His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

I'm about halfway through the final book in the trilogy - The Amber Spyglass.

And I'm stopping.

I hardly ever stop a book. Even if I don't like it, even if I'm finding it painful or brain numbing beyond words, i still push my way through. I'm stubborn like that.

But I'm stopping near the middle of The Amber Spyglass.

But this time, it's out of love.

I've only done this with 2 other series.

The Lord of the Rings. It wasn't until I heard that they were being made in to movies that I went back are read the final chapters in the third book. I started them when I was in 6th grade... what year was that? Somewhere around '88 I think. And I read through all but the last few chapters . I read enough to know how the story ends, but I couldn't bring myself to read the very end.

The other series was Stephen Kings Gunslinger Series. If you've read this series, you know the part I'm talking about. The "Dear Reader" part in the last chapter where the author himself suggests that you stop right here. I took his advice.

I'll reread that series many times too, but unless there's an imminent movie or some other method of forcing the ending upon me in the near future, I won't read that final portion.

And the His Dark Materials trilogy joins those ranks. I've been reading them through in one large feast. And I'm loving them. But I'm not ready for the series to be over.

So I'm going to put the last book aside for a while. The movie is coming out on December 7th, 2007. So sometime between now and December 7th I'll pick the book back up and finish it. But for now, I want to let Lyra, Will, and Iorek just exist in my imagination. Suspended in my mind, moving forward in their journey, but not yet at the end.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman



This is another one of those books that people have been telling me to read for years. Especially people who think they have a general feel for what I like to read for fun. But I resisted. Not actively, I just sort of put it on the "someday when i get around to it" list.

Part of this, I admit, is due to coke.

Coke and it's damn anthropomorphic polar bears.
...drinking soda, dancin' around, smiling all creepy like, and showing up on beach towels everywhere.

And one of the only two covers that I've seen of this book previously had a picture of a girl bundled up in winter attire sitting atop a cuddly looking polar bear.

Ahhhhhh.... that's so sweet. She looks so warm and wintery, and he looks like he's about to crack open a nice cold coca cola and share it with her along with some christmas cookies.

So I kinda stayed away from the book.

I did find one other copy, a trade paperback, with a much more somber cover. I bought it for my daughter because I'd heard that it's a good book for kids too. She didn't read it either.

And then during the trailers before the transformers movie I saw that they are turning this series in to movies this fall.

And I got a glimpse of the bear.
He wasn't holding a coke.
Or wearing sunglasses.
Or dancing even.

He comes crashing through a stone wall decked out in armor with murder glinting in his eyes.
That's way cool.

So I my daughter and I started reading them together. I went out and bought a paperback that did not have a cuddly bear on the cover. And I noticed something.

This book is marketed completely differently depending on it's cover. Or maybe the cover is part of the completely different marketing.... i don't know....

But anyway, in each of the bookstores I looked in, it appears in both the young adult section, and the Sci-Fi fantasy section. And the deciding factor between where it is shelved seems to be it's cover art. There are some covers in the young adult section that I would very embarrassed to be seen holding. But in the fantasy section there are covers that blend in perfectly well with the other "mature" (can you call stories about robots, dragons, hobits and spaceships mature?) novels.

My daughter sorta stalled out. She says she's still reading them, but at about a page a week, and that average is dropping.
Me, I'm loving them. I'm going to read the entire series straight through. I'm on the second book, The Subtle Knife, right now. And these are some of the best fantasy books I've read. They don't need the "young adult" qualifier. They are just damn good fantasy books.

And rather than being young adult books that are good for regular adults too, this is an adult story that could be stretched down into the young adult range if you're looking for a wider audience. I think that the book gets thrown in with young adult literature because the main character of the first novel, Lyra, is a young girl. She's an orphaned little snot, but you'll love her anyawy. Just don't ever volunteer to babysit her.

The world is a sort of steam punk world. I've been a little obsessed with steam punk lately.
Good steam punk is rare. China Mievilles "Perdido Street Station" is the only good steam punk novel I've ever read (that - by the way - is an amazing book that i cannot recommend highly enough).

huh? what? speak up sonny!
"What is steampunk" you ask? Well I'm not sure I can define it, Wiki has an article on it.

I've run into it as a visual art form more than anything, and I know it when I see it. Here's some examples.

Let's start with transformers redone in steampunk style




















es vaaaary nice, yes?

Transformers are maybe not your thing though, eh?
Well how about a little Star Wars redone a-la steampunk? hmmmm?















The "Han and Chewie" was especially nice, was it not?
And to end off this feast, some original steampunk work.









It took me a bit to realize that this first book might fall in to that category. But about halfway through I was sure. Airships and steam engines along side oil lamps and strang lights run from something called anabaric energy. Those are the base ingredients for this world.

People have things called daemons (pronounced just like demon).
Think of it as your soul, only on the outside. You aren't alive if you don't have one.

Sprinkle in some political intrigue and a church that is growing in powerful and still grasping for more. Nebulous mysteries in the north and brief glimpes of what seems to be an entire city flickering through the Auror Borealis.

