Ready for some wackiness? Those Damn Tourists are back in full force to turn your life upside down (in a good way).  With the stresses of today’s world, silliness and absurdity are even more important, and the continuing saga of the most obnoxious elderly tourists in the world is here for you.

Freedom and the search for truth are the underlying themes in this sequel to Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale, and the show on Hulu.  A driving force in many people’s lives and aspirations, this story takes us deep into what it means personally for three women whose lives intertwine in unsuspecting ways.

Change (and how we deal with it) is one of the themes that runs throughout the Ascender series - one that I think is important, especially in these unsettled times.  It affects us not only on a personal level, but also on a global scale, as well.

As I dug into my Kickstarter pile, I thought it was time to dive into Pneumatic Cases, a Victorian Steampunk mystery by John Wilson.  If you’re a fan of The Thin Man movie series (1934) based on the novels by Dashiell Hammett, then you’ll immediately recognize the similarities between the two lead characters in the comic and the movie. They are married. They love each other and work as a team, and the female character is the snarky one. Why do I point this out? Because we don’t see enough of this type of relationship in storytelling, and I think it’s important to see relationships where both parties love and respect one another.  Now, on with the show…

Up until a few months ago, I had no idea what a cozy mystery was. What’s worse is that I have a few friends who write them. (I am a bad friend. *Sigh*)  If you haven’t a clue (Get that? Clue?) of what a cozy mystery is, it is a sub-genre of crime fiction, where the sex and violence are downplayed and the crime occurs in a small community.  (Thank you, Wikipedia.)  Anyway, I decided it was time to read something that was a little lighter than my usual fare of science fiction and fantasy mayhem.

As usual with a good story, not everything is what it seems.

Vampires, vampires, vampires. Everyone loves vampires, and this comic book series is not an exception.   But unlike the sexy heart-throb glittering types, here, we get the dredges of the universe who were created to serve a higher purpose. In short, it means these vampires are expendable.  

What if the descendants of pregnant African slave women, thrown overboard for being too burdensome to their kidnappers, become merpeople and developed a new culture and community under the sea? That’s the premise behind Rivers Solomon’s novella, The Deep.

Ever hear the story of Pinocchio and the whale? (Or the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale?) This latest issue of Ascender quite literally has us diving into the ocean depths and the backstory of Telsa, the captain who reluctantly offered her boat to save Mira and her father, Andy.

You could almost call this series Something Wicked This Way Comes, as just when you think Mira and her father are about to catch a break, something awful shows up. Or you could simply call it good storytelling.