One Piece, Volumes 41-42 (Oda)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

The Water Seven story line has moved to Eines Lobby where Nico Robin is being judged (more than tried) for her crimes, and nothing will stop Luffy of the rest of the pirates from saving her, even if Nico doesn't wished to be saved.

The new twist comes as Nico is handcuffed with shackles that cancel out fruit powers and are unbreakable with the correct key. Each of the villains has a key and takes off in different directions, so the pirates have to split up and try to take each of member of CP9, a highly elite government organization, down. And they have to do this before Nico Robin is whisked away to someplace where all hope will be lost.

The fights are slow moving and a bit repetitive but we get to see more of the CP9 agents in actions. The highlist of these two volumes is seeing Nico Robin's past and learning what it is that she's supposed to have done or what it is that she's capable of doing. Her quest for knowledge will not only be her undoing but will undo the world government.

Something happened nearly a millenium ago that isn't talked about or written down. It's the missing century in history. But the answers are out there if one knows where to look. This seems to be something as valuable to find as the One Piece itself that the series is named for (that I doubt we'll ever see, along with a return of Red-Haired Shanks.)

I'll keep reading, but I'm reading more regular graphic novels, and I wouldn't mind sampling other manga as well. I know this series goes on nearly forever. (I had an interesting conversation with my adult son who's been binging the cartoon so he can catch up with his friends. I believe he's at episode 1100, or a number equally ridiculous.)

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Heracles: Lion of Nemea (Kin)

Heracles: Lion of Nemea
by kin (2026)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

I usually avoid series books, but this was based on the 12 Labors of Heracles (Hercules), so I didn't really worry about it being open-ended. And it is the first book in the series. (The second was offered the following month.) It also helped that it was a short book.

I will say that while I'm familiar with the idea of the 12 labors, I couldn't name them all any more than I could name all of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I didn't watch that many movies or read that many books.

Note that the author's name is given only as "Kin".

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

This was a fun little read although it was long on introspection and short on action until the final third of the book when Heracles fights the lion. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one.

---

I realize that this wasn't much of a review but it was a short book and not a lot happens.

I enjoyed the book, but it was slow and there wasn't a lot of action until the last third of the book. In the prologue, Heracles' wife is dead and he had her blood on his hands but that's all we get. Then he's on the road, traveling, going somewhere or nowhere. He confronts one village who won't let him stay a night or have anything to eat. Later, he's beset on by bandits whom he dispatches quickly enough, getting hurt along the way. It's not until the end where he's climbing a mountain that he seeks out whatever creature is up there (We know: it's in the title of the book!), and to rescue a father and son.

There is a lot of detail about the mountain and you almost just want him to get there already.

Finally, there's so action where Heracles, wounded and bleeding, kills the lion with bare hands and the strength in his battered body.

He returns to the town the boy is from and tells them the lion is dead and the man is covered in rocks in a cave to protect his body from vultures. Then he walks on without asking to stay.

End of story.

I guess you would classify this kind of writing as "literary" although that usually means that there isn't a speculative element. Not that any are mentioned here, but this is Heracles we're talking about.

It was enjoyable, and I'd read the next one if I won it.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

One Piece, Volumes 30-40 (Oda)

One Piece, Volumes 30-40, Eiichiro Oda, 1997-2003

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Sometime in 2017, I made an entry for the first 29 issues of One-Piece. I read more after that, but I never made another entry. I guess I was waiting until I read another bunch of issues. For whatever reason, that didn't happen.

I will say that I took a break from the comic for a while because it did seem to drag quite a bit. This is by design. Manga unfolds slowly. But the pacing was really slow.

The break lasted long enough that when I started rereading sometime in the past year, I couldn't remember what issue I'd been up to. The first couple of guesses were incorrect. I had no idea because I hadn't posted anything. And yet I didn't fix this then, either.

Just recently, I finished Vol 41, and I'm starting volume 42. There are waits for the ebooks, but I got Volume 40-42 in one big book, so I had two choices.

In brief:

The Sky City arc finished and the Straw Hats come crashing back down to Earth -- or rather sea.

There's a short arc where the Monkey Go is challenged by another pirate to a Davy Back Fight where the losing ship must give a member of its crew to the winner.

And, finally, there's the Water 7 Arc with the Galley-La Shipbuilding Company, which is winding down, except that many people from the Water 7 arc carry over to the Eines Lobby arc and the rescue of Nico Robin.

Next update soon. Not nine years from now.


If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

The Case of the Culvert Puppies (Olis)

The Case of the Grounded Ferry
by Thomas Olis (2026)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

When I won "The Case of The Grounded Ferry" a few months ago, the book wasn't ready. The author, Tom Olis, emailed me his first two books in the series to read in the meantime. I actually wasn't planning on doing that. And after reading book three, I wasn't in a hurry to read book one. However, ...

Sometimes the stars align. I'm in between book club books at the moment. I hadn't started another Library Thing book yet. And my reading goal "scavenger hunt" type list includes two entries for two books written by the same author. I had other prospects lined up, but this one was right in front of me.

The first book, The Case of the Culvert Puppies, reads better than the third. Partially, this is because the characters are introduced better here, and partially because Olis doesn't do a good job (or any job?) reintroducing them to new readers in book three. I never got a feel for them. Once again, however, almost everyone is on a first-name basis, which gets confusing, and I forget which parent goes with which child.

