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Archive for 'Paper'

Rivers of London: Detective Stories #4.1

Rivers of London: Detective Stories #4.1 (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero, Mack Chater I am… confused by this. This is Detective Stories #4.1 and it just came out. Rivers of London: Detective Stories #2 comes out July 12. Rivers of London: Detective Stories #3 comes out August 9th. All I can […]

Princeless Vol. 4: Be Yourself

Princeless Vol. 4: Be Yourself (2015) Jeremy Whitley, Emily Martin and Brett Grunig This is the fourth Princless book and finds Adrienne off to attempt to rescue her middle sister, Angoisse. This was good, but I think the bits about Adrienne were weaker than the previous volumes. She and Bedelia are more witnesses to events […]

Rivers of London Volume 3: Black Mould

Rivers of London Volume 3: Black Mould (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan This comic occurs between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree . It’s also how Peter ends up working more with Sahra Guleed, who I also adore. And I love how snarky both of them are about the racism they deal with […]

Kitty Saves the World

Kitty Saves the World (2015) Carrie Vaughn The final Kitty book. It’s all come to a head as they attempt to find and take down Roman, as they suspect he is attempting to destroy the world. “Hey,” Ben said in greeting. “What’s up?” “You’re not going to like it,” Cormac said. Which was a hell […]

Low Midnight

Low Midnight (2014) Carrie Vaughn Book thirteen and all that’s left is the finale. This is NOT a Kitty book, this is a Cormac and Amelia book. Amelia had insisted on putting magical protections on the laptop, a protective rune here and an arcane mark there. Cormac wasn’t sure electronics worked that way, that magic […]

Kitty in the Underworld

Kitty in the Underworld (2013) Carrie Vaughn I still don’t like this story. Rick is gone and Angelo is acting Master of Denver. Roman has taken out one of the master vampires who was on their side, and everyone is worried that war is coming. Meanwhile, Kitty gets kidnapped by a group led by an […]

Kitty Rocks the House

Kitty Rocks the House (2013) Carrie Vaughn Kitty is back in Denver, slowly rebuilding her show after the fall-out of her keynote speech in London. She and Rick are also working to build forces against Roman, a slow and very daunting prospect. Having recently re-read Rick’s origin story, his actions in this book are far […]

Kitty Steals the Show

Kitty Steals the Show (2012) Carrie Vaughn Kitty, Ben, and Cormac are all headed to London. Kitty and Ben to attend the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies, Cormac to look for Amelia’s family. Luckily, Kitty has friends across the ocean, including Emma, Allete’s great(s)-granddaughter, and Tyler and Schumacher representing the US government’s interests. We […]

Kitty’s Big Trouble

Kitty’s Big Trouble (2011) Carrie Vaughn After finding an old interview with a Civil War soldier claiming that General Sherman was a werewolf, Kitty goes looking for a way to prove it one way or another. She’s also get some other historical figures who may or may not have been supernatural as well. When a […]

Kitty Goes to War

Kitty Goes to War (2010) Carrie Vaughn Book 8–since I was starting to lose track. The story opens with the radio show. After hearing about it more times than might be coincidence, Kitty asks about strange and/or supernatural events that happened at or around Speedy Marts. And gets more information than she expected. She also […]

Kitty’s House of Horrors

Kitty’s House of Horrors (2010) Carrie Vaughn Kitty–and several others–agree to be on a supernatural reality show, but all have suspicious as to what the producers are really planning. “Okay. Fine. You know why horror-movie characters always get killed? Because they’ve never seen horror movies. They don’t know how it works. Right? But we do. […]

Kitty Raises Hell

Kitty Raises Hell (2009) Carrie Vaughn This is, essentially, the sequel to Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand, but it’s reached the point in the series where more questions are being asked than answered (which is fine, as long as they’re not cliffhanger answers). Tiamat is after Kitty, and something has followed her home from […]

Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand

Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand (2009) Carrie Vaughn Kitty and Ben are getting married, but to make things simpler, they decided to run off to Vegas to do so, and KNOB manages to make it a work trip for Kitty, with a live televised show in Vegas. Which resolves some of the issues Kitty […]

