by Publish My Story | Jul 17, 2021 | Book Review, Comedy, Fiction
Eric Cunningham reviewed this week’s comedy show ‘Hit Job.’ Audible members who are part of Amazon can access this podcast for free.
The show narrates the story of Brynn Morris, an aspiring artist desperate to earn money for her grandmother’s lifesaving surgery. Brynn accepts a job as an administrator at Kill Co, a company with the motto “Do Bad Things for Good Reasons.” Initially, she feels appalled by the company’s objective: killing people.
Kill Co
To boost company morale, Kill Co. creates a competition to see who can kill the most people in the shortest period. The Managing Director constantly changes the rules to suit their preferences. Significantly, the rule change dictates that the person at the bottom of the leaderboard becomes a target. Moreover, strict rules govern who can kill. All kills are displayed on the company app, Tinder. Swiping left means passing while swiping the other way accepts the contract. Eventually, our heroine involved herself in the competition.
Brynn teams up with Geo, the tech nerd, whose father started the company. The subsequent episodes take us on each of their kills and the mishaps they experience.
Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
The series has undertones of Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. To fully enjoy this series, it helps to be familiar with “cult” movies. There are subtle references sprinkled throughout, like one employee of Kill Co wearing a mask and hosting dinner parties (a nod to Silence of the Lambs). Film references come thick and fast.
The series has 12 episodes, which are two episodes too long. The pace was excellent, and the comedy timings of the voice artists were superb. Millennials had diverse attitudes, including being obsessed with social media and being extremely dedicated to work.
Its wacky view of life and death is interesting. Anyone in business is a target, especially if money is a driving force. Environmental issues and morality were discussed, as well as who should be added to the ‘hit list’.
I am not sure I like the concept of glamorising killing but there are laughs out loud moments, some sophisticated dialogue that moves the story from one subject to the next. I wouldn’t recommend this to my father. However, my nephew would love it. A new cult audio production has just been created.
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by Publish My Story | Jul 6, 2021 | Book Review, Childrens books, Fiction, Horror, ScFi books
The Graveyard Book is a Children’s/Young Adults horror story targeting 9+. As you would expect with a horror story, there is a dark side that tells the history of Bod, (Nobody Owens) and his journey into becoming a young man of 15. We are introduced to Bod as a baby when a stranger breaks into his family home and murders his parents and sister.
The stranger spends the next 15 years looking for Bod “to finish the job”. Unbeknownst to the stranger, Bod found his way to the local graveyard where Mr and Mrs Owens adopted him, who died over 200 years ago. Bod is raised by ghosts and taught all aspects of ghost behaviour, although Bod is very charming and curious. We are introduced to several ghosts whose attitudes and language reflect the era of their birth and death. Bod has a guardian who is mysterious in his own right and becomes his second father and mentor. Bod obeys his guardian without question until he expresses a desire to spend time with the living and out of the graveyard.
Book Review under 400 Words
The Graveyard book itself explores a number of adolescent issues, for example bullying and telling lies which resulted in police intimidation. There is also extortion and additional threats of violence. There is a sarcastic description of how Britain used to treat witches and ultimately kill them. If reading this book with a child, some words may need an explanation as the language is quite grown-up. If your child is a science fiction fan, this may be a story for them. However, it comes with a warning that there are some violent and scary themes.
The book written in 2008 by Neil Gaiman, who has won several literary prizes. His pace and storytelling are superb. An American film company has purchased the story to turn into a movie. From a personal perspective, it was a charming horror story with a scattering of violence, extortion, and bullying. My only criticism of the book was that it left a few loose ends. There is certainly scope for a second story about Bod and what he does next, and more information about his guardian and what it is he is protecting. I would recommend this book for children of 9+ but with a healthy warning.
To find out more about the author and his other books, his website can be found at www.neilgaiman.com
This Book is available in the following formats:
- Printed version £5.99 from Amazon and other book shops
- Electronic Version from £4.28 from Amazon and other ebook providers
- Audio CD and Multimedia CD
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