Tag: book-review

Roberta Writes – book review: Nine Black Lives by Resa McConaghy and ‘Skart’ #bookreview #readingcommunity #art

Resa is a fantastic artist, photographer, and the designer of unique ballroom gowns from recycled fabrics, but did you know she is also the author of a fabulous book? I came across Nine Black Lives quite by accident and it is a really good book, filled with Resa’s imagination, knowledge and humour.

What Resa says

Picture caption: Cover of Nine black lives featuring a black city skyline through a window splattered with rain

Nicky is an actor, vain, jaded and tired of Hollywood fluff. He holes up, brooding in his New York apartment only to accept yet another “detective” role scheduled to shoot in his grey and gritty home turf. As stalkers move in and a real life murder taps him on the shoulder, Nicky enters a dangerous Neo Noir world. Peril looms to all those around him, including his love Lara and their unborn son. With the chill of premonition creeping over him, and wielding his “detective” skills, Nicky must awaken the true man within before time runs out.

My review

I really enjoyed this fascinating book. The author is a talented costume designer and has a lot of experience with life behind the cameras on a movie set. This knowledge shines through in this novel and makes the settings and character interactions very realistic and believable.

The main character, Nicky, is a hugely successful movie star who is searching for more fulfilment in his life that his typical male hero roles are offering. Unable to find a more challenging movie role, he throws himself into unravelling the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of a costume designer, Lucille, he’d worked with during the filming of his first move. The one that made him a star. At the same time, his girlfriend informs his that he’s going to be a father. Simmering in the background of these two storylines, are several threatening letters that Nicky’s has received from an obsessive fan. These three aspects weave together to create an exciting and fast paced novel set during the filming of Nicky’s new film, Nine Black Lives.

The characters and dialogue in this book really stood out for me. Due to the author’s understanding of the movie making world, the book is sprinkled with intriguing commentaries about the making of movies and the various actors, main and supporting, who make up the cast, as well as all the people involved in makeup, costume design and administration. An example of one such conversation is as follows:

“”The Handmaiden’s Hands was a step up, but who knew it at the time? Back then it was a paycheck. No one really thought anything would come of the stupid film. Leo had even worried that it could possibly hurt Nicky’s career.
“Who could have predicted a low budget loser like that would turn out to be a cult classic. Hell, the script was a joke,” Leo laughed.”

The backstory and details surrounding Nicky’s ‘stalker’ are interesting and well described. Insights into star obsession and the world of fan social media and on-line admiration clubs are unveiled in all their murky weirdness and excessiveness. It was all fascinating to me as a reader and I learned a great deal about the challenges of living in the spotlight.

The relationship between Nicky and the lead investigator into the death of Lucille and Nicky’s stalker is also interesting. The investigator, Lightfoot, is disdainful of Nicky’s information and thoughts and determined to remind him that he is not a ‘real’ investigator but only a pretender to the crown. This relationship was an intriguing reminder not to underestimate another person just because you are resentful of their position in life.

This is an interesting novel with a strong storyline, fascinating characters, and entertaining detail.

Your can purchase Nine black lives from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007HB8T1M

Or you can download it on Resa’s blog here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/artists/

Skart

Resa finds and photographs the most amazing street art. Late last year, Resa came across a most intriguing skateboard art find. Just after this discovery, I posted my one any only poem about skateboarding. Resa created an incredible post to showcase her art discoveries, and I am thrilled that she included my poem, The Silver Lining. Thank you, Resa, for all you do to make our lives interesting and art filled.

Click on the image to find Resa’s incredible post.

About Resa McConaghy

You can discover more about Resa McConaghy on her website here: https://resamcconaghy.com/

You can enjoy her gorgeous art gown creations here: https://artgowns.com/

I just love her latest creation:

Picture caption: Resa’s extraordinary and beautiful wedding dress creation

For me, it is a wedding dress and if I was getting married now, I would want this dress. I asked TC if he wanted to renew our wedding vows so I could wear this dress. Dear man said I could have the dress, but we didn’t need another wedding because the first one was amazing. Isn’t he a darling?

This is what Resa says about herself:

“Hi there!

I’m an amateur photographer who has a passion for taking pics of outdoor ephemeral art.

Eagle ! to Natasha

My name is Resa McConaghy, and my site, “Graffit Lux and Murals”, was originally dedicated to showcasing & documenting Graffiti Art  and Murals in Toronto and Winnipeg.

