Books: The Way Up is Death By Dan Hanks (2025)

“When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND. As they try to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone is…up. And so begins a race to the top with the group fighting to hold on to its humanity, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares. Can they each overcome their differences and learn to work together or does the winner take it all? What does the tower want of them and what is the price to escape?”

Despite what feels like an alternate take on the Netflix series Squid Game, The Way Up is Death is a leap forward for author Dan Hanks, from his scrappy, pulp-ish first novel, Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire, and the delightfully goofy Swashbucklers. At turns brutal, soul-stirring, and funny, it’s a tale of survival for thirteen people from different backgrounds who must struggle to survive an acid test of a game, which is probably the best way to explain the premise. It’s like the famous (or infamous) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Move Along Home. Aired early in the series run, the plot was about a visiting delegation from the Gamma Quadrant who turns four crew members into "pieces" for a bizarre game. That too has the threat of death over the crew of DS9, especially Quark, when he has to figure which one of the four he must sacrifice to move forward.

All the characters get back stories, which somehow tie-in to each level the groups ascends, but we mainly see  a handful, like Alden, who mourns the loss of his dog Leia, who is also teacher by day/singer by night. Nia a angry concept artist foe indie films who’s grown weary of the industries lack of acknowledgement about the below-the-line talent. Then there is Dirk, the American jackass (I suppose US based writers have been making fun of the British for so long, so Hanks makes Dirk an almost poster child for corporate greed, “influencers”, and probably (though never mentioned) a Right Wing clown.

The others get a bit interchangeable along the way, though young Rakie stands out in the end.

I sometimes found it hard to visual increasingly weirdness of the tower, sometimes, but Hanks gave most of the characters a strong voice, so I didn’t get lost there. It’s a thrilling piece of speculative fiction, brought down only by the ending. It’s been said Stephen King has never really written a great ending, so The Way Up is Death is brought down Hanks philosophical and optimistic approach to dealing with grief and finding ability to move on.

I mean, it’s lackluster and too abrupt. While I was fine with no real explanation of anything here, its sudden ending was a bit jarring. But as I said, a good leap forward for the writer, and I look forward to more of his work.

Books: Dr. Dimension by John DeChancie and David Bischoff (1993)

“Dr. Demetrois Demopoulos had a dream – and a lot of burned-out parts. But, despite far too many experiments that had blown up his lab at Flitheimer University, Dr. D. was certain he was on the brink of building a working spacetime machine. And, of course, his arch-rival, the voluptuous Dr. Vivian Vernon, was determined to see that he failed – or else steal his invention. But neither of them reckoned on an unknown benefactor who shipped a crateful of future technology that would soon see Dr. D., Viv, and three of their colleagues off on a round-the-universe jaunt. Lost in spacetime, caught in the middle of a war between two super-races of aliens, and allied with a computer construct who sounded like a bad Borscht Belt comedian, was there any hope for the five humans to ever get back home- and would home still exist if and when they got there?”

I have a lot of respect for both DeChancie and Bischoff, as both have written several humorous fantasy series I read in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But here, in what seemed in 1993 of a start of a new series, comes a somewhat comedic attempt of merging pulp sci-fi (and set in 1939, the period works) with something-like The Hitchhikers Guide of the Universe style of humor. It works here and there, but it has a fairly high rate of failure with the gags.

I remember buying both this and its sequel back when they were first released. I never read them and ended up donating them – only to find them about a decade ago at a used bookstore. For some reason, I bought them again. They’ve sat in a box since then. And recently, I decided to go and read some of the books that have been in my Forever TBR pile.

But I find this book ridiculously cartoony, with it’s barely there plot, abysmal stereotypes (written way before the METOO movement), horrible puns, and atrocious wordplay. The two human villains are poorly developed and not as interesting as the three heroes. To be honest, I’m unsure what their true purpose was for being in the book. So if they were aiming to make fun of science fiction, they missed the boat here.

Also, the various aliens are remarkably goofy, and some of them could be fun. Not believable at all, but almost fun. Not sure if I’ll get to book two…maybe save it for a palate cleanser sometime in the future. 

Books: Welcome to Pawnee by Jim O'Heir (2024)

“For seven seasons, Leslie Knope and the Parks and Recreation gang charmed millions of viewers with their quirky antics and unwavering positivity. The sitcom continues to be a fan-favorite for streaming services today, nearly a decade after its finale. Now for the first time, Jim O’Heir, who played the lovable Jerry (or, well, Garry/Larry/Terry/Barry, depending on the episode), invites readers back to Pawnee for an exclusive look behind the scenes. Joined by his Parks and Rec pals, including Chris Pratt, Retta, Rob Lowe, and showrunners Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, Jim reveals how this “little show that could” came to be, thanks to the tireless dedication and comedic genius of Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, and the rest of the gang. As the show found its footing, the cast quickly bonded into a tight-knit family. Jim shares all his favorite unforgettable memories both on and off camera, from hilarious unscripted moments and epic dance-offs in the hair and makeup trailers, to iconic birthday parties at Rashida Jones’s house and quiet bonfires in Nick Offerman’s backyard.”

