Warren Rochelle's Blog, page 4
May 26, 2023
Thoughts on Against the Clock, by Mark Allan Gunnells, Brandon Ford, Shane Nelson
Against the Clock: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Mark Allan GunnellsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The clock is ticking. The sand is pouring through the hour glass. The deadline, the due date, is almost here …
Against the Clock is the newest addition to Crystal Lake Publishing’s Dark Tide series. Each of the three novellas is a tale of a protagonist desperately trying to beat the clock. Time is running out—and if the clock wins, the protagonist is going to lose and lose badly.
“Septic,” by Mark Allan Gunnells, is the lead tale in Against the Clock. In this novella, set in the late 1980s, under the cloud of the AIDS crisis, Gunnells explores the misery of adolescence. That Carl, the protagonist, is a gay adolescent, means his misery has an extra layer of pain. Add another layer of being gay and in the closet in a small town, and Carl’s growing up and coming f age isn’t easy, to the least.
So far, Carl has passed as straight, as normal, thanks in part to the protection of his football player best friend, Danny. But this passing comes at a price: the fear of discovery, the shame of not standing for Zach, another gay kid in their small town high school, to the school bullies. That Carl’s best friend, Danny, joins in the bullying, makes it all the worse.
It is the night of the Christmas parade. Carl, a cheerleader, really wants to be a part of it. Then, he suffers a “series of unfortunate events. His car has a flat tire. He has to endure the excruciating embarrassment of having to ride in his mother’s clunker car. His stomach ache won’t go away; it gets worse. At least,. Zach’s crush on Carl, and his desperation to impress him, results in Zach getting into the school to a bathroom.
Even so, Zach’s help results Carl being alone, in an empty school, and in terrible pain. He doesn’t have a stomachache. All the signs point to appendicitis. The clock is ticking. His appendix will rupture; it will spew toxins into his body. Everyone is at the parade. His mother is trapped at work. Zach and Danny both think Carl is at home. So does his mother. Will they realize in time that he isn’t at home and that something has gone very wrong?
Gunnells deftly handles the rising tension and fear. His portrayal of gay teen angst is spot on, as are his descriptions of Carl’s agonizing pain, his desperate efforts to get out. His portrayal of Carl's struggles with his sexuality are also very well done. The contrast between Danny, the jock, and Zach, the band kid is sharp and to the point.
The clock is ticking. A very well-told tale.
“Subscription Due,” by Shane Nelson, is the second novella in this collection. Roger Seville is a successful writer, living an “idyllic life,”, married to Anna, “an amazing woman.” Everything has fallen into place, until one day, Roger gets a subscription past due notice. What? For not only a magazine he hasn’t subscribed to, he has never heard of it.
It has to be mistake, right? The overdue notices keep coming. Time is running out. Then, two very violent and murderous men show to collect. Roger desperately tried to get help, to find an answer. Does the King’s Quarterly exist? Apparently so—and his father had a subscription? Did he receive an overdue notice? The magazine is no normal publication. Rather, it appears to be a portal to a dark, nightmare world, a word of nightmares and horror.
What is going on and why and can it be stopped? And at what price?
A dark, dark tale that is keeps the reader engaged to the end.
“Pixelated,” by Brandon Ford, is the third novella, and if anything, it is perhaps the darkest of the three. It is certainly the most disturbing. If the time runs out, Carl’s appendix will burst. If Roger doesn’t pay, the two murders will collect, and they aren’t taking checks or cash. Here, Tanner faces the horror that his beloved grandfather was not the kind soul he believed the old man was. Rather, his grandfather was a monster. A different clock is ticking: what happens when Carl learns this truth? Will his past consume him? Can he escape it in time to save himself? Is he somehow like his grandfather?
Tanner and his girlfriend have to come to clean out his grandfather’s house, the house
Tanner inherited. He finds hidden video tapes that reveal just how depraved and monstrous his grandfather truly was. When he finds out the old man was the perpetrator of “an unsolved crime decades-old,” the nightmare is set in motion, a nightmare that could consume his soul.
I found myself not wanting to read what came next—not because the story isn’t well-written and carefully plotted and compelling. No, I just didn’t want to know the depths of darkness that demands exploration. But, darkness has to be faced.
Well done.
A strong collection, with three well-written and compelling novellas. Recommended.
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May 23, 2023
The Autumn Lands, by J. Scott Coatsworth
I really enjoyed this novella: a love story, an adventure story, a call to revolution to right two centuries or more of wrong. The relationship at the heart of the story, Jerrith and Caspian, or Cas, drew me as they fled and fought their enemies, as they found each other, and fell in love.
Recommended.
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Recommended.
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May 22, 2023
Some Thoughts on Jewels of Darkover, edited by Deborah Ross
a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">
Jewels of Darkover by Deborah J. Ross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The title of the latest Darkover anthology, Jewels of Darkover, is aptly fitting. One opens up this collection of short stories, all inspired by the Darkover series, one does find a box of jewels. Inside of course, are the blue matrices, or starstones that helps those gifted with laran to use their powers. Readers will find other gems inside: some golden and dark, others small and rare, some set in necklaces, others, the colors of flames. Readers will find treasures.
