Mike Monaco (Author of Burgs & Bailiffs Trinity )

Mike rated a book liked it A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George by Kelly Carlin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
These are the memoirs of George Carlin's only child, Kelly. The beginning is pretty strong but it loses steam about midway through as Kelly catalogs the hardships of being the very wealthy, very spoiled child of a celebrity. In all fairness she recog ...more
Feb 22, 2026 05:49PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Carlin Home Companion by Kelly Carlin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Carlin Home Companion by Kelly Carlin <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Mike rated a book really liked it Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age -- From Picture Books to eBooks and Everything in Between by Jason Boog (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As a librarian and a parent, I was obviously already sold on the idea of encouraging reading. This book is really quite good, and suggests a lot of activities for very young children to help prepare them for reading, focusing on the earliest stages. ...more
Feb 22, 2026 05:48PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Born Reading by Jason Boog. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Born Reading by Jason Boog <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Mike rated a book did not like it Astronomical Odds (Third Flatiron Anthologies, Volume 3, Spring 2014) by Juliana Rew (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I won this book in the Goodreads "first readers" giveaway, and for a free book, well, it was worth what I paid for it. The back cover blurb says it is collection of "SF/fantasy/horror/humor stories with a mathematical twist." Apart from the fact that ...more
Feb 22, 2026 05:46PM · like · see review
Mike is currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) by Matt Dinniman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Mike wants to read Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 22, 2026 05:40PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Flying to Nowhere by John Fuller <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Mike rated a book really liked it H.P. Lovecraft and the Modernist Grotesque by Sean Elliot Martin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
H.P. Lovecraft has become a sort of pop icon, at least within a sizable subculture of gamers, horror aficionados, and general "geek culture," although as the author notes he is more frequently referenced or parodied than actually read. In all fairnes ...more
Feb 22, 2026 03:54PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of H.P. Lovecraft and the Modernist Grotesque by Sean Elliot Martin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — H.P. Lovecraft and the Modernist Grotesque by Sean Elliot Martin <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Mike rated a book it was ok A Storm in Tormay (The Complete Tormay Trilogy) by Christopher Bunn (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As someone who is hesitant to read any "series" of genre fiction, I was hopeful that an omnibus would make the experience more palatable. What I could get though seemed pretty standard for the "epic fantasy series" subgenre that has been popular sinc ...more
Feb 22, 2026 03:42PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Storm in Tormay by Christopher Bunn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Storm in Tormay by Christopher Bunn <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Mike rated a book liked it The Other Sinbad by Craig Shaw Gardner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As a spoof of the tales of Sinbad (and the Arabian nights tales generally), this novel is pretty lightweight. The author re-imagines some of Sinbad’s legendary voyages, but for the most part there is no effort to evoke anything even remotely convinci ...more
Feb 22, 2026 03:39PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Other Sinbad by Craig Shaw Gardner. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Other Sinbad by Craig Shaw Gardner <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Mike rated a book it was amazing Fantasy Wargaming by Bruce Galloway	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 09, 2026 10:47AM · like
Mike rated a book really liked it Gamesmaster Catalog by Dana Lombardy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 09, 2026 10:46AM · like

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A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George
by Kelly Carlin (Goodreads Author)

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These are the memoirs of George Carlin's only child, Kelly. The beginning is pretty strong but it loses steam about midway through as Kelly catalogs the hardships of being the very wealthy, very spoiled child of a celebrity. In all fairness she recog ...more

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Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age -- From Picture Books to eBooks and Everything in Between
by Jason Boog (Goodreads Author)

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As a librarian and a parent, I was obviously already sold on the idea of encouraging reading. This book is really quite good, and suggests a lot of activities for very young children to help prepare them for reading, focusing on the earliest stages. ...more

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Astronomical Odds (Third Flatiron Anthologies, Volume 3, Spring 2014)
by Juliana Rew (Goodreads Author)

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I won this book in the Goodreads "first readers" giveaway, and for a free book, well, it was worth what I paid for it.

The back cover blurb says it is collection of "SF/fantasy/horror/humor stories with a mathematical twist." Apart from the fact that I won this book in the Goodreads "first readers" giveaway, and for a free book, well, it was worth what I paid for it.

The back cover blurb says it is collection of "SF/fantasy/horror/humor stories with a mathematical twist." Apart from the fact that there some mentions of mathematics here and there, that seems pretty misleading. I got the impression that the publisher -- "Third Flatiron," which I assume is someone's home business as the book is clearly a print-on-demand job from Lightning Source, Lulu, or a similar self-publishing frim -- I got the impression the publisher asked her friends for a story for an anthology and this was the best unifying theme they could come up with. I have to go with my impressions here because there is no introduction or preface or anything at all to tell us what the editor was thinking, or even what she likes about the selections, if anything.

