Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho is the story of two women who have been friends since they were young and who grow up together to continue interweaving themselves in each others lives.

I did not like this book. This novel is the story of Fiona and the story of Jane, and is told from the alternating viewpoints of each woman. The stories go back and forth in time and they do not really seem to connect to each other in any way except they are told from the points of view of Fiona and Jane. Neither character seems to have anything to connect the reader to them, and this is not because of their culture but because they do not ever seem to be fully developed. The reader gets glimpses into their individual lives, but they do not really get a finished version of any story.

Jane seems angry throughout the book and she does not seem to have any goals in life. We read about her teenage years, dating history as a possible bisexual, and a little glimpse into her friendship with Won, and her relationship with her mother. However, Jane is shallow and we never know what her life goals are. In her forties she uses words like "bounce" when leaving, which turned me off totally to her character. I understand that people in their forties do use the slang of their youth, but still, I did not understand what the point of her character was. Then there was the character of Fiona.

Fiona wanted to be and eventually becomes a lawyer, but her life too seems to be flat and boring. The most interesting part of her life is when she is young and learns of her father and how her mother became pregnant with her at the age of sixteen. Her name was originally Ona and she had a great relationship with her grandparents until she learned the truth about how her mother met her father. Fiona goes through several relationships and there is not really any development to her character. I have no idea what either of the main characters desires are, nor do I know what the purpose of this book is.

I say this last part because this book is supposedly about the ongoing and in and out lives of Fiona and Jane as they grow older and develop, but each story seemed less about their friendship and more about the author having a desire to write this book. This book did not showcase their relationship, nor did it show the struggles of the two characters as their lives changed and developed. It really has nothing to do with their friendship changing or growing or ending. This book has almost nothing to do with a friendship and almost everything to do with two women living separate lives and nothing intertwines.

I understand that this is a debut novel for this author, and I hate being this cynical when reading a debut, but this novel did not really have much to do with the synopsis. I did read this quickly, but I cannot recommend this novel and I hope the author has a better book in her future.

I know that everyone has their favorite Batman and villains, for me I will always enjoy Michael Keaton as Batman and the villains in both of these movies. For those who enjoyed The Batman, you will likely not agree with much of what I say in this review, and that is fine.

I had many issues with this version of the film, so I think I am going to start with the characters.

Robert Pattenson as Bruce Wayne/Batman was not great. I have never sat through a movie where the main character had so few lines and most of the plot was driven by their brooding personality. Most of his lines didn't even add to the story, and I really didn't get a sense of either Batman or Bruce Wayne. I didn't know who was the defining character and it wasn't clear to me if Wayne was even a popular figure in this version of Gotham. For Zoe Kravitz I did not hate her cat woman, but it didn't seem to me that she had the depth of cat persona that is necessary to showcase her personality. However, she was better than Anne Hathaway's version as she was only "cat" because she was a cat burglar. I wanted more from Zoe's character and less homicidal maniac - which seemed unrealistic to her. Basically every character needed more, and the Riddler was a joke. As an incel who hates everyone because he received an unfair life due to being an orphan, he could have been so much more developed, but no - this version of the Riddler was underdeveloped and I just didn't care. The only character that stood out was Penguin - but only because I was astonished that this was Colin Farrell! He was one hundred percent unrecognizable.

Another issue I had was with the story. Why on earth would Bruce Wayne's father go to a mobster to get help with a problem? This was not only unrealistic to me in regards to everything I know about the Batman story lines that I had a hard time with the entire plot due to this. Also, the backstory of their murder was not done well. To be murdered by the joker or a rogue criminal was interesting, to be killed because of a gangster not getting what he wanted, that was too simple. In regards to his parents, I also wanted more detail on the murder/suicide of his grandparents, and the mental health issues faced by his mother. How did his mother's issues affect his childhood, or did it? Was she gone for any of his childhood or was she healthy and okay by this point? Were her issues reflected in Batman's need to become a vigilante? All of this should have been explored to further develop everything in the story.

Lastly, this version of Gotham was not interesting to me. I don't understand why the city was so incredibly dirty and dark. I understand that the movie was supposed to have more of a noir feel, but for me it was just unfortunate and I didn't care about the why or the who because I didn't care about the city itself. I needed to feel more of a connection to the people to care about who was dying and why. A revenge story on top of a revenge story does not make an interesting story and there has to be something for the person watching to want to root for. I didn't care if Batman solved the case. I didn't care about the villain (and they are one of the most interesting parts of the Batman story). I didn't care about anything.

