoming friends. When Max receives some disappointing news at the end, he lampshades the “it’s the journey not the destination” cliche right before he gains some enlightenment from his search to show him that yes it was the journey. The meta commentary is both parody in pointing out the tropes and respectful by paying them a touching tribute.

The Crystalline Crucible is a fun delightful read in which Readers might find that treasure can be found in a good laugh just as well as in a hidden bejeweled objet d’art.

The Crew by Michael Mohr; Gripping and Devastating Look At The Punk Culture and Real Rebellion Against Any Form of Conformity

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: One of my former high school teachers said that “Teenagers are the worst conformists” and I can't help but agree. Many of them play at rebelling against their parents, school, and society but they also create a structure of their own. They often form tight peer groups and are quick to point out the weird ones who don't fit in. If someone steps outside that group's standards, they then become the target of the other’s rancor. You can rebel against anything that you want but not the teen status quo.

That attitude is perfectly explored in Michael Mohr’s The Crew which shows those teen conformist standards and how they apply in even the most rebellious of groups.

Jack “Dog” Donnigan is invited to join The Crew, a clique of punk kids who go to concerts, stay out all night, do a variety of drugs, get into fights and cause more trouble. They are led by the enigmatic Cannonball, who practically adopts Dog as a kid brother.. Unfortunately, when Dog falls in love with Cannonball’s girlfriend, Sarah, he learns that freedom comes with a price of Cannonball’s unquestionable authority. Woe on anyone who challenges that authority as Dog learns.

At first Dog is exhilarated by the acceptance and seemingly boundless freedom that the Crew seems to exhibit. This is perfectly encapsulated when Dog attends a concert with his new friends. Intoxicated by their acceptance and his new found bravado, Dog jumps to the stage and sings with the band. He feels the glaring spotlight and the attention and admiration which the Crew fills him with. This moment shows him as someone who is willing to move beyond his comfort zone to gain not only acceptance but to give himself a pivotal role within the group that accepts him.

As Dog becomes mired within the Crew’s interrelationships he starts to see their dark side, most notably in his interactions with Cannonball. He alternates between admiration and loathing for his leader. On the one hand, he thinks that Cannon is the standard that they should all aspire towards. On the other hand, he resents his complete control over the junior members.

Cannon encourages Dog to challenge authority including his teachers and parents, even break ties with them. Their nightly meetings are partly to please hedonistic pleasures but also to question the standard life that the Crew had previously been given. Whether through drugs, music, or probing their innermost thoughts, Dog, Cannon, and the other Crew members are looking for answers and they hope that this surrogate family can provide them.

It can become dangerous when a group becomes the central focus of a person’s life and Dog learns that almost too late. Once he starts a secret relationship with Sarah, he becomes the object of Cannnonball’s scorn. Once a favorite member of the Crew and potential second in command, he becomes their inside outsider. Cannonball creates a disinformation campaign which brings suspicion towards Dog from the other members. He also encourages sadistic pranks like abandoning Dog while he crashes from a drug high and escalates violent threats when he challenges his former recruit to a fight.

Cannonball’s authoritarian hold on the Crew makes him a hypocrite to the act of rebellion that he claims to exhibit. It’s okay to thumb one’s nose at parents, teachers, and the law but disobeying Cannonball is a step too far. He becomes less like a gang leader and more like a cult leader who takes full authority on his followers to the point that he becomes surrogate father, teacher, mentor, leader, and deity. There are some implications that Cannonball’s unsettled home life left him rootless and he holds a tigh grip on his Crew to maintain a significance that otherwise would have been lost to him. However, that significance comes with it a dangerous ego that needs unquestionable blind worship to be satisfied.

It’s ironic that in his rebellion, Dog becomes more confined and boxed in than before. It is only in the end when he is deprived of everything that has held him: school, family, relationships, friendships, and even his old gang, that he finds the freedom that he has looked for and the uncertainty about life that freedom entails.