In fact the first thing you see after the title page is a "license note" which claims the book cannot be re-sold or given away. "If you would like to share this book ... please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.... Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors." As a librarian and book lover, I'm afraid them's fighting words. If it were not so explicit about buying a copy for each reader of the book, I'd maybe think -- well, this is boilerplate from the ebook edition or something. But it is shockingly arrogant for this publisher to pretend they can deny the purchaser of the book the right to give away, lend, or sell the physical book. That's not how buying a book works. It would be one thing to flat-out beg for sales ("please buy another copy for anyone you think will like this") but to try to pretend copyright or "licenses" work this way, well screw you too.

Anyway the stories themselves range from the chuckle-worthy ("A clone called Slick") to the cringe-inducing ("The League of Lame Superheroes" had a few clever ideas but seemed to have been written by a high-school student -- lots of telling rather than showing, lots of 'said adverbly' sentences, rookie stuff). I think the presentation of the book tends to hurt the writers too -- it is very obviously self-published from a simple word processor document and looks like a term paper. It looks unprofessional. Kudos to everyone involved for writinig decent stories and putting together a book, but everything from the cover art (by the editor's kid sister or something) to the page layout to the lack of a real introduction to the "About the author" blurbs scream amateur hour.

It seems terribly ungracious to have so little positive to say about this book, but I have to be honest. I've read anthologies assembled with care by editors who know writing and writers, even within the slums of genre fiction, and having seen it done competently I am stunned that the publisher holds writing in such low regard as to put together something this poorly done. ...more

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Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1)
by Matt Dinniman (Goodreads Author)

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Flying to Nowhere
by John Fuller

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H.P. Lovecraft and the Modernist Grotesque
by Sean Elliot Martin

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H.P. Lovecraft has become a sort of pop icon, at least within a sizable subculture of gamers, horror aficionados, and general "geek culture," although as the author notes he is more frequently referenced or parodied than actually read. In all fairnes H.P. Lovecraft has become a sort of pop icon, at least within a sizable subculture of gamers, horror aficionados, and general "geek culture," although as the author notes he is more frequently referenced or parodied than actually read. In all fairness, there is a considerable part of Lovecraft's work that is pretty rough going, due to its derivativeness (his early work and attempts to copy Dunsany) or due to its unapologetic racism and xenophobia (which even Robert E. Howard, himself criticized for bigotry, chastised Lovecraft for!). However Martin focuses on several of Lovecraft's most famous and acclaimed works ("The call of Cthulhu," "The whisperer in the darkness," _At the mountains of madness_, and a few other key works), and in doing so makes a powerful case to take Lovecraft's mature work much more seriously than it hitherto has outside of "weird tales" fandom.
Martin argues, quite lucidly, that HPL can be better understood as a trailblazer in the intersection of two literary movements: the grotesque and the modernist. HPL, he demonstrates, uses modernist devices and concerns, with grotesque themes and situations, to create subtle studies on alienation, subjectivity, and the absurd. Indeed the Lovecraftian sense of "cosmic horror" (a phrase I think Martin circumspectly avoids) is understood here as really being a sense of horror at man's evident place in the universe (or lack thereof). Martin rather convincingly (to me, at least, as a non-scholar regarding literature!) shows that HPL really fits comfortably in with Conrad, Eliot, O'Conner, Faulkner, and other "modernists," distinguishing himself more by his use of the grotesque rather than more realist or mundane dramas to sketch his vision of the world: alienating because it is indifferent to human concerns and pride; disturbing because subjectivity makes absolute reality impossible to approach; and absurd because logic and science are just powerless as religion and art in the face of this alienation and subjectivity. HPL's use of sophisticated literary devices belies his oft-criticized purple prose, and Martin also makes an effort to suggest that HPL uses humor and even self-parody which is lost on many readers.
So overall I think this is an excellent study of HPL, and refreshing in that it mostly avoids the biography that so often passes for criticism and appreciation that passes for interpretation.
Having said all that, this is a doctoral dissertation, and the reader is often reminded of this fact by the repetition of ideas, the exhausting presentation of piece after piece of evidence, pedantic footnotes which some advisor or reader doubtless insisted be inserted to clarify or disclaim some statement, and most of all by the jargon of academia. In fact this last part was the most distracting: "connects," "destabilizes," "questions," and similar verbs abound, as I have often found them to in academic literary criticism. Such terms always make me think that either the writer is avoiding taking a clear stance or that they don't really know exactly what the argument is and these words are meant to say "well this here sort of suggests that, but the logical connection is not clear and I am not positive what the actual conclusion should be." But then that is the meat and mead of defending a thesis. One must pull back as far into ones shell as possible or face endless debate from the advisor and readers who must ultimately approve the thing. So I can forgive that.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that I know the author of this work and he sent me a copy to read (though he did not ask for a review or anything in return). I should also mention that I was intensely flattered to be acknowledged among the people who influenced his thinking, though really I knew him long ago, and I doubt I had anything substantive to say about HPL at that time.
I hope that if he ever returns to this topic, perhaps to edit the dissertation into a format that will attract more casual readers, he will expand his examples to draw on more stories, and perhaps give a little more explanation of some of the more jargony terms of literary criticism, for the ideas herein do a great deal to rehabilitate HPL as more than merely a "horror" or "pulp" writer. He might also address some of the more problematic aspects of HPL's work and views; however I know from correspondence that he intentionally set out to avoid the pitfall of biography and psychologism that besets so many writers on writers. ...more

