Darkest Hour & Dead Beat

Continuing with my weekly reviews of Mark Chadbourn’s Age of Misrule trilogy is my review of Darkest Hour, which continues the story of the returning gods and creatures of Celtic Myth:

With the characters and impetus of the series established in World’s End, Chadbourn can focus on the details here. However, he doesn’t do that at the expense of moving things forward and just settling things into a typical middle book. We get to know the characters better and see them interact. The world change isn’t as much of a surprise at this point in the storyline and the characters bloom into distinct individuals. Furthermore, they each come into their own as modern avatars of their mystical ancestors – Vietch as the dangerous warrior, Church the reluctant leader, Shavi the mystic, Ruth the Triple Goddess, and Laura…Laura’s role is somewhat ambiguous through most of this novel.
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Although Chadbourn does delve deeper into the characters in this novel, he doesn’t do so at the expense of the mythic travelogue he’s been undertaking in this series. Each landmark along these character’s journeys is steeped in real world history and Chadbourn mines much of that for great mythic effect in the novel and trilogy’s storyline as a whole.

I also just finished up Dead Beat, the seventh novel in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. I really, really enjoy these novels and this might be the best one I’ve read yet. Butcher threw in zombies, polka, Oktoberfest, the Wild Hunt, fallen angels, the Erlking, as well as the usual vampires and wizards. The ending was probably one of the most adrenaline inducing of any of the books in the series and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion over the course of the novel. The character of Waldo Butters, I can guess, is probably named partially after Leopold “Butters” Stoch from South Park. With each book, Jim Butcher climbs up my ladder of favorite writers and The Dresden Files climbs up my favorite series list.

Double Your Dresden, Double Your Fun

As the title implies, the two reviews I posted last night are both for books set in Jim Butcher entertaining and enormously popular Dresden Files. However, they are books off the main line of the novels.

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle is the bound/graphic novel which is comprised of the 4-issue miniseries that graced comic shop shelves over the summer. I picked up both the single issues and received the bound version from the publisher. As my review indicates, I really enjoyed it and think it is a solid introduction to Harry Dresden’s world. I thought the art was pretty good and the story was engaging. The Dabels are going to be publishing comics adaptations of all the Dresden Files novels, starting with Storm Front.


The other Dresden Files offshoot I reviewed was Backup, a novelette coming out this month from the fine folks at Subterranean Press. I thought the story was good, even though Harry was a supporting character, and this length seems a great fit for smaller stories in Dresden Files.

Keeping with the spooky theme, Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff, my brother-in-law, his friend, and I went up to the Forest of Fear in Tuxedo NY over the weekend. It was basically a town carnival with a cool haunted slaughterhouse at its center. Of course since I’m the biggest person of our group, I got spooked the most when costumed people jumped from around corners and what not.

Halowe'en Poll

I may be dressing up for Hallowe'en this year, but I'm not sure what to be. Maybe my millions (and millions) of visitors can help me decide:

Batman
Green Lantern
Harry Dresden
Vampire
Zombie

The ultimate decision may factor in the ease and cost of making the costume.

Caine Black Knife, Dresden, & iPod

Continuing the weekly postings relating to Matthew Stover, I posted my review of his latest offering, Caine Black Knife, last night. Simply put, it was the best book I read this year, and I’ve already said how much I enjoyed MultiReal and Little Brother. Here’s the intro to my review of Caine Black Knife:

There is nothing in my life I care about more than story. There is nothing I know more about than the difference between a good one and a bad one. You’re betting my life and your future on what happens in the next day or two. Let’s go balls-out to make it the Greatest Fucking Show on Overworld. (From the Trade Paperback edition of Caine Black Knife)

After seven years, Matthew Stover brings readers back to Overworld and back to Caine. For readers who enjoyed the previous two novels in what is now dubbed the Acts of Caine sequence but wanted to get more of Caine, Caine Black Knife will be a welcome novel. This novel is all Caine and is a bit of a stylistic and tonal departure from the previous Caine novels. Whereas Stover played with narrative voice and point-of-view in Heroes Die and to a greater extent in Blade of Tyshalle, here the great majority of the novel is told in Caine’s voice in the first person narrative. A very minor portion takes place in the second person narrative, so Stover doesn’t abandon the shifting perspective entirely.

So, go read the rest of the review then buy the book.