Oh, and that bear? His name is Iorek Byrnison. He's a recovering alcoholic (he's usually recovering) who is being held by a group of men mostly because he has the uncanny ability to bend metal in his bear hands (ha! get the pun?) and fix just about anything that takes metal work. They're also a little sore about the time he tore a whole bunch of them in to bloody little chunks because they took his armor away.

He does not drink coke, though there is a part where he twists a guys head off like a bottle cap.... that's kinda the same thing.

Snake Agent by Liz Williams

Snake Agent by Liz Williams



I wish I could reccomend this book, I really do. But in good conscience, I cannot. It's not for everyone, not by any stretch.

I admit, I picked this book up because of the cover art. I know... I know.... Book... cover.... don't judge... blah blah bah...

But seriously, look at that cover art.... Would you not pick a book up just for cover art like that?

And the idea for the book intruiged me too. Sorta a near future cyber-punk setting with a little bit of hell thrown in for fun.

Here's the full publishers blurb
"Detective Inspector Chen is the Singapore Three police department's snake agent - the detective in charge of supernatural and mystical investigations. Chen has several problems: in addition to colleagues who don't trust him and his mystical ways, a patron goddess whom he has offended and a demonic wife who's tired of staying home alone, he's been paired with one of Hell's own vice officers, Seneschal Zhu Irzh, to investigate the illegal trade in souls. Political pressures both Earthly and otherworldly seek to block their investigations at every turn. As a plot involving both Singapore Three's industrial elite and Hell's own Ministry of Epidemics is revealed, it becomes apparent that the stakes are higher than anyone had previously suspected.

The world lived up to my expecations. It was imaginative, well developed, and intriguing. A world parallel to our own, maybe a couple decades in the future, but the barriers between earth, heaven, and hell have eroded. Demons, angels and gods can travel back and forth. There are business transactions and political dealings that nudge the realms in to working together, or somethings against eachother. This book focuses on a place called Singapore Three, and you get the impression that the fabric between the realms is thinner here than other places. Liz Williams lays down the rules for her reality, and she sticks to them.

I've read plenty of books where you just don't buy into the world that the author creates. Either because the author never makes the rules clear, or doesn't stick to the rules they've made, or because it just doesn't make any sort of sense.

In this book, Liz Williams created a world that makes sense, whose rules are clearly defined, and that you can find yourself easily sinking in to. You can imagine her world existing apart from the characters, and apart from the novel.

That's the good part.

Both the story and the characters are weaker.

The story wasn't bad, but for a book with a detective as the main character it just wasn't very "snappy" either. Earlier this year I read all the the "Dresden File" books in a streak of biblio-gluttony. They were a sort of near-reality/alternate reality setting too. And they featured a detective (the wizard Harry Dresden) as well.

But what they had, that this book didn't, was a story line that "snapped". They were well paced with a mystery that fit nicely together at the end with a few twists and turns getting there. Snake Agent just sort of started at point A and plodded along in fits and stutters to point B, took a gentle curve, and ended at point C. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't a memorable story either.

And the characters.... they lacked a certain... what's the word? ...character.
Yup, that's it, they lack character.
I think that a good character works their way in to your imagination. You feel like you know them, like you could lift them up out of the novel, place them pretty much anywhere, and have a decent idea what they'd do.

Not with these characters. I imagine picking them up and out of the book, placing them in a different setting, and watching them blink in stunned confusion waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

But, from what I've read since, most people have said that she only improves as she goes along.

So I'm going to keep reading the series. I like the setting enough, and maybe her characters sharpen up. And besides, the cover art for the next book is just as beautiful.

Snake Agent by Liz Williams

They say that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.... but come on.... look at that cover.

I have no idea what the book is about. Or if the author is any good, or if it's a young adult book.
I saw that cover, I grabbed that book. And I've just started it.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Just started....
I've wanted to read some Neal Stephenson for years now. But I've never really known where to start. I finally ran across someone who has read his books, and she pointed me towards "Snow Crash".

I'm only about 50 pages in, but I think I like it already.
The first 5 pages are one of the best opening hooks I've read in a bit.
I'll write a bit more about it later, but I'll have to put up some heavy "spoiler" barricades first.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

review for Foundation by Isaac Asmiov:

It has recently been brought to my attention that there is a significant gap in my sci-fi classics reading experience. Now, to be fair, there is also a significant gap in my reading or Victorian novels. And Colonial American Novels too. ...and now that I think about it, there are quite of a few of the great works from the romantic era that I haven't read. Neither have I delved deeply in to South American literature, nor the great works or warrior hamsters.

But, and here's the point I was straying from, I don't pretend to know much, if anything, about those topics. Not that I pretend to be a sci-fi historian either... but apparently I sort of give off the aura of one who would know his sci-fi greats.

And I don't want to be a poser. Laws-no. M-O-O-N, that spells "poser".

So I should read some of those works that the genre has been built on. Those works that have formed the foundation, you could say....

Sweet Seven in a red dress, sometimes I impress even myself. See how I did that? Rambled all over the place, and then brought it back to center with an allusion to the title of the book itself? ?? ? ? ?? ???
foundation?
get it?
Foundation?
Crap.... Maybe it wasn't that impressive.

