Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Idle Ingredients
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.matt-wallace.com/
CITY: Los Angeles
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://us.macmillan.com/author/mattwallace * http://www.matt-wallace.com/the-man-himself/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2016009886
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2016009886
HEADING: Wallace, Matt, 1982-
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046 __ |f 1982-07 |2 edtf
053 _0 |a PS3623.A44353
100 1_ |a Wallace, Matt, |d 1982-
370 __ |a Rio Hondo (Calif.)
370 __ |e Los Angeles (Calif.) |f Bell Gardens (Calif.) |2 naf
372 __ |a Wrestling |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Wrestlers |a Screenwriters |a Television writers |a Authors |2 lcsh
375 __ |a male
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Wallace, Matt. Lustlocked, 2016: |b title page (Matt Wallace) about the author (writes for film and television; retired professional wrestler; lives in Los Angeles)
670 __ |a Matt Wallace WWW site, January 25, 2016: |b About the man himself (born in Rio Hondo, California in 1982; grew up in Bell Gardens; known as One Man Riot Squad as a professional wrestler; civilian combat instructor; screenwriter; writes for television) |u http://www.matt-wallace.com/the-man-himself/a
670 __ |a IMDB, January 25, 2016: |b Matt Wallace (born July 1982)
670 __ |a OCLC, January 25, 2016 |b (headings: Wallace, Matt; usage: Matt Wallace)
PERSONAL
Born 1982, in Rio Hondo, CA.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist. Writer for film and television. Civilian combat instructor. Worked formerly as a professional wrestler.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Matt Wallace is a novelist, film and television writer, civilian combat instructor, and former professional wrestler.
Wallace was born in Rio Hondo, California in 1982 and grew up in Bell Gardens. He began training for wrestling at Doghouse in New York City when he was fifteen, and went professional when he turned seventeen. Wallace has studied catch wrestling, Judo, and FMA. As a civilian combat instructor, he has taught self-defense, close-quarters combat, tactical knife defense, weapon retention, improvised weapons, and Tai Chi. Wallace retired from professional wrestling in 2007 to write full-time. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Envy of Angels
The first in the Sin du Jour series, “Envy of Angels” tells the story of Lena and Darren, high-end chefs who have fallen into a bad favor in the New York City restaurant community. Desperate for work, the two accept a job opportunity presented to them by Byron Luck, the executive chef of catering company, Sin du Jour. We soon learn that Sin du Jour caters to a very specific clientele: monsters. The demons, goblins, and zombies that Sin du Jour serves have very particular tastes, and it is up to Lena, Darren, and the catering company to take fantastical, and often dangerous, adventures to find the necessary ingredients.
The main focus of the book is the stocking and receiving department of the catering company, which is responsible for locating the illusive ingredients. Some requests include a giant praying mantis and, the most difficult to acquire, angel meat.
The reader is introduced to a handful of characters in this series debut. In addition to Lena and Darren, we meet a pastry chef with a passion for rockabilly music, a stoner busboy, and an alcoholic alchemist. The book is written in present tense and the focus bounces between characters. A contributor to Dial H for Houston wrote, “a fun, quick read…[however] the book comes off as a little unfocused.”
Lustlocked
In Lustlocked, Lena and Darren are again approached by Byron Luck, also known as Chef Bronko, who is seeking out their help for a major catering event. The goblin king and queen are planning the wedding of their son to his human bride. The goblins in Lustlocked are beautiful, ethereal beings with a lust for gold and jewels. The king and queen goblins function in the world as humans, depicted as rockstar David Bowie and supermodel wife Iman.
Everything must be perfect for the wedding, and the bride-to-be is worried that she will not be able to meet her new in-laws’ expectations. Sin du Jour’s kitchen witch, Boosha, attempts to help, though her attempts are at times calamitous.
In this book we see more of Lena and Darren’s relationship, with Lena taking on a maternal peacekeeper role to Darren’s anxious self-doubting. Wallace writes about the adventures the characters have as they try to procure the necessary ingredients, as well as how they are able to retrieve the necessary gold and jewels to fill the goblins’ appetites.
Pride's Spell
In Pride’s Spell, Lena and Darren are given a catering opportunity that is much tamer than the ones they had received in previous books. Chef Bronko invites them to join him and a small crew to fly out to California and prepare a magnificent feast for a Hollywood movie premiere. Most of Chef Bronko’s staff will stay behind, attending to the monster catering business in New York.
Lena and Darren recognize this opportunity as both an honor and a test. Chef Bronko is inviting them to see if they can handle the pressure and load of such an important job. The story gets chaotic when the New York team is ambushed by a violent, monstrous gang. At the same time, the movie premiere team is discovering that they were not prepared for how cut-throat Hollywood can be.
A contributor to the Biblio Sanctum noted, “in between all the cooking and fighting, we’re also seeing glimpses of who all these characters are on a deeper level.” The relationship dynamics of the kitchen team are further fleshed out in this installment. The reader learns more about each character’s personality, background, and quirks. Additionally, a more focused lens is placed on the stocking and receiving team.
