The Axolotl Familiar

The Axolotl Familiar
Written and illustrated by KuroKoneko Kamen
(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.)

I looked on Amazon for free graphic novel that I might use in my Graphic Novel class -- either to assign because they're free or to grab a screenshot or two for presentations. This book popped up. I was a little worried by the cover. Having no knowledge of this book, I didn't know if it might get explicit or exploitive. That was not an issue.

The bigger issue was that this was just bad. Sad, even, not for the story, but for the presentation.

As I posted on social media about a quarter way through the book, some days I can read stories set in undersea castles where witches mix potions and their familiars read paper books, and others when I wonder what the hell am I reading?

That's the case here. And don't let me forget the fire spells.

Some of this is addressed later on, when Axol is trying to reach the surface because he wants to see the sea of stars and the rabbit on the moon. Serina tells him that he wouldn't be able to breathe the air up there like merfolk can. He is able to breathe in school (Selina is 14) because of enchantments. Likewise, there is one class in school where there is no water and the students (merfolk) all sit on bubbles because there need to be able to take notes and the teacher needs to be able to write on the chalkboard.

So it's implied that there are no such enchantments at the castle and it's filled with sea water.

This comic is based on a novella (by the author) and is meant to be three issues long. The novella might be a better read without the visuals, which are the biggest problem.

Many pages only have one or two images on them, and it seems like every image is vying to be the cover, which isn't the way you want to illustrate a comic. The title character, Axol, appears to have a single pose with slight variations. He's always facing forward (or almost forward) looking straight ahead (or just slightly off-center) even if the character he is speaking to is next to or behind him. Many of the other characters have similar issues with their eyes and where they're facing and looking.

Axol also has a size issue, where he's small enough to fit in a bird cage with disappearing bars that sometimes appear so close together that you wonder how he squeezed his head through. And if his head can squeeze through, why can't the rest of him?

Let's just say that despite the merits of any one individual panel, the artwork was incredibly distracting and laughable.

I don't think I'll look for the second part of 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.

Trial by Moonlight (Hanford)

Trial by Moonlight,
A Rise of the Summer God Adventure,
Summer H. Hanford (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.)

This was a booklet that I picked up at World Fantasy Con in Niagara Falls, NY, 2024. It's only 46 pages, and an additional ten pages for a preview of another book, but it's bound like a book, and longer than the other novellas I picked up, so I'm calling it a book. (And this will balance out with the number of 400+ pagers I've been reading lately.)

Aldera came to live in the pines of Ravenwood with her mother. She wasn't born there, but she wants to be accepted there. And she wants to learn the ways of the witches there and be able (one day) to transform into a raven. She is woken on the night of her 12th birthday by the other girls to undergo a three-part test. She almost doesn't survive.

Not much else to say about it.

There's a cool two-page map where I assume the Summer God adventures take place, but this entire story takes place in basically one location (though they move around to three parts of that area).

It was a pleasant, quick read, and I really needed some quick reads after some of the things that I've ploughed through lately.

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!

Witches of New York (McKay)

Witches of New York by Ami McKay (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 book was one of three that was our book club was to choose from, but it didn't win the vote. After the previous month, where the ebooks were difficult to come by, I placed holds on all three books before we even voted. Since the winning book was short, and since this one seemed to be of interest, I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did.

The story takes place in New York City in the 1880s when the Brooklyn Bridge was still under construction, Cleopatra's Needle was on its way to the city (to eventually stand in Central Park) and Lady Liberty's torch, and only her torch, stood in Madison Square Park. Against all this, two witches, Eleanor St. Clair and Adelaide Thom, have a shop called "Tea and Sympathy" where they offer tea and tell fortunes. Both witches have their own specialties and their own histories. They also have a raven named "Perdu". A story from Eleanor's grimoire tells a tale that describes a bird very similar to Perdu and you're to assume that they are the same bird. Moreover, we find from a later ghost, that Perdu isn't really a bird and has an untold secret. In the author interview after the story, when asked Perdu's identity, she says that the clues are in the book, and points back to that story. So that's one mystery solved.

Side note: I learned from Good Reads that Adelaide Thom, who changed her name from Moth, actually appeared in an earlier book by McKay. There were references to her changing her name in this book but nothing came of it. Apparently, it was just to connect the characters together while allowing the character to have a new identity.