Speaking of adults, they play significant roles in this book. It's not all kids saving the day. In fact, they acknowledge that there are parts of the investigation that are grown-up business.

There's a Russian plot to sow discord in the area that involves stealing a dog, which escapes long enough to give birth to puppies in an illegal culvert on a property that's illegally being developed. Then a flash drive is found that has a bunch of files in it. The police and feds step in after this.

It wasn't bad. I liked it better than book three. The back of the book lists five mysteries, but the third one just came out. I hope the author makes corrections to his writing before publishing those next two.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

The Case of the Grounded Ferry (Olis)

The Case of the Grounded Ferry
by Thomas Olis (2026)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

I'm reviewing it late because I recieved it late. In fact, the author sent me the first two books to read while I was waiting. I did not read those. I don't remember if I realized that this was the third book in a series of mysteries. I did NOT know that the first book was only released a year ago.

Disclosure: I released five books within an 18-month timespan, but those were all about 40 pages long and most of the material had been written long before. Pumping out three 200-page books this quickly is a lot of work. I did notice quite a few typos, but this is an ARC not a final copy, so I can't ding the author for that unless it's particularly grievous.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

The Case of the Grounded Ferry (by Thomas Olis) starts off great with two friends on the beach when a ferry loses control and runs aground. The girls recognize someone on the ferry, who then tries to hide, and someone jumps off the ship and runs off the beach.

The girls, their friends, and their families get caught up in a bigger puzzle figuring out how all the pieces fit together while watching out for strangers out to do them harm.

Unfortunately for me, the mystery didn't really pull me in, and the ending felt a bit cut off. I never really got the feel for most of the characters. There were a lot of them, but other than a name (usually just a first name, even with the parents), there wasn't much to distinguish them.

---

I will say that the names bothered me. Everyone was a first name, except for the occasional "Mon" or "Dad". The adults are also referred to by their first names, and there are a lot of them, too. Keeping them straight and whose parents were whose might've worked better with a few last names, instead of "Mr. Jenny's Father". (Seriously.) In fact, Paul (or it might've been Pete) tells Terrence to call him anything but "sir", so he calls him by whatever name someone else called him by. The last name Stourhm, or something like that, appeared a few times in the last part of the book (once where Jenny gets called her full name by her father).

The only two kids I could keep straight were Terrence, the boy with red hair who was in the middle of everything, and Emmett, Jenny's younger brother who gets kidnapped at one point. The rest of them? I couldn't picture them at all -- maybe whatever teens and preteens I saw on some show on TV at some point. Imagine young actresses playing the parts.

The people (adults and children) behave irrationally. The police don't seem to have too much of a problem with this. (They also don't seem to use last names of the people they're talking to.) And the more I think about it, the less sense the book makes to me.

**** SPOILERS ***

And in the end, it just ends. They follow Terrence who's being kidnapped. Luckily, one of the dads works for the FBI (or was it the CIA?) and has a badge. They rescue Terrence before he's pulled onto a ship that flies a flag other than the US. The cops will not interfere, even if there might be other kids on that boat. (This make sense, but ...) And that's basically it. Sometimes, that happens.

And that's the way the story ends. Sometimes that happens. Kids get shanghaied and disappear. That happens. Less than a happy ending, and less than a satisfying one.

(End Spoilers

Oddly enough, I have nothing electronic to read at the moment. I'm waiting for books to become available, and I'm not ready to start another one of these weird sci-fi books I won. Dumb as it sounds, since Olis sent me three books, and since there's an entry on my "Reading Goals" for two book by the same author, I'll at least read the first one to see if the series got off to a decent start at least.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Ghost of the Dawnlands: A Tale of the Skadegamutc (Waters)

Ghost of the Dawnlands: A Tale of the Skadegamutc
by Robert E. Waters, J.W. Harp (Illustrator) (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

A Skadegamutc is a "ghost-witch" from Wabanaki mythology. In 1988, a sorceror from the Penobscot tribe defied death to become a ball of light. The creature takes the form of a sort of vampire/zombie to feed, and that's how it appeared when Joe Littlecloud and Horus Ruth of the VPA (Violent Paranormal Activity) department of the FBI corenered it, and almost killed it. But it played with the men's memories long enough to injure Ruth and then escape.

Littlecloud realizes that he needs to call Chimalis Burton, a FBI-VPA agent in Colorado who has a special, cermonial knife. Burton is currently on adminstrative leave while the FBI investigates the killings of federal agents while she pursued a different cryptid in Alaska, but she's cleared to assist Littlecloud in Maine.

And then the hunt is on, taking them through Maine and New Brunswick, to hunt down and corner the ghost-witch, all the while hampered by bad information being fed to them by an agent who is under the influence of the skadegamutc.

There were a few twists that I didn't expect, along with mentions of previous cases that I assume are in earlier books that I'll have to look for, ending with a satisfying conclusion.

I enjoyed this book.

---

My first impression was that Littlecloud and Ruth were characters from a previous book and that Burton was a character from a different book, and that this was an ultimate crossover. The descriptions online only mention Burton, so this is her book, even though she's the last major character to be introduced.

Spoiler-y stuff: the book is also an ending for some characters as well as the ceremonial knife, which may or may not be repaired in the future.

