Anne and I have decided to watch at least one movie each day in October to at least get 31 flicks in this season. Early on in the month is when we branch out a bit more and watch new movies or movies that may be "scary" but not doesn't really put us in the holiday mood. We like to watch the same old reliable movies. So what have we watched so far? Here are the first five.

The Visit (2015)

This is a film by M. Night Shyamalan about two siblings who are sent to stay with their estranged grandparents who they have never met. During their vacation they become increasingly frightened by their grandparents disturbing behavior. 

Being a Shyamalan movie you know there's going to be a twist but I must admit that I saw this one coming right away. If I ever do guess the twist of his movies it's usually near the end, but this one I guessed in the first quarter of the film.

It still wasn't bad though. It was creepy and the documentary style way the movie was filmed suited it quite well. The main two kids were good, which isn't easy for a non-kids film with children main characters. 

So The Visit was enjoyable but ultimately predictable which could hamper any reewatchability. It wasn't bad at all but it lacked that special thing to put it anywhere on my yearly rewatch list.

The Visit gets a 7 out of 11

Child's Play 2019

I already wrote a review for this movie which you may, or may not, have seen. If you haven't read it and would like to, you can find it here. But if you want the very short cliff notes version, here it is.

This is a great example of a movie that was doomed from the start. It has a good cast but that did little to save it. The fact that Chucky was a rogue AI instead of being possessed by the soul of a serial killer took away a lot of the inherent evil from the doll and, in fact, made Chucky the sympathetic character. 

Child's Play (2019) gets a 4 out of 11

The Bye Bye Man

Wow, where to start. Maybe with the premise and then I'll talk about my disappointment? Sure. Here we go:

Three friends move into a rundown house and stumble upon a name that, once said, will haunt you until you die. Don't think it, don't say it, don't talk about The Bye Bye Man. 

This had so much potential. It could have been really cool, but it makes one too many mistakes. The first is the characters are idiots AND the woman who plays Sasha was horrible. It's like someone took a real person and sucked their soul out and still made them act in a movie. She's as uninspired and boring as Elle Fanning and Jennifer Lawrence but without the fame. The other actors were just okay and not enough to save a poorly thought out film.

The Bye Bye Man never felt like a villain. All he does is make you start to see things so either you kill yourself or you start killing others. He could be replaced by a new street drug and the movie wouldn't change. His appearances were never scary and he felt like a half hearted Candyman rip off that was written to be PG-13. 

The movie wasn't scary it wasn't thrilling, it was boring and had a ton of wasted potential. 

The Bye Bye Man gets a 4 out of 11

Halloween 2

Yes, this is an old film and it's the first rewatch this season. We always rewatch quite a few Halloween films but this one is usually left behind. We watch Halloween 1 and the reboot, we watch 4 and 5 because they're the Jaimie movies. We watch 3 because it's rediculous and funny, but 2 gets left behind. We even make a point to watch H20 because it's my wife's favorite one.

If you're not familiar, Halloween 2 takes place right after the first one and has Michael Myers hunting for Laurie Strode as she's laid up in a hospital. this is the film where we learn that Michael is Laurie's brother. This is also the first film cut out in the new cannon by the 2018 reboot, which was still a really weird choice.

It's not as good as the first, but it does help make Michael a slasher legend as it ups his body count by 10. The best thing about Halloween 2 is that it's not the Rob Zombie version. Rob Zombie is highly overrated.

Halloween 2 gets a 7.5 out of 11

The Boy

An American nanny is shocked that her new English family's boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive. (Premise from IMDB)

I had wanted to watch this one for a while but never got around to it. Thanks to the wonders of streaming services, I got to watch this and was pleasantly surprised. Though the film is 4 years old, I will avoid spoilers which means that this will be a short wrap up.

This movie impressed me because it was quite creepy, had good characters, AND it even surprised me with the direction it took. I like it when a horror movie can surprise me and do so in an interesting way. After the ending of this book I'm still surprised they did a sequel, but it may be worth checking out.

The Boy gets an 8 out of 11.

 My love of movies has been a constant my whole life. My top movies, however, are always in flux. Some movies have been on my list for a while but others are new. Since I’m looking for blog ideas for blogtober, I decided to discuss some of my favorite childhood movies. Some of them are still on my favorites list while others have fallen from my good graces for one reason or another. Here’s a look back at some of my old favorite movies.

Ghostbusters

This one, I’m happy to say, is still on my list of favorite films. I watch it (and the sequel) at least once a year. Ghostbusters isn’t perfect, but there’s no big reason to “cancel” it or to be hesitant to claim to still love it in our modern and more "woke" world. The biggest problem is the lack of representation for Black people. True, Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zedmore is in it, but he has since said that he wished there was more to his character than just someone wanting a paycheck. Also, there are a few times, especially in Ghostbusters 2 where he’s mysteriously missing for no good reason. He was at the trial but didn't help fight the ghost. Second, Dana Barrett only really seems to be there to give the Ghostbusters a job and be the damsel in distress. It does help that she has a personality and doesn't take crap from Peter. Also Winston and Dana aren't on the poster!