One of my favorite series, next to 30 Rock, this is a pleasant little book, but really not a detailed or comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at the NBC sitcom. The book covers O’Heir’s life from his birth in suburban Chicago (my home town) to his years in radio in Indiana, Second City in Chicago and his eventual move to Hollywood. Here he talks about how him and co-star Retta started out as recurring characters (though both appeared in every episode) and how the writers, showrunner Mike Schur and star Amy Poehler gave them more to do and really fleshed out their characters backstories. O’Heir goes a bit overboard at times with the high praise of his fellow cast members, but I supposed I too would be in awe of these people, as all seem like genuine nice people.

But I did learn a few things, like how NBC wanted a spin-off of The Office and how co-creators Mike Schur and Greg Daniels sort of decided the show really should have little to do with The Office, beyond the basic mockumentary format and set in just in an office (the show would have an equal amount of location shooting). Also how they learned that Leslie Knope (Poehler) should be less of an idiot than Michael Scott. He does not divulge much into the reason Paul Schneider’s Mark Brendanawicz’s exit from the show in season two; beyond the obvious that he was meant to be Knope’s love interest, yet there was no chemistry there.

It’s not a deep dive into the show, and I hope someday we do. Like 30 Rock, there’s got be a lot of interesting stories about how each episode came about.

Welcome to Pawnee is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the show, mostly for the some great behind-the-scenes photos. It also has a great cover.

Books: Buying the Farm By Chad Darnell (2022)

“Welcome to Liberty, Georgia. Population 2,424. Sweet old Ruth Chambers passed away after a lengthy illness, so that number might be off by one or two. The sign hasn’t been updated in a while. Everybody knows everybody and their business. There’s a town square and two traffic lights. One on the way into town and one on the way out. Nothing bad ever happens here. Frances Hunt is at her breaking point. She has a hellraising teenaged son and a mother, who is nearly eighty going on eighteen. Thanks to a failed chicken house business, Frances and her mother are about to lose the farm, which has been in the family since the Civil War. With mounting medical bills, a surprise grandchild on the way, and foreclosure looming, Frances discovers a new opportunity to harvest. And it’s going to cost her an arm and a leg to save it. An opportunity in which she (her mother, and her senior citizen friends) could make a killing... selling dead body parts on the black market.”

 Chad Darnell’s Buying the Farm is a hoot of a black comedy, a sometimes dark (but mostly hilarious) gothic southern tale of a dysfunctional family who accidentally find themselves over their heads and, well, God appears to answer some their prayers. What makes this book work –because there is some violence, a lot of death, and some questionable morals- is the characters are so well drawn, so developed, and so damn funny, that even the most conservative people wouldn’t mind hanging out with them.

Frances is not a great mother to Kevin, nor a great daughter to her mother Bird. But she is smart and able to work on her feet, make quick decisions and understands how the universe works. She sees opportunities, despite the gruesomeness of the job and like all mothers, will do what she can to help her son and family (as Hector calls them, Baby Dexter and The Golden Girls). There are a lot of twists and turns here, and the book runs fast and furious, and I would be remiss not mention how many times I laughed out loud here. This is just a delightful fun ride.

Thanks the heavens, there is a sequel…

According to the author, he pitched a pilot, then called BODY FARM, to Hazy Mills, a production company in Los Angeles run by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner. “The day we were set to pitch to the studio, the Writers' Strike began. Eight months later, we began pitching the show all over LA, but the notes came back, ‘we're not looking for shows with women.’ ‘We're not looking for shows old women.’ ‘We're not looking for shows set in the South.’ ‘We're not looking for shows with an anti-hero.’ Every few years we would take the project back out, and it would draw some interest with the powers-that-be asking, ‘could the characters be younger? and ‘could it be soapier?’ ‘What if it's set in Chicago!?’ The story, set in the Deep South, is about four women (of a certain age), who accidentally fall into selling dead body parts on the black market. So no, they can't be younger, soapier, or in Chicago. We were set to take it back out again in March 2020, and the world shut down the day we were expected back to the studio. After a year and a half with no movement, I decided to take my ladies and tell their story in book form. The resulting novel became known as BUYING THE FARM.”