The lost books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason

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The lost books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason is more a set of vignettes than a proper novel. But it is not something to be approached lightly. It hearkens back to the days of oral story telling where each recitation could be different. The book challenges us to look at Odysseus, his travels and shows us differing versions of the same story while staying true to The Odyssey. It is a book Homer would have loved.

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Grendel: Devil’s Legacy by Matt Wagner

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Grendel: Devil’s Legacy, written by Matt Wagner with art by the Pander Brothers. Matt Wagner created Grendel in Comico Primer #2 and then did a three issues for Comico (since re-released as Grendel Archives) before it was prematurely ended. While he was working Mage, he reworked Grendel and released it as Grendel: Devil by The Deed. But, at the end of this, the protagonist (the super villain Grendel) is dead and his antagonist (the cop Argent) is confined to a wheelchair. What Matt Wagner decided to do was continue Grendel, but make the story about the Grendel spirit inhabiting other people. The first story (published in Grendel #1-12) tells the tale of Grendel’s adopted daughter’s daughter, Christine Spar, and her need for revenge. It moved Grendel for a conventional hero/villain battle to something more.

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Older Movies To Watch – Hero At Large

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Hero At Large came out after the superhero movie craze from Superman: The Movie. It features a comedian (John Ritter) as a superhero years before people complained about another comedian being cast as a superhero. It’s a B-Movie at best with a thin plot, weak characters and average dialogue (at best), but it has heart and captures the idea of a superhero better than any big budget movie ever did.

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The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont

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The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont is a loving tribute to pulp fiction (not that Pulp Fiction) and the writers who created it. The book stars Lester Dent (aka Kenneth Robeson the creator/writer of Doc Savage), Walter Gibson (aka Maxwell Grant the creator/writer of The Shadow) and a young western writer whose writing speed has given him the nickname of The Flash, but is better known as L. Ron Hubbard. The story is an homage to the pulp mysteries these writers created as they investigate the death of a young and unsuccessful author H.P. Lovecraft.

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Kop by Warren Hammond

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Kop by Warren Hammond was recommended to me as a science fiction detective story and I’m a sucker for a good science fiction detective story. It is a detective story in a science fiction setting, but the science is minimized and completely irrelevant to the story. It tries to be a noir, but ultimately fails at that level. The science fiction setting is just that, a setting. There is little to tell that we are on a different world with future technology. As a detective novel it’s a decent story with an ending that is designed to lead into a sequel more than provide closure.

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Counting Heads by David Marusek

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Counting Heads by David Marusek is a few years old with a sequel, Mind Over Ship, that came out a year ago. The book is an expansion of a short story Marusek wrote a 15 years ago (“We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy”). While their are some interesting ideas, it’s very flawed and not worth reading.

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Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief movie review

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We took the kids to see Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief this weekend. Based upon Rick Riordan’s series about Percy Jackson, this is likely the first in a series of movies if it does well. Not having read the books, I can’t really judge how faithful the transition to the big screen is. But I’ve heard that the movie is only loosely based on the first book in that it omits some characters from the book and borrow somethings from the second book. Overall it’s a decent tale.

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Survivors on BBC America Review

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Survivors is a remake of a mid-70s BBC show of the same name currently being shown on BBC America. The 2-hour pilot episode introduces us to the characters, kills off 99% of the world and sets the scene for the rest of the series. There have been a bunch of post-apocalyptic series that were influenced by the original show (The Stand, 28 Days Later and Jericho). And the creator of the original series, Terry Nation wrote a book based off the original series that is a slightly different version of the story. That book is the basis for the new show.
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Authors I Have Trouble Reading

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It’s not you, it’s me. There are some authors that I just can’t read. It’s not that their books are bad (they are award winning authors which is why I keep trying to read them), but I just can’t get into them. They leave me cold and disinterested and I just can’t bring myself to read their books any more. I know other people who love their writing, so I know it’s not them it’s me.

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A Clockwork Orange: Movie vs Book

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A Clockwork Orange was a literary masterpiece by Anthony Burgess before Stanley Kubrick made a award winning movie out of it. The two versions are completely different while retaining the same essential story. So whose was better, it really depends what you’re looking for.

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