The range of the stories here is remarkable. For example,"Golden Eyes" is set about a hundred years after the first humans come to the planet. The protagonist of "Little Mouse" is a young blind woman who borrows the eyes of mice. Other protagonists include woman of the Sisterhood of the Sword, a man and a woman, strangers to each other, marrying to preserve their families. One story is told by a woman of a certain age. And not all protagonists are human.
Somewhat at random, I wanted to go into more detail about two stories in this rich jewel box. I hav easily selected two different ones. "Pebbles," by Rhondi Salsitz, introduces Paulin, a twelve-year-old poor boy, an orphan, and a double minority on Darkover: brown-skinned, and the grandson of a Terran. His one friend, Tyrmera, is a Traveler, another outsider on Darkover. But Paulin, is Comyn, and gifted with laran. His gift is the ability to hear voices from the future, a rare gift, if not a unique on, and thus the Comyn want him as one of theirs. But what does Paulin want? And others--do they want him, or what he represents? Can this boy and his friend, both outsiders, find a place on Darkover? "Berry-Thorn," Berry-Thorn, by Leslie Fish, has a nonhuman protagonist, Toshmi, a Kyrri, and like Paulin and Tyrmera, another outsider. Something is happening. Toshmi leads other Kyrri to find out what's going on, and, if necessary to stop this "great work." But what is at stake, for Toshmi, for the kyrri, for Darkover itself?
Darkover fans, take note. Jewels await you.
And other note: sadly, this is the 20th, and apparently the last, Darkover anthology. There will be other Darkover novels, Arilinn, by Debrah Ross is forthcoming. But such tales, from the many writers who find inspiration under the red sun, alas, no.
View all my reviews
Jewels of Darkover by Deborah J. RossMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The title of the latest Darkover anthology, Jewels of Darkover, is aptly fitting. One opens up this collection of short stories, all inspired by the Darkover series, one does find a box of jewels. Inside of course, are the blue matrices, or starstones that helps those gifted with laran to use their powers. Readers will find other gems inside: some golden and dark, others small and rare, some set in necklaces, others, the colors of flames. Readers will find treasures.
The range of the stories here is remarkable. For example,"Golden Eyes" is set about a hundred years after the first humans come to the planet. The protagonist of "Little Mouse" is a young blind woman who borrows the eyes of mice. Other protagonists include woman of the Sisterhood of the Sword, a man and a woman, strangers to each other, marrying to preserve their families. One story is told by a woman of a certain age. And not all protagonists are human.
Somewhat at random, I wanted to go into more detail about two stories in this rich jewel box. I hav easily selected two different ones. "Pebbles," by Rhondi Salsitz, introduces Paulin, a twelve-year-old poor boy, an orphan, and a double minority on Darkover: brown-skinned, and the grandson of a Terran. His one friend, Tyrmera, is a Traveler, another outsider on Darkover. But Paulin, is Comyn, and gifted with laran. His gift is the ability to hear voices from the future, a rare gift, if not a unique on, and thus the Comyn want him as one of theirs. But what does Paulin want? And others--do they want him, or what he represents? Can this boy and his friend, both outsiders, find a place on Darkover? "Berry-Thorn," Berry-Thorn, by Leslie Fish, has a nonhuman protagonist, Toshmi, a Kyrri, and like Paulin and Tyrmera, another outsider. Something is happening. Toshmi leads other Kyrri to find out what's going on, and, if necessary to stop this "great work." But what is at stake, for Toshmi, for the kyrri, for Darkover itself?
Darkover fans, take note. Jewels await you.
And other note: sadly, this is the 20th, and apparently the last, Darkover anthology. There will be other Darkover novels, Arilinn, by Debrah Ross is forthcoming. But such tales, from the many writers who find inspiration under the red sun, alas, no.
View all my reviews
May 19, 2023
Some Thoughts on Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, by Camille T. Dungy
a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6..." style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, is poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy's memoir of her "seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado." Dungy and her family moved to Fort Collins in 2013 and found the community had "restrictions about what residents could and could not plant' (front cover). Dungy resisted these "homogeneous policies," in her garden--a garden of many native plants, of diversity, a garden that is planted in cooperation with its environment. This garden becomes a "metaphor for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet and why cultivating" diversity and intersectionality, might just save us.
Her memoir, centered in her garden, in the earth where her plants grow, becomes a cri de coeur for environmental justice. Her memoir is a the story of the African Diasp0ra, and its connections to the land where African Americans had lived and still live. She writes of family and community, and it is both a personal history and a commentary of our nation's history that is fraught with injustice and racism. This is a story of resistance and a call for change--no, a cry from the heart for change.
Soil is beautiful and wise, and sometimes heartbreaking. It is an important book and it will change you.
Highly recommended.
View all my reviews
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. DungyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, is poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy's memoir of her "seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado." Dungy and her family moved to Fort Collins in 2013 and found the community had "restrictions about what residents could and could not plant' (front cover). Dungy resisted these "homogeneous policies," in her garden--a garden of many native plants, of diversity, a garden that is planted in cooperation with its environment. This garden becomes a "metaphor for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet and why cultivating" diversity and intersectionality, might just save us.
