M.L.S. Weech's Blog, page 20

Book Review: Demon Slayer Volume 17 by Koyoharu Gotouge

Spoiler Free Summary: Demon Slayer Volume 17 by Koyoharu Gotouge is the seventeenth volume in the Demon Slayer manga. This is pretty simple to understand. That fight we’ve been waiting 16 volumes for. Here it is. Upper Ranks vs the Hashira. It’s a freaking royal rumble and the awesomeness, heartbreak, and joy are just starting. It starts of with a (literal) bang, and before you know it, we’re in Infinity Castle. First two big names is Shinobu vs Doma, Upper Rank 2, and another recently promoted upper rank faces off against Zenitsu.

Character: Just when I think the main cast is as rounded out as they can be, we see a side of Zenitsu we’d never imagined. Not only are these fights awesome, they reveal parts of these characters we didn’t know. I’ll probably do a character arc study on Zenitsu after this. His story is icing on a cake though. If you haven’t read these yet, wait another few weeks for the next (and what I assume will be the last) Demon Slayer volume. Then read them all at once. You’ll thank me later.

Exposition: Nope. No time for that nonsense. Sit tight, and hold on! I don’t remember a bit of exposition here.

Worldbuilding: We learn a bit more about how the big bad has adjusted to his latest losses, and we honestly start to get a picture for just how much stronger in magnitude one upper rank is from the previous. It’s not much in expanding the world, but it does expand on the hierarchy and lore of the bad guys.

Dialogue: Well, ok, so the 1980s cartoon banter is back, but I don’t care. While that is part of it, there’s another conversation (see above) that is so powerful. I didn’t mind the corny throwback stuff anyway, but this conversation I’m referring to makes it so worth it.

Description: We se way more of Infinity Castle and the fights are so stunning. There’s no way this final battle isn’t done as an epic movie. Heck, each fight could be an epic movie and I’d watch (but I’d rather not wait three years for each fight).

Overall: While the last volume was a bit of a letdown for me, this volume gave me everything I wanted and more. These fights probably aren’t as epic as a few before (and one to come), but they’re up there. If you’ve read this volume, feel free to tell me how these two fights rank against the rest of the series for you. No, they aren’t my favorites, but they’re in my top ten. Before you get all angry at me, I’m pretty sure each future volume has between one to two fights, and they’re all epic. I imagine I’ll have to do a top ten once I finish these reviews. Just trust me. Buy volumes 17-22; sit down, and enjoy!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The 2021 July Book Cover of the Month Week 4 is Underway! Announcing Week 3’s Winner!

Greetings all,

While my blog had been quiet the last few weeks, my YouTub channel (which I’d be grateful if you subscribed to) was still running the 2021 July M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Month polls. Rather than try to catch you up one at a time, I’m just going to move forward (you’ll see all the current July nominees at the bottom).

So the Week 3 winner is …

The Return of the Sorceress by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was a beautiful cover all around. It had great light, detail, and color.

That means it’s Return against Song of the Forever Rains, Bloodless Secrets, and next week’s winner for the title of 2021 M.L.S. Weech July Book Cover of the Month. You can vote for Week 4’s cover here.

I’d be much obliged if you’d check out my YouTube channel, where I talk about these covers and what I like about them. It’d mean a lot if you subscribed and clicked that bell notification. It’s a free way to support me.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 38

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Twelve

May 11, 2029, 6:16 p.m. 

18 Years, 243 Days Ago

The principle called names as Paul waited to hear his. Even if Paul weren’t close to the top of his class, he’d still hear his name quickly since his last name began with the letter a. 

Sure enough the principle called out, “Paul Autumn,” which allowed Paul to stand and walk down the grass isle between folding chairs and up to the stage that had been set up on his high school’s football field. 

The crowd clapped politely. Of course, a few people shouted. 

“All right, Paul!” That would be Jordan.

“I’m so proud of you!” And there was his mother.

