I never would have come across Drew Magary’s The Postmortal if it weren’t my book club’s July selection, and I’m really glad that I did. With Postmortal, Magary has created a futuristic society that refuses to grow up. It’s kind of like Peter Pan and 1984 had a baby and named it The Postmortal (Caveat: I confess to never having read 1984). In a not-so-distant future, scientists have discovered a cure for aging. Our narrator, John Farrell, is one of the early recipients of “The […]
Girl Pilots! WWII!
There are certain things a writer can focus on in their novel to ensure that I will at least give it a shot (if I know about the book), and in all likelihood, I will really dig it. One of them is using World War II as a backdrop. I find a lot of wars interesting but this one in particular fascinates me. The atrocities committed against humanity during this time period, and the willingness of so many people to just go along with them […]
Jazz Age Magic
Teri Brown’s Born of Illusion is the first of a new series centered on Anna Van Housen, a talented illusionist with legitimate extra-sensory powers. When we meet Anna and her mother, the famous medium Marguerite Van Housen, they have finally settled into a routine in New York of the 1920s. After a lifetime of moving from town to town with traveling circuses and dodging police, the Van Housena ladies finally have permanent billing at their own theater and their own apartment. Anna and her mother […]
Weekend in Snoozeville
Robyn Sisman’s Weekend in Paris is the story of young Englishwoman Molly Clearwater and her trials and tribulations working as an assistant to a (clichéd) chauvinistic asshole of a boss. In preparation for a weekend conference in Paris, the boss Malcolm makes it clear that not only does he have lewd expectations about his and Molly’s “business” trip, but also has no respect or appreciation for her intelligence and abilities. In a fit of pique, Molly quits her job but decides to take the weekend […]