The Academy is teaching young police recruits about those odd cases. But one woman is about to be singled out… and it’s not for the reasons you’ll think.
It was surprising to read a cop story in this collection.
Mostly because it’s a collection that is surrounded by ideas of school and teaching.
And well, cops aren’t normally what I would associate with such a topic. Having
said that, it was still a thoroughly fun and exciting journey to be taken on. And
probably a little more enjoyable because it was such a surprise…
Since this was a cop story, I was kind of expecting a
typical one – you know, the cops outline an issue, pull a newbie in to help
them solve it. And after you turn the last page, you find that the bad guy has
been caught, stopped whichever. This didn’t quite work out like that. Actually,
it really wasn’t about the bad guy at all. It was more so about the battles
that are fought. About the woman who is caught up in a vampire’s snare. And the
ways in which the battle for good doesn’t stop, but sometimes does blur the
lines a little.
Title: Uncle Bob Visits Author: Caroline Stevermer In: The Coyote Road (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Tricksters Dates read: 5th May 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Firebird Fantasy Year: 2007 5th sentence, 74th page: “Now is the winter of our discontent,” said Miss Lillegren stiffly.
A classroom is always full of mischief. But when Uncle Bob decides to visit, the mischief and mayhem crank up a notch.
It fits that a trickster story would take place in a children’s
classroom. After all, children are really good vessels of chaos. So having a
bunch of the little darlings all crowded into one classroom would surely attract
some kind of poltergeist to wreak a little havoc on our daily lives. Although I
enjoyed this story, I did feel incredibly sympathetic towards the teacher. Not
only does she have to try and corral a bunch of children who just aren’t
interested in grammar. But she also has to contend with a poltergeist who is definitely not interested in grammar.
I really like the idea of a grumpy, old man as the poltergeist.
Or at least, that’s how I’m picturing him as the story unfolds. Somebody who
loves to be around the school and the children but is a bit fussy about what he
wants to learn. And not all that great at understanding discipline of any kind…
Cami is just coasting through life, unsure of what her next step is. But when a chance encounter with a man promises to bring all of her fantasies alive, she is thrown back into a world that she knows nothing about, and a man she wants to know everything about.
At the beginning I really loved this story. And I even loved
it in the middle. The end though was just a little too open for me. It meant
that I could imagine a happily ever after, but I still wanted just a little bit
more to cement that idea for me. Something that made me understand a few of the
plot holes and made me feel that sense of happy anticipation that I felt at the
very beginning of this tale.
Not many stories that I read start in a casino. Even less of
them begin in a casino and are a time travelling romance. Which makes this a
thoroughly enjoyable, intriguing way to start a story. My first thoughts considered
whether or not she would be going backwards or forwards in time. I actually
assumed forwards when she met her mystery man. But that really wasn’t the case.
The part of this story that I loved the most was the fact
that although Cami absolutely adored the man she found in the past, she didn’t
ever want to stay. A man wasn’t enough for her to give up her life and happiness
in modern times. This seems to be frequently missing from a lot of time travel
romances – they’re all about women who don’t have much in their current lives,
so they choose to find their homes and happiness in another time, leaving
everyone and everything behind.
Title: The Radium Girls Author: Kate Moore Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Feminism, History, Memoirs, Non-fiction Dates read: 30th April – 5th May 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Novel Publisher: Simon & Schuster Year: 2018 5th sentence, 74th page: The girls of Radium Dial, outside their studio; forever young and happy and well.
All they wanted was the chance to shine. Be careful what you wish for…
‘The first we asked was, “Does this stuff hurt you?” And they said, “No.” The company said that it wasn’t dangerous, that we didn’t need to be afraid.’
As the First World War spread across the world, young American women flocked to work in factories, painting clocks, watches and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous – the girls shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in dust from the paint.
However, as the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses. It turned out that the very thing that had made them feel alive – their work – was slowly killing them: the radium paint was poisonous.
Their employers denied all responsibility, but these courageous women – in the face of unimaginable suffering – refused to accept their fate quietly, and instead became determined to fight for justice.
Drawing on previously unpublished diaries, letter and interviews, The Radium Girls is an intimate narrative of an unforgettable true story. It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the Roaring Twenties, who themselves learned how to roar.
