Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Marcos' life is in shambles. His wife left him and he works on a farm that processes human meat, now legal because of a disease affecting all animals and rendering them inedible. He sees the most horrific things every day and has to do business with the worst sort who want to buy the head (as in head of cattle) for hunting, experimentation, or consumption. Then he receives a female head as an unwanted but valuable gift and has to decide what to do with it.

Tender is the Flesh is an absolutely chilling dystopia. Due to an incurable virus, animals can no longer be consumed or be around humans at all. There also no pets allowed, leading to a mass slaughter of them for human safety. The government has decided to allow the raising and killing of humans for food, opening up a huge market of other things previously illegal: medical experimentation (even the most inhumane procedures), hunting people, organ harvesting, and an expansion of illegal human trafficking. Bodies can't be buried for fear of being dug up and eaten. The less fortunate or less protected could be kidnapped and murdered for meat. Scavengers roam the countryside, violent and wild, looking for flesh.

Marcos's job is stomach churning but highly paid. The head can't speak due to their vocal chords being removed and lack of any sort of education. They are never acknowledged or referred to as human, always kept naked, and treated exactly as cattle.  Marcos carefully chooses who works there because the job attracts some unsavory characters. The goal is to find someone who needs the money and can desensitize themselves (as he has) to the violence. The general public calls it "special" meat and carries on as usually, blissfully ignorant of the realities of how they get their food. There is some outrage, but it seems more are willing to sacrifice others to go one with business as usual.

Tender is the Flesh kept surprising me with how depraved things could get. When I thought it couldn't be any worse, it went further. Whether it's a critique of the meat industry or the callousness of modern society, it works. Marcos seems to be the moral center of the book, even as he participates in the killing and processing of people for food, which makes the ending feel like such a slap in the face. I read this in a couple days. I couldn't put it down and it got under my skin. Definitely in my top books of the year.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins 

Possessor (2020)

Tasya Vos appears to have a normal life with an adorable son and an ex-husband who still loves her. In reality, she is a highly paid assassin with access to advanced technology that can insert her mind into another's and overtake it to kill her target. Over time, this practice has changed her mind, causing her to have intrusive violent thoughts in her own body and lose control over the host mind. Her latest job has her eventually trapped in a man's mind, unable to return to her own body.

I had no expectation going in beyond the eerie and beautiful imagery shown in the trailer and Possessor blew me away. The world building is immersive and different than many other science fiction films. Besides the tech industry and the secret assassin organization, the world feels the same as the present. Both companies we see feel like stepping into another world compared to Tasya's mundane, familiar home life. The visual style is so dreamlike, abstract, and colorful. The controversial sex scene with Tasya in a man's body and his girlfriend visually conveys gender dysphoria in a way I haven't seen before. 

Tasya is an exceptional assassin that shows a perfect façade to the world. It's as beautiful as it is fake, shown by her practicing mundane phrases to sound suitably interested and normal to her family. She carries this same practice into her job, learning how her future hosts speak to the people around them, their inflections and tone, to keep living their lives undetected until she kills. Her sense of self unravels while her mundane life seems to feel empty, only holding her back.

Only two of her assassinations are shown, but they are memorable. The first has her living in the body of a Black woman, brutally stabbing her target to death (not according to plan), and being killed by police. This sci-fi blackface and portraying death so like those we see in the news frequently is a poor choice especially when the scene is only used for attention-getting shock value and no other deeper commentary. This is my only real problem with the film. 

The second assassination is even more brutal as the mediocre white man she inhabits is fighting her control over him and making the target (his girlfriend's admittedly horrible dad) suffer as much as possible on top of killing his girlfriend. While this reflects intimate partner violence that happens frequently, these characters and their story are the focus of a good section of the film. The deep rage over feeling inferior to his girlfriend and her wealthy father was enough to overtake Tasya's control to destroy them. It says volumes about toxic masculinity and misogyny.

Possessor takes a futuristic concept and jumps right in. The rituals and regulations around the assassination method feels well developed, like we're only seeing a piece of a greater whole. I was hooked on each twist and turn of the film and the ending truly surprised me. Possessor is a huge step forward from Antiviral (despite the flaw) and I look forward to more films from Brandon Cronenberg. 

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

The Drifting Classroom Vol. 1 by Kazuo Umezu

Sixth grader Sho Takamatsu fights with his mother over being more responsible and growing up a but only to go to a school that suddenly transports to a barren wasteland. He finds himself in a role of authority after stepping up to protect the younger students and making hard decisions to further their survival. These students are faced with harsh realities and incredible dangers from humans and creatures alike while trying to figure out what happened and if it's even possible to return home.

The Drifting Classroom first came out in the 70's and was recently re-released in a beautiful hardcover last year. The story is a balance of bleak reality and wild science fiction centered around children. The children are forced to change quickly, especially the middle school aged kids, to lead where the adults fail and work toward the survival of as many as possible. He's almost unrecognizable even halfway through the story compared to the lazy kid at the start. Although he has everyone's best interests at heart, the others start to suspect him when inexplicable things happen and of course give over to mob rule when bullies lead and dissenters are punished. Overall, the kids shockingly work together well until fear and suspicious tear them apart.

The children are threatened by more than just the wasteland around them. The adults are doing nothing helpful at all. After the initial attempt to keep order, they kill themselves, kill kids they've taught and protected previously, or hoard all the resources for themselves. Simply put, they can't handle the extreme change and hopelessness while the children are resilient enough to hold on to hope and keep moving forward. The creatures who live in the wasteland are the other major danger, giant insect-like monstrosities that consume people like popcorn. Their existence was in doubt for a while when only a few witnessed it's first few meals until the school is faced with a fullfledged attack. 

