Chris Monroe has had her comic “Violet Days” run in a variety of free, alternative weekly publications around MN. It is HI-LARIOUS! I just found out there’s a collection of strips available as “Ultra Violet.” Buy one for me and one for yourself. Seriously. We’re talking pants wearing squirrels. How you not be curious?
I just had a bit of divine misfortune of my own, with a bill over $700 at the auto shop. One of the perils of keeping an older car that’s paid off, I suppose. The best (only not bad?) part was that I got to finish Divine Misfortune from A. Lee Martinez. In an alternate present where all of the old gods are still around and running amok on earth, a couple is foolish enough to select a god to follow with a millenniums old feud with a god of chaos and death. Mr. Martinez has a great sense of humor and I’m looking forward to picking up the rest of his work.
This is in stark contrast to Chuck Palahniuk‘s latest, Tell All. I think I finally have to admit I’m not a fan of his work. He has some brilliant ideas, but they all read like nails on a chalkboard. I suffered through about 100 pages and surrendered. Sorry, Chuck.
I may have to go back and read Christopher Moore’s You Suck (the second of three San Francisco vampire love stores with roughly the same cast of characters), because I don’t recall Abby Normal having such a large role in that book. This book, Bite Me, does a good job of recapping the previous two books so even if you haven’t read the previous two, you won’t be completely lost. Though, be warned, assuming you’ve experienced the first two simply by reading the catch-up chapter would be cheating yourself. Much like a Kevin Smith movie (only slightly classier), the draw isn’t the plot, it’s the dialog and the commentary.
Back to Bite Me… Abby Normal is a post-goth teen helping out her “dark lords,” who are really two recently turned vampires who are still trying to get a handle on things. Well, ok, actually, she had them encased in bronze because they were on the verge of a breakup and she couldn’t stand the thought of their eternal love being not so eternal. Jody escapes, and lets Tommy out (the two “dark lords” mentioned earlier), and mayhem ensues.
Most of Mr. Moore’s San Francisco regular characters return along with a fog of “vampire kitties.” Abby’s teen txt-speak tends to make the reading a little slower than a Christopher Moore book is typically (though, not as slowing as Pocket from his last book The Fool). That said, the book still moves quickly and is an amusing light read.
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Somehow this slipped past me when it came out back in ’08, but Gideon Dafoe’s latest book, “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon,” revisits our friends the Pirate Captain and pirate crew (one of whom used to be a Victorian lady).
So, what crazy shenanigans are they up to this time? Well, beekeeping. Yup, beekeeping. After a crushing loss at the Pirate of the Year competition, the Pirate Captain decides to change careers much to the disappointment of his crew. What should be a peaceful life, is shaken up by the arrival of Napoleon and mayhem ensues.
As always, the Pirates! books are a quick, entertaining read. The concept may not be quite as fresh as it was initially, but they’re not played out yet. I’m still strongly recommending the series. As with any series, if you haven’t read any of them yet. Start with the first. You won’t lose much if you jump into the middle, but there are some references to prior adventures.
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I have to say this one surprised me. The Death of Bunny Murno started out thoroughly messed up as one would expect from the mind of Nick Cave. While the story progressed, I can’t say it was any less messed up, but somehow the caricature characters managed to become incredibly human. Bunny should have been a completely irredeemable soul, but by the end… well ya kinda have to feel for the guy.
If your a fan of Mr. Cave, I’d say this is worth a read. If you not, and particularly if you’re easily offended, you may want to think twice.
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I don’t remember which of the BoingBoing contributors love Richard Kadrey so much, maybe more than one of them, but someone over there had recommended Butcher Bird and later Sandman Slim. Both turned out to be excellent, gritty fantasy novels. I just picked up Kamikaze L’Amour
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It’s written as a collection of a correspondences from the main character (Andy, I think?) to his tenants, ex-wife, colleagues, among others. I believe it’s meant to document the downward spiral of the character, but he’s already downright pitiful and if it’s meant to be a downward spiral from here (as opposed to to here), it may be too much to bear.