Idle Ingredients
In this fourth installment in the “Envy of Angels” series, the characters are still recovering from the events in Pride’s Spell. Lena has not left her apartment in a month, and only does so when Chef Bronko warns her that the danger that nearly took her life, and all of the Sin du Jour staffs’, is still at large. She is pulled on to work an event for one of the presidential hopefuls running in the presidential race of the secret government of the supernatural community that Sin du Jour serves.
The coordinator of the event, Luciana Monrovio, immediately causes tension in the crew. She undermines Chef Bronko and puts the crew members’ lives in danger. Lena must step in to fight for the survival of herself and the Sin du Jour team. A contributor to the New York Journal of Books described Idle Ingredients as “a perfect pivot point in the seven book series, foreshadowing a darker, more intense direction for the remaining novellas.”
Greedy Pigs
Greedy Pigs picks up where Idle Ingredients left off, with the catering crew preparing for the celebration of new president-elect Enzo Consone of the supernatural government, for whom they have catered before. The theme of the inaugural dinner is pork, and the crew heads to the Virginia woods to seek out ingredients. En route, half of the team gets lost and finds themselves headed toward Washington DC, to the United States presidential inauguration. While there, they discover a secret about the nature of the United States government.
Back at the supernatural inauguration, the monster government is under attack, and the Sin du Jour crew must act to save the government and their own lives. Howard Morhaim Song in Publishers Weekly wrote, “Wallace’s imagination is boundless, and his wryly funny storytelling manages to be heartfelt and completely gonzo at the same time.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly August 24, 2015, Envy of Angels, p. 66; December 14, 2015, Lustlocked, p. 64; December 12, 2016, review of Idle Ingredients, p. 129; March 27, 2017, review of Greedy Pigs, p. 85.
ONLINE
Biblio Sanctum, https://bibliosanctum.com (June 17, 2016), review of Pride’s Spell.
Dial H for Houston, https://dialhforhouston.wordpress.com (September 26, 2017), review of Envy of Angels.
New York Journal of Books, http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/ (October 21, 2017), Jake Bible, review of Idle Ingredients.
SF Bluestocking, https://sfbluestocking.com (June 20, 2016) review of Pride’s Spell.
Stitch’s Media Mix https://stitchmediamix.com (January 28, 2016), review of Lustlocked; (May 16, 2017), review of Greedy Pigs.
HOMELIVE APPEARANCESMATT WALLACE’S SIN DU JOUR SERIESABOUT THE MAN HIMSELFSLINGERS
About The Man Himself
Here’s the thing.
Most every author biography you find on an author’s website is bullshit, and I’ll explain why.
Generally these author bios are written in the third person, like a press release. Yet with very, very few exceptions that bio is always written by the author themselves. I’ve had to write my bio dozens of times by this point, and I’ve always done it that way. Every single time I feel like a dishonest, pretentious asshole writing about myself in the third person when we all know damn well it’s me doing it.
Some call this practice a form of professionalism.
I call it illusory, self-aggrandizing, self-important bullshit.
So I’m just not going to do it anymore.
My name is Matt Wallace. I’m writing this bio, it’s about me, and if it’s all the same to you I’ll do it like a relatively normal human being attempting to communicate with another relatively normal human being.
I was born in Rio Hondo, California in 1982 and grew up in Bell Gardens (once a BG’er, always a BG’er). For ten years I was a professional wrestler. I trained in New York City at the infamous Doghouse at the age of fifteen and worked all over North America after turning pro at the age of seventeen. I was known as The One Man Riot Squad, The One Man Riot, or Deacon Riot (as one-half of the tag team The Legion Knights, and later during the last leg of my singles career as “The Messiah of Professional Wrestling”).
I never made it beyond the indies, but I gained a whole lot of life experience.
“Life experience” may be the wrong term.
I spent a lot of downtime in those years collecting rejection letters from fiction magazines and studying martial arts in the forms of catch wrestling, Judo, FMA, and anything else I could pick up. Not wanting to starve to death I became a civilian combat instructor. I’ve taught self-defense, close-quarters combat, tactical knife defense, weapon retention, improvised weapons, and many other things to military, law enforcement, and private security.
I’ve also taught Tai Chi to senior citizens. True story.
I retired from all of that (mostly) in 2007 to write full-time. I divide that time with wildly varying degrees of evenness between screenwriting and prose. I’ve written north of one hundred short stories, many of which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies and a couple of which have won some awards. My first book, The Next Fix, was published in 2008 to a sparse din among otherwise oppressive and universal silence. My novel The Failed Cities, which began as a serialized podcast, was released digitally at the end of 2012 and published as a limited edition hardcover by The House of Murky Depths in 2013.
I’ve scripted every type of content intended for the screen known to lifekind, beginning with adapting several of my own stories into screenplays. I’ve written for the award-winning Illusion TV series Stranger Things, the animated series Nanovor, and most recently the Young Hollywood entertainment series Evolution Of. I’ve also written commercials, instructional videos, and electronic press kit content for films such as Taken 2 and A Good Day to Die Hard.