However, I now find I am featuring the Street Art of other cities around the globe through travels of mine, and guest contributors.

Taking these pics is a passion and a joy. Each work of graffiti art or mural evokes thoughts in me, and these thoughts are reflected in the titles of my Posts.

Some of these pieces may already have been named by the artists. If I know the original name, I will name it so.

Painted by Mandy van Leeuwen, Jennifer Johnson Pollock and Charlie Johnston.
Painted by Mandy van Leeuwen Jennifer Johnson Pollock and Charlie Johnston.

If I know the name of the artist, I will credit them under the photograph and/or in the body of the post. If you are an artist & have not been credited,  you can reach me by email with your info. I will gladly update the post. If you’re here, it’s probably because you love this type of art as much as I do. I hope my pics do the pieces some justice.

Contact me at: submissionstoglam@graffitiluxandmurals.com

Cheers!

Resa

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Roberta Writes – Book reviews: Bugbies by Dave Williams #readingcommunity #bookreview

Picture caption: Cover of Bugbies by Dave Williams in black and yellow

What Amazon says

These are not traditional zombies. These people have been zombified by parasitoid wasps. These are bugbies.

They don’t roam in search of brains to eat. They serve as hosts for wasp eggs and larvae, which aim to grow into adult wasps and find new hosts for the next generation.

Bugbies is about several people who are impacted by this fantastical shift of one wasp species to jump hosts from another insect to humans. Charlotte, who was nearly turned into a host. Isha, the neurosurgeon who treats her. Lucia, an entomologist who is brought in as an advisor. Brock, who wishes to buy a bugbie and show it off to his friends. His wife Daniella, and their gardener Lewis, who deal with that decision and take action in response.

My review

I really enjoyed this unique and interesting story. I am not sure what genre it is, but for me it’s a mix of sci-fi, dystopian fiction, family drama, with just the right amount of non-fiction information to make it work. The novel is told from the points of view of several characters from different backgrounds and social standings and I really liked that. It gave insight into the themes and main story line form a variety of different perspectives and was a clever way to share certain fact patterns and information. The author also made use of other innovative ideas like sharing the content (in writing) of homemade you tube videos shared on the internet and also blog posts. Another unique way of sharing events and information outside of the main characters lives and scope of knowledge.

The story starts off with Charlotte who is feeling unwell. Within a short period, Charlotte slips into a coma and her husband races her to the hospital. Charlotte undergoes a series of tests and astonishes the neurologist and the world when the tumours in her brain turn out to be something different to everyone’s experience and expectations. Charlotte is the first, but she is far from the last. The country is soon in the grip of anxiety and paranoia equal to what we experienced during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Lucia Ramirez is a young professor at a university. She is an expert in her field and she introduces different thoughts relating to the unusual situation. She also lectures young students which facilitates the introduction of ideas and thoughts about the situation from the younger generation. Clever! Lucia is a great role model for women as she has worked towards a goal and achieved her aims in a world that has historically been dominated by men.

Danielle Hawkins is the spoiled and wealthy older woman in this story. Her husband is a wealthy man who is desperate to keep up with the Jones or, even better, to be ahead of them. Their son is a spoiled rich kid but he has some redeeming characteristics, as does Danielle. Mr Hawkins is a selfish and egocentrical man who will stop at nothing to show off to his friends and family. I didn’t like him and he didn’t develop any redeeming qualities. He was, however, typical of a certain type of rich man and his actions and behaviours were very believable.

Lewis was my favourite character. He is a young father who has taken a job below his abilities due to need and circumstances. He works hard and tries to improve himself and take good care of his family. He is certainly not perfect and makes some silly decisions, but he is a good guy and he was easy to give wholehearted support too.

I thought this unusual story was well written and nicely paced. I read it quickly and was a bit sad when I reached the end. The ending was satisfying but I really liked some of the characters and could have spent more time with them.

Purchase Bugbies by Dave Williams from Amazon USA here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C9SHLY1V

About Dave Williams

Picture caption: Dave Williams author picture

Surely many people are named “Dave Williams” and this particular Dave is a redheaded one who enjoys writing speculative fiction, drawing, and reading. He lives in Maryland with his wonderful wife, two inspirational daughters, and two cats (a lazy one and a playful one).

Dave Williams blog: https://davewilliamswriter.wordpress.com/

Dave Williams Amazon US author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dave-Williams/author/B08662D961