The Drifting Classroom is a foundational work that influenced current horror writers such as Junji Ito (explicitly stated in his latest release, Venus in the Blindspot). It delves into deep, dark territory with an art style more indicative of lighter tone. The revelations discovered are devastating and went places I could never have predicted. The edition is beautiful, high quality, and well worth the price. I can't wait to see what else this series has in store.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Gilead, the totalitarian state that overthrew the US government, has replaced New England in the near future. Men have assumed all power, leaving women with no rights and no control of their own lives. Offred is a handmaid whose whole function is to have a baby for the man who essentially owns her. Once she has that baby, she will be passed on to another man to do the same due to the extremely low birth rate. She thinks of the past, the family and career she used to have, as she navigates the present. Who is trustworthy, who is waiting for her to slip up, and in what small ways can she have some freedom in this oppressive regime.

The Handmaid's Tale is classic dystopian novel that sucked me in right away. The chapters are very short and increase the tempo of the story. Offred bounces back and forth in time fluidly, the freedom of the past in stark contrast to the state of the present. Reading the transition between our time and the creation of Gilead was particularly chilling. She used to be a librarian, wife, and mother and now has no family, support system, or autonomy. Everything down to how she dresses is decided for her. She can't even have her own name as all handmaids are named "Of" the man they serve. They aren't allowed to read or have education outside of what Gilead deems womanly. Failure to to comply is essentially death, whether it's at a labor camp or execution with her body hung up for days as a deterrent for others. Some people around her take the risk anyway and flout the laws in small ways, leading to her seeing the cracks higher up in the system.

Gilead has every rule based in scripture and has all these rules to "protect" women that keep them free from rape, attack, and objectification, but only truly perpetuate all these things in addition to taking away any autonomy. Abortion is unsurprisingly illegal, but even methods to monitor the fetus and medical intervention during birth are also illegal. Seems counterintuitive to keeping both mother and baby healthy. Men have all the powerful roles including commanders who lead, guardians (police), angels (soldiers), and eyes (spies). Women can only be wives, handmaids, or aunts who train other women. The men don't hold themselves to the rules Gilead creates and are never blamed for anything. The whole system is simply a sham. This seems like the perfect utopia for a certain political party that only cares about benefiting themselves and leaving those they don't value with nothing.

The narrative is fascinating and delves deep into this dystopia through Offred's memories and experiences. The book took a couple of days for me to read and held my attention throughout. I expected the ending to be a little more bombastic and rebellious, but it ends anti-climactically. Offred's fate isn't known in this book so I guess I should read The Testaments to see what happens. I'm glad I waited until after it was published or I would have been a lot more disappointed. The epilogue seems a bit weird and out of place. Other than that, it's a pretty chilling dystopia.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Contagion by Erin Bowman

Hevetz Industries drills for corrarium all across the galaxy and high school intern Thea happens to be helping an esteemed microbiologist with measuring its ecological impact. Just as the team completes their project, a distress signal comes through from a remote planet, forcing them to take a two month detour to investigate. Once there, the entire planet's crew seems to be dead or missing except for one suspicious boy. What happened here and is he trying to hide something?

Contagion is a sci-for horror book that feels very familiar. Bowman manages to smash the plots of Alien and Aliens together. An ill suited crew has to answer a distress call on a planet infested with parasites like the first. And lone survivor (badass microbiologist Dr. Tarlow) has to return to the planet with an ignorant crew to face the parasitic enemy (like the second). Even though it’s not particularly original, I enjoyed the setup. The world building is interesting with interplanetary travel, advanced technology, and many present day social problems. Thea and Nova are the best characters (besides Tarlow). Thea is an orphan working as hard as she can to move up in the world and be a microbiologist. Nova was banned from piloting because of a degenerative eye disease (even though it’s been mostly corrected) and flies a transport ship. It’s all she can do to keep flying. They plus Tarlow are the most sympathetic characters. 

My problems with the book stem from forgettable or infuriating characters. Dylan is the inexperienced captain who was only placed there due to nepotism. I don’t know why she makes such horrible decisions. Maybe to prove herself as competent, but every one of her choices hurts her crew more. This one dimensional character never got a redemption or reason for acting like that. I forgot most of the other crew members because nothing stood out about them and they honestly didn’t affect the narrative much. I kept having to flip back to remember who they were. 

Overall, there was just something missing with Contagion. It felt like a rather shallow story and I’m not sure why. It has all the trappings of stuff I love like zombies, parasites, and horror, but it wasn’t my favorite. Maybe the developments were too predictable or convenient. I would check out the sequel from the library just to see what happened. 

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Gantz Omnibuses 2 & 3 by Hiroya Oku

* Gantz Omnibus 2

More people are called to fight against the alien menace with no instructions or rules communicated. Kei and Kato continue to fight and attempt to lead the various people despite their disbelief and/or ineptitude. Kato takes a powerful stance while Kei's ego is inflated by his newfound abilities and equipment.

Gantz is a series with an interesting concept, innovative creature designs, and completely mean spirited, gross execution. Kei continues to be a horrible person that we are apparently supposed to be rooting for. He abuses his powers by taking his suit to fight bullies and terrorize people only to have to fight aliens without it when teleported unexpectedly. He suffers a little, but somehow continues to succeed. For instance, he kicks out female Kei from his house for not sleeping with him only to randomly have sex with a woman who looks exactly like Lara Croft from Tomb Raider later. It's obvious wish/fetish fulfillment on the part of the author and completely took me out of the story. Kei throws himself into fighting and enjoys it because his life is boring and he doesn't excel at anything else. He's just a pathetic, misogynistic character that I hate.

The things I actually like about this story are Kato and the aliens. Kato is Kei's foil in every way. He refuses to kill the aliens, tries to save everyone he can, and is genuinely nice to everyone around him. Despite that one gross moment in the previous installment, he is the kind of person that should be the hero. Perhaps Kei is meant to be a deconstruction of the hero trope, but I don't have to like it. The aliens have such unique designs and abilities with a flock of bird-like creatures and gigantic statues that are actually alive. It's a shame that I hate almost everything else about it. The action is fast paced and the considerable gore impressed me.

