What am I Reading? Star Island by Carl Hiaasen

August 27, 2017  /  Kristi Charish

I've been listening to a lot of my books lately via Audible and this week I've been on a Carl Hiaasen kick, an author I discovered last year on a good friend's recomendation. For those of you not familiar with his work, Hiaasen is an ex-journalist from Florida who writes about his beloved Florida everglades and the corrupt politicians that are perennially trying to bull doze and landfill them over. He writes with a gallows humour I've come to adore and he's one of the few authors whose books I can listen to twice. Less a 'whodunit', more of a 'let's see where the chips land', if you're looking for a humorous author with a sarcastic, gallows streak, these may be a great stop for you. 

(Other favourite Carl Hiaasen novels: Skinny Dip, Skin Tight, Sick Puppy)

This week I read: Star Island

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22-year-old Cherry Pye, a pop star since she was 14, is attempting a comeback from her latest drug-and-alcohol disaster. That's where Ann DeLusia comes in, Cherry's well behaved and socially-appropriate double who fills in for Cherry whenever the singer is too wasted to appear in public (most of the time). Unfortunately for Ann things goes sideways when obsessed paparazzo Bang Abbott mistakenly kidnaps her from a Florida hotel. Cherry's nipped-tucked-botoxed publicists, enabling parents, and debautched producer all scramble not so much to rescue Ann but prevent her existence from becoming public knowledge. 

 Who's it for?: Like vacation novels? Gallows humour? Owl? Then these might be for you. Stephen Hoye does a great job on the narration, bringing the eclectic characters to life.

Pass?: The characters are often deplorable (which I find hilarious) and there are no monsters unless you count the deplorable humans who make up the cast. Also a past for people who need a direct plot - these start off with a disaster and the story is watching s&*t hit the fan as consequences unfold. 

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What Am I Reading? New Weekly Sunday Feature

August 20, 2017  /  Kristi Charish

Some of you know I did a stint on the Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing Podcast where we interviewed many an author and discussed writing news and books. One of the things I miss is talking about the books I'm reading so I've decided to post about it weekly.

This week? The Bobiverse by Dennis E Taylor. 

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About: (From Amazon): Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honour, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.

My Thoughts/What's to like?: There's a real underlying sense of humour to Taylor's series- it's written in first person and lends itself so well to narration the audiobook should be your first stop to sample his work. It's best to read this in series, of which there are three and only three books. I listened to the Bobs and really enjoyed the humorous slant to the main character and how he views the world - or universe as it may be. The narrator is Ray Porter, who as always adds to the novels and makes them an easy listen. Dennis's writing is very reminiscent of John Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, with a tongue in cheek take on society and politics as Bob navigates trying to save humanity who don't always want to be saved. The similarities to Scalzi isn't surprising since they are repped by the same agency - As an aside for the writers out there, I highly recommend you check out Dennis's publishing story as he is a runaway self publishing/hybrid success. He is also a Canadian, and I found out after the fact that we live in the same small town of Port Coquitlam, BC. Small worlds and big universes.  

Who should give it a pass: This is Sci-F. It's a guy who get's turned into a giant spaceship for crying out loud. If you are not a fan of science fiction and the fantastical, even the pop culture references and humour may not be able to win you over. 

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