All The Rage

5 out of 5 stars

     

     I haven't written a full book review in a while. Just too much going on. Too many books to read that I could be reading that I'd have to stop reading if I'm writing a review. Then again somethings must be talked about, must be discussed, must to spoken of. Some talents are too much of a glimmer on the surface of this world not to talk about, some works of art need to be pointed at and given yells  of "You need to read this... NOW!" Such a talent is Courtney Summers, such a piece of art is All The Rage.

     Below is a cut and paste from a entry a few days ago when I started reading this book:

     I don’t really read much realistic fiction. I like to escape, I need to escape, but there are some writers I am right there ready to take part in their creations when they appear such as Laurie  Halse Anderson, Nova Ren Suma, and Courtney Summers to name a few. The reason these writers stand out in my mind? Others are squeak hammers; these three are those climbing ones that would go straight through your skull. I’m thinking about this as I’m reading All The Rage by Courtney Summers sitting in the library after work. If I’m going to read realistic fiction I don’t need no after school special rated for the age group and time slot, which is usually before school even lets out. I want; I need to feel scratchy, played, twisted, punched in the face to pay attention, called to think, and questioned about myself and the world, by myself and the world. I love writers, artists who have no interest in me being comfortable, except when they are playing with my little bitty brain holder. Love when a book can make you have to put it down for a bit so you can think, because dammit you really need to think on this. Art that crawls under your skin and you see the pages as an elastic gift which flips between the eyes we need and this is where powerful art lives. So I’m going to sit here and read more. Sometimes I look up and wonder why the world around me isn’t noticing what’s going on? Can’t they see? Don’t they feel what’s going on here?

     I finished this book after many moments during reading it when I was left shaking. Shaking because of things I remember what a story a friend told. Shaking because I've read story after story about the reality, the cold hard truth of what kind of world we live in. Courtney Summers can do that to you with her writing. She can shake your life.

     There's a scene in Some Girls Are that had me stop reading it for a week because it hit me so hard.

     You should go read that too. My review is here.

     All The Rage is a book that keeps your mind from focusing. I don't know if I can explain it. From the formatting of the chapters, to the places where different type setting is used, different ways of approaching the story, it stirs you away from getting your feet planted. What Courtney Summers does in tackling the subject of rape culture is never for a moment do you forget this is about a person; which is what news agency's do time after time when covering stories. The writer of this story isn't playing to dramatic points and this isn't done I think to keep you from guessing whats coming but to show you the reality of the pain, the reality of the reality.

     Most writers would tackle this like a gun shot wound on a kids show, no blood, no gasping for life. Courtney Summer goes at it like a finger poked deep into the wound. There's pain here, there is falling, there's standing, there's cruelty, and there's numbness that's is honorable. There's a numbness that is there that no can understand from out of it.

     All The Rage is also about the armors we wear to give a little fuck you to the world when it wants you to be strong in demanding fashion. Being strong is a personal choice. Being weak is a personal choice. The way of dealing is a personal choice that belongs to that person. Not yours, theirs. I love Courtney Summers characters because she isn't crafting you a birthday card friend and Romy Grey isn't one. She's a person. The writer says here is a person, deal.

    Ok, I suck at reviews. I just write and ramble but this is a great book. Go and buy it. Check it out at the library. Give it to friends, talk about it with friends.

     After reading the last words of this story and thinking two things came to mind- If you want to be a ally don't get angry when someone points out your mistakes like when you might need to back off. and two- This persons pain, its theirs to own in whatever way they want to own it.

All The Rage

These Books They

I don’t really read much realistic fiction. I like to escape, I need to escape, but there are some writers I am right there ready to take part in their creations when they appear such as Laurie  Halse Anderson, Nova Ren Suma, and Courtney Summers to name a few. The reason these writers stand out in my mind? Others are squeak hammers; these three are those climbing ones that would go straight through your skull. I’m thinking about this as I’m reading All The Rage by Courtney Summers sitting in the library after work. If I’m going to read realistic fiction I don’t need no after school special rated for the age group and time slot, which is usually before school even lets out. I want; I need to feel scratchy, played, twisted, punched in the face to pay attention, called to think, and questioned about myself and the world, by myself and the world. I love writers, artists who have no interest in me being comfortable, except when they are playing with my little bitty brain holder. Love when a book can make you have to put it down for a bit so you can think, because dammit you really need to think on this. Art that crawls under your skin and you see the pages as an elastic gift which flips between the eyes we need and this is where powerful art lives. So I’m going to sit here and read more. Sometimes I look up and wonder why the world around me isn’t noticing what’s going on? Can’t they see? Don’t they feel what’s going on here?

