Review: Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons

Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rock Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle is a great book for people into history, rocket science, and/or sex cults.  John Parsons had a "flare" for explosives.  Without him, we might not have jets, rockets, or space travel.  It's odd now to think that the military had all but given up on rockets until Parsons and his motley crew peaked their interest again.  While his essentially self-taught knowledge of things that go boom would make for a fascinating story by itself, add in his passion for sex magick and things get weird almost as fast as one of his rockets.  He was into a whole different kind of Big Bang Theory.

Bonus points for making me want to visit Pasadena, something I never thought I would say.

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Review: Campaigns & Companions: The Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets

Campaigns & Companions: The Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets by Andi Ewington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Campaigns & Companions: The Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets by Andi Ewington and Rhianna Pratchett is a fun, short book for the pet-loving Dungeons & Dragons aficionado.  I read the Kindle edition, but it is really more the type of book you buy a physical copy of because the illustrations are a key component.  This book imagines what campaigns would be like if your pets were playing.  Are hamsters naturally rogues?  Is it better to have a dog or a cat in your party?  The answer may surprise you.

Bonus points for including a wide variety of pets, not just cats and dogs.

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Review: The End of Forever

The End of Forever by Steve Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The End of Forever is the fourth book in the Cassiopeia Vitt novella series by Steve Berry and M.J. Rose.  It is part of the Cotton Malone universe of books.  I recommend reading the other three books before you start this one.  They are very short and will give you a good context for what is happening in this one.

No mystery this time.  We know exactly who and why someone is after Cassiopeia Vitt.  It has to do with something that happened in a previous book, hence my recommendation to read them all.  This is pure thriller with a side of history, a genre Berry excels at.  

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Review: Wylding Hall

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If Phil Rickman decided to write a book like Daisy Jones & the Six, it would read an awful lot like Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand. What a great novella! Part (fictional) folk band documentary, part gothic ghost (?) story, I couldn't get enough. The chapters feature the perspective of different characters as they recount the summer the folk band, Windhollow Faire, prepares to record its second album by holing up together in Wylding Hall. While the house seems to have secrets, so do the woods around it. Is it all the drugs, or is something else happening here?

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Review: Chaos on CatNet

Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chaos on CatNet is the sequel to Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer.  You will definitely want to read these books in order.  Chaos picks up shortly after Catfishing.  

If you think the MidWest is a boring place where nothing ever happens, these books will change your mind.  The books are set in the near future, so the MidWest is not exactly as it is now.  I appreciate that Kritzer created the Minneapolis she wants to see with Public Safety officers who truly care about people and acknowledgements to George Floyd.  I really do want to check out Midtown Exchange (which does exist!) because it sounds like there are some delicious offerings in the food court.  This book spends less time on CatNet and more time IRL but gives us a cult to worry about.  I also liked the addition of gaming.  Everyone has that friend that tried to get them to join Farmville.  What if that was more sinister than you thought?

Bonus points for robot dogs and Apricot!  

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