Weekend Shorts - Middle Song by Thomas Ha

Name - Middle Song 

Written by - Thomas Ha

Published on - Bourbon Penn April 2026 (issue 38)

After being thoroughly impressed by 'In My Country', I was quite eagerly waiting to experience something new by Thomas Ha. It was no surprise that I jumped in to read 'Middle Song' after reading about it on Bluesky. And it was so different from what I expected, once again leaving me gasping at his depth of making readers amazed with his storytelling prowess.

The story starts with a group of people coming into a Roadhouse, they are looking for a fugitive and the person who helped him escape. Then Ha uses his unusually evocative style in describing their leader trying to interrogate the people in the place regarding information. Part way into investigation we finally get introduced to the actual main character of the story, "The Captain turns and, for the first time since entering, acknowledges me, standing there, behind the bar. Their type rarely looks at service people unless given reason, and I guess this finally provides that reason."

Then the real tale finally begins to unfold through his narration; we get into the backstory of the world and its people. We slowly learn about the patron of the joint, and about how he became like he currently is. In between dispersed the origin of the 'manuatons', of the struggles of the native population and the story of the mysterious magus.

Finally, the story once again changes direction, more layers are peeled away, revealing things like the futile cruelty in trying to mold our offspring into our image or showing due sympathy to those in need among other interesting bits to offer. There is another beautiful little piece towards the end describing the true essence of the story, 

"A father tells his child, I’ll find a way to live forever.

A child tells their father, I’ll bury you dead.

But the truth’s somewhere in the middle, as with all things, I hate to say."

Well, that was another very enjoyable short story by Thomas Ha, of whom I am slowly becoming a fan. I wish once again that I had the chance to spend more time in this world or the story to be longer than it was. I feel the need to read more stuff by him as soon as possible. At this point I am thinking of stopping all I am currently reading and jumping into his short story collection 'Uncertain Sons and Other Stories' right now.

This gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

Video Game Music review - Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Original Soundtrack

Album Name - Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Original Soundtrack

Released On - June 3, 2026

Composed By - Philip Joe, Hideki "sha-v" Asanaka, Naoki Kita, Minori Sasaki, Yu Shimoda, Mayuko Hino, Fuga Yamahata, Akira Sakamoto, Rei Wako, Yoko Shimomura

Recording Studio- ODEN STUDIO

Lyrics By - Philip Joe

Published By - SNK

Fighting games usually have mostly rock music as character background music, which is mixed with various other genres including hip-hop, pop, and dance music including various other genres. City of the Wolf follows this trend in incorporating a vast range of influences to create a mixture of a plethora of genre jumble. While trying to be comprehensive in the selection of almost all tracks and sound, the constant DLCs with new characters and some copyrighted music make this impossible.

The soundtrack is structured quite adequately within its two discs with both discs having characters BGM in the first half followed by other musics for the game neatly arranged. The album starts with the main theme 'Chain Reaction' an appropriately charged rock track readily setting the mood for what's to follow. The BGM tracks that follow are quite neatly arranged per characters with disc one focusing on the main cast and disc two featuring many of the DLC characters' BGM.

The album has enough variations for everyone, with primary focus on rock and dance music. I liked the jazz influences dispersed throughout the album giving it a different kind of edge. There is a distinct lack of vocals in the songs, only present in the title song and 'Blue Mary's BLUES', which are some of the highlights. I wish more were used. The character themes are mostly appropriate and some are even quite nostalgic reminding listeners of the classic games.

I hope there will be a future extension album or an upgraded one after the DLCs are complete, because there are some really cool tracks missing from this one. And I wish the album was a bit more rock influenced as I am rather fond of the genre. Also, some more jazzy tracks and use of vocals in more songs wouldn't have hurt either.

Notable tracks - 'Chain Reaction', 'Young Blood', 'Reminiscence', 'N.D.R', 'End of the Last Nightmare', 'Pass It!', 'Theme of Ken/Ryu/Chun-li', 'Blue Mary's BLUES' & 'f You Gaze at Reality' among others.

Overall Score  - "7.5 out of 10" 

New Book Review - Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito

Name - Uncanny: The Origins of Fear

Written by - Junji Ito

Translated by - Jocelyne Allen

Published by - Viz Media LLC

First things first, I got this book from Edelweiss as an ARC, so thank you Edelweiss and Viz Media LLC for this opportunity.