Kitty and the Silver Bullet

Kitty and the Silver Bullet (2008) Carrie Vaughn Cormac is in the clink. Kitty and Ben are trying to settle into the new pack of two. Then everything comes crashing down when Rick shows up asking Kitty to help him overthrow the supernatural power structure in Denver, followed by a call from Kitty’s father that […]

Kitty Takes a Holiday

Kitty Takes a Holiday (2007) Carrie Vaughn After being outed on national television as a werewolf, Kitty has gone to the mountains to recover and–theoretically–write a book. Trouble was, you could get away from society and learn to be self-reliant, like Thoreau advocated. Turn your nose up at the rat race. But you couldn’t escape […]

Kitty Goes to Washington

Kitty Goes to Washington (2006) Carrie Vaughn The second Kitty book finds her taking her show on the road after being forced out of Denver, and the getting called to Washington to testify before a Senate hearing. One of the best things about this book is the contrast between Alette the vampire and Senator Duke, […]

Rat Queens Volume 3: Demons

Rat Queens Volume 3: Demons (2016) Kurtis J. Wiebe, Tamra Bonvillain, Tess Fowler What? What? How? Man, that sure went off the rails right quick. I honestly don’t get what happened here. Last volume was good, this one started out well, then it just went, well, it went all over the place, and half of […]

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014) Randall Munroe I adore xkcd. It’s often funny, sometimes enthralling, and almost always makes you think. So when Randall Munroe wrote a book based upon his What If answers, I snatched it up. Because: Randall Munroe. But I bought the actual physical book, so it […]

Kitty’s Greatest Hits

Kitty’s Greatest Hits (2011) Carrie Vaughn Il Est Ne – Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (2008) A Princess of Spain – The Secret History of Vampires (2007) Conquistador de la Noche – Subterranean Online (2009) The Book of Daniel – Talebones #39 (2009) The Temptation of Robin Green – The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance (2009) Looking […]

Rat Queens Vol. 2: Far Reaching Tentacles of N’rygoth

Rat Queens Vol. 2: Far Reaching Tentacles of N’rygoth (2015) Kurtis J Wiebe, Roc Upchurch, Stjepan Sejic I am really really enjoying this comic. Even if it’s chock full of boinking and drugs. Or perhaps that’s because. Hard to tell. This story gives us glimpses of various character’s back stories and secrets, when the town […]

Kitty and The Midnight Hour

Kitty and The Midnight Hour (2005) Carrie Vaughn I’ve got the last Kitty book still waiting to be read, so I’m going to (hopefully) selectively re-read to get caught back up with the story. It’s funny, I’ve re-read this before, but every time I forget precisely how complex the story and characters are. After all, […]

Princess Ugg Volume 2

Princess Ugg Volume 2 (2015) Ted Naifeh, Warren Wucinich The second (and final) volume of Princess Ugg finds Ulga still at the academy learning to be a princess. She’s slowly learning to write, and learn the other bits of decorum that are expected in the lowlands, but her roommate still hates her and belittles her, […]

Mockingbird Vol. 1: I Can Explain

Mockingbird Vol. 1: I Can Explain (2016) Chelsea Cain, Joelle Jones, Ibrahim Moustafa, Kate Niemczyk To be honest, I think I need to read this again later. There was much I liked–a lot I liked–but the story was described as a puzzle box, and some of it seemed to depend upon previous knowledge of characters, […]

Princeless Vol 3: The Pirate Princess

Princeless Vol 3: The Pirate Princess (2014) Jeremy Whitley, Rosy Higgins, Ted Brandt Volume three finds Adrienne rescuing another princess locked in a tower–Raven aka The Black Arrow aka the Pirate Princess. Raven is a bit of a trickster figure, with her own agenda. But she isn’t a bad character–just one who knows what she […]

