Clockwork Fagin by Cory Doctorow

Clockwork Fagin, Cory Doctorow.  [free sample from] Steampunk ! ed. by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant.  Somerville Mass: Candlewick Press, 2011.  e-book, 35 pps. 

Clockwork Fagin is a dark steampunk story about kids disabled by machinery, a twisted Master Grinder, Saint Agatha's Home for the Rehabilitation of Crippled Children, and a folk hero by the name of Monty.  There are a few ineffective nuns and a couple of night watchmen and a bobby or two that make appearances.  The real glory belong to the children.

The first two nights at St. Aggie's involve being beaten to a pulp by Grinder and then sent to a solitary cell with the rats.  The stripping of any rights such as the right to free association, the right to safe housing and schooling, the right to have competent medical treatment are reminiscent of what happens at some present-day teen torture facilities immediately upon admission.  The other kids are compliant because they have to be in order to survive.  Monty is not.

Monty blows up the order of things and seizes the power that the Grinder had over the crippled kids for far too long.  He starts a revolution and momentum is built as the other kids join in.  People in positions of some authority outside of St. Aggie's are dupped.

sapphoq reviews says: This is a dark steampunk short story that works.  The steampunk setting is integral and crucial to the telling of the tale and not some post script.  Anyone who speaks out publicly against D.R.M. has my vote as a decent human being.  Doctorow has been a steady vocal activist against the craziness threatening to overtake us all by the Intellectual Property Monopoly.  His writing is most excellent.  Some freebies can be had by perusing his website: http://craphound.com/   If you are not familiar with Cory Doctorov, you owe it to yourself to check him out.  @doctorow on Twitter. Clockwork Fagin is most highly recommended.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk.  New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1996.  e-book, 167 pps.

I dedicate this review to Walt McCabe.  I should have read this years ago when you first told me about Fight Club.  Many thanks for the difference that you've made in my life.  I will miss you forever.


Fight Club is sinister and so is one of its' lead actors-- Tyler Durden.  Tyler is a spooky dude and the epitome of why you don't want to piss off the wait staff at any restaurant.  Of course there is a woman.  Her name is Marla Singer.  She and the narrator  share an interesting hobby.  The narrator loses everything except for the woman but rises again with Fight Club and Tyler.  Everything is dark, so very dark.  Everything is true.  The truth and the lie are both equally hard to bear.

sapphoq reviews says: Fight Club makes goth kids look like sunshine and lollipops.  Fight Club sucks the meaning out and injects nihilism in the vein.  Nihilism gives a kick stronger than heroin.  The first rule of Fight Club is that you don't--  Read it.  Excellent book.  Should be required reading in all catechism classes.

Dodger by Sir Terry Pratchett

Dodger, Sir Terry Pratchett.  New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2012.  e-book, 263 pps.

The author may be found at Twitter: @terryandrob


The beloved creator of Discworld has turned his hand to historical fantasy, a genre at which he also excels.  Dodger is an alternate fantasy about Charles Dickens' character the artful dodger.  Also set in London, several real people who are dead can also be found in the pages of Dodger.  Charles Dickens himself, as Charlie Dickens the journalist, is there.  The Mayhews put in an appearance.  So does Sir Robert Peeler.  And very briefly, the Queen.  Because historical dates are adjusted a bit and Dodger himself is a fantasy, this book falls under the category of historical fantasy rather than historical fiction.

Dodger is a tosher.  He makes his living in the sewers of London, hunting up treasures that people have dropped through the gratings. There are rats down in the tunnels, sinister creatures, and a Lady.  Above ground, the River Thames sticks.  Her cargo includes more than a few dead bodies.  London itself is a mixture of the haves and the have-nots.  Dodger makes his way through all of it with a confident yet watchful swagger that comes from living on the streets.

sapphoq reviews says: Fans of Discworld, Terry Pratchett, and Dickens Oliver Twist are bound to enjoy Dodger.  Heartily recommended.

Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist by Hank Fox

Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist: Simple Thoughts About Reason, Gods and Faith, Hank Fox.  [self-published]: Hank Fox Books, 2011.  e-book, 498 pps.


http://www.HankFoxBooks.com


http://www.Blue-Collar-Atheist.com


Hank Fox has written a most practical and excellent book.  Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist offers up a simple autobiography and then immediately plunges into explanations sprinkled liberally with gems of wisdom.  Twenty five chapters delve into such topics as morality [the thing that atheists are routinely charged with not having], what the costs are of believing, and why having "respect" for the beliefs of others isn't such a great idea after all.  Along the way are easy-to-understand analogies and explanations of a few common cognitive fallacies.

sapphoq reviews says:  Hank Fox is the common man's Richard Dawkins.  Red Neck, Blue Collar, Atheist deserves a place along side the more scholarly atheist volumes in any freethinker's library. Highly recommended without hesitation.

Oh Canada

John Green, author, has something to say about not being allowed into Canada once a very long time ago and being on a list of undesirables today.



Enlightening.







sapphoq reviews says:  Just one more example of insanity.