Whether you want to call me a blogger, an essayist, an author of opinion, or one more trolling d-bag on the internet, I also write a lot of non-fiction and post it on-line. That’s what this whole website is about, in fact.
I now live and work in Los Angeles. I write television, I try to write movies, and while I’m doing that I release my own fiction to a select but always fervent audience.
I’m just a working writer. I like to tell stories, I like to pay rent, and whenever I can do both at the same time I call my day a win.
© 2015, Matt Wallace.Cirrus Theme Powered by WordPress
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Print Marked Items
Idle Ingredients
Publishers Weekly.
263.51 (Dec. 12, 2016): p129.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Idle Ingredients
Matt Wallace. Tor.com, $2.99 e-book (140p)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9002-8
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
After the terrifying events of Pride's Spell, the Sin du Jour gang (New York-based caterers to the supernatural), and
especially Lena Tarr, are still reeling. In fact, it's been over a month since Lena left the apartment she shared with her
friend Darren and took a job at a diner called the Ugly Quesadilla. When Sin du Jour's head honcho, Bronko Luck,
tracks her down and tells her that she and all of the Sin du Jour gang are still in danger, she reluctantly returns.
Meanwhile, the Sceadu, a shadow government for the supernatural community, is choosing a new president, and Sin du
Jour has been hired to cater an event for one presidential hopeful. When prickly new coordinator Luciana Monrovio
steps in and Jett Hollinshead is pushed out, Lena starts noticing the crew acting very strangely around Luciana. It's time
to get back in the game, even if it kills her. This story is darker and a bit more serious than previous installments.
Wallace's imagination is still as wonderfully twisted as ever, and the cliff-hanger ending will have fans eager for more.
Agent: Dong Won Song, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Idle Ingredients." Publishers Weekly, 12 Dec. 2016, p. 129. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475225066&it=r&asid=cb50b6944971aef689aa52acb6ffeecb.
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Greedy Pigs: A Sin Du Jour Affair
Publishers Weekly.
264.13 (Mar. 27, 2017): p85.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Greedy Pigs: A Sin Du Jour Affair
MattWallace.Tor.com, $2.99 e-book (224p)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9319-7
In the fun fifth novella featuring Sin du Jour, these caterers to the otherworldly are preparing for the inauguration of
Enzo Consone, the president-elect of the Sceadu, the supernatural governing body. It's going to be a great big party with
an all-pork theme. The team is ready to get back to normal after the male members of the crew were struck by a lust
spell in Pride's Spell, but chef Lena Tarr's best friend, Darren Vargas, who has been trying to conquer his debilitating
fear, is acting strangely. When the team members get separated en route to the Virginia woods, Lena and head chef
Bronko's half of the crew is diverted to the D.C. inauguration of the U.S. president. The others scramble to make do, but
things inevitably go poorly in Virginia, and sweet-natured baker Nikki must step up to save the day. In D.C., Lena
discovers the outrageous truth behind the American presidency, a twist that hits uncomfortably close to home; a cameo
from the outgoing president is a poignant, bittersweet touch. Wallace's imagination is boundless, and his wryly funny
storytelling manages to be heartfelt and completely gonzo at the same time. Agent: Dong Won Song, Howard Morhaim
Literary. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Greedy Pigs: A Sin Du Jour Affair." Publishers Weekly, 27 Mar. 2017, p. 85. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA487928143&it=r&asid=05b40dd72c2d24d646d32e6c691f541f.
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Lustlocked
Publishers Weekly.
262.51 (Dec. 14, 2015): p64.
COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Lustlocked
Matt Wallace. Tor.com, $12.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-7653-8778-3
The Sin du Jour gang of magic-wielding culinary artists is preparing to cater the wedding of the year, and Lena Tarr and
Darren Vargas, still reeling from the events of Envy of Angels, have been offered contracts to continue working for the
famous executive chef Byron "Bronko" Luck. It's an offer they can't afford to resist. The goblin king and queen are
planning the wedding of their son and his human fiance, and nothing less than perfection will do. These "aren't Lord of
the Rings goblins," as Lena puts it; they're ethereally beautiful, and the king and queen moonlight in the human world as
a rock star and a supermodel, respectively. (Their human aliases aren't given to the reader, but clues make it obvious
exactly who they are.) The lovely bride is worried about impressing her in-laws, and Sin du Jour's resident witch,
Boosha, attempts to help, with disastrous and frequently hilarious results. Also included is a slyly poignant bonus story
about how the choicest delicacies--namely gold and jewels, which goblins eagerly consume--are procured for the
wedding feast. Magic and humor combine with delicious results in this unusual, wildly fun novella. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Lustlocked." Publishers Weekly, 14 Dec. 2015, p. 64+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA438290178&it=r&asid=806926202730ab9651361442ea8be894.
Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A438290178
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Envy of Angels
Publishers Weekly.
262.34 (Aug. 24, 2015): p66.
