Iggy's Book Nook

[V]

Picard clapping...

[IggytheBorg]

May I point out, GEN-tlemen, that the characters on "Jersey Shore" are actually BENNY's from Staten Island, & are not in fact New Jersey natives.


Ha-HAHHH!

[V]

Objection!

Your Honor, my esteemed colleague is trying to present facts... when we have no need of them since our minds are clearly already made up!

[Timothy225]

Save for one (Sammi, I think) of the old cast, and the new girl, Iggy's right.

Iggy, let me know how the NJ monster book is, and if they mention Big Red Eye and Mahtantu.

[IggytheBorg]

I'm in the middle of the Big Red Eye chapter now.

[Abraham Smashington]

I hate cliffhanger endings, so IK'm with ya on that, but I don't blame him at all for writing the sequel. I read an interview wherein Keene said he hears from a LOT of fans whenever he makes an appearance: "When are you gonna write another zombie novel?" I wouldn't say it was fan "pressure" so much as overwhelming demand. Clearly, they wanted more of what he gave them in the Rising. Is his doing so a bad thing? I don't think so, considering the fact that, while the Rising itself was better book, City of the Dead was pretty close to it in quality. Dead Sea wasn't written in exactly the same universe, but was still pretty damn good (the final kill was AWESOME). I haven't been able to secure a copy of the "Selected Scenes" book, (which was written in the Rising universe) but by all accounts it was great as well. It's not like he's churning out crap just to cash in (at least, as far as the fans are concerned). And the readers are happy, so everybody wins.

Dead Sea was in the same universe I thought? I could have sworn they mentioned some characters from The Rising/City. Or maybe it was Worms.

Either way, the "Selected Scenes" book is fucking great if only for the last entry. It ties his entire "world" together and I for one love it. IT's pulpy and fun. Haters gonna hate.

[IggytheBorg]

Dead Sea was in the same universe I thought? I could have sworn they mentioned some characters from The Rising/City. Or maybe it was Worms.

Either way, the "Selected Scenes" book is fucking great if only for the last entry. It ties his entire "world" together and I for one love it. IT's pulpy and fun. Haters gonna hate.

I always thought Dead Sea was a different universe because the zombies were "traditionally" mindless & slow, and not the tool using, talking smart ones from The Rising. I don't recall the references to characters from The Rising, but I did catch a reference to Richard Laymon's Beast House on a character's T shirt. I had just finished reading one of those books, & thought that was way cool.

[IggytheBorg]

OK, so I finished the Monsters of New Jersey book. It was a documentary of sorts, and related documented cases of monster sightings in New Jersey. It was written by a dedicated crypto hunter, and commented on whether the sightings they discussed could be considered factual evidence, or were not trustworthy and dismissed as mere myth. This book was. . . odd. The Big red Eye chapter (about Jersey's own Bigfoot like creature) was actually the longest in the book, as the author sought to bolster a theory previously put forth by another cryptzoologist that Bigfoots migrate south for the winter by noting the seasonal nature of sightings in not only Jersey but other states as well. Which was kind of interesting, and food for thought if you have any belief or interest in this sort of thing. It was also pretty cool for a Jersey native to read about Hoppy, the sea monster that supposedly lives in Lake Hopatcong, or Tommy, the Sea Serpent of Toms River, or the Sea Serpents that are frequently sighted off Cape May, at the southernmost tip of the state (which juts out into the Atlantic). I had never heard of them before. But I actually finished this book almost a week ago; took like 2 days to read. It was short, paying only cursory attention to most of the creatures they profile, and the typeset was abnormally large, making for even faster reading. I am somewhat puzzled as well as to why they did not mention some of the more well known Jersey Devil sightings in his chapter (particularly when they have a comprehensive list of Devil sightings at the end of the book, inclusing the one I'm thinking of). One would think Jersey's most well known crypto, who graces the cover, wouldn't get such short shrift. Also, the author spent a great deal of time on the famous Matawan great white shark attacks of the 20's that inspired Peter Benchley to write "Jaws". I had never read as comprehensive an account of that incident, so from an historical perspective (particularly that of a HUGE fan of "Jaws" in both printed & movie forms), that was welcome. But great whites are hardly cryptos, and one has to wonder why they spent so much time on this. Yeah, I know, maybe this can explain some of the previous crypto legends; maybe the "monster" was a great white. But no legends originate from Matawan of sea monsters that I'm aware of. Just seemed. . . odd. Mainly, this book seems to be a cry out to the reader that cryptozoology is serious, dammit! Stop laughing at us! There's real evidence here! OK, it's all anecdotal, but the witnesses said they saw TRACKS! Cloven hooves, man! Don't be so quick to dismiss! Overall, I'm glad I expanded my knowledge of Jersey horror lore a bit, but this book was to satisfying as a cocktail weenie is to a juicy T-Bone. I'll loan it to Tim when I see him at this Summer's BDRBQ at my place, and he can tell you what he thinks.

