Reinventing the Blog Phase Two: The Loquacious Librarian and the Reviews of DOOM

Let me start off by saying this:  naming things is hard, y'all!

Seriously, if my new review-centered blog is still named The Loquacious Librarian and the Reviews of DOOM within a few months, I will be amazed.  But, I've already delayed rolling it out longer than I wanted because I've been struggling with the naming, so I finally bit the bullet and went with my most recent bit of "inspiration."

But I digress . . .

As you may have gathered, I have decided to go ahead and do a separate blog devoted solely to my reviews of literature, cinema, theater, etc.  Which means no more Movie Mondays or TV Tuesdays here at CoIM.  A moment of silence please.
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Okay, now that that's over, head on over to The Loquacious Librarian and the Reviews of DOOM to find out a bit more about changes to my rambling review structure.

Written Word Wed - So, I'm Slightly Better Read Now . . Slightly

Several months back, I filled out one of those "how many of these books have you read?" surveys on Facebook, once again confirming that in terms of The Classics I'm a pretty poorly read English major, having read only 27 of 100. I asked for suggestions for which of the 73 unread books I should tackle; these are the ones I've gotten to so far.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon: Suggested by a friend of PigPen and Cap'n Peanut. Story told from the P.O.V. of an autistic teenager who becomes fixated on solving the mystery of who killed his neighbor's dog. Really enjoyable book, which I have since heard referenced by at least three different people in different situations.

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The one book from the list that I decided on all by my lonesome because the synopsis caught my attention. Story of a book-dealer's son who is introduced to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where he is tasked to select a book at random to become a caretaker for; his choice is The Shadow of the Wind, a choice which will have huge implications as a shadowy figure begins to stalk him -- a shadowy figure reminiscent of the book's version of the devil. And that just barely scratches the surface of the many plot threads suffusing the book; sometimes funny, sometimes maudlin, but always engaging.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Suggested by Redneck Diva, who wanted to know what was wrong with me that I hadn't read it yet. To be honest, I had never read any Steinbeck before this one, mainly due to my mother's long-standing dislike of his work filtering down to me. However, I found that I enjoyed this tragic tale quite a bit. Enough to try some of Steinbeck's other work? We shall see.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Read this one largely thanks to Flunky Lover's prodding, although I have to admit that the then-upcoming release of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies helped encourage my decision. Out of the books I read for this little exercise, this was by far my least favorite; I can see why people enjoy it, and there were sections that amused me greatly -- particularly any scene with Lady Catherine -- but overall, the plot's focus on Lizzy misinterpreting Darcy's motives and actions just wore me down. Yes, you can add that to the list of things that I don't particularly care for in my fiction: misinterpreted actions. All in all I'm glad I read it, though -- it made Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that much more enjoyable when I read it a month or so later.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving: Suggested by Cap'n Disaster and one of my co-workers. My favorite of the books listed here, this novel is the story of Owen Meany, whose brilliant mind is stuck in an underdeveloped body, a fact that doesn't keep Owen from deciding that he is a servant of God with a special mission to fulfill. I think I would have to do a full-blown review to really do justice to this book; suffice it to say that the Christmas pageant sequence in the book was one of the funniest things I've ever read, and that I really wish I could have used part of it for a prose piece back in my Competitive Speech days -- although, how I ever could have done justice to Owen's voice, I couldn't possibly tell you. Anyway, highly recommend this one to any and all.

And that's it so far; I plan on picking up one of the complete Sherlock Holmes collections next time I'm on campus, since Coronela has been championing those stories for almost as long as I've known her. But after that, it'll be time to ask for more suggestions.

Written Word Wednesday - Playing Catch-Up Again

Man, I am sooooooooo far behind on book reviews it's not even funny. Thanks heavens I've been using the Visual Bookshelf application on Facebook to keep track of what I'm reading since my last review post about three months ago.

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff: Paranoia-fueled SF novel about Jane Charlotte, a woman in a mental institution relating to her psychiatrist the story of how she was recruited to a super-secret organization devoted to fighting the forces of evil as part of their more militant division, nicknamed "Bad Monkeys." And as the novel progresses and the psychiatrist tries to dig through the maze of contradictions and consistencies in the story, the question that is raised again and again is just how reliable a narrator is Charlotte? All in all, an entertaining read, although I was a bit let down by the ending.

Blood Follows: a Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach by Steven Erikson: A companion novella to Erikson's Malazan books, this is the first in a series of brief tales focusing on the eccentric and deadly necromancers from Memories of Ice. This one tales the story of how their manservant Emancipor Reese first came into their employ. Each of the Bauchelain and Broach are short, easy reads, and a bit more humorous in tone than the bulk of the Malazan series proper, albeit gallows humor more often than not.

The Healthy Dead: a Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach by Steven Erikson: The second Bauchelain and Broach novella centers around a city where all vice has been stamped out, a condition that doesn't really sit well with our titular characters. This one ramps up the dark humor quite a bit.

Blackburn by Bradley Denton: The story of Jimmy Blackburn, a serial killer who operates by his won warped code of ethics. The novel jumps back and forth in time, with the main chapters detailing his life and how he came to be a killer, with the interludes between chapters giving snapshots of his various victims. Very dark sense of humor, which I liked.

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust: Novel written in the form of a self-help book for super-heores: Unmasked! When Being A Superhero Can't Save You From Yourself: Self-Help Guide for Today's Hyper Hominids. When I first heard about the book, I assumed it would be a collection of self-contained vignettes -- one chapter focusing on a Superman-analogue, one chapter on the Batman-analogue, etc. Instead, the various stand-ins for the various super-hero archetypes are part of a therapy group and therefore interact continuously, even more so as one of the greatest heroes of their age is found dead and some among them suspect foul play. Loved this book, not only for its super-hero aspects, but for the send-up it gives of self-help books and pop psychology, as the "author" Dr. Brain creates incredibly detailed (and entertainingly absurd) metaphor after metaphor with no hint of irony - well no hint from Dr. Brain, that is, but buckets of it from Faust. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, but over-all, well worth my time.

The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust: After finishing From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain I immediately tracked down this, Faust's first novel, which is the story of the self-named Coyote Kings, the writer Hamza and the engineer Yehat, two highly intelligent best friends who find their world turned upside down by the appearance of a mysterious woman whose interest in Hamza masks a deeper, mystically driven purpose. The book won me over almost instantly with its use of clever RPG-style Character Sheets inserted throughout the novel whenever a chapter suddenly introduces a different character's POV for the first time; to see an example, click here and then click on "Excerpt." Faust juggles quite a few different character POVs, and does a great job giving each one a distinctive and equally engaging voice. This one is still very much aimed at SF/Fantasy fans.

Flicker by Theodore Roszak: Requested this novel from ILL when I read that it was going to be adapted by Darren Aronofsky; sadly, I'm not sure that's going to happen now, which is a shame, because I think of anyone could do justice to the book, it's Aronofsky. The plot revolves around a young film student who becomes fascinated with the work of Max Castle, a deceased B-movie director whose uncut films seem to contain a strange power over their audience. Not what I was expecting, but a very well-written book; one of those that sucked me in and contribute to sleepless nights as I found it increasingly difficult to put down. Definitely recommended for those of you who are film buffs.