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Girl in A Smart Uniform by Gill James; The Pumpkin King and Other Tales of Horror by R. David Fulcher; We Aren't Who We Are How to Become by Dustin Ogle; Traeger Grill & Smoker Cookbook: 1000 Days of Delicious Recipes with Images, Tips, and Techniques for Perfecting Your BBQ Game by Dr Esther

Girl in A Smart Uniform by Gill James; The Pumpkin King and Other Tales of Horror by R. David Fulcher; We Aren't Who We Are How to Become by Dustin Ogle; Traeger Grill & Smoker Cookbook: 1000 Days of Delicious Recipes with Images, Tips, and Techniques for Perfecting Your BBQ Game by Dr Esther

Girl in a Smart Uniform by Gill James

A longer version of this review is on LitPick

It's important to know why and how a person would become part of a truly evil and cruel group and contribute to actions that further that group’s agenda. Everyone is susceptible to groupthink and propaganda. Girl in a Smart Uniform shows how easily a person with good intentions and ideals could fall into that situation and become an active participant

In 1930’s Germany, Gisela joins the Bund Deutsche Madel, or the BDM (The League of German Girls). At first she enjoys being a member but after a while She begins to question their tactics and policies. When people around her and eventually she herself become potential targets, is when she sees Hitler and the Nazi Party for the evil that they really are.

Gisela is far from likable at first but her journey from ignorance, to participant, to empathy, to self awareness is an interesting one.

She also feels structure, belongings, and a sense of purpose after she joins. She has close friends whom she accompanies to meetings and outings. If she starts to feel remorseful about the way Jews and other people are treated under Hitler's reign, she silences that conscience with a jingoistic reminder.

Gisela becomes harder to like when she sinks into the Nazi mindset and even her narration becomes militant, arrogant, and Antisemitic. At times she is so willfully ignorant and delusional that Readers might want to reach through the pages and slap her to make her see reality.

There are three particular moments that transform Gisela’s role from participant in evil to a fighter against it.

The first is the birth of her half-brother, Jens, who is born developmentally disabled. The second is the realization that those closest to her like her oldest brother and a schoolmate are helping Jewish people.

The final moment is more personal for Gisela. It's her growing awareness of her love for other women, particularly a fellow BDM member, Trudi. Gisela’s love for Trudi is what finally pulls her from embracing Authoritarianism and Fascism to embracing Democracy and Freedom. She finally is able to take action, help others, and free herself.

Girl in a Smart Uniform is a stirring tale of how someone can stumble into hate groups and their propaganda. But it is also a compelling heroic journey about someone who finds the inner strength and character to get out

The Pumpkin King and Other Tales of Horror by R. David Fulcher

R. David Fulcher’s anthology, The Pumpkin King and Other Tales of Terror is an experiment on minimalist horror.

Each story is extremely short. The longest are less than ten pages and most are only two or three. In those brief times, Fulcher only has time to scare us and he does it well.

Fulcher contrasts with other short story horror authors such as Miles Watson or Michael Reyes. They create detailed settings and manage to squeeze in some exposition and world building in the brief time that they have been given. The results often are that the horror is often part of a larger picture that contributes to the fear factor that we are given. It's a grim ominous energy that awaits for some truly supernatural cosmic event to erupt.

Fulcher ignores the large picture and focuses on the immediate situation. He just sets up a scene, gives us a lead character, and puts them into a terrifying experience with a twist that makes it scarier. The stories don't have time to give details when they concentrate more on the shocks and scares that engulf the final pages.

This anthology offers some great stories designed to keep Reader’s adrenaline racing and their sleep patterns very short. The best are:

“The Pumpkin King”-The title story gives a fine atmospheric macabre Halloween setting that builds on the old pagan origins of the famous holiday. The Narrator opts out of decorating his house on Halloween night.

He particularly refuses to leave a Jack O’Lantern outside his house and comes afoul of a visitor who makes their disappointment known in a gruesome way that illustrates the original need for placing pumpkins outside the door on that night.

