rachel @ typed truths

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Retired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, adjudicates local disputes, and enjoys watching his adopted daughter grow up.

That is, until his and Jane’s past reaches out to bring them back into the game–as leaders of a new human colony, to be peopled by settlers from all the major human worlds, for a deep political purpose that will put Perry and Sagan back in the thick of interstellar politics, betrayal, and war.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Death of a friend
Explosion
Gun violence
War themes

Lock In by John Scalzi

Lock In by John Scalzi

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent – and nearly five million souls in the United States alone – the disease causes “Lock In”: Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide
Murder
Gun violence
Knife violence & stabbing
Loss of autonomy
Death of a First Nations person

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that: (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & gore depiction
Serious physical injury
Death of a friend
Death of a spouse recounted
Explosions
Gun violence

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry’s service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens.

The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring their youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including a brain-implanted computer. But all too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry must fight for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Blood & gore depiction
Death of a wife recounted
War & colonialism themes

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd

Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs
Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Antisemitism
Paedophilia
Attempted sexual assault
Domestic violence & abuse
Recreational drug use
Blood & gore depiction
Medical experimentation
Dead bodies
Dismemberment
Torture
Imprisonment
Concentration camps
Riots

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland

For the first time the Joker’s origin is revealed in this tale of insanity and human perseverance. Looking to prove that any man can be pushed past his breaking point and go mad, the Joker attempts to drive Commissioner Gordon insane.

After shooting and permanently paralyzing his daughter Barbara (a.k.a. Batgirl), the Joker kidnaps the commissioner and attacks his mind in hopes of breaking the man.

But refusing to give up, Gordon maintains his sanity with the help of Batman in an effort to beset the madman.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Sexual assault
Paralysis
Murder
Torture
Gun violence
Kidnapping

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils … Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Racism
Rape
Paedophilia & incest mentioned
Child abuse
Domestic abuse
Graphic suicide
Self-harm
Recreational drug use
Bullying

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Published as a shilling shocker, Robert Louis Stevenson’s dark psychological fantasy gave birth to the idea of the split personality. The story of respectable Dr Jekyll’s strange association with damnable young man Edward Hyde; the hunt through fog-bound London for a killer; and the final revelation of Hyde’s true identity is a chilling exploration of humanity’s basest capacity for evil.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Alcohol consumption
Body horror
Death of a friend
Murder

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P Manansala

Arsenic & Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties. But when a notoriously nasty food critic ex-boyfriend drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves to an Agatha Christie case.

With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Fatmisia & body shaming
Racism
Domestic violence mentioned
Drug abuse
Police intimidation

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom – and vengeance.

Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.

Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain – except the lengths they will go to win this game.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Physical abuse
Rape mentioned
Blood & gore depiction
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Death of a sibling
Murder
Torture
Police brutality
Imprisonment
Stalking
Loss of autonomy (mind control)
Bullying