Those two issues can be written off as a sign of the times and do little to hamper my enjoyment of the film. It could really be worse, as the next movie on the list will show you.

Ghostbusters is a fun 80’s film that captures the imagination and gives us a likable group of heroes who want to save us from any specter problems we may have.

Revenge of the Nerds

I loved this film. It can even be looked at as one of the earlier examples of nerds being cool. But unfortunately there’s some issues in the movie that are hard to overlook. We have a film about a group of nerds who are allowed to join a Black fraternity because the members of Lamda Lamda Lamda see the nerds getting harassed and see them as kindred spirits. Can assume that this film is comparing the Black and nerd experiences and somehow saying they’re equal? So right off the bat, we have a potential issue. And to be perfectly honest I didn’t even realize this could be an issue until I started writing this blog. You can’t compare jocks being aholes to nerds to the centuries of oppression the African American community has experienced.

So we’re not off to a good start. But could we look at it a different way to excuse it? Maybe we can say that the films isn’t trying to compare anything and that the Tri-Lambs just took pity on the nerds and that it has nothing to do with comparing the plight of the two groups. Sure. We can look at it that way.

But we have another issue. What we can’t overlook is the treatment of the women in Pi Delta Pi. Sure, they were part of the problem as they helped the Alpha Betas (the mean jocks) make fun of the nerds, but what the nerds did back was out of line. They put up spy cameras in the sorority and spied on the women naked, they made copies of and distributed naked pictures of the women, and then there was the thing with Betty. Lewis dressed up the same Halloween costumed used by her boyfriend and had sex with her all the while she thought it was her boyfriend until he took the mask off. So Lewis raped Betty. It's a horrible thing to do and the fact that Betty was okay with it just sends a dangerous message. 

With that many problems I can’t still love this film like I did when I was a kid. Things like that make me sad. Just like no longer being able to support or publicly love Harry Potter. Thanks Rowling!

The Goonies

The Goonies is about a group of kids who find an ancient map and set out on a quest to find the treasure of the legendary pirate One-Eyed Willy.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to ruin Goonies like I did Revenge of the Nerds. As far as I can remember, there’s nothing horribly problematic with the film.  None the less, this movie isn’t on my favorites list anymore. Why? The easy answer is that as my movie horizons have expanded, I found more and more movies that I loved and this one was bumped off the list. Do I go back and watch it every once in a while? Of course. Do I want to buy every special edition that comes out? Yes. But whenever I think about my top 5 or 10 films of all time, this no longer makes the cut. 

The only issues the film had were stereotype characters that may be far from good representation, but aren’t awful. Rosalita and Data are stereotypes typical of the time, but not outright offensive. Are there a few jokes about Data’s broken English? Sure. But at least he wasn’t played by a white person with their eyes taped back like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Some people have issue with the character of Sloth who some think was born with deformities, but Sloth's problems were due to being dropped on his head as a kid and that's the official explanation from the film.  

The Goonies is still a fun film that I wouldn’t hesitate to show my own children one day but as for it’s place on my list, it just couldn’t stand the test of time.

The Police Academy Series

I used to love these films. I taped them when they came on HBO or, in the cast of Police Academy 5, I bought it on VHS. But this is another case of my tastes changing. I used to watch these films so much that the tapes broke. Remember when that would happen? That's why I like DVDs and Blu-rays.

But I'm going to be honest here. I don't remember the films enough to remember any potentially cringey elements. The only think I can think of off the top of my head is that cops don't hold the same place they used to in popular culture and that the butt of quite a few jokes was sending the straight cops to a gay bar called the Blue Oyster. 

Though the point of this blog isn't only to point out the "non-wokeness" of old movies. It's to talk about films I used to love as a kid and if they're still favorites or not. The fact is, I just don't have interest in rewatching these films.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

This is a movie from 1993 that was a remake of a flick from 1963 simply called The Incredible Journey. This is about a family that moves to a big city and can't take their pets with them. So the dogs Shadow and Chance along with the cat Sassy are left with a family relative who owns a ranch with plenty of room for the dogs to run around and a big house for the cat. But they're not happy, so the three embark on an quest to reunite with their owners and must survive in the wilderness. 

This is another film that I just stopped watching. There's nothing wrong with it as far as I can remember. It's a wholesome Disney film free from anything that wouldn't fly by today's standards. It's cute and funny. It features the voices of Michael J. Fox and Sally Field, what's not to love? It has dogs AND a cat so both sides can watch the film.

In fact this is still a much loved film, but due to time and the broadening of my horizons, it simply fell off my top ten. I still remember watching this with my parents for the first time and how much we laughed. My dad especially loved the scene where Chance has his head out the window, his ears flapping in the wind, and he says "Batdog!" Wow, that joke did not translate well to the written word, but trust me, it was funny. 

If you've never watched this film, do so. It's available on Disney + right now.

So that's it, those are 5 of my favorite films from childhood.  What are some of your favorite movies from when you were young? Have you lost anything due to problematic elements? Or are you like me and most of the films just fell off your list because you've just watched a lot more movies?