I did wonder how they were going to kill it when it could mess with their minds the way that it did. They had to get it at a weak moment, of course. I just didn't want for something that didn't work before to work now, because the timing was better. Also, the knife gets removed from the equation, even though it's the main reason that Burton was brought in.

One comment, which I probably should relate to eSpec, is that FBI-VPA is never defined in the book itself. I had to Google it.

Since it's only a novella, it was a pretty quick read.

I now own seven of these books -- 1 paper, 6 electronic -- but I've only read the last two. At least, the paperback is signed.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

My Hero Academia Volume 41 and 42

My Hero Academia Volume 41, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2025) My Hero Academia Volume 41, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Somehow, I never posted a review for Volume 41, so I'll comment on what I remember about it.

It's just as well that I cover both volumes at the same time because, in reality, the story ended in volume 41, and all that's left is to pick up the pieces.

SPOILERS -- Because there's just no other way.

In 41, Bakugo stands up to the rejuventated All-for-One, which makes sense because Bakugo has been a protagonist alongside Deku the whole ride. There are two major villains and he should be get to deal with one of them. It's at this point that you realize that All for One is not the bigger of the two threats even as he's been pulling the strings with Tomura Shigaraki. And then there's the fact that there's a mental connection between the two, which makes them something of a hybrid individual.

Seeing Bakugo taking on All For One after getting messed up royally by Shigaraki is absolutely heroic.

Deku's fight with Shigaraki takes a weird twist in 41. He gives up One for All to Shigaraki, knowing (guessing, really) that Shigaraki's body can't handle it, the same way that Deku couldn't at first.

So in the matchup at the very beginning of volume 42, the story is already over. Deku finally realizes that that little boy that he wanted to save is beyond saving. He gives him a punch that sends Shigaraki into eternity, now that he's powers, including his healing, aren't working.

And that's it. Story over.

Almost the entire volume is epilogue.

We see Class 1A become 2A. We see Aoyama leave the school voluntarily, making room for Shinso to join class 2A. New kids come in, idolozing the Class 2. We see Kota being aged up to being only a year younger than Deku (instead of probably 6 years younger), just so he can be there. (The author acknoledges this.)

And then everything jumps to 8 years later. Crime is down. There's less work for heros, but they still exist and have agencies. Deku is teaching. Bakugo has his own agency.

We get to see new hero rankings, which include most of the former 1A and 1B. A few people have relationships. They all meet for dinner, but, of course, it's interrupted. And finally, it's up to Bakugo, of all people, to give Deku relationship advice, and Deku finally goes after Ochaco. And it's a wrap on the series.

It was a fun ride while it lasted, and I hope there are more side projects where we get to see these kids as actual heroes, even if Deku has only embers of All for One remaining.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Mount Misery (Chambers)

Mount Misery
Systema Paradoxa #28
by James Chambers (2026)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This book was a free Advanced Reader Copy from Library Thing. I'm encouraged (but not required) to leave reviews in exchange for the free books.

Also of note: I have been published by eSpec Books, which also published this book.

Systema Paradoxa is a series of Cryptid books, each with a new take on a different monster. I own about a half-dozen (one is a signed printed book and the rest are ebooks), and this is the first one I've read. Each book stands alone, and there's a series of writers. This book did reference previous encounters by the main characters, but the previous books, whichever ones they were, were not required reading.

I left the following review on the Library Thing website:

Anyone who has ever driven on Long Island, particularly at night, will get weird feelings that strange things are happening around them. This tale brings that to life, adding Mothman, Men in Black and a mystery needing to be unraveled.

Ben Keep and Annetta Maikels know that reality isn't what it appears to be. They investigate the paranormal and find it difficult to turn down a request for help, especially when the paranormal come asking for help in their own unusual way.

It's a fun ride, much more fund than actually driving along the Southern State or Ocean Parkway.

This book, which is part of a series of Cryptid tales, is a standalone story. Some references are made to earlier stories, but you don't need to read those first.

---

More of a breakdown of the stories, which doesn't belong on Library Thing:

Actually, I don't have much to add, so I'll start with something from eSpec:

Cryptid investigators, Ben Keep and Annetta Maikels, left "normal" behind a long time ago. They've peeked behind the curtains of existence, glimpsed beneath the weft and weave of accepted reality.

Ben and Annetta investigate the paranormal, especially when they come asking for help. There are references to past cases, and I imagine that these deal with previous entries written by Chambers for this series. These didn't bother me, I took them in stride. Then there was a call from a character who'd previously disappeared. He's warning Ben about this case. I don't know who that is and I had no attachment to him even though he should've been important. He was important to Ben.

The only other thing that stood out was that large portions of the text were in transcript format, as Ben and Annetta were interviewing witnesses. Scenes like this are great for TV, but I'm less fond of them in print. It makes it feel like I'm reading a script.

