second part of updates
Ok, so I'm bad about things.
cosmicdolphin posted the list of books we recently purchased during his obscene discount (45%) week in his journal here. I have since read:
The Matt Wagner Mage comics are just fun. This is a beautiful bound hardcover edition, and as I was missing several of the smaller collected issues, we figured this one was worthwhile. I've now read the story cover to cover, and I still feel like I'm missing more. To be fair, I've not read all of the subsequent two comic series that go along with this one, so perhaps there is more detail, but foo. I wanted more depth to Mirth and the Fisher King (different from Matchstick? or was that cat Mirth?), dang it. and some conception of WTF the grackleflints/umbra sprite really were. Oh well. I was amused to note that Kevin was a total Mary Sue for the author/artist.
I like movie novelizations, particularly for films which feel like they need more explanation or detail. Regretfully, Serenity wasn't that novelization. Done by K. DeCandido, it was fairly mediocrely handled (like, imho, the movie), and boy oh boy, but Mal's accent is exceptionally annoying to read spelt out in print.
Unlike Serenity, Doom was fun (believe it or not ;-) ). Not as much detail as I would of liked, but John Shirley really did capture the feel of the movie/game. There was a bit more detail with Sarge and some of the glossed over bits in the film (yes, Sarge did kill all of those women and children), but not enough detail over what was going on at Olduvai, really. On the other hand, mad mutants 'r' us is always kind of a fun premise for a pseudohorror flick.
Constantine, on the other hand, rocked. Also done by John Shirley, this one was really good. It actually tied the movie back to the comic book quite well. While they left in the anomalous bits of the film (yes, really American, etc.), he worked on incorporating much of the comic's mythology and background of John into the film, complete with love interests, previous bands, etc. Good stuff.
Of course, didn't hurt that he used Hawkwind lyrics at the beginning of the song (even if he misrepresented said lyrics as by Monster Magnet.)
Backstage Passes
Gah, what a mudsling fest this was. I was expecting something a little less vituperative, and more background into Bowie. Admittedly, it was cowritten by the exwife of the gag order fame, but even so, she might have risen above that. Nope. Just mud slinging galore, and written fairly poorly to boot.
Shame, I was hoping for something along the lines of John Lydon or Mick Farren's autobiographies.
Hell, even at the level of Carol Clerk's Hawkwind book, but nooooooo.
Midnight Mass
I'm normally a FPW fan, but his fixup of the Midnight Mass novella (which was utterly fabulous in its own right) was fairly poor. He added extra characters and plotlines, and generally made it into a bad White Wolf novel. I'm disappointed. Plus, well, I miss Zev, and I think he sacrificed him way too early....he lost the power of it all. Grrrr. I wish FPW would get back on form, already.
Important bits of Necroscope and other Weird Heroes
Well, yeah the important bits....namely the 3 Harry Keogh stories. One good (Dinosaur Dreams), one mediocre (Dead Eddy), and one lousy story (Resurrection). Dinosaur Dreams hooked into Jungian times, and the concept of the eternal hunter waiting was just too well done. Plus, it happened at the seaside, and I can just hear the waves in the deadspeak voice for that one.
Dead Eddy was ok, but the premise for it was extremely weak (Harry searching in *Las Vegas* for Brenda and baby Harry. WTF?)
Resurrection, on the other hand, was just awful. Why even go there?
I'll read the rest of the stories later...probably after I re/read the Titus Crow books, since I'm pretty sure I never read them all.....
Thieves World: Turning Points -- book two of the "new" thieves world series...ie. after lynn abbey bilked Bob Asprin from the rights to the series. Once again, I get reminded of why Abbey cannot write, and I still want to kill her for her desperate misuse of the word "froggin'"
On the other hand, the stories inside are starting to pick up, and Andy Offut is back! With Shadowspawn and a younger version of same. I can forgive quite a bit for a reappearance of Shadowspawn, even if I wish he were still a young man.....
The feel is coming back to the series, though. Not quite as coherent as the original set (and honestly, the Irrune are just dumb. They make me wish to have the Beysib back!) The constant Dyareela threat is still there, even if no one is taking major advantage of it yet. Meh, I miss things, but I'm pleased to see this series improving.
Thieves World: Enemies of Fortune -- better than book two by far, and this one introduces Steve Brust to the mix with a classic Brustian character! Still developing the plot, and there are several loose threads here (too many of the "wait for the next book" moments), but a good addition to the bunch.
My Hotdog went out can I have another -- latest of the Foxtrot collections. Essentially, I'm going to stop collecting these as the last few have been awful, and this one wasn't an exception. Shame, really.