The Prestige by Christopher Priest: The novel which served as the basis of the Hugh Jackman/Christian Bale film about feuding stage magicians in the late 1800s. As should be expected, there are quite a few changes from the novel to the film, such as the reason for Angier's hatred of Borden and the way Angier's version of the Transported Man trick lead to the deadly resolution of their feud; subsequently, even though a few of the surprises in the book might be spoiled by seeing the film, there are still enough differences to keep fans of the film guessing while reading the novel.

Curfew by Phil Rickman: British horror novel about Crybbe, a small village on the border of Wales and England whose dark history is about to be revived by a millionaire record mogul whose obsession with turning Crybbe into the new center for New Age mysticism, little realizing that he is tampering with deadly forces beyond his control. Another of those books that I found hard to put down once I started it; once I was done I put in ILL requests for the rest of Rickman's supernatural novels, and am expecting the first two to arrive in the next day or so.

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman: Super-hero novel that alternates between two different POVs: Dr. Impossible, the mad scientists arch nemesis of the world's greatest super-hero, Corefire, as he escapes from jail and begins his latest plot for world domination; and Fatale, a rookie super-hero who has just been drafted into the premiere super-team The Champions who have just reformed with one major purpose -- to find CoreFire, who has gone missing. I enjoyed the Dr. Impossible sections more than the Fatale sections, if for no other reason than it's always fun to read the ramblings of a madman. Plus, the novel's tendency to deconstruct the super-hero genre alway felt more natural coming from the hyper-intelligent and experienced Impossible, while Fatale's observations came across more like exposition. Regardless, a highly entertaining book for any fan of super-heroics.

Writen Word Wednesday - A Few Reviews

A few quick reviews

Midnight Tides: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 5 by Steven Erikson: The fifth book in the projected 10-book series introduces the final of the three major storylines Erikson has planned for the series, which results in a book populated by a cast of almost entirely new characters. Having to plunge in and learn about all of the new characters and cultures and pantheons and mythologies and such had the potential to be off-putting, but Erikson's skills as a writer made sure that I wasn't feeling disconnected from the book for long. Following the brief stumble of the second book (which was probably only a stumble because the character of Felisin annoyed the heck out of me through most of the book), I feel like each subsequent volume has been an improvement over its predecessor. I'm definitely looking forward to book 6, The Bonehunters.

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King: Very quick read (got it done in about an hour and a half) that was marketed as part of a hard boiled detective line, but which really doesn't fit the bill at all. Won't say this is my least favorite of King's books, but will say that it's probably there towards the bottom of the (really massive) pile -- the character's never really gelled with me, and for a book that's primarily three talking heads sitting around discussing an old unsolvable mystery, not being able to identify with the talking heads is a bad thing. King himself admits that this is one of those "love it or hate it" books, although I'd have to say that I didn't feel that strongly about it, and was in more of a "meh" mood towards it.

The God of the Razor by Joe R. Lansdale: Collection of horror stories by Lansdale (probably best known as the author of Bubba Ho-Tep) which were either inspired by or cribbed from his early novel The Nightrunners, which is also included. Since so many of the stories here were pieces taken from The Nightrunners while he was waiting for it to be published there's a large feeling of "been there done that" at times. Still, I enjoyed The Nightrunners --which introduced the concept of "The God of the Razor" -- quite a bit, as well as the two stories which were the least cribbed from it, "King of Shadows" and "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," the latter of which I was first introduced to when it was made into one of the better episodes of Showtime's Masters of Horror series. I enjoyed it enough to start trying to track down the other God of the Razor related works, including Lord of the Razor, an anthology with stories from several different authors using the character; Blood and Shadows, a mini-series from DC Comics; and, perhaps the most odd choice, Tales of the Batman, another anthology, this one of Batman-related short stories, one of which is Lansdale's "Subway Jack" which pits the Dark Knight Detective against a minion of the God of the Razor.

Written Word Wednesday - Distinctly Demonic Dexter

If a fan of the hit Showtime series Dexter were to open up either of Jeff Lindsay's first two books which served as inspiration for the series (Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter), they would find a world which, while maybe not an exact match for the series (Doakes is even less sympathetic in the books, Masuka is more socially awkward than borderline perverted, there's no sign of annoying British addiction sponsors at all), is close enough not to send anyone away scratching their head wondering where in the world that came from. But with the third book, Dexter in the Dark, Lindsey throws any hope of maintaining a link between the books and the series out the window, because with the third book, Dexter ventures into the realm of the supernatural as we discover that the Dark Passenger -- the voice inside Dexter that pushes him to do what he does, and which protects and guides him with preternatural instincts and cunning -- isn't just a result of Dexter's traumatic youth, but is instead an actual preternatural presence; a presence that suddenly disappears from Dexter's mind after he investigates a strange crime scene involving decapitated bodies and ceramic bull heads, a disappearance that leaves Dexter at a loss as he suddenly finds himself afflicted with the normal weaknesses and flaws as everyone around him

Needless to say, this departure from the more mundane world of the earlier books -- if you can call a series about a sociopathic serial killer who only kills other serial killers mundane -- was not a big hit with most fans, and to be honest, I wasn't too sure how to react to it myself. I mean, sure, I'm a big fan of horror and SF and fantasy and the like, but shoehorning those elements into a series that wasn't originally designed as such can be off-putting. Granted, in the previous books there has always been a hint of the extraordinary about the Dark Passenger, and I admit to feeling like Lindsay had ascribed near-supernatural acuity to it in the past, but at the same time, there's a big difference between hints of supernatural possibilities and straight-up saying "The Dark Passenger is a possessing spirit, and it is not alone."

Another stumbling block for fans of the earlier books is the fact that the usually supremely confident Dexter is plagued by uncertainty and doubt throughout the novel. As a tool for causing tension and exploring the true nature of Dexter, I can appreciate what Lindsay was trying for; however, as the novels are told as first person narrative's from Dexter's P.O.V., shaking his confidence and having him question himself can't help but change the narrative style, which could account for why I had a hard time getting into the book at first.

Still, while there were some bumps along the road as I had to reconcile the cognitive dissonance engendered by the change in genre and tone, in the end I wound up getting sucked into the story and enjoying it overall. Not my favorite book in the series to be sure (that distinction belongs to Darkly Dreaming Dexter which is actually very close to the first season of the TV show), and I'm very curious to see what direction the next installment, Dexter by Design, goes in, but in the end, I'm glad I read it. How can you beat a ringing endorsement like that, huh?

Belated Book Bits

No, I haven't totally slacked off on my reading . . . just on my reporting of my reading. And, I had this all typed up and ready to go for Written Word Wednesday yesterday when Blogger decided to go kablooey and not even save my text to draft, let alone publish. So, here's my tardy book reviews.

