Review: Diverse Energies

Title: Diverse Energies
Editors: Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti
Genre: short story, dystopia, sci-fi, romance, YA
Published: 20 November 2013
Pages: 368
Rating: 6 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley, Lucky No. 14

Synopsis: "In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful.

In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction. Includes stories by Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, and more." (from GoodReads)

My Review: I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but I requested this one from NetGalley because I like some of the authors mentioned and I love supporting books about diverse characters. The stories are all interesting, but there are definitely some that I enjoyed more than others. My favorites were "Uncertainty Principle" by K. Tempest Bradford (a girl discovers that she's the only person who can detect temporal anomalies), "Gods of the Dimming Light" by Greg van Eekhout (a modernization of Ragnarok - especially cool because I read it the day before Ragnarok was thought to occur!), and "Blue Skies" by Cindy Pon (not your typical kidnapping story). The others weren't bad, but these were the three that I found the most interesting and wish I had gotten more story for.

This collection is great because of the much-needed diversity it features. However, the downside is that so much of it is bleak. The worlds these authors have created are beautiful and fascinating, but also really terrible if I were to actually live in them. I would love to see a collection of stories (or novels) about these characters when they're happy and living normal lives.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic review copy from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

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I'm a Logan! (?)

Which character are you? Find out here!

Music Munday: The Doubleclicks

Today's Music Munday is a special one: a music video featuring yours truly!

I've written about The Doubleclicks before. They're still awesome and still making fun, geeky music. I recently funded their new album kickstarter, and I can't wait to hear it.

Last week, this showed up on my twitter feed:

Want to be in our burrito video? email burrito@thedoubleclicks.com. You'll be asked to take a picture of you&burrito to specific directions.

— The Doubleclicks (@TheDoubleclicks) March 13, 2014

Of course I had to join in the fun! Batman and I went to lunch at Hankook Taqueria, one of our favorite restaurants in Atlanta. I got a shrimp burrito to use as my music video prop:

It was one of the easiest (and tastiest!) ways I've ever participated in a fandom. :)

Here's the finished product, "Love You Like a Burrito:"



I'm at 2:15, in case you missed me. :)

Teacher life

One of today's literary terms was "etymology" (the study of word origins), so I assigned my tenth graders different Greek and Latin roots and had them identify words that correctly used the root they had been given. They also had to create a poster explaining the root, the words they chose, and how the definitions related to the root. I also asked them to draw a picture or symbol to help them remember. 

All of this to share one of the funniest unintentional jokes ever told in my class. One girl had the root "-cracy" (rule), but couldn't think of a picture to go along with it. 

Me: Well, think about this: what do rulers wear?

Her: ...Numbers?

Best laugh I've had in a while. :D

Review: Mafia Girl

Title: Mafia Girl
Author: Deborah Blumenthal
Genre: YA, romance
Published: 1 March 2014
Pages: 270
Rating: 2 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Reading Challenge

Synopsis: "'What's in a name? Everything if you have my name.' At her exclusive Manhattan high school, seventeen-year-old Gia is the most hated/loved girl in school. Why? Her father doesn't have a boss. He is the boss--the capo di tutti cappi, boss of all bosses. Not that Gia cares. But life gets complicated when she meets a cop she calls "Officer Hottie" and feels a suprising chemistry. Then Vogue magazine wants to feature Gia in a fashion spread about real-life bad girls. On top of this, she's running for class president. Can Gia step out from under her dad's shadow and show everyone there's more to her than 'Mafia Girl?'" (from GoodReads)

My Review: Full disclosure: I was not able to finish this book. I got about halfway through and just had to put it down. I got frustrated with Gia and her shenanigans. She was neither believable nor likable. I was really excited to read this - I expected a Godfather/Gossip Girl hybrid, not a whiny spoiled brat. The straw that broke the camel's back, however, was the incredibly inappropriate relationship that develops with (and is reciprocated by!) "Officer Hottie." So illegal. I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but when he started texting her back and calling her "Baby," I rolled my eyes and put my Kindle down in disgust. I much preferred the election subplot to the "romance," but I couldn't handle slogging through one for the other.

Other Reviews:

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Music Munday: Welcome to Night Vale Live!