Added to this mix is Beatrice Dunn, a young woman from upstate who comes to the city. She touches the obelisk when her train is stopped to allow the obelisk to pass. Beatrice has a natural talent to see ghosts and speak with the dead.

The basic story is that there are some people who are fearful of witches (or pagans) in general, and they have a problem with the tea shop. There is a reverend who is descended from the witch hunters who wants to find one of his own. As a minor character, there is a demon that uses the reverend as a useful idiot to hunt witches so he can feed on their magic (their dead bodies).

There's a love story brewing with Adelaide, who wears a mask because of a previous acid attack that claimed one eye, and Dr. Brody, who wears a prosthetic arm to replace the one he lost in the war (Civil War, that is). Dr. Brody is interested in contacting the beyond and has a device which is, essentially, a mechanical ouija board, that Beatrice will operate blindfolded, where see can't see the responses.

The reverend kidnaps one witch (who takes her own life, after a dream with her mother) and then Beatrice. Everyone is looking for her, but the ghost of the former witch helpd her.

In the end, this is a slice of life piece, because there's no overarching story line. There are competing ones and some of them are left open. That is to say, there isn't a nice pat ending for everything. Perdu is still a bird. And the demon is still out there searching for magic, and the witches have no idea of his existence.

A little heavy at times on the feminism in that it breaks the narration to make its points, but not overly so. Frankly, I've come to expect it. Likewise, if it's a story about witches, I know that there will be an overzealous, possibly evil, priest trying to recreate Salem two centuries after the fact, as if nothing changed.

Speaking of Salem, I have two points: first, the tragedy of Salem was underscored by the fact that none of those innocent woman hanged were actually witches in the literary sense of the word. They may have been pagans, and they made have gathered herbs and brewed potions (or tea), but nothing as powerful as witches are portrayed in the "present" time. If witches had been that powerful back then, would they have been so easily captured and killed. Maybe they weren't and innocents died in their places. (hmmm, that could be a story idea.) And if any of the witches condemned to die were indeed powerful, then doesn't that take some of the stigma away from the ones who opposed them? I hope not, but it gives pause.

The second is that the author discovered in doing researched that she has an ancestor (once removed) that was hanged for witchcraft, and only because laws were changed did that woman's daughter survive. So that makes this story a little more personal.

I enjoyed this book, even more than the actual book club selection. I'm glad I read it.

The Witch of the North Pole (Snow)

The Witch of the North Pole by Eden Snow (2017)

(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.)

Looking for books to get me into a Christmas mood, I went looking for free Christmas-themed ebooks (that weren't "bodice-rippers"). There seem to be plenty of "cozy" mysteries with witches, elves or whichever. The funny thing is from the thumbnail, I thought she was sitting on a chimney, not a bag of toys. Also, I didn't realize right away that the author's name was "Eden Snow" -- I thought it was a subtitle for the book!

The book is also listed as Cinnamon Mercy Claus 1. The main character doesn't like to be called Cinnamon, because she used to be teased that it was a spice name. Mercy was somehow better.

Mercy, a strong, indepedent woman, who works in an office with lots of spreadsheets but little interaction with people, is ill-prepared for a visit to her grandparents, whom she doesn't know. Her parents are away for the holidays, leaving her no place else to go. She's farther North than she's ever been. In fact, she's at the North Pole. And her grandfather is Santa, the actual Santa Claus.

The problem is that her grandmother isn't happy with the whole "Santa" situation and is leaving him. She's also leaving running the entire operation in the hands of Mercy.

Oh, and Mrs. Claus is a witch.

And, by the way, so is Mercy, even if she doesn't know it.

The entire "Santa" business, how old he is, the family line, the replacement Santas, can all be accepted as part of the narrative. That's the setup for the story and it's internally consistent. It gets a little problematic with Mrs. Claus, angry as she is, bailing out and leaving her granddaughter in charge without any training whatsoever. Or telling her about her witchy background and not helping there either.

There is some help in the form of a single spell, which a helpful elf, Ginger, tells her should be cast away from everyone, but indoors, so no one else is affected by it. Unfortunately, the elves captured a human who saw them and was holding him in the same warehouse where Mercy read the spell. He is affected with the same Christmas cheer, and agrees to help Mercy break into the Christmas Command Center and access the computer with the Naughty List. (Those on the Naughty List get a special present that gives them a chance to turn their lives around. The list includes the man's daughter.)

