Writers of medium reading other writers of medium and then writing about them
If You Were Stuck in the Rainforest With Only One Book to Read, What Book Would You Choose?
A review of one of the possible books
If your name was Jim, you would read your self titled biography written by none other than medium.comas own Ann James. Even if you’re not called Jim, you could still read this book. I would recommend you do.
I’ve never written a book review before. In fact, this may be the first review I’ve written about anything. Even when that little box on the screen comes up saying, ‘Are you enjoying Spotify? Yes, no, or I don’t have time for this shit right now?’ So apologies if this doesn’t read like other book reviews you’ve read (I haven’t read many reviews either, my selections tend to be based on whichever book has the sexiest looking picture on the front cover).
After joining medium and taking the plunge by posting my first story, a writer called Ann starting leaving comments on my stuff. Not just the standard, ‘Great piece 🤣😁’ or ‘Your prose is so sexy, like a young Hemingway crossed with an old Hemsworth.’ Thoughtful, humorous responses that engaged with the story while also making no sense to me at all until my brain finally caught up. Somewhat.
Ann’s writing on medium is some of the sharpest, zaniest and funniest you will read. She may be an unreliable narrator but she reliably splits sides. When I found out she had written a novel, I purchased it¹ (not through Amazon, Ann has some strong and well founded opinions on their company policies). Then I read it. Now I am writing about it.
Set in Carson City, Nevada, Rain Forest Jim is ‘a dark comedy about the takedown of a major drug cartel by an unlikely cast of characters.’ I took that quote from the back of Ann’s book because it’s accurate and succinct, unlike my ramblings.
The characters in this story feel like they have been spinning around in Ann’s head for decades. Not because they are suffering vertigo, but because they are so uniquely Ann. Hilarious, razor sharp, deeply poetic and sexy as all fuck are words I use to describe myself, but they could also be applied to some of Ann’s characters.
You may be used to talking dogs from reading Ann’s work on medium, but this story has an oratory goose, who ponders the limits of human aviation.
‘Stoned pilots, how high can they fly?’
It also contains dogs, hookers, foreign languages and mound houses aplenty. Would you expect anything less?
Why you should buy this book.
You can see Ann’s real face on the back. Yep, an actual profile picture, I swear. I tried to take a photo of it for this review but my phone blew up and I lost all memory of the last 72 hours.
It doesn’t contain page numbers. If anyone out there has a phobia of small font numbers located in corners of pages, this one’s for you.
It may come with a handwritten postcard and other secret gifts inside. It may come with a restraining order. I can’t make any promises on Ann’s behalf.
If you like Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, or reading.
I would say supporting a fellow medium writer, but Ann may be more team scribophile now. So, it’s kind of like supporting a fellow hostage who escaped and has gone on to volunteer as a hostage again for a cult leader who’s a little more charismatic.
Because it is a genuinely engaging story with a crackerjack plot, fascinating characters and prose tighter than a mound house legal waiver.
It took Ann eight years to write this novel and now she’s threatening not to write another one. But if enough people bought RFJ and demanded she write another one or else they’d get T-stubbs to scribble on her file ‘banned from medium.coma..’ She probably wouldn’t give a shit.
I would though.
¹if you find Ann’s secret smillewcoins account, let her know where it is, and she’ll send a RFJ paperback — $10 plus postage
Some of Ann’s stories:
I am looking for more reading material, and would like to support fellow medium writers. If you’ve written a book let me know. (I prefer books with actual paper cos I’m a bit of a dinosaur.)