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A Storm in Tormay (The Complete Tormay Trilogy)
by Christopher Bunn (Goodreads Author)

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As someone who is hesitant to read any "series" of genre fiction, I was hopeful that an omnibus would make the experience more palatable. What I could get though seemed pretty standard for the "epic fantasy series" subgenre that has been popular sinc ...more

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The Other Sinbad
by Craig Shaw Gardner

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As a spoof of the tales of Sinbad (and the Arabian nights tales generally), this novel is pretty lightweight. The author re-imagines some of Sinbad’s legendary voyages, but for the most part there is no effort to evoke anything even remotely convinci As a spoof of the tales of Sinbad (and the Arabian nights tales generally), this novel is pretty lightweight. The author re-imagines some of Sinbad’s legendary voyages, but for the most part there is no effort to evoke anything even remotely convincing in terms of the setting. Gardner’s Baghdad is a generic city, and fortunately we spend very little time there. Most of the book takes place at sea and on various islands, and so the lack of apparent historical research is not too distracting. It is presented as a comic fantasy, not an historical novel, so my expectations were probably too high on that front.
What makes or breaks humorous novels though is the writing and dialogue, and while Gardner makes no pretense of imitating the style of Arabian folk tale, he does a decent job of making up funny dialogue. The narrator is the “other Sinbad” of the title -- not the famous sailor, but a lowly porter who in the traditional telling just frames the story of the illustrious sailor but here is dragged along on Sinbad the Sailor’s eighth voyage.
Gardner’s book reads a bit like how a slightly restrained Mel Brooks might have done Sinbad: the jokes often depend on modern day references, and come in rapid fire, so that you can ignore some of the worst groaners and still find a few bits that are very funny. There is a running gag where various monsters sing goofy parodies of 20th century standards, and similarly lazy jokes here and there, but the narrator is earnest enough to keep you from throwing the book down. Also like Mel Brooks, he manages to make his characters mostly likable, even if some are villainous. The constant perils work because there is a sense that the characters could be killed at any time, and in fact not everyone makes it through the adventure. The plot is endlessly convoluted, which is the thing about the book that best evokes the Arabian nights.
The adventures themselves riff on the original Sinbad stories, and the bits that appear to be Gardner’s inventions range from OK to great. His embellishments of the voyages are both weird and imaginative, and actually the best thing about this book.
Apparently there are a couple of sequels, but I don’t plan on seeking them out. Still, as light amusement, it is a hell of a lot better a Xanth novel, so by the abyssal standards of humorous fantasy from the late 1980s/early 1990s this is a pretty good book. ...more

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Fantasy Wargaming
by Bruce Galloway

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Gamesmaster Catalog
by Dana Lombardy

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	Burgs & Bailiffs Trinity : The poor pilgrim's almanack, or, The handbook of pilgrimage and relic theft by Mike Monaco (Goodreads Author), Paolo Greco (Editor) 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Highest Level of All: The Story of Fantasy Wargaming by Mike Monaco (Goodreads Author), Heather Ford (Illustrator) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Burgs & Bailiffs: Hunger, Disease, & the Law by Rich Wilson, Mike Monaco (Goodreads Author), Shorty Monster liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Burgs & Bailiffs: Warfare too by Lee Reynoldson (Goodreads Author), Ghoul Ghast, Mike Monaco (Goodreads Author) liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lost City Campaign Sourcebook by Demos Sachlas (Editor), Andy Campbell, Jason Cone 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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