Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving filled with love and laughter. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Tootle

 

A long, long time ago I did a whole month of FFC posts highlighting some of my favorite Little Golden Books characters. I love so many of them that a few inevitably got left out, so tonight I’m finally starting to fix that.

Like a lot of people, some of the very first books I ever owned were Little Golden Books, and many of those characters still live in my heart. They’re the kinds of characters that help kids fall in love with reading, a gift they’ve been bestowiing for decades now. Tonight’s character debuted in 1945 in his self-titled book by Gertrude Crampton, and he has never been out of print. The sheer number of hearts and minds he’s touched, including my own, is honestly unfathomable. And as you’ve already seen from the title of this post, I’m talking about Tootle — the lovable train with a focusing problem.

Tootle, who is a youngster himself, goes to train school with dreams of becoming the Flyer between New York and Chicago. The one lesson drilled into his metallic little noggin over and over is simple: a good train stays on the tracks. One day he’s challenged to a race by a horse, and in order to win, he jumps the tracks and barrels into a meadow. What he doesn’t foresee is that he’s about to fall in love with meadow romps—chasing butterflies, enjoying the flowers, and generally living his best life. Through some clever trickery, the townspeople bring an end to his gallivanting and get him back on track (literally) toward Flyer stardom.

There’s an obvious lesson to be taken from Tootle’s story and a subtle one as well that I personally feel is a little emotionally damaging, but neither are what stayed with me over the years. What stuck with me was how Tootle made me feel—that spark of wonder and joy that hits you when a book opens up a little world just for you.

And just a quick thank-you to Michelle of True Book Addict for designing the brand-new FFC image. She made the original one as well, and even though I’m a bit sad to set that one aside, I’m genuinely in love with this new look.

The Dark Friars by Ryan J Hamshaw

 

Synopsis From Goodreads:

For Seventeen-year-old Liam O’Connor, nightmares become reality when he dreams of a fellow student's murder. Eager to uncover the truth, Liam and his friends investigate, revealing hidden secrets about his identity.

Targeted by the menacing Dark Friars, Liam is saved by the enigmatic Tariq, who introduces him to a supernatural world where good and evil battle in the shadows.

Can Liam juggle college, family, friendships, and desires while bearing the heavy responsibilities of his newfound destiny?

Against the picturesque cathedral city of Sarumbourne, the looming threat of the Dark Friars intensifies, and Liam's normal life shatters amid the chaos.

To be perfectly honest, this synopsis bores me to tears and gives the reader absolutely no clue how fantastic this book actually is. At least, it was for me. Not a single second was wasted. I was hooked from the first few sentences as we get dropped right into Liam’s nightmarishly violent dream. I was so sucked in that the second I finished, I bought a copy—even though it’s on Kindle Unlimited—and then bought the second book a few minutes later. I had zero self-control.

I don’t read a ton of YA. I think I read one or two last year, maybe the same this year. I’m only mentioning this because I don’t have a huge backlog to compare The Dark Friars to, but I can say I enjoyed it as much as my favorite YA of all time, Rotters by Daniel Kraus—just for completely different reasons. Liam, his friends Lily and Jack, Tariq, and the rest of the Keepers and Guild members pulled me straight into a world of immensee magic and the fight between those trying to protect it and those who want to twist it for their own nefarious means.

In a not-small way, The Dark Friars reminds me of my favorite TV show of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So much so that I’m giving in and breaking out the bullet points, though I still wish I could get away with using a giant Venn diagram.

• Like Buffy, Liam gets hit with immense power after the violent death of his predecessor. Unlike Buffy, Liam was forced to dream about that violent death for days.

• Buffy becomes the Slayer. Liam becomes the newest Keeper—one of six guardians protecting Sarumbourne from every manner of magical nightmare: shapeshifters, vampires, demons, and, of course, the Dark Friars.

• Buffy has the Watchers Council. Liam and the other Keepers have The Guild.

• Buffy has Willow and Xander. Liam has Lily and Jack—and honestly, I’d trade Xander for Jack in half a heartbeat. Jack is sooooo much better.

• Buffy has Angel. Liam has Tariq, and I’m already confident that Liam and Tariq are going to have a far healthier go of things.

That’s not to say the world the author has created feels derivative, because it absolutely doesn’t. This world stands entirely on its own and feels fully realized—a feat that can be difficult to pull off in the first book of a series. I could follow the paths of Craythorn Forest and Grovely Wood. The campus of Sarumbourne College is as real to me as my own. And I desperately want to wander the halls and rooms of The Seven Angels for myself. I think I would like it there.