I enjoyed this novella. I have more in this series to read.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Random Short Stories and Novellas (2024 - 2026)

Random Short Stories

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

• "Pleasing the Queen" by Selina Coffey, 2015. (read July 2024)
  I needed something to listen to when walking and this was only an hour long. I originally thought I'd listen to it twice because I always have trouble getting into things and because my mind wanders when I walk. Yeah. When it got to the adult content, I had second thoughts about it. Actually, the thing that really got to me was the terrible AI voice doing the reading, devoid of all emotion, including during the sex scenes. The bot also can't handle dialogue with short sentences between the two parties. It was hard (so to speak) to keep track of who was saying what. Weirdest was the end when the voice switched to make to thank the listener -- the book takes on a new perspective if a man was writing those scenes. But, no, the author is female. Anyway, I downloaded the short story (novella, actually) to read. I skipped the preview.
  It was okay. Nothing special. But reading it was better than listening to that bot. Fully the last 20% of the download was a preview of a book. The entire denouement featured a wedding following by detailed descriptions of their love making after the plot had been resolved. The plot: the new Queen arises to power when her parents are killed. Her older sister is already the wife of a Elven lord. Her councilors all agree on a single candidate for her spouse (totally political in nature as these things are), and that Lord tries to work spells on the Queen to make her desire him. She rebuffs that and does the nasty with an old friend instead who helps save the kingdom.
• "Sweet Maiden" by Ginney Patrick, 2023. (read July 2025)
  This was a booklet that I picked up at World Fantasy Con in Niagara Falls, NY, 2024. Ginny Patrick is the pen name of Virginia Smith.
  Carin MacIntyre is the daughter of the cook of Lord Rimple. On her eighth birthday, he takes a walk in the wood where a unicorn finds her. The unicorn asks her to come away with her, but she can't because it would hurt her mother. The unicorn promises to come again and take her when she's ready. Life takes twists and turns by her seventeenth birthday, when Strathofire is repulsed by how she's changed. Would this be the last time she'd ever see him?
  It was a cute story. The story was about 22 pamphlet-sized pages.
• "A Conspiracy of One" by Leonard & Ann Marie Wilson, 2020 (read July 2025)
  Dark Goddess Chronicles, 28 pages, stapled. I'll call this one a novella, not a short story.
  This was a booklet that I picked up at World Fantasy Con in Niagara Falls, NY 2024. The DGC are fairy-tale themed, inspired by them in a "ripped from the headlines" television show is inspired by real-world events.
  The conspiracy involves the assassination of the queen, which is witnessed by her body double/lookalike/decoy. She has to escape, which she does with the help of alternate personalities, who may or may not be other people (including a young girl and a panther) and who gather in a court that may or may not exist solely in her head. Jenilee escapes by pretending to be the queen, and so she ends up at a party that the queen had been invited to, only to find that everyone is shocked to see that the queen is still alive. Now, she has to escape again.

• "Mud and Brass" by Andrew Knighton, 2014 (read June 2025?, possibly sooner)
  I don't know when I read this. I'd forgotten about it until I was cleaning books I'd already read from my phone. (I leave them on my iPad, usually.) I vaguely remember downloading it. (I just checked my email and saw that it was April 2025.) I probably read it not long after that.
  Good Reads lists this as 26 pages, so I'll call it a novella.
  I honestly couldn't remember much about the story until I saw this description on Good Reads: How far would you go for love, or for justice, or for the perfect gearwheel? Thomas Niggle grew up a mudlark, hunting for scrap on the polluted banks of the River Burr. One of the countless poor living in the shadows of Mercer Shackleton’s vast factories, he has dragged himself out of poverty using his mechanical skills. An encounter with Gloria Shackleton, the Mercer’s daughter, offers Niggle the possibility of love, but it also offers something else, deep in the heart of the Mercer’s domain. What hope can the future hold for a boy raised amidst the mud and brass? A steampunk story of romance, vengeance and twisted technology.

  So, basically, a story of haves and have nots mixed with a love story and a tale of revenge, as a mud person takes on a technocrat.
  Again, I don't remember much, but I didn't hate it. I'd remember that. So it was an okay story.
  As with most steampunk, unless it's written by someone I know, it's likely I read it because I want to know how to write steampunk stories, preferrably a good one.

*********
• "Mud and Brass" by Andrew Knighton, 2014 (read June 2025?, possibly sooner)
  I don't know when I read this. I'd forgotten about it until I was cleaning books I'd already read from my phone. (I leave them on my iPad, usually.) I vaguely remember downloading it. (I just checked my email and saw that it was April 2025.) I probably read it not long after that.
  Good Reads lists this as 26 pages, so I'll call it a novella.
  I honestly couldn't remember much about the story until I saw this description on Good Reads: How far would you go for love, or for justice, or for the perfect gearwheel? Thomas Niggle grew up a mudlark, hunting for scrap on the polluted banks of the River Burr. One of the countless poor living in the shadows of Mercer Shackleton’s vast factories, he has dragged himself out of poverty using his mechanical skills. An encounter with Gloria Shackleton, the Mercer’s daughter, offers Niggle the possibility of love, but it also offers something else, deep in the heart of the Mercer’s domain. What hope can the future hold for a boy raised amidst the mud and brass? A steampunk story of romance, vengeance and twisted technology.

  So, basically, a story of haves and have nots mixed with a love story and a tale of revenge, as a mud person takes on a technocrat.
  Again, I don't remember much, but I didn't hate it. I'd remember that. So it was an okay story.
  As with most steampunk, unless it's written by someone I know, it's likely I read it because I want to know how to write steampunk stories, preferrably a good one.