Her memoir, centered in her garden, in the earth where her plants grow, becomes a cri de coeur for environmental justice. Her memoir is a the story of the African Diasp0ra, and its connections to the land where African Americans had lived and still live. She writes of family and community, and it is both a personal history and a commentary of our nation's history that is fraught with injustice and racism. This is a story of resistance and a call for change--no, a cry from the heart for change.
Soil is beautiful and wise, and sometimes heartbreaking. It is an important book and it will change you.
Highly recommended.
View all my reviews
May 10, 2023
A few thoughts on Superman Son of Kal-El, Volume 3, by Tom Taylor and others.
Superman: Son of Kal-El, Vol. 3: Battle for Gamorra by Tom TaylorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed Volume 3 and the continuing growth of Jon and Jay's relationship. The two of them kissing--in an American comic--groundbreaking. But aside from the statement that makes, this is a good story that I really enjoyed.
Looking forward to Volume 4.
View all my reviews
A few thoughts on Superman Son of Kal-El, Volume 3, by Tom Taylor and others.
Superman: Son of Kal-El, Vol. 3: Battle for Gamorra by Tom TaylorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed Volume 3 and the continuing growth of Jon and Jay's relationship. The two of them kissing--in an American comic--groundbreaking. But aside from the statement that makes, this is a good story that I really enjoyed.
Looking forward to Volume 4.
View all my reviews
May 7, 2023
Good Morning, Midnight, by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-DaltonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Washington Post blurb echoes my thoughts about this beautiful, yet heartbreaking novel: "A beautifully written, sparse, apocalyptic novel that explores memory, loss and identity." The reader never learns just what has happened on Earth that ended civilization, and I still wonder if that should have been revealed. But, no matter. This story is about what happens after. The two narrative voices well complement each other: the aging scientist who stays in the Arctic after everyone else goes home, who is now haunted by regret, and the younger scientist, a young woman on a spacecraft returning from a mission to Jupiter's Galilean moons. She, too, is haunted by her past choices. The Earth is silent.
Exquisitely told, beautifully written, and heartbreaking.
Recommended.
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April 12, 2023
Balancing the Weave, by Marshall Lee
Balancing the Weave by M.W. LeeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Anansi, god of the storytellers, has a story to tell.
The gods have never left humanity and some have moved with humans, across continents, across oceans, transforming themselves as human cultures changed and transformed over time and place.
They are still looking after us, even if we no longer believe, having relegated them to myth and dreams. In Balancing the Weave, the Three Fates, here reimagined, as the Triumvirate Sisters, Clotho, Parcae, and Moirae, still “weave tapestries in the colors, lengths, and patterns which suggest themselves to the Sisters’ discerning eyes,” These goddesses “decide who a person might become .. [as] Humans always choose from the opportunities the goddesses present.”
In this story, the Sisters are interested in the life of Mark, a young gay man in fictional Yamasee County, in South Carolina. The goddesses are displeased with Mark, who has become a selfish and self-centered lover. His last breakup was hurtful, and he is convinced himself the blame rests entirely on his ex. They want to offer him another choice, a new pattern, but he needs to grow, and realize his role in the breakup. He must “comprehend neediness.” I would argue he needs to grow up. Mark is denial of the truth of his actions and their consequences, and the limitations of his friends who are shallow and self-centered.
The work of the goddesses, through dream and memory, begins on Pride Weekend. Will Mark see he shares the blame? Can he accept he may be fault? Will he see that he needs to grow up?
I didn’t find Mark likeable at first, but I found myself cheering him on as he started to tell himself the truth. Growth is sometimes painful, even as it is necessary. There is hope that Mark might come to recognize that with love comes mutual respect, responsibility, and caring, and that we are all needy in one way or another.
This a well-told tale indeed.
Recommended.
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April 8, 2023
Tales of Tharassas, by J. Scott Coatsworth
Tales From Tharassas: Tharassas Cycle Book 0 by J. Scott CoatsworthMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Here find the back story of the Tharassas Cycle (The Dragon Eater, Book 1, just out): the history of Earth and its colony on Tharassas, the orgins of the Hencha Queen, and the mountain tribes in the Highlands.
And, here find love stories, gay and lesbian, parents and children, friends--human love stories. Here find a commentary of the evils of bigotry and racism, homophobia--alas, also human stories.
Here find well-written and engaging stories, that kept me reading.
A page turner.
Recommended.
View all my reviews
Tales of Tharassas, by J. Scott Coatsworth
Tales From Tharassas: Tharassas Cycle Book 0 by J. Scott CoatsworthMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Here find the back story of the Tharassas Cycle (The Dragon Eater, Book 1, just out): the history of Earth and its colony on Tharassas, the orgins of the Hencha Queen, and the mountain tribes in the Highlands.
And, here find love stories, gay and lesbian, parents and children, friends--human love stories. Here find a commentary of the evils of bigotry and racism, homophobia--alas, also human stories.
Here find well-written and engaging stories, that kept me reading.
A page turner.
Recommended.
View all my reviews
