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Fantasy Life: Scratching the Itch

I’m on vacation this week, so I was able to clear the main storyline of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. It has a good story and a satisfying ending. Now it’s time for endgame shenanigans.

I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s available. I did a little terraforming to raise the ground for my home, adding some waterfalls and stairs. It’s scratching that Animal Crossing itch just fine. I don’t have a lot of furniture recipes unlocked, so I mostly decorated with the tropical set. I’m sure I’ll keep changing things as my options expand.

I also bought the Wolf Ears recipe and made a set because the furry vibes are strong.

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Book Review: Wolf Blood

Matthew Gregory's "Wolf Blood" is sort of like "Sharknado" in that it's not great, but bless his heart because he seems to be having fun.. It opens with a banger of a prologue set in Scotland in 1450 that gave me real hope.

Fast forward to the present day. The main characters are Violet (human), Darius (her werewolf boyfriend), and Agent Kendra (government spook. A werewolf uprising is in the works. Can they stop it in time?

The book is a modest 165 pages, and I like werewolf stories enough to keep going. There's a lot of potential, but some of the writing choices drag it down. For example, the first few chapters are alternating first-person POVs from Violet and Darius until Agent Kendra arrives and it shifts to third person for the rest of the book. Character motivations turn on a dime, and sometimes they make intuitive leaps that seem guided by what has to happen for the plot instead of feeling organic. I'm also pretty sure Agent Kendra should be arrested for half the stunts she pulls.

There's also a lot of telling when there should be showing. What should've been a big climax of an action scene with lots of werewolf mayhem is instead narrated from the sidelines by one of the characters like an old radio show. It's a missed opportunity.

This wolf lacks bite. If the listing price for this was $10, I'd say pass on it. Since it's $3, it might be worth your time. Just don't expect a lot of polish.

(Review ARC provided by NetGalley)

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Book Review: Flirty Dancing

When the title of a book and its Catskills resort camp setting are clearly meant to evoke nostalgia for “Dirty Dancing,” the first question you might ask is “Is there going to be a Baby put in the corner?” I will save you time and say there isn’t, but there are a few other little references that made me smile.

After the last two romances I read, “Flirty Dancing” felt almost cozy and low-stakes in comparison. That’s not a complaint. The main character, Archer Read, is 27 and about to give up his pursuit of a dance career when he lands a job with his celebrity dance crush, Mateo Dixon. They’ll be part of a dance company putting on two shows a night at an LGBTQ resort called Shady Queens.

It’s a sweet story with a decent cast of characters. The dancers are all young and horny, partying and pairing up and having relationship drama that constantly threatens the show. Archer and Mateo are generally the mature ones holding things together. They clearly have chemistry, so it’s just a question of when they’ll realize it against that backdrop.

I enjoyed it. It’s low in the spice scale, but there’s plenty of yearning and longing and “Oh my god, just kiss him!” moments that will keep you going.

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Book Review: Pansies

You know the Hallmark movies where the protagonist goes back to their small town and falls in love with the person who never left? This is like that but with waaaaaaaay more sex.

In this case, Alfie leaves London to attend the wedding of an old friend and accidentally comes out as gay while he's there. It's the sort of thing he'd kept carefully compartmentalized. That's followed by a hookup where he soon finds out this man Fen is someone he used to bully in school.

Alfie and Fen are each total messes in their own ways, but I was cheering for them to be happy. Alfie still carries a lot of toxic ideas about manhood that make him struggle to find his way in the gay world, at least until he finds his impossible flower shop boy.

Does it feel too heteronormative for comfort? Sometimes, but that’s Alfie’s struggle and I can relate and celebrate his progress.

I love Alexis Hall's writing in this, too. It’s sensual and lovely and, stick with me because this may sound like a stretch, reminds me of Clive Barker when he’s making magic out of the mundane.

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Book Review: Don't Let Me Go

Romantic? Yes. Swoon-worthy? Also yes. Heartbreaking and hopeful? Yes and yes.

The premise is solid. Riley and Jackson are teenage boys living in Florida who meet and find they have a connection that transcends time. In fact, they may be reincarnated soulmates who keep finding each other throughout the centuries.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this story, but it delivered. It had funny dialogue, awesome friends, and hormonal teens in love and who can barely keep their hands off of each other. It also had its share of harrowing, frightening moments.