I also finished, Blood Rites, the sixth installment the Dresden Files over the weekend; the series is turning into one of my favorites. My only gripe is that sometimes Harry is being a dick just to be a dick, but perhaps the revelations in Blood Rites will soften him up a little bit. I’ll be reading Backup shortly and hopefully pick up the remaining books in the series.

John Marco posted the awesome cover (below) art to his forthcoming novel, Starfinder, which sounds like a cool mix of high fantasy and steampunk. The world has steam trains, electricity, ornithopters and godlike races. How cool does that sound?


My iPod stopped working today for no reason. Since I got it from the spectacular Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff back in June, the thing has been my own little security blanket and I’m suffering withdrawal right now. I hope the folks at the Apple store in the mall can help out.

Books in the Mail W/E 09/28/2008

Caine Black Knife (The Third Act of Caine) by Matthew Stover (Del Rey, Trade Paperback 10/14/2008) – What can I say that I haven’t yet said? I got the ARC of this over the summer and read then, too. I posted my review this past week and as it stands now Caine Black Knife is my top book of the year.

In Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle, Matthew Stover created a new kind of fantasy novel, and a new kind of hero to go with it: Caine, a street thug turned superstar, battling in a future where reality shows take place in another dimension, on a world where magic exists and gods are up close and personal. In that beautiful, savage land, Caine is an assassin without peer, a living legend born from one of the highest-rated reality shows ever made. That season, Caine almost single-handedly defeated–and all but exterminated–the fiercest of all tribes: the Black Knives. But the shocking truth of what really took place during that blood-drenched adventure has never been revealed . . . until now.

Thirty years later, Caine returns to the scene of his greatest triumph–some would say greatest crime–at the request of his adopted brother Orbek, the last of the true Black Knives. But where Caine goes, danger follows, and he soon finds himself back in familiar territory: fighting for his life against impossible odds, with the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance.

Just the way Caine likes it.


The House of the Stag by Kage Baker (Tor, Hardcover 9/30/2008) – I read The Anvil of the World and really enjoyed it, which takes place in the same world as this one. Synopsis

Before the Riders came to their remote valley the Yendri led a tranquil pastoral life. When the Riders conquered and enslaved them, only a few escaped to the forests. Rebellion wasn't the Yendri way; they hid, or passively resisted, taking consolation in the prophecies of their spiritual leader.

Only one possessed the necessary rage to fight back: Gard the foundling, half-demon, who began a one-man guerrilla war against the Riders. His struggle ended in the loss of the family he loved, and condemnation from his own people.

Exiled, he was taken as a slave by powerful mages ruling an underground kingdom. Bitterer and wiser, he found more subtle ways to earn his freedom. This is the story of his rise to power, his vengeance, his unlikely redemption and his maturation into a loving father--as well as a lord and commander of demon armies.

Metamorphosis by James P. Blaylock (Subterranean Press , Hardcover 3/01/2009) – Metamorphosis: three stories, each one involving a man who discovers that he has come to dwell, for an hour or for a lifetime, in a house and in a mind not quite his own. Each one opens doors onto rooms of illusion, radiance, regret, and dark enchantment. Welcome to the stories of three young writers, stories written in collaboration with James P. Blaylock. Welcome to the borderland of illusion and reality.

Three tales, written in collaboration by James P. Blaylock with students in a class by Tim Powers, with an introduction and illustrations by Tim, an afterword by Blaylock, and some necessary meddling by William Ashbless.

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle edited by Jim Butcher (w) and Ardian Syaf (a) (Del Rey/Dabel Brothers 10/14/2008) – Jim Butcher’s mega-successful Dresden Files comes to the comic/graphic novel medium in this terrific collection. I read the series in single issues what I received from Del Rey/Dabel is the hardcover collecting those four issues plus some nice bonus material. I really enjoyed the mini-series and will be posting a review shortly. In short, I think the Dabel's have another winner on their hands.


The Other in the Mirror by Philip Jose Farmer and Dustjacket by Bob Eggleton (Subterranean Press, Hardcover 3/01/2009) – I read Farmer’s Riverword novels and really enjoyed the first few quite a bit so this omnibus could be pretty cool. Subterranean has been publishing nice author retrospective/introductory volumes/omnibuses and this looks like it will carry on that tradition.

The Other in the Mirror brings together three classic novels by Philip José Farmer: Fire and the Night, Jesus on Mars, and Night of Light. All three are united by one of SF’s central tropes, that of The Other.