The Born Queen: Book 4 of Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone by Greg Keyes: Have to admit, while I loved the first few books in this series, the last volume was a bit of a letdown. I think the biggest factor in my disappointment was that two of the main characters are pretty much either possessed or driven mad with mystic power through the bulk of the book, rendering their personalities virtually unrecognizable. One of them I didn't care for all that much to begin with, so it wasn't a horrible deal (although she did become even more annoying once the power-madness set in), but the other was one of my two favorite characters, and to see his personality subsumed by that of the Black Jester took a lot of my enjoyment away; of course, your mileage may vary. I also felt like Keyes tried to wrap up way too much in way too short a span of pages; the whole volume felt rushed, which seems unnecessary since the 3rd volume struck many as overly padded.

Blaze by Richard Bachman (foreword by Stephen King): Entertaining thriller that was originally written by King during his Bachman phase, but which was never published at the time, only to be pulled out and polished up last year after King had so much fun writing the semi-noir The Colorado Kid. The plot follows Blaze --a two-bit crook whose brains have been addled even since his drunk father shoved him down the stairs as a kid -- as he tries to pull off a kidnapping originally planned by his recently deceased partner . . . a deceased partner who still appears from time to time to put in his two cents as to Blaze's chances of success. Not going to go down as one of my favorite King novels, but probably is one of the strongest of the Bachman books, and is an entertaining read.

Written Word Wednesday - Also, Not a Single Milkshake Reference

Following the great love I felt for P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood, I decided to read the book which was its nominal inspiration, Oil! by Upton Sinclair. I knew from interviews with Anderson that the film was anything but a faithful adaptation of the novel; according to Anderson, he really loved the first 150 pages or so of the book, but felt like it veered off course after that, so his script took the kernel of the idea of that first section of the book and ran with it. This led to me being quite curious about the source material, and whether or not cutting the other 300 pages of story from the novel out of the screenplay was a good decision or not.

Oh, boy, was it ever.

Now, this is one of those rare cases where the screenwriter was very upfront about the fact that, while his film was "inspired by" another work, that it was very much its own beast; in point of fact, he even renamed the protagonists, transforming Arnold and "Bunny" Ross into Daniel and H.W. Plainview. TWBB and the first third of Oil! share some of the broad strokes: both are concerned with an independent oil man who carts his son along on business trips; the two find out about a possible oil-rich tract of land and investigate it under the guise of quail hunting, and then purchase the land from the poor but highly religious family that lives there, one whom, Eli, becomes a powerful preacher. But whereas the film places the spotlight on the father and his monomaniacal competitive nature, the novel is told from the P.O.V. of the son, a tender-hearted lad who tries to reconcile his hero worship of his father with his growing realization that his father's success often comes at the expense of the less fortunate.

There is a pretty big gulf in the characterization of the father in the two works as well; in the film, Daneil Plainview is a man obsessed with winning at all costs, and demonstrates a violent temper and what is practically indifference to his adopted son. In the book, however, Arnold Ross is a mildly unscrupulous businessman, but only because, from his P.O.V., that's the way the world works, and he comprises again and again his own capitalistic drive to assuage the guilt that consumes his son, whom he loves above all other things.

And then, around the 150 page mark, Bunny goes off to college, and the book suddenly turns from a sly look at inner workings of big oil and their corrupt practices to what amounts to out-and-out Socialist propaganda and screed against capitalism and the corruption it breeds. While interesting at first, for the snapshot it gives of the Red Scare in the early 20th century if nothing else, as the book plods on with Bunny vacillating between the views of his father and the views of strike-leader and rabble rouser Paul Watkins, and then later vacillating between the views of Socialism and the views of Communism, and then vacillating between his desire to promote social reform and his desire to make his class conscious movie star girlfriend happy, and then vacillating between . . . well, you get the idea. Again, as a historical snapshot, the book held my interest to some degree, and you have to applaud Sinclair's desire for an end to the corruption of big business, but after 300 pages of "big oil bad, common man good," I was more than ready to bid the book adieu.

Written Word Wednesday - The Plan

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I have been in a reading mood recently, which is nice, since I went for several months without reading much of anything. Last night I finished Memories of Ice, the third book in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series; as Wrath teh Berzerkr had predicted, it was my favorite book of the series so far. I won't do a full-blown review of it, since I don't want to give anything away to people who haven't read the first couple of installments, but I will say that this is one of the best fantasy series I've read in a while. The next volume, House of Chains, hasn't come in for me at the public library yet, but even if it had, I wouldn't be reading it next. Not because I don't want to read it, but because that would interfere with The Plan.

The purpose of The Plan is to make sure that I don't burn out on reading and go another 6 months without reading anything novel-length; whether The Plan will effectively combat this or not, only time will tell, but I think it will, at the least, prolong the reading mood I'm currently in. The Plan is pretty simple: variety. As most of you blog monkeys should know by now, I can get a tad bit obsessive at times, which is why I have to be careful before starting to watch a TV series on DVD since my urge will be to watch an entire season in one sitting, such as with my John from Cincinnati marathon a few weekends ago. This obsessive completist tendency applies to my reading habits as well, especially when I've discovered a new series; I tend to get all of the books I can and read them all at once. A few years back, I extended this tendency to particular authors, compiling a list of all of their works and then methodically working my way through them in chronological order before the burn-out set in about a third of the way through the works of Charles de Lint, and I never have gone back.

I've recently come to suspect that this overload of a particular author could be what's lead to my weakening desire to read; no matter how much I may love a writer's work, after reading several thousand pages of their words, its only natural let a little bit of fatigue would set in. And, no, it doesn't happen every time I read a series in one fell swoop, but it has happened enough times in the last few years to give me pause.

And so, I now have The Plan, which is to avoid reading two books by the same author in a row. Which might seem like a pretty simple idea, but when you're caught up in the midst of a series, and the last book you read ends on a bit of a cliff-hangers or has introduced new mysteries that you're dying to know the answers to, well, it can be difficult to hold off on diving into the next one.

In addition to spacing out works by a particular author, I'm also going to try to space out different genres as well. So, even though I just picked up the final book in Greg Keyes Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series and am pretty keen on reading it soon, I have instead decided to read Upton Sinclair's Oil! -- the novel which inspired There Will Be Blood -- next instead, to sort of cleanse the mental palate. An upshot of this is that it will help force me to broaden my reading horizons some, and not just stick to SF and Fantasy.

I also plan to do a better job of posting about what I'm reading, even if it's just a brief "Hey, read this, it was good" note, but you've all heard that before.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the books I'm planning to read, in no particular order; if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to chime in.

FANTASY
The Born Queen by Greg Keyes
Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone by Carol Berg
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke
The House in the High Wood by Jeffrey E. Barlough.

SF
Kiln People by David Brin
Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton

HORROR
Curfew by Phil Rickman
The Long Lost by Ramsey Campbell

THRILLER
Blaze by "Richard Bachman"
The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

HUMOR
Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About: A Novel by Mil Millington

LI'L RANDOM McEVIL SEAL OF APPROVAL
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West.