Paul fought down a smile as he climbed up the wooden steps and started shaking hands. All the big wigs of the staff were up there. Paul eventually made his way to the principal, who handed him his diploma. That was more a formality these days. In reality, his credits and qualifications were already digitally sent to Carnegie in Pittsburgh. 

Paul wasn’t sure why they were still interested in him. He hadn’t worked on the project in more than a year. Every time he thought about it, he thought about Bill. He could study without the sadness hurting him so much. He’d even had a few ideas bounce around in his mind, but if he came anywhere near those white boards, all he could think about was the life he was supposed to have and was denied.

Paul plastered a fake smile on his face and turned to the person with a ComPad. The man snapped a photo, and Paul immediately felt his PID, personal information device, vibrate. These days, everyone had one. These functioned as watches, phones, and Blue Tooth connections to other devices with more space. 

Paul made his way back down the stairs and to his original seat to watch the rest of the graduation. He looked down at the red certificate folder. On a whim, he opened it. He expected to see the fancy lettering giving his school name and his own name. The folded piece of paper that rested on top of the protective plastic sheet was what caught his eye. 

A flame of anger seemed to blossom from Paul’s gut. Of course. It would be too much to hope that Nobody was gone for good. Paul waited for more than a year to face the man, but of course he was too much of a coward. So here was another note.

Paul opened it if for no other reason than to consider ways to refute Nobody’s claims. “Pain eventually fades, unless one refuses to go through it. Don’t worry, you will see me tonight.”

Paul felt a different sort of smile form on his face. Finally! He was going to be able to look Nobody straight in that mask and tell him everything he wanted. Paul turned around and eventually found his mother sitting in the bleachers. She wore a simple blue pull-over dress. She’d stopped crying after a year, but she was still alone. She seemed OK, but she shouldn’t be OK, she should be deviously happy, and Bill should be next to her. 

She noticed Paul looking and gave a cheesy grin and thumbs up.  Paul shook his head. Over the past year, he’d been concerned that she’d start hounding him about religion. True, she was different, and some of the rules of the house changed, but the changes in her life were so like what Bill would do that Paul couldn’t bring himself to resent her for it. 

So why am I the one who’s acting like he forgot Bill? 

Maybe his mom felt better remembering and doing things that he would do. Paul just felt pain and anger. 

Back From Vacation With A 5-Star Review to Share!

Greetings all,

I know it’s been a few weeks. As my vacation got more fun, I decided to take it easy more and more. Of course I’m motivated to get back at it, and I’m happy to be sharing with you all again, but it was nice being with family and focusing on that for a bit.

Not only is it good to be back, but I was happy to see a new review for Bob Drifter, and that means I have the honor of sharing that with you now. You can read that review here.

Discovered is coming along pretty well. I’m about six or so chapters from being done. I’ll have some things to clean up in this draft, but I’m confident that this first pass is laying all the necessary groundwork for a great finish to the Oneiros Log.

Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading,

Matt

Book Review: Demon Slayer Volume 16 by Koyoharu Gotouge

Spoiler Free Summary: Demon Slayer Volume 16 by Koyoharu Gotouge is the sixteenth volume in the Demon Slayer manga. Tanjiro is training to become a Hashira, but that means training with several others, one of whom is Himejima, the Stone Hashira, whose tasks seem every bit as impossible as they are rediculous, but is ther ea method to the madness?

Character: This is (what I think of as) the last training volume before the big (BIG) fight. The training is comically ridiculous, and it’s fun to see the characters interact. With the main characters already developed (as far as character goes), it’s nice to see some of the other characters.

Exposition: This manga (and a few others in the later books) is probably heavier on exposition than th rest of the series as a whole. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s to an annoying degree, but it was certainly noticeable. On one hand, it’s nice that we don’t have volume after volume of back story (I actually like that), but on the other hand, the sudden exponential jump in exposition jarred me a little.

Worldbuilding: This confused me a bit. I thought one became a Hashira the moment they killed on of the upper twelve and the training isn’t really anything truly unique, just extreme. I guess one could say it was unique in how extreme it is, but I’ll admit it was a bit of a double disappointment. I expected the training, but I wish it had more content value than comedic.