These Books They

Again, I must again

    
     As I dive back into another NaNo here's my favorite quote on it from one of my favorite writers. Courtney Summer"NANOWRIMO NAYSAYERS: I'll work on my book after I finish criticizing Nano. NANO PARTICIPANTS: [working on books]"

Again, I must again

Where I talk about How writers are masters of avoidance, Mitt Romney, Daniel Tosh, and Joe Paterno.

What should I talk about today....


     Well, one that I didn't update a blog entry yesterday but to be honest my brain was just blank all day for some reason. I also know I haven't updated with a game play entry in a while either. That comes down to two thing. 1, I'm looking into how to capture the video from play to maybe start doing a web series of my game play and 2, I just haven't had time to play anything. I'll try my best to do a update on Monday; which would be the first game of my first season playing MLB 10 The Show.
     But I was productive writing wise yesterday as I started planning out my next full length book. I'm approaching this book in ways that I've never done any story before. I'm laying out and planning the book on note cards to try to correct issues I have had in the past with the flow of a book, with making each character unique, and taking readers in interesting directions that aren't compromises on my part.
     What I meant by that last one is that I'm also going to be approaching this book with a firm plan to go head on with my weaknesses as a writer and not go away, or around, or substitute something else to get keep from facing them.
     I think one thing a writer can do after they start to see their weaknesses is find ways of not addressing them. Knowing  is half the battle but it's not all G.I. Joe. I've had times were I would run into a issue I know I have problems with but I would go another route to take it easy on myself. Don't learn a damn thing taking it easy on yourself.
     Maters of avoidance writers so are.


COOL LINKS TO CHECK OUT:
     I watched the first episode of this new web series by Sandeep Parikh and plan to watch more. Issue #1: The Super Force Versus The Bottom Line
     New episode of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. This show grew on me to now I look forward to new episodes. Meeting Bing Lee - Ep: 28
     A blast from the past. I always liked the idea of the Jim Crockett Cup because it paused feuds and stories for a while to just have a tournament of wrestling. The 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes teams with the 'Russian Nightmare' Nikita Koloff to take on Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez in the Jim Crockett Cup. From 4/11/87
     Courtney Summers guests on the SF Signal Podcast and talks about her new book THIS IS NOT A TEST as well as other subjects. Give it a listen. 


RANTS:
   No Mr. Romney, no one wants free stuff. Nothing is free. You are right there. It's not free because people pay taxes on income, purchases, cars, houses, land, and 800 other things. And there is the biggest not free in all of this and that all of us having loved ones sacrificing their lives to prop up this government. Most people are fine with doing that thinking then the government will be there for them when they need it. What you want is for citizens to dish out their money with no return when they find a need for help in their live. Not how that's going to work. That leads to a charging of the gates in time; which frankly maybe what this country might need. I have a question for everyone- why follow rules of law of a government, why pay taxes, why be non-violent when your government isn't asking for citizens to be part of a two way participation in government but instead asking for serfdom? Romney: NAACP members want ’free stuff’
     People have asked me what I think about the Daniel Tosh issue that's come up. I've always said there isn't a word or a subject that you can't use in any form of art and comedy is art. But I've also always said unless you are a complete dumb fuck idiot then you have to know that using certain subject matter in your art will get you a very certain kind of response. So thinking Daniel Tosh has a brain he had to know going in what would come of this but it wasn't even his talk about rape jokes being funny that was the issues here. By the way he wasn't telling a joke but that's neither here or there, some comedians are conversation comedians. The real issue comes when he was heckled by someone who didn't like what he was saying and his response was,  “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…” That's not a joke. That's creating a hostile dangerous environment for this person and that makes him a coward in a high level of cowardice. Everyone talks about the whole "yelling fire in a theater" thing when it comes to censorship. That's what he did right there. He put that person in danger. People claiming any outcry against it is censorship, look up the word. Everyone else has the same right to criticize speech as the person who originally said something they didn't agree with.
Daniel Tosh Jokes About Seeing a Heckler Get Gang Raped
     Another thing people have asked me about today is the report that just came out today about the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky investigation. First don't even bring up football to me. That's bullshit. Talking about wins or loses and legacies of coaches is a insult to the victims in this case. But whenever this comes up people have always brought up Joe Paterno so I'll say something about him. No matter what today's report says what really made me lose respect for him was when asked if he ever talked to Jerry Sandusky about the things that were being said about him Paterno said no, he never brought it up. Never even mention it to someone he considered a friend. To me even if this was going on about my best friend, even if I never for a second thought the things being said could possibly be true, I as a human being talking to another one would ask- why are people saying this? What could be the reasoning them saying these things? Paterno didn't even bring it up to Sandusky. That's so telling to me.