Written Word Wednesday - Terror of the Terror

The Terror by Dan Simmons

The crews of the British exploratory vessels The Erebus and The Terror knew that things were bad; trapped in the ice while searching for the fabled Northwest Passage, The Erebus was damaged so badly it would probably never sail again, the hunting and fishing was proving impossible in the arctic conditions, the coal reserves for heating the ships was running low, and the bulk of the canned provision were proving to be filled with spoiled and rotten food. But nobody on board could imagine that these would prove to be the least of their problems. Following a fatal encounter with a couple of Eskimos, the crew-members are assailed by a mysterious creature whose size, speed, strength, and intelligence all smack of the supernatural. As the creature toys with the crews, killing at will, the sailors find their already slim chances of surviving cut down to virtually zero.

The Terror is what could be dubbed "historical horror"; the Franklin Expedition was real, the characters in the novel (such as main protagonist Captain Crozier) were based on the real crews of The Erebus and The Terror, and a lot of the details in the novel were inspired by what little was discovered of the remains of the expedition. However, the presence of the preternatural creature stalking the crews sprung solely from the mind of Simmons who, despite the inclusion of this "Is it a polar bear or something more?" creature, spends more time focusing on the interactions of the crew and their struggle with the more common natural obstacles of survival in the Arctic than on the battle with the creature itself. Still, the presence of this unfathomable menace provides additional tension to the proceedings.

I have to say, I liked this a heck of a lot. Not what I would call a page turner; Simmons' prose is a bit too dense for that distinction. However, it was a solidly written book with engaging characters and a pervading sense of menace which helped propel it. Highly recommended.

Written Word Wednesday - The Reading Mood Has Struck Again

Recently, the knowledge that a new Stephen King book had been released prompted me to finally bite the bullet and pay my fines at the public library so I could place a hold on it. And, as long as I was there, I decided to grab a few other things to read as well. While I'm not feeling inspired to do any full-blown reviews right now, I will give you some brief thoughts on what I've been reading the past month or so.

Duma Key by Stephen King: The story of a man whose life is changed after a horrible accident leaves him partially aphasic, one armed, prone to violent outburst, and possessed of a new psychic sensitivity )shades of Dead Zone, eh?) which draws him to relocate to the mysterious house known to him as Big Pink on Duma Key, where he finds himself drawn to paint pictures the hold great power, and great danger as well. While I enjoyed Lisey's Story and Cell quite a bit, I have to say that this is probably my favorite stand-alone novel of King's since Bag of Bones back in '98. And I say "stand-alone" because The Dark Tower books are a special case unto themselves; of course, I have yet to read The Colorado Kid or Blaze yet, but I shall rectify that soon. But I digress; if you're a fan of King, reading this is a no-brainer.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen Book 1 by Steven Erikson: First installment in a sprawling fantasy series about the domineering Malazan Empire whose new empress has gone through painstaking measures to remove all the supporters of her predecessor from the playing field, in particular the Army unit known as The Bridgeburners, who have been sent on one suicide mission after another. But now they find themselves in real trouble as the mercurial god Shadowthrone has placed an avatar of the Patron of Assassins in their ranks, with the express purpose of killing the empress. There's a lot more to the plot than that, but that gives you the general idea; lots of plotting and backstabbing and murderous gods and wizards and demons and the like. Good times, good times! Picked this one up on the recommendation of Wrath teh Berzerker, and I was not disappointed.

Deadhouse Gates: The Malazan Book of the Fallen Book 2 by Steven Erikson: The second book in the series follows a couple of the Bridgeburners, now outlaws, as they try to return to the center of the empire and confront the empress, a task that is complicated by the rise of the prophesied rebellion on the subcontinent of the Seven Cities, a rebellion which coincides with the mystical alignment known as The Path of the Hands which finds an army of mystical shapeshifters migrating to the Seven Cities searching for the gate which leads to godhood. And yes, there's even more going on in the book than what's listed above; Erikson likes to keep things busy. But, at least he also keeps things moving along, which is more than I can say for some other writers. But again, I digress. Wrath had warned me that he hadn't enjoyed the second book as much as he had the first, and I tend to agree; while still a good book, it didn't grab me quite like the first one had, possibly because I didn't become as attached to the new characters in this as I had the ones in the first book -- I particularly had trouble liking the sullen, self-deluded Felisin, although by the end her character finally went from annoying to interesting. Still worth reading, though, and Wrath assures me that he has enjoyed the third and fourth books as much as the first, so as soon as Memories of Ice becomes comes in for me, I'll dive into it.

The Ruins by Scott Smith: Horror novel about a group of twenty-somethings on holiday in Mexico who elect to help another tourist search for his missing brother, a search that leads them to an archaeological dig near a small Mayan village whose inhabitants refuse to let them leave the dig-site for reasons which soon become clear to the hapless travelers: they are not alone, and their company isn't human. I picked this one up because I'd read a lot of good reviews of it, and I knew it was being made into a movie, and I still tend to follow a "read the book first" policy if at all possible. Smith makes his four main characters embody the horror film victim archetypes -- jokester, slut, preppie, final girl -- and even goes so far as to have the jokester character point this out at one point, but by having the narration live heavily inside the heads of the characters, we are given much more insight into their motivations, which helps subvert the tropes. In the end, while there are some pretty gruesome moments, this is ultimately a character-driven story which examines how people react to life-threatening situations. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Making Money: a Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I. Love. Discworld. The news that Discworld author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's saddens me on several levels; not just the idea that this could spell the end of one of my favorite series of books, but the thought that the man responsible for some of the wittiest, funniest, most entertaining and captivating books I have ever read might soon have those gifts for wordplay and characterization and satire that illuminates without condescending or preaching stripped from him by the vagaries of this horrible disease . . . it makes the enjoyment of this latest Discworld book bittersweet, to say the least. But enjoy it I did, because it is chock full of the humor and energy that exemplifies the series, and it focuses on one of my two favorite characters in the books, Moist Von Lipwick, conman-turned-postmaster general who is this time coerced by the Machiavellian Lord Vetinari into taking his gift of gab and razzle dazzle and using it to reform the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork. . . which, of course, is staffed by colorful and quirky characters. As always, I laughed out loud frequently while reading the latest addition to the Discworld oeuvre; with luck, this won't be the last time.

Two Book Reviews In One Week? The Human Mind Can't Work At Such Speeds!

Three Days to Never by Tim Powers

English Lit professor Frank Marrity and his precocious daughter Daphne find themselves at the center of supernatural espionage after the death of Frank's grandmother Lieserl -- who Daphne has always suspected of being a witch --under strange circumstances during the Harmonic Convergence of 1987 leads two clandestine organizations to their doorstep in search of a powerful metaphysical device somehow connected to both Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. On one side is a occult-focused division of the Mossad, led by the kosher Lepidopt who is cursed with premonitions regarding his own mortality; on the other, the mysterious Vespers, whose main field agent is the blind remote viewer Charlotte Sinclair who is only able to see out of the eyes of others. Connected by a psychic link which has grown incredibly strong following the Convergence, Frank and Daphne must piece together the truth of Lieserl's past while avoiding the murderous Vespers and a strange Shakespeare-quoting apparition referred to in Lieserl's correspondence as "Caliban."