Gantz 2 is better than the first because the misogyny is kept to a minimum. The characters are already established and most of the book is action scenes. There are still pin-up pictures of every female character at the start of each chapter which annoys me. I'm only reading up to the third omnibus because I already owned them . Otherwise, I would have stopped at the first.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins


* Gantz Omnibus 3

The team continues to fight the gigantic statue aliens, but the fight doesn't stay away from Kei's personal life anymore.

This installment of Gantz has tons of surprising losses that I never expected. Kei is already an awful person, as I've complained about many times before, but he manages to get so much worse. An alien attacks him at his school and he literally leaves his whole school to die when he's the only one who could even put up a fight. I'm just not sure how the author can expect anyone to keep following this "hero" when he starts horrible and gets progressively worse every single story.

At the very end of the manga (after extra drawings of each female character with even more gigantic breasts than they have in the regular art of the story), the author writes about how people complain about the many gratuitously nude or semi-nude pictures of women throughout his books. He makes it clear that it's for his own enjoyment and further states that it's the same thing as drawing attractive, tall men. It truly isn't. When every woman in the story (except the elderly) are objectified on every cell they're in, it's a lot different than depicting hot guys fully clothed (or censored when nude) and unobjectified. None of the women in the story have any motivations outside romantic entanglements with the male characters. I'm so done with this manga. Gantz has a lot of the same problems as the I Am a Hero series and it's depressing that both series are so popular.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

Gantz Omnibus 1 by Hiroya Oku

Kei Kurono and his childhood friend Kato are coincidentally on the same subway station platform years after they've seen each other. A homeless man falls onto the tracks and Kato tries to help him, but isn't strong enough to lift the man to safety on his own. Kato spots Kei and calls over to him. Kei reluctantly helps because he's been called out in front of a crowd. Together, they save the man but are hit by the train and appear in a room with several other people. They are given a second lease on life if they follow instructions to defeat various alien threats with incredibly powerful weapons and high tech suits.

I quickly realized this series isn't for me. Kind of a bummer since I had been gifted the first three omnibuses. Kurono is the worst guy. He has a running commentary of the most insulting, arrogant thoughts but has nothing to back it up. At his core, he's just a pathetic, horny high school student. The minute a nude girl (also named Kei) who had killed herself arrives in the Gantz room, he's all over her, kissing and groping her unconcious body. Later, this same girl stays at his home and he pressures her sex. Kurono makes my skin crawl and the fact that he's supposed to be the hero is even more disgusting. I'm sure he probably gets better over the course of the series, but it's pretty hard to stomach.

On top of that, Kei is the only female character and doesn't have any dimensions beyond being naked and objectified. Kei is threatened or outright attacked by almost every male character in the book, including Kato, the nicest guy in the series. Her body is shown in minute detail from every angle while Kurono's nudity is censored. Her only purpose is to love Kato when Kurono wants her and be naked in almost every frame of the story in addition to full page pin-up style pictures at the start of each chapter. Even the Gantz machine depicts her topless and calls her "Boobs." It's terrible writing and all of this distracts heavily from an interesting story.

Random people who die are picked by Gantz to fight the alien enemy with appropriate weapons and armor. If they accomplish their goal within the allotted time, they are rewarded points and if they don't, they die for good. There's no instructions of any kind, so they just have to stumble around, hoping what they're doing is right. The creature they fight is weird and the fights are the goriest I've seen in manga form. Kurono and Kato repeat the process with different people replacing those who died with a different enemy and they act as guides with what they've learned since the first time. Too much time in my opinion is spent on if this is a game show or not. It's clearly real when everyone starts dying.

Gantz had so much promise. It is a fast paced manga with amazing fight scenes and excessive gore. However, the characters are just too awful to root for (even the supposedly nice ones) and the treatment of women is horrifically misogynistic. I will be reading the next two omnibuses since I have them and they take about an hour for me to read. I don't expect these problems to get any better, but it might surprise me.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

Child's Play (2019)

Single mother Karen and her son Andy move to for a fresh start after a messy divorce. She starts a new job at a deparment store while he struggles to find friends and escapes into his phone and games. One day, Karen brings home a defective Buddi doll as a peace offering and an early birthday present for Andy. They have a rough start, but Alex warms up to the doll and makes some human friends. Andy tries to get rid of the doll when it becomes violent, but it seems to have a  mind of its own.

Child's Play is updated for the technological age and changed so it's almost unrecognizable. Honestly, it could have easily been an original AI or evil Siri/Alexa movie without treading into a beloved franchise. The focus goes from a murderer using voodoo to an AI doll with no safety protocols and the corporation that made it. From the time it's turned on, Chucky is learning from Andy and his new friends how to act, what's acceptable, and how to make him happy. Through weeks of experiences, the doll learns that violence is entertaining and a method to get people and animals that upset Andy out of the way. Things get even worse when Andy pulls away from the doll and tries to put more energy into his human friendships. This fresh new take paired with gruesomely fun kills made the film a delight to watch. Mark Hamill is brilliant as the voices of Chucky, which starts as childlike and innocent and then transitions over the course of the film to a deep, threatening voice.

The Kaslan corporation makes everything from self driving cars to Buddi dolls. Although it's in the periphery of the story, the implications speak volumes. The company seems to monopolize the market to the point where no other brands are seen. Chucky can also connect to any other Buddi product, making everything in their home, and by extension their neighborhood, a possible death trap. The defective doll was created because an exploited worker in Vietnam was fired, removed the safeties from the doll, and then killed himself. In such a small scene, it speaks volumes about the company's outsourcing, avoiding American labor laws, and exploiting workers with poor working conditions, abusive bosses, low wages, and impossibly high expectations. This corporation and the commentary on it gave the story extra depth beneath the expected killer doll story.

