Iggy's Book Nook

[IggytheBorg]

Yes, co-authored w/ Chuck Hogan.

[Abraham Smashington]

I just saw a trailer for the new show based on this, looked neat. I know nothing about it.

[IggytheBorg]

I liked Book I a lot, so I figured that'd be good. If it lasts long ebough to get them to this point though. . . . general non-reading public will NEVER see this coming. Assuming they remain true to the source material.

[IggytheBorg]

Got a little behind in the review writing here. First, I finished Mammoth Book of Best New Horror v. 22. This entry in the series was kind of all over the map. There were some real standout stories here, such as Norm Partridge's "Lesser Demons", which I had read before in another anthology, and which is still my favorite hell on earth story, and "The Lemon in the Pool" by Simon Kurt Unsworth, a kind of Lovecraftian, otherworldly tale. John Langan's "City of the Dog" was a more direct nod to HPL, as it's a sort of sequel to "Pickman's Model". Not one of the best in the book, but pretty good. Brian Hodge's "Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls" was a delightfully weird little tale. A most original concept; this one'll stay with me. There were also two passable zombie stories, "When the Zombies Win" by Karina Sumner-Smith and ""What Will Come After" by Scott Edelman. But there were some stories whose inclusion in this volume defies my comprehension. Stories like "The Pier", by Thiana Niveau and "Featherweight" by Robert Shearman, or "Fallen Boys" by Mark Norris are, at best, nothing special IMO. At worst, they're predictible and not at all worthy of "Best of" Status. And of course, there's the inevitable Ramsey Campbell entry, which was disappointing, as usual. Worth a read for the standouts, and even some of the "nothing specials" were at least well written attempts at hackneyed devices and plots. Not the best entry in this series, but far from the worst.

[BillyG]

The Martian - One of the best books I've read in the past...five years at least. If not for Patrick Rothfuss, this would definitely be my favorite. Quick read too, everyone should check it out.

Seconds - New Bryan Lee O'Malley book. Really good. Read it in about 90 minutes. Goes to places I didn't expect from him.

[IggytheBorg]

Once again, I've fallen behind. In the recent past, I have read "Horns" by Joe Hill, H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine", and "Star's End" by Glenn Cook. Taking each in turn:

I'm not sure how I feel about "Horns". It started out with an intriguing premise. The main character wakes up one morning after a bender, to find he has fiendish looking horns sprouting from his head, and that he has developed a strange new power akin to hypnosis/suggestion. Some of the early encounters with people like a doctor, a priest, and his friends and family are equally disturbing, sad and funny. I was anxious to see where Hill took this. The character development, particularly that of the hero and the main antagonist (a not-all-there sociopath with a sadistic streak a mile wide) was exceptional. But, following in his father's footsteps, he kind of wrote himself into a corner, I guess, and the ending was a little off the mark somehow. I was disappointed with it, but don't see where else he could have gone. This is the firsrt Joe Hill work I have been at all disappointed in, but the ride to get there was fun enough that it was worth the trip.

The Time Machine was surprisingly short. Under 100 pages. And it follows the plot of the 1970's TV adaptation pretty closely. But Wells was some kind of genius, and definitely ahead of his time. No pun intended. His social comentary on the widening gap between rich and poor in society predicted our current situation. One wonders how much of his dystopian future will come to pass if this trend continues. Damned glad I read this.

"Star's End" was the third book in the Starfisher's Trilogy. What I like most about this series is that, even though they're set in the same universe, and involve some of the same cgaracters, each book is very different from the last in its focus. Space Opera from the word go, this volume blended some interstellar combat with futuristic spy drama and espionage. The main character is admirable and sympathetic as well as heroic. There was plenty of action and intrigue, and I love Cook's vision of the future in these books. There's a prequel of sorts out there, and another sci fi work that I presume is in a different universe, but which seems to deal with similar types of themes, and I want to read both of them. COnsidering how much I liked his "Black COmpany" series, I may give some of his fantasy stuff, like the "Dark Empire" books, a whirl as well some day. Truly fun stuff.

[BillyG]

I actually just started reading Horns this week. I'm only like 8 chapters in, but so far I enjoy it more than anything by King.

[Martin]

Started Traitor's Blade

Imagine a slightly fantasy take on the 3 Musketeers. And since I'm a huge Dumas fan ( Man in the Iron Mask: REPRESENT), it's a no brainer, but it's really really fun so far.

[IggytheBorg]

A friend was kind enough to loan me a collection of short horror stories by Laird Barron called "The Imago Sequence". Most enjoyable. I think I read some of his stuff (though none of the stories in this volume) before, in best of anthologies. And Amazon recommended to me a book of homages to his work by other authors before recommending work by the man himself. One doesn't develop a following like that without having considerable talent. He's got kind of a Lovecraftian cosmic horror thing going on, but expresses the primal a lot like an updated Arthur Machen. Good literary company to be in, for sure. I think I'll be reading more of this guy's stuff. And the imitators, too.