You know, if I ever get around to posting a "Top 10 Authors" list, Tim Powers is going to be right at the top. I love the way he takes real people and historical events and merges them with the fantastic. In On Stranger Tides it was Blackbeard meets voodoo; in Declare it was notorious spy Kim Philby interacting with djinns; in The Stress of Her Regard it was Romantic poets Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley being inspired by vampiric lamias; and here we have Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin monkeying around with the space-time continuum. Powers excels in taking historical tidbits (Einstein's hair turning white prematurely, Chaplin's lost film, Einstein and Chaplin attending a seance together) and finding a way to turn them into one huge supernatural conspiracy theory. Half the fun of reading a Powers book is seeing how his extrapolations play out. While Three Days to Never may not be my favorite of what some refer to as his "secret history" novels, it's still an entertaining and engaging novel.

Hey, Look, a Book Review!

Darkness of the Light: Book 1 of The Hidden Earth by Peter David

To its original inhabitants it was once known as "Earth," but to the Twelve Races who conquered the planet -- races strikingly similar to creatures from the mythologies of the now nearly extinct "Morts" -- it is known only as The Damned World. Banished to The Damned World for their warlike tendencies -- tendencies barely kept in check by the being known only as The Overseer and his mysterious and deadly servants The Travelers -- each of The Twelve Races struggles to solidify their foothold on the planet which is now their home. In the land of Feend the cyclopean Oculars fight a battle against the blood-sucking Piri; in the city of Perriz a crafty Mandraque plots to unite the five tribes of his reptilian race under his rule with the help of his erratic sister; in water-logged Venets the power-hungry amphibious Merk queen schemes to challenge the power of the Travelers; in the underground realm of the Trulls two royal brothers struggle for supremacy; and in the borderlands of the Mandraques a Mort pleasure slave, freed by the death of her master on the battlefield, is taken in by a motley crew of scavengers who are conscripted by the Ocular king to retrieve the human artifact known as the Orb of Trinity which he believes will save his people, but which instead holds the potential to doom them all.

Darkness of the Light is the first volume in a new SF series by one of my favorite authors. Possibly his most ambitious work so far (in the realm of novels at least), this novel showcases David's ability to take familiar tropes and concepts and weave them into something new. In this case, there's more than a smattering of Fantasy elements, as each of the Twelve Races is based on a mythological creature . . . or, as the conceit of the book would have it, those mythological creatures were based on them. But while the members of the Twelve may have the trappings of Fantasy, there is little "magical" on display outside of the paranormal abilities of the sole human character, the pleasure-slave Jepp who is, of course, more than what she seems. While not as pun-heavy or self-aware as his excellent Sir Apropos of Nothing series, Darkness of the Light does demonstrate David's sense of humor quite often, especially in the passages focusing on the scavengers and the possibly-prophetic-and-probably-crazy Mandraque Norda. But, even thought there is abundant humor, this is not exactly a light-hearted series; there are several main characters who don't survive until the end, adding a degree of suspense that's often lacking in such series.

Darkness of the Light was a well-done introduction to an interesting new world, and should appeal to fans of both fantasy and SF alike.

Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That

• When I first brought home my X-rays showing the big ol' break in my finger, PigPen's immediate reaction was "Hey, I do good work*." I told him that yes, yes he did, and I would be sure to recommend him to all of my friends.
  
  
• Upon hearing that I was going to have a screw placed in my finger permanently, people usually do one of three things:
  
  1. Make a crack about the fun I'm going to have with metal detectors
  2. Make a pun involving the word "screw"
  3. Make a Six Million Dollar Man reference
  
  Option number three was favored by Zinger ("You going to go for the Six Million Dollar Man thing one body part at a time?"), Li'l Random ("I'm going to start calling you 'Bionic'."), and PigPen ("We can rebuild you; we have the technology. And tell Zinger I'll be preparing the next piece to be replaced soon.")
  
  
• One of the few up-sides to waiting around in doctors' offices for hour s just so that you can spend 5 minutes with the doctor is that you can get a lot of reading done. Almost finished the first book of Gregory Keyes' Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series, which is shaping up to be just as interesting as his excellent Children of the Changeling books. Guess I should go pay my fines at the Public Library so I can check out the next two, although it might be cheaper to just go and buy copies elsewhere . . .
  
  
• Been trying to decide how I'm going to entertain myself at home while recovering from the surgery; really wishing I hadn't reduced my Netflix subscription now.
  
  
• Another contender for favorite comment on my TMI interview comes courtesy of Flunky, who opines that the overshares listed weren't all that bad considering who they came from. That's a positive comment, right? Right?
  
  
• Allow me a brief minute of comic geekery: While I loved portions of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-men and thought Grant Morrison's New X-men had some really cool ideas, Ed Brubaker's Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire is by far my favorite X-men story in ages -- not counting Peter David's X-factor run, which is its own private kind of awesome. We no return you to the non-comic-geek portion of your blog
  
  
• I finally tested out the "Watch Now" video on demand feature of Netflix and was pleasently surprised by just how well it worked, even if the film I watched was an incredibly low-budget horror flick shot on DV. Wish I would have tested it out earlier, since I now feel like I've been missing out on some of the value of my Netflix subscription.
  
  
• Favorite quote from the Lost panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con:

  I would actually argue that were you to go back and look at season one, you would find more acts of violence that our guys committed on each other than violence that the Others committed on them,” Lindelof added. “But our guys are just a lot prettier. So, when Sawyer is like, punching you in the face, you're like ‘More, please. You're just so attractive. Do you want to take your shirt off while the beating continues?' But when Pickett or Friendly is beating you up it's like, ‘Oh this is brutal violence!' So, we promise that as the show moves forward if the violence stays intense it will only be perpetrated by catastrophically good-looking people.

• Not too long ago I finally bit the bullet and arranged my MySpace Top Friends list into something other than strict alphabetical order; of course, this led to PigPen's righteous indignation at being relegated to the #2 slot under Li'l Random. When I pointed out that I'm #17 on his own Top Friends list, he defended my placement there by informing me that every friend listed above me is either family or like family to him, apparently not realizing that (a) my point wasn't that I was bothered by being so low on his list** but rather that in the grand scheme of things he was relatively high on mine and (b) basically telling me "yeah there are 16 people that I care deeply about, and then there's you" wouldn't be all that effective a tactic in convincing me that he should be my #1 friend.
  
  
• It looks like PigPen has managed to postpone starting his new hours another week so that he can finish out the final week of softball season, which has made him happy; I'm sure once he realizes that this will also minimize the time he has to spend with post-surgery, whacked-out-on-pain-meds Todd he'll be even happier.
  