 So did I steal this idea from my wife? Yes. Yes I did. Am I going to link to her blog? Yes. Yes I will. You can find her version of this blog here, and while you're there, check out her other work! But for now, here are 15 facts about me!

1. I love to play board games. I'm always looking for new ones but my current favorites are Smash Up, Dominion, Takenoko, and the classic Settlers of Catan.
2. I'm an assistant admin at a organic grocery store called New Leaf. I've worked there for five years and started out as a cashier.
3. Though I had a personal blog for a couple years before, I consider writing for SomewhatNerdy my blogging origins. The head of the site, SnarfKris had put out a call for new writers and submitted some of my work and the rest is history. 
4. It's because of SomewhatNerdy that I started my podcast, Future Flicks with Billiam (which can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.) SnarfKris started one and I decided that I wanted to as well. Since movies are my passion, I based my show off that.
5. I'm half-Japanese. My mom is Japanese and my dad is half Swedish so I'm a nice mix of Japan and Europe. My closest living relatives, besides my parents, were all from my mom's side so I identify more with my Japanese heritage.
6. I once wanted to become an actor. I used to be a theater major in college before switching to communication. But I was really into it and even did quite a bit of improv.
7. My favorite band is a band called Parachute that I discovered only because I won tickets to go see Third Eye Blind and Parachute opened for them. I ended up liking Parachute more than the main act and have gone to 6 of their shows since.
8. I have three tattoos. My first tattoo was a whim and the guy who designed it helped me realized that my idea couldn't really work so he designed something different. If I could go back I would get something else, but I don't hate it. My second tattoo was the crest of kindness from season 2 of Digimon. My final tattoo is a heart question mark that represents the first story I ever got published at a local magazine. 
9. My favorite show of all time is Guy's Grocery Games but if we're talking fiction than it's Stargate SG1. I've seen the show all the way through 3 times, which to some people may not be much, but since I like always taking in new content, it's quite a bit. Especially because it's a 10 season show with two spin-offs.
10. My favorite book series is The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher but my favorite book of all time is Less by Andrew Sean Greer. Two completely different types of books but I think that's a sign of my wide horizons.
11. I'm 37 and I simulatneously feel it and don't feel it. Sometimes I feel quite young and spry but then the sun goes down and I get tired and remember that I'm not a kid anymore. Staying up until midnight is a really late night for me.
12. I've had surgery on my shoulder after falling out of a chair at work and getting three tears in my rotator cuff. I was off of work for the better part of a year and since I had just got married, my wife and I got to spend a lot of time together. 
13. I have a passion for food. Early in my college career when I was bouncing back and forth between majors, there was a year that I was a culinary arts major. To this day I still love eating out and trying new food and I like to cook though I'm not very good at it and tend to get stressed out.
14. I'm a writer though I get discouraged easily and can never finish a long project. I've only ever finished short stories because I get too critical of my own work so I can never finish anything too long. Though my dream would be to finish one of my novel ideas and get published.
15. My top five favorite movies are Ghostbusters, Gladiator, About Time, Princess Mononoke, and Little Women.

1) You have to get rid of all your books and you can only keep one from each of these genres: Contemporary, fantasy, non-fiction, sci-fi, historical fiction, YA, and one other genre of your choosing. What books do you keep?

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Historical Fiction: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

My wife was the one who got me into historical fiction. Truth be told, she was the one who got me outside my comfort zone of fantasy and science fiction in the first place. This book is perfect. It has great characters, a compelling story, and feels like it could all be based on a true story.

Classic: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This book gave us one of the best performances of Gregory Peck's career. Not only that but it's a true classic. It was the first required reading book from school that I actually liked. It's one of the only books from school that I've reread an is one that I still think of fondly.

YA: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali

I didn't want to read this at first because the title put me off. It came across as standoffish and just negative. Like humanity just has some inherit agenda against the LGBTQ community. But after seeing a trailer for the movie, I gave it a chance and what I loved it.

Urban Fantasy: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

I love the Dresden Files. It's my favorite book series and one that I can always pick up. Dead Beat is one of the more exciting books in the series. I almost picked Changes but the ending of that one always makes me want to pick up the next book right away to get some closure.

2) You're at the bookstore and you hear a teenager telling their mom they don't like to read, but their mom insists they pick something. You walk over and recommend a book you think is great for people who aren't big on reading. What book is it?

Storm Front by Jim Butcher. You may be asking yourself "another Dresden Files book?" Yes. And here's why. A good way to get people to start reading is to get them into a series so reading becomes a habit. Think of all those who grew up with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Twilight or even The Land of Stories. Book series that people liked so they picked up more books. So a good idea would be to pick a book you know is good that has a lot of books in the series. That should appease the kid and the parent.

3) You're not feeling yourself and need a pick-me-up. Which book do you read to put yourself in a great mood?

Okay, no more Dresden Files books. I promise. If this happened to me right now I'd pick up Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. It's on my TBR and he's one of my favorite authors. There's always something on my TBR that I'm sure I'd like so I'll pick one of those up if I'm in a reading slump. Jim Butcher, Becky Chambers, Brandon Sanderson,

4) You go back in time for a day to your teenage years. What book would you most likely have caught yourself reading?

