The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

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The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry is a decent book with an interesting concept. The literary world is littered with genius detectives, but what about their clerks. The clerks write up the cases and organizes the notes so the detective is free to solve the case. But what happens when the clerk assigned to the greatest detective in the world is promoted to detective and finds out that all the cases were solved incorrectly. And does a mysterious missing chapter in The Manual of Detection (the book of the same name inside the novel) provide any clues on how to solve the mystery?

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Classic science fiction movies – Rollerball

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Rollerball is a wonderful science-fiction movie about the intersection of politics and sports in a futuristic society. WARNING: Do NOT watch the 2002 remake, instead stick with the 1975 original. By setting the story as a sports film in a futuristic setting, the political story is underplayed and can slip by without being noticed. This was one of the last good James Caan films until his career was revived by Misery.

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Torso by Brian Michael Bendis

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Torso by Brian Michael Bendis (author of Jinxand Powersand half of the Marvel Universe) worked with artist Marc Andreyko to present a little known historical story of Eliot Ness (post Al Capone) and a serial killer. Eliot Ness and his band of Untouchables cleaned up Chicago Police and dismantled Al Capone’s mob. But what would Ness do for an encore? He went to Cleveland to clean up the police and help restore order to the city. But right as he started, a serial killer showed up it the city. Torso is Bendis’ last non-superhero work and one of his best.

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Older Books You Should Read – The Man in the High Castle

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The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick was a change of pace for Dick as well as the science fiction genre. While there had been some previous alternate history novels, none had the reach or critical acclaim that Dick’s book had. And for Philip K. Dick, it allowed him to merge his two novel careers together. For most of the 1950s, Dick had been trying to be a successful mainstream writer while he was making a living as a science fiction author. With The Man in the High Castle, Dick was able to have a science fiction genre book which was also was very much a mainstream book. There are no robots or futuristic settings or spaceships, only a cast of characters trying to find their way around a confusing situation.

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L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy

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L.A. Confidential is James Ellroy’s masterpiece. It’s on par with Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler as a noir novel. The third book in Ellroy’s L.A. Quartet, it’s easily the best police/detective novel of the last half of the twentieth century. Do not compare it with the L.A. Confidential movie based off the book, it’s much, much better. Based off some true events and interspersed with real people throughout the book, L.A. Confidential is a quintessential American crime novel that should be read by everyone.

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Eddy Current by Ted McKeever

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Eddy Current by Ted McKeever is a combination of Don Quixote, 24 and Batman with overt religious overtones. Eddy Current came out in 1987, around the same time as Watchmenand Dark Knight Returns, and was nominated four Eisner Awards in 1988. But it is not nearly as well known as other major works from this time frame. This is partially because Ted McKeever was a virtual unknown (Eddy Current was only his second published comic) and partially because it was released by a small publisher. But it is a major work in comics and should be read more widely.

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Ilium by Dan Simmons

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Ilium by Dan Simmons (author of Drood and Hyperion) is a re-imagining of the Iliad (not quite at the same level as The Lost Books of the Odyssey) mixed with a story of robotic-organic creatures, the Wandering Jew, Odysseus, a bunch of zeks and did I mention the Trojan War is happening on Mars. It is a bold, exciting book that only Dan Simmons could have written.

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Neal Stephenson Week: Anathem

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Anathem is Neal Stephenson’s latest novel and the first one that deals with an explicitly science-fiction setting since The Diamond Age. Stephenson also makes it a difficult read by using new, made-up words to replace common concepts and things. There are good reasons why he did this (and there is a dictionary in the back to help translate), but it takes a while before becoming comfortable reading without having to stop and look up words. Stephenson also provides a tremendous amount of back-story for his world and moves some of his larger digressions to appendixes.

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Neal Stephenson Week: The Baroque Cycle

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The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusionand The System of the World) by Neal Stephenson is a quasi-science fiction novel set three hundred years in the past. The hardcover version covers 3 books and almost 3000 pages (and was written long hand by Stephenson). It’s an amazing story that deals with a lot of the same themes as Cryptonomicon which it is a prequel (of sorts) to.

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Neal Stephenson Week: Cryptonomicon

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Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson takes us to the present and the past. It touches on many themes including the rise of the internet, cryptography, money and freedom.The book can only loosely be called science fiction since it deals with current technology and past technology, but it deals with a lot of the technology that science fiction fans work with. It’s also a bridge in Stephenson’s writing from the future books to the far past.

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