So, while I know some people really enjoyed this version of Batman, I thought it all fell flat, and I was uninterested. I doubt that if there is another one I will go watch it. Yes, I know Jim Carrey's Riddler was not for everyone, but at least he was entertaining. This version of the Riddler was just sad and dull. I can't say I recommend this version of Batman

Constantine von Hoffman is the author of the recently published John Henry the Revelator. The premise of John Henry the Revelator is  - what if the first superhero was Black. More specifically what if he was a Black teenager in 1930s America, when Jim Crow is flying high. So, what would it take to balance the scales of justice? A miracle. Meet Mo Crawford of Tuskegee, Alabama. Fifteen years old, nearly seven-feet tall, totally bulletproof, and more interested in being a farmer than anyone's savior.

Questions about John Henry the Revelator:

Why did you decide to write this specific book?
I had the idea to write a book about the battles to pass a Federal anti-lynching law (we still don’t have one). I was researching the idea when the question of what if the first superhero was Black jumped up in my brain. Then all these scenes and characters started showing up. I feel like the book told me to write it.

What makes this book important to you?
I hope it can in some way add to someone’s understanding of race in America. The Constitution originally counted enslaved Black people as only 3/5th of a person and, even though slavery ended, we still treat them as only 3/5th of a person. Their lives are at significantly higher risk in any interaction with the police. They receive worse care from our medical system. They are hired less often and paid less money. A 2017 Boston Globe story found that white households in Boston had an average net worth of $250,000. For Black households that number was $8. Every time the Globe prints that they include the phrase “this is not a typo.”  After World War II the GI Benefits law excluded Black soldiers. Racism is destroying this nation. I’m a writer and this novel is my very small effort to fight racism.

What do you want your readers to take away after reading this book?
I would love it if some white readers learned something more about the history and horror of racism in America. I would also love it if a Black reader felt they had read an honest depiction of racism in America.

Fun Questions about writing, reading, and being an author:

What is the first book that made you cry?
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. The death of Deets still gets me every time.
 
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A little of both. I can feel really exhausted after a lot of writing, but I also feel really good.
 
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Depression, the Quicker Letter Downer ©! It will eat me alive.
 
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
I seriously thought about changing my name to Cornelius Byrne at one point because I was sick of being connected to my father all the time. If I ever do need a pseudonym, that’s the one I’ll use.
 
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Just write, everything is a draft. Don’t obsess about getting it right the first time.
 
How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
I know I can do it now. A book no longer feels like Mount Everest. Also, I learned to write whatever scene was interesting to me at the moment. It doesn’t have to be written in order (As a writer, the author of this blog never writes in order).
 
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
About $15 for a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen. The way I work is by first writing in long hand on yellow legal pads (the writer of this blog always writer her first draft longhand in notebooks!!!). This prevents me from going back to re-write. I write until I get to some point that feels substantial and then transfer it onto the computer. I didn’t try a fountain pen until I was in my late 40s but when I did…wow. For the first time writing by hand felt right.
 
What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?
I’m going to flip this – I really liked Isaac Asimov when I was 12-14. Now, I feel like it’s a real accomplishment if his characters make it all the way to two-dimensional.
 
What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer, who I just found out died February 5th (she was 94). She’s Argentinian and Kalpa was her first book to be translated into English (by Ursula K. Leguin, no less). It’s an incredible impressionistic novel that tells the story of an empire in small scenes that may or not be connected to each other. It is epic in scope and narrow in focus (and short, it may be 200 pages). It’s magical realism with an emphasis on magical.
           
How do you select the names of your characters?
Some I just go into my email spam and look at the names there. Some I look at my bookshelf and take a first name from one writer and the last name from another. I also keep a list of names that I think of or come across and inspire me: Neon Mary’s bones lit up whenever she felt a wind blowing across the wizards’ graveyard.
 
What was your hardest scene to write?
Killing a character I’d really come to love (Oh, I've been there, done that). I didn’t know they’d have to die when they first walked into my book, but it became clear later on. And it’s a gruesome death. That said, I started writing a horror story and I love, love, love killing off the characters in it.
 