Anyway, i finished Isaac Asimov's Foundation (it's a whole series, I just read that first book. Though oddly enough, there's also a book called Prelude to Foundation, but it's not the first book. Chronologically it would come first, but it wasn't the first one written. I think it's sorta like a prequel).

It was a good book, it was an easy read, and I can't really argue that there were many of the building blocks i.e. legos, of modern science fiction. It was very obviously part of a larger series, the ending is not a conclusion by any means.

I should give you a brief synopsis....
If you want the full run down go here

Briefly, there's a guy named Harry Seldon, a frickin' genius. Not a mad scientist, but a legitimate genius. He's what is called a psychohistorian. He weaves mathematics, history, and sociology together to predict the development of societies on a large scale. And he comes to the conclusion that the empire is
nearing it's final days (dum-dum-dum dum-da-dum dum-da-dum no, not that empire silly.)

He can't prevent it, he can't change it, he can't even make people believe him when he tries to warn them. All he can do is maneuver current events so that the period of barbarism and violence is shortened to a mere one-thousand years.

He dies before his plan really even kicks off. Not in a violent action packed scene. But rather off stage, of old age.
And then the story begins.

There are a few qualities to this novel that make it different that other sci-fi stories, or other novels in general even.

First, it is very dialog driven. I didn't even realize this until I was reading through some online reviews and came across a comment to the effect of "it was like reading a script". I went back to the book, and sure enough, it is almost purely dialog. But I've got to say, i think that's a strength. If you can tell a
story through dialog, you've done a beautiful thing. Good dialog is the core to a good novel. And when it's done well enough that you don't even realize that you've read almost an entire book of dialog, you've accomplished something amazing.

The converse, a narrative book with little to no dialog, is a very very hard thing to pull off. There are many more books that have too much narrative and not enough (or weak) dialog than there are dialog bloated books without a narrative. Good dialog becomes narration all on it's own (See Hills Like White Elephants).

And yet some of the crappiest books (sci-fi or otherwise) I've ever read where these "then Joe went there and shot some guys. He drank beer. He drank too much beer. He shot some more guys. But they were undercover federation guys. So Joe had to fly away in a cool ship with big guns. Zoom. Zoom. Zapitty-zap-zap. Kaboom!" type books (I went just a smidge over board there didn't I?).

In retrospect, even though i didn't realize at the time, the dialog was probably my favorite part of the novel.

Second. The story isn't about any one specific person (unless you were going to argue that it's about Harry Seldon. But it's really not, it might be about his theories and plans, but not so much about him directly). I can't remember the name of a single character beyond Harry Seldon - and he's dies pretty early in the book.

It's not that the characters aren't interesting. There were really only a couple character flaws that I noticed (making a note to come back to those). It's that they don't stick around very long. The book covers several generations, and you get a glimpse at a handful of significant characters from each generation.
Then they get old and die. You remember the the part they played, but you probably won't remember their names or anything about them specifically. But that's sort of the point. The story isn't about individuals. It's about an entire society.

Character flaws.

Again, i can't remember the names, but there's one character (A male... now that I think of it most of the main characters are men... is that significant? I don't know.) who is a radical in his government. He wants to shake things up, he's pursuing change, he's even ready to violently overthrow the existing government he believes so strongly in his vision.

He reappears later in the novel as an elderly statesmen still working within the government. But now he's the symbol of conservative government unwilling to change.

Maybe it's an intentional comment on what happens to fiery youth as they grow old and comfortable.

But I had a hard time believing that he wouldn't have that moment of "ah-ha, I was that fiery youth once maybe i should at least listen with an open mind." But he never does, he's stubborn and ignorant in the final scene he plays.

Character flaw number two. And here's the one that bugged me more.

The villains (though calling them villains might be simplifying it. They are heads of opposing states, and very well drawn with believable motivations and goals) have a tenancy to be easily talked out of things.
There's a scene that occurs a few times, and it goes vaguely like this.

"Grrrr... Arg... I'm a bad guy... I'm angry and I would like to imprison, hurt, maim, and/or kill you, the good guy"

"But wait - irascible bad guy. I've got a monologue that I'd like to deliver first. Here, listen to my well thought out chain of logic. blah blah blah. yaddity yaddity. A equals B, and the square root of Q is the roman numeral VIII. So you see, you should not maim, injure or otherwise inflict damage upon my person"

"You know, i've never looked at it in that light. Now that you lay it all out like that, you're absolutely correct. I surrender."

That little scene plays out in a lot of novels though doesn't it? Movies/TV
too now that I think about it.

I'm to the point in my book reading life, where i find myself silently chanting "just shoot him to shut him up, and deal with the consequences later"

Next point.
The technology.

It's easy to pick apart the technological "predictions" in this book and say "ha, how could the author think that's what would happen?"

But keep things in perspective. This book was published in 1951.

On October 4, 1957 Sputnik I launched by the USSR.
On January 31, 1958 Explorer I was launched by the United States.
On August 7, 1959 The first photo of earth from space was taken by Explorer 6.
On September 14, 1959 the USSR sent the first Probe to Moon - Luna 2.
On April 12, 1961 the USSR put the first human in orbit - Vostok 1
And on July 20, 1969 the USA put the first human on the Moon - Apollo 11.