Although I enjoyed this remake, two things stood out as flaws: Andy and the look of Chucky. Andy is a teenager who has no friends as a result of moving to a new town and putting absolutely no effort into making new ones. He would rather sit in the hallway playing video games and make people think he's neglected than meet new people. Chucky becomes his first friend and the catalyst to human friends. Once the doll kills his cat, that should have been the moment when he drew the line and got rid of the doll. He waited until the doll stabbed him, killed his cat, and then killed someone else until he even thought about it. If Andy was going to be this dumb, he should have been much younger. Also, who would buy this Buddi doll? It's so creepy to start with that I wouldn't want it anywhere near my home. Big eyes don't make it cute. Other than these two flaws, the movie truly impressed me.

I wasn't expecting a lot from a remake of Child's Play that deviated so much from the original and was released while the original franchise is still going strong. It does leave a bad taste in my mouth that Don Mancini was completely ignored even while he's developing a TV show. To avoid this weirdness, it could have easily been an original film and not part of this franchise at all. Despite all this, Child's Play made me laugh out loud in the theater by balancing the horror with dark humor. I can't to watch it on movie nights at home with friends.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

WonderCon 2019: Alien Short Films

For the 40th anniversary of Alien, six filmmakers were chosen to expand the universe with their own short films. At WonderCon, two of the shorts premiered: Alien: Specimen and Alien: Ore with interviews with the directors, Kelsey Taylor and the Spear sisters. Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of both films.

* Alien: Specimen

A greenhouse in space is filled to the brim with plants. When a woman gets in a contaminated shipmen of earth, she seals it up and quarantines it, following protocol even though it significantly sets back her work. She works through the night with upbeat music, coffee, and her dog to keep her going until she sees the containers of earth spilled open and an empty egg inside.

Specimen is visually very different from the typical Alien film. The entire greenhouse is full of trees and plants, giving the film a much warmer, organic feel compared to the industrial or sterile space age feel. We are on the woman's side right away because we see how hard she works and how she copes with few words spoken. The facehugger chase is similar to the one in Aliens with Ripley and Newt. However, this one has the lights going out, creating an even deeper sense of suspense as it could be hiding anywhere. The alien itself is seen in glimpses until the very end, where it looks pretty decent. Not a second is wasted anywhere in the film and it does what it sets out to do.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

* Alien: Ore

A group of miners delve deep into the earth, desperate to find ore to get their bonus. The planet is desolate and poor with everyone eager to get some money to move. When a eggs are found instead of ore, Weyland-Yutani shows its true colors.

Lorraine is the main character of the film, strong and hardy on one hand and a loving grandmother on the other. She and her daughter work in the mines to give her granddaughter a better life. She has the other workers' respect and supports them when push comes to shove. I love that this goes back to the blue collar roots of Alien, where Ripley and her crew are essentially space truckers seen as disposable. There's also a amazing older woman who shows great emotional and physical strength.The caves feel a weird combination of claustrophobic and terrifyingly vast with seemingly interminable, dark corridors. The atmosphere is top notch and creepy. The only tiny complaint I had was one detail of the very end. With such a short film, even sounds are significant. The sounds at the end seem to indicate one specific ending over ambiguity.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

WonderCon 2019: Twilight Zone and NOS4A2

* Reimagining The Twilight Zone for a Modern Audience

I arrived to this panel a little late. It had the longest line of any panel I saw and I got in about 15 minutes late. (Small side note that many more people would have fit into the room if people would have sat in all chairs instead of putting bags and stuff there instead.) Anyway, the series producers (minus Jordan Peele) talked about the show moderated by Ginnifer Goodwin, who stars in one of the episodes. They claimed that none of the episodes are remakes of old episodes, despite some similarity in episode name. Each episode has its own musical language and can be deceptive in what it's influencing the viewers to feel. The show takes place in the modern day with stylistic nods to the original. They spoke at length about Rod Stirling and how he created the show to talk about social issues that he wasn't allowed to portray plainly in drama shows. The writers came up with the sci-fi concept first and then talked about the deeper concepts that would work within that. I missed the footage from the show, but I'm excited to see what's in store with the Twilight Zone.

* NOS4A2

NOS4A2 is going to be airing on AMC on June 2 and is based on Joe Hill's chilling novel of the same name. The two main stars are Zachary Quinto as the villain Charles Manx and Ashleigh Cummings as Vic McQueen, a girl with mysterious powers.

Before the panel, the entire first episode was played. I am impressed. There are few drastic changes, like starting Vic as a teen (played by an adult) and accelerating the discovery and effect of her powers. Her home and life are established. As she enters her senior year of high school, she struggles with her financial situation and her dream to go to art school. I especially loved the portrayal of her parents. Her father seems to be support and affable, but is revealed to be a wife beating alcoholic who drops his family in favor of a hot young woman. Her mother seems to be negative and unsupportive, but she's being realistic about how the world treats people like them and doesn't want Vic to dream about things she can't have. Charlie Manx and his MO are shown, as well as the parallel transformation of Manx from ancient to young and a child from human to soulless monster. It's a promising first episode that captures the same scenes in the books well.



The showrunner, Jami O'Brien, stated that the book itself would probably take about 3 seasons to cover and hopes to continue past the book. Joe Hill was hilarious talking about his famous father, their collaborations together, and easter eggs in the first episode. He didn't seem to have much control or say in what goes on in the show, but he was very complimentary about their work. Jahkara Smith talked about learning a lot on set as a first time actress. I loved her in the first episode and I can't wait for Maggie and Vic to meet. The show looks pretty amazing. I'm a little concerned that the horror elements will be pulled back to appeal to a wider audience, but we'll see. I will definitely be watching on June 2. 

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2

Sheila and Joel are in pretty bad shape at the start of the season. Sheila is locked in the basement due to her lust for flesh eating and accelerated rate of decomposition while Joel is in a 72 hour psychiatric hold due to trying to steal an old Serbian woman's bile. This season has them discovering new zombies, finding out more about zombie lore, trying to live their lives and succeed in their real estate business, and stop the spread of zombie infected clams. Their daughter Abby and her friend Eric help them along the way.