COPYRIGHT 2015 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Envy of Angels
Matt Wallace. Tor.com, $12.99 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-7653-8528-4
Culinary hi jinks are taken to the extreme in this entertaining novella by Wallace (the Slingers Saga). Lena and Darren
are chefs who have been blackballed in the high-end restaurant community, so when they get a call from Byron Luck,
the executive chef of catering company Sin du Jour, requesting their services, they jump at the chance. They soon find
out, however, that Sin du Jour is no ordinary catering company, and their clients are downright devilish. They've been
hired to help cater an event for some very dangerous entities, and the main course is fittingly over-the-top. Quite a bit is
packed into this short read, including warring demon clans, angels, zombie clowns, and even some sneaky commentary
on consumer culture, topped with a healthy helping of satire. The fast pace and quirky characters make for a zippy read,
and there's a clever twist at the end that will leave readers grinning and hoping for more stories featuring the Sin du Jour
gang. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Envy of Angels." Publishers Weekly, 24 Aug. 2015, p. 66. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA427301519&it=r&asid=01ac53044c129bb8759eab0a96f1f9e0.
Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A427301519
"You're not safe out on your own right now," Bronko tells her. "None of us are."
That is the tone set in Matt Wallace's fourth entry into his Sin Du Jour novella series, a series centered around the Sin Du Jour Catering & Events company that services the paranormal, supernatural, cryptozoological, mythical, and less than human elements of the world. They are called upon to cater events for goblins, demons, and even the producer elite of Hollywood. They do so with professional aplomb while usually having to defend themselves against magic and otherworldly encounters gone wrong. Totally normal for a catering service out of Long Island.
In Idle Ingredients, the Sin Du Jour staff has just come off the events in the previous novella, Pride's Spell, events that almost led to the deaths of every single one of them. Deaths ordered by Hell itself. Disillusioned, afraid for the future, and afraid for themselves, the staff is forced to go on the defensive and take on a new executive liaison sent from their coordinator in the shadow government, a liaison that quickly undermines Head Chef Bronko Luck's authority and takes control in a most deadly way.
Part of Wallace's appeal is his ability to write likable and unlikeable characters and set them side by side without forcing the reader to choose sides. Whether the reader likes them or not, they are guaranteed to entertain. Each character in the series is a perfectly fleshed out individual that helps to emphasis Wallace's sense of satire and wit without becoming over the top caricatures that sometimes fill lesser works of humor.
Filled with the same great mix of humor, action, violence, adventure, and foreboding as the first three entries, Idle Ingredients is the perfect pivot point in the seven book series, foreshadowing a darker, more intense direction for the remaining novellas. Each of the main characters, and supporting characters, are given time in Idle Ingredients, so that whatever plans Wallace has for the final three books, they are sure to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride. While nothing explicitly was nodded towards, do not expect every one of the entertaining personalities to make it all the way to the end.
If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the first three books, do so. An ebook bundle has been announced, making it easier to access the series, but they are also available individually in print and ebook format. All of the entries into the Sin Du Jour series are well worth the time and should be read from the beginning as each builds perfectly upon the other. Get started immediately.
Urban Fantasy, as a genre, tends to be a little more … cross pollinated than other genres. This is kind of a necessity, as if you didn’t start mashing up various ideas and tropes, it’d be just … fantasy. The standard model is basically ‘Noir + Magic,’ as seen in The Dresden Files or countless imitators. Or sometimes it’s more explicitly ‘Magic + Sexytimes’ as in Laurell K. Hamilton’s stuff. Or maybe it’s even ‘Magic + Nerd Shit’ as seen Annie Bellet’s Twenty Sided Sorceress series.
envyofangels_final_hires
And here, in Envy of Angels, Matt Wallace mashes up ‘Magic + Food,’ and it makes me wonder why nobody thought of it before. I mean, even monsters gotta eat, right? So when Tor.com was giving out the Envy of Angels ebook for free, I scooped it right up.
Envy of Angels is the first in Matt Wallace’s ‘Sin Du Jour’ series. It centers around the titular Sin du Jour– a catering company that specializes in a very specific clientele: monsters. As one can imagine, your typical demon or goblin has some very specific tastes, requiring some very specific ingredients that only the Sin du Jour crew can provide. And when the caterers get a request to serve angel meat at a banquet, things get understandably complicated. ‘Settle kitchen disputes with knife fights’ complicated. Though some non-monster kitchens may work along the same principles, so … accuracy there?
Envy of Angels is a fun, quick read– I devoured it over the course of a slow afternoon at work (don’t tell my boss). However, the book has the vague ‘pilot episode’ feel as the first work in a series. As it starts, the book feels like it’s going to center on Lena and Darren, two chefs who’ve been blacklisted in the New York culinary scene, only to wind up as the viewpoint characters into the insanity of Sin du Jour. However, the POV soon shifts all over the place from there, highlighting a good dozen or more different characters and viewpoints, which makes the book feel a bit crowded. To be fair, Wallace presents us with a ton of quirky characters, from the rockabilly-girl pastry chef to the stoner-zen busboy to the alcoholic Irish alchemist (there’s a tongue twister for you) to name just a few. The thing is, Wallace only gives us glimpses of most of them, so the book comes off as a little unfocused.
