Book Review: The Real Pink Panther

The original Pink Panther movie (1963) proved popular enough to spawn eight sequels. The films also inspired an animated TV series based on the pink panther cartoon character that appeared in the film’s credit sequences. There were also spin-off toys, games, clothes, even breakfast cereal. In the 2000s, comedy legend Steve Martin twice stepped into the role of Inspector Clouseau.

But behind the laughs, there was madness and darkness, and at the series’ heart was one of cinema’s most tragic figures: Peter Sellers. A comedic genius, Sellers could be temperamental, unprofessional, and unpredictable. Add to that a heart problem Sellers feared could kill him at any moment.

This book reveals many of the Pink Panther’s secrets for the first time, shining a spotlight behind the scenes at the making of some of the most beloved comedies of all time, and the extraordinary personalities that brought them to life.

Book Review: This Beautiful, Ridiculous City

On her first night in New York City, Kay Sohini sits on the tarmac of JFK Airport making an inventory of everything she’s left behind in India: her family, friends, home, and gaslighting ex-boyfriend. In the wake of that untethering she realizes two things: she’s finally made it to the city of her literary heroes—Kerouac, Plath, Bechdel—and the trauma she’s endured has created gaping holes in her memory.

As Kay begins the work of piecing herself back together she discovers the deep sense of belonging that can only be found on the streets of New York City. In the process she falls beautifully, ridiculously in love with the bustling landscape, and realizes that the places we love do not always love us back but can still somehow save us in weird, unexpected ways.

Book Review: Unromance

Sawyer Greene knows romance. She’s a bestselling author of the genre—or she was, until her ex left her with nothing but writer’s block and a broken heart. But when she gets stuck in the elevator with a handsome stranger, she sees their meet cute for what it is: just a one-night stand. It might have worked, too, if they could stop running into each other.

Actor Mason West sees Sawyer’s reappearance in his life as a sign. Obviously, they’re meant to cure each other. Him of the hopeless romanticism that only ends in heartbreak—and tabloid trainwrecks—and Sawyer of her writer’s block. Their agreement is simple: 1. No (more) sex, and 2. No matter how swoony the circumstances, absolutely no falling in love.

It’s a foolproof plan–until Sawyer and Mason find that, once set in motion, some plots can't be stopped—and that they might be hurtling towards a happy ending.

Book Review: Mood Machine

Drawing on over one hundred interviews with industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians, Mood Machine takes us to the inner workings of today’s highly consolidated record business, showing what has changed as music has become increasingly playlisted, personalized, and autoplayed.

Building on her years of wide-ranging reporting on streaming, music journalist Liz Pelly details the consequences of the Spotify model by examining both sides of what the company calls its two-sided marketplace: the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all. The business is notoriously opaque, but Pelly lifts the veil on major stories like streaming services filling popular playlists with low-cost stock music and the rise of new payola-like practices.

Book Review: Immortality Bytes

Yay, free money and a life of leisure! Except only if you never have children. Sure, a cute little version of you (but not yet so screwed up) sounds fun. But with AI robots taking more jobs, who can reject that “bargain” hoping to afford kids someday?

Stu Reigns does. He’s an idealistic AI programmer and part-time influencer. His demisexual ex-girlfriend, Roxy Zhang, nears perfecting electronic immortality. Add in billionaire banking rascals, and there’s no more certainty — not even “Death and Taxes.”

An old-money Southerner is buying Roxy’s company. This infuriates a sick, rival oligarch — who is about to be rightfully convicted of epic fraud. To escape to this digital eternal life, he compels Stu to steal it.

You’ll never guess all the twists, but maybe the reader peering over your shoulder will.

Book Review: X-Men '97 - Great X-Pectations

The official prelude to the hotly anticipated Disney+ show. The X-Men are back - and the '90s have never looked better! In this official prelude to the recently released X-Men '97 cartoon, created in collaboration with the showrunners, discover what Storm, Jubilee, Wolverine and the rest of the beloved '90s X-Men cast have been up to in the time before their return!