*********
• "The Chief's Boss" by E. Chris Ambrose, 2019 (read February 2026)
  This was a little booklet that I picked up at a convention, probably from World Fantasy Con in 2024 or Phil Con 2024. This booklet was at school, and I think it was with a pile that had been in a locker in summer 2025, so it's probably not from Reader Con in Boston or Phil Con 2025.
  The booklet is basically a short story over 28 pages, probably around 4,000 - 5,000 words. It's billed as "A Bone Guard Adventure", not that I knew what that was. Having read it, I'd say it's likely a prequel to the three books advertised in the back (two out, one coming soon, as of 2019).
  It's a quick, little story about a rescue in Afghanistan in 2003. A female scientist has been captured by al Qaeda and the spec ops Goon Squad is going to go in to rescue her and take out everyone else. Grant Casey is the new kid on the team with a plan to ride in and see if she's still alive and if she can possibly rescue her before the rest of the team attacks.
  The Sarge, Gonsalves, calls Grant "Chief" because he's native. This confused me at first. He's not native American, he's from the area, which is why he's able to approach the al Qaeda hideout on horseback. I didn't get the connection with "Chief" if there is one.

  I'm not advertising, but since this story isn't on Good Reads, and a search for "Bone Guard" gave me wildly unconnected results, I'll list the website in case I want to check this out. (Odds are that I'll pass along the booklet in a Little Free Library.) It's BoneGuardBooks.com
  A quick check shows: there are 7 books, the website redirects to a different publisher, and the little twitter account for Ambrose doesn't exist. I honestly only went looking because I wanted to copy one of the logos or find an image of the cover of this story. I'm not scouring social media if he gave up on Twitter and his publisher couldn't bother to update.




If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Audio: Heir to the Empire (Zahn)

Heir to the Empire
Timothy Zahn (1991)

[Audiobook]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I looked for a science fiction book to listen to and the Libby app suggested Heir to the Empire. Oddly enough, for all the Star Trek books that I've read, I've not read any Star Wars books, not even Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which I had a copy of way back when. (I read a couple of juveniles that I found at a school I subbed at, but that's not really the same thing.)

And then I had to listen to it in installments because after all this time Heir to the Empire is still in demand. It introduced characters, such as Thrawn, which were picked up by the Disney franchise, even if so much else of the Expanded Universe was tossed out. This stuff existed for so many years. Had Lucas down the movies, he might've adapted it, but Disney was in charge and I guess they didn't want to credit Zahn for anything. The idea that Leia was learning to use the Force back then and that she was having twins would've made for great movies.

It was an interesting plot, and the beginning of a trilogy. There's a character that isn't used as much as he should have, so I assumed he'll be in the next book, which I might listen to.

I had to get used to hearing the voice of Han Solo speaking, but that didn't take too long. What was a problem was the Wookiee named Ralrra who had a speech impediment that allowed him to speak English (or rather, Galactic standard). His voice, with the growls, was like nails on a chalkboard. It wouldn't have been a problem reading it -- but it might be for now because it'll spur the memories.

Anyway, this was fun to listen to, and I'm glad that I did.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-so-popular Party Girl (Russell)

Dork Diaries (2): Tales from a Not-so-popular Party Girl
Rachel Renée Russell (2010)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was NOT one of the books that I took from the Little Free Library in my neighborhood. And, unfortunately, I didn't take the bunch I saw in a different library when I had a chance!

That said, these books are still popular fifteen years later -- and I had to remind myself of the publishing date to reconcile some of the language and technology in the books. As it was, it was a bit of a wait for the ebook, after which I realized that these books lose something as ebooks. I finally got the physical book, and read it pretty quickly. (Summer time: I read a lot of physical books in the pool, and this was no exception.)

This book takes place not long after the first book and involves throwing the annual Halloween party. The book is written in diary format and contains nuerous drawing and doodles from author Nikki.

Nikki still doesn't think that Brandon will ever notice her, and she is shocked whenever he does, even after he came to the rescue in the first book.

Zoe and Chloe are still Nikki's BFF's in the library club. They have a plan to join the clean-up crew for the Halloween Party and then pretend that the band members are their dates, so they don't have to worry about being asked.

Of course, Mackenzie Hollister is in charge of organizing the Halloween Party, and, of course, she still hates Nikki and she still wants Brandon. When things don't go well for Mackenzie, she has everyone quit their committee assignments, leaving all the responsibilities to Nikki, Zoe, and Chloe to organize the party themselves -- and Mackenzie and company cancelled everything that they'd already done. If the Library girls can't get the party organized on their own, it will be up to them to cancel the school's annual party for the first time ever.

These are fun books, even if I'll never write for this level.

I look forward to the next book, which I believe I own a copy of. However, there are other books that I need to read and pass along first.

Paperback.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

My Hero Academia Volume 40

My Hero Academia Volume 40, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

The story is winding down with the former All-Might facing off against the foe that ended his career. All Might had been using all sorts of technology to mimic the powers of the students in 1A (who should be in 2A by now, right?)

All Might had no chance at victory, but as with Batman said in an episode of Justice League, I'm not trying to beat you, I'm trying to stall you. Bakugo arrives for a final showdown. Remember that Bakugo holds himself responsible for All Might retiring.

The story is winding down, and Deku will have to take down Tomura Shigiraki.