A good chunk of the novella is devoted to Sin du Jour’s Stocking & Recieving team. They’re a commando-esque bunch of badasses who are responsible for acquiring the most exotic ingredients– especially the sort of ingredients that tend to bite back. These bits feel the most like ‘traditional’ urban fantasy, or, perhaps more accurately, there’s a vague tabletop gaming feel to it. Kind of like Shadowrun with more chef’s knives. This is also where the book gets the silliest, as the S&R commandos wind up on an adventure that pits them against a giant chicken and a horde of fast-food zombie clowns. It … sort of makes sense in context. Sort of.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, Envy of Angels is a silly book. While not an outright comedy, it’s still pretty light in tone. And despite the blood and knives and monsters and such, things never get really gruesome, so I couldn’t quite stick the ‘horror’ label on it. I mean, hell, Wallace makes a joke (not to mention a plot point) about how angel meat tastes like chicken. The whole series is also written in the present tense, which on the one hand helps to give the book a rather zippy pace, but it’s also one of those stylistic choices that takes some getting used to. Really though, the worst thing I could say about Envy of Angels is that Wallace never made me particularly hungry with his descriptions of food– which is probably a good thing when angel is on the menu, but still.
I’ve never worked in a restaurant kitchen (or even in a restaurant at all), but I still enjoyed reading Envy of Angels. I imagine anybody who’s said “Yes Chef” in all seriousness would get an even bigger kick out of it. Envy of Angels is kind of like a fancy hipster taco: a fun, light combination of some flavors you wouldn’t have thought of putting together, but nothing transcendentally brilliant. But hey, sometimes hipster tacos are worth telling your friends about, right?
And I guess that’s why we’re here.
[Book Review] Lustlocked: A Sin du Jour Affair
Posted on January 28, 2016 by Zina
LUSTLOCKEDCOVER
Title: Lustlocked: A Sin du Jour Affair
Author: Matt Wallace
Rating: So Freaking Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Urban Fantasy, Fae & Faries
Release Date: January 26, 2016
Publisher: Tor
Order Here: AMAZON | AMAZON (KINDLE) | BARNES AND NOBLE
It’s officially tradition for me to be tipsy when I review the awesome Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour stories. I started that tradition back in October when I picked up Envy of Angels during a half-drunken stress-shopping run. It was so worth it.
Fast forward to last Tuesday when my kindle sent me a notification letting me know that Lustlocked was ready for me to read on my kindle. I started making high pitched noises then and I haven’t stopped yet. Yes, I am making high pitched noises in between swigs from my delicious Strongbow cider and somehow I haven’t choked yet.
Lustlocked is amazing from the opening pages where we’re reintroduced to Moon and the other members of Sin du Jour’s stocking and receiving department. I really love how Matt sets the stage with this part of the crew.
Back in Envy of Angels, he introduced us to Moon, Cindy, and Ritter in a similarly amazing fashion. Last time, it was Ritter against a giant praying mantis with intense maternal instincts. This time, it’s the team against a group of soldiers who think that they can take what they want, whenever they want.
Obviously, that doesn’t go well for them.
I really love the mood of the opening chapter. Like… It’s my thing.
But then we see my wife Lena and Darren and they’re just precious and perfect. I loved Lena to bits last book. She was 100% the kind of actually strong female character that I love (although Matt really has created some of the best female characters I’ve seen in urban fantasy in recent years so I love all of his characters omg). But yes, Lena and Darren are adorable and I love them.
I love how broke they are, how Lena kind of moms Darren the way that only a dedicated bestie can and will. I love that she wants to protect him. Their relatiosnship is so beautiful that I want to hug them. I love that Darren wakes up a hot ass mess and it’s endearing to the reader and (obviously) to Lena. Gosh.
So yeah, okay. The plot of the novella revolves around the marriage of a gobin prince (the son of the goblin king) gone wrong and sort of lizardy. The Sin du Jour crew is tasked with catering the wedding of these goblins. What’s cool is that Matt takes the common perception of goblins (as ugly creatures that eat babies and are generally awful) and flips it on its side.
His goblins?
Are pretty.
Super pretty.
And The Goblin King? Well he’s someone that played him in a movie.
I’m talking about David Bowie.
Yes, that David Bowie.
For real.
I have mixed feelings about David Bowie as a human being, but David Bowie as a character in my favorite book series that also happens to be a real life Goblin King? I like him. I like him a lot. I also like the idea of using him as a character and I think that it’s going to be great for people who were fans of David Bowie and are still mourning him in their own way.
And okay –
The idea that he and Iman have essentially been rendered immortal by this book just gives me a good feeling.
Okay and um –
I ship a lot of things. I’m a shipper. It’s what I do. But I really really ship Lena and Ritter. It’s intense, yo. I just wanted to mention that. Regardless of what actually happens in Lustlocked, I ship the hell out of them still.
I also want to mention how much I just love the characters in this freaking series. I have never felt so much for characters so soon. Like, I pre-ordered this book from back in October because the characters were amazing. I mean, I liked almost all of them immediately and intensely. Even the ones I could probably push down a hill without guilt are still amazing. I love them.
Okay
Also –
The ending
What the fucking fuck.