[Abraham Smashington]

I like the idea of a pack of Bigfoot just meandering down south for some rest and relaxation during winter.

[V]

I like the idea of a pack of Bigfoot just meandering down south for some rest and relaxation during winter.

It's called "Jersey Shore"...

[Timothy225]

Would somebody please rep Vin for that? PLEASE!

[IggytheBorg]

I imagine even the Bigfoot shore house would be more civilized than the one on the show. They'd shit in the woods, at least.

[IggytheBorg]

I tore through Meg: Primal Waters this week. This is the 3d installment in the 4 part (so far) series. This book was cheesier than white pie, to be sure. But it's the literary equivalent of a B grade horror movie. I fucking love these books. Sure, the characters and situations are unbelievable, and the dialogue corny as hell. This surely isn't Stephen King or Jack Ketchum grade horror. BUt it might reach Brian Keene like levels (when Keene's not at the top of his game). I mean, c'mon! 3 City bus sized great white sharks with 7" teeth chewing up the scenery (and more than a few boaters, swimmers & fishermen? What's not to love? There's a scene where one surfaces & gulps down a bunch of spectators at a San Francisco Giants home game (apparently, there's a lagoon behind the oceanside park, where boaters drop anchor to watch the games, and a player was about to break the record). Captured on diamond vision because the player in question had just hit the record breaking, worth-millions home run ball over the left field wall & into the harbor. Also played live on ESPN & later on the news. Can you imagine? I sure hope they get their shit together & start a decent movie franchise based on these books. This scene alone would be worth it. Looking forward to readnig the 4th, Hell's Aquarium, even more now. Scored one with the Wall of Teeth version cover, too. Haters gon' hate, but I give this 2 fins up.

[IggytheBorg]

Finished "Cover" by Jack Ketchum the other day. A good read. NOt the thrill ride "Off Season" or "The Lost" were, and not the harrowing, gritty, moving piece GND was, either. BUt it contained elements of both, and the foreword & afterward (the former by Ketchum himself, and the latter by another writer I do not know) put the work in perspective. Basically, thiss tory is about a Vietnam vet who is still plagued by demons from the war. He lives in a tent in the woods, because he feels he's dangerous to, & doesn't fit in with, society at large. A group of campers intrudes on his space, and he snaps & starts hunting them down. As the afterward notes, the vet is neither a bloodthirsty killer or a sympathetic, haunted tragic figure. He's a little of both. We feel both rage & sympathy for him. ANd the campers are both sympathetic & self absorbed, so you don't wholly feel they don't deserve their fate, either. You're a little ambivalent about who to root for here, and that's kind of the point. Ketchum noted in the foreword that he tried to get a lot of vets to talk about their experiences in the war, based on an encounter he had with a friend who hd gone to serve, and come back a changed man. The friend refused to talk about the war itself, but noted the terrible reception he received on his return. He finally found someone who would discuss, at length & in minnute detail, all of his experiences. NO question was off limits, and his info formed the basis for much of what Ketchum wrote about. This book was originally published in the early 80's, but had a terribly limited distribution deal, and so didn;t make it to many readers. Ketchum felt this was a book that had to be written, to make people aware of the horrors the vets faced. Unfortunately, it's lost a great deal of its historic impact getting widely distributed now, when so much like it has already been seen (First Blood comes to mind). But when you consider when it was written & 1st released, it puts it into persepctive a bit. And you can't take the fact that it's a fun Jack Ketchum read away from it, either, whether you feel the message is dated or not. I'd recommend it if you have any interest in Ketchum at all.

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished Glenn Cook's "Shadowline: Book I of the Starfishers Trilogy". This is space opera from the word go. Space & other high tech battles by a merc company (Hmm. . . this & the Black COmpany Books. Cook seems to have a thing for sci fi mercs). I LOVE that shit, when it's well done. As it was here. The characters were well drawn & intriguing. The political and military intrigues were so complex they were actually hard to follow at times. But Cook has crafted an incredibly well thought out and intricate, layered universe. Sometimes he's a little short on explanation (I still don't know what the word "wholar" means), which didn't help make the (at times) densely packed story any easier to follow. That having been said, I greatly enjoyed this book. It was a nice break from the uninterrupted deluge of horror I've been reading since before Christmas last year. I guess you could say I'm "hooked" on the Starfishers. Ha! See what I did there? I'm off to the Amazon link above to add the second & 3d books to the Wiah List!