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Book Review of The Magic Laundry, by Jacob M. Appel

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I won a copy of The Magic Laundry, by Jacob M. Appel. Here I present it in a seasonal display. Ok, really there just happened to be a pumpkin on the table when I needed something to prop the book against. But I’m going with “seasonal.”

Description from Goodreads:
What would you do if your daughter returned home from college with a stolen baboon? If you owned a public laundry and the washing machines started performing miracles? If you were a flasher and discovered that your intended target had gone blind? Enter the odd, unsettling universe of Jacob M. Appel’s stories….

Review:
I’ve said before that I’m not a great fan of short stories and as such, there are very few authors of short stories that I know and trust by name. Jacob Appel is one of them. Which is a bit of a miracle, as I only discovered his writing because I won several of his books through Goodreads. I enjoy that his stories are peopled by diverse and colorful casts, all of whom are flawed but relatable. I like that he doesn’t just write for shock value, taking the darkest and therefore easiest path. In this collection, his characters are put in a variety of uncomfortable circumstances and they deal with them with all, some more successfully than others. The writing is clean and easy to read. The editing is sharp and book well worth picking up.

Summer Of 68

Book Review of Summer Of 68, by Kevin Milikin

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I won an audio copy of Summer of 68, by Kevin Milikin

Description from Goodreads:
When the world ended some people believed that it was the fault of a failed space probe, others–an act of vengeance from an angry God. No one knew the reasons why but across the globe, millions of the recently deceased rose from the dead, possessed with one singular goal: To eat the flesh of the living.

Over the course of a few short hours the world was lost.

In the Northern California town of Red Bluff, a Sheriff struggles to grasp this strange and hellish turn of events that have ravaged his small town and maintain order as it all falls apart.

Two brothers struggle to make sense of this new world, traveling through the putrid remains of their beloved town–torn between survival and the love their mother. The world has ended and soon they will learn that all they need to survive is each other.

Review:
With a few exceptions the writing here is smooth and pleasantly atmospheric. However, there is nothing new offered in this zombie yarn. It is nothing more than the struggle for survival of a few random people in the face of a mysterious zombie plague. No explanation is given, no certain ending provided, no real reason even for why the character we follow are the characters we follow. I won’t go as far as to claim the book has no plot, but it does seem distinctly without purpose. Why are we following the sheriff and two young boys as they explore the landscape? Why not the baker or the barber? What is the goal?

The book is heavy on the zombie gore. So, if that’s the sort of thing you’re interested in, this will be a hit. If you like a little more storyline with that gore, maybe not.

For the most part Rick Gregory did a fine job with the narration. He had an odd habit of breaking sentences in unexpected places and pronounced a couple words in ways I hadn’t expected. But mostly it was easy to listen to.

Dream Eater

Book Review of Dream Eater, by K. Bird Lincoln

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I won a copy of Dream Eater, by K. Bird Lincoln through LibraryThing.

Description from Goodreads:
Koi Pierce dreams other peoples’ dreams.

Her whole life she’s avoided other people. Any skin-to-skin contact–a hug from her sister, the hand of a barista at Stumptown coffee–transfers flashes of that person’s most intense dreams. It’s enough to make anyone a hermit.

But Koi’s getting her act together. No matter what, this time she’s going to finish her degree at Portland Community College and get a real life. Of course it’s not going to be that easy. Her father, increasingly disturbed from Altzheimer’s disease, a dream fragment of a dead girl from the casual brush of a creepy PCC professor’s hand, and a mysterious stranger who speaks the same rare Northern Japanese dialect as Koi’s father will force Koi to learn to trust in the help of others, as well as face the truth about herself.

Review:
Not bad, I enjoyed it well enough. I thought Koi was a pleasantly strong character, if clueless. (I’ve been taking note lately of how often plots are based around young women not being taught their magical heritage until disaster strikes. And this was one more such plot.) I liked Ken, the hero, but didn’t feel he was particularly well fleshed out. The same could be said for all the characters, actually.

The writing isn’t bad, especially if you like things a little on the heavy, ponderous side. But I know there are those who don’t like the style and would call it too vague and purple. To each their own.

This book uses both Japanese and Native American mythology (and one reference to something Middle Eastern). I don’t know Lincoln’s nationality, but I did feel some of the Japanese felt a bit over-played, forced into places it wasn’t needed. I liked some of the authenticity (if Lincoln is Japanese and not just a good mimic), such as the male-slang. But some of the Japanese words, especially the couple that were repeated a lot, felt pretentious.

All in all, not a bad read. I’d pick up another by this author. In fact, I have another of her books that I’ll have to move up the To-Be-Read shelf.