Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Movie Review: Newsies

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews1 Comment

MPW-62124I recently went to see the play version of Newsies, the Broadway musical on tour—which led me to rewatch the old Disney movie.  I had a bit of a Newsies phase five years ago, but haven’t watched it in a few years.  It was so much fun to go back!

Based on true events (though there was presumably less singing), Newsies recounts a newsboys strike in New York in 1899.  In the fictional version, the boys rally around Cowboy Jack Kelly, the front man while his friend David, better educated than most, has the ideas about social justice and unions.  The boys stand up against the might of Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of The New York World and arguably the most powerful man in New York at the time, to demand fair treatment in their work.

At its heart, this is a story about the unseen demanding to be seen.  As one of the songs puts it, “the world will know that we’ve been here.”  I love that, because it’s coming from a group of boys who don’t get noticed, who scrape along and never get heard.  I love the theme of the unheard standing up for themselves, and I especially love it when it’s expressed in really great rally-the-troops songs.  Even better when they leap around in dance numbers too. Continue reading “Movie Review: Newsies” →

Fiction Friday: A Redshirt in Fairy Tale Country

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday3 Comments

Today is Friday the 13th, which always puts me in mind of the good old days when I used to write Star Trek stories and do terrible things to my poor redshirt characters on Friday the 13th.  I don’t write Star Trek anymore, but my regularly-appearing redshirt, Richard Samuel Jones, has gone on to be a cameo character in all of my subsequent novels…no longer in his Starfleet uniform and often without his full name referenced, but he’s still a lot like the person he was back on the Enterprise.

So for Friday the 13th this year, I offer you Sam’s guest appearance in The Lioness and the Spellspinners.  Rin, also known as Karina, has been sitting in The Black Lion tavern, trying without much success to decide what to do if she manages to get a substantial pay-off for a job in-progress…

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A crash from the kitchen jarred Rin out of her thoughts, but didn’t cause any real alarm.  It was the sound of a plate breaking, and that was pretty usual.  She wasn’t at all surprised when Sam came out of the kitchen in a hurry, broom in one hand and a guilty expression on his face.

“Was that the second plate this week?” Rin called with a slight smile.

Sam sighed.  “The third.”  He began sweeping his way towards her table.  “Magdala told me I’d better not come back in her kitchen for at least an hour.”  The general man-of-all-work at The Black Lion, Sam moved in a perpetual cloud of broken dishes, knocked-over items, and spectacular trippings.  No new incident ever bothered him for long, though, and Rin watched expectantly for his smile to return.  She could use some of Sam’s usual cheer right now.

The smile didn’t come.  He swept along and stopped in front of her table, looking if anything even gloomier.  “I heard about Old John.  I’m sorry about…”

“Thank you,” Rin said, throat suddenly tight.

“He was always a good sort, wasn’t he?  He used to tell the best stories about when he was in the theater.”  Sam smiled then, but it was a sad smile.  “Not that I ever believed more than half of them, you know, but they were good stories.”

This was not helping.  “Yeah, they were,” Rin said, and cast about for a topic change.  “Hey Sam, what would you do if you were rich?” Continue reading “Fiction Friday: A Redshirt in Fairy Tale Country” →

Book Review: Revisionary (Libriomancer Series)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, ReviewsLeave a comment

If I had to choose one magic system as my absolute favorite ever (I mean, ever), libriomancy would be a very likely winner.  So you can imagine I was delighted to return to it with Jim C. Hines’ fourth Magic Ex Libris book, Revisionary.

See my reviews for book one, Libriomancer, and book three, Unbound, and some spoilers inevitable below!

Book three ended with the reveal of magic to the world at large, and now Isaac and his friends are dealing with the aftermath.  Deep in magical research, Isaac wants to use magic for good but finds himself blocked by new rules and bureaucracy…but the rules go out the window when incidents of magical terrorism start to point towards an even larger threat.

Like I said–I love a magical system built on books, and even more so because our narrator is a sci fi/fantasy geek who totally gets how cool all this is.  Even more, I’m convinced Hines and I have read all the same books.  If you pulled a random sampling of books, even popular ones, even fantasy ones, I still doubt the percent I’d read (and possibly loved) would be as high as it is with the books that appear in Hines’ series.  References to Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, Catherynne M. Valente and Terry Pratchett have all appeared, to name just a few of my favorite authors! Continue reading “Book Review: Revisionary (Libriomancer Series)” →

Book Review: Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews1 Comment

The premise of Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana had me intrigued, mostly as an opportunity to read about events that are now history, but recent enough that I remember them.  I’m still young enough that I haven’t encountered that many books like that!  This one centers around Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans—and since it’s about an African-American family in the Ninth Ward, it also fits my diversity challenge.

When the story begins, Armani’s major concern is that these obviously over-blown storm warnings not disrupt her tenth birthday.  The party comes off, but when Katrina arrives that night, suddenly Armani and her family have life-and-death concerns—and I mean that tragically literally.  Armani becomes a refugee in her own city, with responsibilities no ten year old should be shouldering.

This was an excellent book—and it was terrifying on several levels. Which is part of its excellence.  Armani is a great character, who thinks she’s so much older than she is—as one does, at ten!  Her family is very loving and supportive; she has three younger siblings and a brother close to her in age.  She also has very involved parents, a beloved grandmother and an entire network of extended relations.  All of those connections make it even worse when the world fractures apart—because there’s so much stability to disrupt, and so many people to be in danger.

The book is terrifying on an immediate level, as Armani and her family are in serious danger, first from the storm and then, even more, in the aftermath of the flood as all services and normal functioning of society break down. Continue reading “Book Review: Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere” →

Exploring My Bookshelves…for Shades of Green

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

Exploring My Bookshelves For EveryoneExploring My Bookshelves, hosted by Addlepates and Book Nerds, offers a color-themed question today!

Today’s prompt is…a book with a green color (in honor of emerald birth stones for May).

I can’t resist bringing out a photo I staged some years ago for St. Patrick’s Day…with forty bookish shades of green!

Forty Shades of Green