X-Men '97: Great X-Pectations by Steve Foxe and Salvador Espin collects the four issue mini-series from earlier in 2024. Todd Nauck provided the cover for this Marvel Comics collection.

Book Review: Y2K

The early 2000s conjure images of inflatable furniture, flip phones, and low-rise jeans. It was a new millennium and the future looked bright, promising prosperity for all. The internet had arrived, and technology was shiny and fun. For many, it felt like the end of history: no more wars, racism, or sexism. But then history kept happening. Twenty-five years after the ball dropped on December 31st, 1999, we are still living in the shadows of the Y2K Era.

In Y2K, young critic Colette Shade offers a darkly funny meditation on everything from the pop culture to the political economy of the period. By close reading Y2K artifacts like the Hummer H2, Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” body glitter, AOL chatrooms, Total Request Live, and early internet porn, Shade produces an affectionate yet searing critique of a decade that started with a boom and ended with a crash.

Book Review: 1st Case

Genius programmer Angela Hoot has always been at the top of her class, but now she's at the bottom of the FBI food chain—until her first case threatens everyone around her. Angela's graduate school days at MIT come to an abrupt end when she uses her hacking skills on another student's computer. Yet her mentor, Eve Abajian, arranges a new beginning for her—as an intern in FBI's Boston field office.

Her new supervisor, Assistant Special Agent in Charge William Keats, one of only two agents in the Northeast to make his rank before the age of thirty, sees in Angela a fellow prodigy. But Angela's skills come with a natural curiosity, which is also a dangerous liability. With little training, Angela is quickly plunged into a tough tracking murderous brothers who go by the Poet and the Engineer. When Keats tells her to "watch and listen," Angela's mind kicks into overdrive. The obsessive thinking that earned her As on campus can prove fatal in the field.

Book Review: The Death of Captain Marvel

Witness the classic and tragic end of one of the greatest heroes of all time, Mar-Vell of the Kree, who became the Earth hero Captain Marvel! After dozens of battles on Earth and across space, and with the power of his Nega-bands and his all-knowing Cosmic Awareness, can Mar-Vell fare well in his battles with Nitro (the exploding villain who later sparked Marvel's super hero Civil War), the death-defying Stellarax, and the seemingly dead Thanos? Guest-starring Rick Jones, Drax the Destroyer, Starfox, and all your favorite Earth heroes!

The Death of Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin was published in April 1982 by Marvel Comics.

Book Review: Teen Titans Go! On TV!

Robin isn’t just a sidekick, he’s a star. Or he will be, once the people who produce reality TV shows see him in action! He can do it all: lead a team! decorate a secret lair! bake a cake that looks like a dangerous weapon! All he needs is a lucky break.

When his teammates break out before he does, his ego takes a beating. Without a team to lead, can Robin save Jump City all on his own? Nope, because he doesn’t even want to try! Maybe if they followed him on social media? But even the Hive has more followers than he does.

Teen Titans Go! On TV! by Amanda Deibert and Agnes Garbowska will be published on January 7, 2025. DC Comics provided an early galley for review.

Book Review: Slugfest

The most bruising battle in the superhero world isn't between spandex-clad characters; it's between the publishers themselves. For more than 50 years, Marvel and DC have been locked in an epic war, tirelessly trading punches and trying to do to each other what Batman regularly does to the Joker's face. Slugfest, the first book to tell the history of this epic rivalry into a single, juicy narrative, is the story of the greatest corporate rivalry never told. It is also an alternate history of the superhero, told through the lens of these two publishers.

The competition has spilled over to the even the casual fans, bisecting the world into two opposing tribes. You are either a Marvel or a DC fan, and allegiance is hardly a trivial matter. Perhaps the most telling question one can ask of a superhero fan is, Marvel or DC? The answer often reveals something deeper about personality, and the reason is wrapped up in the history of both companies.

Book Review: Manga Classics - Sherlock Holmes 1

London, 1888. In the heart of the fog a terrible murder is committed, the word RACHE scrawled in blood on the wall over the body. The police, baffled, turn to the only consulting detective in town for aid--and he, in turn, leads them down that slender scarlet trail to expose a tale of love and revenge which spawns both continents and decades.

