J.R. Larriba’s Itsy Bitsy Spyder: Evolution starts as a gritty Marin County murder case and ends somewhere far stranger. The genre swerves can jolt you, but sharp banter, a creeping sentient fog, and real heart make this a wild ride worth taking.”
Tag Archives: Speculative Fiction
Book Review: Heroless by Antoine Monks
Heroless by Antoine Monks takes a two-track look at the superhero genre after the costumes have already failed. One strand is almost domestic: years after Fortune City’s protectors were pushed back into ordinary life, former heroine Elizabeth—once Disk Girl—sits down over coffee and dinner with her quiet confidant Roy, formerly Justice-Hand. Their talk is the book’s emotional spine. Through regrets, jokes that don’t quite land, and vivid flashbacks, they revisit the bright early days of the city’s hero coalition, the fights with super-criminals that kept getting uglier, and the public paranoia that finally made masks look like a public menace instead of a promise.