All I know is that there better be a third, fourth, fifth, and twelfth book soon. Especially if they all have these gorgeous covers.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Jory Harcourt-Kage

 

Way back in 2010, I had a conversation with a few other bloggers about the sheer number of straight female authors writing m/m romance. I had no clue such a phenomenon was happening, and I was even more surprised to learn most of the readers were also straight women. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it—especially when I’d occasionally come across reviews that felt like the reviewer was fetishizing us. We have enough problems; I didn’t need a new one. Eventually, Mandi of Smexy Books talked me into reviewing one, and in September of 2011, I read and reviewed my first.

I was new to romance in general, and while that first book didn’t quite work for me for several reasons, I was willing to keep exploring the genre. It’s been a wild, occasionally chaotic ride over the last fourteen years. Since then, I’d say over 50% of my reading is m/m romance featuring every archetype imaginable: cowboys, Navy SEALs, hockey players, cops, bikers, werewolves, vampires, firemen, PIs, FBI agents, royalty, magic users, and spies. I quickly learned which authors I preferred, and while I do think the gay men writing in this genre feel more realistic, it is romance. It’s not supposed to be realistic.

One of those favorite authors is Mary Calmes. She’s one of the few writers whose new releases I will automatically buy, and a huge part of that is Jory Harcourt-Kage, the star of her A Matter of Time series. Jory is a character you will either adore or despise—there’s no in-between. He’s the kind of man who will give you the shirt off his back; if you were ever once a friend, he’ll drop everything to help you. He has a huge heart, and he doesn’t just wear it on his sleeve—it’s perched on top for the entire world to see it beating. His story is not meant to be factual; it is one of the most gloriously over-the-top romances I’ve ever read. If you don’t have a strong willingness to suspend your sense of disbelief, Mary Calmes is not the author for you.

But that same enormous heart is what gets Jory into trouble. It makes him a react-first, consequences-later person. He puts himself in danger constantly, convinced he’s protecting someone else. He’s been kidnapped, mixed up with gangsters and the mafia, nearly killed more than once, chased kidnappers, solved murders, been hunted by assassins, and was even paralyzed for a while. What amazes me most is that none of it has changed him. He’s still one of the most trusting characters I’ve read in decades. He gives almost everyone the benefit of the doubt, and he loves his family fiercely. He will do anything to protect them.

I absolutely adore Jory, his husband Sam, their kids, and their entire found family. He’s a character I revisit every year just to feel at home. And writing this has made me want to visit him again sooner rather than later.

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden

 

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Surrounded by barren trees in a snow-covered wilderness with a dim, dusty sky forever overhead, Siberia's Kolyma Highway is 1,200 miles of gravel-packed perma frost within driving distance of the Artic Circle. A narrow path where drivers face such challenging conditions as icy surfaces, limited visibility, and an average temperature of sixty degrees below zero, fatal car crashes are common. 

But motorists are not the only victims of the highway. Known as the Road of Bones, it is a massive graveyard for the former Soviet Union's gulag prisoners. Hundreds of thousands of people were worked to death and left where their bodies fell, consumed by the frozen elements and plowed beneath the road. 

Fascinated by the history, documentary film producer Felix "Teig" Teigland is in Russia to drive the highway, envisioning a new series capturing life and death on the Road of Bones with a ride to the town of Akhust, "the coldest place on Earth," collecting ghost stories and local legends along the way. However, when Teig and his team reach their destination, they find an abandoned town, save one catatonic nine-year-old girl—and a pack of predatory wolves, faster and smarter than any wilds animals should be. 

Pursued by the otherworldly beasts, Teig's companions confront even more uncanny and inexplicable phenomenon along the Road of Bones, as if the ghosts of Stalin's victims were haunting them. It is a harrowing journey that will push Teig to the edge of human endurance. 

Damn, that is a long synopsis. Normally, when a synopsis runs that long, I’ll try to condense it myself, but everything I cut made it unreadable. So, apologies in advance for a summary that’s longer than my review.

This has been my year of intentional rereads—mostly because I wanted the comfort of knowing I’d be spending time with books I already loved. And in a few cases (some of which I’ve already reviewed), there were books I read after I stopped blogging or writing anything longer than a two or three sentence Goodreads review that I’ve been itching to finally write a “proper” review for. Road of Bones by Christopher Golden is one of them.

There are a few living authors I love enough to be automatic buys that I can count them on one hand. Christopher Golden has been on that list since I read his Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-ins. How quickly I get around to reading each new book he releases is a different story.

What I adore about horror—when it’s done right—is its ability to rip my heart out, leaving me on the floor, shattered beyond comprehension. That ability to break me never fails to satisfy, even when I’m mourning characters who grew to mean so much. Golden writes the way I dreamed of writing as a kid, and because of that he creates worlds populated with characters I connect to instantly—people who feel so real I’m fully immersed within a few pages.