Manga Classics: Sherlock Holmes: A Study In Scarlet marks the debut of the eccentric detective Sherlock Holmes and his constant companion Dr. John Watson a legendary duo whose adventure have thrilled readers ever since. Manga Classics is proud to present a full-color manga version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's debut novel, in which their timeless partnership first begins!

Book Review: Trillion Game vol. 3

Self-proclaimed “world’s greediest man” Haru and timid computer whiz Gaku set out to make a trillion dollars. They start the company Trillion Game to accomplish this task and hope to iron out the details as they go. With charm, technical skills, and no business plan, can these unlikely friends reach their lofty goal?

In order to sell their (not so) AI-powered flower-vending business, Haru and Gaku must first conquer the nightlife neighborhood of Kabukicho, where there is a huge market for fancy flower arrangements. After they pull off their scheme and make the sale, the next frontier for their business is… mobile gaming?!

Book Review: Disney Twisted-Wonderland - The Manga Anthology vol. 2

Short stories set in the world of Twisted-Wonderland, based on the hit mobile game from Disney!

The second installment in a collection of small but mighty adventures, featuring the characters and world of Twisted-Wonderland. Each tale is written and drawn by a different manga creator!

Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Manga Anthology vol. 2 will be published January 14, 2025. VIZ Media provided an early galley for review.

Book Review: YouTube Blueprint

The prospect of putting yourself out there in the crowded YouTube world can feel utterly overwhelming. You've probably felt the crushing weight of self-doubt, the heart-pounding fear of facing the camera, and the constant struggle to find that unique voice that will make you stand out among millions.

But what if you could transform that fear into fuel for online success?

Whether you dream of turning your passion into a paycheck or simply want to share your message with the world, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and tools to achieve your YouTube dreams!

Book Review: Adventures in Modern Recording

As a renowned recording-studio maven, Trevor Horn has been dubbed 'the man who invented the '80s'. His production work since the glory days of ZTT represents a veritable 'who's who' of intelligent modern pop, including the likes of ABC, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Pet Shop Boys, Seal, Simple Minds, Grace Jones and Yes - among many others.

This book is Trevor's story in his own words, as told through the prism of twenty-three of his most important songs - from the ones that inspired him to the ones that defined him. This play-by-play memoir transports readers into the heart of the studio to witness the making of some of music's most memorable moments, from the Buggles' ground-breaking 'Video Killed the Radio Star' to Band Aid's perennial 'Do They Know It's Christmas?', via hits such as 'Relax', 'Poison Arrow', 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' and 'Crazy'.

Book Review: The Story of the Bee Gees

People tend to have their favorite era of the Bee Gees's career, but many listeners are also conscious that there is more to uncover about the band. This book will provide the perfect solution, by pulling together every fascinating strand to tell the story of a group with the imagination of the Beatles, the pop craft of ABBA, the drama of Fleetwood Mac, and the emotional heft of the Beach Boys.

Uniquely, the Bee Gees's tale spans the entire modern pop era—they are the only group to have scored British top-ten singles in the '60s, '70s, '80s, and ‘90s—and includes world-conquering disco successes like 'Stayin' Alive' and 'More Than a Woman', both from the soundtrack of the hit film Saturday Night Fever.

But the Bee Gees's extraordinary career was one of highs and lows. From a vicious but temporary split in 1969 to several unreleased albums, disastrous TV and film appearances, and a demoralising cabaret season, the group weren't always revelling in the glow of million-selling albums, private jets, and UNICEF concerts. Yet, even in the Gibbs' darkest times, their music was rarely out of the charts, as sung by the likes of Al Green, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, and Destiny's Child.

Book Review: Sex Lives of Superheroes

Explore these questions and more with this collection of speculative, comedic essays on how superpowers might affect the sex lives of famous superheroes. Based on genuine scientific research and both Marvel and DC comic book and movie canon (and more!), Sex Lives of Superheroes is a refreshingly frank and fun deep dive into the pros, cons, and plot twists of superpowered sex.