Unlike a Hallmark movie, the two do NOT become a couple by the end. However, it's a book series, so it might be something to expect in the next few books.

It was a cute book. If there's one drawback, it ended abruptly. The story's told but there's not denouement, no day after, nothing. On the other hand, there was the first chapter of Book 2. I don't normally read those, but in this case, I made an exception and read far enough to see how the ending would have played out. And then stopped because I don't normally read these.

Update: In the time it took me to write this up, Amazon sent an email that included the second book for free, so I downloaded it. It probably won't be read until after Christmas. I'm reading something else right now and then I have a Book Club book to get to.

An Ignorant Witch (Graham)

An Ignorant Witch, E. M. Graham (2019)

(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 free book in an email. It's the first in the Witch Kin Chronicles, which includes similar titles where the adjective is changed. In fact, a few times while reading this, I thought it was "An Arrogant Witch". Nope, that was just Kindle trying to sell me the next book. (Granted, there are arrogant witches in this volume.) They also have similar covers, but they wouldn't lead me to believe that this is happening current day. The outfit the witch wears is old-fashioned.

First off, it's not exactly my cup of tea but there wasn't much to complain about for the most part. I can see why the series might be popular. I do have complaints about the ending, and the lack of closure. Yes, it's a series, and there are things that can be resolved later, but there are some things that needed to be resolved to complete this story in the series. Dara has the ability to see into Alt, which is a magical realm that exists right on top of our own, although at a different time period, even though the timelines run parallel.

Dara Martin is a bit of a ghost whisperer by way of being a half-blood witch. Her father is John De Teilhard, an important member of his Witch Kin, who had an affair with her mother 20 years earlier. The mother is now missing, and Dara lives with her Aunt Edna, who is a aware of the situation but keeps herself blissfully ignornat to the particulars. Her father gives her a stipend to go to school and to stay away from magic. It's dangerous for half-breeds, partiuclarly those with no training and no idea what they're doing. (Note that Dara has older step-siblings, so it wasn't like John stayed outside of witch kin first and then married into it. He had an affair with a woman he seemed to have love and then went back to his wife. And she took him back.)

Dara is friends with Alice Hoskins, who is Dara's only friend besides a ghost in Aunt Edna's house that won't leave its room. That ghost doesn't figure into this story. Alice has a brother named Benjy, who is trouble, and a dead great-grandmother, Old Nan, who is another ghost who has been acting up lately and won't leave the house. Dara can't make her leave, and Alice doesn't want to be in the room with her.

Benjy went to pick berries from a secret family patch days ago and hasn't returned. But it isn't unlike him to disappear with friends on a bender for a week. While hiking, the girls find the red bucket (insert poetic waxing about the perfectness of the bucket) that Benjy had. He's actually under the hill being held by fairies. Alice climbs in and Dara follows. Dara can see through the illusions and knows that everything is not as pleasant as it appears to be. Benjy is being held captive and he doesn't even know how miserable he is. If they can't rescue him, he will fade into a shade, like the band against the rock wall. Dara and Alice escape to figure out what to do, and to consult old Nan.

Dara looks for help. She goes to the new magic shop. She feels around but there is nothing magical about the shop, except for one coin in a barrel in the back of the shop, which seems to radiate evil, beckons to her, and reminds her of her mother. She stays away from the coin without asking anything the proprietor anything about it. This coin isn't referenced again, excpet when the shop is burned down later in the book. When Dara leaves the store, she is seen by her father and his wife who just happen to be passing by. The scene frustrates her so much that she shifts into Alt accidentally and nearly falls into the water because the shoreline has been built outward in the past hundred years or so.

Another half-breed, Hugh, calls her out. He saw her shift into Alt and back again. He's a witch from Scotland who is visiting Newfoundland, and staying at her father's house. Now we have most of the important players.

No one wants to help Dara save Benjy, so she tries herself. She speaks to the fairies and one of them wants a bottle of breast milk to help cure another one of them. Dara babysits, so she reluctantly agrees. The fairies follow her, get into the house, steal a bottle on their own, and also take the baby, leaving a changeling. Dara knows its a changeling but she can't explain it to her.

She continues blundering her way through plans and ideas to get help and nothing works. But she does wind up getting herself and Alice targeted for a ritual killing on the equinox the following night. With her from Hugh, they managed to foil the death plans. And Dara is finally ready to go away and learn about real magic.