So Isaac Asimov was writing before any sort of space travel science had been developed.

And, I found an interesting bit of trivia that I missed while reading. There's a point where one of the characters whips out a scientific calculator and punches out some quick numbers. I didn't think anything of it. Why wouldn't a scientist whip out a scientific calculator? After I finished the book I found out that the first pocket calculator was developed over 20 years later. So "hi-5" Mr. Asimov.

It was a good book. If you don't really read sci-fi, I'll be honest, you're probably not going to get much out of this one. But if you read science fiction at all, or you're thinking about buffing up on your sci-fi classics. Get this one.

I'm glad I got it, and I'll pick up the other foundation books next time I'm at half-priced books.

...catching up a bit

I'm getting behind in writing up little book reviews again. It's the same pattern as it ever was. I feel like I've got to dedicate enough time to really write something complete out. And while waiting for that time to materialize I get further and further behind. So here are abbreviated reviews to catch myself back up.



Egyptian Legends and Stories by M. V. Seton-Williams

Good starting point for Egyptian legends. It doesn't go in to the connotation or implication of some of these legends. but if fills you in on the names and some of the stories for the gods. If you've read any other books on Egyptian Mythology, this
book will be a step backwards for you. If you're looking for a good starting spot, this book is accessible, short, and will give you the hand holds you need to start looking for something with a little more substance.

Two quick things that would make a good discussion - you notice it when you're reading the book, but the author never points them out, or discusses them.

1) There are a lot of parallels with Old Testament stories. It's entirely possible that when you dig deep enough you find that all these myths and legends are nearly the same at the bone. Maybe that's what draws me to mythology in the first place.

There are a few in here that bear discussion though. The one that sticks in my memory right now is the story of a baby prince who is saved by floating him down a river to hide him from his enemies. In this case, and the other parallels, the Egyptian stories are thousands of years older than the Old Testament stories.

2) The book goes through the legends in more or less a chronological order. It balances legends that take place first in the over all mythos, with legends that are just plain "old". Meaning the tablets or stones they were written in have been dated.

Near the end of the book the legends were more recent both in when they were written, and when the stories they told took place. And they took a decidedly christian turn. There is even one about the true resting place of Noah's ark at the Well of the Bats. I don't know what that means either, but you start with a system of gods and myths about as alien to christianity (judaism and muslim) as you can get, and you end with stories that could have been lost




Rainy Season by James P Blaylock
Short summary...
There's a guy named Phil who lives alone, his wife died suddenly. He takes pictures, and he has an old well in his backyard that people seem to "lurk" around frequently. Phil's sister dies, and leaves her daughter, Betsy, with him. There's an obsessed older neighbor lady that complicates that part of the story. Betsy moves in, creepy things happen around the well, and shady characters enter the story. The story centers aroudn the well, and the supernatural things that happen there. Children are
sacrificed, artifacts are found, and the real monsters in the story are other people - which seems to be a trait in Blayocks books.

There are some interesting plot twists, and it's a smart book that fits together nicely. But it isn't an exciting book. I know, that's immature of me... and maybe I still need pictures in my book... But even though the story rolled along, there just wasn't much... action. not that I need gunfights and car chases ever other page. But I do need something to make me eager to flip the page. And I need some sense of risk, or I have to at least feel something is at stake. And it's inferred that maybe the daughter is in danger as the story progresses, but not directly, and not in any imminent danger. A decent book with an interesting concept (I loved the idea of the well, and what it ended up being) but I can't recommend as a good read over all.



White Knight by Jim Butcher
I could probably write a lot more about this book, and maybe I will and post it separately, but it's not so much about the book itself as it is about the authors ability to sustain a long series. Some authors have managed to do it. Most haven't. Most put a dark spot on their beloved creation by trying to stretch it out too far. It becomes "a good series until the something-th book". They lose their passion for their characters
and their story in exchange for a 5 book deal, movie rights and shorter deadlines. They "crank 'em out" And worse, in my mind at least, they leave the readers that have been with them the longest feeling betrayed.

This is the 9th book in the Dresden files series. (The Sci-fi TV show of the same name is going to fail, if it hasn't already, because it's based upon Jim Butchers writing instead of actually being Jim Butchers writing). It's not the best book in the series, but it's still good. Very good. it doesn't take itself too seriously, doesn't try to be something it isn't. It's just a fun quick book.