“A Matter of Taste”-This is one of many “Face to Face With Death” stories that this anthology produces and is also a chilling “Deal with the Devil.”

Mary McKeldin wants her comatose son to heal so she agrees to Satan’s terms. The terms themselves are graphic as are the notions of sin and atonement that surround the act. The final pages call Mary to task for her actions, and her intent on whether it was to genuinely save her son or inflict revenge on another person. She ends up paying a final bloody price and an eternity of regret for the act.

“My Days with Mahalia”-War can produce its fair amount of monstrosities and this story is a definite example. The Narrator is one of a group of pilots who loves, really loves their plane, a sleek black flying fort. The men personify their flying mistress as she takes them on air raids and protects them with an almost human-like defense. They name her Mahalia after the Hindu goddess of time.

Humanizing a vehicle, particularly one used for war, proves to have a downside especially when Mahalia’s men begin dying at an alarming rate. The Narrator realizes that this plane has more than a mind of her own and has a potentially fatal hold on the pilots who ride inside of her.

“Merry Are We of the Lake”-Ah Christmas, the perfect time for revisiting the old hometown, reuniting with friends, having drinks and engaging in ritualistic murder. You know the usual things that people do on the holidays.

The festive setting offers a great ironic punch to the awful deeds that are happening at the forefront as a group of old high school friends engage in a ghoulish ritual. The apparition that they appeal to is the perfect blend of otherworldly attractiveness and eerie omniscience that is both captivating and terrifying at the same time. This story is like a modern day version of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” where tradition and religious devotion stand in the way of morality, legality, empathy, and common sense.

“Extra! Extra!”-Thanks in large part to a certain Disney animated series from the 90’s, gargoyles are often now placed alongside other noted creatures of the night like vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and the like. This story gives those grotesque stone waterspouts some attention. Slade, a tabloid reporter, agrees to interview a witness to recent gargoyle attacks and gets more than an up close and personal exclusive.

There is a savage undercurrent as the world of tabloid reporting is darkly mocked as are the strange outlandish tales that are spread through such outlets and social media. This modern humor contrasts with a centuries old spirit that has seen much, fought against and survived more, and knows exactly how to capture and kill its unwilling prey.

“The Watcher's Web”-This story combines a Crime Thriller with a Supernatural Horror by giving us what seems to be a perfect crime only to meet some definitely unexpected interference.

Rizzo, a professional thief, aspires to rob a museum exhibit only to encounter a very determined night watchman who has a few surprises of his own.

Rizzo is written as the consummate thief who has everything planned and observed. He is calculating and able to find ways around the obstacles that he would usually encounter like security systems and the police. However, his conflict with the night watchman opens himself up to something that he is completely unprepared for, something ancient and unknown, and leaves him vulnerable and defenseless.

“Dreaming, The Copper City”-Fulcher takes a brief detour into Science Fiction and plays around within another familiar fictional landscape. Carter, one of many residents on the Moon, sees a mysterious object land on the lunar surface. He approaches and hears a mysterious voice calling, “Yog-Sothoth.”

Fans of the Cthulhu Mythos will recognize that name as one of the Outer Gods and the progenitor of such deities as Hastur the Unspeakable and Cthulhu himself. Carter becomes drawn to the voice and an accompanying vision of a copper city. He becomes obsessed with the vision to the point of forgetting about life.

This story presents the cosmic horror that is present in these horror tales. It's not enough that Earth is full of supernatural and human scares but the entire universe can present the unknowable fear. The type of fear also brings obsession, addiction, and insanity. Carter's obsessive pursuit of the copper city and the voice calling Yog-Sothoth reminds us that some things are better left unknown and unexplored if the cost is one's mind and life.

“The Faerie Lights”-We had a detour into Science Fiction, why not one into Dark Fantasy that involves those ruthless terrifying creatures: faeries?

Many think that faeries are harmless cute and sometimes mischievous creatures but anyone who has studied folk tales beyond cutesy animated films and TV shows knows that faeries are actually powerful malevolent spirits that you do not want to mess with.