Okay ... EXCEPT ... the plot at the start was to save Benjy, and in the middle of the book it grew to save Benjy and the baby. By the end, they needed to rescue Alice, too, which they do. And what about Benjy and the baby? Maybe it was a changeling? Maybe I was wrong? Ho hum? What if Benjy doesn't want to leave?

What?

I can understand not answering what happened to the mother. That happened before the book and would obviously be important to the series later on. And, okay, that stupid coin was some kind of plot hook left out for the future. But Benjy and the baby needed to be resolved. Even if they managed to save one but lost the other at the last minute.

Instead, it's all simply forgotten just because Hugh helped her solve a problem she got into in the latter half of the book because the events in the first half were so important, but not so much any more. Ho hum, what can we do? I don't buy it.

So while the book was written well enough, the story was not told enough. Would I read a second book? If it shows up for free on BookBub, maybe. Until then, probably not. I won't even try the library (which isn't likely to have it anyway.)

Troll Hunter: Witch for Hire (Mason)

Troll Hunter: Witch for Hire
(Gretchen's (Mis)Adventures - Season One #0·5) by P. A. Mason (2020)

(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'm a little wary of books with many subtitles, but this is becoming the norm in these days of quick ebook publishing. I'm also not fond of the use of "Season" to describe entries in a series, unless it's actually about the seasons of the year or seasons of a TV show or similar.

I assumed the 0.5 meant this was some kind of prequel, or setup for the rest of the available books. In any case, there was a story here to be told. It might not have been the best-written, but it did it's job. I gave it 3 stars on Good Reads because I didn't think it was a two-star book. Some of the things I gave two stars to weren't very good.

It also contained Chapter 1 of the first book, which is a marketing gimmick, so I can't complain about that.

The story revolves around a witch named Gretchen, who makes potions. She has feline familiar named Mulligan, and a broom that doesn't always fly right. Plus, there's a weird spell book. She spends a lot of time down at the pub, owned by a sick, dying dwarf, where the riff raff hang out.

She gets hired by the town to get rid of a troll under the bridge, which is feeding on people's livestock. No one else wants the job. She manages to make a potion, with the help of the spell book, but by accident, the troll becomes "enchanted". I'm not sure if that's the correct term, but that's the one used. The troll becomes self-aware, developing a more of human intelligence instead of operating on a more animalistic level. Basically, it became a player character race.

Enchanted creatures have rights, so they can't chase him off any more. But Jurgen becomes Gretchen's responsibility. The troll isn't welcome at home any more, nor does he like that way of living. But he's still a troll, and people don't like him. He gets a temporary job with the silversmith, doing heavy lifting in the back, but after an allergic reaction, he winds up working at the pub.

Gretchen starts working at the pub, the Salt and Bog, because the dwarf needs help. And when the roof of cabin falls in (due to excessive water damage), she moves into the pub as well.

There's another witch, Nora, and a girl who wants a love potion so that the silversmith will fall in love with her. He's such a catch that every mother would want him for their daughters, and yet he turns them all down. Gee, wonder why (that's not really a mystery at all). And everything works out in the end, including Gretchen getting her house fixed.

I don't see myself getting the boxed set of the next "seasons". Also, this was one of the books I downloaded while looking for books with gnomes. I don't remember the gnomes. They might've been there, but if so, nothing about them stuck out in my mind that I remember them a day after finishing the book.

Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder (Mauritsen)

Shards of the Glass Slipper: Queen Cinder, by Roy A. Mauritsen, 2012 I was first drawn to this story by a series of paintings hanging in the Art Room at Lunacon (a long-running Northeastern science fiction convention, usually held in Rye, NY), each with its own vignette, giving a new twist on each of the fairy tale characters that were more in line with the original interpretations than the 20th-century incarnations. The artist was Roy A. Mauritsen, and his book uses these characters.

His incarnations flow together very nicely with a few odd twists among them, most of which are enjoyable. (I have a couple of quibbles about how some of the characters, and their relationships to each other, but they work within the story.)

I don't want to give anything away -- I'd rather let the characters reveal themselves as the story progresses, even if you think you know who's coming next, as you get caught up in the tales of those grim days after the Beanstalk War when Cinderella has to ascend to the throne. Fairy magic is on the wane and with it the power of witches, but is there another source of power that can be tapped into?

My only complaint was that the subplot was actually the build-up to the sequel, which I now have to find. (Like I wasn't going to get it anyway!)