Princeless, Vol 2: Get Over Yourself

Princeless, Vol 2: Get Over Yourself (2014) Jeremy Whitley and Emily Martin Fun! Although not quite as good as the first. Adrienne has rescued herself and has now decided to rescue the rest of her sisters–even if said sisters are not quite sure they need rescued. Boy is Adrienne’s older sister Angelica irritating. Part of […]

Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Blood

Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Blood (2012) Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, and Tony Akins This is part of the DC New 52. I picked it up first as an ecomic, but could not get into it reading in that format–I can see the page as a whole OR I can read the text. Not both. So […]

Mighty Thor Vol. 1: Thunder in her Veins

Mighty Thor Vol. 1: Thunder in her Veins (2017) Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman So what do I like about Mighty Thor? I really really liked the parts about Jane Foster, about her history with Thor and Odin and Loki. But mostly about her fight with cancer, and how being Thor is working against her […]

Thor Vol. 2: Who Holds the Hammer?

Thor Vol. 2: Who Holds the Hammer? (2016) Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson, Jason Aaron, Noell Stevenson, CM Punk This is the second volume of Thor, Goddess of Thunder, and I’m finding that my lack of grounding in the Marvel mythos and history is starting to become a problem. It felt like there was […]

Rat Queens Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery

Rat Queens Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery (2013) Kurtis Wiebe and Roc Upchurch Let’s just get this out of the way: NOT FOR KIDS! TOTALLY NOT FOR KIDS! However, if you’re an adult? I LOVED it! The Rat Queens are a band of mercenaries in the town of Palisade, and many in the town are […]

Lumberjanes Vol. 1 Beware the Kitten Holy

Lumberjanes Vol. 1 Beware the Kitten Holy (2015) Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Brooke A Allen Apparently, if I’m going to pull out my reading glasses, I’m going to go ahead and read a bunch of comics. Friendship to the max! Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome […]

Princess Ugg Vol. 1

Princess Ugg Vol. 1 (2014) Ted Naifeh and Warren Wucinich Princess Ülga is traveling to the low-lands at her mother’s request, hoping to learn how to help her people. What she learns isn’t quite what she was expecting. I didn’t remember the premise, so when I started reading I wasn’t quite sure where things were […]

Princeless: Vol. One: Save Yourself

Princeless: Vol 1: Save Yourself (2012) Jeremy Whitley and Mia Goodwin OMG. This. Is. Awesome. I’ve had it for awhile, but hadn’t gotten around to reading it, because reading comics now requires me to find a pair of reading glasses. O.o I should not have waited. Princeless is a delight and a marvel and I […]

Street Magicks

Street Magicks (2016) edited by Paula Guran I believe it took me less than a year to finish this anthology. Hopefully this is a new trend for me. “Freewheeling” by Charles de Lint “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane” by Scott Lynch “Caligo Lane” by Ellen Klages “Socks” by Delia Sherman “Painted Birds […]

Cry Wolf

Cry Wolf (2008) Patricia Briggs One of the things I particularly like about this book (and spin-off series) is that we get to spend time with both Bran and Asil. Bran didn’t reply, just spun himself slowly, around and around on the little stool in the corner of the room. In his hothouse, Asil trimmed […]

Silver Borne

Silver Borne (2010) Patricia Briggs The fifth Mercy Thompson book finds things slightly settled down after the events of the previous two books, but there are two problems: first is that Adam brought Mercy into the pack, and many of the wolves are deeply unhappy with that, and the second is that Samuel is tired […]

Bone Crossed

Bone Crossed (2009) Patricia Briggs The fourth Mercy Thompson book takes place immediately following the events of the third book, continuing the final scene in that book, and–more importantly–fixing one of the biggest problems of that book: Mercy acting as if everything was okay. Although it makes for difficult reading, I really do love that […]

Iron Kissed

Iron Kissed (2008) Patricia Briggs I still have great difficulty reading this book, and flat-out skip most of a chapter because it is so hard for me to read. Just so you know. Mercy is called by Zee to look into a death at the Fae Reservation; this will allow her to repay her debt […]

