It’s once again that time of year when I’m busy with last-minute preparations for Mead Con; many thanks to Carol, Abbie, and Aubrey (and many more besides those that I can’t list all here) for their help making it less crazy to plan this year. Thankfully, I have still had time to read while juggling things like planning a book swap and scheduling mini-painting workshops for the 7th annual con. You’ll find a few of the books I’ve been reading that I thought would be relevant to the celebration of geekdom that is Mead Con. After you check out Mead Con tomorrow, May 2nd, make sure to stop by Sheboy-Con!

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

There Is No Antimemetics Division came to my attention because, back in autumn, I had been looking for books based on the SCP Foundation. The book was started by being written on the SCP wiki, before eventually being picked up by a traditional publisher. It was a bit odd seeing what was obviously the SCP Foundation, called the Unknown Organization, but certain changes had to occur to be published. But those little hiccups didn’t distract me from enjoying the book. I went in being unsure how the author would tackle writing about antimemetics, an idea or entity that the human mind can’t perceive or remember, since it’s a concept I wasn’t sure could lend itself to writing. The author showed everything from a critter that eats memories to buildings you never noticed being outside your office. Those Unknowns were things that the author succeeded at describing, but it was the way the author formatted the story that stole the show. I’ll do my best to talk about what I enjoyed while not spoiling the book. The author used some clever writing tricks that play into the idea of antimemetics, which I don’t want to spoil. I’d find myself needing to double-check previous chapters, which isn’t always an unusual thing for me to do since I constantly forget the names of characters, but instead, I was doing it to confirm what the author had been doing. You’ll need to pick up this book to see what I mean, just remember your mnestics before you start reading.

Hulk By Donny Cates Vol. 1: Smashtronaut! by Donny Cates

Immortal Hulk has been my favorite reinvention of a superhero in many years, so I wasn’t sure how Donny Cates could follow that up. But I liked what Cates did with Venom, so I did my best to give it a shot. This volume started with setting up that Bruce Banner has become terrified of the Hulk again, after ending on good terms with him in the Immortal Hulk. I’ve grown a bit tired of how superhero comics tend to resort to a cyclic pattern where the writers undo the progress from the last arc. That said, it was softened by learning that Banner has transformed the Hulk into a “starship” via a combination of technology and magic that allows Banner to be the dominate concisousness that “pilots” the Hulk’s body and traps the Hulk deeper in Banner’s mind to be an “engine” that maintains Banner’s transformation, via making him fight various imagined enemies (the Marvel Zombies callback was my favorite). This arc is more of a traditional superhero story, or perhaps more of an antihero story, than the Immortal Hulk, because there’s a lot more focus on bombastic fights and violence as Banner is trying to escape to another dimension. Banner is certain that it’s only a matter of time before a disaster repeats, something happened in El Paso that’s dangled as the mystery of this arc, so he fights anyone and anything to get off Earth.

Let’s Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan

I hadn’t heard of a comic book cookbook before, so I had to check this out. The art style reminded me of watercolors, so it presented the recipes in a soothing way that made them not feel intimidating. That’s very important when the author is teaching you how to make homemade noodles and quarts of broth. All of the recipes were written in a concise way that helped make them feel possible, instead of recipes you swear you’ll try “someday.” I also appreciated the historical information about how ramen came to be.