Sex Lives of Superheroes by Diana McCallum will be published on November 19, 2024. Smart Pop Books, an imprint of BenBella Books, provided an early galley for review.

Book Review: Assume Nothing

In 1985, Kat McCann was six years old when renowned Austrian detective Alik Lisser solved her mother’s murder. And unfortunately proved Kat’s father as the culprit. Ten years later Kat is still obsessed with the heroic criminologist. She’s also addicted to the bestselling novels inspired by Alik’s ingenious deductions—penned by the grande dame of whodunits, who’s a bit of a mystery herself. Kat has devoured them all. Even the one based on her father’s crime.

When Kat and Alik fatefully cross paths again, a friendship evolves, and Alik is delighted to share the secrets of his success with such an eager and clever girl by inviting Kat to solve a murder of her very own. One that challenges everything Kat believes about the detective, an elusive author, and Kat’s notorious past. Now, as fact and fiction and truth and deception collide, it’s all Kat can do to survive the shocking twist ending to her own life story.

Book Review: Dick Tracy volume 1

In the aftermath of World War II, the country stands frozen–waiting for the other shoe to drop. In The City, a brutal murder draws the attention of rising star detective Dick Tracy, who soon discovers the bloodshed is just the beginning of a complicated web that threatens to ensnare everything he cares about.

Blending the classic elements of the Dick Tracy world (including his iconic villains, supporting cast, and unforgettable watch radio) with a hardboiled and realistic take, Dick Tracy Vol. 1 kicks off a fresh and modern take on the iconic detective that remains true to his rich history.

Book Review: Let's Do It Already! vol. 3

Free-spirited Yuri Hasegawa and straitlaced Keiichiro Katsuragi have fallen in love. But his elite political family—producing a line of prime ministers—does not allow male descendants to engage in any sexual relations until they are 18. Can the physically affectionate Yuri and rule-abiding Keiichiro keep their relationship strictly chaste?

Yuri’s attempts at having a normal romance with Keiichiro are thwarted on a daily basis. But now that they’re on their first overnight school trip together in the mountains, they end up in the same bed?!

Book Review: Zero Hour

Ex-FBI negotiator Eddie Virgo is doing hard time for taking the law into his own hands. But now the Bureau needs him back. Virgo is offered an early release if he agrees to work one last job. Stacy, the daughter of wealthy senator Daniel Donovan, has been kidnapped and Virgo needs to negotiate her release. Seems easy enough. But when the kidnapper makes an impossible demand, Virgo is catapulted into a deadly race against time.

Teaming up with LAPD detective Jennifer Accardi, Virgo leads the hunt for Stacy and realizes he has stumbled on a sinister plot which threatens to compromise national security. Now, up against a lethal combination of ruthless gangsters and powerful DC players, Virgo is looking at some pretty long odds. But he’ll do whatever it takes to free Stacy from the sadistic psychopath who is holding her.

Book Review: How America Works...And Why It Doesn't

Americans in the twenty-first century are becoming increasingly untethered from both reality and the essential principles and traditions that have shaped the nation’s historic success. A big part of why America isn’t working is because far too many Americans neither know nor care how it’s supposed to work.

This book explains key aspects of recent US political history to give the background to recent, dangerous developments, including how political groups have reshaped since the 1964 Civil Rights Act; the rise of Newt Gingrich and the Tea Party; the profound impact of the internet and social media; and the threats posed to the electoral system by the growth of extreme polarization and growing irrationality.

Book Review: My Name Is Barbra

Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture.

In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed. The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming. She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making Yentl; her direction of The Prince of Tides; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin.

Book Review: Carl Perkins - The King of Rockabilly

Born in Tennessee to poor sharecroppers, Carl Perkins grew up listening to gospel and country music, learned blues guitar from a fellow field hand, and started writing songs at age fourteen. He plied his trade in rough and rowdy honky-tonks, performing with his brothers before beginning his recording career at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. It was there that Carl became a member of the fabled “Million Dollar Quartet,” alongside Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In 1955, he wrote and recorded “Blue Suede Shoes,” the first record by a Sun artist to sell over a million copies. But then a fateful car crash stalled his career, one of many tragedies in Carl’s life.

