Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Chain Reaction by Zoe Archer, a Guest Review by CarrieS

(With Bonus Mini-review of: The Clockwork Girl.)

I reviewed Archer's first science fiction ebook, Collision Course, about 8th Wing and their fight against PRAXIS and I loved it.  A special thanks to all the commentators who pointed out that in real life PRAXIS can stand for a type of standardized test.  I still love the series but now every time the word comes up all I can think of is number two pencils. 

Anyway, I had high expectations for Chain Reaction and those expectations were met and exceeded. Wonderful characters, a geek hero (SWOON!!!!), great dialogue both serious and funny, and a refreshing amount of realism considering the setting.  After a sequence of ebooks in which protagonists were practically knocked senseless by their first encounter with the godliness of the other, it was lovely to see a more realistic but still passionate description of attraction and deepening emotional romance.

The Virgin Project by K.D. Boze and Stasia Kato

This is a bit outside the boundaries of the genre, but in some ways, it’s not. I first mentioned The Virginity Project here, and when the publisher of the book offered a review copy for me to review, I was so curious to see the collection, I couldn’t say no. Since so much of romance focuses on virginity in one form or another, both literal and figurative, examining sexuality through illustration of the (dare I say) seminal moment for some men and women’s sexual history seemed relative to romance’s interests.

This collection is so moving, I couldn’t stop reading it. It doesn’t take long to read, but there are some that are so wrenching, so joyous, so funny that you go back and re-read them. Each could be a novel, though some are so horrifying they’re not even on the same planet as romantic. There are tales of rape and assault, stories of coming out and finally figuring out how to come, and stories of planned and spontaneous sexual experiences that reveal how much we’re NOT talking about when we discuss sexuality, virginity, and sexual agency.

Chew Issue #1 by John Layman and Rob Guillory

Chew‘s premise is morbid, hilarious and delicious: in the near future, chicken has been outlawed in the United States because of an uncontrolled outbreak of avian flu. Or is it? Is it instead a gigantic governmental conspiracy? Regardless, chicken parts are now the hottest thing on the street, because as one characters observe: “You outlaw chicken, and only outlaws have chicken.” The FDA (minor quibble: why the FDA, and not the USDA?) is now in the vice business, cracking down on illicit chicken deals—and this isn’t even a metaphor for prostitution. It’s literally chickens, dude.

Enter Tony Chu. Tony Chu is a cibopathic police detective. He takes a bite of something, and he knows things. Psychic impressions of the life-cycle of the food flood him: the things done to the food, where the food came from, all of it. It’s bad enough when it comes to fruit and vegetables; eating meat is, uh, intense. (The one thing that doesn’t trigger his ability? Beets. Tony Chu eats a lot of canned beets.)

Then Tony discovers one day that his ability has unusual applications. You know. Should he, like, eat part of a perp. Or a murder victim.

And that’s when the… read more »

Lightning Reviews: Frank Miller’s Sin City

I loved the Sin City novels. Loved ‘em. But when I sat down and tried to write individual reviews for them, I realized I couldn’t. I just wanted to boil everything down into pithy, snarky vignettes, with “Dwight is hot” and “I heart Marv” making up about 50% of those comments. Then I realized: well, DUH, Lightning Review time, mothafuckas!

The Hard Goodbye: You can read a more detailed review here, but basically, it boils down to: I heart Marv, the artwork blew me away, I heart Marv, the story rocks, and I heart Marv. A

A Dame To Kill For: Detailed review here (and you can totally tell I was already grasping for enough words in that review). Dwight is hot, Marv gets a decent supporting bit, and the story ruled; however, Clive Owen, while a boootiful man, was completely inadequate for his role in the movie. A

The Big Fat Kill: What is it about the idea of kick-ass prostitutes being in complete control of their turf that I find so appealing?… read more »

A Dame to Kill For: Sin City Book 2 by Frank Miller

Mmmmm, Dwight. Damaged, borderline-psychotic Dwight. Bam was right: he’s nummy. Buy this book. Read it. Fall in dirty, dirty lust with Dwight.

Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Ahem. Let me try again:

Dwight, like just about every Sin City character you’d care to name, has problems. The love of his life left him years ago for a rich man, he lost his job as an award-winning photographer for Alcohol-Related Reasons that aren’t elaborated in the book, and he’s now reduced to sneaking around, taking pictures of husbands behaving badly for a hilariously sleazy private detective.

Then a blast (no, make that the blast) from the past, Ava, shows up. She makes noises about her life being in danger. And she’s being shadowed by a huge (and I mean huge) motherfucker who’s allegedly her husband’s chauffeur.

Dwight has two weaknesses: booze and dames. One weakness feeds off the other. But Ava isn’t a weakness for Dwight so much as she is his San Andreas Fault: when he sticks around her long enough, catastrophic things happen, and vital chunks of himself threaten to tear free… read more »

The Hard Goodbye: Sin City Book 1 by Frank Miller

I made the mistake of reading this on Tuesday night. It was late for me—about 11 p.m.—and I was dog-tired, but I’m the kind of girl who needs a book to lull her to sleep.

This book did not lull me to sleep. Despite knowing everything that happens, courtesy of the movie, the book firmly attached itself to my fingers and refused to let go until I turned the last page. Even then, I started over and re-read several pages before I looked at the clock, realized that 1 a.m. was sidling up on me and my alarm clock was going to ring in five hours.

Those of you who watched the movie know the story already: Marv, a big, ugly psychotic (and psychopathic) killer spends a drunken night of pleasure in the arms of a gorgeous woman named Goldie. When he wakes up, Goldie is dead, and police sirens are ringing.

Someone wanted Goldie dead. Someone wants to frame Marv for her murder.

The rest of the book traces Marv’s obsession with finding Goldie’s killer and avenging her death, no… read more »