It really is a joy to get under the skin of a creative mind, getting to learn how that brain of their works, seeing what influenced to create their masterpieces, and most of learning about their life and knowing that they are as normal an individual as us in many aspects. 'Uncanny: The Origins of Fear' is such a deep dive into the mind of one of the greatest horror manga artists ever, and it is very enjoyable.

The book has a gorgeous layout with many drawings and layouts from the mangaka, as well as some interesting bits of his life, from his early childhood up to his struggles to make a living, then finally turning into a full-time creator of mangas. It is not an easy path being one of the best, especially when you also have to learn enough to make it all matter, and it is also amazing to see how Junji Ito's mind works in deciphering meaning and ideas out of his everyday experiences.

The author divided the whole thing into five carefully thought out chapters. The first two work like an autobiography, with details from his childhood, his initial work as a dental technician, all the whole trying to write and draw mangas, to finally his breakout into the manga world slowly through his sheer determination and creativity. The most interesting part about these first two chapters is the fact how Ito writes about his various influences and how these moulded him; I really loved this because I am not very learned in Japanese manga history. I gained lots of recommendations from this section to enrich my TBR pile.

Sadly for those who hadn't read much work of Junji Ito, the last three chapters delve into spoiler filled territory, as Ito delves deep into his creation process through numerous examples of his works. These three deal with his exploration of how he gets his ideas, to his points of view and inspiration about some iconic characters he created, ending the last chapter by going into a detailed glimpse into his drawing process with some delightful arts on display.

As a non-fiction book, this was quite enjoyable. This should cater especially to the taste of readers who are already his fans. But that doesn't mean there isn't enough to enjoy for casual readers of him or the people just starting to get into his work. The drawings throughout the book are honestly enough for any enthusiast of manga to collect this one.

A resounding 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

Weekend Shorts - Every Child a Changeling by Samantha Pellegrino

Name - Every Child a Changeling 
Written by - Samatha Pellegrino 
Published by - Strange Horizons (August 3, 2026)

That was a fun read. Pellegrino took the difficulties of first experience at motherhood and the trials of being a single parent and incorporated a dark fantasy setting into it, while also hinting at the concept of how being different and not easily understandable gets someone turned into an outcast.

This is a tale of a new mother whose newborn daughter is swapped for a changeling boy, and details her struggles in nurturing the boy while also dealing with the people around her, blaming it on her carelessness. We just learned that new motherhood is always tough in any situation, especially if you are a single mother.

The prose was simple and fun to read, without attempts at over stuffing it with lyrical prose or unnecessary styling. The small number of characters that were present felt realistic and natural.

But, in the end, the story wasn't anything that hadn't been done before, and it was quite predictable from the beginning which direction it would take.

I will give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.

New Book Review - The Summer War by Naomi Novic

Name - The Summer War

Written by - Naomi Novik

Narrated by - Ella Lynch 

Published by - Del Rey / Penguin

Audiobook by - Random House Audio

Telling a story in the vain of classic fairy tales is more easily said than done. And Novik did a brilliant job of pulling off a layer of mesmerizing prose; the first two thirds of the book flowed so brilliantly with its richly imagined little setting and the trio of siblings with their individual voices. But the last third and the ending were just worked out a little awkwardly, leaving me wondering if the author could have maybe taken things in a different direction for a better closure.

Naomi Novik is a well-known writer in fantasy circles, always praised for her beautiful depiction of fairytale-inspired prose and setting. And her fluency in this regard is felt from the beginning. The tale of the centuries-long Summer Wars and our heroine Celia getting caught in it with her family started very engagingly. With emphasis on style rather than substance to tell the story, the author created a fully fleshed heroine and also her two brothers, both unique in their own way.

Celia in her hormone-induced emotional angst curses her oldest brother Argent for never finding love in his life. Then after Argent left, she grew close to her middle brother Roric, who is quite an interesting character in his own right. Then she tries to break the curse, but unfortunately gets caught in the animosity of the two kingdoms herself. 