I'll be sorry when this story ends if it means that publication ceases. The story will have been told, but there's more stories to tell with all these heroes.

Volume 41 is on hold at the library.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Fall Into Temptation (Score)

Fall Into Temptation
Lucy Score (2022)

[NO IMAGE, AUDIOBOOK ONLY]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club alternate selection. The wait for the ebook and audiobook were so long that I got a print book. This, of course, was silly, because by this point, Starter Villain, had already been selected so there was no urgency to read this. However, I'd forgotten which month this was for and was thinking that it was a choice for April. And then the library told me that I couldn't renew it because someone was waiting, so I have to dive in, reading this on the train every day. As it is, it's more than a week overdue. It may have been reported "lost" and I may have accidentally purchased it.

The book says that it is a "Blue Moon Romantic Comedy". Blue Moon is the name of the small town. The Library says that it is book 2 in the series, but the "Also By" page lists seven other titles, along with six other series and a set of standalones.

A capsule review: It not a will they or won't they with Beckett and Gia, it's when will it happen, and how will they handle the fallout, consequences, and repercussions. The romance level is moderate (by my own reckoning) but could be considered "mild" or "tame" by others. There are ample descriptions but they aren't vulgar. For comparison, New Beginnings was basically nil.

Beckett Pierce is the young, handsome mayor of Blue Moon. He returns from a vacation wedding to find that his associate has managed to rent out the house behind his house to a mother of two. One of the first itmes of business is cutting the ribbon at the new fitness center (renvoated by a new owner). He spots the owner (Gia/Gianna) working out the night before and is suitably impressed by her form. The next morning, he rescues her from being locked in the studio's bathroom. Beckett later discovers that she is his new tenant.

To add to the intrigue, Beckett goes to the family's farm, where the three brothers are starting a brewery, only to run into Gia and her kids. Beckett, whose father is deceased, has daddy issues and now his mother is dating someone and it's getting serious. And it turns out Gia's father is the boyfriend of Beckett's mother.

Between this and the landlord situation, the relationship is considered by the two of them to be off-limits, forbidden fruit, nothing can possibly happen ... except for every time that the two of them are alone with each other. And, of course, the whole town knows.

The first book appears to be about one brother and his new girlfriend, who quit her job and came to Blue Moon, so I wouldn't be surprised if the third book is about the third brother getting back together with his ex who is in this book but they still aren't on speaking terms.

Do I plan to read any more of this series, or even of this genre? I'm not counting on it. Maybe I'd buy a book if the author is doing a signing in my neighborhood. That said, I enjoyed the book for what it is, and I'm happy to read different things that I might not have read otherwise. And it wasn't trashy.

This was a March read even if I didn't get to post about it until April.

Paperback, if case I'm checking at the end of the year.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Russell)

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life
Rachel Renée Russell (2009)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was one of a bunch of books that I took from a little book library. I plan to return them all for another kid to enjoy. Some of the references might be dated, but the experiences are likely the same. Unfortunately, I have misplaced the bunch I have, other than the first book, somewhere in my house.

I started this sometime in 2024, and I remember I was reading it on the train, and then I put it on the side and forgot about it. Odds are that I had a book club book to read. I didn't mind reading this on the train even though it was a little difficult to balance on top of my backpack while I had a coffee in one hand.

Nikki Maxwell is the new girl in a new school. Her dad is an exterminator who has a van with a large insect on top of it, but her mom drives her to school ... usually. Her locker is right new to the popular and mean girl, Mackenizie Hollister, who believes she's the best at everything and thinks that she deserves everything.

Nikki goes to the office to sign up for the art contest but freaks out because MacKenzie is already there, so she says she's just there to sign up for the Library Club (because there's a sign-up sheet sitting there). In the library, she meets her new friends, Chloe and Zoey. The three of them sit an an unpopular table far from the popular girls. Still, she's noticed by school photographer Brandon Roberts, who seems to like her more than Nikki can possibly believe. "Obviously", he'd be more interested in girls like MacKenzie, who definitely wants to get Brandon's attention.

Antics ensue and are recorded on journal pages. The book is even lined like a journal would be, and "Nikki" doodles in it because she is an artist.

Nikki gains popularity because she can draw temporary tattoos on students in exchange for book donations but it starts to take over her life.

Other trials and tribulations of middle school occur.

I don't know if I would've read something like this in 7th grade -- not true, I definitely would not have, for 7th grade reasons of my own -- but it was a cute book to read now. And, yes, I will read YA if only because it's a market and it might be a market that I eventually have to try. If nothing else, I like seeing how other writers write tweens and early teens.

I don't know if I'll read all of the ones that I took from the library (assuming I find where I put them), but I reserved the ebook of the second one from the library, so I'll read two of them, at least.

The following is from a website for the book:

New school.
New mean girl.
New crush.
New diary so I can spill about all of it…

I put a lot of really personal stuff in this diary along with my sketches and doodles.

But, mostly it’s about how TRAUMATIC it was transferring to my new private middle school, Westchester Country Day.

And, how a lot of the CCP (Cool, Cute & Popular) kids were really SNOBBY and made my life TOTALLY miserable. People like, oh, I don’t know, maybe…

MACKENZIE HOLLISTER!!