Seriously, I almost screamed while reading those last two words. That was not how I was expecting things to go. I’m like… a mess right now.
Lustlocked is a good book. More than that, it’s a GREAT book. I didn’t spoil as much as I wanted to because I need you all to read this book. I need you all to go and read Envy of Angels and then Lustlocked, and then fall in love with Matt Wallace’s characters. They’re so human even when they’re not human. I love every aspect of this book. Even the ending that has me screaming. The wedding is amazing. The lustful lizards are… weird. And all of my favorite characters come out swinging.
The book also comes with the short Small Wars which was up on Tor.com for people to read a week or two ago and sold as an individual ebook. This explains what lengths the crew went to in order to get their hands on Welsh gold for the goblins’ wedding party and shows us the history of several of the characters and what led them to Sin du Jour.
It’s also good.
Really good.
Even though at one point I put my kindle down, looked up at the sky, and asked, “What the fuck is wrong with Moon?” after one particular moment. Because after that, I got way more insight into Moon and I actually found myself sad on his behalf. Actually, if you don’t feel something by the end of Small Wars, I don’t know what to say to you. Because it gets you right in the gut and it’s a seriously thinky short story.
Now —
How am I going to survive the time until the next Sin du Jour novella or short story comes out?
[Book Review] Greedy Pigs (A Sin du Jour Affair #5) by Matt Wallace
Posted on May 16, 2017 by Zina
Greedy Pigs Cover
Title: Greedy Pigs (A Sin du Jour Affair #5)
Authors: Matt Wallace (Twitter)
Rating: So Funny I’m Gonna Die, So Highly Freaking Recommended
Genre/Category: Politics, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Food
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Publisher: Tor.Com Publishing
Order Here: BARNES AND NOBLE | AMAZON (KINDLE)
Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Me being me, tha’s basically the only kind of review I do. There are so many spoilers. But also… not enough spoilers.
SYNOPSIS
The Sin du Jour crew caters to the Shadow Government in Greedy Pigs, Matt Wallace’s fifth Sin du Jour Affair
“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”
Politics is a dirty game. When the team at Sin du Jour accidentally caters a meal for the President of the United States and his entourage, they discover a conspiracy that has been in place since before living memory. Meanwhile, the Shadow Government that oversees the co-existence of the natural and supernatural worlds is under threat from the most unlikely of sources.
It’s up to one member of the Sin du Jour staff to prevent war on an unimaginable scale.
Between courses, naturally.
REVIEW
Holy fucking shit.
That was my reaction to both starting and finishing Greedy Pigs and I’m sure it’ll be yours too!
If you’re new to my semi-sober reviews of Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series, you should know that he never fails to deliver the big blows and some major WTF moments in every single book of the series. Greedy Pigs isn’t an exception and like the previous four books in the series, it had me all kinds of fucked up at the end.
And at the middle.
Hell, at the start.
Okay so if you’re a bit late to the game, let me catch you up a bit before we talk about Greedy Pigs. Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series is an Urban Fantasy powerhouse that revolves around an ensemble cast of characters that cater (literally cater, this is freaky fantasy food service, folks) to the supernatural beings that live in – and often control – our world. For the most part, they’re treated the way that caterers and chefs are treated: as invisible and inconsequential to the people with power, but lately, they’ve been subject to the attention of some pretty awful figures. I don’t want to spoil more beyond that because I’m hoping that the uninitiated take the time to buy the series, so that’s gonna have to be it for a recap.
So let’s get started!
We’ve covered that Matt is #writinggoals for me right?
That’s never going to change.
Part of it is that he has this amazing talent for worldbuilding without info dumping and holy shit does he bring some amazingly epic worldbuilding to the table throughout this book. There are a bunch of questions that I had left over, not just from the previous book Idle Ingredients, but from theories and notes that I’d developed throughout reading the series.
Like occasionally I’m legit pissed about the fact that there doesn’t appear to be a fandom for this fantastic series because sometimes, all I want to do is talk about my SdJ theories with like-minded folks (but then I look at my latest fandom experiences and kind of… resign myself to being a SdJ super-fan in relative anonymity).
Greedy Pigs answers and/or resolves a bunch of theories that I had. I’d had questions about Lena’s role in the future of the series and of Sin du Jour and that sure as hell got answers. Same goes for Ritter’s backstory (y’all can’t see me but I am making SUCH a face right now because of Ritter). And if you ever wanted a little glimpse at what other supernatural figures live in New York – sometimes literally right under our feet (I say as if I’m not in Miami) – you’re gonna get that glimpse and more.
Also like… the plot for Greedy Pigs was so tight, y’all. It picks up pretty soon after Idle Ingredients so the characters are still dealing with the fallout from the whole book (but especially the last bit with Ritter and they don’t even know that they’re dealing with that shit until it’s too late). But it’s all clearly connected and you need to have read the previous books to pick up on details you would otherwise miss that bookend the big ones that you couldn’t have missed.