Fire and the Night is a mainstream novel so rare that even many of Farmer’s most dedicated fans have never read it. First published in 1962, it is also one of the author’s most daring works, exploring the issue of racial Otherness in a mesmerizing tale of temptation and entrapment in a small industrial Midwestern town.

In Jesus on Mars, Richard Orme and the crew of the Barsoom embark on the first manned mission to the Red Planet, intent on investigating what seemed to be evidence of life beamed back to Earth by a robotic survey satellite. But Orme discovers in the hollowed-out Martian caverns what he and the scientists back home least expect: a group of aliens, as well as humans transplanted from first century A.D. Earth, led by a being who claims to be Jesus of Nazareth Himself. Soon Orme and his crew are shocked to find that The Other they face is made all that more alien because of its similarity to humanity’s past.

Night of Light is not only one of Farmer’s most psychologically gripping SF tales, it is also the novel which inspired Jimi Hendrix’s psychedelic rock classic “Purple Haze.” John Carmody is a fugitive from Earth, condemned to exile for brutally murdering his wife. Hired by the galactic Church on a mission to squelch a burgeoning rival religion, Carmody must take the Chance on the planet Dante’s Joy and risk his worst nightmares becoming reality. But that’s not the worst of it: the Fathers of Algul and the Fathers of Yess have their own plans for the conscienceless Carmody—for to the inhabitants of Dante’s Joy, Carmody himself is The Other...and they need his alien flesh to give birth to God.



Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman (Viking Children's Books Hardcover 12/26/2008) – This sounds interesting enough, I suppose. My only concern is that it will be another Eragon, quality wise. This is Goodman’s third book, so I think that might outweigh those fears. Viking has a strong marketing push behind this one, moving the original pub date from the fall to just after Christmas hoping to catch some gift-card sales and the packaging on the ARC is nice. Here’s the synopsis:

Does young Eon have the power to become a Dragoneye? His ruthlessly ambitious master believe he does. Now the years of gruelling training will be put to the test: it’s time for the terrifying Rat-Dragon to choose his next apprentice. In a spectacular sequence of events, Eon is catapulted into the opulent but treacherous world of the imperial court. But Eon is playing a dangerous game: he is in fact Eona, a young woman whose true identity must remain hidden, for discovery would mean instant death.

Inspired by the rich myths and traditions of Ancient China, shimmering with energy dragons and fraught with tension, this is a fast-paced, exhilarating page-turner.

Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind (Tor Trade Paperback 9/30/2008) – I’m not the biggest fan of this series of books; Tor is re-issuing with another cover to promote the syndicated TV series based off of the books.

ex-Kop by Warren Hammond (Tor Hardcover 9/30/2008) – Sequel to Hammond’s debut novel Kop, this novel continues the futuristic noir that, on the surface, is very reminiscent of Blade Runner. In this hardboiled science fiction thriller, Juno, having been booted off the police force, is barely getting by as a low-level bagman and photographer for the scandal rags. But it gets worse: his wife is in critical condition at the hospital and Juno doesn’t have the money to pay her bills. Desperate for cash, Juno agrees to help his ex-partner, Maggie Orzo, solve a difficult case. A young girl sits on death row, accused of brutally murdering her own parents. She’s confessed to the murders, but Maggie isn’t buying it, so she sends Juno out to get some answers.

Working with Maggie, Juno comes into contact with her new partner, Ian. As dirty as they come, Ian is eager to rise in the police force no matter what the cost. Somehow Ian, a vicious serial killer, and the girl on death row are all connected. It is up to Juno and Maggie to find out how before more people die.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (Knopf Books for Young Readers , 10/14/2008) – Lanagan has written some acclaimed short stories and this novel looks like a pretty interesting tale: Set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, a world given to her in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters grow up in this soft place, protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But the real world cannot be denied forever—
magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of Liga’s refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?