That ability is in 3D Technicolor in Road of Bones. From the moment Teig’s truck slams into a guardrail on the Kolyma Highway as he skids across icy permafrost, to the moment Nari stomps her hooves before slipping back into the forest, I’m sold. I’m ready and willing to believe in the reality Golden has created.

This is a folk-horror, ghost-story fever dream set in a place most of us wouldn’t survive for five minutes. I felt every icy blade of wind cutting through the landscape. I saw shadows sliding across my walls as they crawled out of the dark. I felt the fleeting relief, the deep bone-cold terror, the fierce love I developed for these characters, and eventually the hollow sorrow that settled in as I followed them across Siberia. And yes, I know I’ll put myself through it again with a kind of twisted joy.

Now I just need to decide which of the other four Golden books sitting on my shelves I’m going to pick up next.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

 

Synopsis From Goodreads:

All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.

But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town that boasts more dragons than people, and open the shop of their dreams.

What follows is a cozy tale of mishaps, mysteries, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. In a story brimming with hurt/comfort and quiet fireside conversations, these two women will discover just what they mean to each other… and the world.

You know those books you genuinely enjoy while reading, but the moment you sit down to write a review, the flaws are all you can think about? Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea is one of those books for me, so I’ll try to keep this short.

I truly did enjoy my time with it. Reyna and Kianthe make a wonderful couple to build a series around. They balance each other well, bringing out strengths and tempering weaknesses. Starting the story with an already established relationship lets the author focus on plot rather than setup, which I appreciated. Still, this is the first time they’re spending extended time together, and while there are hints at growing pains, conflicts are resolved very quickly. I know this is a cozy fantasy, but as a gay man, I would love to see more of the mess and complexity that comes with intimacy, not just the tidy version.

The residents of Tawney are fun and distinct enough that I never confused them, but overall the characters, even Reyna and Kianthe, feel a bit two-dimensional. And no one suffers from this more than Queen Tilaine. If there’s a patron saint of bland villains, it’s her. If she continues as the primary source of conflict, I hope she becomes significantly more interesting.

World-building is also lighter than I expected for a first book in a fantasy series. Tawney itself feels mostly realized, though the layout remains murky in my mind. Beyond that? The wider world is a fog. I grew up with authors like Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Robert Jordan, and my favorite, Mercedes Lackey — writers who built rich, tangible worlds I can still map in my head. Here, I can picture Tawney and the castle Reyna fled… and that’s about it.

To be fair, this is just book one in what’s currently a four-book series. I’m hopeful these early quibbles will be addressed as the world and characters develop.

Despite everything I’ve mentioned, I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent with Reyna and Kianthe. I do plan to continue the series. I’m just not in a rush.

Finally, thanks to Tracy of Bitter Tea and Mystery for putting this book on my radar. I might not have picked it up otherwise, and I'm glad I did. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Sweet Pickles

 

 I’m in a pickle. I’ve been wanting to highlight one of the denizens of Sweet Pickles for years now, but I could never decide which one to single out. As a kid, I loved all of them, even Nasty Nightingale. Trying to choose between Clever Camel or Yakety Yak gave me such a headache that I kept putting it off. And now, sixteen years after starting this feature, I’m still stuck.

Because my indecisiveness could give Questioning Quail a run for her money, I’ve decided to just pick all twenty-six of the anthropomorphic animals who live and play in the charming little town of Sweet Pickles.

Yes, I’m absolutely aging myself with this pick—and that’s fine, because these characters deserve it. If you’re not familiar, Sweet Pickles was a series of thirty picture books that used twenty-six animals, from A to Z, to help an entire generation of Gen X kids make sense of our personalities and emotions.

When I was little, I was especially drawn to Bashful Bear and Doubtful Dog. I’ll let you guess why, though I doubt you’d be wrong. I saw myself in them and felt everything they went through. What made these books special, beyond the irresistible idea of a town full of talking animals, was the gentle way they taught us to be self-aware. Each story showed how our quirks and flaws could get in our way, like when Bashful Bear was too shy to ask someone to be his friend. There were lessons about problem-solving, sure, but mostly they helped us see ourselves a little more clearly.

Before I wrap this up, I have to mention Loving Lion and Moody Moose, because I adored them too. And then there’s Unique Unicorn, Healthy Hippo, Fearless Fish… See my problem? I can’t choose just one.

So instead, consider this a quasi–love letter to all the residents of Sweet Pickles; the sweet, silly, and surprisingly insightful crew who helped shape an entire generation of kids.

Now if only I could find a complete set that doesn’t cost nearly $200. Wish me luck.