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 has everything the first season has and more. It's hilarious, heart warming, and gory as hell with the perfect mix of horror and comedy. Sheila and Joel are an adorable couple. I didn't think I would like Joel anymore after the events of last season. He essentially rejected Sheila and admitted her only supported her because he thought she would return to the meek human woman she was before she became a zombie. This season, he got some perspective and accepts his wife for who she is. Their relationship greatly improved when his ego stopped getting in the way of Sheila's new attitude and outlook on life. They unite even further as real estate agents against another couple desperate to take any success from them with Sheila as the driving competitive force. They also investigate the zombie disease spreading and do what they can to save the general public from turning into zombies.

Sheila has a lust for life now that she's a zombie that has intensified from the first season. Her worsening condition caused her to become more prone to give in to her hunger, anger, and other desires, but she's stabilized and channeled her bloodlust into jogging and chasing animals in the desert at superhuman speed. Unfortunately, her condition still brings some surprises such as her blacking out and eating someone she doesn't remember, chewing off her fingers when nervous, and having to choose the right people to eat. There is a particularly funny scene where they befriend some Neo Nazis in order for her to eat awful people without guilt. Joel, on the other hand, drags his feet for everything and lets his pride in a negative Yelp review hold them back from investigating the origin of the disease at an Italian restaurant. His priorities are a bit skewed at times, but he comes through for Sheila and his family.

Secondary characters shine this season, especially in Abby and Ramona. Abby goes from sullen, sarcastic teen to superhero. She realizes that societies' rules don't always dictate what's right and she decides to fight for what she believes in even if it may fall outside the law or societal norms. Her efforts are channeled into protesting frakking in Santa Clarita and being who she really wants to be. I always liked Ramona as the clerk who always caught Joel and his family at odd moments staring at cleaning supplies trying to deal with their new and overwhelming living situation. Her character is fleshed out and we see more than just the few one liners she delivered the previous season. Ramona experienced something similar to Sheila and left her old job as an auctioneer to the sardonic, slow speaking drug store clerk she always wanted to be. She takes up a relationship with Eric where she essentially uses him to get human flesh. He's so meek that he just goes along with it until Abby intervenes for him. I enjoy how the women have the power in this show unlike most sitcoms like it.

The zombie lore has expanded. The virus originated in Serbia and came to the US in a pair of carnivorous red clams, infecting Sheila and who knows how many other Santa Clarita residents. The ball Sheila threw up when she turned grows eight legs and seems to be a living creature. Its purpose isn't known yet, hopefully something explored next season. The infected will become completely feral and inhuman if they don't have the weird Serbian bile serum, as seen with an elderly veteran. A couple seem to be zombie hunters, having a similar double life of shady actions and illegal activities to Sheila and Joel to a very different end. This tradition also seems to be continued from the medieval era according to the family's research. It's like the start of answers are there, but the threads have yet to be connected. I'm interested in seeing how it will further expand in future seasons.

Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 has a wonderful balance of family drama, comedy, zombies, and over the top gore. At turns, it's effectively heartwarming, funny, and disgusting but all with an undercurrent of heart. Drew Barrymore and Timothy Oliphant especially shine as the central couple. Barrymore has wonderful comedic timing and infuses her performance with optimism. Oliphant is more bumbling and unsure since his relationship has been upending and he's forced to do stomach turning things to feed his wife. Joel changes from the last season in that he accepts his wife and their unconventional situation much more. I can't wait for next season to find out what happens next, how the lore will expand, and how many other zombies will be revealed in Santa Clarita.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines

Superheroes of all kinds are cropping up with a wide variety of abilities from superhuman strength to flight, fire breathing to magic. These people have chosen to save those in need and keep their true identities secret. When people start turning into zombies, the heroes mobilize, but the zombies are too widespread and numerous to defeat. They set up a living situation in a movie studio in Hollywood they call The Mount. Everyone contributes and the heroes enforce their laws in addition to scavenging for resources and protecting the people from zombie and human foes alike. A gang called the Seventeens have their own living space and have been largely left alone until they launch an assault on the heroes during a scavenging mission. A new enemy has taken over and is hellbent on making the heroes pay.

Ex-Heroes melds two disparate genres, superhero and zombie apocalypse, and makes them work together in an oddly harmonious way. The superheroes are created by a variety of things like toxic spills or magic with abilities like super strength, breathing fire, speedy healing, and/or flight. These characters follow the same archetypes of famous heroes. For instance, St. George is clearly the overpowered boyscout Superman with slightly different abilities (breathing fire instead of laser eyes). Stealth is similar to Batman with her abilities and more cynical worldview. Chapters are labeled Then from before the apocalypse and Now. St. George is the main character, but each hero gets their own chapter Then chapter and, if still alive, a Now chapter. Then, each hero is fighting crime on a fairly small scale and Now, they are maintaining The Mount and merely surviving.

The zombies (or exes) are pretty standard fare. They are the animated unded. The disease is a bit different. It's a virus that mimics white blood cells thus replicating quickly in the body. It's highly infectious through bodily fluids and survives a long time outside of its host, making dead exes and even smears of blood just as dangerous. This disease isn't fatal and only takes hold after death. The reason why people usually die after a bite is that other diseases piggyback on the zombie disease, making it a toxic mix of every other disease every other person in the line of infection had. I'm not honestly sure how sound the science is, but the concept is intriguing. Further, zombified heroes retain their abilities and create havoc when an uber-zombie with the ability to control other exes has a grudge against the heroes.

Ex-Heroes has a fast pace and interesting stories in the past and present to get to know each hero a little bit along the way. The beginning just throws you into the world and you start to tread water a couple chapters in. My only criticism is in some of the heroes' narratives. Stealth is a beautiful woman in a revealing outfit and she's disgustingly objectified by quite a few of the male heroes. Once is showing a perspective and doing it multiple times just seems immature of the author and the characters. Stealth herself seems more like a robot than a person as if she had to be so different than her appearance to be seen as a legitimate hero. Other than that, I enjoyed the twists and turns. I'm planning to continue the series and I hope the problems I have resolve as the characters get more developed.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Cotton Crossing by Lilith Saintcrow

Cotton Crossing is a dead end of a place. It's a small town with little opportunity, but Ginny Mills is gaining experience as a librarian in the county system in order to be more competitive in a bigger city after a year or two. Lee Quartine, on the other hand, lives there to have a simple life after military service. He has a crush on Ginny and checks out loads of books to have an excuse to talk to her, only to chicken out every time. When a slew of people get sick and weird things are all over the forest, a missed connection and a job are the least of their worries.

