Review: The Road Trip Dialogues - Jass Richards

Hi there! I bring you, today, another one of Jass Richards' books. Previous books were "This Will Not Look Good on My Resume" and "The Blasphemy Tour", which were amazing and you can click the book titles to read the reviews.

Jass is a comedic author, full of feminism, atheism and irony on her books. She's funny, witty and outright adorable. I loved her previous books and since The Road Trip Dialogues is sort of like a prequel to The Blasphemy Tour, with the setup of the main characters and the actions that led to the Tour itself, I was more than eager to read it.

I had, however, issues getting started with the book. Somehow I felt like I wasn't getting in to the mood of the book, it didn't feel as funny or as smart as the ones I've read before. I knew it was there, but I wasn't on the same level, this time. So I took a break, read some other stuff, started my driving license mandatory classes and got my rhythm back.

Here we see Dylan and Rev getting back together after studying together in college (if I'm not mistaken). Rev is on her way to Montreal to see the fireworks and meets Dylan in the way. Dylan house-sits, randomly, so he doesn't have a proper house, but a storage, and he travels around staying in houses for people. He searchs and finds that there is a house to be sat in Montreal, so they go and do that. Well, not properly, as they always get things confused, but they try.

Probably the funniest part is about the cats. I had to stop reading and tell my mom that part, because she kept staring at me while I laughed out loud. So, the house owners have two cats, Fish & Chips, who are indoor cats. Accidentally, Rev lets them out, since her own cat is an outdoor cat and goes out and walks around and always comes back. But, since Fish & Chips are NOT outdoor cats, there's a big problem, they might just not come back. They start looking for them but can't find them. Suddenly, a couple of cats show up at the house and since they can't remember what color the cats were, they assume it's Fish & Chips. But, suddenly, when they see themselves with 6 cats instead of 2, they have a major issue - which ones are Fish & Chips?

After that, we see the sequence of events that leads to The Blasphemy Tour - namely, the Blasphemy charge for defacing a billboard against abortion with, yes, a Bible verse. Got to love these two. So they go to trial and all that. They also save a mommy and baby deer. But that's another story ;)

Jass, you are still a comedy genious. But I prefer the ideology-heavy parts, definitely!

Jass is working on a new book, I can't recall the name, but it's about having permission to have children aaaand I'm looking forward to it, eagerly.

I highly recommend this book, as well as Jass' other books.

You can buy The Road Trip Dialogues at Amazon.

Review - Fishpunk by Rick Novy

So, everyone knows Steampunk? The first time I've been exposed to Steampunk was with the movie "Captain Sky and the World of Tomorrow" (not sure if that's the original title, but I'm guessing you all know which one it is), where they defined the movie as being "the future as seen from the past". Which is a very interesting and accurate description: it's the future but the future that people living in the steam world could have imagined.

Fishpunk is just that. But with fish. Get it? Fish-punk! Rick Novy writes a very funny parody about the steampunk movement, talking about ichthyotech, biologists, the 1800's USA and the Amazon jungle. Calvin Scholz, a botanic, receives a weird package from a long time friend, an ichthyologist (meaning, a fish expert). He is supposed to take that package to his friend's brother, so off he goes. 

After a few attempts on his life, he manages to reach the farm, where he was going either way as he was hired to try and save the plantation from a plague. As he reaches... But no, no, I can't tell you. It's enough to say both brothers were interested in ichthyotech, meaning, technology powered by fish. Yes my people, it's a thing, and it's probably the future. Or the future of the past. Or the past of the future... Anyways...

After that, first the brother and then Calvin depart to Brazil, to the Amazon. And while he spends some time with Mexicans... Having a good time (or not really), just hanging around (well, kind of) and passing time (that's precise). He eventually arrives at the Amazon and, while I'm Brazilian, I've never so much as been to the Amazon. Is more or less like being American and never have been to the Florida swamps. Pretty common and a lot of people simply never do. But we all know some of it and know how it is. I believe it was very well described in the book, which I admire, because not many can do it. It's easy to fall into the "random jungle" description and ignore that the Amazon is huge as hell (or even larger, if legends are real) and forget the language, the rivers, the history. There is a lot there that people tend to get wrong.

And that's where all the magic happens. I can't tell you the story, obviously, the review is meant for you to want to READ the book, peoples! But I can tell you that's a funny story, full of non-intended (or intended) puns, interesting characters, interesting plot development (what's with the Mexicans anyway?) and very good setting. It's a satire, but it's very smart, could be, perfectly, a steampunk novel, but the fish dictate the rhythm.

You can buy Fishpunk at Amazon

PS: I need new banners. I don't like mine anymore :(