Where I talk about How writers are masters of avoidance, Mitt Romney, Daniel Tosh, and Joe Paterno.

Where I talk about MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL games 1 & 2 and also candy stealing politicians.

MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL 

OPENING SEASON SERIES VS. UTAH

     I really love this college baseball game. Based off the old MVP game its one of my favorite sports games. I said games too many times didn't I blogging police? Hey, if you're going to talk about vaginas you have to say vagina and when you're going to talk about games you say games.
    This game easier and not as finally tuned as games like MLB THE SHOW; which I'm going to play also and post about here but still a very enjoyable game. And all the home runs sort of fits considering this is a college baseball game.
    You can create your own stadium or use major league stadiums in a college setting also. The stadium I created is based off Boston's Fenway Park with a few little changes by me. I've read that the sales of the college baseball games were way behind the college football game but I always liked them because in college baseball, like basketball you truly earn your championship unlike college football.
   GAME ONE
Texas- 7
Vs.
Utah- 3
*I came away with 9 hits to Utah's 12 but my pitching really struggled early but settled down later when I started remembering how beat to pitch to the CPU.
Stats: Winning Pitcher- M. Burnitz (relief pitcher.)
Texas Home Runs- R. Hendon, M. Kndrr, and J. Danford.
   GAME TWO
Texas- 5
Vs.
Utah- 2
*We still gave up a lot of hits, they had 10 but we upped our hit total to 13.
Stats: Winning Pitcher- G. Stefanski.
Texas Home Runs- J. Scelfo, N. Granberry, and M. Genereux. I like that in two games we had three home runs per game by six different players.


COOL LINKS TO CHECK OUT:
   This is so cool and the type of things as a writer that make you want to stop whatever your doing and write a science fiction book. Two planets barely a million miles apart - Boing Boin
   I love this Futurama live action trailer. I've always been more a hardcore Futurama fan than a Simpsons fan. I love the Simpsons but Futurama is the show I watch over and over when it is on.
   Paul Cornell on the joys of plotting. Wait, what, joys he says? :)
   Another good show from the FFFIC team: "So many brownies, so many brownies." Comic Book Reviews - FFFIC Episode #50
   Check out these Hank Green videos: Hank Green: One on One DFTBA Edition and Hank is Maybe Crazy and he is smart How To Make a Mutant Flu
   And in related people who are related here's a couple of John Green videos: Insufficient Funds: A Story of Canada and Simple Animals: Sponges, Jellies, & Octopi - CrashCourse Biology #22 oops, that was Hank Green again, sorry. Though tomorrow my lead will be me going on and on about some things John said in a video.
   And And I'm going to keep telling you people to buy THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers daily if I have something new to present to you to promote said full of awesome book and here's a new book trailer for it. Go buy it.
   And And And that's enough "And"s. "Ands" are one of my weaknesses as a writer. I'm addicted to "And"s "though"s and really really long sentences.
     Felicia Day's book club. Check it out. Not my thing the type of books they discuss but seems pretty cool: Vaginal Fantasy Hangout #6: Kushiel's Dart
     More of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: Bing Lee and His 500 Teenage Prostitutes - Ep: 4 I really like the actresses in this series but don't know if I will keep watching it much longer.


RANTS AND SCREAMS:
     I love how that the story has become about whether these cameras should be hidden and not really about a politician out fucking someone in the woods. Al Fresco in Austria: Politician's Woodland Tryst Sparks Privacy Debate
     Martha Stewart went to jail for a very questionable view of insider trading but our government officials are allowed to do it like eating candy out of the candy containers at a candy store. What? You are not allowed to do that at candy stores WELL THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO DO THIS EITHER! 34 Lawmakers Changed Their Investments After Receiving Private Briefings About 2008 Economic Crisis
     See my last blog update for me talking about voting issues in America. Pennsylvania Republican: Voter ID Laws Are ‘Gonna Allow Governor Romney To Win’

Where I talk about MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL games 1 & 2 and also candy stealing politicians.