What is your favorite childhood book?
Harold and The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. It’s an amazing book about creativity and imagination. I still read it regularly.
 
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Focusing on one thing. I have a huge list of stories, many of which I’ve started, and I have a real hard time knowing which one I should be working on. As a result, a short story can take way longer to write than it needs to.
 
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
Judging by my first novel – about 30 years. I wrote a third of it in the mid-1990s and then got scared of going any farther. What scared me is that it’s a first-person narrative of a Black man and all I could see were the mistakes I could make. But the damn thing wouldn’t leave me alone. So, I went back to it in 2015 and finished the first draft in 2016 and the final in 2018. However, I wrote a novella in six months, so I hope the next one won’t take as long.

I, personally, look forward to what your next journey (book or story) will result in.
 
About Constantine von Hoffman:
After 25 years as a journalist, I spent a decade creating artisanal marketing content for large corporations. I am currently working as manservant to three elderly dogs and writing strange stories when they allow me the time.
 
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/constantine-von-hoffman/john-henry-the-revelator/
 
From the review: “The characters, particularly Moses, are well drawn, and aspects of Moses’ journey, such as the way it’s covered in the media and his efforts to translate his grassroots movement into a political one … may remind readers of events in our own time. Overall, it’s a complex work that engages with an era that feels simultaneously remote and frightfully contemporary.”

The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is not a bad movie, however it is much different than the book of the same name by Jack Finney. The book was written in 1955, and has some of the same characters and ideas, but it is set in a small town, and doesn’t end the same. The movie takes place in New York, which seems odd, as I was wondering how pod people could take over the entire city of New York without anyone noticing.
 
The movie and book both have the same plot, an alien species comes down from where ever and they take over the lives of others. They not only insert themselves, but they become the other person, forcing the other person to no longer exist. The one thing that sets humanity apart from the aliens is that they have emotions, they have these things that make them freak out or gather to help each other.
 
There are four movie versions of this book, and none of them are the same. They all involve an invasion, and they all involve people becoming something else, but that is where the similarities stop. If you have not seen the 1978 version before, you are in for a treat. A young Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy (after his role as televisions Spock).

The movie follows Sutherland and a few of his friends, as they struggle to figure out what is happening. Their friends and loved ones are changing, and they don’t recognize who they are anymore. As people keep turning into these pod people life changes and those who have not yet changed must figure out how they can survive. This is where things diverge, and this is where I will put some SPOILERS.
 
The book ends with the Aliens being defeated, and the ones who have traded their lives for the lives of humans, must live the rest of their short existences here on earth. The lifespan of one of these pod people is about five years, so once they start dying off, they are gone.
 
The movie ends with a twist, and those who you expect to be pod people are not. It is an interesting movie, and the theme of humanity is strong, as it is what holds the world together. We don’t know, if there are aliens, if they will be like the ones in one of the variety of movies out there. Of course, we do have to wonder if aliens will have any emotions, or if they will understand what our emotions or lifestyles are like.

Watch this one if you can, skip the later two, but if you can find the earlier one, watch that one as well. Plus, if you have time read the book, because it is interesting for the time it was made.

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach is about a young man who is trying to gather what happened to him when he was younger, and who learns that life was not as it seemed.

During a class project in Kindergarten, the narrator learns that their penpal experiment is more than it seems. The entire class sends a balloon with a letter attached off to the ether, hoping that someone will write them back with a picture of where they live. After a long while the narrator receives a letter, and a picture, but the picture doesn't make any sense. This continues and the narrators mother becomes frightened. The reader learns throughout the story that his neighbor might have been murdered, and several other horrifying things that probably happened throughout the years as he grew up. Finally, his mother tells him the whole truth, ending with the disappearance of his best friend.

There are quite a few people who don't like this book due to the writing style or the storytelling, but I enjoyed this novel. Well, enjoyed may be a strong word for it as I did become annoyed at times, but the length the story went through to keep things from me was fantastic. It had a creepy factor that I haven't really received from many books in the past few years. Most novels didn't have me checking the locks on my doors, or making sure all of my windows were shut properly. Most novels don't have me looking around at my surroundings as I wonder who might be watching me.

There was something about this novel that made me want to keep reading to learn what really happened, who was the bad guy, how was it all going to end? There were times that I felt the story was too much, and the main character was too annoying - both in negative ways. I wanted more from the book, I wanted more details. It was a fast read, but the ending didn't satisfy me as much as I would have liked.