This was the first book I've read from Kevin Christopher Snipes, and I doubt it will be my last. this kind of tightrope act will feel familiar to fans of Adam Silvera.

The highest compliment I can pay a book like this is I wish I’d had it when I was a closeted gay teen.

It’s possible this is more of a four-star book, but I have to give full respect for the surprising love shown for Olivia Newton-John and the glorious mess that is “Xanadu.”

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Book Review: Storm and Sea

Did you watch “Luca” and think “This would be so much better if the boys were slightly older and could make out?” I think the author did.

I had a rough time suspending my disbelief at first because why are merfolk wearing clothes and doing TV sitcom family stuff in their homes? Then I realized I was trying too hard to be realistic in my visualization. I started picturing everything in the big colorful animation style of “Luca” and that made all the difference.

The setting is a small Italian fishing village near a colony of merfolk. Atreus has been living among humans most of his life, hiding his nature. Nyel, a mer runaway, stumbles into his life and suddenly everything is complicated.

I enjoyed this story and the budding romance between Nyel and Atreus. I’m not sure where the story goes from here, but I look forward to finding out.

My only real gripe with the book is how Atreus has negative intrusive thoughts that are displayed in a cursive script that seems out of place and it’s distracting. Maybe that’s the point.

I also thought the subplot with Leofel felt too dark at times for the overall story being told. It’s not a deal-breaker, though.

Overall, I liked it. This is what “Luca” could’ve been if the filmmakers had a little more guts.

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Book Review: Extraction

This is in my top ten favorite books for 2024. It's funny as hell but has depth, like if John Scalzi and Terry Pratchett collaborated on an Ocean's Eleven reboot in a fantasy setting that included the angriest donkey in the world named Stuart.

I've been following Dietrich Stogner on TikTok for quite awhile. He described his novel Extraction as a heist novel where the target is bull semen. I was intrigued. How could I not?

I had signed up for an ARC and managed to not finish reading it before the publication date this week. By then I was already halfway through it and bought it for my Kindle to finish it.

At first I was just relieved to find out the man could actually write -- not guaranteed when someone says "Read my novel!" -- and then I was invested in the story.

If you've liked Kings of the Wyld or 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City and enjoyed that blend of fantasy and smartass comedy, you may want to check it out.

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Stardew Valley: SquidFest

It was almost a repeat of the trout derby, not being able to hook many squid on the first day of SquidFest. The three I caught went straight into the Bait Maker. For the second day, the bait made it easy to hook ten squid in a row and win the squid hat.

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Stardew Valley: Marriage Progress

Mid-summer of Year 2 in Stardew Valley, and I’ve married Sebastian. He’s my favorite of the Stardew bachelors, but the others have their charms.

The update seems to have tweaked the marriage dialogue to make it sound less novel that it’s two guys. Before, Mayor Lewis said “I now pronounce you husband and… well, husband!”

I appreciate that change.

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Stardew Valley: Back on the Farm

The 1.6.9 update for Stardew Valley landed on the Nintendo Switch at the perfect moment. The election results put me in a serious funk and I needed some time to decompress. Stardew Valley is a comfort food kind of game, and I was eager to explore the new content.

I sank into it pretty hard. If I was awake and not at work, I was likely playing the game. I blazed through that first year and had the greenhouse unlocked by mid-fall. The new Meadowlands farm is fun, although I’m tempted to scrap that file and start a new Four Corners map because I prefer that layout.

My friend Sam joined me for a few hours on Saturday, helping me with chores.

I had missed the Trout Derby in the first year. Now that I’m in the second year, I got to experience it. The first day was a bit of a drag because I caught lots of fish that weren’t rainbow trout. I used them to craft Rainbow Trout Bait and that really streamlined the second day. I earned enough tags to unlock all of the prizes and got two Mounted Trout.

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Book Review: Look Up, Handsome

Look Up, Handsome is a cozy Christmas romcom that would be right at home on Hallmark if they had more gay people on staff. Even the drag queens are fun and nonthreatening. It's all very sweet and my mother would love it.

