Alexander C. Kane

I never knew I needed a heist story that features a dragon who is passionate about Alabama football. Obviously Alexander C. Kane knew and he wrote Dragon Heist to fill the niche. Birdie Binkowitz is a washed up actress who finds herself living back home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, working at her father's general store and is rather bitter about where life has taken her. All that changes when a dragon appears in front of the store seeking help. He wants to pull a heist on another dragon clan and he's determined that Birdie is the one to help him form a team and get the job done.

As I imagine Jim the Dragon would say, this was right good fun ya'll! I haven't read a good heist story in a while and Dragon Heist fit the bill. It reminded me of a classic D&D-style gathering of the party to go on a quest. Add in fun, quirky characters, a genuinely heartwarming story, dragons and hefty dose of humor and you get a great mix that was also laugh out loud funny at times.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Khristine Hvam. She does a great job of bringing the story to life and has a nice singing voice.

The story is completely resolved and currently stands alone yet there's a nice hook left open for the author to write more some day. I hope he does. Roll Tide!… (more)

Humanity stands no chance when insectoid aliens invade Earth, kill untold numbers, and quickly organize survivors into labor camps to strip the planet of its resources. It is Independence Day without a happy ending. But any boots-on-the-ground invasion requires the help of a Quisling to organize the conquered population and resist any insurgency.
The usual approach would be to center the story on members of the heroic resistance. In Scum of the Earth, Alexander Kane instead adopts one of the collaborators as his protagonist. Ezra Barker is a young college graduate with a double major in political science and linguistics. He has no military skills and knows he wouldn’t last long in the mines. But even alien conquerors need office workers, and Ezra finds a cushy slot working for the human administrator of a large hunk of North America. He is just the sort of yes-man who can always make himself useful.
When insurgents kidnap him, he discovers that they are run by the same unscrupulous bureaucrats as the collaborators, and perhaps he can still make himself useful.… (more)

If Alexander Kane were writing about Superman, he would focus on Lois Lane’s hairdresser or a third-string copyboy at The Daily Planet. Andrea Vernon has a college degree that she can’t sell in a world where superheroes and supervillains are drugs on the market. She applies for a job as an executive assistant at the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection, an employment agency for superheroes. The application specifies “no questions”—ever. She finds herself working for a demanding boss and dating a client called The Big Axe. Other clients include The Diamond Rabbi, King Tiger, and Teleporter Joe, whose ability is limited to teleportation only to Roosevelt Island in the East River, where you are liable to experience “teleporter’s diarrhea” if he takes you along. It makes the walk back to Queens uncomfortable. Somebody should adapt this for the Adult Swim channel.… (more)