I wanted to know the who and the why, but maybe there wasn't an answer to that because maybe there aren't always answers. Either way, it was a good book, and I do recommend it. You might not want to read it at night, alone in your house, with most of the lights off.

I wanted to apologize to anyone who reads this blog. I have not been posting, and honestly I haven't missed a month since I started this blog. I have a million excuses - I work two full time jobs, I am tired all of the time, one job has been unbearable, the other is fine, I ma making life choices, and I have to plan a book release so I am ready for Phoenix Fan Fusion in May. I don't have time to write, relax, or even think.

I promise to get back to my normal posts, but not until next month. I am tired, but I think a lot of us are.

I know I am tired because of this pandemic. I am vaccinated, and wear my masks constantly, but I am exhausted. I am emotionally exhausted. I am physically exhausted. I am in the same place as so many of you out there in internet land.

So, I am going to get back to it next month. After the holidays I hope to be better.

Life choices are being made. Life choices.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides is about Mariana Andros, a therapist who has become fixated on a professor, Edward Fosca, who she believes is a murderer. He is the group head of The Maidens, a young group of women who attend his Greek mythology classes. Zoe, her niece, calls when one member is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana is not untroubled herself. Working her way through grief at the sudden death of her husband, Sebastian, she is concerned about her grief and one of her patients, Henry, who has an unsettling obsession with her. Then another body is found and Mariana must deal with he niece, her concerns about Edward, a you man named Fred who has taken an interest in her, and the murders that unsettle.

I read about halfway through this book and almost did not finish it. It was pretentious and most of the characters were not interesting, especially Mariana. The grief was overwhelming, not in an I feel bad for her way but more in a can she stop being so stupid way. It was not written well. I felt like the author wanted me to feel bad for her but I couldn't when she was ignoring the world she kept trying to live in. She was often preoccupied and boring, which made me preoccupied and bored. I would have liked more about their relationship for the end of the book to be more poignant.

The most interesting character in the book was Henry, one of Mariana's patients, and he was not developed in a way he could have been. He was the type of character that someone could feel something for, and he was the type of character that some would want to root for to get healthy. Instead, he was made into a character that had no point in the story. He was there to threaten the main character, but there was no reason for it. It felt obviously like a misdirection. Again, this was one of the things that made me feel like the author thought he was "getting something over" on me.

While the ending was a surprise and quite interesting, I needed would have liked more from that as well. I would have liked to know more of how and why things started between the murderer and their companion. I would have liked to know why things happened the way they did. I would have liked to know more about Sebastian's death and his life with Mariana. I would have liked so much more. The problem was that there were so many "red herrings" in this book that it felt overloaded when it didn't need to.

All of that being said, I did like it. And honestly, I liked it much more than I liked The Silent Patient. That was another book by this author that took me forever to read and that I almost gave up on. Now that I have given the author multiple reads, I don't think I will read any more books from them. I don't think I have the stamina, and I while the endings of both books were good, I would have appreciated less pretentiousness and less filler.

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom is the sequel to his novel Five People You Meet in Heaven. 

This novel follows Annie, a newly married woman, who was also the child Eddie saved in the first novel. After a wondrous wedding day, Annie and her husband, Pablo, decide to go for an evening hot air balloon ride. Things change after this ride, and both Annie and Pablo are forever changed. 

This was not as good as Five People You Meet in Heaven. Annie is not as compelling of a character as Eddie was in the first novel. She whines a lot about the hand that was cut off and reattached in the first novel. She feels that she has never done anything right, and that her entire live is a mistake. This only makes her character unlikable, and overly dramatic. Throughout the scenes with people she meets she continually asks the same questions, and it becomes repetitive and dull. 

Each of the people Annie meets is predictable, and none really seem to add to the story as once again she continues to question and state that she was a mistake. In the end, it seems as if we were misled as what happened to Annie isn't what we expected. 

I don't care if a book or movie misleads me, but I don't like a book that lies to me, and I am not sure Annie was the character this book should have been written about. I would have liked to see a new story, and a new person that had nothing to do with the original book. The ending felt forced to give the reader a feel good moment, but it wasn't necessary, as in the original (SPOILER here is you haven't read the first book) Eddie dies. He gets answers, and he gets happiness (even in death), but it feels like a real story, not a forced story written to make money. 

