Thursday, May 15, 2025

Book Review: Pop Kill


Award winning creators Jimmy Palmiotti and Dave Johnson deliver an all-new graphic novel about what happens when the top two cola comapnies declare all out war on each other!

Imagine a world where the two dominant and competing Cola companies, each worth billions, are owned by former conjoined twins who are now separated and have grown to hate each other so much they hire assassins, saboteurs, and espionage personnel to meddle with each other on a daily basis. This is the story about brotherly love run afoul, and the people they enlist to do their dirty work.

Pop Kill by Jimmy Palmiotti, Dave Johnson and Juan Santacruz will be published August 19, 2025. It collects issues 1 to 4 of the series. Mad Cave Studios provided an early galley for review.

Book Review: Nostalgia


A reclusive rock star receives a mysterious package that forces him to face both his past and a resistance movement that represents all of the ideals he had once stood for.

In a world where fame can consume the soul, a once-revered musician has chosen isolation over the limelight. But when an unexpected package arrives at his doorstep, he's thrown into a whirlwind of memories, regret, and a rebellion that seeks to rekindle the ideals he abandoned.

Nostalgia by Scott Hoffman and Danijel Zezelj will be published June 17, 2025. the volume collects issues 1 to 5 of the 2023 series. Mad Cave Studios provided an early galley for review.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Book Review: Before Dorothy


Chicago, 1924: Emily and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago for the promise of their own American dream among the harsh beauty of the prairie. But leaving the city means leaving her beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone else.

Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have established a home in a farming community in Kansas. Aligned to the fickle fortunes of nature, their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep.

The wide-eyed child isn’t the only thing to disrupt Emily’s world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and her home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy.

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Book Review: Saturn's Favorite Music


Clara Jane is an alternative music-loving graduate fresh out of broadcast school in Detroit. Determined that she will be one of the lucky ones to make it in a competitive field, she lands her first job at a small market radio station in northern Michigan in the summer of 1992. The station's hyper-local programming (featuring lost farm animal reports and radio obits) and its mix of light hits and great oldies is a far cry from the rock star glamour she craves, but it is all part of "paying her dues." Clara must adjust to small town life and to being the only woman in an all male airstaff.

Clara's biggest supporter is the recently-divorced morning man Seth Jones. Clara and Seth share a sense of humor and a mutual love of different genres of music. They develop a deep friendship that might become something more. But just as Clara starts to become comfortable operating the board, the station is sold and staff members start to be replaced by automation. Will Clara find the radio fame she craves before the station goes completely robotic?

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Book Review: Coded Justice


Avery Keene is back! The fan-favorite former Supreme Court clerk has finally gone out on her own, securing a prestigious position at a high-end law firm in Washington, D.C., where she is about to earn real money and get her life in order after a tumultuous run working as a clerk on the Supreme Court. With her reputation preceding her, Avery is quickly tasked at her new job with becoming a corporate internal investigator.

Her new client is Camasca—a mega-tech firm that's on the forefront of developing a new integrated AI system poised to revolutionize the medical industry, particularly by delivering vastly improved health care to veterans. The AI potential is breathtaking, but some disturbing anomalies have plagued Camasca in early testing—including the mysterious death of a Camasca engineer. Avery and her colleagues, Jared, Ling, and Noah, find themselves on a journey to determine whether the anomalies are mere technical glitches, or something much more concerning.

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Book Review: Survivor - A Cultural History


Premiering in 2000, Survivor altered the landscape of network television from its first season, popularizing reality shows for audiences in the 21st century and quickly growing to a semi-annual release slate that has resulted in more than 46 seasons and hundreds of contestants. Over twenty years later, the series remains popular and a ratings hit, maintaining a devoted fanbase even as the television landscape has evolved and shifted to streaming.

In Survivor: A Cultural History, Joseph J. Darowski and Kate Darowski analyze how the iconic CBS show revolutionized television and has adapted and changed across decades of production.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Book Review: The Sin Bin


Dale “Dukes” Duquesne is a washed-up hockey player by day and a ghost, monster, and demon hunter by night. After each away game, Dukes finds the local legend that goes bump in the night and takes it down, locking it away in the Sin Bin. When his daughter, Cat, discovers the truth about his demon hunting, it becomes her dream to follow in his footsteps.

As they work their first case together, Cat will learn Dukes’ biggest secret, though. He doesn’t hunt monsters out of the kindness of his heart. He’s searching for someone that was taken by monsters years ago…his wife, and Cat’s mother, Marta! Together, they hit the road to save mankind and reunite their family.