And, it just so happened that I got stuck with a locker right next to hers. I could NOT believe I had such CRAPPY luck. I knew right then and there it was going to be a VERY, VERY long school year. ☹️


If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Eggs in a Casket (Childs)

Eggs in a Casket
Laura Childs (2014)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I was reading a YA book about an Elf saving Christmas and I decided that I didn't want that to be the first book I completed in 2025, so I put it aside. But what to read? Well, I recently got an email that an auidobook I had requested had become available at the library -- only to discover that I had listened to it a while back and the ebook was still not available. However, the next book in the series was. (I might've been waiting to read it so that I could read the previous installemnt instead of just listening.)

As a happy accidental bonus, this is the fifth book in the series, and on a Reading Challenge list I downloaded, reading the second or fifth book in a series (for the number 25) was one of the goals. Honestly, I'd thought about the goal of reading more "book 2" books this year since I start many series.

Eggs in a Casket opens at a cemetery on a rainy day. The weather will actually play a part in the plot with this one. It's Memorial Cemetary's 150th anniversary, and Suzanne and Toni are delivering flowers when they accidentally come upon Lester Drummond's body in an open grave right after they were almost sideswiped by Missy Langston who was speeding away.

Missy is a suspect, especially after it's discovered that Drummond had been tasered multiple times and a taser is found in Missy's house. (This is the kind of town where many people don't bother to lock their doors.)

Sheriff Doogie has his hands full, but does a competent job as always, even if it has to follow each lead wherever it goes, and if that means arresting Missy, so be it. Unfortunately, he's in a car accident and in intensive care for the last part of the book, leaving it Suzanne to figure out who did it, where Missy is, and possibly save Dr. Sam's life along the way.

I'm enjoying this series. I don't know that I'll start any of Childs' other series or any other cozy mysteries (paranormal or not) for that matter either. But I've add "Childs" as a tag, and at some point, I'll go back and add it to the others. If I start a second series, then maybe I'll add a "Cackleberry" tag, too. We'll see.

Okay, back to the elf.


If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

The Crown of Zeus (Norris)

The Crown of Zeus
Christine Norris (2008)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a bonus book from a recent Kickstarter campaign. Note: my book, A Bucket Full of Moonlight was one of the books in the Kickstarter as was Norris's A Curse of Time and Vengeance.

I've read a lot of bonus stories. It was nice to read a full book for a change.

Since is was a special Kickstarter edition, I didn't get the pretty cover shown above. Also, I don't remember if my version mentioned the Library of Athena or that it was a series. (Maybe it wasn't back then?)

Megan and her dad move to England for his job. She hates the idea of leaving everything behind and having to start over and make new friends in a new school in a new country.

Then she winds up staying in a mansion, the Parthenon, that the company her father works for owns. It comes with a butler and maid as well as its own ghost stories. Megan hears about these stories at school. Next thing, she's having a sleepover with three classmates. The four girls want to hold a seance but end up going on an adventure that finds a secret library hidden beneath the mansion with steps leading down from behind a statue of Athena. Among the shelves, Megan finds a book titled The Crown of Zeus and the four girls are sucked inside of it.

Now they have to follow the clues and solve the puzzles to find the Crown of Zeus to get out of the book or they'll be stuck in there forever or killed trying.

The puzzles are familiar, and while there's no kraken released, Medusa needs to be beheaded and her head needs to turn another monster to stone. Nothing so esoteric that a teenage girl with an interest in Greek mythology can't figure out.

The four girls work together, save each others' lives and become best friends. And, spoiler, they get out with the crown. And then we learn more about Sir Gregory, the archeologist and student of magic.

The book was a little slow-paced but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I'm not even the target demographic. I also proudly showed off to Christine Norris that I was reading her book when we were at an eSpec Books launch party at Philcon (Cherry Hill, NJ) last month.

So Good Reads is telling me that this is #1 in a series. Given the library in the basement, it seems natural that many more books could follow. Obviously, I'm going to have to check those out, too.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

My Hero Academia Volumes 38 and 39

My Hero Academia Volume 38 and 39, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Not really a lot to say other than I enjoyed them. This blog entry is mostly so they'll be counted in the year-end total. The final battle is still being drawn out. As with a lot of manga, the more action there is, the more difficult it can get for me to tell what's going on. But some of those background scenes and cityscapes are just amazing.

The books (in English) have caught up to the show (in Japanese with subtitles). The show recently eclipsed the books, particularly with Ochaco Uraraka and Himiko Toga.

Next book will be reserved as soon as possible.

The Mimicking of Known Successes (Older)

The Mimicking of Known Successes
by Malka Older (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a book that I learned about at the World Fantasy Convention in Niagara Falls back in October. Someone mentioned it at a panel and I made a note of it. (Actually, I may have reserved it from the library while the panel was still going on.)

It was mentioned as a Sherlock Holmes type book and it reads like one, but it isn't because Older creates her own characters, which is appreciated. I don't mind modern takes on Holmes and Watson but writers, or perhaps producers in the case of television, want to do Holmes as best they can but at the same time changing everything about the characters, their relationships, their environment and surroundings. In this case, the characters are both women and the sapphic love story and mystery are set in space. (I believe the proper term is just "sapphic mystery", but I'm not sure if my usage is correct or not.)

