Books

How often have you wished you could get just one more story out of a favorite author who has passed on to that great bookbinding plant in the sky? One more Ray Bradbury thriller, one more Agatha Christie whodunnit.

One more Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure with Tarzan.

If you nodded wistfully to that last statement, you're in luck, because today marks the debut of a new Tarzan story by Burroughs -- with an assist by Michael Tierney. YOUNG TARZAN AND THE MYSTERIOUS SHE is the product of an unfinished Burroughs tale that made its way to light through Tierney's relationship with the Burroughs estate. Initially thought to be contradictory with current Tarzan canon -- Jane Porter being the first blonde woman Tarzan meets, per Burroughs orthodoxy -- the story posed a perlplexing problem, one that Tierney took on and resolved, using established Tarzan lore so that nothing contradicts anything else -- making this tale legitimate canon in the Tarzan universe.

Another year has come and gone. 2018 is officially in the rear-view mirror, and we've gone hurtling into 2019 like the Sweet Meteor o' Death.

But before we get too deep into the New Year, we've reached that point where we reflect on all that happened in the previous year that was good and notable, and cast our votes as to what was the best of the best ("of the best, sir!")

So here we go again! It's time to pick the Critical Blast Best of the Year for Movies, Television, Actors, Books, and Comics -- and, of course, to pick our CRITICAL BLAST BOMBSHELL OF THE YEAR! So use the handy form below to pick from this year's nominees -- or suggest one that you think is deserving that we missed (so long as the work happened during 2018). Voting is open through the end of January, and on February 1 we'll start tabulating the results and announcing the winners!

So long, 2018! You gave us some great entertainment!

Fans of David J. Pedersen's ANGST series are in for a couple of treats, not the least of which is the newest installment of the epic "Midlife Crisis in Medieval Times."

The ANGST books have followed a pattern, beginning with the second book, of giving readers clues to the magical elements involved in each adventure, with titles like BURIED IN ANGST (Earth), BURNING WITH ANGST (Fire), and DROWNING IN ANGST (Water).

So what is the fateful title of ANGST 5? That's part of our exclusive interview. Watch here...

(Rather just listen? Plug in and take a listen to the CRITICAL PODBLAST podcast!)

Ben Greenbloom lives on the island of Mimameidr with his adoptive family, which includes Barnabas his father, Vita his mother, and Guinevere his sister.  On the island, the Greenblooms protect all fabulous creatures like dragons, trolls, rats, a homunculus, centaurs, ravens, geese, swans and many more.  Ben is a dragon rider for Firedrake, the dragon, and during their adventures together; they have become the best of friends.

This story takes off when a Pegasus and his three unborn foals arrive on the island.  The inhabitants of Mimameidr must aid the Pegasus and his offspring. In their travels, they encounter griffins, gibbons, krakens, crabs, lorises, jackal scorpions, and proboscis monkeys.

The Nutcracker is a well-known and beloved Christmas story performed yearly by ballerinas all across the country. This book, and the recently released movie, puts a new and different twist on Clara’s life. Clara’s mother has passed, and Clara discovers Four Realms or “otherworlds” of which her mother had been the queen. At a pageant held for Clara, a beautiful ballerina dances gracefully and elegantly, bringing the story to life. Not all the “otherworlds” are happy ones, and Clara’s goal is to make all the worlds peaceful once again. 

When thirteen-year-old Ben wakes up in a fantasy land called Meridia, he encounters evil faeries, transparent elves, and others like him called 'weeds.'  The world he has entered is disappearing, or 'fading.'  All things are vanishing.  ”What once was, never was.”  Fortunately, Ben is wearing a watch, albeit broken, that can stop the Fading.  He befriends brother elves, Tamerlane and Charlemagne, as well as other weeds Queen Regent Avery and Marcus.  They are attacked, and barely escape one of the Sovereign’s generals in the queen’s crystal castle.  Together they set out on an adventure to find The Creator to stop the Fading.  During the journey, they acquire three dragonwoofs, creatures Ben describes as, “You really are just a dog, aren’t you?”  The dragonwoofs used to be able to fly and breathe fire; but no longer, and they are almost extinct in Meridia.

