Sean Cummings

Give me pulp cowboy-mafia fiction, but make it sci fi - thanks! You would think that, considering my tastes, there’s no way that I would be into the ridiculous mash-up of genres that is Cowboy Bebop, but somehow I can’t get enough of Spike Spiegel and his motley crew of space age bounty hunters! Sean Cummings went a little bit off book with this story, since it is far removed from the original manga/anime storylines, and takes us back to a time before Spike was the man we know. In this show more story, we see him during his era as Fearless, cleaner/gopher for the Red Dragon Cartel and partner in arms to Vicious, his later rival. It’s definitely a bit weird to see the two men as comrades, but Cummings does a decent job of painting a gritty but brilliant picture of their time in the slums of Mars as low level mafiosos. Considering that we don’t get a lot of their backstory in any of the original Cowboy Bebop, it was fun to see a base storyarc building towards the events of the Netflix live action series that seemed pretty plausible. Cummings stayed on brand with an action-packed storyline, fight scenes that skewed towards the ridiculous, and a well-balanced blend of high- and low-tech – all of which continues to make the franchise so unique and appealing. Even if his writing was a little scripted and camp, it’s an easy thing to forgive within the Cowboy Bebop universe, since high brow style writing would seem out of place, and we are looking instead towards driving storylines and light character development for our kicks. It’s too bad that the Netflix series that got this book published tanked with viewers, and this ended up being the only associated novelization, since I actually quite enjoyed the easy action of the story and revisiting one of my favourite anime settings. Until they decide to remake it again I guess this is it… see you, Space Cowboy! show less

Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings is a rollicking great read out from Strange Chemistry (YA imprint of Angry Robot) on October 2nd in the US/Canada and ebook and on October 4th for the UK/Aus paperback. A copy of this book was provided for review from the publisher. Also, how awesome is the cover? I love it.

Julie is a trainee witch, still learning the craft from her mother. The only person who knows her secret is her best friend Marcus. An excerpt from the blurb:

When she and her best friend, show more Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it’s pretty obvious to Julie there’s a supernatural connection.

In fact, there’s a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie’s high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night. Now it’s a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie won’t just lose her mother’s soul, she’ll lose her mother’s life.

This was a great fun read packed full of action and (magical) explosions. I liked Julie as a kick-arse heroine but one who hadn't come into her full power yet. When bad things happen, she's still supposed to call her mum and when she doesn't, she gets told off and grounded. It's nice to see a YA book where the main character's parent has some agency and acts like a normal parent despite the supernatural elements (even if she spends half the book unconscious — it's still an improvement).

Marcus is painted as a love interest early on and, although Julie panics at first, I found her examination of her feelings (in between something trying to kill her) believable. Oh and Marcus is a science geek and keeps trying to work out how magic fits in with physics. It was great.

The only thing I didn't like was Julie's other (female) friend's jealousy regarding Marcus. It would have been nice if there was also a strong girlfriend relationship but at least there were no queen bitches at the school (a trope I'm a bit sick of).

I very much enjoyed this read and I hope that there will be more books about Julie in the future (and from his website it seems that Cummings is working on a follow up, Student Bodies, so yay). I recommend Poltergeeks to anyone who wants a quick, fun read with lots of action, crazy paranormal activity and a dash of awkward romance. And bonus: it's set in Canada for a bit of variety.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog, Tsana's Reads. show less

I was really excited for this one. The premise sounded fun and I had heard mostly good things from other readers, however, it fell short for me. What I found to be most off putting was the main character; I did not like her at all. She does not seem to have a clear identity. She can be very masculine one page and then sort-of feminine on the next (I would have believed it, as it is right now, if she was a boy). In addition, she is supposed to be fifteen but there are times when she seems show more much older or much younger. But what bothered me most about her character is that she is constantly putting herself down. She calls herself an A**hole and other names to that effect multiple times. It may just be me, but I don't want to spend time with a main character who is so intent on putting herself down. On that same note, she has quite the potty mouth. I swear, my siblings swear, my friends swear - I don't find swearing to be a big deal. However, I was not throwing out profanities every other time I speak at fifteen (nor do I now). Her swearing makes her seem dumb and not relatable (not to mention older).

The aspect of the actual storytelling that I had an issue with is that everything is talked about as if it was SO obvious. Once each plot twist is figured out, the main character acts as if she should have seen it coming because all the clues were there. The writing does not allow the reader to go back and find those clues as Julie lays them all out immediately after the big discovery. It allowed me to read without really paying attention or feeling involved. Which, I guess could be a good thing if you're feeling lazy, but it was not something I particularly enjoyed.

I don't like to tear books a part, so I am going to stop here. This book just was not for me. If you liked it, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. This books has potential, but there were just too many little things that bothered me. Keep in mind, I am particular, if the things mentioned above don't bother you - go for it. show less

Julie's mom is concerned about Julie and Marcus dating. She knows all too well what it's like to be in love with a Shadowcull (a powerful witch who dispenses justice on behalf of the covens), and she knows all too well the danger that person gets put in. But Julie just wants to date like any other teenager. So she and Marcus try to have a fun night out, but instead they end up rescuing Marcus' arch-nemesis from soul devouring spirit worms. Of course that's only the beginning; someone is up show more to something very bad and it's up to Julie and her Mom to save everyone.

The first book, Poltergeeks, was, in a lot of ways, light and fluffy. This book is not. It has strong themes of bullying--or rather the effects of--and includes deaths. But that doesn't take away from the book, it adds to it. Julie's worlds are colliding in a very serious way and she finds out that everything she does has serious, real-world, repercussions.

(ARC provided by publisher) show less