Where I review Manga Man, How To Archer, and talk about Unions, Tracker beams, and pedo deathstars.

     

MANGA MAN by Barry Lyga and Colleen Doran
5 out of 5 stars

     This book fell into the very small group of books that I have ever given five stars to. That means I believe it accomplished everything it set out to do in story, characters, and artwork.
     Going into reading this I was torn because to be honest the last few Barry Lyga books I didn't care much for but on the other side of the road Colleen Doran is one of my favorite artists and I want to read everything she is involved with. Honestly I thought I'd end up enjoying the art but skipping through the story.
     I ended up doing nothing like that. I just loved this book. The concept is one that would live or die with the talent of the artist and you will see if you choose to read this how awesomely talented Colleen Doran is. An even lessor talented artist would leave this story lacking and just ok.
    When I was reading this book I had this overwhelming feeling inside of me of this book being a child of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comic books. And to be honest I've been waiting for that feeling for a very long time.
     If you are a Barry Lyga fan you really should read this book. If you are a Colleen Doran fan you really should read this book. If you have never read anything by either of them before you should read this book. If you love a story that works hard to complete what it set out to do, you really NEED to read this book.
     This is the type of book asked for by fans and creators alike, something that takes a step forward but doesn't go all pretentious and all I'm smarter than you are as it takes that walk.
     Manga Man does something that very books do. It's takes a idea from the simple but cool idea to workable idea, to story, to finished book. You also have to see if you are a content creator how much hard work had to go into crafting this story in the high grade it turned out to be.

HOW TO ARCHER: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ESPIONAGE AND STYLE AND WOMEN AND ALSO COCKTAILS EVER WRITTEN by Sterling Archer
4 out of 5 stars

     "Danger Zoooone." Archer is simple one of the best shows on television. I also want to point out I only found out about Archer because of my love for the Geektress podcast.
     The problem with a lot of tie in books that are suppose to be in the voice of one of the characters is they just don't in any remind you of said character. This book is pure Archer. All adrenaline, bullshit, and surprising intelligence.
     One of my favorite things about this book is how it never feels like a book that is written by someone who wants to be writing this book but someone who is contractually obligated to. It's part of the books story and really is used well.
     I don't know if someone or a group of someones from the show wrote this book but it sure does seem like that.
     If you normally don't buy tie in books, and I understand that, but you love Archer you need to read this.
     If you read this book, one warning, you will need to call Kenny Loggins..... Go ahead, say it.....I'll wait...
     And the next Archer book should be a Biography of the life of Pam. I'd so eat that shit up. Read the book, not talking about P.... Ok, I do find Pam hot. Damn.... *walks away after knowing that shame will follow him forever into the world*

Check Out These Links:
     Hank Green talks about how close we are to getting tractor beams and what they would be used for. Hint, not to capture smugglers and bring them into our pedo deathstar that in time would lead to sister kissing. Tractor Beams: Almost Real!
     Rant on Foamy. Video Games (A Rant for E3) : Foamy The Squirrel
     The season finale of the nerdist all-star bowling show. BRYAN CRANSTON IS THE ONE WHO BOWLS - Breaking Bad v Nerdist on Season F...
     More Hank Green fun "Flesh-Eating" Bacteria. And as always with Hanks videos I learned something.
     I know I'm with Mar so she can fight off bigger predators Monogamy She's that badass. And I say that because I know she doesn't read my blog. Hi Love :)
     John Green plays FIFA with some of his star players benched for mouthing off to their manager TFIOS Original Ending: The Miracle of Swindon Town #125 and then he answers questions while at BEA The Dangling Rope of Terror: It's Question Tuesday
     The Vlog Brothers take up a lot of my fun points during my days but at the same time you get expansion points for using your fun points. That sounded why too gamer for someone who isn't much of a gamer. Mass Extinctions which I found really interesting because I spotted a trigger thought in to a race of Doctor Who characters and Zombie Apocalypse? because Mar finds zombies more interesting than me. Hi Love :)
      I talked about this album the other day on my Facebook and Twitter but I haven't stopped listening to it since so I'll mention it here too. The Canterbury Tales Remix .... just thinking, did I already mention it here? WHO CARES IT'S AWESOME! And as always tip to the artist if you have the cash. Even you don't spread the word if you liked.
     A couple interviews with one of my favorite writers Courtney Summers. If you haven't read any of Courtney's books WHAT THE FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU!!!!! Courtney Summers Author Interview! and Interview #2