I wanted to love this novel, as I did Five People You Meet in Heaven, but it is too forced, and I didn't love it.

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones is about a group of teens who decide to pull a prank involving a mannequin. Shauna is the girl who the prank is being pulled on, and Sawyer is the one who decides to pull the prank.

I now have to figure out what to say about this book without giving away too much.

After the prank, Sawyer realizes that things are not going they way they should. Not only is Shauna in trouble and fired from her job, but at least one other member of the group gets grounded. This isn't the first time the group has gotten Shauna in trouble, but this is the final time for her assistant manager and manager. After Shauna is killed in a freak accident, Sawyer realizes and believes that the mannequin, who he has named Manny, may now be torturing and killing the teens.

So, that is about as much as I can say without giving anything away. Let me move onto the characters.

This is a short book, so the reader doesn't get much time to get to know any of the characters, so, when characters start dying off it really doesn't matter very much. I didn't get to know any of the characters enough to care when people started dying. The most interesting thing about the deaths is who is killing them, in the end. The reason for the deaths is actually more interesting than the deaths themselves.

The plot was a little bit thin and the characters were all pretty annoying. There wasn't one character that I liked, at all. The dialogue and inner dialogue was what really bothered me. It was all very all over the place, and after the first couple of pages especially, I really wanted the narrator to shut up and give the story over to someone else. Even as the narrator, I didn't get to know enough about the character to care about what happened.

The ending of the book was not at all satisfactory, and again it was one more thing that left me annoyed. I wanted more for so much of this and I am beginning to wonder if maybe Stephen Graham Jones is not really for me as this is the second book of his I have read. The other book I am still considering and have not written a review for. It could just be that this specific book was not for me.

The only thing that really was enjoyable about this book was that it was short, which made it a fast read. So, I can't recommend this book, but I am not going to say don't read it because maybe this kind of writing is exactly what you are looking for.

Relentless by Jonathan Maberry was a pretty good book. From the synopsis:

Joe Ledger's world has been torn apart. The people closest to him have been savagely murdered and Ledger is on the hunt for the killers. His already fragile psyche has cracked apart, allowing a dangerous darkness to overwhelm him.

His hunt takes him deep into the world of the deadly black market weapons sales, and standing in his way are a new generation of private military contractors. These mercenaries have been enhanced with cutting-edge cybernetics and chemical enhancements, transforming them into real-world super soldiers. Stronger, faster, harder to hurt, and fitted with built-in weapons. They are beyond anything Joe has ever faced.

But he is not the Joe Ledger they expected to fight. He is defined by the Darkness now. The attempt to destroy him--to break him--has backfired. Instead his enemies have turned him into a far more fearsome weapon.

I have read almost every Joe Ledger book and short story that is out there. This book follows a little bit of a different Ledger than you may have read before, except possibly in Maberry's novel, Rage.

Joe is dealing with depression and a possible psychotic break. The novel takes a few heartbreaking turns as the reader wonders about his psyche and the delightful pup, Ghost. Joe starts the novel on a mission that he may not be prepared for. Later, on this mission, the reader sees him kill someone that seems to cross the line of who does and does not deserve death. The point of this singular killing was an act of mercy, but in reality it may not seem that way. After this killing Joe leaves the team and disappears.

Throughout the novel I was concerned for Ghost, as Joe's psychotic break was so dramatic. I wondered if his demons would be too much for both of them. Throughout the novel the entire team is concerned and tries to help or find Joe. I was a tad bothered by the treatment of Junie, only because I thought at this point she would be a tad bit stronger.

To me the most interesting character in the novel was Mr. Sunday, another character who is not who he seems. He is a man able to sell anything to anyone. I enjoyed reading his scenes, and finding out the secrets behind who he is.

I did not think the end was suited perfectly to the story. I felt that at least two of the characters were killed off and died too fast, especially since so much was built up throughout the novel about them. I don't want to say too much, as I don't want to give anything away. I will say that one character, I would have liked to see go down a little harder.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. At almost 500 pages it is not a light read. It probably could have been edited in a few places, and still held it's meat, but I enjoyed it and I enjoyed seeing Joe Ledger continue to develop. I also really enjoyed the character of Toys (had to end with that).