books

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C2E2 2022: FCSyndicate Chats with Kayden Phoenix, Creator of A LA BRAVA

I was in geek heaven this past weekend as I got to attend yet another wonderful Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. To help keep my fellow nerds updated, I will be posting a few articles about C2E2 covering the event in general and some of the specific fun areas and activities. I picked up some comics, board games, and card games, too, so look for my reviews of those in the coming weeks.

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BUDGET BIOMORPHS: New Book In The Works Exploring The Live Action ‘Guyver’ Movies Of The 1990s

A new book is on the way detailing the endeavors of the 1991 and 1994 cult live-action adaptations, The Guyver and Guyver: Dark Hero. The book, titled “Budget Biomorphs: The Making Of The Guyver Films”, which will cover cast and crew stories, never-before-seen behind the scenes photos from crew who worked on both films, storyboards, concept art and more, is on track to publish by BearManor Media for a late 2022/early 2023 release date.

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Your Next Reads: Five True Crime Books for Your TBR Pile

For those of you wondering, yes, my True Crime book club is still active! I’ve been so engrossed in reading (true crime, items for my 2021 Reading Challenge, for another book club I’m in, and other books as I find them), that I have not slowed down enough to actually write about what I’ve been reading! So, to help catch you up on what has been going on in my True Crime reading, I am going to summarize our last five reads and our reactions:

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2020 TBR READING CHALLENGE: A Year’s Footnotes From A Book Dragon

True story: when I used to travel with my mom, she would often lecture me about my packing because I had to take at least four books with me, no matter the length of the trip: the book I was currently reading, a book for the trip there, the trip back, and what if those books were not enough? No, I am not just a bookworm; I am a book dragon. I devour stories. I read more than one book at a time. I read. A lot. So when I came across the “2020 TBR Reading Challenge” I had to give it a go.

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Your Next Read: GHETTOSIDE

One World – Reprint Edition (Amazon)If you’ve been reading my articles on this site, you know that I am a huge horror fan. By extension, I am also a fan of true crime. There are times when being borderline-obsessed with these genres can feel isolating. Not everyone understands the gleam in my eye when I speak of Jigsaw’s engineering brilliance (from the Saw franchise, for those who don’t know), people who are disgusted by gore do not understand how I can spend time watching anything directed by Rob Zombie, and people will slowly step away if I start dropping names like Joseph James DeAngelo, Edmund Kemper, or Jeffrey Dahmer in everyday conversation.

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Your Next Read: THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

When I am not busy watching horror movies to review or writing, I like to read. A lot. This year, a friend and I have found a reading challenge we have decided to do together. One item on the list is to read a “novel that will get a movie adaptation in 2020.” I will spare you the details on how two bookworms wheedled down two needlessly long lists of books that we could read together; all you need to know is that we decided on The Woman in the Window by A.J. Flynn.

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Your Next Read: TWENTY

If you could pick the time to leave this life, would you? If you said yes, and you had twenty days left to live, how would you spend your time?
I was sent the book Twenty, written by Debra Landwehr Engle, in exchange for an honest review. I took my time before actually reading it. I posted the obligatory, “I got book mail” photo on my social media, but I kept finding other things to read. I’ve had enough loss in my life and like to use books as an escape from reality rather than another way to view reality. But Twenty isn’t just about dying. It’s about living.
In Twenty, the reader meets Meg who, at the age of 55, has already lost her mother and daughter and is divorced. Years ago, while caring for her mother, a doctor gave her a bottle of pills that promised a “quick, painless end in exactly twenty days.” Meg did not give them to her mother, but takes them in the opening chapter of the book.
What follows is the next 20 days of Meg’s life, with a chapter dedicated to each day. The reader gets to see how she decides to spend the remainder of her time, including cleaning and reaching out to people in her life. Told between the present and flashbacks as Meg reminisces, the reader slowly gets to discover what circumstances brought Meg to taking the pills.
I read this book in about three sittings. If I had had a full day to dedicate to it, I would’ve finished it in one. It is that good. At just under 200 pages, it could be a quick read and trust me, it is a page-turner. I was annoyed every time I had to put it down because I needed to see if Meg would tell her sister or boss or friend about the pills, I wanted to continue the 20 days with Meg to see how she spent them, what realizations she had, and if I could apply anything she learned to my own life (I definitely could and will).
Twenty was well-written, well-paced, and had good characterization that made the conversations and people feel realistic. My only complaint about the novel is that I read it alone so I did not have a book club to discuss this read with, but that’s okay; that is what the internet is for, right?

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