Blackout by Connie Willis

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Blackout by Connie Willis is a time travel and World War II novel all in one. In 2060, time travel is possible and historians are clamoring to go back to all eras. But when the time travel department starts rearranging people’s trips, all hell starts breaking loose. Connie Willis’ concept is good and the details about WWII England are amazing, but just as the plot starts pulling together the book ends and tells us to wait for the sequel.

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Roma by Steven Saylor

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Roma by Steven Saylor is billed as the Novel of Ancient Rome and it tracks the history of Rome from it’s trading days, through the founding by Remus and Romulus and up to the beginning of Augustus’ reign. Saylor’s Gordianus the Finder series (which I’ll review at another time) show him as a master of telling stories in Roman settings. So it’s natural that he would attempt a larger portrait of Rome.

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Makers Review

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Makers by Cory Doctrow (author of Little Brotherand Eastern Standard Tribe and co-editor of the Boing Boing website) is almost a pre-history of Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age (exploring the history surrounding the creation of the Matter Compiler).  Or it’s a political screed on the virtues of free access to intellectual property.  But either way, it’s a quick fun read, although a generally mediocre book.

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The Crying of Lot 49

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The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon is his shortest and most accessible work. The book follow our heroine, Oedipa Mass, as she unravels the estate of her late ex-boyfriend Pierce Inverarity.  When she digs into his estate she comes across a centuries old conspiracy. As Oedipa journeys across the California landscape as she moves deeper into the conspiracy and starts realizing that she truly can’t tell if this is a conspiracy or a giant hoax being played on her.
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Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

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Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson (author of the wonderful Spin and the not so good sequel Axis) is a post apocalyptic western. The setting feels like it’s the 1800’s US with some newer technology, and the religious aspect is interesting. But overall the plot holes and technology questions overwhelm the characterization and make this a thoroughly mediocre story.

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Checking in after 3 epidsodes of Spartacus and Caprica

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Now that I’ve had a change to see 3 episodes of both Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Caprica, I thought I’d give an update on how the shows are. My initial review of Spartacus was less than complementary, while I gave a tentative thumbs up to Caprica. Have my opinions changed after a few more episodes.

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Superman Week: Book #1

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And we’re down to our #1 book. If you’ve been following along, you should know what it is, but it’s unfortunately out of print. Superman: Last Son of Krypton by Eliot S! Maggin is our #1 Superman book. It was released at the same time as Superman: The Movie and tells the story of Superman’s origin. But this is so much more and any true Superman fan should hunt this book down. Maggin has given us a story of Superman, his origin, his friends and family, his archenemy and Albert Einstein. And the story brings out the best of Superman, Lex Luthor and makes us truly believe a man can fly.

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Superman Week: Book #2

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Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow by Alan Moore (author of Watchmenand V for Vendetta) marks the end of an era (literally in this case). DC Comics had decided to reboot Superman and hired John Byrne to helm it. But they decided that the Silver Age Superman needed a sendoff and brought on wunderkind Alan Moore to script it and Curt Swan (the definitive Silver Age Superman artist) to illustrate it. What they did was so amazing, that it almost overshadowed the reboot.

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Superman Week: Book #3

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Superman: Secret Identity written by Kurt Busiek (author of Marvels and Astro City) and illustrated by Stuart Immomen is our #3 book. The interesting part about this book is that it’s about Superman and Clark Kent at the sametime that it has nothing to do with Superman or Clark Kent. It’s a different look at a the Superman mythology with a teen named Clark Kent who hates Superman due to his family treating his name as a joke. But his life changes when he becomes Superman. Busiek is famous for showing familiar characters from a slightly different angle and Superman: Secret Identity is one of his better stories.

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Superman Week: Book #4

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It’s Superman from Tom DeHaven, author of the funny papers trilogy (Funny Papers, Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies and Dugan Under Ground), was given the keys to Superman and took advantage of it. He created a book about Superman’s early adult life and set it in the later years of the Great Depression. De Haven’s idea about setting the story in the same time frame when Shuster and Siegel created the character really brings out the best in Superman. With Lois Lane and Lex Luthor joining in the fun, It’s Superman is a must read.

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