The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan (Del Rey Hardcover 01/20/2009) – This is the ARC of the US edition coming out in January. Del Rey has been staggering the release of Morgan’s novels about 6 months or so after the UK publication. What else can I say about this that I didn’t say in my review? Or that Hobbit didn’t say in his review? Anyway, here’s a snippet:

One of the most potent aspects of the novel is Morgan’s unrestrained approach to both the sex and the violence. The sex is intimate and graphic and the violence is on the same level of graphic description, as well as the sexual proclivity of the protagonist, Ringil. Ringil does embody these two aspects very much, from the graphic nature of his trysts to the violent nature of many of his physical encounters with enemies, Morgan is unrelenting in how he puts Ringil into all of these scenes. The harsh language, the graphically depicted non-traditional sex, and stark reality of violence all add a stamp of boldness readers of Morgan’s science fiction will find familiar. Some will (and have already) found these intertwined aspects of the novel off-putting. Too bad for them.

As well as Morgan depicts the characters, what he does to an even stronger degree in The Steel Remains is depict the overall mood of the story and world in which it takes place. Ringil’s world is filled with a great deal of tension and angst with the past of war ever-present as well as the fear of potential war in the air as well in addition to an overall feeling of melancholy and malaise. The word gritty, as I’ve said in previous reviews, gets thrown around all to often and in that sense, the word loses some of its original meaning and potency. Here, I suppose, I would call the world in The Steel Remains gritty and harsh, it is dirty, uncompromising and very real. One gets a feel for the dirt under the fingernails Ringil might have after much travel and war; the feeling of exasperation Ringil expresses in many of his encounters also epitomizes the mood of the story.


Getting to Know You by David Marusek (Del Rey, Trade Paperback 12/30/2008) – David Marusek has been on my radar since his debut novel, Counting Heads, was released almost two three years ago now, to much acclaim. His short stories have won awards (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award) and acclaim as well. This collection was originally offered as a limited edition by Subterranean Press last year.



Juggler of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner (Tor , Hardcover 9/23/2008) – Set 200 years before the events of Niven’s most famous novel, Ringworld, this book is itself a sequel to Fleet of Worlds, which I really enjoyed last year. I was, in fact, surprised by how much I enjoyed Fleet of Worlds, and hadn’t realized the sequel was coming out now. Either way, this and Kage Baker’s book landing in front of my garage on Monday were two pleasant surprises. As always, when I get to them is always up for debate.



The Killing of Worlds: Book Two of Succession by Scott Westerfeld (Tor Trade Paperback (9/30/2008) – This is the second half of the Succession duology begun in The Risen Empire. I only read the first half of this duology, actually a book split by the publishers, but since reading and loving his novels Peeps and The Last Days , I’ve wanted to revisit this Space Opera.

SPOTLIGHT: The Blog/Review Ranting Meme

For the purposes of this post, I’ll just consider blogging and online reviewing the same kin. Also, there will be many parentheses throughout.

Rather than respond to all the posts in my blogroll about this topic, I decided to continue the meme. This rant may wind up being more to voice my thoughts to myself than anything, though.

All over the genre blogosphere (at least the blogosphere that consists of my sidebar and other haunts) the topic of blog/reviewing has reared its head again. This creature comes out of hiding every few months and this time, the questioning creature has something of a different face – the bloggers themselves are asking these questions, whereas in the past publishers (not exclusively) have been the ones to spark these discussions. Perhaps because of the two new genre blogs (Suvudu and Tor) having recently been launched not to mention the venerable Web sites like SFSite & SF Signal, we (the FSF review/blog community) find ourselves navel gazing again.

About, I don’t know a year ago or something on that order, the blogosphere started to make its presence known in the SFFWorld forums, where a lot of new bloggers thought they could just drop in and get some free publicity and linkage to their blogs without really ingratiating themselves into or becoming part of the community there. Admittedly this put the moderators at SFFWorld in an interesting place, especially me since I have my own blog. The sense of community we’d built at SFFWorld over the past half-decade plus was now (at that point) perceived by the blogging community, by some of us behind-the-scenes folks, as nothing more than a free advertisement forum for these new bloggers. In the time since, I think (and hope) we’ve been able to build and tow a decent line between keeping SFFWorld discussions active the forums themselves while also continuing to foster a good genre community to consider cool for discussion. Essentially, I hope we’ve been able to foster a good community between the SFFWorld forums and the bloggers who visit.

So, where were we? Jonathan McCalmont started it, the returning Gabe continued it, Pat took the relay, and Larry kept the ball rolling. One of the points brought up was how (or if) getting paid for writing these reviews was viable. Getting paid would make it almost like a job, wouldn't it? A lot of us start doing this blogging / reviewing thing in our "personal time" out of our enjoyment of the books we read. This idea of payment could also bring into the validity of the reviews; after all couldn’t we just be seen as paid members of the PR machine – paid to pander to those who pay us to help promote their product? In one sense, we reviewers / bloggers are part of the PR machine, but right now we are basically unpaid independent contractors. What we need is a union!