Yep, it's the triumphant (?) return of Music Munday. And what better way to celebrate than a post that's only tangentially related to music? :P

This past Friday, Batman and I saw a live show of one of my favorite podcasts, Welcome to Night Vale! It was actually my Valentine's Day present, and I was beyond excited. If you're unfamiliar with the show, the conceit is this: WtNV is a community radio show, hosted by the amazing Cecil. Every week, he delivers news about the desert town of Night Vale (usually involving the mysterious and supernatural) and the people who live there. My favorite recurring characters are the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your House and Tameka Flynn (a middle schooler who battles the town's dangerous and carnivorous librarians). Here's the first episode:



Awesome, right? I discovered it thanks to my friend Shivana, who cosplayed as Tameka at DragonCon last year (complete with decapitated librarian head!) and was hooked immediately. It's the perfect blend of unsettling, zany, and hilarious.

You might be wondering where the "music" comes in for this Music Munday post. About three-quarters of the way through every broadcast, Cecil brings listeners "the weather" in the form of a song from an obscure (at least to me) artist. It's pretty hit-or-miss in my opinion, but every once in a while there's an interesting band or really great song. Usually I just want to skip through them, though. Luckily, the musical guests chosen for Friday night's show, Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin, were pretty good! Carrie reminded me of Jennifer Nettles back when she used to do solo shows. They performed this song together and I really liked it, but couldn't find a video of them together:



So here's a bonus video of Carrie covering Bob Dylan:



It was definitely an experience to watch a podcast (especially when I'm used to just hearing it!) being made. If you get the chance, check it out! It was a fun night.

The cast of Welcome to Night Vale

Review: Alienated

Title: Alienated
Author: Melissa Landers
Genre: YA, romance, sci-fi
Published: 4 February 2014
Pages: 352
Rating: 5 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet." (from GoodReads)

My Review: This is a slightly better-written Twilight clone with an alien instead of a vampire. There are some interesting twists, but we know these two crazy teens are going to fall in love despite their differences. I'm also pretty sure I caught the first whiffs of a love triangle that will probably be explored more in the sequel(s).

First, the things I didn't like:
For an alien who supposedly had no concept of human emotion, Aelyx smirks. A LOT. I felt like I needed to start keeping a tally, because it happened constantly.
The idea of falling in love with an alien (I don't care HOW hot he is) is pretty icky to me. It's one of my peeves about the Doctor Who fandom, too, actually. If these aliens want to be neighborly, that's awesome! But (SPOILER) mating with aliens, even if it strengthens their genes (I didn't really get the logic behind this part) seems too far-fetched. I understand that there's a parallel to civil rights, but I guess I'm just not that open-minded.
It's very obviously the first part of a series. That drives me crazy; I wish authors would finish their stories in one book, rather than stretching them out. Especially when said book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

The stuff I did like:
There's some pretty cool world-building, but we don't get to see too much of it in this book because we only really interact with Aelyx.
Cara blogs about her experience, which is a pretty fun conceit. I would've liked to read more of her posts about the L'eihr.
Cara's best friend is Latina. Hooray, diversity!

Alienated is also pretty action-packed, especially toward the end. I don't know if I'll read the sequel, but I will definitely recommend it to my Twilight-loving students.

Other Reviews:
Falling For YA

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Review: Suddenly You

Title: Suddenly You
Author: Cecilia Gray
Genre: YA, Jane Austen-paralit, romance
Published: 7 May 2013
Pages: 128
Rating: 7 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "Fanny doesn't want to be at The Jane Austen Academy. She intends to lay low until graduation when she can try out for the Olympic track team. She doesn't need friends or love. She only needs her running.

But The Academy is in danger. In an effort to save it, Fanny joins forces with the friends she never knew she wanted. Suddenly, Fanny finds herself center stage in the middle of the Academy's biggest love triangle as the lead in the school play...only this track star can't afford to break a leg." (from GoodReads)

My Review: This was my least favorite of the Jane Austen Academy novellas available now, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I read through them too quickly and got burned out? Maybe the enjoyment I got out of Kat's book made it difficult for me to enjoy Fanny (who is honestly my least favorite Austen heroine) and her adventures as much? The romance part of the story itself is pretty similar to Mansfield Park in that Fanny has a crush on someone she views as unattainable (NOT her cousin this time, hooray!) and she spends a lot of time mooning over him and trying to fight off the advances of Josh (as Henry Crawford this time). This book frustrated me because so much of the conflict could've been avoided if Fanny just communicated with people more (her mom, Tran, Josh, Lucy) instead of just letting everything happen to her and then dealing with it. The best part of this book for me was the surprising character development of Josh. He's been the bad guy in four different stories, and it seems like he's finally getting some growth. I'm really looking forward to what happens to him in Emma's story.

This was still a good story, my quibbles aside. It's cute and fun and a really quick read. I'm excited about the last two books in this series and can't wait to read them!