Rants and screams:
     Ray Bradbury was one of the writers who taught me to read. With my learning disability issues teachers for the most part failed me but it was with librarians handing me books so well crafted with words such as those written by Ray Bradbury I was able to to fight those setbacks and consume worlds daily in stories for the rest of my life. With Bradbury the words didn't attack me, they lived with me, swam with me and I learned.
     Why does Chrome keep showing me old bookmarks I've deleted sometimes? Stop it Chrome I use those to organize thoughts and research. My brain is an overflowing mess of thoughts, information, and ideas. Picture two cups trying to pour water into each other at the same time. I need ways of organizing this me.
     Ok, it's time for unions to strike by with their voices, some home made road spike jacks, road blocks, and chains to the business standing to the side and saying, "Well, would you rather not be able to feed your family?" Otherwise politicians are going to slowly strip away every benefit, every safety measure, every step forward so many workers died to gain.
     When I think of George Bush I will always think of him standing on the deck of a ship, wearing a politicized costume that dishonored those who had died wearing it, declaring Mission Accomplished, and then when it wasn't he scarified many more brave lives with so many more in our government to try to paint over mistakes they still wont even  admit to. Now many within our government are attacking unions, testing the waters for more wars, and pasteurizing the minds of America to the economy by holding up hot issues like miniature horses. When really do enjoy being political puppets in a country that claims to be so individualistic.
     The way the GOP uses Gay Civil Rights and Abortion issues with its base is like a conjuring slight of hand trick. "Pay only attention to my hands" while they lift your wallet and your life. Wake up America, they are playing you for fools.

Where I review Manga Man, How To Archer, and talk about Unions, Tracker beams, and pedo deathstars.

Where I talk about Camelot 3000, Drift, Free Comic Book Day, and This Is Not A Test

The book I'm currently reading is Drift by Rachel Maddow. I'm finding it really interesting to look over the history of the military and how in a lot of ways our leaders have failed the military and failed the country as a whole. I'm not normally a nonfiction reader except for news and when I'm doing research but I love this book.

Someone earlier today asked me if I could recommend 10 books right off the top of my head without thinking. I'm going to do the list without thinking bu then ramble some comments on each one.
Just a warning about things coming off the top of my head. My head has a weird shape so these books might be so inclined. I thought this would be cool to do and also how about picking up some of these which are comics at your local comic book store during Free Comic Book Day. Most stores have sales during that event.

Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
*I'm still behind in buying these volumes but my love for them has never passed. One of the best stories period of the past twenty years. I usually pick up at least one volume every year at Free Comic Book Day and will probably do so again this year.
A example of a great comic store. Mine recommended this book to me a long time ago and it was just the first of many things they pointed me towards based on things they knew I had liked in the past.
Batwoman Elegy by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III
*You can start with the Elegy story or the new DC 52 first story of Hydrology. One of my favorite comics of the past ten years are these Batwoman stories. With art that shows you storytelling skill that can be breathtaking at times and writing that seems straightforward but hits you with sucker punches when needed I can not recommend this book more highly.
Camelot 3000 by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland
*Whenever someone tells me to recommend a comic they may not have heard of I point them in the direction of this book. As a fan of Arthurian Myth since I was a kid this just blew me away the first time I found the first issue at a bookstore in the mall. With its new take, great art, and nice twists it showed me there were great adventure comics outside superheros. When I think of it right now it actually reminds me Game Of Thrones for some reason? HBO get on that.
Crisis On Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
*This was the first DC comics I ever read. Up to this point I had only knew of the DC characters from cartoons and TV shows. Ever since that moment I've tried to buy everything George Perez has done. Still the best well crafted crossover book ever. The writer and artist took what could have been a mess, as a lot of company wide events have been since, and they put you in the middle of a universe falling apart. Heroes fighting a losing battle and while doing all of that each rescue, each death was felt.
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
*I loved this series. I went in thinking it didn't have much weight to it but it does. This series dealt with brotherhood, military actions, war crimes, what a hero is, patriotism, genocide, and sacrifice.
This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers
*Courtney Summers 4th book, this story of zombies goes beyond being about walking flesh sticks into a story about many things that we face in life and as with a lot of great horror stories it shows how horrible real life really is.
You can find my review here but I will say this also. I'm not a zombie fan. I'm always found them boring and still think they aren't the best fit for a long ongoing story but for a self-contained book you wont find a better zombie story than This Is Not A Test from a writer who has did nothing but get better with each book she has written.
Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma
*One of the few books I've given 5 stars to. One another is actually This Is Not A Test. My review for this book can be found here. A story about siblings, reality, and whether reality matters at all.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight by a lot of talented people
*If you are a Buffy fan from the TV series give this series a shot. I consider that series to be one of the best in Television history and I loved these books. They are on Season Nine now but as I only buy trades I'm always behind. It captures the essence of the series but moves on from it as it needed to do.
The Name Of The Star by Maureen Johnson
*My review for this book is here. Since I was a young messed up kid I've read everything I could find on the Jack The Ripper killings and when Mar told me Maureen Johnson had a book on the subject coming out I was in. In like gin..... I don't know what I meant there, read my review. This update is longer than I planned for it to be.
Secret Six by Gail Simone and many others
*I say start with Villains United and go from there. The title link takes you to a link for a read order. If you don't have Secret Six on your list of the best comics of the past 10 years you should be kicked in the balls or...... Mar just told me punched in the tits hurts also. Shit! It's does hurt. I just got punched in the tit. So that's what you get; so go read these books or SUFFER!

I provided Amazon links but check out your local comic book store first. Mine is Famous Faces And Funnies.

Where I talk about Camelot 3000, Drift, Free Comic Book Day, and This Is Not A Test

THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers

THIS IS NOT A TEST

By Courtney Summers

Coming June 19th, 2012 from St. Martin’s Press

I’ve never been the biggest zombie fan. {My gf just told me that’s because I suck.} Maybe, but I’m actually more a fan of real old school mind controlled zombies. {She just rolled her eyes at me for saying that. She loves “Zombies”}

But I’m not here to debate what is and isn’t a zombie. I just brought that up to state that going into any modern zombie story it has to really be good to make any sort of impact with me because I usually don’t go in expecting much.

The only zombie stories I list among my favorite books and movies is the original Night Of The Living Dead, Shaun Of The Dead, and the early stories of The Walking Dead.

This Is Not A Test sits right there with them to me but I’m also a fan of all of the books written by Courtney Summers. She is one of the few writers who I will buy anything she writes. Right there with Paul Cornell, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Nova Ren Suma, and Gail Simone. I’ll check out anything they are involved in.

I will confess right away that even though I’m staking my lifes writing in the digital book field, this was the first full length e-book I have ever read. One for this is I don’t own an e-reader and two I don’t have the best eyes and after writing for a good deal of the day, the last thing I really want to do is stare at a screen even more, but this book got a hold of me and said READ ME YOU HALF WITTED, CLOSE TO GOING BLIND BASTARD.

When I heard that Courtney Summers was going to write a zombie book I brain exploded. Having been a fan of her blog for years I knew she really knew what it takes to make a good zombie and horror story. This extra long paragraph could be the whole review in one but I’m too long winded to do that. At first thought upon hearing about her doing a zombie book I wondered would she tackle the tropes of zombie and horror stories? Would she explore and hint or homage the great films she has said in the past she is a fan of? Just how epic would the epicitude of this book be? What she did was the job of what a writer does? She wrote a great story, a very good book.

This is a book that doesn’t hold back its blows, then again from reading previous books by the author, she doesn’t hold back much and that skill {and it’s a skill} and daring to go where many would not go, the fearless path of this writer continues with This Is Not A Test.

My first thoughts after finishing this book was how much I enjoy a writer who doesn’t care if you want to like their characters. I love a writer who looks at the reader and basically says you want this person to stand out, sorry no. You want this to happen, no. Happy endings your thing, I don’t care. This story is this story. I respect a writer who will make you uncomfortable and it isn’t in the shock for shocks sake method but through a submersion into the human condition of suffering.

What some really good writers do is they make you uncomfortable to the point it stays with you a bit. That’s storytelling at its core. They can do that with things that happen within a story or with a slurping into your brain on how much you may be like a character, even if that makes you really uncomfortable.

