Matthew McElroy > Recent Status Updates

In spite of everything, I am rooting for Mitch. He is trying so hard to do the right thing, even though doing the wrong thing often feels so much better.
And Pretendian probably makes you feel the same way as being a Halfrican does. IYKYK.

Damn- I love a protagonist who is an asshole. I think I like him more, because he knows it, and he is wrestling with it every step of the way. I am still trying to figure out if he is naturally an asshole, or if he is forced to play one due to circumstances.

Bascomb has nailed this sports writing thing. The hardest part about sports' books is that you usually know the end, so unless you are getting an entirely different perspective, they can be pretty dull.
Instead, Bascomb makes it feel as if each race of the three runners could be the race where they break the barrier.
I know who it is, and yet, for 100 pages, I kept thinking, "oh my goodness, this is it!"

All of these stories have been excellent. No, wait. One of them was just good.
Short version- a few authors compiled short stories of science fiction by authors who aren't traditionally represented in the science fiction realm.

A well-written story about , ARGUABLY, the greatest athletic accomplishment of the 20th century, breaking the four minute mile. Currently, we are following the effort of an American, Wes Santee, an Australian, John Landy, and an Englishman, Roger Bannister.
You probably know how it ends.

How do I keep finding these books about Indians? However it happens- they are usually pretty darned good. Keep it coming, Jon.

Black is a talented writer. The book is science "fiction" in that we don't know what each particular dinosaur was doing or thinking on a particular day. But the science is heavy, and Black is a well-known writer of paleontology. What is the correct genre for a book of this nature?

I haven't read a dinosaur book in so long. It makes happy, even if this is about the end of the dinosaurs.

What is the opposite of The Magical Negro?

Better yet, what do you call it when The Magical Negro gets help from the innocent white child?

It is as good as everyone tells you it is. The tension is building slowly, and I am loving it. The original book was called "Ten Little Indians". That isn't the worst slur used in the book. If you can accept that casual use of racial epithets was probably common in the 1930s, then you will love this. ("Accept? Acknowledge is probably more accurate.)

Unfortunately, Grann saved the most interesting AND most important part of the tragedy for the final third of the story.
It seems like only two white people ever took these events seriously, Tom White and David Grann, and they did it 100 years apart.
If you are remotely familiar with history, then almost none of this will surprise you. But the story must be told.

Ummm, what exactly is happening?

Did they make Wolverine boring?

He's never been my favorite character, but at least he has never been boring. This is pretty confusing, and strangely, dull.

It looks like we have a villain. And he is one helluva villain, too. The lengths that he has taken to steal this money are beyond belief. There is a true

Welp, I am reading it again. I didn't expect to. For some reason, I don't really remember this story. Which could explain my distaste for it earlier.
I don't know about you, but on a rainy day, nothing beats heading to the library to see what is on the shelves.

Brooks and White don't hold much back in their depiction of Black soldiers fighting... Well, the entire world, during World War 1.
I have read one book and watched a documentary on them, so there isn't much new here. But this is also a great way to introduce, or reinforce, the sacrifices of Black Americans to an adolescent.

How do we balance out the ruthless efficiency it takes to solve crimes quickly, but retain the human touch that provides justice to all parties?

Hoover is doing things all of us would do at our jobs. Creating standardized paperwork that is also easier to complete. Providing meaningful training and background checks. But he is already compiling his dossiers on politicians for his own power grab.

The most ridiculous, silly, immature type of adolescent smut. It's so good.

Oh great, Hoover is here. Turns out that he had problems long before he was trying to get MLK to commit suicide.

Remember the criticism of rap in the early 90s, where artists rapped about a small percentage of the Black population? The reasonable pushback was that, though many people were affected by drug dealers and police brutality, most people went to work, and paid rent and raised their children. Talty has the right to write the story of his life. Is he the Chuck D of Indians, shouting about drug abuse and poverty?

Many of these stories end with a sigh or a whimper. Something big happens- something violent, something funny, something sad. But by the end, the emotion has been resolved, even if the situation hasn't been.

It's a very different read.

Talty is a talented writer. He has a straightforward way of setting a scene and moving the action forward. I thought this was a collection of horror stories. Instead, it is a collection of stories told in the first person from a young man without a name, and a young boy named David.
This reminds me of John Updike, if Updike knew what to do with his talent, rather than writing the Rabbit books.

What is the appeal of these types of sacrificial stories? Off the top of my head- Battle Royale, The Purge, The Hunger Games, and that was 15 seconds
Does it go back the era where humans sacrificed virgins to appease the gods? Does it speak to a terrible part of us that says the only way to communicate with power is through the death of innocent's? And also the death of innocence?

A Black family is one of the 13 richest families in America? No denying that Africans CREATED the wealth of the 13 richest families in America. But represented on one of these lists? I am dubious.

The tag line is "the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI". In the first chapter, they establish that, thanks to oil and minerals, the Osage are the per capita richest people in the United States.

I wonder if the FBI was formed to protect Indians or protect the money? 😒

Trust me, it's good. But all of the characters are a little too flat. The bad guys are evil and the good guys are heroic. None of the miners are abusive alcoholics. None of the strike-breakers are the sons of miners who were able to open a store.
Nope. The miners are fighting to take care of their families. The strike-breakers are there to kill as many as possible.
Sheriff Chafin is real. And he is evil.

Marvel took it's highest profile antiheroes and threw them into a single book, along with one of the most notable sword and sorcery characters, Conan the Barbarian. I don't know much about Doctor Voodoo. It seems like they are trying to class up a bland stereotype from the early 80s, but I will approach this with a relatively open mind. I hate the Punisher- always have, always will.

Edison's familial relationships are a reminder that you don't have to like someone to find them fascinating.
No doubt, he viewed the entire world through a different lens than any of us.

The chapter closes on the most interesting possible line, a credit to Morris's writing ability.
Edison doesn't seem to be a progressive of any kind. Work hard, get what you earn- a real Ayn Rand feel.

But apparently, he is 💯 a fan of clean energy. He believed natural forces could generate the energy the world needed.

More delightful, disgusting schlock. If you like crime noir, slasher flicks, Svengoolie, Stephen Graham Jones or Social Distortion, then you will love this.

This has been thoroughly enjoyable and regrettably enlightening so far. If you aren't familiar- the state of West Virginia and the violent, cruel mine owners waged a government sanctioned war against their own citizens and workers. Who would think that people who see violence every day would turn to violent means when everything has been taken from them?