There are books that will completely change your world. Reconfigure
everything that you think, believe and feel and make the whole world slot into
a new form. That’s what this book was for me. When I bought this book, when I
first started reading it, I was fully expecting an intriguing tale. One that
would be about some amazingly strong women in the past. But not anything beyond
a really good read. I was wrong. I felt like my entire reality was shattered
and then remade as I read this.
I had no idea that radium was something that was once used
in industrial processes. Really, my only knowledge of this element comes from
the fact that Marie Curie discovered it. That, and I know that it is very, very
dangerous and kills people who come into contact with it. Beyond that
knowledge, all I knew about the potential for this story was that these girls used
radium paint and were all going to die. That in and of itself was going to be a
tragic enough story. But then the large companies and legalities of their fight
started to make its way into the storyline… cue a number of very late nights because
I couldn’t wait to find out how the bad men were going to get their legal
comeuppance.
We don’t think much about many of the health and safety
legislations that we all tend to obey. Or at least, I know that I don’t. I don’t
really worry all that much about whether my place of employment is adhering to
the laws. I just figure that they are, and I’m not going to get sick and die from
their activities. Mostly, I still want to believe this, but after reading about
a bunch of young girls who felt the same thing, and got burned for it… I’m a
little less willing to follow anything on blind faith. After all, even when the
girls questioned whether their activities were safe, they were still reassured.
Repeatedly. And then they died.
This story might not have had an overarching happy ending.
But it did have a triumphant one. Though so many women lost their lives before
they could gain compensation for their trauma, many more were able to stand on
the shoulders of those before them and find a way to get justice. And their
legacy remains today in every moment that makes businesses culpable for their actions.
In the amount of knowledge that we now have about the long-term effects of
radioactivity, and in the understanding in why it is important to fight for
what’s right. Even in the face of insurmountable odds.
Title: Flotsam Author: Caitlin R. Kiernan In: The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 (Trisha Telep) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Oceans, Romance Dates read: 5th May 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2009 5th sentence, 74th page: But it’s all the same, really, as I am hers to do with as she will, no strings attached, no farthest limits to my devotion; I made that promise the first night and have not yet regretted it.
Sometimes we make promises that are hard to keep. Other times, it’s the easiest decision we’ve ever made.
I found this tale a little hard to get through. Which was a little weird when I considered that so far, I have loved every Kiernanshort story that I’ve read. And then I realised that this entire story was a single block of text. No paragraphs or breaks of any kind. Just a big wall of sentences and text that reflected the vastness and overwhelming sense that the ocean provides.
There are so many ways in which the ocean is idolised and picturesque.
Yet this story doesn’t really highlight that aspect of the vast horizon, rather
it shows the idea that the ocean likes to take. As well as give. But, in the
case of this story and partnership, it takes and hurts, and in some, weird,
roundabout way, manages to make the giver feel more alive and vibrant. Makes them
feel that they’re vital in ways they weren’t before.
Title: In Lieu of a Thank You Author: Gwynne Garfinkle In: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (Sean Wallace) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Dieselpunk, Strong women Dates read: 5th May 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: Clearly he wasn’t expecting such a response.
He thinks that he deserves thanks and recognition for saving his fiance. But she has other ideas…
At the beginning of this story, I knew that things would be
a little bit different than expected. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me. She’s
saying you should be thanked, but it kind of comes across as incredibly angry
and sarcastic. The spitfire attitude of the woman made me immediately like her.
Her slightly tenacious and sarcastic ways in which she recounts those moments are
in very much the tone that I would use for a moron (which I’m assuming her
fiancé is) and I love that she eventually rides off into the sunset alone.
Any story that focuses on the power of women and their
ability to be strong, independent and smart is immediately going to get my
attention. Featuring a woman who is in an era where women aren’t supposed to be
anything more than arm candy is always a nice way to juxtapose this mentality. Her
admittance throughout and frustration that she was only ever meant to be a
blonde on her future husbands arm hits close to the heart for many, many women.
Which means that I loved how she was able to find her own happily ever after… with
her mind and intelligence for company.
Title: Oh Have You Seen the Devil? Author: Stephen Dedman In: The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories (Maxim Jakubowski) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Crime Dates read: 5th May 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: The carter probed the darkness with his buggy-whip, crying something in a foreign language as the tip of the shaft poked Liz’s lifeless body.