Basically what I’m saying is, uncomfortable is the job of a writer if they can do it without it being a stunt. Courtney Summers does it with talent and what seems like sometimes to be a key into your spirit and soul.

This has happen to me with each book Courtney Summers has written. Each one has had something in it that made me uncomfortable. That hit home. That hurt. Here it happens with the character of Cary. I won’t say how his actions make me think this, that would be spoilers, but the uncomfortable comes in how I would react in the same situations. I will say that it unnerved me a bit and I applaud the writer for that.

This story contains a very strong cast of characters and even though you have the lead character who let you into her thoughts as the story is told, it is truly a strong assembly of human beings with full builds with each character. No character is wasted. No moment written without purpose.

There are many HOLY SHIT moments in this story and each one hit at just the right moment.

Eating away at you when you read most zombie stories are that the writers are doing everything they can to avoid the subject of zombies or you have writers consumed with the subject so much they forget about working on the non walking dead characters. This Is Not A Test is a very nice balance. The zombies are a major part of the story but not to the point where the living characters end up doing stupid thing after stupid thing to “Get back to the zombie fun.”

If all zombie stories were this well crafted I could wolf down one after the other but I guess you could say that about any story. My main problem with zombie stories in the past hasn’t been that the subject isn’t interesting but that the subject by nature calls on writers to really write strong dramatic characters without fear of the actions their characters might want to take. Most writers fail at this and that’s why I find a lot of zombie stories boring. What this writer does is something I was told a long time ago by a teacher, “Don’t be afraid to let your characters live their steps in life.”

Another thing I took from this story was the devouring sibling relationships that exist within the story. Yes, I said devouring. I didn’t misspell that or use the wrong word. The last book I read with such a strong sibling relationship was Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma and that was my favorite book of 2011.

I don’t like these types of stories to be a war or for them to be a slaughter. I want them to be a day in and day out suffering of breathing in and out until the people find peace and then get butchered in different ways for their happiness. I found joy in how that is accomplished with this book.

Most zombie stories I think are an experiment in how much a writer knows about writing real studies of humanity. Or they could just be about political shit. Or played for laughs. The problem when something becomes popular be it vampires, angels, or zombies is that sometimes writers forget to just write a good story. Courtney Summers wrote one hell of a story.

In the end this story gets the highest rating I give because it does what all writers should strive to do with their stories. This story is the story it should be. It’s brave, HOLY SHIT, hardcore, and worth it to fans of zombies or fans of good storytelling in general.

5 out of 5 stars for

This Is Not A Test

Coming June 19th, 2012 from St. Martin’s Press

THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers

FALL FOR ANYTHING

By Courtney Summers

St. Martin's Griffin

This book puts the whys? of death into your face like a punch for an answer. With each book Courtney Summers offers up to her readers characters who with every mouthful of air are part of what we all are as human beings. These are not cookie cutter characters for a writer’s goal but characters of living life through a story.
I love the harshness, the reality, the drinking of tears she shows with bravery in all of her books; which have been better with each one. Starting with CRACKED UP TO BE. Then SOME GIRLS ARE. And now FALL FOR ANYTHING.

Fall For Anything explores suicide, death, selfish grief, artistic shortsightedness, and the road of answering what truth can be found in the thoughts of someone after they have lost someone important from their life? These are not things which are made up of one superior answer or one way of thinking.

This writer can write pain as if she was holding you down and holding a scalpel to script the words into memories of events from your own life. Like with Some Girls Are, Fall For Anything connected with me not through pages of things that are similar to things that happen in my life but from little moments, scenes even that existed within the book as a sum total.

I believe it sometimes can be more powerful within a book when you are reading and a sentence or a scene rips you back to you life for a little while. You pause. You remember. You may even cry but then you continue with the story now invested in a way that maybe even the writer did not expect.

Even though I had a friend who committed suicide who was family to me it was the character of Milo who I identified with in larger ways in this book for reasons I will not get into for this review but that is the power of books. A great writer creates great characters who live their lives within a story that can make us smile, talk to a friend, tear, or need to take a break in proceedings to go watch something really stupid like Two And A Half Men. But you have to love books for that because they create that connect that makes you want to rush back to them as soon as you can.