Dialogue: Where the exposition and worldbuilding probably left a lot to be desired (in comparison to the other volumes), this is probably improved if not as drastically as the others shifted. The conversations are a bit more natural than normal.

Description: The art is wonderful as always. It was nice seeing more of (what I call) the training complex. So we get to see more of the landscape and world, which is nice.

Overall: This is a pretty amusing training volume that sets everything up, but I do think that it failed to meet its potential. Yes, it was fun to read and watch the characters get physically stronger, but I think this had more potential to have more depth than it did. Maybe it was too loyal to the pattern. However, it was still good to read and didn’t frustrate or annoy me. So though it could have been so much better, it wasn’t exactly bad.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 37

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The strange square-shaped box composed of pebbles suddenly made sense to Paul. It had to be some sort of water container. His mother left the podium and went into a room behind the stage as the pastor came back out wearing a long white robe. 

He carefully stepped into the tub while someone rushed on stage and set up another microphone. 

“I agreed with Mary that this idea would be the best way to honor not only our Lord God, but also the memory of our dear friend Bill, who we all loved so fiercely,” the pastor, Paul supposed his name was Gabe, said. 

“I was very careful to talk to Mary about this,” Gabe said. “It would be easy to understand someone’s desire to share something with a lost loved one. It would be easy to hear someone talk about God just after losing said loved one. What I should have known was that Bill had been speaking with Mary and sharing the gospel for months. It would be wrong to falsely baptize anyone, but after hearing her testimony and speaking with her several times, I trust her judgement.”

Gabe took a breath. It was obvious he was stalling to give Paul’s mom time to change every bit as much as he was using the opportunity to talk more about God. “Baptism is an ordinance. It does not prove or establish salvation. It’s a gesture to reflect rebirth in Christ. Neither will it wash away the sadness we all feel at the loss we suffered. I know I certainly wish it would, but that’s not the case. We all must feel our grief and mourn with those who mourn. But I find a small bit of comfort in this. Mary is living proof that Bill’s work was always for Christ, and she’s a new bond we have in our lives and, in a way, with Bill. It doesn’t make the pain go away, but it does ease it a little for me.”

Paul hadn’t wanted to punch someone so much in months. Was this guy seriously using Bill’s death to advance his religious goals and pad his congregation’s numbers? Were they seriously going to just give a thirty-minute sermon and then move on with business as usual? Paul wasn’t even sure what kept him in his chair. Maybe he was trying to avoid the scene it would cause if he stormed out, but he wasn’t sure. 

His mother came back out wearing the same kind of white robe Gabe wore. She stepped into the water and smiled. She crossed her arms in front of herself, and Gabe placed on hand on hers and another hand on her back. 

“Mary, have you confessed and repented of your sins?” Gabe asked.

“I have.”

“Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, dedicating yourself to serving him?”

“I do.”

Paul gritted his teeth. She was supposed to say those words during a wedding with Bill, not in some stupid ceremony. 

“Then, based on your testimony today I proudly baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” 

Paul’s mother leaned back, and Gabe held her in the water for a moment.

“Washed clean by the blood of Christ.” Gabe pulled her back up. “And justified by Christ’s resurrection from the dead.”

Again the people launched in to a celebration. It’s like they’d completely forgotten this was a funeral. Bill was dead, and all they cared about was some stupid ceremony. Paul stood in stunned silence wondering at how crass it all was. His mother climbed out of the water and headed into the back room. 

Several people smiled at Paul. One person reached out a hand, maybe to shake it or place it on Paul’s shoulder, but whatever look Paul gave him made him pause and pull his hand back. Good! Paul didn’t want anyone thinking he was anything but angry. This wasn’t some pointless anger. Someone was dead, and everybody just moved on with life as if that death didn’t matter. 

He stormed out of the main room and into the lobby. He sat there stewing until his mother came out. She looked at him, a sad smile on her face. 