More than likely I wouldn't catch myself reading. I'd catch myself playing video games. I used to play a lot and I miss those days when I could just play a game for hours doing my own thing. But if there was going to be a book I'd be reading it'd probably be something by Michael Crichton or Stephen King. I reread Jurassic Park the most so I'd probably be reading that.

5) Your friend surprises you with a 4 day trip and you have 1 hour to pack. Which book do you bring to read on the way?

I'm assuming the answer is supposed to be what I would bring this very moment. So if this happened right now I'd bring Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. It's the last book in the Wayfarers series and the only one that I haven't read. I think it's the perfect length that I'd be able to read it during travel and in the hotel without losing time doing whatever activities my friend has planned for us.

6) Your house has been robbed! Don't worry, everyone is safe, but your bookshelf has been raided. What's the book you really hope is safe?

This is tough because I have quite a few autographed copies of books that I got from author readings. But the one book I'd look for first would be my hardcover first edition copy of The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. It's not only my favorite Shannara book, but it's hard to find. My autographed books are from authors like Brandon Sanderson and Brent Weeks. I'm sure they're going to do more book tours as they're relatively young. Did I just manage to brag about having autographs and a rare(ish) book?

7) Your friend borrows a book and returns it in awful condition. Do you a) Just pretend you haven't noticed b) Ask them to repurchase it or c) Secretly do the same to something of theirs?

Whenever I lend something of mine out, I'm prepared to either never see it again or get it back in bad condition. I do hope that it would come back in the same condition, but you should never loan something out that you can't afford to lose. So I guess my answer is A. Though if they ever ask to borrow something again, I would have to say no OR bring the book up to them and say that I want it back in the same condition. Though if the book is returned in truly terrible condition I'd ask what happened because I'd be curious. If I happened to actually let someone borrow a book that's important to me and not easily replaceable, I'm not sure what I'd do.

I know. I'm late to another party. This is yet another book that my wife had been insisting me to read but I kept putting it off for various reasons. Well, this year I decided to pick it up and yet again I'm so glad I did. I enjoyed this one as an audio book as well and I think it was the best way to read it. Here's my review.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. (Premise from Goodreads)

Simply put, this book is magical. It reads like a fairy tale. I could just imagine this book being read to me as a child. The beautiful writing captivated me, the colorful cast of characters kept me coming back for more. The narrator is Jim Dale and it felt just like a grandfatherly figure was reading to me. I couldn't imagine a better narrator.

The only real issue I had with the book was put perfectly by Booktuber Emily Fox: It had been sold to me as a "duel of magic between magicians" but really the world duel is used veeeeery loosely. And that's really the only thing that bothered me. The book sold itself as duel between two magicians and one will die. If the premise was worded a bit differently this would have been a perfect book but you can't sell a story using a certain hook, but never deliver. 

That being said, I still loved this story. I loved all the characters and how they interacted. I loved the magic of the circus. I didn't mind that I didn't understand how it worked. In a certain series about a boy wizard that shall not be named, how the magic worked was explained quite well. In this book, nothing was explained but I didn't mind. This was a flowery, artsy book so the fact that the magic was mysterious just added to the appeal. 

The Night Circus is long, but it doesn't feel long. I never once stopped to look at how much I had left to go because I was so enthralled by it all. There were a ton of different characters but I never got anyone confused, which isn't always easy to do with a book with a plethora of characters. This was just a well written book, plain and simple. If you haven't read it yet, you should. 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 This time around, my friends, I'll be reviewing audio books I've had the opportunity to listen to thanks to Net Galley. Quick reminder for those who don't know, each of these books was provided free of charge by Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

The Genesis Game by Andrew O'Kelley

This is a LitRPG book about The Black Seraph who rose to power in the World Dungeon. The World Dungeon was the herald of the end of humanity and because of it, Seraph

Never before has a book taken me through such a roller coaster of interest. At first I found the narrator and the audio effects to be too cheesy. Then I started to like the story and the narrator. But each time I started to really get into the story, something would happen to make me loose interest.

I almost DNFd this a few times, though I am glad I saw it through to the end just so I can give a review saying that i finished it.

The story moves way too fast. So fast that I don't care about any of the characters. If Seraph died I would not have cared. If Seraph's dad died, I wouldn't have cared. The characters were bland and boring.

Seraph is supposed to come across as some dark and broody bad ass but he's just an a-hole. We meet his father but we get so little of their relationship that I think the Lindbergh baby would have been closer to his father than Seraph and his dad.

As a LitRPG book, it was woefully lacking. Other books like The Chaos Seeds series or The Rogue Dungeon series are better examples. At times it felt like Andrew O'Kelley forgot what his genre was and that maybe, just maybe, the rules should be explained just a little.

Despite all the negatives i still kind of enjoyed it, but not nearly enough to finish the series unless I can get it through Net Galley

The Genesis Game gets a 4 out of 11

Blood And Ash (The Jezebel Files #1) by Deborah Wilde

Ashira Cohen takes pride in being the only female private investigator in Vancouver. With her skills, her missing persons case should be a piece of cake. She wasn't counting on getting bashed in the skull, revealing a hidden tattoo and supernatural powers she shouldn't possess.