Over the following decades, Presley, Cash, and countless other artists, from the Beatles, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, performed and recorded his songs and became Carl’s friends, collaborators, and champions. Rich with insider detail and background into Carl’s private battles, humanitarian work, and personal inspirations, this is a fascinating, in-depth look at “Mr. Blue Suede Shoes” and his one-of-a-kind legacy.

Book Review: Alter Ego

Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she’s never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available—until now.

But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle's father started Triumph Comics and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie’s inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.

Book Review: The Great Library of Tomorrow

Helia has served as the Sage of Hope for the Great Library of Tomorrow for centuries. She is one of the chosen few who embody and protect the values of humanity across the numerous realms of Paperworld, which are connected within the Library itself via magical Portals controlled by the Book of Wisdom.

Even her hope is tested when she and her partner Xavier, the Sage of Truth, are attacked while visiting the famous Rose Garden in the realm of Silvyra. Wounded and in shock amidst a storm of fire, they are confronted by a deadly figure known to them as the Ash Man. With the Garden destroyed and its dragon protector missing, Xavier sacrifices his life so that Helia can return home to warn the other Sages.

But there she finds the Book of Wisdom—always a guide to the Sages—eerily silent. With the Ash Man gaining strength, Helia soon finds herself in a race against time, searching for clues to the origins of their foe—and any possible way to defeat him.

Book Review: Red Sonja - Consumed

The warrior Red Sonja, the famous fiery She-Devil of Hyrkania, has never concerned herself with the consequences of her actions. She’s taken what she wanted, from treasure to drink to the companionship of bedfellows. She’s fought who deserved it (and sometimes those who didn’t). And she’s never looked back.

But when rumors start bubbling up from her homeland—rumors of unknown horrors emerging from the ground and pulling their unsuspecting victims to their deaths—and a strange voice begins whispering to her in her sleep, she realizes she may have to return to the country that abandoned her. And finally do the only thing that has ever scared her: confront her past.

Book Review: High and Rising

De La Soul burst onto the scene with the release of their groundbreaking 1989 album 3 Feet High & Rising, an “anything goes” hip-hop masterpiece hailed as a new masterwork from a bygone era of Black experimentation.

Formed in Long Island in 1988 by Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer, Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, and Vincent “Maseo” Mason, De La Soul rebuked classification and appealed to the Black alternative. Their music was positive and psychedelic, their imagery full of flowers and peace signs. It was rap with a broad sonic palette which set the blueprint for an entire generation of artists who followed. But as quickly as De La ascended, they were faced with the pressures of a changing industry and bitter legal battles.

Book Review: Heartbreak Is the National Anthem

A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There’s no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: a teenage girl who turns into the world’s favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is made and heard. An all-time great on the level of The Beatles, Prince, or David Bowie.

Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music is the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Taylor Swift. Nobody can tell the story like Rob Sheffield, the bestselling/award-winning author and legendary Rolling Stone journalist who has chronicled Taylor for every step of her long career, from her early days to the Eras Tour. Sheffield gets right to the heart of Swift and her music, her lyrics, her fan connection, her raw power.

Book Review: Songbird

Christine McVie (born Christine Perfect) was the quintessentially English rock star, as both the backbone and the beating heart of Fleetwood Mac. She wrote and performed many of their greatest hits, and was dubbed 'the mother' of the band. It was Christine who contained the flock, regrouped them when they went AWOL, and always got them back on track. And yet, as the "engine" of the band during their Rumours era, an album which charted the romantic disintegration within the band, Christine's personal life was every bit as tempestuous as those of her bandmates.

Told by an author who herself was friends with Christine, and with new contributions from those who knew her best, Songbird offers a true insider's view and psychological insight into Christine as a both a woman and a musician.

