A Descent into Dullness

April
Short Fiction: Marie Brennan's "From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review", Glenn Hirshberg's "Freedom is Space for the Spirit", Tara Isabella Burton's "the Destroyer" & Genevieve Valentine's "La Beaute Sans Vertu".

New Reads:
Brandon Sanderson's Calamity and the Bands of Mourning.  The first finishes up his supers' trilogy and the latter is part of his steampunk-era "Mistborn" series.
Steven James' Blur.  An ok YA paranormal mystery.
Daniel Jose Older's Midnight TaxiTango.  2nd novel of his "Bone Street Rumbo" series.
Tim Dorsey's Florida Roadkill.  First foray into Dorsey's  modern crime/pulp stuff.  A bit too wide a spread of characters and plots for me.
Adrian Tchaivosky's Guns of the Dawn.  A black powder-fantasy book where one of the two warring nations begins conscripting female soldiers to shore up its manpower shortages.  Feels a little like of an Austen character was the lead in a Bernard Cornwell Napoleonic book.
Elizabeth Bear/Sarah Monette's a Companion to Wolves.  Monette is the writer of the Goblin Emperor under a pseudonym and Elizabeth Bear is Elizabeth Bear.  So this is very well written.  It also has a LOT of really graphic gay sex, much that borders on the edge of non-consensual.
Daniel Abraham's the Spider's War.  The final to "the Dagger & the Coin" epic fantasy series which features the heroism of the banking system and using it to fight mad, religious tyrants.
Seanan McGuire's Indexing: Reflections.
Charlie Higson's the Enemy
Sherwood Smith's Remnala's Children.  Some follow-up stories to the Crown/Court Duel books.
Michael Shea's the Extra.  Future dystopia where filmmakers can literally kill off their extras in movies.
Emmie Mears' the Masked Songbird.  First of Mears' "Shrike" supers series.

Rereads:
Eric Flint/George Huff/Paula Goodlett's 1636: the Kremlin Games, 1636: the Barbie Consortium & 1636: the Viennese Waltz
Iver Cooper's 1636: Seas of Fortune
Lois McMaster Bujold's Captain Vorpatril's Alliance & Gentelman Jole & the Red Queen

Graphic Novels/TPBs/Rulebooks:  I'm moving rpgs and other non-fiction here since I don't really go thru enough of it for its own category.
Faith Erin Hicks's the Nameless City.  Alt history in a pseduo-China/Mongolia border setting.
Ultimate Intrigue (Pathfinder).  I liked this sourcebook quite a bit.  The roommate fell in love with the evil version of the Leadership feat and other new rules for his wizard/rogue crime boss.

Total books: 22


May
Short Fiction: Theodora Goss' "Red as Blood and White as Bone", Emmie Mears' "Uncaged", Brit Mandelo's "the Pigeon Summer", P. Djeli Clark's "a Dead Djinn in Cairo", K.B. Spangler's "Who Tells Your Story", Dennis Danvers' "Orphan Pirates of the Spanish Main" and Seanan McGuire's "Waking in Las Vegas".

New Reads:
Sharon Lee/Steve Miller's Alliance of Equals.  Their most recent "Liaden" novel.  Actually an eARC for the most recent.
Elizabeth Bear's Karen Memory.  Steampunk/Western with a bisexual female prostitute as the lead.
Emmie Mears' Rampant.  2nd "Shrike" novel which are set in Edinburgh.
Kameron Hurley's Mirror Empire.  Super-grim and violent fantasy series about parallel worlds and invasions between them.
Marko Kloos' Chain of Command
R.J. Ross' Cape High Christmas
Kate Elliot's Jaran, An Earthly Crown, His Conquering Sword & the Law of Becoming.  Both a pseudo-Mongolion horde "fantasy" and a Conquered Humanity sci fi series.
Alex Shvartsman (ed) Funny Fantasy.  What it says on the box.  A collection of previously published comedy fantasy stories.
Nick Mamatas/Masumi Washington (ed) Hanzai Japan.  Japan-set scifi, much with a noir or horror slant to it.
Amy Poehler's Yes Please.  Poehler's autobio.