“Let’s go,” she said. 

Paul followed her to the car and got in. She got behind the wheel and buckled the belt across her shoulders and waist. 

She took a deep breath. “I’m going to ask you to listen.”

She waited. Paul stared out the window. She could say whatever she wanted. 

“I know how angry you are.”

That was obvious. It wasn’t like Paul ever hid his emotions well.

“I didn’t forget about Bill, and neither did anyone else in there.” She waited, probably wondering if Paul would argue, but he’d already decided to just let her have her say. “When Bill and I talked about … “ she paused, clearly trying not to cry. 

Paul was even more determined to stare out the window. He wasn’t about to watch her cry. Besides, didn’t she just get baptized? Didn’t that make life all better and happy? 

“When we talked about the future, I had thought I’d wait until the wedding.”

A tear fell down Paul’s cheek. For some reason, those words caused every memory Paul had of Bill to play through his mind, and each one hurt more than the one before it. 

“I’m still sad.” The tremble in her voice made that obvious. “I still miss him. I’m even still angry that he’s gone. I don’t have the answers I know you want. I don’t know why God took him now.”

Paul squeezed the handle of his passenger door. 

“I don’t know why God would put him in our life only to take him from us this soon. But I trust Bill, and I trust God. I trust the God who gave him to us in the first place.”

“You wanna know why?” Paul muttered.

“I’m sure you have some sufficiently witty and smart remark to make,” his mother said. “I’m sure it’s full of anger and resentment. But before you say that, just ask yourself if you really want to lash out at me right now?”

“So I’m supposed to just sit here and listen to, like, the third sermon in as many hours? I don’t get any say?”

Paul finally looked at her. Naturally, there were tears in his eyes and on her face. He cared less and less by the second. “You think if you talk long enough I’ll just suddenly realize that you all were right, and we should just happily flock to a God who would let this sort of thing happen?”

“No,” she said. “I just wanted you to know that I’m still sad and angry, too.”

“Well you’ve said it,” Paul said. “Can we go now?”

He did have several more things to say. Those church people and his mom may have some misguided idillic vision of some wonderful God, but Paul just had an empty chair where the man who could have been his father was supposed to be sitting. If Bill wasn’t going to sit there, no one would.”

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 36

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Eleven

Oct. 26, 2027, 7:26 p.m. 

18 Years, 142 Days Ago

Paul sat in resentment as some preacher droned on and on, and no matter what the guy said, Bill was still dead. He died in a car crash that didn’t have to happen. Paul kept playing the scene out in his mind over and over again, and every time he did so, he only got more angry. 

“I can imagine someone wondering why they should trust in a God who would let this happen.” Paul was only half listening, but that statement resonated so strongly in his mind that he couldn’t help but pay attention.

“The truth is that there aren’t any words that get to what we all really want. That’s because what we really want is Bill here with us,” the pastor said. “Of course we want that. We’re here, and we loved him, and we don’t want to say goodbye.”

Paul’s lip trembled as the pastor seemed to narrate Paul’s thoughts. 

“But there is hope for those who believe in Christ.”

Paul gritted his teeth. It only took a minute for this to turn to a sermon, but he was in a church. What did he expect? 

“I don’t know if you want to hear what I have to say, but my hope is you’ll hear me now, and one day, you’ll be willing to listen. I’ll plant because Bill was a planter.”

Paul remembered Bill saying he’d keep planting. 

“Those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is lord and believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead will be saved, and those who are saved live eternally with Christ in Heaven.”

It was just like Bill had explained. The gospel: what a joke! Sure, maybe Bill is living forever in Heaven, but that doesn’t do anything about the fact that Paul’s mother cried herself to sleep every night. It didn’t do anything to bring Bill back from the dead. 

“The hope Christians have is the knowledge that they will be reunited in Heaven, and so, we will see Bill again.” The pastor smiled. 

A few people shouted at that. They shouted things like, “A Men” or “Praise God.”