Book Review: Growing Up Urkel

At the tender age of twelve, Jaleel White auditioned for the role of Steve Urkel, the socially inept genius, who was in love with his next-door neighbor, Laura. Though Steve Urkel was intended to be in only one episode, Jaleel’s indelible performance catapulted Urkel into the pantheon of American pop culture. But success can cost as much as it pays. After nine years on the popular sitcom Family Matters, Jaleel is twenty-one, a UCLA undergrad, and adjusting to a world and industry that sees him as the nasally nerd in high water pants, suspenders, and coke bottle glasses.

In this wise and witty memoir, Growing Up Urkel takes you on a memorable journey through the peaks, valleys, and plateaus of fame and fortune.

Book Review: Batgirl and Beyond

For over sixty years, every woman who took on the mantle of Batgirl has been a powerful, independent heroine, each belying the sidekick status the name implies and connecting with a unique subset of marginalized fans. Betty Kane, the original Bat-Girl, was a hero for young girls at a time when the genre was leaving them behind. Barbara Gordon embodied the values of the women’s liberation movement and became a powerful figure in disability representation. Cassandra Cain was a woman of color in the traditionally monochromatic DC Comics universe. Stephanie Brown was a perpetual outsider, a voice for those who never belonged but kept trying regardless.

Book Review: Networking for Writers

Networking for Writers is a practical, guided workbook to help you create, strengthen or revamp your current network—whether that’s because your current network is not the supportive community you need, or you haven’t found your community yet, or because the hoped-for income, sales, and opportunities that a network can provide hasn’t shown up the way you expected them to. It’s also a book for those looking to create a self-publishing team they can work with and rely on now, and in the future.

This book will help you create a networking practice that works for you—one that incorporates your goals, your communication style, the activities you enjoy, and the tools and resources that are available to you today. If you intend to be profitable and make a living off your writing, then organizing your thoughts and goals as a writer will help you achieve that success much faster. You can still be wildly creative and efficient and productive at the same time.

Book Review: The Endless Refrain

In The Endless Refrain, former Washington Post writer and editor David Rowell lays out how commercial and cultural forces have laid waste to the cultural ecosystems that have produced decades of great American music. From the scorched-earth demonetizing of artist revenue accomplished by Spotify and its ilk to the rise of dead artists “touring” via hologram, Rowell examines how a perfect storm of conditions have drained our shared musical landscape of vitality.

Combining personal memoir, intimate on-the-ground reporting, industry research, and cultural criticism, Rowell’s book is a powerful indictment of a music culture gone awry, driven by conformity and subverted by the ways the internet and media influence what we listen to and how we listen to it.

Book Review: The End of the Playboy

Larry Funk is in a funk. Adrift in Los Angeles’s celebrity-obsessed youth culture, the 49-year-old Gen X rock star and former Casanova grapples with fading fame, advancing age, and a waning musical career threatened by the pop culture wars in a fractured nation.

Set in the chaotic year of 2016, amidst national turmoil and heartbreaking losses, Funk and the rest of a wistful America are stuck in a “holding pattern.” But during one magical spring break weekend in L. A., his career is miraculously revived when he gets a second chance at love and becomes the unlikely star of a hidden camera reality show. With humor and grace, this authentic middle-aged hero with a crooked smile and an easy gait will momentarily charm a new generation of fans in this high-stakes game of who gets the girl. With the odds stacked against him, Funk, as always, will give the fans their money’s worth in this life-affirming and often hilarious odyssey.

Book Review: Trillion Game vol. 2

Self-proclaimed “world’s greediest man” Haru and timid computer whiz Gaku set out to make a trillion dollars. They start the company Trillion Game to accomplish this task and hope to iron out the details as they go. With charm, technical skills, and no business plan, can these unlikely friends reach their lofty goal?

Hoping to get their money-making efforts off the ground, Haru and Gaku enter a hacking competition sponsored by Dragon Bank. Competing against elite teams of professionals, the two implement a risky strategy that could lead to a life-changing payoff if it succeeds!

Book Review: Sons of Star Trek

In the aftermath of Kahless’ harrowing Day of Blood, Jake Sisko struggles to find his place in the universe now that his family has been reunited and his father, Benjamin Sisko, has once again saved the Galaxy.