Stay at a Lighthouse - info about lighthouses in the US where you can stay. Just a shame that most of them fall into the "volunteer worker" category, as I want my luxury, dammit. Need to find an equiv book for Europe, I think, as most of these entries were either too rough, or were for "pansy" lighthouses ;-) It would be nice to be able to stay in the Tower proper, rather than in an attached Keeper's cottage. (Why, oh why do I feel like I'm trapped in a Cthulhuverse story with that?)
Excavation - The better of the two James Rollins books that we picked up. Inca and pseudoInca, and ye olde aliens, along with a helping of the Devil's blood. Not bad, but like all Rollins' books, it just doesn't hold together well. I mean, WTF was the point behind the trapped entrance to the necropolis? ...and if the Dominicans did it, then why was all the iconography Incan? If it was Incan, then why was it there at all? It wasn't the primary entrance, so WTF?
Deep Fathom -- The worst of the James Rollins books that I've read (I've only read 3). Very very bad geopolitical thriller with the world's worst weird science. Just skip this one, k?
Crossroads: Tales of Valdemar -- I was expected good trash with this one, and just got trash trash. By far and away the poorest of the 3 collections. Not even the Lackey story was enough to save this one. Skip it.
The Dim Sum Cookbook -- need I say more? I need to learn to make more things than just pot stockers and char siu bao, and this is the means by which I aim to do so. They've got recipes for shrimp toast, shrimp rolls, and tasty, tasty sticky rice shumai.
Of course, these were all the low-hanging fruit of our book purchases (I'm not counting Orientalism, because cosmicdolphin didn't realize that I already have a copy stacked in my academic book boxes somewhere.)
I've been reading the Tanakh on and off, as is appropriate. Next up will probably be the new Myth books by Asprin and Nye, and some of the Templar trash that we got :-)
I've really been enjoying have a *stack* of good new books to go through. Quite enjoyable, and gives me something fun to do in the evenings....particularly when cosmicdolphin is a-gaming. Of course, I've got many many books, and I reread all the time, but there's just something about a new stack.....mmmmmmmmmmmm. Really, really good stuff.
Now if only work would behave. hrmph. Perhaps giant Cthulhu currently sitting in my office can lend a tentacle.....
cosmicdolphin posted the list of books we recently purchased during his obscene discount (45%) week in his journal here. I have since read:
The Matt Wagner Mage comics are just fun. This is a beautiful bound hardcover edition, and as I was missing several of the smaller collected issues, we figured this one was worthwhile. I've now read the story cover to cover, and I still feel like I'm missing more. To be fair, I've not read all of the subsequent two comic series that go along with this one, so perhaps there is more detail, but foo. I wanted more depth to Mirth and the Fisher King (different from Matchstick? or was that cat Mirth?), dang it. and some conception of WTF the grackleflints/umbra sprite really were. Oh well. I was amused to note that Kevin was a total Mary Sue for the author/artist.
I like movie novelizations, particularly for films which feel like they need more explanation or detail. Regretfully, Serenity wasn't that novelization. Done by K. DeCandido, it was fairly mediocrely handled (like, imho, the movie), and boy oh boy, but Mal's accent is exceptionally annoying to read spelt out in print.
Unlike Serenity, Doom was fun (believe it or not ;-) ). Not as much detail as I would of liked, but John Shirley really did capture the feel of the movie/game. There was a bit more detail with Sarge and some of the glossed over bits in the film (yes, Sarge did kill all of those women and children), but not enough detail over what was going on at Olduvai, really. On the other hand, mad mutants 'r' us is always kind of a fun premise for a pseudohorror flick.
Constantine, on the other hand, rocked. Also done by John Shirley, this one was really good. It actually tied the movie back to the comic book quite well. While they left in the anomalous bits of the film (yes, really American, etc.), he worked on incorporating much of the comic's mythology and background of John into the film, complete with love interests, previous bands, etc. Good stuff.
Of course, didn't hurt that he used Hawkwind lyrics at the beginning of the song (even if he misrepresented said lyrics as by Monster Magnet.)
Backstage Passes
Gah, what a mudsling fest this was. I was expecting something a little less vituperative, and more background into Bowie. Admittedly, it was cowritten by the exwife of the gag order fame, but even so, she might have risen above that. Nope. Just mud slinging galore, and written fairly poorly to boot.
Shame, I was hoping for something along the lines of John Lydon or Mick Farren's autobiographies.