Blood Bound

Blood Bound (2007) Patricia Briggs The second Mercy Thompson books finds Mercy helping the vampires–specifically Stefan, who is a friend of sorts. The Mistress of the City knows what Mercy is, but believes Stefan that Mercy is no threat to the local seethe, and so accepts Mercy’s place in the city (although Mercy still has […]

Moon Called

Moon Called (2006) Patricia Briggs I learned my lesson years ago, although sometimes I’d forget, this time I remembered: after reading Guy Gavriel Kay, I must read something absolutely different. If I read any kind of historical fantasy after Guy Gavriel Kay, I am always sorely disappointed. Since I was still in the mood for […]

Dessert For Two: Small Batch Cookies, Brownies, Pies, and Cakes

Dessert For Two: Small Batch Cookies, Brownies, Pies, and Cakes (2015) Christina Lane Let me gush, for just a moment: I love this book. I love to bake, but I don’t love having more sweets than Michael and I should (or even can!) eat. But in baking, unlike cooking, you can’t just halve or quarter […]

Comfort and Joy: Cooking for Two

Comfort and Joy: Cooking for Two (2015) Christina Lane After falling in love with Dessert for Two by Christina Lane, I snatched up Comfort and Joy. The section we use most frequently is Anytime Comfort Foods, and although they’re not necessarily my comfort foods, what we’ve made is super delicious. One-Skillet Beef and Cheddar Paste […]

The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook

The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook (2014) America’s Test Kitchen In the past couple years I started to take cooking more seriously. I’ve always loved baking, but cooking? Not so much. On a whim I picked up a couple of cooking for two books, to see if not having to eat the same meal for […]

Thor Volume 1: Goddess of Thunder

Thor Vol 1: Goddess of Thunder (2015) Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman I picked this up after reading the first bit in A-Force Presents which was a lovely introduction to some of Marvel’s female heroes. I initially wasn’t sure about Thor, because there was a good amount of background that I was missing, but I […]

Hellboy in Mexico

Hellboy in Mexico (2016) Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, Mick Mahon, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba I generally like the Hellboy books that are collections of short stories, but for some reason I had a hard time getting into this collection. It had lots of the things I generally like about Hellboy (like getting into (and losing) […]

She-Hulk Volume 2: Disorderly Conduct

She-Hulk Volume 2: Disorderly Conduct (2015) Charles Soule and Javier Pulido She-Hulk is fun, and I enjoyed reading these two volumes, but I don’t think that this is a series I’ll continue reading. There are a couple threads in this volume. She-Hulk has to work with a variety of different super heroes, getting miniaturized, and […]

Rivers of London: Night Witch

Rivers of London: Night Witch (2016) by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero You get an alternative cover, because this is WAY more awesome than any of the actual covers. If it isn’t obvious, this story focuses a good deal upon Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina, the Russian Night Witch captured by Peter and Thomas […]

Dead Heat

Dead Heat (2015) Patricia Briggs The fourth Alpha & Omega book occurs before Night Broken. Charles takes Anna out to Colorado to meet an old friend. “Really?” said Joseph tentatively. “You don’t remember?” “Someone asked me not to,” said Charles. “And I told him I would oblige him. So no. I don’t remember.” And to […]

Fair Game

Fair Game (2012) Patricia Briggs The third Alpha & Omega book takes place several years between River Marked and Frost Burned. After the werewolves became known to the public, Charles’ job became much more difficult, since infractions that were previously allowed to slide, now carry a death sentence–a sentence that in many cases Charles has […]

Hunting Ground

Hunting Ground (2009) Patricia Briggs The second Alpha & Omega book takes place soon after the events in Cry Wolf (around the events of Moon Called.) Bran has called a meeting with the European wolves, to discuss the fact that he is bringing the wolves out into the public. Anna is still coming to terms […]

Night Broken

Night Broken (2014) Patricia Briggs Book 8 finds Beauclaire wanting his father’s walking stick back from Mercy. “Beauclaire knew that someone was going to have to take out Lugh. He was, apparently, girding up his loins to do just that when Da took care of it. That didn’t mean he didn’t swear vengeance.” Adam’s ex-wife […]