Yes. It ends today. Here’s the last post of pellet reviews for the year!
Quest for the 36
by Stephen Billias
The world is coming to an end, and only the prayers of thirty-six righteous people can save it. The problem comes in finding these thirty-six righteous people! Enter Dexter Sinister, booking agent extraordinaire! He’s hired to find them. Should be a cinch, right? How hard can it be to find thirty-six righteous people in the 1980’s?
The tone of this book is an amazing combination of snide and reverent. I loved the humor involved, and the discovery of each righteous person felt earned. …until the end. I don’t know if it was a restriction of word count or if the author ran out of ideas of if he just felt like wrapping things up, but the end of the book felt incredibly rushed, especially compared to the beginning. Still, all in all, a worthy read.
Friendroid
by M. M. Vaughan
Danny’s best friend at school is Eric. But Danny discovers something more than a little strange… Eric is a robot. And Eric doesn’t know he’s a robot. Neither do his parents. But the discovery brings great danger, as strangers flood town and Eric’s very existence is threatened.
This book is everything I’d want to read in middle school. Not only are the friends incredibly realistic, but it gets down to the “weird” stuff right away. While the big twist is telegraphed by the title – hey! Eric’s a robot! – everything inside the covers just sings with adventure. Hand this to a kid or read it yourself today.
Billy the Kid: A romantic story founded upon Walter Wood’s and Joseph Santley’s successful play of the same name
by Arda LaCroix
Billy the Kid had been set up for the life of an outlaw from childhood. And when disaster strikes, he flees the scene of the crime, painting him as a terrible criminal. Before the end of the story, though, he will return and set things right, no matter the cost.
This book was first published in 1907, less than a decade from the end of the Wild West era. Already outlaws were being romanticized, and this play-turned-novel shows that in spades. Billy doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, as portrayed here, though he is clever and skillful! This particular reprint also includes the original advertisements in the first pulp book, and man, they are a blast to read. If you like older books, check out Giant Squid Audio Lab. They have so many cool reprints!
Writing the Shadow
by Joanna Penn
Inside you is a darkness. You hold it back. It cannot leak onto the page. But in Writing the Shadow, author Joanna Penn encourages the reader to tap into the darkness and let it inform our prose to create stronger stories.
I backed this project on Kickstarter, and… I kinda wish I hadn’t. The book is good. The advice is solid. At the same time, there was nothing new in the book for me at all. All the advice – again, all good advice! – are things I already incorporate into my own writing. So for me, it was pointless. On the other hand, if someone is struggling to allow their darkness and their history to bleed onto the page, this book could be a very valuable resource.
Fiends and Festivals
by S. Usher Evans
The village of Pigsend relies on the Harvest Festival to bring visitors, and with them, an influx of money. Many in the village depend on the festival to survive. The Queen has commanded that festivals be inspected, though, and a series of tragedies beset the festival this year. It’s up to innkeeper Bev to track down what’s really going on, all while hiding her own possibly magic abilities.
This is book two of The Weary Dragon Inn, and I enjoyed it more than the first volume. The first was good, don’t get me wrong, but now that I was in “the swing of things,” I could sit back and let the story take me where it wanted to go. Cozy fantasy is all the rage these days, and this series is a worthy participant in the genre.
Zorro: The Complete Pulp Adventures, Vol. 3
by Johnston McCulley
Has Zorro turned to villainy? Don Diego must unmask the outlaw masquerading as the people’s hero! Along with this novel, the collection includes eleven additional short stories from the original Zorro exploits.
Ah, man, more pulp adventures! Zorro rides again! I love reading these. Even in these stories, there seem to be a number of different continuities at play. Is Don Diego married? No? Does the public know his identity? If you’re hung up on continuity between stories, you’re gonna have a hard time. But if you can relax and let each story stand by itself, you’ll have a load of adventure.
Kabumpo in Oz
by Ruth Plumly Thompson
Oh no! A nation will vanish if the prince doesn’t marry! But the prince doesn’t want to marry, of course. So off he goes on an adventure to protect his people and hopefully not get married! Along the way, he might not just save his little country, but all of Oz!
It’s an Oz book. If you’ve never read Oz, go read some of the novels. If you’ve read Oz before, you already know what you’re getting into. Some delightful plays on words, rollicking adventure, fascinating characters, and delightful illustrations.
The Curious Plight of Princess Joe
by Martha Jones
The kingdom of Mundania celebrates as a son is born to the king and queen! Alas, his absent-minded fairy godmother blesses the baby with everything a princess would need. Now what’ll happen?
Looking for some good tongue-in-cheek humor? This book has it in spades. I found myself grinning as I read through the novel. Joe has a heart of gold, and even though he’s a princess, he’s still a boy, and there are many misadventures to be found. I do wish the book had gone through another proofreading pass, though. This edition had enough typos and formatting errors it was distracting.
Orconomics
by J. Zachary Pike
Ever thought about how the economy in a standard Dungeons and Dragons setting might work? Ever think about how bad a deal it is for people like goblins and orcs? Every ponder who profits to send heroes against dragons and other beasties? And what if someone could turn the economic system into a farcical adventure?
Well, you should read this book, then. One dwarf befriending a goblin could cause an economic collapse that destroys millions of lives… but it’s worth it to protect those innocent goblins, right?
The Thubway Tham Megapack
by Johnston McCulley
In the 1910’s, various criminals work their trade in New York City. Thubway Tham lifts leathers in the subway, and he’s very good at his job. The police have assigned a detective to trail him, and yet the little pickpocket always gets away. It helps he has a heart of gold that longs to help the little guy. This collection gathers twenty-two of his stories.
Johnston McCulley is better known for creating Zorro, one of my favorite heroes. When I stumbled across this other creation of his, I had to pick it up. I’m glad I did! The stories are short and relatively simple, but often a lot of fun. If you’re looking for some pulp enjoyment, you could do a lot worse than this pack.
Jonathon Mast: Author 