Looking for Your Next Book

 I had never heard of Natalie Beach when I requested an ARC of this book and I most certainly was not aware of the conflict/drama between Beach and Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway.  Heck, I only first heard the term 'influencer' a year or so ago and if I glance at my Instagram feed once a week I'm being pretty active. So what would draw me to this book?  I enjoy a well written essay. And these are VERY well written. The conflict between Beach and Calloway plays an important role in a number of these essays and, in a nutshell, Beach acted as a ghost writer for Calloway's internet persona which led to a book deal for Calloway (and, hence, her ghost writer, Natalie) but Calloway couldn't keep up with her end of the work and backed out of the deal, costing Beach some work and money as well. Their feud has gone public (not surprising, given that Calloway is an entirely fictitious, public persona) and they've put forth dueling essays about each other. Who cares...

 Tarzan is probably one of the best known figures to emerge from the pulps of the early 1900's. This is partly due to the films (the first, a silent Tarzan film in 1918), which brought the jungle hero to audiences that would never read a pulp magazine, and partly due to the unique aspects of the character and the tremendous storytelling of author Edgar Rice Burroughs (he was a better storyteller than writer). It's not surprising, then, that publishers and the Burroughs estate would want to see the adventures continue, beyond simply re-releasing the original books. Enter author Andy Briggs. The Savage Lands is the third of three books (my knack for picking up a book late in a series continues) in a new Tarzan series, staying faithful to the original content but updating some of the components. To be fair, it's been a long time since I read the original Tarzan novel, and I don't think I've read any more than that first one, so it's hard for me to comment much on w...

 Alexander Napoleon ("Nap") Outland is the captain of the Space Vessel 3369 - or, the "69" for short.  He's the best pilot in the galaxy, according to the book blurb.  So is he captain, or pilot?  Both?  He's also a pirate and smuggler and he's left a string of women throughout the galaxy both loving and hating him while his co-pilot is a smartass Sexbot and his weapons chief ("Slinkie") is just about the sexiest woman around, but she won't even consider sleeping with Outland. Alexander Outland makes his living skirting the law but a new fleet of pirates are cutting into his business and soon he has folks on both sides of the law after him.  It's going to take all his piloting skills and moxie to get him, and his crew, out of proverbial hot water. I was hoping for a fast-paced, exciting space opera here, and I believe that was the intention, but the book and the primary character are a little too full of themselves to be enjoyable. Clea...

Rushmore 'Mac' McKenzie is asked by a friend for a favor - look into the murder of a real estate developer in a nearby community and help prove the innocence of the friend's friend. The evidence against the woman (Jeanette Carroll) is overwhelming but Jeanette doesn't seem too worried, and yet she won't offer up an alibi for where she was at the time of the murder. McKenzie promises to look into it, but he won't try to get the woman off is he thinks she's guilty.  But upon meeting the woman, just like his friend, he believes in her innocence. But two more bodies are soon discovered in the same location, including that of Jeanette's husband who had been missing (and presumably had run off with another woman) years earlier. And then Jeanette disappears, leaving her passport, driver's license, and credit cards in a pile on her table. Her guilt seems all but convicted now, yet Mac still believes that there is something else going on and that she didn...

 There was a time when I considered myself more than just an avid reader, but a collector of books. Had I the resources, I have no doubt that I would have collected manuscripts if I'd had the resources (ie money) and so this title really grabbed my attention. I have to admit, though, that I had no idea where this book might go. This book is really a series of twelve mini-biographies of people who, through the course of history, have been collectors of manuscripts and who very well may have saved (or at least preserved) many rare manuscripts from destruction. Something that comes across as relatively common is the desire to own a rare item more than owning a specific item due to its significance. What is also common among the people included here is a real joy among the collectors for manuscripts. Author Christopher de Hamel does a really wonderful job of researching these manuscript collectors (and he gives a lot of credit to others for some of this work) and presenting their live...

The high school friends who self-titled their group of friends "Freaks" have survive the summer (despite the otherworldly figure trying to kill them) and now school is back in session and they are looking are starting their sophomore year. While the appearance is that they are ordinary, if borderline outcast students, the truth is quite different. The Freaks inherited a variety of unusual superpowers and there's an alien god trying to kill them. This god can shape-shift.  Yet this isn't the biggest threat to the Freaks.  When people were dying and it was dangerous just to step outside the home at night, the local police weren't prepared to deal with whatever was happening.  Now the CIA is in town.  They're sure the Freaks are somehow responsible for everything going on but they haven't got proof ... yet.   I can still see the appeal that a book like this (and this book in particular) would have with a certain group of young readers (typically the outcasts,...

 John Scalzi's Dispatcher series is a fun, fast-paced, pulp-style scifi adventure series.  The basic premise is that sometime, not too long ago, something happened (no one knows what or why - that's not important) so that 99.9% of the people who are murdered come back to life, naked, in the place they feel most comfortable (typically a bedroom at home, but certainly not always). This has given rise to the legitimate profession of 'dispatching' wherein someone facing an untimely death (such as a medical procedure or an accident) can be dispatched (ie: murdered) and their life is reset. Our series protagonist is Tony Valdez, a 'dispatcher' who works closely with the police. Now, with the pandemic in full swing, Tony is working quite regularly at a local hospital, dispatching patients who are likely to succumb to the COVID virus (only after carefully explaining the potential  downsides to the individual and their families) with the hopes that they would be reset wi...