Not my usual genre, this was recommended to me by Prairie because it's a murder mystery set at a fan con for a fantasy TV show...so, given my Norwescon association, right up my alley. It's a cute and frequently amusing bit of fluff, occasionally even getting me to laugh out loud (particularly when some of the show's actors are reading and critiquing slash fanfic). Much of it felt like the author definitely had some amount of con going experience, though I did wonder whether some of the situations were purely put in for entertainment purposes, or whether her experience was with shoddy cons...for example, the hotel allowing people without rooms to sleep in the halls and lobby (a big no-no at Norwescon's hotel). I did have a few quibbles with some of the choices — early on, a few fans described as being in costumes not appropriate for their body type, where I'm not fond of body-shaming-as-humor — but those moments were fairly rare. While I'm not likely to dive full-on into the "themed mystery series" genre, this was an enjoyable way to dip my toe into the waters.

I am _totally_ a fan of Oscar Wilde's now. Never having read TPoDG before, this was a real treat to finally read. I may have known the central conceit of the story for some time, but it's a lot more fun to finally _know_ the story! All three of the other stories included in this volume ("Lord Arthur Saville's Crime", "The Happy Prince", and "The Birthday of the Infata") were also beautiful little stories, especially "The Happy Prince". I'm going to need to dig out that Complete Oscar Wilde we've got tucked away here at some point....

Okay, so I wasn't exactly expecting much when I found this one at Goodwill…but it didn't even live up to those low expectations. Not even enjoyably dumb, just bad. All the thrills and excitement you'd expect from reading about watching someone else play a video game. One of the rare books to go right back to Goodwill.

Would have been three stars, but it started slipping with a bit too much focus on Kirk-as-Lothario, and then lost me when Spock admitted to raping another crew member...and then it was written off as "not really" rape because he was being influenced and she enjoyed it, even though she was asleep and he used his telepathy to keep her that way and remove her memory afterwards). With some judicious editing, it could be a solid three star, but as it is, being written thirty-five years ago and before there was much actual oversight over the books really shows.

Haven't quite finished this one, actually — I've read all but the last story, Sweeny Todd — but the world's a bit too dark right now for that to sound good to me. I'll come back and finish this off someday in the future.