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C.E. Murphy’s Heart of Stone is one of those that I’ve had out of the library on a couple of occasions, but I finally finished it. It’s not that it’s a bad book, I just had some other books pop up on hold I was more enthusiastic about reading.
As the first book in a trilogy, it stands on it’s own reasonably well, but the reader can see the stage being set for longer storyline as well. Basically, a well meaning gargoyle stalks a woman, runs into some legal trouble (good thing the woman is a lawyer), and drags her into the shadowy world of “The Old Races.” Nothing earth-shatteringly unique here, but the characters are decent, and it’s a quick read.
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Alright, as you may have guessed with two book posts in two days, I had some time off and got some extra reading in.
This one was particularly timely as it happened to coincide with a recent xkcd comic (see below). The story is actually reminiscent of the book I recently read, Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks. Actually, considering Evil Genius is pretty recent, and Enders Game looks to have originally been published in 1977, Evil Genius is more accurately reminiscent of Enders Game.
It’s actually a great young adult title, but can appeal to anyone. It’s technically a sci-fi title, but it has more sociological content than pew-pew laser shooting action. I strongly recommend the read though if you, like I, managed to miss reading this book already.
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Apparently, this collection of short stories, Livability by Jon Raymond, includes the inspiration for two films: Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy. They exist in IMDB as 2008 and 2006 projects respectively, but I’ve never heard of either.
Jonathan Raymond specializes in slice of life short stories. While not about nothing, they all feel like they pick up in the middle of a larger story and end before anything has been resolved. The stories are unique in that they are very “everyday,” but somewhat frustrating in that nothing is wrapped up. I can’t say I recommend the book, but if you’re a fan of short stories (which I’m not personally), it may be worth checking out.
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Not too long ago, I’d mentioned being impressed with the brilliance of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
I’m about one billion on a list of one billion seven people on the waiting list at my local library for the original, and I’ll read it when it’s my turn. I do wish I’d gotten around to it when it was unique, before it was the beginning of what I expect to become a tired meme in the very near future.
I’ll admit that I don’t have a particularly high opinion of Scandinavian literature. I’ll also admit that my opinion is based on pretty dumb reasons, namely, poor movies based on modern words of fiction (specifically Insomnia and Let the Right One In). My basic complaint is that my limited exposure has led me to believe Scandinavian literature tries to build tension through tedium.
So, having explained that the book has to overcome my unfair biases, I’m enjoying the book so far. The characters are interesting and the pacing has been solid. It’s easy to see why the book has been as received as well as it has.
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Kevin Kling is by far my favorite local personality. I’m excited to see he has a new book coming out shortly called Holiday Inn. The book is a collection of holiday stories (all holidays, not just end-of-year holidays). Given how fantastic his annual Tales from the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log show is in December, I suspect this will be even better than his previous, and debut book, The Dog Says How.
For more information, hit the Amazon link over on the right, or check out Kevin’s blog here.
I’ve had a bit a glut of “reading now” posts as of late, but now that I’m back from vacation, they should slow down quite a bit again. My first book now that I’m back is Bill Myers’ Angel of Wrath.
The book is sort of a lite spy thriller around deaths of members of a super church. My main gripe about spy thrillers is they’re usually longer than necessary and complicated to the point where it’s difficult to pick up and put down the story without having to put some effort into getting back into things. This has proven to be much easier to get into, and cuts out the descriptive fluff that pads out a 200-300 page book out to 500+ pages.
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I’m the first to admit that the entertainment market is more than saturated with vampires at the moment. Maybe at another time, The Strain would be more exciting, or at least interesting. Unfortunately, it feels like a bit of a “me too.” It’s the first of a trilogy, and it was good enough that I’ll read the next in the series when it comes out.
Given that Guillermo Del Toro was the guy behind Pan’s Labyrinth, I suspect the books will find their way to the big screen. Unfortunately, The Strain doesn’t manage to capture the same darkness Pan’s Labyrinth embodied, as a book, anyway.
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