Blog Archive

View My Stats
Showing posts with label humorous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humorous. Show all posts
Monday, September 1, 2025

Book review: Anima Rising by Christopher Moore

 


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Christopher Moore is an American writer of absurdist fiction. He grew up in Mansfield, OH, and attended Ohio State University and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA.

Moore's novels typically involve conflicted everyman characters suddenly struggling through supernatural or extraordinary circumstances. Inheriting a humanism from his love of John Steinbeck and a sense of the absurd from Kurt Vonnegut, Moore is a best-selling author with major cult status.

Publisher: William Morrow (May 13, 2025) Length: 400 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Graphic novel series: Giant Days by John Allison and Lissa Treiman

Giant Days by John Allison and Lissa Treiman review



Book links: Publisher

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Allison (born 1976) is a comic writer and artist. He has been producing comics since 1998 and his work has won multiple Eisner Awards.

Publisher: Boom Studios No. of issues: 54 (+3 webcomics and 2 specials) collected in 14 volumes

Friday, April 7, 2023

Book review: Eliza and The Alchemist by Carlos Lacámara

Eliza and The Alchemist by Carlos Lacámara review



Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Carlos Lacámara is a Cuban-born actor and playwright. His plays, Becoming Cuban, Havana Bourgeois, Exiles, Cuba Libre, and Nowhere on the Border, have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Portland. Eliza and the Alchemist is his first novel, and he may or may not be doing research for a sequel.

Carlos lives in Santa Monica, California, with his loving wife, Carol Barbee, and their even more loving dog, Gracie


Friday, February 24, 2023

Book review: Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen

Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen review


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
Sunday, January 16, 2022

Book Review: The Chosen Twelve by James Breakwell


Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

AUTHOR INFO: James Breakwell is a professional comedy writer and amateur father of four girls, ages ten and under. He is best known for his family humor Twitter account @XplodingUnicorn, which has more than a million followers. He has published three comedy parenting books that explore hot button issues like the benefits of doing as little as possible and the best ways to protect your child from zombie attacks. 

Publisher: Solaris (January 18, 2022) Length: 384 pages Cover art: 

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Book review: Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson

 

Book Links: GoodreadsAmazon

Author info: Quenby Olson lives in Central Pennsylvania where she spends most of her time writing, glaring at baskets of unfolded laundry, and telling her kids to stop climbing things. She lives with her husband and five children, who do nothing to dampen her love of classical ballet, geeky crochet, and staying up late to watch old episodes of Doctor Who. Find Quenby online: WebsiteTwitter,

Published: October 26, 2021 Genre: Comedic, Fantasy of Manners Pages: 347 CW: very mild profanity

Monday, August 3, 2020

Letters from a Shipwreck in the Sea of Suns and Moons by Raymond St. Elmo


Official Author Website
Buy Letters from a Shipwreck in the Sea of Suns and Moons HERE(USA) or HERE(UK)
Read FBC's review of As I Was on My Way to Strawberry Fair 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Quest of the Five Clans series and The Scaled Tartan
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Origin of Birds in The Footprints of Writing
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Stations of Angels

Author information: Raymond St. Elmo is a computer programmer living in Texas. A degree in Spanish Literature gave him a love of magic realism. A fascination with artificial intelligence gave him a job. His books tend to be first-person fantastical accounts with frequent references to William Blake, Borges and PKD.

Format: Letters from a Shipwreck in the Sea of Suns and Moons was self-published by the author on July 30, 2016, and is available through Kindle Unlimited and in ebook and paperback formats. It counts 414 pages.

Review: Raymond St. Elmo’s writing is often magical and creative, which is a delicate way to say it’s totally wackadoo:) It makes me laugh while, simultaneously, it laughs at conventions and doesn’t pay any attention to what sells at the moment. As the title suggests, Letters from a Shipwreck in the Sea of Suns and Moons is a weird book and its narrative requires certain patience from the reader. 

The writing is excellent and shows the author stretching his abilities. Told primarily as an interview between the protagonist and mysterious interviewers, it’s a time travel book, but not in the usual sense. The adventure starts at the board of Unicorn (a ship) as it sails upon the Sea of Suns and Moons. An ancient poet-turned-sailor, Clarence St. Elmo, shares vignettes of the voyage that ended in a shipwreck caused by unnatural storm. St. Elmo survived but found himself washed up at the shores of Theodosia, the island of dead gods inhabited by mythological terrors.

It’s an adventure story. And a love story told through letters. A story of lovers torn apart, but also a love letter to stories and storytelling. It’s often confusing, but also funny. It’s weird, but also immersive. It throws a lot to the mix - adventure, satire, humor, romance, fantasy, mythology and makes it work. There’s also a cargo of dead gods who are perhaps not as dead as everyone believes. And a haunted cemetery. 

So far I have performed a dark ritual in a cemetery, escaped a theological asylum, been locked in a dungeon for arguing at lunch, and run from unnatural dogs through a labyrinth. Checking my schedule, I see that tomorrow morning I am to fight a duel to the death. And yet, for all the theatre of my current residence, my attention keeps slipping. Gods, dogs and duels: they must clear their throats to recall my attention. Else my mind turns towards home, and a poem there I left unfinished.

I love St. Elmo’s dry, insightful humor. It makes me giggle. As for the story and plot - they ask for attention; the narrative requires it. The interviewing committee repeats some questions and answers differ or add to what Clarence has already said. But it also tells a story within a story. The interviewer claims the narrator is the blind old man, but it’s not as simple as that. It never is.

Letters from a Shipwreck in the Sea of Suns and Moons is a weird and unique book with a convoluted plot and unusual narration. It won’t appeal to readers looking for a well-pronounced plotline and quick pacing. Probably even fans of literary fiction will find it infuriating at times. And yet it’s the book worth trying as once you start to get into it you probably won’t want to leave.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher (reviewed by Łukasz Przywóski)




Official Author Website
Order Black Stone Heart over HERE (USA) & HERE (UK)

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Smoke and Stone
Raed our interview with Michael R. Fletcher

Friday, March 6, 2020

Hero Forged by Josh Erikson review



Buy the books HERE(USA) or HERE(UK)

FBC's Must Reads

FBC's Critically Underrated Reads

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE

NOTEWORTHY RELEASES

 Click Here To Order “Barnaby The Wanderer” by Raymond St. Elmo
Order HERE