In this story, the Narrator tells his tale of a late night encounter with the Fair Folk. The beginning plays on the more poetic beautiful images that fairies convey as they seduce and entice the Narrator. However, their true being and intentions lie underneath the surface reminding us that you can dress up and defang a powerful magical being all you want. But a great power lies underneath, one that is incomprehensible and demands to be feared and respected.

We Aren't Who We Are How to Become by Dustin Ogle

Dustin Ogle’s Self-Help book is an interesting guide on how Readers can use their skills, increase their knowledge and learning, and activate those abilities to their fullest.

Ogle describes these abilities as “super powers.” They seem natural and normal to the person who has them but makes them stand out and be recognized and honored by others. The metaphor of comparing these abilities to super powers or magic gives Readers the understanding that they can use those abilities to help and assist others.

One of the ways that Readers can use those abilities to their fullest advantage is by changing thought patterns to become more empathetic and understanding. Sometimes we are too fixated on our own perspectives and points of view that we don't think of others whose experiences may be entirely different from our own. We fall into echo chambers and listen only to those in our specific groups.

Ogle suggests that a way to combat that echo chamber is to gain fresh perspectives through learning. If you come across something that you don't understand, make an effort to learn about it. Obtain new information and experiences to add onto what you already know. Even acknowledging that one can never really know everything and are willing to add to one's store of knowledge gives them a chance to increase their own gifts and use them to benefit others. Knowledge about a situation also increases empathy and allows people to connect on an emotional level. Those talents can be used to benefit not just the person who has them or the specific person that they are trying to help, but in some small part these powers can contribute to the community and society that surrounds them.

We Aren't Who We Are is not just a passive book offering suggestions and personal anecdotes. It also encourages active participation. There are many writing exercises and opportunities for journaling thoughts and experiences relevant to the topics in discussion.

Among the most important topics that encourage interaction is that of mindfulness. This book is filled with suggestions on meditation and visualization exercises to help clear the head and live in the present. These activities allow the brain to make a clear path between those talents and how to use them.

One of the most important activities is creating a vision. Once those special gifts are recognized and acknowledged, it is important to plan on how to use them. With their special powers, a person can be a leader, a performer, an educator, anything. Imagine what the ultimate goal that those gifts could deliver for oneself and others and the benefits that such a success could bring. Once that vision is made, then the Reader can take the concrete steps to develop, use, and promote those talents.

We all have the potential to be the heroes of our own stories. Ogle’s book gives us the tools to become that hero.

Traeger Grill & Smoker Cookbook: 1000 Days of Delicious Recipes with Images, Tips, and Techniques for Perfecting Your BBQ Game by Dr Esther

Barbecuing and outdoor cooking is a frequent pastime during the spring and summer seasons. The Traeger Grill & Smoker Cookbook offers some great recipes to try on your grill or smoker as well as some good advice on troubleshooting and how to make the most of an outdoor meal.

The recipes feature suggestions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They include “Traeger Grilled French Toast, “Smoked BBQ Chicken Sandwiches,” and “Wood-Fired Honey Mustard Glazed Salmon.” Unlike other Traeger cookbooks, this one also covers recipes for snacks like “Smoked Buffalo Chicken Dip with Tortilla Chips” and appetizers like “Wood-Fired Buffalo Chicken Dip Stuffed Peppers.” The variety of food suggests that grilling can be used for any meal beyond the usual hamburgers and hot dogs that frequently mark such occasions.

The introduction to the book includes tips and techniques to master the art of grilling and smoking. Such tips like choosing the right wood such as hickory or mesquite to provide seasoning and flavor help elevate the outdoor cooking experience. There are also suggestions for when difficulties arise like how to make sure the meat isn’t too dry or tough. This advice provides Readers with much needed assistance to overcome any flaws and mistakes.

The Traeger Grill & Smoker Cookbook is highly recommended for those who want to cook, eat, and enjoy a meal in the great outdoors.