“For that to matter,” the pastor said, “we have to remember the most important part. This world is not our home. This world is the test. This world is not eternal. Heaven is eternal, so what we want is to live forever with Christ and all those we will see in Heaven. True, in this world there is pain and suffering, but it is to the next world we look and strive to get to. One hundred years of pain are nothing compared to one second in Heaven. Those who know that won’t feel better in an instant, but those truths can comfort us in our pain and encourage us until we find joy again.”

Paul didn’t want an eternity. He wanted the next day. He wanted Bill to marry his mother and see him graduate high school. 

But what if we could spend forever together?

Paul tried to stuff the question down, but more thoughts kept coming up. There was too much reasonability.

If it were a choice between forever and any lesser amount of time, wouldn’t forever mean more? Paul had to admit that it made more sense that way.

But that only works if there is a God, and I can’t believe a good God would take away someone like Bill.

“I love Bill.” The sound of his mother’s voice caused Paul to snap out of his thoughts. “I miss him more than I can say. My son misses him. I’ve thought a lot these last few days, and I came to the conclusion that I have an ultimate choice between two options. The first is hard to believe. I have to choose to believe there is a God. Now that God is the same God who took Bill from me, and that’s hard.” 

Her voice cracked. She stepped back a few paces and took a few moments to compose herself, but she eventually returned.

“I can’t begin to understand why God would take Bill. I can’t begin to understand why he’d do it now. But choosing to believe in a God I can’t possibly understand also allows me to know that Bill isn’t really gone. It lets me believe that Bill is in his real home. As hard as that might be for someone to believe, the other option is impossible for me to accept. I can’t accept that Bill’s gone. I can’t accept that I have no hope of seeing him again.”

Again she cried for a time. Paul thought about what she said. Believe in a world where Bill was somewhere else, or a world where he was gone. It made a kind of sense, but it still didn’t bring Bill back to this world. 

His mother managed to compose herself again. “But Pastor Gabe has made it pretty clear. I can’t believe in God because it gets me Bill back. God can’t be a means to an end, he has to be the end. So I had some more thinking to do. Can I really believe? The answer is yes, because Bill believed. Every question I had, he had an answer for, and I asked so many questions. The fact that he had answers was just another testament to how smart Bill was, but that wasn’t what sold me. I already knew Bill was smart. What sold me was how excited he was to talk about God. What sold me was how happy and confident he was. So yes, I want to know that God. I want to serve that God. So what I’m about to do, I do first to honor God, Bill’s God, my God. But I’m doing it today because it’s the last thing I can do with Bill in a manner of speaking.”

Paul sat in stunned silence. Bill dies, and she chooses to follow the God that let him die?

“After speaking with Pastor Gabe, I’m thankful he’s allowed me to be baptized right here, right now.”

The church erupted like some sort of rock show.

We’re Ready to Start the 2021 M.L.S. Weech June Book Cover of the Month Poll! Week 1 of July is Underway!

Greetings all,

Still on vacation, so I just want to post these quickly.

Congratulations to the following Week for 2021 June Book Cover of the Month. The winner is …

Honestly, there wasn’t even a close second in my personal opinion. Animal Farm by George Orwell (which I’ve read by the way) was just an amazing cover. That means it’s Animal Farm against Tournaments of Thaw, Angel of Armageddon, and A Clash of Fates for the title of 2021 M.L.S. Weech June Book Cover of the Month. You can vote for your favorite here.

As always, Week 1 of July is also underway, and you can vote for that right here.

I’d be much obliged if you’d check out my YouTube channel, where I talk about these covers and what I like about them. It’d mean a lot if you subscribed and clicked that bell notification. It’s a free way to support me.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 35

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An annoying thought kept popping into his mind. 

He was Bill’s God, too. Well that made Bill an idiot! What was the sense in praying to a God and serving a God who was only going to let you die right when everything was so great?

Another, less annoying and more convicting, thought occurred to him. 

Your mother is downstairs alone.