Rereads:
Andre Norton's Gryphon in Glory.  While this was a reread, I honestly couldn't remember anything at all going in.
Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small

Graphic Novels/TPBs/Rulebooks:
XCrawl (d20).  Picked up on the cheap with a stack of other rpgs from Bookmans.  Competitive reality show dungeon crawling works better in concept than the actual execution.
Mike Maihack's Cleopatra in Space vol. 3: Secret of the Time Tablets.  Caps off the trilogy with a reveal of the origin of the big bad and some idea of why Cleopatra of all historical figures.
Scott Snyder/Jock's Wytches.  This was honestly one of the more disturbing horror comics I've read in awhile.
John Layman/Rob Guillory's Chew vol.11: the Last Suppers & Chew vol. 10: Blood Puddin'.  I actually ordered and read vol. 11 and then realized I'd skipped the 10th volume.
Krazy Krow/Rocio Zuchhi's Spinnarette: Crisis in a Bunch of Ohios.  Latest print collection of the supers/humor webcomic.
Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&! vol.13.  We get to meet Yotsuba's grandmother.

Total: 24


June:
Short Fiction: Harry Turtledove's "Typecasting", A.J. Hartley's "Chains" and Monica Byrne's "Traumphysik".

New Reads:
Cat Valente's Speakeasy.  Roaring 20s plus Faires with Valente lyrical-style.
Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver.  Paranatural-YA with external temparture triggered werewolves.
Ian Thomas Healy's Tusks & the Lion & the Five Deadly Serpents.  "Inception" style dream adventure and 70's era kung fu in Healy's "Just Cause" supers setting.
Naomi Novak's League of Dragons.  The finale for the "Tremaire" series.
Jim Hines' Revisionary.  And another finale, this time for the "Libriomancer" series.
Drew Hayes' Corpies.  I like Hayes' supers books, but they all feel like they could use another editorial pass once they're collected together from his original free chapters online source.
Jennifer Henshaw/Allison Lin (ed) Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Inspired by Microsoft.  There are some really good scifi stories in this collection.  No really.
Ryan North's Romeo and/or Juliet.  I do like that several of the ending options involved the teens just talking to their parents and avoiding a whole lot of deaths.
Andre Norton Cat'seye. Human/animal psychic partnerships.  Different from the "Beastmaster" ones.
Chuck Wendig's Atlanta Burns.  Kind of white-trash "Veronica Mars".  Or maybe Really Angry and VIolent "Nancy Drew".

Reread:
Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men, a Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Midnight & Shepard's Crown.  Shut up, I'm not crying.  You're crying.

Graphic Novels/TPBs/Rulebooks:
the Dresden Files RPG: Your Story (FATE)
Evan Dahm's Vattu: the Sword & the Sacrament
C. Spike Trotman (ed) New World: An Anthology of Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Jim Zub/Steve Cummings' Wayward vol. 3
Tony Cliff's Delilah Dirk & the King's Shilling.  To England!

Total: 22

Two weeks of comics and three of them Conan comics.  Van Lente's Conan the Avenger where young-ish Conan continues to try and replace heart-ache and loss with blood-shed and cheap sex.  Then old man Conan finishes his tale of when middle-aged Conan retook his kingdom and married his second great love in King Conan.  And finally the match-up demanded by all begins with the first issue of Groo Vs. Conan.  With Aragones joined by Thomas Yeates, who I'm guessing does the non-cartoony Conan bits...

I like Fejzula's art on Veil.  The story doesn't really hold up as well sadly.  Especially when compared to Fatale, which has its big finale issue.  And traps are sprung and lives are ended and happy endings are in short supply...

Also up, more of Burbaker's burned spy Velvet where, among other moments, we see what moment led to her being moved to an administration position...

Prophet sort of finishes up with plenty of future weirdness and alien nightmare monsters.  And what looks to be the two "good" John Prophets joining forces for the upcoming Prophet Earth War mini-series...

Saga gives us a rampaging janitor, a drugged out actress, a pet walrus monster and Prince Robot learning of the murder of his wife and birth of his son...

Malcolm Dragon is held prisoner by the Freaks of the Danger Zone neighborhood in Savage Dragon.  While Dart II sends her Vicious Circle goons out hunting for him...

With Wonder Woman captured by the First Born, its all out war between his forces and the residents, old and new, divine and mortal, of Paradise Island...

Tom Taylor continues his quest for the Grail in the Unwritten: Apocalypse, gaining headway by playing with the story tropes for the setting.  While Pullman throws some obstacles in his way from differing story concepts...

Dead Boy Detectives has Crystal forcing Charles to meet with his living half-sister and learn more of his family...

Amidst all the fun of violent smugglers and pacifist Harkonen refugees, the Alien Legion's Force: Nomad see the return of Jugger Grimrod's ol' "pal" Pike.  Which is to say one of the many people with a grudge and a gun...