The publishers, in about the past year, saw the sense of community between the bloggers/ reviewers and started paying attention to us. Granted I’d been receiving review copies for a few years, but the bloggers started receiving them for review on their blogs. Most notably, newer publishers like Pyr and Solaris, but the Del Reys, Roc & Aces, and Tors of the world are there too. It’s a tricksy place we find ourselves in nowadays. There seems to be an almost, I don’t know, over-worked sense to some of the discussions I’m seeing. As people have been posting their daily and weekly hauls of books they receive in the mail (both from publishers and bought on their own, but mostly the free books for review) it seems as if some of us are overwhelmed by our place in the genre community. Or perhaps, I’m speaking solely for myself here. Part of the issue is that (as I’ve said in comments on other blogs and probably here as well) it is impossible to review everything I (or any other blogger/reviewer) receives.

This begs the question posed and intimated in the links above – how does one decide which book to read out of the plethora of choices? Initially it can be pretty easy – Book 4 of a series in which I haven’t read or even own books 1 through 3 get shunted to the pile of unread books. That eliminates about a book a week. I’ve had Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains on the pile for a few months and I feel it is a book I have to read and review since it seems to be one of “the” books this year. Matt Stover’s next Caine novel, Caine Black Knife arrived recently and that’s a definite. Conversely, if one of the books I receive doesn’t seem to be getting all that much attention around the blogosphere (at least those limited to my sidebar), I’ll try to get that book into the mix. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a media tie in arrived and primarily because I really enjoy the writer, Sean Williams, I’ll be reading/reviewing it. But I wonder what affect, if any, reviews from our portion of the genre community, will have on a book that basically has a built-in audience of Star Wars fans and gamers. (This could be a topic all to itself.) What of a book like The City at the End of Time by Greg Bear? The book sounds like pretty interesting Big Idea novel and I’ve enjoyed much of what I’ve read by Bear, yet there doesn’t seem to be much chatter about the book, so how do I factor that into the decision on whether or not to read the book?

In terms of quantity vs. quality, one Harriet Klausner is enough and the majority of us are self-aware enough of what we don’t want to do in our reviews. As such, we’ve all crafted our own personalities and quirks. In a more snarky sense, McCalmont seems to be contrarian, Adam’s reviews are solid and very balanced, and not a one of us can figure out Pat’s damned number ratings.

I recall Cheryl Morgan’s last postings at Emerald City and her talk of review burn-out. I’ve been posting at least one new book review a week for the majority of this year and much of 2007 and times, more than one review. I know some of the reviews are stronger than others, it’s only natural. I can feel it when I force myself to write some of the reviews both the positive and the negative reviews, and some would say I often lean towards the positive in my reviews. I also don’t want to keep saying the same things over and over again, even if I’m lucky enough to be reading books that often work for me. I’ve also thought about taking a break, if not completely putting and end to this whole reviewer thing. The thing of it is, I love the genre and I really like being a part of it even in my small capacity as reviewer and administrator/moderator at SFFWorld and maintaining this blog. I’m also working on my own fiction and generating these reviews, irrespective of their length, do take a decent amount of time to think about and craft. In some form, though, I feel a great drive to write, be it review of my own fiction.

After this sense of review burnout creeps in; however, I’ll read a book like Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother and want to shout how great it is or, on the other hand, I’ll read a book that didn’t agree with me like Karen Miller’s Empress and feel the drive to put my thoughts about that book down. Or, right now I’m reading a book that didn’t initially interest me too much based on the premise and the author was untested (by me), but I figured I would go outside my comfort zone and give it a try. I think that’s something we all need to do, is go outside our reading comfort zone and Jeff VanderMeer has said as much. Conversely, I really enjoy Epic Fantasy and I’ve really begun to enjoy Urban Fantasy / Detective Wizard, so if something new with one of those slants comes down the pike, I feel a responsibility (for lack of a better word) to measure it against other books if its kind.