Hell, even at the level of Carol Clerk's Hawkwind book, but nooooooo.
Midnight Mass
I'm normally a FPW fan, but his fixup of the Midnight Mass novella (which was utterly fabulous in its own right) was fairly poor. He added extra characters and plotlines, and generally made it into a bad White Wolf novel. I'm disappointed. Plus, well, I miss Zev, and I think he sacrificed him way too early....he lost the power of it all. Grrrr. I wish FPW would get back on form, already.
Important bits of Necroscope and other Weird Heroes
Well, yeah the important bits....namely the 3 Harry Keogh stories. One good (Dinosaur Dreams), one mediocre (Dead Eddy), and one lousy story (Resurrection). Dinosaur Dreams hooked into Jungian times, and the concept of the eternal hunter waiting was just too well done. Plus, it happened at the seaside, and I can just hear the waves in the deadspeak voice for that one.
Dead Eddy was ok, but the premise for it was extremely weak (Harry searching in *Las Vegas* for Brenda and baby Harry. WTF?)
Resurrection, on the other hand, was just awful. Why even go there?
I'll read the rest of the stories later...probably after I re/read the Titus Crow books, since I'm pretty sure I never read them all.....
Thieves World: Turning Points -- book two of the "new" thieves world series...ie. after lynn abbey bilked Bob Asprin from the rights to the series. Once again, I get reminded of why Abbey cannot write, and I still want to kill her for her desperate misuse of the word "froggin'"
On the other hand, the stories inside are starting to pick up, and Andy Offut is back! With Shadowspawn and a younger version of same. I can forgive quite a bit for a reappearance of Shadowspawn, even if I wish he were still a young man.....
The feel is coming back to the series, though. Not quite as coherent as the original set (and honestly, the Irrune are just dumb. They make me wish to have the Beysib back!) The constant Dyareela threat is still there, even if no one is taking major advantage of it yet. Meh, I miss things, but I'm pleased to see this series improving.
Thieves World: Enemies of Fortune -- better than book two by far, and this one introduces Steve Brust to the mix with a classic Brustian character! Still developing the plot, and there are several loose threads here (too many of the "wait for the next book" moments), but a good addition to the bunch.
My Hotdog went out can I have another -- latest of the Foxtrot collections. Essentially, I'm going to stop collecting these as the last few have been awful, and this one wasn't an exception. Shame, really.
Stay at a Lighthouse - info about lighthouses in the US where you can stay. Just a shame that most of them fall into the "volunteer worker" category, as I want my luxury, dammit. Need to find an equiv book for Europe, I think, as most of these entries were either too rough, or were for "pansy" lighthouses ;-) It would be nice to be able to stay in the Tower proper, rather than in an attached Keeper's cottage. (Why, oh why do I feel like I'm trapped in a Cthulhuverse story with that?)
Excavation - The better of the two James Rollins books that we picked up. Inca and pseudoInca, and ye olde aliens, along with a helping of the Devil's blood. Not bad, but like all Rollins' books, it just doesn't hold together well. I mean, WTF was the point behind the trapped entrance to the necropolis? ...and if the Dominicans did it, then why was all the iconography Incan? If it was Incan, then why was it there at all? It wasn't the primary entrance, so WTF?
Deep Fathom -- The worst of the James Rollins books that I've read (I've only read 3). Very very bad geopolitical thriller with the world's worst weird science. Just skip this one, k?
Crossroads: Tales of Valdemar -- I was expected good trash with this one, and just got trash trash. By far and away the poorest of the 3 collections. Not even the Lackey story was enough to save this one. Skip it.
The Dim Sum Cookbook -- need I say more? I need to learn to make more things than just pot stockers and char siu bao, and this is the means by which I aim to do so. They've got recipes for shrimp toast, shrimp rolls, and tasty, tasty sticky rice shumai.
Of course, these were all the low-hanging fruit of our book purchases (I'm not counting Orientalism, because cosmicdolphin didn't realize that I already have a copy stacked in my academic book boxes somewhere.)
I've been reading the Tanakh on and off, as is appropriate. Next up will probably be the new Myth books by Asprin and Nye, and some of the Templar trash that we got :-)
I've really been enjoying have a *stack* of good new books to go through. Quite enjoyable, and gives me something fun to do in the evenings....particularly when cosmicdolphin is a-gaming. Of course, I've got many many books, and I reread all the time, but there's just something about a new stack.....mmmmmmmmmmmm. Really, really good stuff.
Now if only work would behave. hrmph. Perhaps giant Cthulhu currently sitting in my office can lend a tentacle.....