Meanwhile, Nog faces the challenges of being the first Ferengi in Starfleet and Alexander Rozhenko is recovering mentally and emotionally from his time as one of Kahless’ devout followers. Although his father, Worf, was able to break him away from the Red Path cult, Alexander is haunted by his actions during the bloody coup and is unsure of his ability to atone for the devastation he caused.

Jake, Alexander, and Nog find their stories intertwined as they’re thrust into an alternate reality full of lessons that may be just what the doctor ordered!

Book Review: The Mushroom Knight vol. 2

An adolescent girl named Lem searches the deep dark woods for her missing dog, entangling her destiny with a chivalrous mushroom faerie named Gowlitrot on a mystical quest to protect the biome from catastrophic ruin.

As their friendship develops, Gowlitrot pledges to aid Lem in a quest to discover the fate of her missing dog, but as the search progresses, they uncover perilous betrayals that challenge the foundation of each of their worlds— both inner and outer. The natural world may never appear the same again.

Book Review: Robert B. Parker's Hot Property

Spenser is waiting out the latest Boston snowstorm when he gets word that Rita Fiore has been shot. Rita’s always been a tricky one: flirting with Spenser for years, she’s an ever-present figure that transcends friendship in Spenser’s circle. But at the end of the day, Rita is family. And family will always be protected.

Both a pit bull in the courtroom and provocateur outside it, Rita is no stranger to controversy. But as one of the city’s toughest lawyers, Spenser knows that there’s no short list of suspects who might want to enact revenge. With Rita’s life hanging in the balance, it’s up to him to get to the bottom of things, even if it means unearthing some unsavory secrets that might just lead him into an age-old game of lies and deceit.

Book Review: Toto

I was mostly a Good Dog until they sold me out to animal control, okay? But if it’s a choice between Oz, with its creepy little singing dudes, and being behind bars in gray old Kansas, I’ll choose the place where animals talk and run the show for now, thanks.

It’s not my fault that the kid is stuck here too, or that she stumbled into a tug-of-war over a pair of slippers that don’t even taste good. Now one witch in good eyeliner calls her pretty and we’re off on a quest? Teenagers. I try to tell her she’s falling in with the wrong crowd when she befriends a freaking hedge wizard made of straw, that blue jay with revolutionary aspirations, and the walking tin can. Still, I’m not one to judge when there’s the small matter of a coup in the Forest Kingdom.

Book Review: The Shithead

Eric Bauer—son, husband, father, and small business owner—is slowly losing his grip on reality. Drowning in debt and a never-ending to-do list, he finally catches a break.

To trade the torment of barely scraping by for the riches of Nashville's elite Pinnacle Club, he only needs to keep doing what he's been doing since college. Lie.

Playing fast and loose with the truth is the easy part. What's hard for The Shithead is figuring out how to build a meaningful life in a meaningless world.

Book Review: Norman Lear - His Life and Times

Beginning in the 1970s, writer and producer Norman Lear forever altered the television landscape with such groundbreaking situation comedies as All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time. For over half a century his body of work boldly tackled race, class, sexuality, politics, and religion—topics previously considered too taboo to be the subject of comedy on the small screen.

Norma Lear: His Life and Times is the unforgettable story of an extraordinary seven-decade career. Veteran author and entertainment journalist Tripp Whetsell offers an intimate portrait of Lear that is the product of years of research and numerous interviews. Whetsell shows how Lear created the gold standard for television comedies, producing shows that were the first to give underrepresented members of society an authentic prime-time voice, while encouraging audiences to confront their own humanity and shortcomings. In the process, he explores one of television’s most transformative periods, detailing Lear’s legacy as one of its chief architects and catalysts.

Book Review: X-Men - The Manga Remastered vol. 1

Jubilation Lee is a teenager with a secret: she’s a mutant, the next level of human evolution, and has fantastic powers. All she wants is a normal life with trips to the mall to get away from her parents, but when the mutant-hunting robots known as Sentinels come after her, that normal life is pushed out of her reach! Discover the X-Men, mutant heroes hated and feared by a world they’re sworn to protect, alongside Jubilee in this classic manga series!