As I said, this whole reviewing thing started out because I enjoy reading and sharing my thoughts about what I read. The reviewing gives me an opportunity to voice my thoughts and opinions on a larger scale. Contrary to this though, sometimes I just want to read a book without having to write a review or with a review as the ‘endgame.’ Books like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Steven Erikson’s Malazan saga, the Star Wars Legacy of the Force series, an anthology like the Strahan/Dozois edited New Space Opera, Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road, or other books that have remain unread for upwards of a year or two, but at times, I’ll feel a little guilty about reading one of those while 10-20 books I’ve received from publishers await on the TBR pile for reviewing. This doesn’t even factor in my weekly/monthly haul of comics and graphic novels.

Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t life-shattering decisions or frustrations (I don’t think), but they are things I and (probably) my peers think about. I enjoy being involved, knowing what books are out there, and being afforded the opportunity to have my voice heard. I also have to admit that I like getting the free books, but I think it’s only natural (based on the resonance I’ve seen in other’s thoughts) to feel a bit guilty about not being able to read all that arrives. Strange dichotomy, I realize.

Where does this all leave us? Still in that strange place between fan and critic, I suppose. Granted, my blog is not as trafficked nor does it have the volume (and consistent substance) of postings as many others, but I feel responsibility to maintain it. I enjoy maintaining it and being part of this community. In the end, my drive to write (be it my fiction, the book reviews, on this blog, or if somebody wants to be kind enough to compensate my monetarily for my thoughts) will continue and push me to be a presence.

Empress Review & SFFWorld goodness, Book Ramblings, Lost/Battlestar

I posted my review of Karen Miller’s Empress today. It started out fairly strong (if predictable), but by the end, the novel turned into the book I've disliked the most so far this year. Not all protagonists can or should be likeable, but when you hate the protagonist by the halfway point of the novel, it doesn’t make for a good reading experience. In addition, the novel itself was uneven, predictable, repetitive, and choppy.

I also posted an interview Pat and I conducted with Kay Kenyon. He’s had it posted on his blog for a bit now, and now it’s up at SFFWorld.

Owen (kater in the SFFWorld forums and one of the mods) posted a cool interview with Brandon Seifert creator of the independently online published Witch Doctor comic. The interview also has some great, great sample artwork.

My addiction to the Dresden Files keeps growing with each book*; I finished Summer Knight last week. I usually read two books at a time, one at work and the gym the other at home. I couldn’t be pulled away from Summer Knight.

Mark posted a stellar review of Richard Morgan’s forthcoming and anticipated Fantasy novel, The Steel Remains. My copy arrived not too long ago and I’ll be getting to it shortly. In the past year or so, I’ve received so many enticing books from various publishers I simply don’t know which book to read next, although I do have a very loose system. Some of the books are Advance copies while some are publication copies I’ve received, and it is really impossible to get to all of them.

*One of those advances is Backup, the Non-Harry Dresden novella being published in October by Subterranean Press with artwork by Mike Mignola**. I’ve still got the final installment of Greg Keyes awesome Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone on my plate, or what Aidan calls the Pile o' Shame, although my pile is a little different than Aidan's defintion. The pile includes collections from Wolfe, Swanwick, Steele, the first of Strahan’s Eclipse anthologies, all the Malazan books up to and including Reaper’s Gale, two of Paul S. Kemp’s Erevis Cale novels, two Culture novels from Iain M. Banks, Peter David’s forthcoming Tigerheart, Jeff Somers’ Digital Plague, the second Marla Mason novel by T.A. Pratt, the final novel in the Star Wars New Jedi Order megaseries, and a forthcoming novel from Greg Bear (City at the End of Time) that looks very interesting. I’ve read some of Bear’s work and enjoyed it, this looks like a good opportunity to “catch up” with him. This whole paragraph isn’t a complaint by any means, just a rambling.

Lost and Battlestar Galactica both continue to make me wish their hour-long episodes didn’t end so quickly. Although Lost didn’t give us any concrete answers this past Thursday, it was enticing and answers seem closer to the horizon. I know the creators really enjoy Stephen King’s work and this week’s episode seemed to hold some thematic similarities with The Dark Tower. I also think BKV’s handiwork was evident in this episode. Battlestar had some more good Baltar stuff with Roslin becoming more of a hardass. Both shows don't clearly paint their heroes - Ben Linus started out as a villain and now he looks like he might be the hero. Roslin seems to be thrust more and more into the antagonist light.

**which only fuels the question – What if Harry met Hellboy? That would be a very cool multimedia crossover, wouldn't it?