Following up on his chronicling of the Justice League's 100 Greatest Moments, comics historian and science fiction veteran Robert Greenberger manages to top himself with DC Comics Super Heroines: 100 Greatest Moments. And while I wasn't particularly fond of the artwork selected for the packaging, finding it not particularly attractive, there's an adage about "books and covers" that comes into play.

This beautiful hardcover book isn't one that you rush through. You linger over each page and, if you're like me, you find yourself in one of two places: you're either recalling happily the first time you saw this event happen, perhaps when it was new to everyone, or you find yourself discovering something you've never known happened and now have something to seek out and add to your collection.

If you have high blood pressure or low stress thresholds, be warned. This book is probably not for you.

No, that's not a knock on the last STAR WARS film, SOLO, which doesn't even come into play in the historical timeline presented in this book. I haven't even seen that film to comment on it. (It does include milestones from THE FORCE AWAKENS, which I have seen, but I'm not going to hold that against the book either.)

No, the triggering factors of this book are not what you read out of it, but what you punch out of it.

You see, while this is a rather thick book, the reading portion is not that many pages. The rest of the book is cardboard pages with perforated sections that, when following the instructions in order, ostensibly can be assembled into a 3D replica of the Millennium Falcon itself.

Provided, of course, you have patience, skill, patience, and probably a half a tube of super glue. Also, patience.

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

If Master Yoda hadn't lived a long time ago, and in a galaxy far, far away, he might have said that it also leads to termination. That's what Star Wars writer Chuck Wendig discovered when he took to Twitter in the aftermath of the confirmation of Brett Kavenaugh to the Supreme Court.

The Kavenaugh hearings were a hotly contested subject of conversation in social media, with both sides absolutely convinced the other side was sheer evil, and had to be defeated. So it should come as no surprise that there were many less-than-civil discussions to be had.

But one would think that someone who was as versed in Star Wars lore and Chuck Wendig should be would have recognized the roadsigns, and heeded them rather than plowed over them. Here's how it played out.

Imagine if Lex Luthor was about a million times smarter, and his avowed enemy wasn't Superman, but the reality that created Superman in the first place.

That's (maybe) the plot of REX ROYD, a disjointed collection of mind-f*cks from the mind of Frankie Boyle and Jim Muir. 

Rex is a businessman, CEO of Rexcorp. What the company does is hard to say, There's an indestructible superbeing who helps him, an unnamed British agent with a license to kill, and Eve -- the biblical Eve

The ostensible target is Proteoman -- the book's analog for Superman. Thing is, seems he dies a couple of different times in the book. And as for truth and justice, he seems to just fight because he exists.

Abby is eleven years old and lives in Smithville with her mother, father, Jonah her younger brother, and their dog named Prince.  Abby and Jonah have a secret fairy friend named Maryrose who is trapped in a mirror in their basement.  Abby, Jonah, and even Prince typically go on fairy tale adventures when Maryrose helps them enter through the mirror.

Callie is an only child of a world-renowned taxidermist.  She helps her father in his shop as his assistant.  Callie’s mother and father are divorced and, since the divorce, this is about the only time she spends with her dad. 

Marinka is twelve-years-old and lives with her Baba, or grandmother, and her pet bird, a jackdaw named Jack.  Marinka’s grandmother is a Yaga, a Guardian who guides dead people through “The Gate” so they can return to the stars and complete the cycle.  Marinka never meets people who are alive, as they must keep their distance from the living, but she yearns for a real friend and a normal life with the living.

The most unusual and amazing thing about Marinka’s life is her house.  Her house is the home to The Gate; it cares for, comforts, and protects Marinka; and moves on chicken legs at will.

Every comic book fan has a secondary hobby, whether they realize it or not. It goes beyond the enjoyment of four-color adventures and into the realm of subjective statistics. I'm speaking of course of the ranking system everyone keeps of Top Ten this or Worst Ever that. It's almost always a trap, and everyone's list may overlap with someone else's but will almost never be the same.

