Toast.x2

Based on a review copy: Indrajit Garai’s second collection of stories was a mixed bag of beautiful story telling and unique perspectives. Garai presents characters hailing from France and Mumbai. The language elements of this collection are complex and (while sometimes confusing) distinct.. I have never read characters this blatantly likable and vibrant. Through individual character voices, dialects, and internal monologue- I found myself slowly bonding with their worlds. The story Changing Turf was particularly wonderful and my favorite. I wanted an entire book with that storyline. Both a critique and a boon, there is a common thread that binds these stories. Across them, there is an innate optimism showing human ethics being successfully represented based on personal conviction alone. This success varies in hues depending on your perspective, but is undeniable. As a critique, this optimism at one point did feel like a masquerade, presented as a nice bow to tied an w...

More than a year after throwing this book down in frustration, I picked it back up. It was a review copy of an up and coming title, it is now getting ready for it’s first release anniversary Initially, I felt this title was uninspired and heavy handed. The plot unfolds on a satellite filled with corruption and crime syndicates. They call the satellite ‘Hardcore Station’ which sounds pornographic, like a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) porno, with a cameo by Rutger Hauer to give it some SciFi credence. Turns out it needed to be heavy handed, and aspirational (if not inspirational). Written by comic book industry veteran and author Jim Starlin, the book is a series of chapter by chapter climaxes (pun) intended to drag a reader through some dirt. Any complaint I experienced has evaporated. So what was the problem the first time I tried to read this? CONTEXT. This title associates directly to a short run comic series of the same name from 1998 that I was absolutely NOT aware of. Insert cricket...