Greedy Pigs is fucked up but like… in a good way. Like I’m having “this book is about cannibalism” kinds of fucked up fun but WITHOUT the cannibalism. It’s so good. It’s so dark. I mean we’re at a serious turning point for the Sin du Jour crew in this book and shit goes sideways so fast that your head will spin.
There’s a part around one of the two inaugurations in this book (I’m not going to tell you which one) where I had to put my kindle down and like stare at my ceiling for a bit because it couldn’t possibly have happened. And then I read the scene two more times because it would explain so much about the state of current United States politics.
That’s another thing about Greedy Pigs that I loved: it feels like we’re taking a secret peak at a world within our own that we weren’t supposed to get!
Back in book two (Lustlocked), Matt wrote David Bowie as the real life actual Goblin King. (Yes, I bring this up every time I review a Sin du Jour book but I’m still not over this.) Like it wasn’t a role he was playing. He was the flipping king of the goblins – who all conveniently are Hollywood’s best and prettiest, by the way. Since this book takes place across two separate (but connected) inaugurations, you can only guess who rears their ugly orange head.
What you probably can’t guess – and what I won’t be spoiling for you – is what happens next.
I love urban fantasy where it feels like it’s our world but weirder. LOVE IT!
And that’s what Matt brings to the table with Greedy Pigs.
Except somehow, the politics in this series might be more fucked up than the politics in our world. For now…
Now it’s not a Stitch review if I don’t talk about relationships so let’s get into that:
First things first, my ship has sunk.
Which ship? Maybe all of them at this point now that I think of it. Of course my OTP me/(Lena, Jett, or Cindy) wasn’t happening but I mean… I had hope. I had so much hope.
But the kicker when it comes to sunken ships is… well it’s a huge fucking spoiler but I’m in my feels about this so just… deal:
I literally can’t see a way for this series to end with Lena and Ritter together. He fucked all the way up and, as a result, put everyone (but especially Darren) in the path of some truly awful shit. I get his motivations and I’m not writing him off as an asshole because of the choices he made (because honestly… I can’t say that I wouldn’t have made them in his shoes, but like…
Lena’s family is basically just Darren and maybe sort of the crew at Sin du Jour and Ritter fucked that all up. All of it. Like… when I realized what Ritter made possible and how he fucked everything up for his crew but also and especially Lena and Darren…
Wow.
Ritter has been my book boyfriend since Envy of Angels but now… I think we need to see other people. At least until he redeems himself in Lena’s eyes (provided that the effort doesn’t kill him).
On top of that, Lena and Darren’s relationship goes from fragile to fractured. Like it’s not either of their faults (this is why I’m SO MAD at Ritter) and Darren probably doesn’t even realize what’s going on but basically every time he was in a scene after a certain point, I wanted to ugly cry because he’s my baby.
The good news, when it comes to relationships, is that I might be okay with Dorsky having one now. I mean he’s not perfect but he’s trying and okay he had a REALLY cute moment with Nikki and while I don’t think I ship it yet… I could.
Now folks, while I may not be sure if I want to live in the weird world of the Sin du Jour series, Greedy Pigs makes it crystal clear that maybe, just maybe, we’re already there. And that’s what makes Greedy Pigs such a fantastic read.
GO BUY THIS BOOK!!
Pride's SpellPride’s Spell by Matt Wallace
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book 3 of Sin du Jour
Publisher: Tor.com (June 21, 2016)
Length: 240 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Pride’s Spell is the third installment of Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series of novellas starring the ragtag crew of New York’s most exclusive kitchen and catering company. While these books can work perfectly fine as stand-alones, I was delighted to read this one and discover multiple overarching story threads and character paths finally coming together to form a larger picture.
Most of NYC’s in-crowd have heard of Byron “Bronko” Luck, a celebrity chef who used to have his own upscale restaurant and even a TV show. Now he is the head of Sin du Jour and the boss of the Lena and Darren, two ordinary junior chefs who have suddenly found themselves thrust into a world of the paranormal and bizarre. For one thing, Sin du Jour’s clientele is anything but ordinary. Lena and Darren’s first gig with the catering company saw them cooking and serving up a banquet for demons. Their second major job involved providing the food at a goblin wedding. But just when they thought they’ve had it with the weirdness factor, Bronko happily surprises the two of them with an assignment that actually sounds halfway normal: preparing a grand feast for a Hollywood movie premiere.
The team is split up. Understanding on some level that this is a test, Lena and Darren accompany Chef Bronko to California with only a few other staff in tow, while the rest of the crew stay behind to take care of the paranormal convention circuit, and Sin du Jour’s Stocking and Receiving department finally gets some well-deserved time off. Still, even as Ritter, Hara, Cindy and Moon are settling back to enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation, their enemies are not so accommodating. One night, all hell breaks loose as the New York team gets ambushed by the strangest group of assassins you could ever imagine. Meanwhile out west, Lena, Darren and Bronko are also dealing with troubles of their own, as they learn the hard way just how cutthroat the world of Hollywood can be.