Is it still jumping the shark when it's books instead of TV? If so, Jim Butcher has not, I repeat NOT jumped the shark. I've got thoughts on why, and what dangers loom ahead that would signal the collapse of the series. But i've rambled on enough all
ready. If you like wizards, detectives, (or detective-wizards) dark humor, mysteries, fun reads, a quick pace, and a mouthy hero, then go get the first book in the series - Storm Front



Life of Pi by Yann Martel
I read this book in one day.
I don't think it was intended to be read in one day.
And I'm not a fast reader.
I'm a decidedly slow reader.
I read it at Six Flags in Illinois. Which might seem like an odd thing, but in truth, it made an interesting parallel to the book

itself. I didn't want to go to Six Flags. I was under no illusions that I would enjoy Six Flags. I only wanted to survive. ...just like Pi. Mostly I moved from shady spot to shady spot within site of whatever ride my daughter and her friend were currently on. I read on the bus on the way back, and in the evening I finished the final chapters.
I was disappointed.
My wife told me to read the book.
A friend from work who generally steers me true, told me to read the book.
Other friends have told me to read the book.
Every critical review I came across told me to read the book.
By the end of the prologue I was told that "this is a story that will make you believe in God".
SO I think I may have set my expectations high.
As much publicity as the book got, I imagine everyone knows what the book is about. A little boy adrift on the ocean in a life boat with a tiger. And it's not a Disney tiger. It's a hungry, gotta eat or starve to death, tiger.
But what they didn't' tell you was that the first third of the book was about Pi (that's his nickname, and yes it's significant.

It's pronounced like 3.14159) and his life before he even got on the boat that you know is going to sink at some point. That's the part I wasn't expecting, and that I got a little impatient with.
I admittedly have a "get on the damn sinking boat and start working on the hungry tiger problem already" attitude. I'm not proud... and i'm trying to recover.
Anyway, I'm not going to drag this out. The further I get from the book, the more I like it. I didn't like it as a narrative story that I read while hot sweaty scantily clad people streamed by me and half my mind wondered where my daughter
was, and if she was safe. I would have liked it as a book about religion, and faith, and the malleable nature of reality, and if I'd read it over the span of about a month. In little chunks as easily digestible as the festering leg of a dead french sailor.

The Rainy Season by James P Blaylock

Years ago i was stuck downtown with nothing to read. I'd brought a book. But I finished it. I'd brought my journal too, and thought I'd just write a bit if I finished the book. But I wasn't in the mood to write. So I hit up a local bookstore.

I found a book called All the Bells on Earth by a guy named James Blaylock. I'd never heard of him before, but the opening passage caught me. I picked it up, read it over the weekend, and it has gone down as one of the better contemporary fantasy (or whatever it's being called this week) books i've ever read. It had a golem, a bluebird in a jar that grants wishes, a pastor, and a deal made with someone who may or may not have been the devil himself.

So when I was at half price books a bit back and noticed 3 other James Blaylock books, I picked them up. They've been sitting by my bead for a while. This weekend I decided it was time to try another one. So i started The Rainy Season.

Myth Hunters and Borderkin by Christopher Golden

I'm falling behind a little on my the blog half of my reading, so i'm going to keep this short.

I love the Hellboy books. I'd never claim they are great literature, but fuck if they aren't fun to read. And of the Hellboy books, the ones written by Christopher Golden are my favorites.

Christopher Golden writes other books too.

So I thought, "What the hell?" I'll try some of his other books. I decided to try the first two books in the Veil series. The Myth Hunters, and Borderkind. And they were good. Not my favorite series ever. But good.

In brief, there's a veil that separates our world from the world of myth (don't call them myths though, it pisses them off). The books are about a man, Oliver, who crosses that veil while saving the embodiment of winter itself, Jack Frost. And thus it begins. The web quickly becomes tangles. Oliver, of course, isn't what he seems to be. The writing is well paced, the characters are ground in myths and legends from across the globe, and the plot is satisfyingly convoluted.

I'm glad i gave Christopher Golden's other books a try, and I'll sure as hell grab the third book in the series when it comes out.

The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden

The Dragon Pool (Hellboy)
by
Christopher Golden



I've been holding this book back. I bought it right away when it came out in April, but like the last peanut butter M&M, I set it aside for later. I read a couple other books first, and then I just couldn't hold off any longer.

And like that last M&M saved until the end of a long day, this book as the yummy

chocolate and peanut butter treat in a hardened candy shell that I had been hoping it would be.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, second only to Mike mignola (Hellboy creator) Christopher Golden understands Hellboy better than anyone else. The non-Golden Hellboy books are still good. But they focus more on the action.

Smack-punch, big red demon versus some other supernatural creature. Hellboy gets the snot kicked out of him, then gets really mad and pounds the tar out of anything that stands in his way.

And really, that's what all Hellboy stories boil down to. There are some plot twists, some supernatural mysteries, but you know from the very first page that in the end there's going to be some really powerful, really evil bad guy. And Hellboy is going to beat it into a hellish pulp. So if that's all there is to the book.... well it's still fun, but it's just not all that Hellboy can be.

Hellboy is a good guy. Not just a good-guy, but a good guy, you know? He wants to do the right thing, he doesn't like it when people get hurt, and he feels a lot of guilt and responsibility. And there's the whole "I'm an 8 foot tall red demon with a tail" thing. Makes it hard to socialize. He sorta stands out in a crowd.

But for some reason, in the novels, Christopher Golden is the only guy that seems to get this - The novelOn Earth As It Is In Hell by Brian Hodge is good this way too, but he gives us a look into Liz Sherman more than Hellboy.

