Matt

Read this on the heels of a Drachenfels reread and expected a good twist near the end. Readers looking for Genevieve Dieudonne will be disappointed. She and her playwright lover do appear, but barely, and are, for the most part, superfluous to the plot.

This is a mystery, almost a procedural, with a seer taking the place of a forensics expert. Wound up with this is the story of the commoners of Altdorf being stirred up for revolution, making things all the hairier for the group trying to solve the mystery as they're led by one aristocrat and suspect another might be their prey. I'm a sucker for characters who are the best at what they do, and I'm given a great duelist in this novel who is quite satisfying. He's regularly given a chance to show his stuff thanks to his beautiful, difficult, and slander-magnet sister. Wonderful characters including two ambassadors who couldn't be more different and some good guys who are actually good in this bad, bad world. I got my twist and it was a great one.

Some brilliant stories in here, but enough bad ones to keep me from getting carried away with the rating. Me-Topia by Adam Roberts had some wonderfully poetic Neanderthals that made the whole story for me. Some of these, I'd read before. Inclination by William Shunn was set in a great universe and told a good tale. Jack Skillingstead impressed me once again with Life on the Preservation. The good stories make the book worth it.

I read a later edition of this book which I don't see here that includes additional material.

The constriction of Howard's circumstances and inevitability of his suicide ride the narrative throughout the book, but there is joy and humor to be found in his life. Finn places Howard and the reader firmly in Texas and though the state is vast, there was a world beyond that Howard yearned to see and never would. He made his own world through a passion for history, a violent imagination, and great talent for telling ripping yarns. Finn fills in the details of Howard's life while dispelling popular myths. If you're a fan of Howard, you must read this book.

Deeply strange things occur in these stories and because the people that populate them adapt so quickly, they themselves seem darker, not the types of people we would trust to be alone with in a poorly lit stairwell. There are so many beautiful words, so many disturbing images, and the stories run deep, if not long, because each explores several different aspects of humanity simultaneously. Body issues, relationships, philosophies, psychological landscapes, and fears branch off from the seemingly straight forward narrative, reconnect, or tangle themselves into knots. Helen Marshall's characters are cut off from one another, from all others, but most importantly, the people to whom they should be closest, the ones they need the most. That's the deepest horror at the core of all the others in this collection. Losing love, never finding love, never being loved. Being utterly alone.

I quite enjoyed this and don't think I've read anything else like it. Chapter after chapter, there doesn't seem to be conflict. Everything goes well for Kropotkin, but it's incredibly readable all the same. Maybe because there's this sense of dread hanging over the whole thing. The ultimate villain isn't a character, although one is placed in that role. The villain is the system, the status quo, capitalism, the state, and all of us who make it happen. And you might suspect that villain will win, because it usually does in real life.
At the same time there's hope everywhere in this story. Each time a character pulls their head out of the morass to speak to the person next to them they prove the problem isn't all-encompassing. And if the hero is too good to be true, I'm okay with that once in a while. The rest of us need an ideal by which to gauge reality and we're not going to find one of those unless we invent it.

It's a quick read, but I definitely didn't put together everything that's going on here. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle in the dark with nothing but a single shaft of dim light coming from the next room to guide you. It's weird and atmospheric and I'm sure our will reward multiple readings. Thanks for the rec, Reyna!

Major Karnage is a Saturday night party of a novel with machine gun pacing, insane characters and wild plot developments. Karnage is a psychologically ravaged veteran of a pan-Asian war against an enemy known only as Uncle Stanley. Twenty years in an asylum with the remains of his platoon hasn't mellowed his rage a whit. In fact, his Hulk-like fury has to be controlled by a sanity patch which threatens to blow his head off of his shoulders if he ever gets completely out of control. It gauges his anger in a terrorist rainbow of tasty warning colors leading up to death like Peachy Keen, Daffodil and Strawberry Shortcake. Add to this his flashback freakouts whenever anyone mentions The War and you've got a very short fuse about to burn itself out at any moment.

And then the alien invasion comes. Karnage, a being of pure determination but with no plan of which to speak, goes forth into the fray.
Karnage is James Bond resourceful and plays life by ear which infuses the novel with spontaneity and surprise. We never know where the story's going because although Karnage can conceive of a goal, the steps toward that goal's achievement only occur to him on the fly. Along the way we get those smoke-sucking aliens as well as cultists, monsters, a police force dressed as cats and a Disney-esque company which runs the world. And as much as I've just given to you, there are still twists and situations of which you'll never dream.

This is wonderfully ridiculous, cartoony fun that WILL make you laugh, that WILL keep you reading and reading quickly. Zajac channels the spirit of Robert E. Howard for his action scenes and there are a hell of a lot of action scenes. The more mellow scenes actually begin to stand out as anomalies. Potentially boring transitions are skipped through a trick that becomes a joke in itself after the first dozen times it's employed. This man gets knocked out more than any ten ordinary heroes.

But cracking through the two-dimensional facade of this Twenty-First century answer to pulp fiction reveals enough depth to satisfy the reader. Over time we discover that Karnage is not your stereotypical mindless brute. He cares deeply for his people and this is what truly drives him on and ultimately proves to be his salvation.

Major Karnage is an extra-dimensional amusement park ride that's somehow all short climbs and long, thrilling descents. I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, even though it seemed to contain too much and too little information at once, trying to juggle the lives of a couple of dozen creative, restless, and troublemaking people. Their work was groundbreaking and they were also terribly shitty people to many of those around them. Lots of sex, drugs, travel, and writing. Stereotypical bohemians. Part of me envies part of them.

Gibson is my favorite author. I got quite a ways into this book feeling like it was missing something that was inherently Gibson. The final third of the book springs to life and I found what I'd been missing: The weird uses for high tech, the something's-going-down vibe, characters coming together in cool and unexpected ways and some wild ideas. What I'm saying is, stick with the book. It pays off.

A short biography of Steve Martin which focuses on his Comedic career. I've been a fan since memorizing my sister's 8-tracks of “A Wild and Crazy Guy” and “Comedy is Not Pretty” back in the seventies. It's great to understand how each element of his classic style came into being. Martin explains his philosophy of comedy as well as his solitude and depression during his greatest success. The book is a great insight into a unique brand of comedy.

Is been wanting to read this for about thirty-five years, ever since I read of Uncle Rogi describing it in Julian May's Surveillance. Generally well-written and full of cool ideas. We all could have done without the racist stuff. The least interesting parts are when John shares his opinions on psychology, religion, philosophy, and the like. All he speaks is vague garbage, and there's a solid chapter of it as well as a few passages sprinkled around.

Helen Marshall???s latest collection feels like dreams: linear plots are often abandoned for events and places that haunt you long after you wake. With regularity unsettling image draws you toward sharp observation toward brushes with divinity toward caked blood and dirt beneath your nails. Marshall???s work seeps into you so your skin never settles quite evenly across your muscle again.

From the first section of the first chapter, Slattery astounded me. Spaceman Blues rocks with the people of New York City, bringing heat from cold steel and concrete. In the actions of thousands of unnamed characters, the city itself comes to life. The characters who are named experience a surreal odyssey, full of longing, passion, music, death, and of course, impending alien invasion. Spaceman Blues goes up on that too-light shelf of books I'll read again and again just to find out how the authors do what they do. Go read and enjoy.