The story starts with beautiful and lyrical prose, introduces its characters and world brilliantly, but somehow loses momentum towards the end. It changes its direction quite unsuspectingly and gives a rather patched up ending not giving all the characters proper closer. Roric was the best character and surely deserved more time to shine, and Argent, on the other hand, gets a fast and all of a sudden romance shoved in his face and dealt with poorly.

A novella with so much promise that never fully delivered, this gets 3.5 out of 5 stars from me.

New Metal Review - "Nocturnal Visions" by Invictus

Album Name - Nocturnal Visions 

Band Name - Invictus 

Genre - Death Metal

Label - Me Saco un Ojo Records 

Release Date - January 26, 2026

Line Up -

  Toshihiro Seki - vocals, bass

  Haruki Tokutake - drums

  Takehitopsy Seki - vocals, guitars 

I didn't know about Invictus or their previous releases, as my habit of following Asian metal acts has long fallen out of favour. I only decided to check them based on the stuff people were saying on the internet about their strict adherence to the old-school death metal ways. And boy do they perform their duties diligently! Creating an immersive atmosphere to drown listeners into the murky black depth of death metal richness of ages past.

Invictus doesn't try to reinvent the wheel much, rather sticking to the basics of creating tight riffage and passionate growling to express their anger and disgust. The cohesiveness of the band as a unit is quite enviable, each member steadfastly complimenting their peers through their work. There are obvious signs of the band having influences from all over the old death metal bands, ranging from Autopsy to Pestilence and even bits of Bolt Thrower is apparent in their song writing.

The band is comprised of only three members, but doesn't hold them back from delivering an all-encompassing album. The vocalist  cum guitarist Takehitopsy Seki drives the show with his rhythmic and soulful riffs tearing the atmosphere apart and his intensely visceral guttural vocals complementing his passion. Toshihiro Seki delivers a persistent under the surface soundscape with his entrenched bass. And the machine gun like voracious, thrashing and utterly brutal drumming from Haruki Tokutake holds everything together.

At 35 mins length the album is like well honed crushing slab of concentrated death metal goodness. Invictus focuses much more on groovy and memorable hooks and riffs, the sparse guitar solos that are present are short, charged and punchy, never overstays their welcome, neither are overeager to impress with technicality.

It is really hard to try to find highlights among the tracks in the album, as the total works like a compact piece. Following the short intro, the journey starts with dual devastation of 'Abyssal Earth Eradicates' and 'Altar of Devoted Slaughter' with their tight and groovy riffs starting the onslaught which continues on relentlessly. I really liked the short and catchy 'Persecution Madness' and the brooding and heavy 'Wandering Ashdream'. The title track at the end is the true epic, and rather one piece of out of the box thinking, and it really works like a charm. With the purposefully slowed down chunky and hard hitting riffing dragging the listener into the endless depths,the track end with maybe the flashiest guitar solo in the album and immediately made me restart the album from the beginning.

Invictus has truly delivered a masterclass in honoring the golden days of early death metal by creating the almost perfect homage. I just wish it was a bit longer and had a few more pieces like the title track. But this band definitely gained my following from now on.

Overall Score - 

                                 8.5 out of 10.

For more info check out the bands official website and their metal-archives page -

https://invictus3.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Invictus/3540402090   

Weekend Shorts - I Met You on the Train by J.R. Dawson

Name - I Met You on the Train

Written by - J. R. Dawson

Published on - Uncanny Magazine (Issue 68)

Well, I liked this one more than her Hugo nominated short. This one is shorter, packs more of a punch. And lingered for quite some time in my mind despite that short length due to its twisty nature.

This is the story of Jake and Natalie. Jake is a narcissistic man who can turn back time for up to a day and uses this power just so selfishly while narrating the fact. He starts off sounding quite normal but slowly the author makes us realize he is not normal at all, but rather monstrous.

So many desperate emotions are depicted so nicely throughout the prose. There is the obsession, the yearning for being loved, the growing possessiveness, the over-arching ever-growing selfish desire for his own happiness despite the consequences for everyone. This is a cruel tale at the core, but this allegorical story of toxic one-sided love is done quite brilliantly.

It's only 1533 words and free to read. Go, check it out if you like psychotic narrators; you won't regret it.

This gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. Would have given this more if it had something from Natalie's point of view.