Review: California Schemin' : 2020 Bouchercon Anthology

 I attended the '99 Bouchercon, a mystery writer/reader convention, held in Philadelphia. It was fantastic and I hope to go again next year to the San Diego event. This anthology is comprised of stories from past winners, Special Guests and others chosen from stories submitted by lesser known writers.

Like any anthology you'll have stand out tales that demonstrate why a particular writer is always hitting the Best Seller lists and carrying away the awards. Others are from writers you've never heard of who will click and become someone who you'll be on the lookout for in stores. This is no different, with a few offerings that were early chapter drafts or short tales featuring characters from a series. Almost all take place in California, but several historical pieces take place in Europe or feature locations far from the Pacific Coast.

To be honest, not a single one wasn't worth the time I spent reading them. Some I with continued as the characters or situations were so good. A couple in here border on the supernatural or have a bit of a science fiction element, but even those are not too far outside the realm of the detective/mystery genre.

Nothing - The Fugs

Cry Punch: A trade paperback review

 At almost 450 pages Cry Punch is a solid piece of entertainment. Full disclosure I was part of the Kickstarter campaign for this book, after the recommendation of a friend, author/poet Robert Deshaies II (Adam & Eternity).

Like all anthologies, not everything is going to be one's cup of tea and you'll find yourself liking one particular story much more than another. Also, keep in mind that much of the art and writing in this book is not what one would call 'mainstream'. For the most part you're not going to find what you see in your average Marvel or DC monthly periodical. These fourteen stories are influenced more by Japanese and Asian manga/anime than American super-hero comics.

These are stories from creators working on more personal projects, much of which are based on the martial arts and giant mech books so popular in in Japan. If you're only familiar with American comics the flow of these stories can be confusing at times, with a lot of silent panels or an entire page of characters remaining still while caption or dialogue continues the story.

Finally, to be honest, some of the art is of the standard we used to call 'fannish', hardly the slick work Americans have become used to in most comics from the Big Two (or Four, depending). The writers and artists in many, if not all cases, are working to improve their craft.

While the cover price of $36 might be off putting, you are supporting independent creators and a small publisher trying to bring graphic novel readers something a bit different.