The dread Aku devises a new plan to put an end to Samurai Jack. Direct invasion of his brain in order to destroy his memories!

And finally more Turtles in Time: TMNT.  Currently, for given values of currently, the turtle brothers are in Feudal Japan.  Specifically at the moment of their (and their father's) previous incarnations.  Almost worth it alone for Mikey's joy at getting to hug his mom...

Didn't get to the shop today, but still a huge pile from the previous two weeks.  Starting with the Legend of Bold Riley by Leia Weathington (words) and Jonathon Dalton (drawings).  I recall having read some of the earlier issues of this online years back and meaning to get the collected print book for those.  Which, I see from the in-house ads, is still available.  The titular Riley is a wandering lesbian adventurer in a fantasy India setting...

Samurai Jack spends an issue wandering some crystalline caves and fighting a small army of his twisted mirror duplicates.  As wandering heroes are wont to do...

After Finn wrecks Anti-Ghost Princess' anti-ghost equipment and frees all her captured jerk ghosts in Adventure Time.  Leading Princess Bubblegum to come up with a plan to turn all the citizens of Candy Kingdom into ghosts to solve the ghost problem.  Probably not going to be her finest moment...

Wonder Woman works to convince her sisters to help her in the raising of godling Zeke.  While Hermes and Dio take a trip to the Underworld after seeing the Dead wandering the world...

The Dead Boy Detectives (and their new Living Celebrity Girl partner) use their contacts among the supernatural set to solve the Case of the Bisected Girl...

The latest the Unwritten: Apocalypse checks in with Pauly the Former Rabbit and Lord of Hell.  Who mostly wants to go back to being a Rabbit in a children's story...

Invincible has the start of Mark attempting to put a stop to Robot's plans for global domination.  Things don't begin well...

The main thing to take from this issue of Prophet is it has Dave Taylor doing all the art.  Normally you only see him doing colors.  Beyond that its more of the normal theme, far future scifi weird awesomeness...

New Saga!  Yay!  Opening with the vaginal birth of a baby royal Robot.  Plus bad acting!  Going to playgrounds!  No Lying Cat.  Boo!

Velvet spends most of its current issue flashbacking to 1956 and her spy marriage and 1946 for her spy training...

Southern Bastards gets some setting laid out as well as the likely main antagonist, Coach Boss...

King Conan fights a lady vampire in the Temple of Set.  And Conan the Avenger partners with his former witch-hunter opponent to battle some zombies...

And finally Dark Horse Presents, with the second half a "Usagi Yojimbo" story, as well as some Mike Mignola, Jaime Hernandez and Kel McDonald short pieces...

Been really slacking on these again.  Which does highlight how little DC/Marvel I'm buying as singles right now.  If I don't count Vertigo imprint books, its a single title from each right now.  Mainline DC just isn't putting out much I want to follow and Marvel's $4 per issue thing is becoming more and more of deal breaker.  Including on the title I'm still getting in singles, New Warriors.  I'm liking this relaunch.  The characters, Yost's dialogue, the High Evolutionary based initial arc.  All good.  But I still may switch to trade waiting like I'm doing on Superior Foes, Ghost Rider, She-Hulk and the Daredevil relaunch.  'Cause $4 for a 20 page book is bullshit...

At least from the Big Two.  I'm ok with that price point for twenty pages of transgender action/adventure for IDW's Samurai Jack.  Plus shinier paper.  Or even better, $4 for twenty-TWO pages like kaboom!'s Adventure Time and Adventure TIme: the Flip Side.  Four bucks for Finn & Jake mistaking a nucleur silo for a traditional dungeon?  Or teaming with LSP to try and rig a prom election to get a monkey to kidnap a lady painting?  I'm down with that...

Hunh, Wonder Woman is only twenty pages as well.  Didn't notice that happening.  Still its sticking at the three dollar price point.  Plus its more cross-title setting with DC, and WW mostly avoids the general ongoing DCU stuff...

The Unwritten gang continue to try and make their way across broken London while avoiding the constant war stories.  But they do find out that Pullman is behind the whole thing, all part of another plot by him to try and slay the Leviathan...

Charles and Edwin and Crystal manage to avoid damnation and death and such in Dead Boy Detectives.  And someone gets to burn down their school.  Sure it was accident.  Mostly an accident...

Knights of the Dinner Table sticks to concentrating on the ongoing return of the uber-sword story.  With Brian and Sara getting an offer from said mad sword...

