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Book Review: Shredder Orpheus by David Irons (based on the screenplay by Robert McGinley)

Shredder Orpheus by David Irons, based on a screenplay by Robert McGinley

 

Shredder Orpheus (Encyclocalyspe Movie Tie-In Series), by David Irons, (based on the screenplay by Robert McGinley)

Encyclopocalypse Publications, 2025

ISBN: 9781966037200

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

One advantage to the multitude of small publishing houses that have sprung up: they can take on projects that large publishers would never touch, but will be loved by a small but devoted audience. Such is the case with Shredder Orpheus, a novelization of the 1980s cult skaterock/dystopia film. I haven’t seen the film so I can’t say how it compares, but the book is a fun read all on its own.

 

As far as plots go, it’s probably one of the more ridiculous, even for the 80s, when such plots were all the rage. And that’s what makes it fun. In the dismal urban landscape of the Gray Zone, where people live in shipping containers, life revolves around survival, thrashing (riding skateboards) and rock n’ roll. Orpheus is kind of a local hero, since he can shred with the best of them, be it on his board or a guitar. He’s one of the few bright spots in an area that never seems to see the sun. Tragedy strikes when his beloved Eurydice is killed by Video Vampires on their wedding night, and she is taken to Hell to resign with Hades. Hades also happens to run the EBN TV network, which broadcasts brain-deadening shows on all the TVs, which allows him to steal souls. The lovelorn Orpheus decides to travel to Hell to confront Hades and try to get Eurydice back, armed with his guitar-lyre (a powerful instrument conceived by Jimi Hendrix) and his gift-from-the-abyss apocalyptic skateboard. It’s up to Orpheus and his buddies Scratch, Axel, and Razoreus to thrash and shred their way through Hell, and Hades’ TV studio, to rescue the darling Eurydice.

 

Still with me? Ok, good. All of the above is ludicrous, but it’s entertaining, and that’s what matters. The author writes in a fast and loose fashion, and the story clips along, moving from underground rock clubs, to the EBN studios, to a secret garage entrance that leads to Hell. The story moves quickly, and there is just enough there to make you interested in the characters. Their lives are really bleak– one way of getting food consists of raiding dumpsters for thrown-away pizzas, the pizzas being thrown away because the protagonists called them in as bogus orders, then waited by the dumpster for them to be discarded. This takes dumpster diving to an art form. Orpheus gets most of the book’s time: the other three are fairly minor characters, but they are entertaining when they do show up. There’s enough in the book that the romance and devotion of Orpheus and Eurydice feels relatively real, and not just like a plot device used as an excuse to have him skate through the underworld. Orpheus’ sojourn through the realms of Hades is a blast, as he encounters lost souls, a lot of paper shredding, the strange video vampires, some chainsaw decapitation, and he gets to shred his board across fire and lava pools. Totally rad! This is completely deranged silliness, and completely thrilling for those who remember the days when Powell Peralta, Bones Brigade, and VISION were words in every kid’s lexicon. The only minor change I would liked to have seen was a bit more focus on the skating itself. Where it’s a skate-rock adventure, more added rail slides, wheel grinds, truck slides, and 720s would have seemed appropriate. Then again, I don’t know how much was actually in the film itself, so maybe it makes sense.

 

Bottom line is, it’s a crazy story about crazy times, and should be able to find an audience outside of just the film fans. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on August 25, 2025 by , 1 comment

Book Review: Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

Cover art for Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi.

Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593309032

Available:: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

Bitter is a prequel to Pet. In Pet, Jam accidentally brings a monstrous angel created by her artist mother through a gate to our world, opened by her bleeding on the image. In Bitter, we learn that it isn’t the first time Jam’s mother brought an angel through.

 

The city of Lucille is filled with protests turned violent. Bitter, who grew up in foster homes where she felt unsafe, has found refuge in Eucalyptus, a residential school for artistic teens run by Miss Virtue . She avoids the protests, focusing on her art, believing there’s no hope for change. She meets Aloe, a sound artist training to be a street medic to help the Assatta, grassroots revolutionaries, and he starts giving her hope. I liked the idea that everyone can contribute in their own way, even if they aren’t on the front lines.