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished reading "Of Dice and Men: Dungeons and Dragons and the People Who Play It". I can't say enough nice things about this book. The author didn't just write a memoir about his own experiences playing D&D (although one could argue those were the best parts of the book). He didn't just write a history of D&D, from its birth in Dave Arneson's basement, through Gary Gygax' refinements, the monumental sucesses of the 70's and early 80's, and the devil worship/teen suicide silliness of the late 80's, how the business types took over for the gamers, and the sale to Wizards of the Coast, and the "Edition Wars" of later years. He didn't just analyze the motivations of the players, and why the game has such a devoted following, and has had such a profound impact not just on games (role playing, board, and video games) but on the world's culture itself. He did all those things, but he did more besides: he went on a QUEST. One worthy of any good gamer. Like any great D&D gaming session, I didn't want this book to end. Great as the entirety of this book is, the last two chapters were the best parts of the book, IMO. I'm a little envious of some of the things the author got to do, and some of the things he observed and did on his "quest" were actually moving and poignant. I can't remember when I've enjoyed a book this much. And now I really wanna play D&D again.

[Timothy225]

Sold. Will try and find a copy ASAP.

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished "World War Cthulhu: Lovecraftian War Stories". Not nearly as awesome as it sounds. All the stories in this volime were penned by imitators, and nothing by the master himself was included. A fun read, but it got to be very formulaic after awhile (a sin HPL himself is guilty of in many of his stories): Men are at war. Someone gets the idea forbidden knowledge form the Necronomicon/Pnakotic Manuscripts/De Vermiis Mysteriis would make an ultimate weapon their enemies can't counter. Something is summoned, shit gets out of hand, and the summoned thing is somehow sent back where it came from before the end of our dimension as we know it. There were exceptions, of course, but at least 80% of the stories rigidly followed that formula. John Shirley's "Loyalty", the first tale in the collection, was one of the ones that didn't follow the formula, and one of the most interesting in the book. "Dark Cell", by Bryan Sammons and Glyn Owen Barras, the anthology's editors, and "Cold War, Yellow Fever", two of the formulaic entries, were actually standouts because of the skills of the authors (the former especially). The plotlines may not have been original in those two tales, but they were so well written you almost forget about that. Overall, not as good as I had hoped it would be, but far from bad. Fans of Lovecraft or wartime horror would probably like it.

[IggytheBorg]

I finished Brian Keene's "The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World" a few days ago. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this. It's sort of a takeoff on that chapter in "The Stand" where King details people who survived Captain Trips dying of other things. Sometimes tragically, sometimes comically. This book's short stories take place in the same world as Keene's "The Rising" and "City of the Dead", but most did not involves the main characters from the other two books. Some of the stories were wonderfully creepy and brutal. Some were downright sad. All were very brief, and many of them felt rushed. Like there was a great idea in there that could have made for a brilliant tale if given time to develop in a longer story. The reason, I suspect, is that the publisher ran a promotion wherein readers could pay a fee and have themselves appear in one of these stories. In an effort, I guess, to make the purchases of as like a value as possible, they were limited to a word count of about 1,000 words. He mentions this several times in the intro and the story notes at the end of the book. One of the things I found most fascinating about the Rising series prior to reading this book was the part in City of the Dead where Ob describes what the Elilum and the Teraphim are going to do to the world (take over insects and plants, and incinerate the earth w/ their fiery forms, respectively) once the Siqquiisim have killed a sufficient number of animals and people. He describes this in maybe four or five stories, but I think he dropped the ball on how little he actually does describe. The Elilum's best stuff is mentioned only briefly, thru exposition, in the last story. They were used in three other stories before that, but nowhere near their full potential. The last story is the only one where the Teraphim are mentioned, and IMO they're given really short shrift. What could have been the most fascinating part of the mythology gets glossed over and rushed to an unsatisfying conclusion. . . over a publisher promotion. I guess it's extremely cool to be able to point to one of the characters in one of these stories and say "That's me!" And Keene mentioned repeatedly how much he enjoyed the challenge of translating people he didn't know well and hadn't made up himself into his prose. Fair enough. But to place artificial limits on creativity with a page count doesn't sit well with me. IMO the book suffered for it, and I only kinda liked this book, which I fully expected to love.

[IggytheBorg]

Finished Jack Ketchum's "Joyride" a little while ago. This was a quick read, proceeding along at a breakneck pace. It was, as the Stephen King pull quote on the cover states, hard to put down. The basic story is that ta couple commits a murder (of the woman's abusive ex-husband, after the law has failed them) and another guy sees it. he uses this knowledge as leverage to coerce them into going along with him while he goes on a thrill kill spree. I kind of wish we had gotten a little more of the story told from the crazy guy's point of view (switching narrators is a device Ketchum's used before). I don't feel like I really connected with this character and his madness. Still, an enjoyable read. Interesting, sympathetic characters, and nonstop bloody action/violence (another Ketchum trademark).

[IggytheBorg]

I finished Book 3 of The Strain Trilogy, The Night Eternal yesterday. Bit of a let down, really. After that batshit insane, balls to the wall cliffhanger ending in Book 2, this one was kind of a let down. I can't really put my finger on why. Probably because this book was almost all about Eph Goodweather, who was always an annoying character throughout the series, but has become utterly pathetic in this volume. Not nearly enough Fet, the series' true badass. The origin of the Master is explained, and the story they tell is kind of cool. It brings the supernatural back into things (which is something this whole series sorely needed, IMO). But on the whole, not very satisfying. I'll keep watching the TV show, because I want to see how they pull this stuff off, just out of curiosity. But I'm not getting my hopes up too high. I'd recommend this to vampire freaks or those who read books 1 & 2 and want closure. Otherwise, skip it. The first two books were much better.