Cotton Crossing portrays the start of a zombie apocalypse started by the US government on accident. It isn't the first time that something extra has been added to the year's flu vaccines that has been proven to benefit the population in some way. This one was supposed to make people heal faster, but it somehow made them into zombies instead. At first, it appears that there just happens to be rioting in some major cities until those cities are then quarantined and cut off from all communication. City after city goes dark, leaving Cotton Crossing a little puzzled. They go on with their everyday lives until it isn't possible anymore. Throughout the book, small vignettes from the perspective of a minor character show who they are, what they're doing, and how they turn into a zombie. I loved these micro-stories because each one is like a small piece of the mosaic that makes up the town to show how the infection is moving.

The zombies are fairly standard. They have grey, blind eyes, foam at the mouth, and have ability to move quickly. My favorite part of these zombies is the familiar mixed with the horror of undead. Many point out clothing or a trait typical to that person only to have it marred by the rotting flesh and animalistic need to eat people. The disease starts with flu-like symptoms such as fever and vomiting until it progresses into convulsions that lead to their death. Many people's criticism of fast moving and quickly infected zombies is that it simply wouldn't go beyond a city or two, but in this case, those flu vaccines went all over the US. It's hard to tell how far the infection has gone, but it's definitely all over the US.

The main characters are interesting, nuanced people. Ginny is marking time in the small town, dreaming of bigger, better things, and dealing with her overly dramatic family. She's frantic once she loses contact with them and vows to find them in one of the quarantined areas. I personally think the plan is horrible as she doesn't know survival or fighting skills, but I understand the need to care for family. Lee, on the other hand, has no family connections and is just trying to enjoy a simple life. When people are shot in the streets and zombies attack in broad daylight, Lee switches modes. He keeps cool, commands panicked people, and keeps them as much out of harm's way as he can. He also recognizes the frazzled state of the military, indicating that the situation is much worse than he sees. Lee is mostly quiet and keeps to himself, but his warm, caring actions towards Ginny and other civilians really shows what kind of person he is.

Cotton Crossing is a good start to a zombie series. So far it has 3 books and is still going. If you'd like to receive it chapter by chapter as a serial, go here and subscribe. I personally like purchasing the books, but I'm intrigued at the series as a whole. Everything from the mode of infection to the characters is well done and establishes a world where the zombie apocalypse is just starting. I especially like the small references like the underground government organization being called Umbrella Corp. The zombie scenes are scary and suspenseful while feelings bloom between Lee and Ginny. It's a nice balance and I want to know what happens.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Two days after Jane McKeene was born, the dead rose at the battle of Gettysburg and changed everything. Now that the North and South are more focused on fighting the dead rather than each other, the Native and Negro Re-education Act requires Native and African American children to enroll in combat schools in order to protect the general public from zombies as attendants. Jane takes classes in Miss Preston's School of Combat for Negro Girls, excelling in combat (except rifles) and falling short in etiquette. As she nears the end of her education, families around Baltimore County are disappearing at an alarming rate and no one seems to know why.

Dread Nation is an alternative history of the Civil War with zombies with fleshed out characters and relevant social and political commentary. Jane is a fiery teen who can fight zombies with relative ease through training and practice. Even though she knows she's good at what she does, she is still plagued with insecurities about her appearance and hopeless in the face of a society constructed to keep her down. The Re-education Act had armed officers take her away from her family to attend school while the school officials kept her from communicating with her family and actively sabotaged her efforts at the school. Jane makes some rash decisions that go against social niceties because she sensibly values survival and safety about those niceties. She deftly recognizes what people expect of her and changes her demeanor to get them to underestimate her or surprise them with her intelligence and skill, depending on the situation. Watching her navigate this world is frustrating because of how everything is stacked against her.

The Re-education Act is only one aspect of the legal enslavement of nonwhite Americans even after slavery was supposedly made illegal. The Survivalist Party has gained momentum with their message of keeping the natural order of things, specifically the racist notion that Native and African Americans should serve white people and protect them at all costs. One of the most disgusting displays of such racism is when a crackpot doctor has a black man bitten by a zombie to show his innate resistance to the disease. Of course it's all bunk, but everyone just allows him to do it (except Jane who is chastised for speaking out of turn) even when many know he is wrong. The vast majority of the crowd saw that man as inhuman and the others were kept silent by social norms. Slavery is also still legal in loopholes like enslaving criminals and considering zombie bitten people as inhuman (even if those wounds can't be proved to be zombie bites).

The zombies of this world are as unique as the alternative history. There are two strains of the disease: the Gettysburg strain that turns people after death and the Custer strain that changes the living after a bit. The first strain (named after its place of origin) evolved into the second (named after the man killed by his own infected men). Early symptoms of the disease include yellow eyes and seizures. They can turn between a few minutes and an hour after being bitten. Newly turned zombies are as fast as humans and slow with age. They don't feel pain and tend to congregate in hordes. Their hearing is better than normal but their sight is worse. They can be killed by destroying hte brain or removing the head as usual. As the book goes on, Jane suspects that zombies have some sort of intelligence in how they attack cities and their awareness of people/food.

