So my prevailing question through a lot of this novel was: is the most concentrated usage of pirate tropes, or, did this book invent all of those pirate tropes? And I think the answer is probably a little in the middle, but it's interesting because this book feels like THE pirate book. And it's kind … [Read more]
Under the Bridge
Because the hardboiled genre has become so mainstream, many forget it has its roots in anti-establishmentarianism. Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest is on some level a mea culpa for his time as a strike-busting Pinkerton agent. Raymond Chandler's Marlowe frequently made an enemy of the local police, … [Read more]
fabricati diem, pvnc
First Watch is a buddy cop movie in a high fantasy setting, where our two comically mismatched partners (a wet-behind-the-ears human and a grizzled veteran dwarf) have to find a way to get along and solve an increasingly complicated mystery in an early-modern city riven by factionalism and peopled … [Read more]
YA + Alternative History + Zombies!!
Justina Ireland’s 2018 YA novel Dread Nation was one of New York Public Library’s Winter 2018 Picks for Young Adults. When I read the brief description about alternative history and zombies and then saw the totally badass cover over on Amazon, I had to read it. Although it clocks in at over 400 … [Read more]