Iggy's Book Nook

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished The Best Dark Fantasy & Horror of th Year, 2010. It was edited by Paula GUran, & I have to say: I was thoroughly impressed. This volme was probably even better than my beloved Mammoth Books of Best New Horror most years that tome has been published. Banner years like V 18 & 20 may be exceptions, but a lot of installments of MBBNH are yawners, by & large. This new volume, however, was almost uniformly great. Not good, GREAT. I haven't been this enthused about a horror collection since Mehitobel Wilson's "Dangerous Red", which I reviewed in these pages in 2010. One story actully got me teary in the back of a courtroom (I was waiting for my mater to be called, and had to quickly put the book down after rading a story called "Vic", and grab a boring legal document before I started weeping in the gallery; this story was nothing short of amazing, because it managed o be creepy and disturbing and pognantly sad all at the same time. Brilliant.). It's rare a book moves me like that. A FB friend that is a huge fan of horror took em up on my recommendation & is reading this book now I'm going to have her & her husband over for dinner when she's finished, so we can compare notes I suggest you follow her example & get this book. here's a 2011 volume available as well, & you can bet Ill be buying that one before too long.

Can't recommend this more highly for a good anthology.

[B_Metal]

Reserved @ the library, thanks Iggy.

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished masters of Horror and the Supernatural: The Great Tales. As the name implies, this is a collection of (mostly) noteworthy horror stories from various periods in history. There's stuff by the expected greats, like Poe, Lovecraft, Bloch, Lefanu, Hawthorne, Bierce and their ilk. More modern entries from authors like Silverberg, Pronzini, Wagner, and Campbell are also to be had. Most of them were very good. Some were kind of predictable to a jaded horror buff like me, but were probably innovative for their time (none of these stories is newer than 1980). And I did question whether some of these tales really belonged in a book with such a grandiose title (the uber predictible "The Party" by William F. Nolan springs to mind). But for every one of those there was at least one story I had never heard of that was a genuine delight, such as Robert Silverberg's "Passengers". The amount of dread and tragedy he is able to capture in so short a story is fairly mind blowing. And it had a very innovative plot as well. An unexpected treat was the print version of Stephen King's "The Crate", which I don't recall ever seeing in short story form anywhere before. Made me want to watch Creepshow again (thanks, Netflix instant!). At nearly 600 pages, it took me a long time to finish this work, but I enjoyed almost every minute of it. If you have any love at al for the horror short story, or if you have any interest in the history of the genre, this is definitely a worthwhile read.

And I won't tell if you stop reading the Henry James story after a few pages, like I did.

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished Glen Cook's second entry in the Starfishers Trilogy (which actually has 4 books in it), "Starfishers". This is the 5th Glen Cook novel I've read (the others being the 1st 3 Black Company books, & The 1st Starfishers entry, Shadowline). And it's official: I DIG this guy. He writes military oriented science fiction (Starfishers is set > 1,000 years in the future) and fantasy. His characters are interesting and compelling, even if he doesn't spend a lot of time fleshing them out. Sometimes that's kind of the point, as in Starfishers, where the protagonist is a deep cover operative with serious misgivings about his current mission, his career as a spy, and his very sanity. We're meant to get the feeling he doesn't know HIMSELF very well. In fact, that's the norm of the society in the Starfishers universe, where everyone engages only in transient, shallow relationships because the frequent and vast movements living in an interstellar society often requires don't allow you to develop deep and lasting friendships. Like all good speculative fiction, this book gets you thinking about whether or not this would be the natural consequence of space travel and colonization. The fate Cook relagates Earth to, and the attitudes of the humans on different worlds in and outside of the Confederation toward each other (and for that matter, towards the several alien races humanity has conquered) are also fascinating to me. The tech was kind of subdued in this volume in favor of character and societal development (in "Shadowline", tech was more front and center, like a more traditional apce opera), but enough of it was present to hold my interest. Nothing about futuristic sci fi turns me off more than the author finding some ridiculous reason to keep high tech out of the story. For example, I read a series called "Not for Glory" about an interstellar merc company handcuffed by rules of combat that required the use of promitive weaponry on worlds w/ low tech levels. They were fighting with bows and arrows. This beggars the question: if THAT'S the kind of story you WANTED to write, why not write a fantasy novel? Why the hell'd you set it in the distant future, in space? WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT? Cook seems, IMO, to prove that you CAN have high tech cosmic combat in a gets-you-thinking work of speculative fiction, and both ends can be served equally well. I think volume III will be among this year's X-mas purchases. He has a huge body of other work, too, and I am seriously tempted to give The Garrett Files and/or The Dread Empire series a whirl next.

[IggytheBorg]

I started War & Peace this morning.

Yes, really. I can ell from here it's gonna be a long read, and I'm not even out of the 1st chapter yet.

[Matt]

Just finished the latest Michael Slade book, RED SNOW.

Wow.

It's like he decided 'you know, I'm gonna do a clean slate', because he killed off about 75% of the recurring characters. A few main characters and most of the supporting crew got wasted in very, very nasty ways. He's notorious for the fact that NO characters are safe, but WOW. Very surprised. Fun, bloody book.

[BillyG]

Wool has been really amazing so far.

[IggytheBorg]

Just in case anybody cares, I'm just over 1,000 pages into War & Peace. And War again. Hoping to end on a Peace note. I hope no one minds, but after living w/ this book for going on 4 months, I'll skip the 100+ pages of footnotes & annotations, thank you very much. All that having been said, in fairness I did stop reading it for a week or 2 to devour garrett Oliver's "The Brewmaster's Table", at just over 300 pgs. And long as it is, I am really enjoying W&P. I'd recommend it to anyone with a lot of time. And patience.

[IggytheBorg]

So, I FINALLY finished it. All 1215 pages. It was a great, sweeping epic narrative. Loved the characters, lots of action & some cool insights into the human condition. Some douchebag attorney I know vaguely saw me reading it in court this morning, waiting for my case to get called, & asked me how long I've been trying to impress people by pretending to read this. Asshole. Best part about finishing this book isn't the closure, or the sense of accomplishment or anything like tht; it's that I won't have to lug this fucking grimoire around any more.

[IggytheBorg]

Going from one extreme to the other, I polished off - in just over a day - Jack Ketchum's 40 odd page "Book of Souls". This was a collection of essays on some people that were important to him in some ways. Like when he met his literary idol, Henry Miller, or how his childhood best friend slowly descended into madness, or a lover disintegrated from drug abuse right before his eyes. And a couple more. The more I read Ketchum, the more I like him, as an author and a human being. A friend of mine has said of Stephen King (more than once): "I LOVE the way he writes. I'd read that guy's grocery list." I'm starting to feel the same way about Ketchum. Nothing in this book was fictional, but it was fascinating, compelling & moving stuff just the same. A rare, undisguised peek inside the private life of an author. Worth seeking out if you like his work.

And I totally know how he feels about meeting Henry Miller; I felt the same way about meeting Jack myself. He's such a genuine, decent, down to earth guy, I gladly part with money to enrich him every chance I get. There is no famous human being, I think, that I'd more like to have a drink with.

[IggytheBorg]

I finished "Meg: Hell's Aquarium" over lunch today. I have gone on record in the past as saying I love these cornball, over the top, so bad they're good books. I can't even quite put my finger on why, but I eat them up like a beloved B movie franchise. I tore thru this one, and found it a compelling, thrill ride of a read, as were all the others. But even I have to confess: These are getting a little stupid even for me. Spoilers follow, continue reading with caution. For example: at the beginning of this book, a spectator gets injured (OK, killed) at the Meg show at the aquarium where the one they captured a couple books ago & her litter of 5 are being held. Jonas goes on record saying humans are not a part of a Meg's natural diet, & even if the 75 foot monstrosity were to escape the confines of the aquarium, it wouldn't pose a threat to shipping or swimmers. Really? In 2 of the 3 previous books, escaped Megs did just that, and (more annoying) he ACKNOWLEDGES this in his internal monologue in a COUPLE places, thinking how dangerous releasing her would be. Faced with financial problems caused by the wrongful death suit, they then contrive a stage show whereina confederate in the audience pretends to be drunk, and agrees to swim across the Meg tank for $1,000.00, the swimmer replaced just before getting into the tank with an animatronic robot that sends out electric impulses the Meg can't resist. Huh? I thought you were trying to play DOWN the danger, thoughts and prayers with the victim, etc. The internal inconsistencies, and the increasingly more & more contrived ways they get Jonas Taylor to dive to the abyss yet again are truly stretching credulity to the breaking point. I may have had enough at long last, & may (MAY, mind you) pass up the forthcoming book V in the series, "Meg: Night Stalkers".