  
• PigPen's girlfriend's*** review of 300 after we watched it Tuesday night: "too much killing." Obviously, she was not the target audience, a fact that was driven home when some dust of the disc made it skip back and play the same sequence of the Spartans killing off wounded men three or four times in a row, making her exclaim "I don't want to see them kill him again!" Women, huh?

*Yes, PigPen was partially responsible for my injury; no it was not on purpose; yes, he expressed genuine remorse over it; no, that does not stop him from continually mocking me and using it as a reminder of what happens when you "mess with the bull"
**No, really -- everyone above me on his list is either kin, the PigPen equivalent of the Parkerites (i.e. friends he's known for years and years ) or his girlfriend, so I can't complain about any of them being ranked above me. Honestly, I'm just happy that he finally moved me above Dane Cook.
***Until I come up with a good nickname for her, it's either call her that or Squiggly's sister. Incidentally, PigPen is #2 on her Top Friends list as well, while she's #16 on his; just thought I'd throw that in there.

Written Word Wed. - I Give Up

I know I've been a major slacker recently, so in order to maintain at least the illusion of substantive postings, I’ve decided to postpone the in-depth book reviews and just do a quick overview of what I've been reading recently, which should also serve to reassure that I don't spend all of my time watching TV and movies . . . just 95%.

The Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb: Sequel series to Hobb's Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies, focusing primarily on the characters from the Farseer books. Let me just say that if you're a fan of Fantasy, you need to pick Hobb's stuff up ASAP. The Liveship books are still my favorites, but The Tawny Man is a marked improvement over Farseer, and I thought the Farseer stuff was pretty danged good.

The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan: The first two books of the award-winning YA Fantasy series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Think of it as Harry Potter meets Bulfinch's Mythology: a young boy discovers that the reason he's always felt different from everyone around him is that he is actually the son of a Greek god, and soon finds himself at Camp Halfblood with all of the other young Olympian offspring. Although these aren't quite as captivating as the Potter books and suffer from a bit of the "it's obvious to everyone but the characters who the bad guy is" syndrome, I think they still hold some value as a fun series for young readers. I was especially happy with how Riordan worked so many different Greek myths into the story, focusing not just on the big ones like Medusa and the Minotaur, but also featuring things like the Furies and Procrustes.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler: One of the prototypical hardboiled detective novels, which I read at the behest of Bubblegum Tate. An entertaining book that may strike some as clichéd, until they realize that it's really where the clichés all originated. I felt that it lost momentum towards the end, but that might have been a byproduct of my taking a break from reading it to finish up a book I got through Interlibrary Loan.

Mike Nelson’s Death Rat!: A Novel by Michael J. Nelson: Comedic novel written by Mystery Science Theater 3000 head writer and host Mike Nelson which follows the misadventures of Pontius Feeb, a nervous and recently laid off academic whose attempts to support himself wind up spawning a massive hoax surrounding a small Minnesota mining town and a mythical giant rat, which makes the increasingly paranoid Feeb the target of a jealous (and bloodthirsty) author and a crazy rock star. Although I thought the ending was a bit weak, the book as a whole was very funny, and I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times.

Mike Nelson's Movie Mega-cheese by Michael J. Nelson: Serious of humorous essays by Nelson about bad movies, a subject near and dear to both of our hearts. If you're a fan of MST3K, this is probably right up your alley.

I feel like I'm leaving something out, but can't think of what it could be. I'm currently about a quarter of the way through The Chosen, the first volume in Ricardo Pinto's Stone Dance of the Chameleon series which my dad recommended; enjoying the heck out of it.

Some of the other books in my reading queue include:

• Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb (first book in new series)
• The Ruins by Scott Smith (horror/suspense novel)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (recommended to me by Flunky Lover)
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (been wanting to finish this for a while)
• The Standing Dead by Ricardo Pinto (second book of Stone Dance of the Chameleon)
• A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (I can't believe I haven't gotten around to reading this one yet)
• Dzur by Steven Brust (only two weeks until a new Vlad Taltos novel! woo-hoo!)

Okay, enough padding; back to reading The Chosen

There's Good Odds That, Just By Mentioning It, CoIM Is Part of the Mythos Now Too

No in-depth reviews today, I'm afraid; I was about a quarter of the way through In Cold Blood when a book I had requested through ILL came in. Now, while I had known that the novel (Hive by Tim Curran) was supposed to be Lovecraftian horror, I hadn't realized that it was actually Lovecraftian horror, as in written as a sequel to an actual Lovecraft story, At the Mountains of Madness. And that's when my borderline OCD kicked in . . .

You see, I didn't just think "Oh, if it's a sequel to this one particular Lovecraft story, I should read that Lovecraft story first." No, that would be normal and sane. Instead, I thought "Oh, it's a sequel to a story in the Cthulhu Mythos, so I really should read all of the Cthulhu Mythos stories in chronological order to make sure that I catch any and all cameos and passing references in each and every story."

The only difficulty with that is, depending on where you look, practically every story Lovecraft has ever done has been labeled as part of the Mythos; it's like a precursor to Stephen King's Dark Tower series in a way, since all a story needs it a passing reference to something that gets a passing reference in a DT book to be considered a tie-in; or, for the comic geeks out there, think Crisis on Infinite Earths on red skies. And, while Lovecraft was nowhere near as prolific a writer as Mr. King, there's still a sizeable chunk of fiction to track down.

Luckily, practically every Lovecraft story to ever see print is available online for free, although Arkham House wishes it weren't so; there's some dispute over whether his works should be in the public domain or not. Working off a chronological list of his stories, I marked which one were available in the print collections at the public library, placed those collections on hold, and started tracking down the other stories online. After reading the bulk of his writings between 1905-1921, I finally decided that due to time constraints I should just bite the bullet, read At the Mountains of Madness, read Hive (which, due to its ILL status, I only have for another week), and come back for the rest of Lovecraft's oeuvre afterwards. Of course, I wasn't even 10 pages into AtMoM before coming across numerous veiled references to characters and events which I'm sure are taken from Pickman's Model, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, etc. *sigh*

Since my Lovecraft reading has been all over the place, I don't know the best way to go about reviewing his writing: by collection, by story, all at once? I will say that some of his early stories (The Beast in the Cave and The Alchemist are two of the more egregious offenders) tend to rely on these twists that the novice writer felt compelled to hammer into his readers heads with a final exclamatory sentence declaring the twist is as prosaic a fashion as possible, as if he didn't trust that the reader would understand what was going on unless it was spelled out for them in black and white; very off-putting, but luckily it wasn't a trend that he would follow throughout his writing career.

Probably my favorite of the 20-odd stories I've read so far is The Temple, narrated from the P.O.V. of a nasty German U-boat commander during WWI whose shortsighted cruelty calls down a curse upon his vessel; I think I enjoyed this one because, although it deals with the usual Lovecraftian tropes of alien intelligences and ancient civilizations and the like, the nature of the narrator is quite a deviation from the honest and well-meaning (if unlucky and eventually insane) characters that usually populate his stories.