Dread Nation had me reading for long hours. I couldn't put down this story and didn't predict what would happen. The social and political commentary definitely brings out some parallels to our own society such as institutionalized racism, legal slavery, the Alt-Right, the normalization of white supremacy on the politcal right, and their use of religion. Ireland does such a wonderful job of building her world, infusing it with relevant criticism and parallels, and creating engaging characters. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out. Highly recommended on all fronts.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Movie Mini-Reviews: BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Sorry to Bother You (2018)

* BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Ron Stallworth is the first African American policeman hired in Colorado Springs. After being disrespected and relegated to the evidence desk, he requests a transfer to go undercover. His first assignment is infiltrating a local rally headed by a civil rights leader Kwame Ture. The only negative he sees is the white police officers hassling and sexually assaulting Ture and the college students who invited him. Then Ron is reassigned to Intelligence where he pretends to be a white man to join the KKK. Co-worker Flip plays Ron in person and Ron plays himself on the phone to cultivate a relationship and investigate if the organization is violent under its new leader with the perfect facade David Duke.

This film has Ron Stallworth stuck in between groups. He's not part of the civil rights movement because they have rejected the idea of trying to improve corrupt organizations of the inside. He's also not part of the white police force who largely treat people of color horribly with the support of everyone in that system. He tries his best to keep things from getting to him, but he feels the tension of being pulled at from both sides. The situation where he pretends to be white to infiltrate the KKK seems humorous and ridiculous. It proves to be quite serious and dangerous, especially when his own boss essentially sabotages him.

BlacKkKlansman is film that portrays real events in the 70's but also informs events happening today. One particularly well done scene compares the civil rights movement with the KKK where they tell personal stories and bond over shared experiences. The difference is that the African American people heard W.E.B. Dubois' horrific account of a lynching while the KKK watched Birth of a Nation and told racist stories about African Americans. The most telling aspect of the link between the 70's and the present is the real footage at the end of the Charlottsville Unite the Right rally with the white supremecists, counter protests, the car attack, and Trump's awful comments about the event. This film is timely, powerful, and critical of the current state of the US.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

* Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Cash Green is struggling to make ends meet as a telemarketer and lives with his girlfriend Detroit in his uncle's garage that's converted into a bedroom. Once a coworker shows him the advantage of sounding white and carefree on the phone, he rakes in the cash and gets to the upper echelons of the company while his coworkers strike for better wages and treatment. Cash has to decide if financial success is worth turning his back on his friends and who he used to be.

Sorry to Bother You is an insane, over the top satirical film that merges critique of capitalism with science fiction elements. Cash is relatable to a lot of people struggling to afford to live and find success. His success stemmed from suppressing who he was and code switching to be acceptable to a largely white customer base. Even though his girlfriend Detroit is critical of him, she does exactly the same thing during her art installation where she affects an English accent to seem more sophisticated to white clients. This shows a problem that the white general public is offput by people of color. They are forced to not only have a cheerful facade like all people who work with the public, but have an added layer of changing their tone and way of speaking on top of that.

While his coworkers rally for higher wages, Cash is led into a luxurious upper floor where he has to sell people or weapons. The people are from an organization called WorryFree which is essentially slavery in a lifetime work contract in exchange for free food, free housing, and being free of debt. Cash enjoys the money, but has some guilt when Detroit breaks up with him and when he has a can thrown at him while crossing the picket line and becomes a meme. Is all this worth it to be rich? Late in the film, a jarringly science fiction aspect is introduced that pushes the film in the absurd, but it's effective. It's offputting and you'll either love it or hate it. Sorry to Bother You is hilarious, weird, and crazy in addition to critiquing the capitalist, exploitative, and racist aspects of our society.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Action Movie Mini-Reviews: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Misson Impossible: Fallout (2018)

* Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Claire Dearing and Owen Grady are back to save dinosaurs threatened by the erupting volcano on the former theme park. Benjamin Lockwood, Hammond's old partner, agrees to fund the endeavor, so they go back to the island along with a paloveterinarian, a former park technician, and a para-military force. Tracking down important dinosaurs trying to be the volcano is hard enough, let alone when that para-military force turns against them and leaves them for dead.

Jurassic World is better and worse than its predecessor. It's better in portraying women, the basic plot, and the aesthetics. Claire ran around the first movie in a skirt and heels, not letting go of her proper ways. This movie portrays her much more realstically and as a more even character instead of a caricature. Zia as the paleoveterinarian is also a breath of fresh air with her sardonic humor and genuine care for dinosaurs.Owen is pretty much the same with his smarmy face and constant jokes even in the face of certain death. The plot is much more dynamic, involving a greedy man selling dinosaurs to the highest bidder. The aesthetics are much better, especially in the second half. A newly made dinosaur stalks a girl in her room and the cinematography makes it look like a dark fairy tale or gothic story.

The story has its flaws with so many plot holes, it's best not to think about them. For instance, no one seems to notice the heroes drive a jeep by dramatically clearing a large gap as the boat leaves from the dock. It's loud and unmistakable, but no one comes to investigate. Most characters don' have much development and prove to be quite one dimensional, especially the villain. With these flaws, the film is enjoyable but nothing very special. Although it doesn't surpass Jurassic Park, it is the best of the sequels in my opinion.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

* Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

Ethan Hunt refuses to sacrifice his friends (as an agent is supposed to) and as a result, the bad guys get three spheres of plutonium. He is forced to pose as the enemy, find the plutonium, and obtain it by any means possible before the Apostles use it to bomb major cities.

I had no idea this was the sixth Mission Impossible film. I was surprised at the Rotten Tomatoes score and I went in with tepid expectations which were not met. Ethan Hunt seems genuinely inept at his job. He was supposed to protect his country by getting the plutonium away from the bad guys, but he's unable to allow his team to die. While this is understandable and we're supposed to feel for him, I agree with Erica Sloane (played by Angela Bassett) when she says "That's the job." This whole film's plot could have been avoided if Ethan would just do his job, but he's continually praised for being inept.

This film is enjoyable if all you want is Tom Cruise running, jumping, climbing helicopters, and beating up guys while he's up there. The stunts are well done, but a movie is more than stunts. The twists and turns are so steeped in tropes and done by this series before that nothing is much of a surprise. This series wants you to think it's sophisticated and well plotted, but it's the action equivalent of the Saw franchise. The trailers even broadcasted a character as villain, so it was no surprise when that character revealed his plot and then did a horrible job trying to lie his way out of it. I don't recommend this movie, but many seem to enjoy it.