[IggytheBorg]

Now, on to "Superheroes & Philosophy: Truth, Justice, & the Socratic Way!"

[IggytheBorg]

Finished Superheroes & Philosophy. I enjoyed this, but not as much as I thought I would. A couple of the early essays were along the lines of "See? This comic bok presented this deep philosophical question! Aren't they just darling?" As in, they almost can't believe weighty matters can ever be presented in the medium of comic books. But most of the others were genuine philosophical discussions on such things as does great responsibility always come w/ great power? Why be a superhero? What are the implications of the use of a secret identity? Are the Hulk & Bruce Banner the same person? Many of the discussions end with the oh-so-frustrating "Well, I guess we'll never know" kind of answer I find so annoying in philosophical discussions in general, but since that's par for the course - and since the discussions themselves are interesting - I can live with it. I don't think there's much in here that we as mere mortals can find relatable to our own situations (at least, not at 1st glance), the way there was in the earler-reviewed Pink Floyd & Philosophy, but there were a couple that provided food for thought. And that's what philosophical discussions are all about, right? Overall I'd recommend it to any halfway intellectual comic fan, or anyone interested in different takes on philosophy. Now, On to Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Vol. 11. I think.

[IggytheBorg]

Jesus, re-reading that last review has reminded me how remiss I've been in posting these. I'll have to go back & dig out MBBNH 11 to see what I thought of it all over again.

But in the meanwhile, I finished off Dead Bait 2, a nautical themed horror anthology. Nowhere near as good as Dead Bait itself was. Few, if any, standout stories. Some stuff from the 1st one will stick with me for a good long while - for the right & wrong reasons - but I don't see anything from this volume doing the same. These stories were clearly not of the same caliber. Many of them weren't even supernatural in theme. Not necessarily a bad thing all the way around, as the one real standout story was about a mundane shark attack, but describes the victim's reaction to this truly horrific event in rather graphic & disturbing detail. I can't recommend this one, I'm afraid.

On a somewhat better note was Cthulhu Unbound 2. Like its predecessor, it was a hodgepodge of tales from various other genres, w/ a Lovecraftian bent. Not quite as good as the 1st, but some real standouts were to be had. I particularly liked the superhero one. I could easily see Vertigo publishing a series based on the characters in that one. Well written & just plain COOL, it paid homage equally well to both the superhero & Lovecraftian horror gebres. THIS one I CAN recommend.

Currently tearing thru King's "The Wind Through the Keyhole", a Dark Tower related novel. As much as I was frustrated by the ending of the DT series itself, I always found the Mid World setting & Gunslinger concept fascinating. Nearly 200 pages in, it's a compelling read.

[IggytheBorg]

I ended up losing The Wind Through the Keyhole. Guess I'll have to buy another one. After that, I snuck in Fritz Lieber's "Swords Against Sorcery", the 4th Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser collection. This one was a collection of 2 small novellas and a shorter tale, in between them. They were in chronological order, however, and each picked up so immediately after the previous one this could almost be considered a novel. This was a lot of fun. Yeah, it could be pretty far fetched, even for fantasy tales. The accomplishments of the larger than life protagonists border on the superhuman at times, and the sexuality is more lascivious than in any previous volume. It's hardly high litearature. But there's a reason pretty much everyone writing this kind of story apart from Robert E. Howard owes this man something. Their exploits never cease to be entertaining.

Plus, it was cool to find out that in Lankhmar, besides the Thieves' Guild and the Assassins' Guild, there exists a Pimp's Guild. There should be entries in the D&D Playa's Handbook for Hat, Large, Feathered, and Coat, Fur, Long. I wonder how much damage a Pimp Cane would do? Or Bigby's Pimp Hand?