Of course, entering into a Lovecraft kick in my reading has also lead to my adding practically every Lovecraft adaptation imaginable into my queue, so you can be expecting some interesing Movie Mondays in the near future.

Written Word Wed. - Not Quite as Premium

Last month I was inspired by the movie version to check out the novel. As expected, some things in the movie were verbatim from the novel, and quite a few others were vastly changed.

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer

This is the story of Jonathan Safron Foer, a young Jewish writer who has traveled to the Ukraine to search for Augustine, the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II. It is also the story of Alex, a Ukrainian man hired to act as Jonathan's interpreter; his grandfather, their driver and guide, despite the fact that he has claimed to be blind ever since his wife died; and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., his grandfather's borderline psychotic seeing eye dog. But, perhaps most of all, it is the story of Trachtimbrod, the small shetl that is both the ancestral home of Jonathan's family and the end point of his quest. As Alex narrates their journey, and Jonathan narrates the history of Trachtimbrod, old secrets are unburied and both men find their worldviews changed.

Everything is Illuminated is a literary novel which alternates between Alex's straightforward (if inventively phrased) narration, Jonathan's fictionalized (and stylized) version of his family's history, and Alex's letters to Jonathan which serve as a commentary on the other two narrative streams. Much like The Toy Collector, although the author and main character share the same name and some similarities, this is not a true autobiographical novel; while Foer did indeed once travel to the Ukraine to track down the woman who once saved his grandfather, he says the real life journey and the journey in the novel are quite different.

A book like this can be a hard sell; the shifting of narrative voices and styles can alienate as often as it entrances. For me, I enjoyed all of the sections told in Alex's voice; his unusual take on the English language, his false bravado, his outsider's perspective, and his sense of humor all combined to make an entertaining read. I can't quite say the same for the Jonathan sections; there was humor there, and interesting characters, but the language just did not flow as well as the Alex sections. It was the literary equivalent of speeding down the highway only to have the road turn to mud underneath you; you can still get where you're going, but it's going to be a bit more hassle than what you've come to expect.

I do have to wonder if my preference for Alex's tales was influenced by the fact that the film only references Alex's point of view; the tales of Trachtimbrod are never touched upon in the movie. Was I just put out because the Jonathan sections were depriving me of more Alex? Possibly. Is that a sign of weakness on the part of the story, or of the reader? Who knows? I think I'm glad I saw the movie first; otherwise I might have been upset at the fact that the secret held by Alex's grandfather was changed from the novel; having already enjoyed the film, I was able to look on the change with more forgiving eyes.

In the end, I enjoyed Everything is Illuminated quite a bit; I would have been happier if Foer had stuck with one voice of the other for the entire novel, but hey, that's just me . . . I'm guessing your mileage may vary on that one.

Written Word Wed. - You Can Lead a Mount to Freedom, but You Can't Make Him Think

I read the following book on the recommendation of Clan Flunky, both of whom have said that they were really looking forward to my review; of course, knowing that they were looking forward to it completely paralyzed me. Darn you people and your expectations!

The Mount by Carol Emshwiller

In the near future, man is longer lord of the Earth; instead, humanity has become little more than glorified pack mules and steeds for the diminutive alien race known as the Hoots. Charley (or Smiley as the Hoots have named him) is a young Seattle, bred for size and strength, chosen as the personal mount of the young Hoot known as His Excellent Excellency About-To-Be-The-Ruler-Of-Us-All. Content with his position, Charley’s world is shattered when a group of wild humans (led by the father he barely knew) attack his settlement in an effort to liberate their domesticated brethren. Charley (along with His Excellent Excellency) is whisked off to the humans’ mountain retreat, where he pines for the pampered life he left behind and rails against those he sees as traitors to his beloved Hoot masters. But it’s not long before life among the freedmen begins to wreak irrevocable changes upon both Charley and His Excellent Excellency, changes which will have a profound effect on both of their races.

The Mount leans towards the more philosophical side of SF, as it uses Charley’s experiences to examine the idea that people can be so enmeshed in their own culture that they become blind to its injustices. Because of this, Emshwiller spends more time dwelling in Charley’s head than she does exploring all of the intricacies of the Hoot world. Which is not to say that she doesn’t give a reasonably solid background for the Hoot’s society; she just choose to view it mainly from the viewpoint of an outsider, and thus leaves a few key things up to the interpretation of the reader. I did leave the book wondering about the lifestyle of the Hoots before they crashed on Earth and how they

This novel was a pretty quick and easy read (I finished it in an evening), which I think was largely a product of the bulk of the book being told from the perspective of the 11-13 year old Charley; the prose was not overly florid, but neither was it stark and simplistic. Due to it being told through Charley’s eyes many of the characters never become fully developed beyond his first impressions, but that can be forgiven as the focus on the development of Charley himself is much more the point of the book. One of the things I liked about the book was the fact that there was never a moment where Charley was possessed of an intense epiphany transforming him into a rabid proselyte for mankind’s freedom; instead, even when he begins to see the value of the “wild” humans’ points, it becomes all mixed up with the detritus of being raised as a servant of the Hoots. While Charley’s obstinacy was slightly off-putting early on, in the end I appreciated that Emshwiller didn’t take the easy way out with his character.

There was one stylistic choice which had me scratching my head, and that was the decision to have two chapters told from the P.O.V. of character’s other than Charley, first an anonymous Hoot, and then later Charley’s father. I can understand the Hoot chapter as it acts almost as a prologue to the book, and the chapter with Charley’s father gives more insight into the mind of the stoic character, both of which are worthy goals. I guess my issue is with how it made the narrative structure feel unbalanced to me; if every chapter alternates between characters, that’s one thing, but when 95% of the book is told from one P.O.V., and then there are two random chapters told from two different P.O.V.s, it takes me momentarily out of the story. Not a major complaint at all, and probably something that would bother only me, but since it was pretty much my only problem with the book, I figured I’d share.

The Mount is a well-written book which would probably appeal to fans of non-genre fiction as well as die-hard SF fans. Those who prefer their SF hard and technobabbley might not enjoy it as much, but if you like a story that’s a little outside the box, this book could fit the bill.

Written Word Wed. - Any Book That Mentions Rom, Space-Knight, Can't Be ALL Bad . . .

Today's review is about a book which, while not part of the SF/Fantasy genre I gravitate towards, does contain enough geektastic references to hold my interest.

The Toy Collector by James Gunn

Jimmy Gunn is a loser; an alcoholic, drug-popping, man-slut of a loser. Jimmy is drifting aimlessly through life until his friend Billy introduces him to the wonders of toy collecting; suddenly Jimmy has a purpose in life: to own every toy robot ever made. Of course, toy collecting is an expensive habit, so Jimmy and Billy turn to the best cash-making plan they can think of: drug-peddling. Soon, their shared apartment is drowning in collectibles as Jimmy strives to recapture the magic of his youth, reliving the madcap adventures of his borderline-sociopathic childhood. His life is thrown out of its rut when he meets Evelyn, a 19-year old year who stirs within him something he hasn't felt in countless years, something which he thinks might possibly be love. But, the course of true love has never run true, as they say, and even less so for a self-destructive alcoholic with a toy fetish. Still, faced with feelings he has suppressed since a tragic occurrence in his youth, Jimmy struggles to place himself on the path to sobriety, normality, and happiness.