Michael and Liz are having a few relationship issues. Yet, when there is a horror stalking the streets at night, their relationship is truly put to the test. In ways that Michael could never imagine… and it brings him face to face with the devil.
This is an incredibly easy Jack the Ripper story to read. A
lot of the literature, mythos and understanding around the man is kind of
convoluted. A little bit confusing. And a lot bit intense. This was a much
easier short story to deal with. It was more approachable, written in a far
more current form of language, and actually incredibly relatable. So it was a
nice change of pace compared to the other stories in this collection.
A disproportionately large number of attacks made on women
is done by their significant others, or someone close to them. Which means that
it kind of makes sense to have a villain in this story who is a significant
other. There have even been some theories that there was an intimate
relationship (beyond sex) with at least one of the Ripper victims which made
him… well Ripperish. This provides a slightly different take on that, but still
highlights the idea of a victim being ended by the man she is intimately
involved with. Highlights the idea that maybe not everything in the murders was
quite as they seem…
JJ superhero has illicit affair with Shadow agent Solange.
I still haven’t yet had time to sink my teeth into the first Signs of the Zodiac novel. Yet, I seem to keep picking up the novellas and thoroughly enjoying them. And this one was no different. Taking the idea of love and polar opposites and twisting it into a story that was both fun and kind of tragic. Especially when JJ is left at the end, clutching a broken heart and forced to face an unhopeful future.
There is something fun about a tale where total opposites
attract. And although mostly this is just slight personality quirks, in Dark Matters, it is actually opposites.
Yin and yang. Dark and light. And although you kind of spend a lot of the time
hoping that you’re not right about the darkness. That this is actually a story
about love and destiny. There are so many hints that it’s not quite what you
want, but enough that keeps you hoping. Which makes the crash at the end of the
story all the more bittersweet and powerful.
I can’t wait to see where this novella fits into the rest of the Signs of the Zodiacworld. And, well, sink my teeth into the novels that are sitting on my shelves, just waiting to be read.
Title: Vixen Author: Jessica Sims Series: Midnight Liasons #2.1 In: Novellas and Stories (Meljean Brook, Carolyn Crane & Jessica Sims) Rating Out of 5: 2.5 (Readable, but not worth reading again) My Bookshelves:Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters Dates read: 2nd May 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Novella Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Year: 2013 5th sentence, 74th page: Her hips lifted at the same time, and his finger penetrated the lips of her sex, sliding to the hot valley below, and both of them sucked in a breath.
Miko’s denied her were-fox nature for far too long and turned her back on her vixen heritage. But when she meets two very sexy cat-shifters, she has to decide if she truly wants to give up on her frisky side, or embrace it. Because the were-fox in her doesn’t want to choose between both men… it wants them both.
I’m a little vanilla in some of my tastes when it comes to sexuality.
Mostly in the fact that I like it to be two people, not three involved in a
relationship. So this story made me really quite uncomfortable… it was a love
triangle that, well, stayed a triangle. Which was disappointing, because up
until that point, I was actually really enjoying this novella.
I’ve had kitsune appear a few times in my books lately. I don’t
know why, but they’re a mythos that I definitely want to read more about. Tricksters
and sometimes demons, they’re women who highlight a lot of what femininity is
for people. Which is possibly why they’ve been designated demons in the past. Which
meant that I really enjoyed the use of a Vixen (kitsune) in this story. Rather
than a cat or wolf shapeshifter, like I’m used to, she was a fox. With attitude
and a willingness to stand on her own two feet.
I may not have thoroughly enjoyed much of the sexual aspect
of this story, but I still liked the entire premise. Enough that I’m curious to
read another novella in this series, but not quite buy the first book… yet.
A kidnapping of a little girl has taken place. And the detectives want the most talented forensic wizard on the case… even if the culprit really isn’t using the “rite stuff”.
This is one of those short stories that is fun to read, but
not overly memorable once you turn the final page. It’s a fun journey and one
that I’ll love to read again and again. But it’s also not the kind of story
that has left me thinking and reflecting once I’ve turned the final page. It’s just…
fun.
What I did really love about this story was the use of a crime solving team… who also happened to be wizards, or magic users… The big reveal at the end was very reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes. There is a great journey which outlays the crime. There is a seemingly coincidental co-occurring crime. And then, at the very end, everything is explained satisfactorily. In a way that makes you hit yourself on the head and say “duh”.
Earth and Skye 