He still gets the action, there's still one hell of a knock down drag out fight, but you also get a look in to a relationship from Hellboys past that changed him forever.

So ultimately... what can I say, this book was awesome. It was what i've come to expect from Christopher Golden. I wasn't the best one he's donw, but there wasn't anything "bad" about it either.

Now i've got to wait until the next Christopher Golden Hellboy book. I did decide to try some of Christopher Golden's other books (not the Buffy ones though, I think I'll pass on those). I'll let you know how those go.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

wiki says....
"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar penal colony's revolt against rule from Earth. Originally serialised in Worlds of If (December 1965, January, February, March, April 1966), it received the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel."

I've had this one on my "to read" shelf for a while too. I've been told that it's a Sci-Fi classic. I've even been told that when it comes to novels it's THE sci-fi classic.

Egyptian Legends and Stories by M. V. Seton-Williams

Egyptian Legends and Stories by M. V. Seton-Williams


Started it this morning. I'm still on the intro....

Un Dun Lun by China Mieville

I Love China Mieville. I'll admit, in my eyes, he can't go wrong. So I'm a little biased here. I've been waiting for this book since 2 days after I finished the last China Mieville book.

The Dresden File books

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher


I'm not a long time fan. I can't claim to have known about these books before I heard about the series on the Sci-Fi channel. But the previews looked good, and I was excited for the show to start. Patience, however, has never been one of my strong suits. So in the meantime I tracked down the books. The first book was a little harder to find, I ended having to order it online. But since the series has started on the Sci-Fi channel they have been easier and easier to find at local bookstores.

I've been hooked since the first one. They are fun, fast, easy reads. I don't really read mystery novels, so I'm not really qualified to gauge that aspect. But they feel like good mystery novels.

A little back ground. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a Wizard who opened shop as a Private Investigator in Chicago. He's listed in the phone book, and has a sign proclaiming his Wizard status hanging outside his door. The novels seem to follow a pattern, but not so much that they've become predictable (I'm on number 6, and so far they haven't turned stale at all). There is usually at least one main mystery. It's usually something of enormous impact on the the "magic community" and Dresden pretty much always seems out of his league. There there's at least one side mystery. Something Dresden picked up for some money to pay his rent (yes, this wizard scrapes by to meet his rent). In the process of solving the BIG mystery, we find out that the little mystery is involved. Not in some predictable "the butler did it" sort of way. I've got to give the Author (Jim Butcher) a lot of credit. I have hit a plot that feels rehashed yet. I've got no precognitive abilities what-so-ever, but I can usually figure out the ending of about half of everything I read or watch within the first quarter of reading it or watching it. And that ruins it for me. I'd rather be wrong and surprised than right and bored. And I haven't guessed the ending to one of the twist in one of these books yet.

Somewhere in the novel, usually just before the climax of the plot so that it further distracts Harry from the BIG mystery, we are usually given a piece of Harry's past. His Mom and Dad are dead. We're told (and Harry believes) that both deaths were accidental. We are let in on bits of their death, and their lives and why Harry is more than we, or he, thinks as we go along.

I've gotta make a note about the vampires in the novel. They aren't a central piece of the story. But they have appeared often enough to be supporting characters. Butcher has rewritten a lot of the rules on vampires. He split them into three types. Those of the White Court, Red Court and the Black Court. Beyond what we need to get through the novel, Butcher doesn't go very deeply into the mechanics of vampirism. We get a little bit more with each book, but not much more than is needed to progress the plot.

Black court vampires are closest to your classic vampires. They follow a lot of the conventional rules. Holy water, garlic, crosses, daylight, all that stuff. In the world of Harry Dresden, they are all but extinct. Mostly wiped out, and even thought to be gone completely by some. They have the most brute power, but are bound by the rules more than the other two. The Red Court vampires are somewhere in the middle. They are still bad guys, but some of them have likable qualities. They have places in society (Bianca, the vampire we hear about the most, runs Chicago's most exclusive brothel). She and Harry start on relatively, "you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone" terms. The white court are the vampires we can like. They don't drink blood, they drink emotion (sexual of course). And they aren't hindered by daylight or any of the conventional vampire weapons. They also have the least brute strength.

Which brings me to a small digression. I've come to the conclusion that the truly evil vampire, the one that can be an irredeemable monster and nothing else, is dead. I haven't read a vampire book in a while where the vampire didn't either have some redeeming qualities, or wasn't balanced by some vampire hybrid (day-walkers, Dhampyre, half vampires etc....) that was more good than evil. I think that's a significant change in the vampire mythos. The sympathetic vampire has been around for a while. Ann Rice get credit for really developing it, but even before Louis De Pointe Du Lac other authors had written vampires that we were at least sympathetic towards, if not admired. There's a whole discussion there for fans of the vampire mythos.

Anyway, Butcher falls into that tradition. By book 6 there are at least 2 vampire characters that are on the good guys team.