Other Reviews:

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Review: Backward Compatible

Title: Backward Compatible
Authors: Sarah Daltry and Pete Clark
Genre: YA, romance
Published: 8 December 2013
Pages: 316
Rating: 5 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "A YA Gamer Geek Comedy in the vein of Scott Pilgrim and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Ideal for fans of The Big Bang Theory, The Guild, and all things Joss Whedon.

WARNING: There is no sex in this book. Your Kindle or other device will remain at a pleasant room temperature. At no point will your panties drop. Your significant other will be allowed to snore in peace as you read. You may, however, laugh yourself out of commission.

Not too long ago, in a town that, depending on your current location, is either not super far or actually quite close... (insert Star Wars theme music here...)

It is a time of chaotic hormones.

Two nerdy gents home for winter break have discovered a female gamer at a midnight release.

During the break, the gamer trio manages to reveal the game's secret boss, a hidden enemy with enough power to destroy anything in its path.

Pursued by other gamers who want to be the first to beat this boss, George and Katie race to level up, and, in so doing, restore decency and sexual activity to their personal galaxy..." (from GoodReads)

My Review: Ok, here's the thing. I'm not the target audience for this book. I thought I was (I'm a geek, I'm [relatively] young, I'm a fan of all those things listed in the synopsis, I picked up on almost every single reference in this book, etc), and yet I really didn't relate to the characters in this book. For one thing, they are REALLY immature. When they talked about being in college, I didn't believe them. I teach high schoolers with better socialization skills than these kids. For another thing, they are REALLY mean. And not just to the random mean girls who show up towards the end and harass one of the main characters; George and Lanyon, supposedly the best of friends, spend most of their conversations trading insults. When they game as a group, they gang up on one player in particular (a "hipster douche" who had the temerity to grow a goatee IRL) and constantly attack him verbally and kill him virtually. The two main geeks are pretty one-dimensional: Katie likes to game and has boobs! George also likes to game and he also likes boobs! Neither one of them really has much personality, and they don't really know anything about each other. Katie seemed like she was getting some characterization and growth (she appears borderline-agoraphobic and admits to feeling depressed and anxious about her budding relationship with George), but that is magically dealt with when he - no joke - pulls a Spider-Man-esque stunt and cheers her up. George, for his part, spends a lot of time quoting Shakespeare (along with literally HUNDREDS of pop culture references) and reading books, so of course he's an English major. I felt like these were stock "geek" types rather than being fully fleshed-out people. There was no need for George and Lanyon to constantly allude to Star Wars, Portal, WoW, etc. And some of the allusions didn't make sense! Sephiroth's forehead compared to a bright light? Seriously? And can we please, for the love of all that is holy, drop the "That's what she said!" jokes? There were other minor things that bugged me as I was reading (ripping on The Hobbit sequel, referring to it as The Hobbit 2, sexual harassment during said movie, Katie's vehement anti-girly agenda), but honestly I'm getting more annoyed now as I'm thinking about it.

Which is not to say that it was all bad. There were parts that I liked - the "secret boss" of the video game and what it entails reminded me of Ready Player One, but I really enjoyed the twist in this book. It's also got some humor, although a lot was lost on me because it involved insulting someone's mom or threatening violence or rape. Ultimately, it's a lighthearted romance that just didn't work for me.

Full disclosure: I received an electronic ARC of Backward Compatible from NetGalley.

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Review: Plain Kate

Title: Plain Kate
Author: Erin Bow
Genre: YA, fantasy
Published: 1 September 2010
Pages: 314
Rating: 7 / 10
Challenges: N/A

Synopsis: "A debut novel that's as sharp as a knife's point.

Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver's daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden charms are so fine that some even call her "witch-blade" -- a dangerous nickname in a town where witches are hunted and burned in the square." (from GoodReads)

My Review: I read this for my FYA book club meeting in January. It was definitely not what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it. It's a beautifully-written fairy tale with a talking cat - Who doesn't love a talking cat?!? - and it's also one of the saddest books I've read in a long time. In fact, I waited to write this review because I was hoping some distance would help. Seriously, the last twenty minutes I was reading this book, I had tears pouring down my face and was a snotty, emotional mess. The tone of the entire book is pretty depressing throughout (mostly because Plain Kate CANNOT CATCH A BREAK, sheesh), but that ending just absolutely did me in. The world-building is phenomenal and fantastical and the characters are realistic and sympathetic. Even the bad guy has a totally justifiable reason for being bad (which is understandable, given the author's note at the end). But mostly, there are tears. I'm getting upset all over again just thinking about it.

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