 

After a particularly violent protest, Bitter, who can make her art come to life briefly with blood, creates a monstrous creature and brings it to life in hopes of ending the violence. Unfortunately, the intention he sensed in her was anger, so instead of helping her stop it, he becomes an angel of Vengeance, a hunter of monsters (in this case billionaires and politicians) who wants to kill or burn away evil. When Bitter refuses to help, he convinces members of Assata to hunt with him, but despite their anger, none of them are ready for the brutal, impersonal violence of the angel.

 

Bitter realizes she can force him back through the gate, but the damage is done, with both innocent and not-so-innocent people dead. Bitter and the Assatta cover up the angel involvement and are able to use the incident to gain concessions and change the system to make it more equitable, the beginnings of the mostly utopian world that exists at the beginning of Pet.

 

Emezi wrote Bitter during the pandemic and watched their fiction come far too close to reality. They were becoming progressively more disabled while it was written: they dictated it to a friend over Zoom.

 

Bitter is an angrier book than Pet, and the characters are older teens: while Pet works as a middle grade book and almost a fairytale, Bitter is definitely YA. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 29, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Outrage: Level 10 by Lucy Leitner

cover art for Outrage: Level 10 by Lucy Leitner

Outrage: Level 10 by Lucy Leitner

Blood Bound Publishing, 2021

ISBN: 9781940250496

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Outrage Level 10 succeeds as both a thriller and a darkly humorous look at today’s overly sensitive “cancel culture” society taken to extremes.  It’s an exciting story, and the setting will force readers to ask questions about where we are headed as a society, and what we would consider a “perfect’” world.

 

It’s a strange future that Alex Malone, ex-head breaker for the now-defunct Pittsburgh Penguins (a hockey team) and now a cop, lives in.  There is no more government, just the Speaker, as the mouthpiece of the People; the Hammer, who is the People’s enforcer and… that’s it.  It’s all the will of the People in regards to policy, crime, and everything else, decided by popular vote of the citizens through their phones and various social applications.  Almost all crime consists of someone offending someone else.  Once it’s been posted online, if the outrage meter hits high enough through people commenting, the offenders face the Hammer, who most likely will condemn the perpetrators to the mysterious Maze, from which almost no one returns.  People do live much longer, since all diseases have been cured, or the causing substances banned, but is it worth the price?

 

That’s the world of Alex, and as a cop, he’s a member of an almost unnecessary profession (apparently “defund the police”  REALLY took hold) since everything is by popular fiat, and everyone is policing each other.  It doesn’t help that the few cops left are reviled by pretty much everyone.   Alex tries a new drug designed to treat his CTE, and the drug, through visions, pulls him into a mystery involving senior citizens disappearing from retirement homes.  As Alex soon finds out, it’s hard to solve a case that affects the few people left in power, and even harder when everyone is looking for an excuse, real or imagined, to take him down.

 

The plotline is an intriguing mystery and a tough nut to crack.  Alex makes an excellent protagonist, and is sympathetic as a person who really has no value in a politically correct society.  That is, until he remembers the old police motto, “to protect and serve”.  In Leitner’s world, protecting means eliminating anyone whom you disagree with, not helping for the common good.

 

Leitner”s vision of a world gone crazy provides the excellent story backdrop.  She wisely keeps her own views out of it, instead using her razon-sharp humor to get the point across, without coming off as preachy.  That’s the mark of excellent satire; the ability to write without tipping your own hand to the readers.  She’s shown this skill in other works like Bad Vibrations, and it’s on full display here.  Leitner has created a terrifying world, where people are condemned for accidentally serving the wrong food, since that can be seen as aggression or some sort of -ism.

 

Bottom line: another excellent work from one of the smartest writers of dystopian satire today.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on January 25, 2024 by , Reply
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