No doubt about it, this was probably my favorite Sin du Jour tale so far. I was initially wary when came upon the book’s premise, expecting another celebrity-laden story related to the entertaining industry like in the last book, Lustlocked. Instead, Pride’s Spell had other ideas in mind. Matt Wallace deftly launches a two-pronged attack, hitting us with a storm of outrageous action and humor as both groups of characters scramble to deal with their respective crises. In New York, a wacky scenario unfolds as Ritter and his team are attacked by homicidal holiday icons, with the whole fracas finally ending in an epic showdown at Sin du Jour HQ where Dorsky and his kitchen crew have been holding down the fort while the big boss is out of town. In Hollywood, Lena and Darren struggle to come up with a suitable menu to suit the fastidious dietary demands of pampered celebs, while Jett and Nikki have sequestered themselves away to prepare the greatest, most transcendent dessert experience the world has ever seen. They say that sometimes, the after party is even better than the main event, but as we soon see, this is most certainly not the case for the Hollywood team.
In spite of its absurd plot, I thought there was a lot more substance to this sequel relative to the previous one. Looking back at my review for Lustlocked, my chief complaint was that it felt very much like a “throwaway” installment, a fun side-story that doled out plenty of action and laughs but ultimately added little to the overall series narrative or how I felt about the characters. On the other hand, while Pride’s Spell was every bit as zany and twisted, I thought it offered a lot more when it came to emotional weight. Finally, we can see how Lena and Darren have been integrating into the Sin du Jour family, making friends and forming attachments. In between all the cooking and fighting, we’re also seeing glimpses of who all these characters are on a deeper level, like how they’re starting to connect with each other, what kind of backgrounds they come from, or what makes them tick.
This was especially true for the Stocking and Receiving team. So far, Ritter et al. have featured prominently in their own mini-adventures in each book, and this one was no exception. Like a company of mercenaries, they’ve always stood a bit apart from the kitchen crew in my eyes, providing some extra thrills and comic relief on their rare ingredient-hunting escapades. This however was probably the first time I thought of them as more than a sideshow to the series, gaining a little more insight into the kinds of lives they lead when they’re not off doing jobs for Bronko.
Pride’s Spell ended up being everything I wanted and expected out of a Sin du Jour novella. It’s ridiculous but fun. Humor, action, insanity and violence are still key ingredients in this madcap urban fantasy series, but I’m also glad that we’re starting to see more development in the characters and their relationships. There’s a sense of everything coming together here, even tying in some elements introduced from the first book in the series, making me hunger for the next course. I have a feeling it’s all going to culminate into something great.
BOOK REVIEWS, BOOKS, FANTASY, NOVELLA
BOOK REVIEW: PRIDE’S SPELL BY MATT WALLACE
JUNE 20, 2016 SF BLUESTOCKING LEAVE A COMMENT
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this lately, but I love Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series so very, very much. Sure, I might have started off feeling a little tepid towards it, but it’s new entries have quickly become some of my most anticipated new releases. They’re only getting better over time, and Pride’s Spell is the best one yet. It’s a smart, action-packed, hilariously absurdist romp and probably the most fun thing you can read this summer.
This installment takes half of the team to Hollywood, where they’re doing the catering for an important movie premiere that takes a sinister turn. That doesn’t mean the folks who stay behind in New York are off the hook, though. There’s not a lot to be said about the plot without giving the whole thing away, but if nothing else about this book appeals to you, it’s worth reading just to read the truly superb action scene where a dude fights an evil Easter Bunny.
That said, there’s a lot to love about Pride’s Spell, and it’s good to see the world Matt Wallace is creating start to feel a bit more lived in. There’s a definite monster-of-the-week feel to it that keeps each installment fresh and interesting, but three books in there’s also an internal logic emerging that is finally making the Sin Du Jour world feel fully realized. It also helps that the overarching plot of the series is starting to take shape and make a bit more sense out of the sometimes random-seeming events. The copious pop culture references will likely date the books in the future, but right now they work well to keep these stories grounded enough in reality that the reader can accept some of their more surreal qualities.
Distinct character arcs are starting to come together as well, particularly Lena’s, which was the biggest surprise of this book for me. When I read Envy of Angels, I rather thought that Lena’s roommate, Darren, would end up being the main character, but instead it’s Lena and her experiences that have been increasingly foregrounded. I’m glad because, while Darren’s rocky adjustment to the new job isn’t completely boring, I’d much rather read about Lena’s burgeoning friendships with other women, her professional accomplishments, and even her messy relationships with men. She’s a delightfully complex character who does everything with an admirable if occasionally ill-advised fierceness that makes her both admirable and relatable.
The only major issue I see with Pride’s Spell is that I don’t know if anyone will be able to make heads or tails of it without having read the previous installments of the series. While each novella is a self-contained adventure, there’s a lot going on, and enough references here to the previous books that I could definitely see an uninitiated reader feeling a bit adrift. The good news is that the series is really excellent and improving over time, and it’s not too late to start from the beginning. Sin Du Jour is a fast, fun read perfect for breaking reading slumps or relaxing between more challenging books. You could start with Pride’s Spell, and a clever reader will catch up quickly, but you really owe it to yourself to go back and read the first couple installments.
This review is based on an advance copy of the title received from the publisher through NetGalley.