That may sound like I'm mocking the book, but I'm not. I've watched a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies with my mother and this just has the vibe down perfectly. We have our main character, Quinn, running a gay bookshop in an idyllic small town. We have the handsome Noah, who escaped to London as soon as he could but is returning for a visit.

I roll my eyes at the country-vs-city clash in those movies because they ignore the queer experience of wanting more acceptance and a bigger dating pool than rural areas can provide, but it works here. Quinn's bookshop serves as an oasis for the queer community, and I was invested in his struggle to keep the shop open despite multiple threats of eviction. Quinn is a sloppy wreck, but I was cheering for him.

It's a cute book with a fun cast of supporting characters. If Jack Strange has another book in him, I'll read it as well.

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Book Review: Evil in Me

Evil in Me is the first story I can think of where rock music was removing demonic possession instead of causing it.

Ruby Tucker is a troubled young woman on probation, struggling to keep it together. Her big escape is through punk rock music, and she has regrets about not following her best friend Tina out of their podunk Alabama town to start a band. Adding to her woes, she accidentally puts on a ring that renders her vulnerable to demon possession. Adventure follows as she tries to free her soul.

It was a fun story set in the 1980s and sprinkled with satanic panic that was actually justified for a change because there are actual demons involved. There are plenty of older adults warning kids about "that devil music" and the dangers of Dungeons & Dragons.

It had some dark humor that worked for me. There's an absurd drummer named Vutto that shouldn't work but would've been right at home in some 80s comedy with Andrew McCarthy or Steve Guttenberg.

A few things didn't work for me, mostly when the story left Ruby to follow side characters. One in particular bothered me because it was a redemption arc that went a little too meta with the character knowing it was a redemption arc. That cheapened the moment for me.

The other side character, a serial killer whose chapters marked a shift from a third- to first-person perspective, felt more out of place. His chapters weren't forced, but they felt like they were added retroactively as breadcrumbs so his part in the finale wouldn't come out of nowhere.

Still, it was a fun, quick read for spooky season. I enjoyed it.

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20 Shows: The Twilight Zone

My two favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone are “It’s a Good Life” and “The Obsolete Man.” They share the thematic aspect of individuals against an absolute power capable of destroying them, a demonic child in one and a totalitarian government in the other. It turns out the government was easier to thwart, even if momentarily.

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20 Shows: Heartstopper

I don’t know what to tell you. This show is adorable and funny and romantic and I’d probably quietly judge you if you said you didn’t like it. I dropped my Netflix subscription but this is always worth coming back and paying for a month.

Isaac is pretty much me in high school, never going anywhere without a book. To be honest, that hasn’t changed for my adult life either.

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20 Shows: Sons of Anarchy

I will never stop being amused that for a lot of dudes, the first thing they think of when you mention Charlie Hunnam is his tough motorcycle-riding gang member Jax Teller. The first thing I think of is his gay little twink character in Queer as Folk.

Okay, that was a lie. I actually think of his many shirtless scenes in Pacific Rim… but Queer as Folk is a close second.

Sons of Anarchy is a big Shakespearean tragedy with guns and motorcycles and I’m overdue for a rewatch.

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Book Review: Island of the Dead

Brian Keene knows a few things about zombies, and this novel didn’t disappoint. It’s like if Robert E. Howard had a George Romero movie marathon and decided to drop Conan the Cimmerian on an island filled with hordes of giant insects and ravenous undead. It’s a quick and fun sword-and-sorcery adventure.

The main character, Einar, is a badass straight out of the pulps. He's strong and grim, but with just enough humor to keep him from being a Terminator.

I wish the book had been longer because I want more time in this world. Thankfully, he seems to be planning a sequel.

As a bonus, it will annoy a certain breed of asshole who likes to complain about “woke” this and “woke” that in storytelling. Really? You can handle the idea of reanimated corpses feasting on the living but queer representation hurts your brain?

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20 Shows: Clerks

There were so many great jokes from this criminally underrated gem from Kevin Smith, but the one I use the most is the recurring Charles Barkley line “That’s cold, Obi-wan.” I also giggle like a maniac every time I watch the courtroom scene and the bailiff announces “Please rise for the honorable Judge Reinhold.” A close second is the car that transforms into a robot and accidentally grinds the passengers inside to a red paste.