And since I'm already digressing..... I don't like the TV series. Harry Dresden has all sorts of little quirks that make him endearing in the books. And the stories, both individually, and the larger story as a whole, has all sorts of hooks that get you addicted like home brew crack with an eye of newt thrown in. The TV series eliminated most of them. The only charming piece of the book at carries over is Dresden's "Bob in a Skull". And it's really the only part of the TV show that fans have liked so far. Mere coincidence? I think not. Some of the bits and pieces would be hard to pull off on TV. But some I just don't understand. In the books Dresden's long duster jacket is like Indiana Jones' hat. It's trivial, sure. And a little cheesey. But it's one of those pieces that makes Dresden who he is. What was it about the magic of television that forbid the wearing of a black duster and instead put Dresden in a J Crew leather jacket? I could go on.... his cat for instance. Doesn't get more than a paragraph per book. But you'd notice if Mister (he's called Mister because he's a damn big cat with an attitude) didn't make at least a passing appearance in a book. So why not buy a big cat and let him walk around int he background of the television show?

Okay, not I'm in danger of ranting. I'll sum up. Love the books. I'm going to read them straight through, and then bitch and moan about not having anything fun to read. If you have seen the television series and didn't care for it, don't let that influence your decision on picking up the first book. With each episode the show resembles the books less and less (I wonder how the author feels about that?). Recommended for both mystery readers and sci-fi / fantasy readers.

Hellboy: The God Maching by Thomas E Sniegoski

I love a good Hellboy story. I forgot to write a little review of the latest BPRD graphic novel I read. B.P.R.D. The Universal Machine. It (the graphic novel, i'm acitvely digressing here) was great. I'm still amazed by how good the series is. Starting with the core Hellboy stories. And at the end of that story arch the B.P.R.D story arch picks up - without Hellboy. And you'd think that a Hellboy series without the cuddly red guy himself would be doomed to fail. But they've kept the story going strong. Liz and Abe become strong foreground characters with developed stories. And the new characters brought are are made both endearing and interesting. (here we go, I'm coming around). But you feel the absence of Hellboy. You miss him a bit. As much as you like the big lump of clay we call Roger, you miss Hellboy.


You See him in flashbacks, and a couple side projects, but he is noticeably absent from the story itself.


Worse, he feels absent from the novels as well. The las couple I've read have Hellboy in them, but they don't have the Hellboy we love. This one especially. There were a few little trademark comments and couple little bits thrown on so that you'd know you are reading about the same big red demon with the right hand of doom that you've read about in the past. But he feels thin. He feels like a cardboard cut out of himself.


I'm starting to think that Christopher Golden was the only guy who could capture Hellboy in novel form.


The other authors have managed to capture the world of Hellboy, just not that one central figure (i've gotta admit, On Earth as It Is in Hell by Brian Hodge, was the best Liz story I've read including the graphic novels).

Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories

Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories
by Elizabeth Hand



Here is the obligatory blurb from the publisher

"Widely praised and widely read, Elizabeth Hand is regarded as one of America's leading literary fantasists. This new collection (an expansion of the limited-release Bibliomancy, which won the World Fantasy Award in 2005) showcases a wildly inventive author at the height of her powers. Included in this collection are "The Least Trumps," in which a lonely women reaches out to the world through symbols, tattooing, and the Tarot, and "Pavane for a Prince of the Air," where neo-pagan rituals bring a recently departed soul to something very different than eternal rest. Written in the author's characteristic poetic prose and rich with the details of traumatic lives that are luminously transformed, Saffron and Brimstone is a worthy addition to an outstanding career."

We were down on state street. The first time this year that the evening wind has held a little bite. Ironicly, it was the first time this year that the cold blue LED Christmas lights seemed appropriate. We were on our way to a show. Jacob Marley's Christmas at the Bartell theater. We'd never been there before, and we weren't sure how the parking was going to be that night, so we left early.

We found a parking spot almost immediately. Oddly enough the spots around the Capitol that had big "Reserved" signs by them were all vacant.

"Resevred for who?" we wondered.
"Reserved for us maybe? Well that's offly kind of the state of Wisconsin. Imagine that.... They must have known we were going out to a play and thought 'Christopher and Sarah are going to need a place to park when they go out tonight'. Offly kind of them indeed."

But we were too early to go right to the theatre. So we walked down state street instead. And what's a walk down State Street without a stop by A Room of One's Own? Nothing I tell you, NOTHING!

Sarah had her list of specific books to look for. I was lamenting the fact that I just haven't found any good books lately. It's been a while since i've really been excited reading something. Probably Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things (Which I still haven't finished, I'm on the last story and I'm saving it for something special. Like the next time I get suckered in to a family vacation to someplace with a mall).

Sarah pointed out a few, but they just didn't interest me at all.

And then a book caught my eye. I've never really bought into the "don't judge a book by its cover" theory. Too many times it's been the cover of a book that first gets me to notice it. And too many times a book with a cover that gets my attention ends up being a good book.

The cover of Saffron and Brimstone is a big bug. ...so maybe it was the "Strange Stories" that caught my eye. i don't know... quit pestering me.

It's a good book either way. I'm 2 stories in and I love them. I've been searching for something. Looking for a story without knowing what it is. It's a true story, a story about everyday life, about you and me. Something in rich prose so thick with metaphor that when the first little tinges of something weird slip in you aren't sure if it's a metaphor gone astray, or truly a tinge of the supernatural.

