Virtual Mount TBR Challenge 2025 discussion

Like Sisyphus, here I am again rock and rolling towards a reset.

Onwards!

#1 - Miao Dao by Joyce Carol Oates

A horror-adjacent story about a thirteen year old girl who's beginning to bloom and being harassed as a result, with her rapey stepfather joining in as things progress. She bonds with feral cats, who are cruelly destroyed, but one, Miao Dao, seems to survive...but is it the same cat? There is, of course, a twist in the tale at the end.

Well written, but awfully slow...and unfortunately rather by the numbers.

Prime Reading

#2 - Spider-Man: Birth of Venom by various and sundry

Large trade paperback collection of the initial Venom appearances -- first as a replacement suit for Spider-Man 0n Battleworld, to his evolution as a symbiotic organism that nearly takes Peter over, and ends up bonding to failed reporter Eddie Brock, who has a vendetta against Spider-Man. The symbiote has continued to evolves over the decades.

Most of the stories here (which have big time jumps in places) are pretty weak, and I have to say that Todd McFarlane's art on the later stories has not aged well.

#3 - Downward Facing Doug by Don Winslow

The story of Downward Facing Doug, for whom surfing, as awkward and accident prone as he is, is his true spirit of existence. Doug, though, is a nebbish...until he isn't. And this is the story of how that happened....

Includes one of the funniest lines ever about toxic masculinity, delivered brilliantly by narrator Ed Harris.

Steven wrote: "#3 - Downward Facing Doug by Don Winslow

The story of Downward Facing Doug, for whom surfing, as awkward and accident prone as he is, is his true spirit of existence. Doug, though..."

This sounds interesting!

#4 - Spider-Man/Deadpool, Vol. 0: Don't Call It A Team-Up by Joe Kelly & others

Team-up shenanigans from various Deadpool and Spider-Man issues. Slapstick violence, silliness, and some jokes that have aged like milk. It's an amusing read, though I suspect many people have given up on the character due to overuse.

Brenda wrote: "Steven wrote: "#3 - Downward Facing Doug by Don Winslow


It was fun. I had no idea where it was going!

#5 - Spider-Man/Deadpool, Vol. 1: Isn't it Bromantic by Joe Kelly and others

More shenanigans. Deadpool teams up with Spider-Man as a way of getting to Peter Parker, now a billionaire — and a target for murder. Oops! Well, they’ll figure it out.

Not Joe Kelly’s best work, unfortunately.

#6 - Spider-Man/Deadpool, Vol. 2: Side Pieces by scott Aukerman, Penn Jilette, etc

An especially chaotic set of one-off stories by various celebrities and others. Sporadically funny, regularly violent.

#7 - Spider-Man/Deadpool, Vol. 3: Itsy-Bitsy by Joe Kelly, etc

Spider-Man and Deadpool go up against mad science and a wild spider-person who adopts the name Itsy Bitsy and appears to be made from Spider-Man and Deadpool's DNA. The story also lumbers through Peter getting fed-up enough to actually kill.

#8 - Out of the Mirror, Darkness by Garth Nix

An amiable pulp style fantasy set in 1930s Hollywood. Studio fixer Harper has to deal with a somnolent dog and a narcoleptic actress, both stars in the same film, and an entity that might be the cause of both. Harper is no stranger to weird stuff, though...but he could use the help of Mrs. Hope, the mysterious secretary to the head of the studio.

I didn't think this was in any way superlative, but it *was* fun, and I'd like to see more stories about Harper & Hope.

#9 - Wildlife by Jeff VanderMeer

An enigmatic story about a divorced woman living in a semi-wild area on the edge of a ravine. She has a bleak history, difficult neighbours, and a nemesis who counters her love of nature with the angry destruction of it. There are portents of something *in* the ravine....

It's Jeff VanderMeer...by the time you're done, your perspective is rather inside out....

#10 - Trap Line by Timothy Zahn

A human whose consciousness is being sent to a distant body to troubleshoot problems finds himself stuck in a weird alien trap. The people who operate the trap can't see him or his fellow prisoners (a second alien species, also disembodied) but a family pet is completely aware of them...which leads to a plan to get free.

Prime Reading

#11 - The Tiger Came to the Mountains by Silvia Garcia-Moreno

A fictionalized telling of an incident in the life of Garcia-Moreno's grandmother. Atmospheric and dark.

Prime

#12 - Ushers by Joe Hill

Utterly lean, and completely predictable, which means it leans on the characters and there we have two out of three, with the third a clumsy cipher. Less a horror story than a well worn fantasy tale, if well written.

Prime Reading

#13 - #20 - The Drops of God, Vol. 2 The Drops of God Vol. 3 The Drops of God Vol. 4 The Drops of God Vol. 5 The Drops of God Vol. 6 The Drops of God Vol. 7 Drops of God, Vol. 8 Drops of God, Vol. 9 by Tadashi Agi

Shizuki's education in wine begins in earnest and the tournament to identify the Twelve Apostles and the Drops Of God begins in earnest. Both Shizuki and Issei have a lot to learn, but meanwhile Shizuki's quest sees him changing the lives of others and building a team.

Reading this series has thus far been a mix of joyful galloping along with the story and coming to a screeching halt because this is also a treatise on wine in the form of a manga (the Japanese are *brilliant* at graphic storytelling around food and drink.)

ComiXology Unlimited

#21 - Jackknife by Joe Hill

Another straightforward creepy horror tale from Hill.

Prime

#22 - The Phantom of the Movies’ Videoscope Cult-Film Confidential Vol. 5: Drive-in Delirium! 100 Must-See Exploitation Movies by Rob Freese

Brief looks at a hundred or so mostly exploitation films, with some solid recommendations.

Kindle Unlimited

#23 - The Ultimates by Deniz Camp, Vol. 1: Fix the World by Deniz Camp, Jonathan Hickman, others

Setting up an alternate universe in which the Maker has worked to eliminate all superheroes and establish despotic rule worldwide. The plan goes awry, giving young Tony Stark and the mysterious Doom the opportunity to fix things...albeit within an eighteen month time limit.

Interesting stuff, though between the snarky easter eggs and regular narrative leaps (Thor is dying from a magical sword wound in issue one, and quite fit in issue two) it does suffer a little.

Hoopla

#24 - Planet of the Apes Adventures Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years by Doug Moench, George Tuska, Alfredo Alcala

Comics adaptations of the first two movies. One of the things resorted to before home video and streaming. Passable adaptations, though the silliness of the second movie comes across even more in this format.

Hoopla

#25 - Letter Slot by Owen King

Pretty much an update of The Monkey's Paw in which wishes come true, but at a cost. Telegraphs itself early on and the mild twist at the end doesn't help.

Prime reading

#26 - A Study in Brimstone by G. S. Denning

The full cast audio book of the first Warlock Holmes outing actually scales back on Graphic Audio's excesses and has more understated actors (though English accents here and there slip a bit.) The premise: Sherlock Holmes is in fact a bit of a dullard who happens to have great occult powers. Dr. John Watson has the detective skills. Lestrade is a vampire and Gregson is an ogre. Hilarity ensues -- comedic fantasy takes on the Holmes canon follows apace.

I did find it amusing, but I'm of two minds (like Holmes, here) as to whether to continue,

Hoopla