The short cast list gives us time to really get into the lives of each character as time unfolds. Eddie stands in the after time of her father’s suicide with a mother who seems to have almost died in her own way, a pushy friend of her mother’s always getting into her face, a best friend who have information she wants, and a stranger linked to parts of her father’s life she didn’t know about.

I think in the end Eddie just wants to scream to her father, “Why did you have to do this now!? I’m not ready for something like this now!” But that is how life strips us of our days sometimes, by giving us things that we are not ready for but nonetheless faced with.

4 out of 5 Stars

FALL FOR ANYTHING

REVIEW: SOME GIRLS ARE

SOME GIRLS ARE

by Courtney Summers

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

I was looking forward to the next book by Courtney Summers ever since I finished reading her first book CRACKED UP TO BE. A pretty good opening act for a author who will help lead great storytelling into the future. Now for act two.

SOME GIRLS ARE came out just in time for it to be my travel book during a trip to Boston. I love picking out a certain book for a trip even if I'm in the middle of something else. The trip will always remind me of the book and the other way around also. It's a way of memory gifting to yourself.

I'm going to try and keep this review short because when I really enjoy something I have a lot to talk about and I tend to go on and on and I did very much enjoy SOME GIRLS ARE. I will keep it short but it is really going to be hard.

When I speak of this story about high school bullying I can not help but start off by talking about how much it brought back some very bad memories from my time as a high school prisoner. I've seen some people write about this book as a "mean girl" book or call it an "issue" book. Nope, sorry, you are wrong there people.

The one thing Courtney Summers did in her first book and accomplished here is that this is not an issue book. A lot of YA books are "issue" books and when someone recommends those books to me once I find out about what the "issue" is then there isn't much book really left. Courtney has the talent to take an issue, use it, but not make it the meat of the story. Or in other ways of stating it, she writes about people and emotions and does not just live on cute harsh cutter "issues" for the meat of her story. She writes. I truly believe you find more creativity and courage in YA literature than anywhere else right now in publishing but you also find some of the most cut and paste writing there is also. You find the great with the bland.

SOME GIRLS ARE is a three level step up from the writers first book and I enjoyed that read also. At this level of growth she may find herself in that double edged situation of people unfairly expecting her to up the level of quality with each story she releases. Though to be honest with the talent here I don't think she will have that many problems doing that. And we are all in wait for the zombie novel she just has to write some day, if you are a regular reader of the writers blog you will know why.

This is also no "mean girl" book. Yes, it has young women in it who are mean to each other and in "mean" I speak of treating each other like total shit here but this book is about a much bigger issue. This book explores the torture, yes I said torture, that goes on and is allowed to go on in schools just about everywhere. No matter it a public or private school or anything in-between the pain is there in those gatherings between all of those walled off in the battlegrounds.

SGA starts and you could think "here is how its going" as you are reading but the pain is just getting started and you will learn it has been going on for so long already. The back story is used here really well. The author could make two prequels out of the material discussed that has happen in the past. There is one situation in this story that is painfully similar to something that happen to me in high school. After reading that section I had to put the book down for while. That is putting your reader into the story.

This book may hurt to read if high school was Hell for you but I still say read because even though I don't believe in entertainment as therapy, I do think it can help you revisit something good or bad that has happen to you in your life and maybe help you come up with new thoughts about those moments that effected you greatly. You also should be forced to read this book if high school was not Hell in any way for you. Maybe you will rethink some action or inaction you took in your life be you a student at that time or teacher. This book brings right into your face why so many never recover from those times as a prisoner. I believe the early years of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS did this and so does SOME GIRLS ARE.

And on a final note, am I the only one who thinks the red locker is a modern "The Scarlet Letter" thought? Wonder if the writer was thinking along those lines?

This review was step one in my goal of reading at least one book a month from which I will write a review of. And this also will be another way to keep my blog active and stretch writing muscles I do not usually use. I also have planned several other blog related things projects for 2010.

C.

REVIEW: SOME GIRLS ARE

A BOOKS YOU SHOULD BUY

In an attempt to update here at least one more time than I did last year today I point you to a book you should buy. Count your pennies! Count your lonnies! Sale those sucktastic vampire and wolf books that your mom likes in a way too creepy way and go buy Courtney Summers new book.

SOME GIRLS ARE

Now I'm off to sale a toe to a toe troll so I can get my copy.
C.

A BOOKS YOU SHOULD BUY