I'm pretty sure I missed an issue of Pretty Deadly at some point here.  Because there is otherwise an awful big jump in the story before it reaches the climax of this first arc...

In Invincible Universe, the Lizard King learns a valuable lesson.  Just 'cause you alter a person's DNA to make them a reptile, doesn't necessarily mean an alignment change.  And then IU goes on hiatus.  Again.  Hopefully when it gets started again it will have the same title.  I'd say even money on whether or not that happens...

Fatale picks back up with Jo and Nick and soon enough everything is all obsession and murder and stolen magic eyeballs...

This issue of Prophet gives some back-story on plant person Hiyonhoiagn and his race the Kinnian.  Plus..well plus the normal hard to accurately and easily describe scifi weirdness...

I'm starting to wonder if Police Chief Higgens' drive to arrest Lobster Johnson is entirely in the cause of Law & Order...

King Conan returns to the sea in pursuit of the Heart of Ahriman, gets captured by slavers and meets some old friends amidst the rowers.  And just like that Amra the Lion is reborn...

Empowered: Internal Medicine is another one-shot.  With Warren teaming with Brandon Graham on this one.  Graham is pretty damn amazing drawing Emp and Ninjette doing super-surgery on an alien spaceship baby...

And another one-shot from Dark Horse, this time Beasts of Burden: Hunters & Gatherers.  With the animal guardians of Burden Hill facing off against an invisible giant lizard monster.    And ending with an alliance between the Crows and the Rats.  Who still have their Rat King...

And finally a new Dark Horse Presents.  The main things interest for my in this one would be the "Nexus" story, a Kel McDonald Revolutionary-era balloon crossing of the English channel and the monstery mystery story involving kids teamed with the ghost of Davey Jones...

A pair of heavy weeks, with fifteen titles between them.  Rat Queens is still a violent, drunken delight for my D&D playing heart.  With some more character backstory and heartache leading to the reveal of who hired the anti-adventurer assassins...

I'm liking the concept and set-up of Pretty Deadly and its Weird West setting.  But I'm having a hard time tracking all the varied characters and sub-plots.  Still its only issue two so hopefully things will get clearer...

Savage Dragon goes with a big ol' execution fake out.  Plus Dart II stabs a dude in his eyes.  With darts.  That explode.  Owey...

This time around Saga has romance and vomiting and journalism.  IN MAGIC SPAAAAAAACE...

The main focus for Knights of the Dinner Table seems to be setting up for another Crutch centric arc, though there is still more of the Knights ongoing (with Weird Pete sitting in for an absent Dave) as well as a Black Hands game...

If its not one crazy sibling (Strife or Hermes) Wonder Woman has to deal with, its another (Siracca, Milan or Cassandra)...

Samurai Jack fights some twins and gets another magic thread thingy.  I mean first he tries to be all reasonable but then its fight time.  Then rematch time after he loses the first fight...

Marceline and Princess Bubblegum race for a safe room as the pink goo continues to smother the Candy Kingdom.  Just as Finn & Jake arrive hoping to get help from the ladies in Adventure Time...

The Young Avengers basically call up their entire social network friends list of super humans to help them face Mother and her posse of exes plus all those screwed up alternate universe Thems she subverted.  And Leah lets Loki in on a secret...

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe involves teaming up with magical themed heroes Scarlet Witch, Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange and Deadpool (look hes got a Fairy Wand ok) to assault the S.H.I.E.L.D. hellicarrier.  Now run by the Order half of the In-Betweener.  Also where his ex (not that he remembers) Dazzler works...

Daredevil gets healed by, fights and then teams up with the Legion of Monsters against a Son of the Serpent sort of wizard.  With Jason Copland filling in and trying to ape Chris Samnee's pencils...

itty bitty Hellboy and friends go to Heaven and meet aliens.  Or do they?

The Massive's post-apocalypse environmentalists get shown up by Norse whalers in long boats.  Though maybe the head whaler dude should have remembered that before becoming a peacenik enviro-activist, Callum Isreal was some kind of elite mercenary assassin thing...

Conan the Barbarian and Belit the Pirate Queen head into their final arc with "the Song of Belit".  I wish I knew how to do those accent things over her name...

Amidst the latest Dark Horse Presents is a Roman dragon fighter story by Fred Van Lente, a non-Usagi Stan Sakai anthromorphic animal tale and the last bit of the aging luchador vs. mutant vampires story...