The first book in the Jezebel Files feels like if Jim Butcher or Patricia Briggs decided to take on a new magic system based off Jewish folklore. The bare bones of this book is very typical of the genre. A wise cracking PI who is usually in over their head, has a love/hate relationship with an authority figure, is barely making ends meet, is somehow both weak and strong in terms of special powers, and they just have to do the right thing.  If you change a few details this could easily be a Mercy Thomoson or Harry Dresden book. But as typical as it is,  its also very interesting and unique. A cool power system and a great magic world come together to make this a good book.

Blood & Ash is typical in the ways you'd expect of the genre but different in the ways that count. Its a fun book that's good for anyone who is either already an Urban Fantasy fan or even new to the genre. This is an adult book as there is both sex and swearing. The narration by Hollie Jackson is solid. Each character has a unique voice and i never struggled to follow who was talking. Blood & Ash by Deborah Wilde is a fun book.

Blood & Ash (The Jezebel Files #1) gets a 7 out of 11

By Sea & Sky by Antine Bandele

Writing a premise for this book seems difficult as the one provided by the publishers seems to give away a big part of the story. I’ll try my best to come up with my own. 

Zala is a pirate. Her and her husband are pirates by necessity as they need money and resources to brew a remedy for an affliction her husband has. When the ship is attacked, Zala’s life is thrown into the biggest upheaval ever and she’ll need to use her wits to get her husband, her friends, and herself out alive. Karim is the second-in-command on the first even naval airship. Their mission? To test out the ship by hunting pirates. He knows he can do a better job than his captain, but has to sit back and watch as more and more bad decisions are made. Can he help the ship and crew complete its mission?

 This book captured my attention and it did so fast. I’ve never been a huge fan of pirate stuff but I love me some airships so I decided to give this a shot. I’m glad I did. This book could have easily been sucked into a downward spiral of pirate tropes and Jack Sparrow rip-offs, but author Antoine Bandele knew what he was doing. The original premise for this book says that it’s “inspired by the West Indies, The Swahili Coast, and Arabia,” and these inspirations are easy to see. The greatest part is that Bandele may have taken inspiration, but he’s made his story and the world it takes place in, his own.

 Zala is a great main character but there were times where she frustrated me. It seemed like she didn’t know how life on a pirate ship should work. Maybe, just maybe, don’t continuously question the captain and disobey orders. That could be mutiny. The good news was that each time Zala did something dumb or made a mistake, she was either called out for it, or it didn’t go well and she had to learn from her mistakes. A main character that’s not perfect AND learns from their mistakes? What more could I ask for?  I could ask for Karim. A character who has a little in common with Zala (They’re both exceptionally smart, smarter than their captains and want to prove so,) but is more than just a passing thought. Karim and his story was just as fleshed out as Zala’s so we get two stories that intertwine at certain points but can each carry the story when their apart.

 Bandele did a fantastic job with this story. He created wonderful characters and put them in a colorful world. I never felt overwhelmed with information like some books can do when they infodump everything you need to know at the beginning and hope you remember. The knowledge came fluidly as the story progressed. My only gripe is that I still don’t know much about how the magic works and I would gladly have read (or listened to) a slightly longer book if I got a better grasp at how it works, but that was really the only down side. Well, that and the pirate songs were a bit cringy.

 I experienced as an audiobook and the narrator, John Rogers, did a great job. Each characters voice was unique and the accents were fantastic.

By Sea & Sky gets a 9 out of 11

    Clay Johnson needs a new job thanks to the Great Recession. While he's on the hunt for a new job, he stumbles upon a well hidden bookstore that just happens to be hiring. But Mr. Penumbra's Bookstore is more than just a purveyor of books that never closes. It's a front for a secret society bent on deciphering a centuries old code by finding clues in seemingly gibberish books. This job is just the first step of many that will lead Clay down the oddest adventure of his life.

    This book was on my TBR for quite a while, at least two years. I picked it up initially because of it's pretty cover and then I bought it because of the interesting premise. It took me a while to read it because my wife and I were always doing some sort of readathon or other reading challenge and then I would forget about it and it'd sit there on my shelf with all my other forgotten books. Then one day I was looking for a new audio book on Libby and there it was, ready to be checked out. So I started listening to it.

The audiobook was narrated by Ari Fliakos who was in a few episodes of the show Homeland. He was a good narrator and was able to create unique voices for each of the main characters, which I find to be a key element of a narrator. His characters weren't the kind of different and unique a voice actor could do, but they were good enough for me to be able to pick out who was talking without a "Clay said" or the like after a piece of dialogue. But enough about the narration. The most important part is if the book was good or not. Even a five star narrator can't save a bad book. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore was a good book that fell short of being great. The world Robin Sloan created was fun and full of promise but the characters he created were lackluster. Clay was a fine main character but he was a bit bland. He was like a YA protagonist. Not bad, but not a lot of personality either. He did a lot without having any growth as a character. The most interesting character was Mr. Penumbra himself, which could be why Sloan chose to write a prequel about Penumbra instead of a sequel. 

