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.