Paul rushed down, but she wasn’t on the floor in the living room anymore. He opened the door, wondering if she went out with those two policemen, but there was no police car there. 

Paul went inside. He started to worry as he looked around and let out a sigh of relief as he found his mother sitting in the dining room. 

Just a while ago, we were all celebrating.

Paul didn’t know what he felt. Suddenly all the white boards and numbers seemed wrong to him. It wasn’t the same without Bill. A part of Paul was shocked to feel hatred. He hated himself for letting Bill in. He hated Bill for dying, and that didn’t even make any sense.

Paul’s mother sat in her usual place. She stared at the boards as if she were trying to figure the science out. 

“Mom?” He didn’t have a clue what to say. He opened his mouth again to ask if she were OK and shut his jaw as soon as he realized what a moronic question it was. 

“Do you know what he always said to me before he went home?” Her voice quivered even as she spoke. 

Paul shook his head.

“He’d always say, ‘I’m thankful for today, and if this is my last day, I’m glad this was it.’” She started sobbing again just as she finished the quote. It did sound like something Bill would say. It was still stupid. He was still an idiot for pretending a day was worth every day that could have come after.

Paul darted over and wrapped his arms around his mother. Still unsure what else to do, he just held her and let her cry. 

“Why?” Paul hoped she wasn’t asking him, but he knew what he would say. 

He’d say, “Because there isn’t any God. There couldn’t be one if he’d let something like this happen.” 

Something held his tongue though. It was probably because he knew saying something like that wouldn’t help his mother feel any better. As much as he wanted to punch Nobody so hard that mask shattered, he wanted to comfort his mother that much more. 

“You know he loved us, right?” This time his mother pulled back and looked right at Paul. He knew she wanted an answer.

Yeah, he thought. The word didn’t come out. 

His mother grabbed his chin in her hand in a firm grip and stared into his eyes. “He loved you! And I know he loved me.”

Paul’s jaw trembled. “Then why didn’t he stay?”

“Oh, Paul!” She pulled him back into an embrace. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s more to love than where you sleep.”

But if he’d stayed, you would have been together! He wouldn’t have been on the road! He wouldn’t have died! In fact the only reason he’s dead is because he was too afraid of pissing off an imaginary being. He died anyway. He did the right thing, and he died because of it! 

“It’s OK.” His mother whispered gently to him, and he realized he was weeping again. He was so angry. All that anger was back. It was like all the years he spent trying to let it go was just like some sort of deposit into an account, and now it was back with interest. The only things stronger were his sadness and his desire to make his mom feel better. 

She held him, and they cried together until the sun came up. 

Vacation Week One

Greetings from San Diego!

It’s been an amazing week so far. It’s been a while since I shared some fun and happy personal life stuff on the blog, and given that I’m really not in the mood to think too much as I type this, I figured we’d just talk a bit about how things are going.

As for writing, I was pretty sure (and correct) that I wouldn’t get much writing done this week. We had a ton of activities planned and so much going on. I didn’t want to try and shoe horn in a lot of writing stuff. The discovery draft of Discovered is indeed about six chapters from being done (though that’s a lot of words given all the stuff that the outline demands). I don’t think I’ll get super writing time in, but I do expect to get my usual thousand words in from here on out.

This week I visited my brother and sister and their two wonderful daughters. We went to the Midway Museum, Belmont Park, and the San Diego Zoo. We also got the rent a pool for an afternoon. Honestly, every second of it was awesome. I got some quality time with my brother and sister (they’re married you see). It had been some years since I saw either of my nieces, and I’m so glad we started at this end of the line of families.

This sort of became the activities portion of the vacation. It’s not that we don’t have a few plans at the other locations we plan to visit, it’s just most of the rest of the trip is reserved for relaxation and time with families. But while we were in San Diego with a pair of activity-driven women (my wife and sister), we tried to do everything San Diego offers, and I sort of think we did.

After I get a few hours of sleep, it’s all about the drive to my old stomping grounds.

Thanks for reading,

Matt