The side characters were where the book lost me. Neel Shah was just odd and creepy. A tech millionaire who made his fortune from being at the forefront of boob physics in video games. Really? He just sounds like a creepy neckbeard made it big. Sloan tries to salvage him by having him start a foundation supporting women in the arts, but it comes across more as a lame apology for his career instead of a god deed. 

The main love interest, Kat Potente, was just a sad attempt at a powerful career driven woman. Instead of coming across as strong and independent, she was just a hollow shell. Instead of strong and independent, she's just cold and flippant. Having the main female character be more career focused instead of love focused would have been great, but it just wasn't done right. 

The characters really were where the book's main shortcoming. The only characters I liked were Mr. Penumbra and Rosemary Lapin (a member of the book cult). Everyone else was either plain and forgettable or just plain bad.

The resolution of the whole book was also lackluster. This is spoiler free, of course. There was a ton of buildup as to what the secret really is that's been hidden in the books, and then it's discovered and revealed with little pomp and circumstance. When all was revealed, it didn't feel like it mattered at all. You know that big thing you've been waiting for? There it is, don't let the door hit you on the way out. 

But the interesting thing about this book is that even though I had quite a few things I didn't like about it, I still enjoyed it. It still kept me coming back for more. I still kept looking forward to listening to it and I still want to read the prequel. Despite the many negatives about the book, it still has that je ne sais quoi.

If the premise seems interesting to you at all, give this book a chance but please realize that it's the story alone that drives this book and the characters don't add much. If you think that'd be okay with you, then you may like this. If not, then maybe I saved you the trouble. You're welcome.

And the hardcover glows in the dark! I'm not sure about the paperback. 

 Recently my wife and I have signed up for and became huge fans of Net Galley. If you're not familiar, Net Galley is a site where people can get free advanced reading copies of books (and audiobooks) in exchange for honest reviews. You get a score on this site which is a representation of how many books you've reviewed versus how many you have yet to review. So in an effort to get that score up, I requested a ton of graphic novels knowing that I can read and review them faster than a typical book. So here's my first ever wrap up of my Net Galley reads. This one is all graphic novels. Enjoy.

Moon Lake by Dan Fogler

       Moon Lake is like a weird baby between Twilight Zone and Castle Rock. It takes place at the fictional Moon Lake. Think Camp Crystal Lake, but weirder. This graphic novel is basically a short story collection, but with pictures! Yay for pictures! There are a total of seven stories each with their own author and illustrator and each story has a horror theme. But this isn't a graphic novel for kids. Why, you may ask? Because there are things like nudity, sex, blood, gore, murder, and even bestiality. Yeah, not for kids. So what did I think of this? Here's my review.

This was.... interesting, to say the least. I definitely have a favorite tale and I definitely had some I didn't like as well. Black Bear Blues by Stef Hutchinson Illustrated by Jim Daly and Lizzy John and Moon Wars by Blake Leibel illustrated by John Finney and Kat Rocha stood out as the better of the tales. But some of them, like Camp Sasquatch by Tim Seeley illustrated by Robbie Rodriguez and Mark Englert and Desensitized Deirdre by R. H. Stavis illustrated by Jeffrey Zornow were so overtly grotesque that it left me cold.

The stories revolved around things like a werebear, an orgy gone wrong, a girl who goes on a murderous rampage, and the whole thing is told by a man who lives on the mood, growing fat from eating moon cheese which gives him excess gas.

Some of the tales came across as so tryhard that I felt like it was entirely disingenuous. It felt like the goal of each of those writers was to, first and foremost, do something shocking. I got the feeling that they focused so much on doing something over the top that they failed to write a good story. This graphic novel had more ups and downs than a roller-coaster in an earthquake and I'm sorry to say that the lowest lows out weighed the highest highs. 

I  wanted to like this a lot more than I did. A horror themed graphic novel taking place in a world that allows for wonderfully unique stories to be told sounds like a great idea. Plus Dan Fogler, an actor I quite like, helped put it together and even wrote for it as well, so that's just a bonus! But in the end, Moon River's  good stories couldn't keep pace with the bad ones and it left me wanting something better.

Moon Lake by Dan Fogel gets a 4 out of 11.
Release Date: 9/1/20

There Are Things I Can't Tell You by Edako Mofumofu

I love romance stories. When I was younger two of my favorite manga were Fake by Sanami Matoh and Gravitation by Maki Murakami. So when  I saw There Are Things I Can't Tell You by Edako Mofumofu, I jumped at the chance to read it.

This story is about Kasumi and Kyousuke, two guys who are best friends but quite an odd couple. Kasumi is more reserved and quiet while Kyousuke is more outgoing and is quite often at the center of attention. The two have feelings for each other but can't quite find a way to express them. Can these two, who have been friends since elementary school, ever work it out?

So I may not be the target audience for a boys love manga, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it too. There Are Things I Can't Tell You is super cute and exactly what I expected from something in this genre. Two cute guys with an equally adorable meet cute form a tight friendship but secretly harbor feelings for each other.

