Larry Correia has created an interesting niche for himself in genre fiction. He has mashed up fantasy (magic or supernatural creatures) and a lot of really, really big weapons. He continues this with the latest installment of the Grimnoir Chronicles: Spellbound. The first book in the series, Hard Magic, introduced us to our magical supergroup set in the Depression. This book continues from the first book and, not only introduces a new bad guy and danger, but also sets things up nicely for a third book in the series (tentatively titled Warbound according to the author’s blog). So let’s see what happened after Jake, Faye and the rest of our Grimnoirs saved the world at the end of book one.
Category Archives: fantasy
Best Book/Comics of 2011
Ground Rules first. This is a list of the best books that I read for the first time in 2011. The book/comics didn’t have to be published in 2011. And this is the best books/comics I read this year in no particular order
- Alison’s Bechdel Fun Home – Alison Bechdel is the creator of the comic Dykes to Watch Out For and the originator of the Bechdel Test for movies. This book is her memoir about coming out of the closet and her issues with her father (and his issues as well). Wonderfully told in a circular way, it must be read. My review.
- David Small Stitches
– A family doesn’t deal with issues, psychological and physical and a small by is left with stitches that the family cannot hide. A wonderful look at a dysfunctional family. My review.
- GRRM A Dance with Dragons – After years of ignoring them, I finally caught up with The Song of Ice and Fire in time for GRRM’s latest masterpiece. A huge cast of characters deal with issues on an epic scale. This is a series everyone should be reading. My review.
- Adam Levin The Instructions – A huge book covering a four days in the life of a small boy who may (or may not) be the messiah. This is a wonderfully told tale, but it isn’t for everyone. My review.
- Junot Diaz The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – A look at a boy who is so tied up in science fiction/fantasy that he cannot have the life he really wants despite the efforts of everyone around him. My review.
- Neal Stephenson REAMDE – Stephenson goes back to his Stephen Bury days to give us a modern day thriller with video games and technology and geography thrown in as sidelines. There’s been a lot of disappointment from some quarters, but it is still a great Stephenson book. My review.
This post is part of the thread: BestOf – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
Continuing with my recent trend of reading literary authors experiments into genre fiction, I just finished Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf. The book is different in that there just isn’t the same number of books being written about werewolves as there are about vampires and zombies (I’ve heard the Twilight books have both werewolves and vampires, but I have no desire to read them). The book touches on one of the reasons why werewolves don’t have the same literary presence as other supernatural beings. They only change for one night a month and while they are changed, they are wild incoherent monsters. Zombies are always zombies and vampires are always able to talk. The literary challenge of werewolves is simply higher than other such beings. So let’s check in on the last one.
Bill Willingham interviews Bill Willingham about the Fables/Once Upon a Time controversy
Bill Willingham has interviewed himself to discuss the controversy that has arisen about Fables and Once Upon A Time. For those of you unfamiliar with it, ABC optioned Fables, wrote a pilot and declined to move forward, then they came out with Once Upon A Time. Many people have assumed that it was done to screw over Willingham, but he sets the record straight.
Just to reiterate that there’s no war here. If you like “Fables,” you needn’t dislike “Once,” and vice versa. Join me in wallowing in all of it. And then take a look at all the other grand stuff out there right now, or coming down the pike. Along with “Fables,” read “Kill Shakespeare” and “The Unwritten,” “Memorial,” “Mice Templar” and “Mouse Guard.” Read “The Stuff of Legend” and “Castle Waiting” and all the other gems in the same general category. It’s the new age of old time stories. Along with “Once,” I’m looking forward to “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Mirror, Mirror.” There can’t be enough different takes on this character, which very much mirrors the way it worked in the olden days. The Brothers Grimm didn’t collect one version of every folktale; they discovered dozens of versions of each one, because it’s the nature of folklore to be altered to suit every different folk who wants to make use of it. Why should today be any different?
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
There are often books where you really can’t review it, you just have to tell people they need to trust you and read it. But when the book is 900+ pages, it’s often a hard sell. So, I will try to review Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, but do not believe that I will be successful in showing why this is an amazing book that should be read by everyone. But I will try. And it needs to be understood that this book isn’t about the plot. It’s about the characters and the setting and the atmosphere. So, let’s see what 1Q84 is.
Library Journal’s top 10 SF/Fantasy books for 2011
It’s a little early for the list (considering that it’s not even Thanksgiving yet), but Library Journal has their 2011 Best SF/Fantasy List up already. The two on the list that I’ve read are The Quantum Thief
Books I almost read
One of the issues I have with the library being my main source of new books is that I have little control over when things come in. This often leads to me having to return a book I’m enjoying because a different book that I really wanted to read came in. I mentioned before how I returned The Map of Time because REAMDE came in. I ended up getting The Map of Time back not too much later and was able to finish it. But this has started happening a little more frequently lately.
I had started Crossbones, but put it aside when Stephen King’s 11/22/63 came in (which in retrospect probably wasn’t a good tradeoff). And then it happened again. I had just started Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind when Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 came in (and I’m loving this book), so I had to set Rothfuss aside.
It starts getting a little frustrating to keep dropping and picking up books due to the whims of library delivery, but the alternative is blowing my book budget. So I think I’ll keep with my frustrations for now. The good thing about this is realizing how many good books are out there that I haven’t read yet.
Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia
In the first two books of the Monster Hunter series, Larry Correia basically wrote gun porn with monsters. There were characters, but they loved their guns and it shone through. In the third book, Monster Hunter Alpha, Correia decided to shake things up a little bit. Moving from Owen Pitt to Earl Harbinger and introducing a ton of new characters (many of whom are killed during the monster melee) was an interesting way to change things and it did work, but only part of the time.So, let’s see what’s up with Earl.
Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia
After saving the world from the Old One, Owen Pitt is back in Monster Hunter Vendetta and he has more demons mad at him. And this time, it isn’t even his fault. Larry Correia basically writes supernatural gun books with characters who are larger than life (Owen is really huge) and enjoy nothing more than firing large caliber weapons at things that should be dead. If that’s not your type of book, then don’t even bother picking it up. But if that appeals to you, then let’s find out who’s pissed at Owen this time.
Once Upon a Time Pilot review
So, the first of the fairy tale shows has started this season, with Grimm up to bat on Friday. I’ve been curious on how they will handle fairy tale characters in a real-life setting without making it too much like Fables. The pilot wasn’t bad and there were parts that kept my interest, so I’m definitely going to check it out for the next few weeks to see how they continue the show. Let’s see what happened.