Kat's Got Your Culture

Get excited for Going to Summertime , coming out October 27! As an added bonus, this KGYC Guest Book is from Meerkat Press , which published two of my novels so you know it's worth checking out. Every suburban street holds secrets and ghosts, but Summerland Place holds more than most. The team from The Red Mullet Hair Salon head to Summerland Place to explore the abandoned houses there, on a prepaid, enter at own risk, explore every nook and cranny team building exercise. They are welcomed by the charismatic Milton, who runs the tours through the cul-de-sac he grew up in. They find houses filled with malevolent ghosts and tragic ones, with memories of family trauma and family meals. All come out changed by what they see, and what it triggers in them. Some will be lost in Summertime, a euphoric state of mind. Georgia, owner of the Salon, thinks she is stronger than any of it. She has no past trauma, no secrets; some would say no heart. She didn’t expect to fall in love. Every i...

Jules Verne must've been so hungry when he wrote this. About 80% of the book is lists of sea creatures and whether or not they're delicious. Verne was obviously a huge Moby Dick fan and even mentions it a couple times in this book, also emulating Melville's lengthy informational excursions, but I didn't find this to be carried by the writing in the same way as Moby Dick (which is also not a pageturner; let's be real). I also saw elements of Poe's sci-fi/adventure works but with less suspense. Overall, the characters other than Captain Nemo and Professor Aronnax are very flat. Conseil is devoted to Arronax and likes classifying fish and has no other thoughts, feelings, interests or traits. Usually he only serves as an occasion for Arronax to provide information on some topic (quasi "Conseil was sad so I told him the history of the underwater telegraph cable"). Ned Land is angry and talks about eating land animals all the time (confusing because he's...

There are a lot of good thrillers from the 90s, and I'll watch pretty much anything with Signourney Weaver in it. She's great as the traumatized shutin/serial killer expert in this, and it's satisfying to see her profile the killer going after her. It's not quite on a par with some of my favorites like the ones with Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross, but entertaining. Mostly slow-burn but some suspenseful moments. If you like Silence of the Lambs and Seven, this has a similar vibe.

In case you ever have this very niche need, the Upton Sinclair is a literary mocktail I invented a few years ago. I called it that because Upton Sinclair didn't drink alcohol and also appreciated sparkling, slightly tangy drinks (guessing about the second part). So, without further ado: The Upton Sinclair 1 part pink grapefruit juice 2 parts apple juice 7 parts sparkling water Enjoy!

Yes, I watched this movie, and it's exactly what you think it is! Except that the love interest is confusingly not Irish. I wish Netflix would make more romcoms that are actually funny (Set It Up and Always Be My Maybe for example). But obviously these movies have their place in the cinematic universe, so here's my ranking of bad Lindsay Lohan Netflix movies that you're somehow drawn to watch (bear in mind I haven't seen all of them). 1. Irish Wish. Yep, it's the best of the lot! I was entertained in a dumb way. 2. The one where she falls off a cliff, gets amnesia and starts a new life with some guy who runs an inn and no one can find her even though they're like 5 minutes away. 3. The one where she eats edibles and gives a rambling sermon at Christmas mass. This is one of those annoying ones where the love interest is the ex (also didn't love this for Merry Little Ex-Mas) Irish Wish is also one of those wildly unrealistic movies about writers where sh...

Welcome to KGYC's very first Guest Book, Book 1 of the Ringlander series by Michael S. Jackson ! This epic fantasy novel has now launched on Kickstarter in a special new Tome Edition . The Kickstarter that funded in less than 12 hours Welcome Ringlander, to the World of Rengas, and discover THE PATH AND THE WAY Tome Edition There are books meant to be read once, and then there are relics engineered to endure. Stabby-finalist epic fantasy THE PATH AND THE WAY (Book 1 in the Ringlander series) launches today on Kickstarter in its most prestigious physical form. Crafted by Peelhouse Press in close consultation with industry experts, this edition strips away standard trade shortcuts to deliver a premium, heavy-weight artifact. With 90gsm Munken Pure paper to ensure absolute opacity and a luxurious hand-feel, the book is designed to perfectly showcase custom cartography by Jack Shepherd and dark, visceral color plates by The Last of Us concept artist Ricky Ho, and jacket artwork...

WTF is this movie! I wouldn't say this if it were a tiny indie film or something but it has Tom Cruise in it. I should've been suspicious when I was like wow a famous 80s fantasy adventure movie and yet I've never seen it. Tldr Darkness (Tim Curry in a huge devil suit) wants to take everything over in a snowy Narnia ripoff, some poor-man's-Labyrinth goblins kill a unicorn because a princess touches it (princess of what is never clear; she just prances around the woods with Gollum-style Tom Cruise) and there are a lot of forgettable characters I assume are supposed to provide comic relief but definitely don't. But I don't mind crazy nonsense in a movie. The real offense here is that it's terribly boring. The whole time we're told that there's this terrible urgency and the whole world depends on it, etc. but then the characters just twiddle around the whole time.