I learned that it's part of a popular genre of books written about gay love by women and for women. Here's where it gets tricky. There are those who have issues with this genre saying that it oversexualizes homosexuality for the purpose of turning it into a kink. But on the other hand, would judging it in such a way be kink shaming?  I'm not qualified to have an opinion on any of these topics since I'm not part of either of these camps, it's just something to keep in mind when you read this.

That aside, this is a cute, short read that's well worth your time if you're a fan of the genre. The characters were realistic and relatable. The hurdles in the way of the romance was realistic too. It even briefly touches on an important topic or two but in the end this isn't anything other than a boy's love manga. So if that's what you're looking for, you found a good one.

There Are Things I Can't Tell You by Edako Mofumofu gets a 7.5 out of 11
Release Date: 7/20/20

Karmen part 1 by Guillem March

The cover is what drew me in. A woman in what looks like a skeleton costume with psycho pink hair who looks like she's a character from the game Catherine. The premise also sounded interesting. This is about a woman named Catalina who kills herself after getting her heart broken. An angel named Karmen comes to help her and takes her on a journey where she just may learn important life lessons... now that she's dead. 

I really liked the art in this graphic novel. I thought it was beautiful, vivid, and eye catching. Early on I was a bit worried at the direction it was going because for most of the story Catalina is naked. My worry was that this would just be a booby comic with little focus on story but I'm happy to report that it's not. If you have a dislike or aversion to nudity then this isn't for you. The nudity is never crass and it actually makes sense to the story. But for some, it's a deal breaker. 

This is just part 1 and I think it's only going to be two parts but I can only speak for the story in this volume. It was part sad and part cute. Catalina is a good character who grew on me as the story unfolded. She could have been fleshed out a bit more but I was happy with what I got. Karmen is just a mediocre character thus far. She's one note and she doesn't get much in the way of a story of her own, but there's a lot of promise for her and for her growth in coming volumes.

This was a good comic that came out of nowhere and I'm really glad I got to read it. It's good, but not great. A solid graphic novel.

Karmen part 1 by Guillem March gets an 8 out of 11
Release date: 7/17/20

Quantum and Woody: Earth's Last Chance by Christopher Hastings

Quantum and Woody are heroes. They are brothers. And they may just be earth's last hope. They have a problem though. They tend to get in trouble just as much as they save the day. But when they capture the attention of a group of super villains, they need to work together more than ever if they want to save the day.

I've never read anything by Christopher Hastings before but after reading this, I see why he was put in charge of Gwenpool.

Quantam and Woody: Earth's Last Choice is about two heroes named... wait for it... Quantam and Woody. They are brothers who got quantam powers and now use their powers to save the day. Quantam has always wanted to be a hero and Woody sees it as a way to fame and fortune. The two find themselves getting in hairier situations and battling more formidable foes.

If you like anything that can be described as "zany," then this is for you. It's a superhero story but also a comedy. There is a story and it's quite easy to follow as there's not much to it. It's not bad. It's just simple. This is vol 1 of an ongoing series and this first volume was enough to get me interested.

There were some downsides though. At times the art by Ryan Browne inconsistent. It would go from really good to super cartoony from one panel to the next. How cartoony, you may ask? Think Mad Magazine level. Not bad, but not what I was expecting.

All in all this was fun and entertaining. I enjoyed what I read even if it didn't suck me in like I would have hoped. Read this for some goofy superhero fun.

Quantum and Woody: Earth's Last Chance by Christopher Hastings gets a 7.5 out of 11
Release Date: 10/13/20

Fangs by Sarah Andersen

Like many others, I'm a fan of Sarah Andersen's other comic, Sarah's Scribbles. But this one is a completely different monster. (Get it? Monster? Vampires and Werewolves? I slay me. Get it! Slay?)

Fangs follows Elsie the Vampire and Jimmy the werewolf and the romantic relationship they form.

This is a collection of short comics that do have a small, easy to follow, ongoing story but can technically still be read out of order and still be enjoyable.Fangs is a lot of fun and it's really cute. It relies on vampire and werewolf tropes but not in a lazy or contrived way. The tropes are used for a wonderful amount of jokes ranging from cute and easy to quite clever (and still cute).

The art in Fangs still has a style that's quite clearly Sarah Andersen, though it's much cleaner than Sarah's Scribbles which has a very purposeful scribble style.

Fangs is a fun, cute, and enjoyable romance. There is enough of an ongoing story to endear the characters to me but it's not so in depth that if too much time passes until the next volume, I won't get lost or confused. It's good. Read it.

Fangs by Sarah Andersen gets a 10 out of 11
Release Date 9/1/20

I decided to try and read more graphic novels and comics in 2020. This was because I had quite a few boxes of comics that have been sitting, unread and unloved, in my parents garage as well as a few boxes of comics I received as a parting gift from a friend that moved away. Some of these jaunts into my backlog have been fruitful in the case of comics like Paper Girls or revisiting Saga. Others haven't like being more than a little disappointed with Fatale. But since then I've dived into quite a few more. So here's my first graphic novel wrap up. Enjoy!