X-Men: The Animated Series was a global sensation and the perfect introduction to Marvel’s mutants! The classic manga adaptation, unavailable for years, now finally returns to print! Newly remastered and presented in a deluxe edition, this is the ultimate X-Men collector’s item!

Book Review: Snow and Ink vol. 1

Sentenced to death for the crime of sadistically killing his entire village, Neneo is all but ready to accept his unfortunate fate when he is mysteriously bought and saved by the wealthy heiress Freya. Emotionless and numb to the world, Freya is also an outcast, hiding deep wounds of her own. Unfazed by the tales of Neneo's crimes, she enlists him to accompany her in her exile to the far north. As this unlikely pair, both shunned by a cold world, venture together into the deep snow, they begin to find warmth in each other. But the past won't let itself be so easily forgotten.

Snow and Ink volume 1 by Miyuki Unohana will be published November 5, 2024. Kodansha Comics provided an early galley for review.

Book Review: Life's Short, Talk Fast

Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic Connecticut town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever.

In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, best-selling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. (“It’s a show? It’s a lifestyle. It’s a religion.”) Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Sanjena Sathian sees herself—and Asian American defiance—in Lane Kim; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Francesco Sedita discovers an antidote to pandemic loneliness; Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow. For anyone who identifies as Team Logan, Team Jess, or even Team Dean, Life’s Short, Talk Fast reveals what Gilmore Girls tells us about ourselves—and why it matters.

Book Review: Christmas TV Memories

For most of us, fond memories of the Christmas season are inseparable from TV’s holiday presentations. The world loves everything from iconic cartoons like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas to the ground-breaking Julia sitcom segment, “I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas,” Christmas in Rockefeller Center, and the 1992 TV-remake of Christmas in Connecticut directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Christmas TV Memories: Nostalgic Holiday Favorites of the Small Screen embraces it all, offering a tinsel-decked traipse down memory lane and chronicling animated classics, variety shows, made-for-TV features, and holiday-specific episodes of series like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. With a Foreword by best-selling Free to Be You and Me author and That Girl star Marlo Thomas, along with commentary from other celebrities, historical quotes, and insights from entertainment journalists and archivists, Christmas TV Memories serves as the go-to companion to the small screen’s most cherished holiday programs.

Book Review: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Earth has been transformed into the set of the galaxy’s most watched game show: Dungeon Crawler World, a nightmarish, multilevel, video game–like dungeon filled with traps, monsters, and mind-bending puzzles. Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The Iron Tangle: an impossibly complicated subway system tied together into a knot of trains of all kinds, from classic steam engines to sleek modern cars. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations aren’t always what they seem, and the exit is perpetually just a few stops away.

The top ten list is populated, and Carl and Donut have made it. But that popularity comes with a price. They each now have a bounty on their head. They must work with other crawlers to solve the puzzle of the floor, but how can they do that when they don’t know who to trust? The secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly useless book.

Book Review: The Düngeonmeister Book of RPG Trivia

Test your knowledge with The Düngeonmeister Book of RPG Trivia. With questions and interesting details about the history of tabletop gaming, your favorite game genres, and the media and video game connections you know and love, this new trivia book is sure to be a hit for seasoned gamers and newbies alike.

Featuring tons of questions to test your nerd cred.

The Düngeonmeister Book of RPG Trivia by Jef Aldrich and Jon Taylor will be published September 24, 2024. Adams Media provided an early galley for review.

Book Review: Eight Perfect Murders

A series of unsolved murders with one thing in common: each of the deaths bears an eerie resemblance to the crimes depicted in classic mystery novels.

The deaths lead FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey to mystery bookshop Old Devils. Owner Malcolm Kershaw had once posted online an article titled 'My Eight Favourite Murders,' and there seems to be a deadly link between the deaths and his list - which includes Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train and Donna Tartt's The Secret History.

Can the killer be stopped before all eight of these perfect murders have been re-enacted?