And in the very first story (the collections namesake) Elizabeth Hand does just that. Perfectly.

Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin

Voicesby Ursula K. Le Guin
ISBN: 0152056785




From the Publisher

"Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle House, where the last few undestroyed books are hidden, is seething with demons. But to seventeen-year-old Memer, the house is a refuge, a place of family and learning, ritual and memory--the only place where she feels truly safe. Then an Uplands poet named Orrec and his wife, Gry, arrive, and everything in Memer's life begins to change. Will she and the people of Ansul at last be brave enough to rebel against their oppressors? A haunting and gripping coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violence, intolerance, and magic, Voices is a novel that readers will not soon forget."

---

There are some basic things that have become a given with Ursula K Le Guin stories. They are easy to skip over because I take it for granted that when I read one of these stories these elements will be there. If they weren't I'd be confused and slightly out of sorts for days on end. But I need to excercise restraint. They are the very reasons that I keep coming back to Le Guin.

Thing #1. I read a quote somewhere that was something along the lines of "I don't read fantasy, I read Ursula K. Le Giun." That's the perfect review right there. Her stories are not about the fantasy elements. The same stories could exist, with a little tweaking, in any environment. They are just all the more beautiful for being told in a genre that is stiffled with cliches and paper thin machismo.

Thing #2. Her characters. They stick in the mind, like Rocky Rococo's stuffed crust motherload to my ribs. The main character in this story, Memer is so well developed that I fully expect to run into her sometime today or maybe tomorrow if I go down by the lake.

Thing #3. Resolution. Nearly every fantasy novel (not that I'dm trying to pidgeon hole Le Guin's novels as fantasy) ends with a battle between the champion of goodness against the epitome of evil. Usually a sword clash, sometimes a magical shoot out, battles on the backs of dragons are not unheard of. Le Guin's stories do not end this way. They end the way that things really end. With no clear winner and with the observer needing to re-examine what they thought was "evil".

Thing #4. Evil itself. Instead of being packaged nicely in one single person or the beast lurking in the darkness, evil is hard to pin down in Le Guin's stories. And even harder to fight. Most often, Evil is Ignorance.

All of those things were in this book. I won't rehash the plot, the publishers blurb above did a fine job of that. I'll just tell you about my expereince with the book.

I received it for Christmas. And Ursula K Le Guin book that I had never even heard of (not that I own them all, but I think I've heard about most of them) piqued my interest immediaetly. But it was closely followed by "why have I never heard of it?" A little research on the internets gave me my answer. This book is usually categorized in the Young Adults section. Ursula K Le Guin has written books across numerous genres, and as great as I'm sure they all are, I'll never be able to read them all. So I confess that I usually look in the fantasy / sci-fi section. Hence, this book was over looked. I also found out that there is another book in this series, Gifts .

I held off on reading the book until I could find the first book. Which I didn't. I did find out that they are "companion" novels rather than a series. So I went ahead and read Voices . I started it at the beginning of New Years vacation, and finished it the night before going back to work.

It was an easy quick and enjoyable read. Nothing too deep, but I do question the Young Adult Label. The language was simple, the story was relatively straightforward, but there were deeper underlying themes. Now that I actually write that out, maybe that's a perfect Young Adult novel. Young Adults are mid to late teens, right? And maybe this is the perfect vehicle to draw them into larger topics like the dynamic between an occupied people and the militant occupiers. Maybe this a good way to start exploring the questions of evil, and wether what we think is evil is really just our own ignorance. And A LOT about self identity. Maybe I've miscategorized Young Adult books as Harry Potterish or baby-sitters club.

That being said, this book is not dumbed down, or simplified for the Young Adult audience. What I'm going to carry away from it, what is going to stick with me longest is will be the relationships between the two vastly different types of peoples. There is a city with a people that are educated, cultured, spiritual, artistic people. But they aren't a military power. They are occupied by a foreign and ethicly different people who have a culture based on war, conquest and masculine power. This culture is driven by their belief in a one god, that books are evil, and that the gods of other cultures are demons.

Seems like a pretty cut and dried tension in the plot. Maybe not all that original. And with any other auther I think I could predict the ending. The occupied people discover a hero, or a chosen one. The chosen one is very powerful, in the set up above I'm guessing it's not a physical power. Probably some nearly unstoppable magical ability. There are a few twists and turns. At some point in the book we learn that the evil occupiers have a champion themselves. A mighty foe with a power similiar to, or that negates our heroes abilities. Some more stuff happens, and as the end of the book nears the heroes clash.

Le Guin isn't going to let you off that easy. She's going to make you wonder if the opposing culture isn't more ignorant than evil. More broken than blood thirsty. And even though no one is going to hurl fireballs, or weild a glowing sword, you're going to know who the hero is by the end.

I won't say this is Ursula K. Le Guin's best book. But I think it's in the top 10. If you like Ursula K. Le Guin, read this book. If you haven't read Le Guin, get The Lathe of Heavan or The Telling . Then you'll be hooked and work your way around to this book eventually.