Superman: Red Son By Mark Millar

If you had asked me a year ago if I had ever read Superman: Red Son, I'd have scoffed and tried to change the topic or maybe even lied (gasp!) because I was embarrassed and felt like some sort of filthy casual for never having read it. So I got around to it and boy am I glad I did.

If you've never heard of it, Superman: Red Son is a speculative story that doesn't take place in official Superman cannon. This asks the question, what would happen if, instead of landing in backwater Kansas, his pod landed in the USSR?

I thought this story was really well done and it manages to work in members of the Justice League and how they would have reacted to this version of Superman. Superman isn't an old fashioned bad guy and neither is Lex Luthor a good guy. Even though Luthor is on the “right” side of things, he's still an asshole and Superman still tries to do good despite lacking the Kent up bringing that made him the Man of Steel we know and love. This is a fun and quick read that dives into no only the idea of nurture versus nature, but how history could have played out if a few key things went differently.

Superman: Red Son is very good but I think it falls just a little shy of being great. The last act of the story suffered from some pacing issues that kept this from being perfect.

Superman: Red Son gets an 8 out of 11

Market Day by James Sturm

Mendleman’s life goes through an upheaval when he discovers that he can no longer earn a living for his growing family doing the work that defines him—making well-crafted rugs by hand. A proud artisan, he takes his donkey-drawn cart to the market only to be turned away when the distinctive shop he once sold to now stocks only cheaply manufactured merchandise. As the realities of the marketplace sink in, Mendleman unravels. James Sturm draws a quiet, reflective, and beautiful portrait of eastern Europe in the early 1900s–bringing to life the hustle and bustle of an Old World marketplace on the brink of industrialization. Market Day is an ageless tale of how economic and social forces can affect a single life. (Premise from Goodreads)

I randomly found this at a library book sale. We paid five dollars and you get a back and can fill it with as many books as you want. You should look for some in your area. It's really cool. But we were wanting to head home but we still had room in one of our bags so we just started grabbing stuff that we could sell or donate. This was one I grabbed, and I'm glad I did.

I wasn't overly wowed by this graphic novel. It was just okay. But it's something truly random. A book that I had never heard of before that I truly had no idea what to expect. The art in this nice. There are quite a few panels that are quite beautiful that I found myself gazing at longer than I needed to. But the story was just okay. It was a sad tale and something that probably really happened so some poor craftsman. But unfortunately it wasn't enough to wow me. It was just okay.

Market Day gets a 6 out of 11

Prince Of Cats by Ron Wimberly

Prince of Cats is the B side to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, played at an eighties block party in a NY where underground sword dueling blossomed alongside hip-hop, punk, disco, and no wave. It's a deconstruction of Romeo and Juliet's romantic meta narrative focussing on the minor players with Tybalt at the center.(Premise from Goodreads).

This graphic novel was brought to my attention thanks to my friend Figbar. He was promoting comics and graphic novels by Black authors and I was excited to jump right in. I was very lucky my local library had a copy of this. I was shocked by it's size, if you've ever seen an issue of Variety magazine, then you'll know what to expect.

A lot like Superman: Red Son I liked this a lot but I felt like the ending fizzled out. Since this follows Tybalt we know how it's going to end, unless somehow you've never seen or read Romeo & Juliet, but what happens before then is the fun part. It's especially fun when we see scenes from the play and the familiar biting of thumbs. But when the story starts to cover the happenings of the play, I feel like the greater story, the fun one that Wimberly created, dissipates in favor of The Bard's work. Nothing wrong with Shakespeare's original, but I was having fun with Wimberly's new story so I was a tad disappointed when his story got lost near the end.

All in all this was a really well done story with wonderful art. The punkish 80's New York style is great. The colors are vivid, and I even like Wimberly's vision of Tybalt.

Price of Cats gets a 8.5 out of 11

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Vol 1 + 2) by Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder

Lunella Lafayette is a preteen super genius who wants to change the world- but learned the hard way that it takes more than just big brains. Fearful of the monstrous Inhuman genes inside her, life is turned upside down when a savage, red-scaled tyrant is teleported from prehistoric past to a far-flung future we call today. The pair is many things, and together the most amazing Marvel Team-Up. Marvel presents...Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur! (Premise from Amazon)

I've had this series on my TBR list for a while and on a whim I checked my local library for it and guess what? They had the first two! So I got them and dove right in. As I read both volumes I had to actively keep in mind that this is a series aimed at kids. There are plenty of references and small jokes for older readers but this is for a younger audience. The good thing is, this comic doesn't talk down to kids. What makes it kid friendly is that it's a little less violent and has a bit of a goofier tone.

Luna Lafayette is a genius but that doesn't mean she gets everything and that's what makes her so endearing. Her parents, while loving, are at times oblivious to what makes Luna tick. Bullies still get to her. And she's not above a kid sized tantrum. As extraordinarily fictional as this is, she's also a very real character.

Devil Dinosaur is cute and is basically just a big dog. He's may more intelligent than a dinosaur should be, which helps him, you know, not just eat people willy-nilly. His presence helps Luna get out of some tight scrapes but also delivers some nice comic relief.

This is a fun and family friendly comic. It's not great or outstanding in any sort of way. It's just fun.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur gets a 7.5 out of 11