The Toy Collector is a darkly humorous novel of transgressional fiction, a genre which focuses on people who feel confined by society's strictures and obligations and attempt to break free from them. These attempts are typified by anti-social behavior and a breaking of societal taboos, both of which are in full force in this particular novel, which is replete with violence, substance abuse, and explicit sexual situations. The protagonist, though named after the author, bears little resemblance to him. On his webpage Gunn responds to the question “What on earth possessed you to name the protagonist of the book James Gunn?” thusly:

To this I reply I like the sound of my name, I’ve always been somewhat enamored of myself, and what better advertising for ME than having my name on every single page? I forgot Hubert Selby Jr.’s name for a couple of years after I read Last Exit to Brooklyn; but if he had named the protagonist after himself, well, it might have been a different outcome altogether. So I have a bit of an ego problem, I know that. I’m dealing with it. I’m in therapy. That’s no secret.

Gunn has also claimed that, while not necessarily factual, there are portions of the book which are "true."

I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, I enjoyed Gunn's wicked sense of humor; on the other, the train-wreck that was Jimmy's life often became as oppressive to me as it was to him. On the whole, I'm not necessarily a fan of non-stop self-destructive behavior; Gunn's humor helped make it more palatable, but a little of the "sex, drugs, and more sex and drugs" mentality goes a long way with me. I found the most interesting and entertaining portions of the book to be the flashback's to Jimmy's childhood; the bonding of Jimmy, his younger, equally psychotic brother Tar, and their two equally outcast neighbors was alternately hilarious, touching, and disturbing. The idea of children being so caught up in their imaginations that they can actually hear their toys talking to them is both beautiful and worrying, even more so as the elder Jimmy falls into the same trap.

In the end, I'd have to say I was just lukewarm towards this one; if you're a fan of trangressional fiction authors like Chuck Palahniuk or Brett Easton Ellis you might enjoy this, although the character of Jimmy is much more in tune with society than the protagonists of the books I've read by Ellis and Palahniuk. In fact, that might be why I had a harder time enjoying this one: with Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and the characters in Lullaby, there is an emotional distance between them and their actions, whereas Jimmy feels strongly about his mistakes, but just can't correct them. I guess it's just easier for me to read about true sociopaths than those who are trapped in less psychotic modes of self-destruction; I'm funny that way.

The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills

I just found out that Robert Jordan, author of the bestselling Wheel of Time series, has been diagnosed with primary myloidosis with cardiomyapathy, a condition with a pretty grave prognosis if untreated. Jordan seems optimistic that the treatments will work, and I think we all know that a good attitude is paramount in recovering from any illness. So, here's some positive thoughts and prayers sent his way, to help offset all of the "Oh, crap, is he going to finish the series before he croaks?" thoughts which this news is sure to conjure (yes, I had them as well).

Written Word Wed. - Truth Rises With the Phoenix

Look, a newly written book review! Will wonders never cease? Much like I did for The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders, I've decided to just do an overview of the entire series, rather than just focusing on the last book; after all, if you're read the first six, you probably don't need my urging to read the conclusion, and if you haven't read any of them, then reading about book seven (a) won't make much sense and (b) might be a bit spoilery.

Crown of Stars Series by Kate Elliot

1. King's Dragon
2. Prince of Dogs
3. The Burning Stone
4. Child of Flame
5. The Gathering Storm
6. In the Ruins
7. Crown of Stars

This series is set in a world loosely inspired by medieval Europe. While the action ranges of a large span of time and encompasses a wide range of threats, the bulk of the plots revolve around three characters of uncertain parentage: Prince Sanglant, eldest son of King Henry and leader of the King's Dragons, barred from the throne due to his illegitimate birth, blessed (and cursed) by his otherworldly mother to never die at the hands of man or woman; Liath, daughter of a reclusive mathematicus, who enters into the service of the King's Eagles in order to escape the grasp of the treacherous and power hungry Hugh of Austra who alone suspects the power sleeping within her; and Alain, a common born orphan promised to a monastic life who finds himself caught up in great events after he is claimed as a pawn of the mystical Lady of Battles. These three are thrust into a world of violence, intrigue, and sorcery, as Henry's kingdom faces threats from within and without, ranging from treasonous nobles to the savage inhuman Eika to the ghostly Lost Ones to the secretive sorcerers known as the Seven Sleepers. By the end of the series, the entire face of the world has been changed by the events plaguing the heroes, and none escape totally unscathed.

The Crown of Stars series is definitely an Epic Fantasy, with Alain and Liath both fitting the role of "a nobody thrust into greatness"; in fact, a good deal of time is spent detailing their difficulties in adapting to their new positions and the burdens and obligations that accompany them. While a majority of the adversaries in the series are not so much "evil" as they are driven by overpowering needs for power, vengeance, etc., making them at times sympathetic, there are some villains who are villains through-and-through, with no real shades of grey. While the world of the series is inspired by medieval Europe, Elliot has stated that there aren't necessarily 1:1 correlations between any of the countries/peoples/events of her books and our own history; I found it interesting that the teaching of the phoenix dubbed by the church in the books as heresy was actually very close to the Christian belief of the resurrection of Christ. As often happens in Fantasy series, the presence of magic is sparse in the beginning, but has become commonplace by the end.

CoS is an excellent series. The bulk of the characters are fully three-dimensional, and even those that at times come across as one note generally are revealed to have a bit more depth to them. The political and personal relationships in the series were, at times, complex; in a way, I wish I had waited until the whole series was published before reading them since, having read the first four books back in 2003, there were definitely some connections between characters that had faded from my mind by the time I finished the series. Trying to keep straight exactly who was the heir to what, and how exactly so-and-so was related to so-and-so would occasionally bog the books down for me, but I think if I had read them all at once it would have been much easier to keep straight. I appreciated the fact that the series didn't all revolve around just one over-arching threat; in a way, the structure reminded me of Babylon 5, with the first books sowing the seeds of a larger threat, the middle books dealing with the threat, and the last ones dealing with the aftermath.

My biggest (heck, practically my only) complaint about the series can be summed up in one word: Hugh. I don't believe I've ever hated a character in any medium as much as I hated Hugh of Austra. The whole "nobody believes he's evil because he's so danged good-looking" thing drove me insane; yes, it fit with the religious culture of the world, which was mired in the "bad things only happen to bad people" belief, but it still grated as time after time I had to see this slimy, smug, murderous, abusive, sociopathic priest escape his just desserts; while his eventual fate might fit the idea of "poetic justice," I still would have much preferred a good old fashioned lynching back in the first book.

I feel like I’m selling the series short here, but I don’t want to give too much away. So, I’ll just finish up by saying I highly recommend this to fans of fantasy fiction.