In the future, Earth isn't inhabited or inhabitable but researchers orbiting Jupiter are working on that. There are man-made rings (former satellites and other junk?) circling the planet. I was exactly sure how these rings were oriented at first because we are given a location that is a longitudial (degree and minute) designation, so I thought that the rings ran pole to pole with rail lines connecting them. Then I realized that they are likely concentric equitorial rings and some must be further out. It is possible that the multiple rings run parallel to each other but which connections at certain locations. (Curiously, some platforms are degrees and minutes but others have actual names.)

Most of humanity lives clustered around one side of Jupiter with no one on the other side. There are trains that run the rails that circle the planet but they over travel to the farthest stations, along several lines. The stations are huge platforms and seem to be connected to towns and cities in stable orbit around the gas giant. Note that these platforms are open to the atmosphere because of the psychological problems of living enlcosed in spaceships. This means people have to wear special atmo-scarfs, for example, when outdoors. It also means that someone can go to the farther stop on the line and either jump to their death from the edge of the platform or be pushed.

The prologue details Investigator Mossa traveling to the end of the rail line to investigate a missing person. It's a small community there where strangers would be noticed coming and then disappearing before the next train arrives. It's assumed to be a suicide but Mossa isn't entirely sure. And if it was, why pick this spot? After questioning the people, she decides to the academic Pleiti, her college ex-girlfriend.

The narrative shifts here, and I had to go back. While the prologue was third person, Mossa was the POV characters. Now, Pleiti becomes the narrator and the POV character. It was confusing when I read it and even a little when I first listened to it, but then I rolled with it.

More of the world is explored. We learned more about Earth and what academics are doing to restore the Earth. We find out more about the man who disappeared and his associates. There's a tiger attack (a big cat, I forget which kind) which hurts Mossa and Pleiti needs to take care of her. And you wonder if the two are getting back together again.

Not much more I can say without spoilers. I know this page is for notes for me, not as a review to others who find the page, but I think the above will refresh my memory. Mostly.

It was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to getting the second book sometime after I catch up with other books in the TBR pile and the book club selections.

This was an ebook and I listened to the audio after I'd started reading (if I recall correctly). I don't think I finished the audio as I finished the ebook first.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies (Goodman)

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies
by Alison Goodman (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was recommended on the Brooklyn Public Library page as something that I might be interested in. I read it and listened to most of it. If I finish reading first, I'm less likely to finish the audio before it needs to be returned.

Note that the cover is inaccurate because even though the two sisters are twins, one is several inches taller than the other.

The book is a high society amateur detective story set in the heart of Regency London. Several stories in fact. Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus,” is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents to rescue their friend’s goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.

Along the way, they are attacked by and manage to subdue a highwayman, who isn't exactly what he appears to be. They use the man to pose as their brother, who they claim was wounded by a highwayman, to get to Caroline. When the man awakes, he sees no choice but to continue the ruse and is instrumental in getting away. Gus is terribly smitten with him as she's never been before, but he knows that they could never be together for it would ruin her, and he would surely hang.

They eventually get reunited for another case, and Gus becomes determined to prove the man's innocence.

This was an enjoyable (though a little long) book. I would read another in the series.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

The Hidden Palace (Wecker)

The Hidden Palace
by Helene Wecker (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a sequel to a pandemic book club selection. I listened to it as well as read it. I actually finished it before we had the online meeting for the previous book.

Most of the cast of characters from the previous book is back again, with some in surprising ways.

Unlike the first book which took place over the course of a single year, this novel spans a couple of decades and we see some major events in New York City (and beyond) history unfold. We also see other characters age while the two titular characters do not. This means that there has to be some kind of shake-up, or else others would start to realize that something is wrong.

The book also introduces a younger female djinn and a second golem that gets created from the notes of the deceased rabbi. So you have to wonder if there will be some kind of love rectangle at work here as the title characters have their own relationship issues to work through.

Also back is Sophia, the heiress that Ahmed falls for in the first book. She travels all over the Middle East like some adventurer out of the Age of Exploration, traveling with two Pinkertons for protection. She leaves home with her father's blessing. She's looking for a cure to the affliction that you might've thought would've faded on its own at the end of book 1. She travels for YEARS, missing major events for her family, until she's finally forced home due to lack of funds. She helps bring the female djinn to the U.S.

There's a bit of a disconnect between the two books. For one thing, it starts with Ahmed finding his own people, but none can free him from his shackles. When he returns alone, the neighborhood is curious because they figured he'd return with a mother or a new bride. It seems that the boy he took to the Middle East is mostly forgotten.

Not forgotten, but not important, is the (spoiler for book one) wizard from the first book, who is imprisoned in the oil flask. He is connected to Chava, and she can sometimes hear him, but he's not a factor in the book other than mentioning that he's still out there.

The scope of the book is broader, too, because so much time passes in this one, allowing the author to work in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, and the women's suffrage movement. This also allows time for Anna's son, and the daughter of the rabbi who created the second golem, to grow up to become adults.

I don't see where there's room for another sequel because many doors were closed here. Many human characters either died (from old age or other means) or moved out of the neighborhood. Little Syria must give way at some point. Honestly, I wouldn't want book three to be about the wizard coming back again or even seizing the hidden palace, which also doesn't play a big part in the book.

I enjoyed this book. If a sequel comes out, I'd likely read it even though I'm satisfied with the two books as they are.

This was an ebook and audiobook.