So when comics and science fiction veteran editor Robert Greenberger says he's compiled the Justice League's 100 Greates Moments, you can be almost assured he's missed something on your list, and included something you've either missed or dismissed.

A daddy takes his adorable little girl out in the evening hours when the moon and stars are in the sky to catch fireflies.  The little girl is barefoot and in her pajamas.  She counts the fireflies she catches, and they light up her jar and glow in the night.  She loves looking at the fireflies but knows she cannot keep them.  She takes one firefly out of her jar, and she tells it good-bye as she lets it fly away.  The little girl empties her jar and sees many sparkling and shining fireflies all over her backyard like tiny stars.  She and her daddy return to their home while she hopes for another firefly night tomorrow.

Pirates, airships, and floating castles … Oh My!  Bert is dropped off at a boarding school at the young age of three by a cloaked man of mystery.  He is said to be an orphan from the streets.  Bert’s world has a strong government presence, with the royal family fighting to regain more power.  Prince Voss is the head of the royal family and is determined to take over at any cost.

When Bert is thirteen, his school goes on a museum field trip.  Here, things start to happen…magical things!   Bert meets his first pirate, the Professor.  Bert is also drawn through a mirror and begins seeing and hearing things no one else around him can.  He also experiences his powers for the first time.

Smiley is an adorable character who takes a walk through the woods on a beautiful day.  The sun is shining and the birds are joyfully singing.  Smiley decides to count the singing birds he sees in the trees and flying around.  When he gets to twelve birds, he realizes there are more birds than he can count.  Smiley decides to just fly around with the birds and enjoy the day and their song.  Smiley and the birds are very happy until a large, mean bird appears scaring all the birds.  The mean bird chases and snaps at the smaller birds until Smiley confronts the large bird.  The large bird abruptly stops in its flight.  Smiley scares it away.  All the small birds hug Smiley, and they continue to fly around and sing happily.  Smiley then counts the birds backward from ten to one as he descends back to the ground.  And so the story goes, Smiley wakes up.  It was all just a dream!  

Some of us have parents who are lawyers, plumbers, doctors, investment brokers, pharmacists, or police officers.  Cassidy’s father is a history scholar. Her mother fills in the history with ghost stories, and together they write books.

The family lives in up-state New York with a cat named Grim.  Cassidy loves taking pictures with her clunky, vintage camera.  Unknown to her parents, Cassidy’s life intersects with their careers.  Cassidy was thrown over the railing of a bridge and drowned in the cold river while attempting to take the perfect sunset picture.  However, a ghost named Jacob pulled Cassidy from the water.  Now Cassidy can cross the “Veil” between the living and the dead, and Cassidy and Jacob form a special bond.

School is ending for the summer, and Cassidy’s parents have agreed to take the family along while recording documentaries for TV in different haunted cities around the world.  Their first adventure is in the old city of Edinburgh, Scotland.

I'd like to think that cosplay started simply enough; that fans saw a character, realized they could make themselves look like that character, then surprise their friends and fellow fans at conventions by showing up in imitation of that character. I'd like to think that this came first, before cosplay became inartfully synonymous with fetish photography and roleplay sexuality, but they probably happened nearly concurrently, as certainly some of the costumes couldn't exist in real life without being conforming, revealing, and fetishistic.

If you did not know who your biological father was, would you break the law to find out?  How far would you go?

Katie, or KT, is a teenager who wants to know her biological father.  Her mother, Kim, finally tells Katie where to find, who Katie believes to be, her biological father.  Truth be told, Katie learns her mother and father used a sperm donor: Donor 806.  Through social media, Katie learns of two boys who are also recipients of Donor 806.

The three of them set out on a journey together to find their biological father.  Their experiences are enjoyable, worrisome, and amusing.  Imagine three extremely different teenagers, from three very different homes, on limited funds, driving together to find a man who does not necessarily want to be found or know “his kids” are seeking him out.  All three teenagers have very strong, but different, reasons for wanting to find their biological father.