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

The Bright Sessions Season 3

Dr. Bright's plan to save her brother fell apart because of Damien, who kidnapped Mark, used his manipulative power, and lied to him about everything. Joan and Sam are distraught and have no way to find Mark. The AM is all over Joan and her patients, making sure she won't step out of line again. Caleb and Adam are back together. Chloe continues to help Frank and struggles with Joan's hypocrisy. Unresolved issues between many are brewing beneath the surface and threatening to explode.

The Bright Sessions becomes more complex as it goes on. The characters continue to develop, grow, and create new relationships. Joan is worried for her brother since he was kidnapped by Damien. She also struggles with her ties with the AM that simultaneously allows her to help Atypicals live normal lives and puts her patients in danger if their abilities prove too interesting for the AM to ignore. The AM also forces her to work with Wadsworth, her former friend and colleague, who she still finds herself admiring and achieving breakthroughs with. Chloe criticizes Joan for chastising her for being unable to give people privacy with her ability to read minds while Joan records people without their knowledge and feeds information to the AM. This situation isn't black and white, so there's debate on all sides with good points.

The AM is seen in more detail this season. It's always loomed in the background but now we get to see how it operates on an everyday level and its deeper recesses. Every day, they take in Atypicals to test them and assess if they need help on a more intense level to control their ability and blend into normal society. On the surface, this seems normal and even altruistic to help people. If you probe deeper, they are conducting unethical experiments and trying to find people with specific, rare abilities to exploit. Mark fills in many of these gaps with the abhorrent way he was treated while confined to the AM that includes mental torture, physical torture, and threats to his family to comply. Each season, the veil gets pushed back a bit further on this organization and it's not pretty.

The character who grows the most is Frank. He's always been in the periphery of the show and only appeared in person last season. Joan talks through some things with him and it's truly heartbreaking. He reveals details about his military service and the experiment his unit consented to. They all had an artificial empathic connection to one another that lost focus over time. Their shared decision to not tell anyone about the complication so they could stay together had devastating consequences, but was understandable in the situation. The fact that a huge revelation about Mark's story line happened the episode right before took away a bit from this emotional episode.

The last few episodes of this season went places I didn't think the show would go. It was surprising, devastating, and hopeful all at the same time. Damian goes from fairly harmless to dangerous through his rocky journey. The ending is explosive in a variety of ways. Many characters who have kept their feelings hidden have meaningful conversations with others to hash out feelings, articulate what has been unspoken, and get issues out into the open. It's also the most violent episode from an unexpected source. I'm hyped to see what happens next season both in the relationships and in the main action of the show.

The scope and cast of the show continues to grow. It's wonderful to see representation in so many different spheres. A glimpse of a new Atypical is seen. Rose travels through dreams and doesn't know whether to be honest with her girlfriend about her ability. I'm interested to see how she will fit in with the group and how the group will move forward in the face of the traumatic events of the last episode. The next season is ongoing so I'm excited to listen as it's being produced.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Nanoshock by K.C. Alexander

Riko is back and more vulgar than ever. Her cred is almost completely destroyed and she's working for a corporation. If anyone else knew, the saints would kill her for it. She still has months of missing memories and the blame for killing her girlfriend Nanji. Now, someone has a grudge against her sells her out, causing other gangs to view her as weak and ripe for killing her to collect more cred. It's all evil corporations, no help, and violence at every turn for Riko.

Nanoshock is the sequel to Necrotech and takes things even further. The very first scene has unconventional sex and blasphemy in one memorable and graphic package. Riko narrates the story and has the most inventive disgusting language I've read. Her outward emotion is to be constantly angry and wants violence to solve everything. She's frankly pretty immature and impulsive, but the story inside is different. Her separation from her core group hurts a lot. They still speak, but they aren't really friends anymore and it crushes Riko. Her situation makes her feel emotionally and physically vulnerable, which only makes her more angry. Her inner monologue betrays the depth of her emotions. Throughout the novel, Riko experiences betrayal after betrayal and keeps fighting. Her drive to keep going is something to admire even if sometimes she makes the wrong decisions and alienates almost everyone around her.

The background of this world is expanded a bit. It started with rollbacks of environmental regulations and a small ice age that had many disbelieving global warming until it was too late. The suns rays are so toxic that no one can live outside the shields even with nanos. We find out more about Riko's background. She was born into the Good Shepherds, a deranged religious group that takes Catholicisms and makes it even crazier. Transubstantiation now means that all the men in the group are Jesus (which means their sins of rape and pedophilia are forgiven) and the women are left as servants (as usual). Lucky saved her from that and she joined a crew (that almost killed her) before she joined Indigo. Her life makes a lot more sense and some of what she knew to be true turned out to be false.

There aren't as many zombie scenes as the first book, but one is particularly spectacular. Just like in the last book, corruption can set in due to overworked nanos that leads to nanoshock. This overwhelms the system and leads to possible corruption, which is when the nanos inadvertantly kill the person and power their corpse. Metacorp experiments with weaponizing corruption and rumors that it could spread to other vectors, maybe including bandwidth. Riko experiences nanoshock multiple times as she gets her ass kicked throughout the book, but gets saved from turning each time. she is forced to move on before she truly heals or gets her tech fixed, risking corruption each time. The end scene is a wonder of zombie violence with an explosive, crazy ending.

Nanoshock is just as fun to read as Necrotech. However, there are too many unanswered questions, compounded by the fact that this a sequel. No answers are given to the mysteries of the first book including why Nanji stayed sentient after turning necro, what happened during 4 months of Riko's life, why that blackout even happened, why she has a voice in head, and on and on. The novel ends with Chapter 1 and the first lines of the first book. What's with that? Is the series continuing? This book answered no questions and created a whole slew more. So much of the book went by without a whole lot happening and it felt like many wasted opportunities. If there is another book, I will read it. However, if it's just another book of no answers and more questions, I'm done with the series.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins