Tampa is the story of a young, gorgeous Middle School teacher and her attempts to seduce young waifish boys. Tampa is also a very hard book to read. Don’t get me wrong, the author has a gift of words. Her craft is precise and evocative. She effectively creates a chilling portrait of a predator, utterly selfish and unconcerned with the damage she radiates to all those close to her. I walked away knowing this was just a preliminary chapter in the life of a sociopath, […]
Fairy Tales for Angry Little Girls
I picked this up on a whim at the library, I’m always looking for things I can read with my kids. (That’s my excuse for reading a lot of YA dystopias, though we all know I read them anyway!) Apparently this is a fairly known comic strip, though this was my first exposure. The characters are a multicultural cauldron of little girls, reacting with all the coolness and sarcasm so perfected by the average preteen. Perhaps were I more familiar with the strip I would […]
Mass Effect: Redemption
Set between the prologue and start of Mass Effect 2, the novel introduces some familiar faces in a race to find Shepherd’s body before the Collectors escape with it. Written by ME2 lead writer Mac Walters, it is true to the universe and characters, though a very superficial cast. I was surprised to see Miranda and Liara working together for the Illusive man, which explains their prickly reunion in the game proper. And here I thought it was just because I had romanced both of […]
In the After
In the aftermath of an alien invasion, one girl and the child she rescues must live an entirely silent life to avoid detection. At least until they are discovered by a scientific enclave that changes everything. It was entertaining, I liked the investigation into the beginnings of dystopia, and there were some bits that were unique. Could quite easily be the far prequel to “Brave New World.” It falls into some of the same YA tropes as “Divergent” and its ilk, with the young adult […]