Archive for the ‘Reading’ Category

StarShipSofa, the British online audio science fiction anthology magazine, has released a novella by Lawrence Santaro called "Lord Dickens's Declaration." You can listen to it for free — that's what they do, after all; present audio presentations of top science fiction by authors such as Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Michael Bishop, Tad Williams, Charles Stross and many more — but for a limited time you can buy a limited edition ebook and the proceeds will go towards helping Jeanne and Spider Robinson's bills as Jeanne fights off a rare biliary cancer that's taking everything they've got.

I've mentioned here before my love of Jeanne and Spider's work, and any chance to help out (while getting new stuff to read at the same time) is a Good Thing. You can read about her ongoing battle (and her fight to continue producing a Stardancer movie) at http://stardancemovie.blogspot.com.

What's "Lord Dickens's Declaration" about? Think "steampunk/time travel/alternatehistory" and you won't be too far off. There are gentlemen and ladies and intrigue and SCIENCE and steamships and long discourses on the nature of time itself. Also, cavemen. Santaro usually writes horror fiction but he rises to the challenge here. The book is also beautifully designed and illustrated to look like an old and treasured book, which just adds to the steampunk feel. Nicely done.

While you're in the area, check out the StarShipSofa's podcasts. They're free, professionally done, and a welcome addition to your portable library.

I read a lot. An average of a book every two days (I've slowed down a bit over the years). And while I love finding new authors, new series to get lost in, sometimes there's nothing better than realizing it's been just long enough to go back and reread an old favorite.

At the moment I'm rereading Steel Beach by John Varley, for perhaps the 15th time. Hard to say why it appeals to me so much — along with its companion/sequel Golden Globe — without saying "everything," but it works for me on a lot of levels.

Quick synopsis: Humans occupy the other planets and moons in the solar system, which is good because the Earth was invaded by aliens so powerful they won in less than a day and may never have actually noticed we were there. A hundred years later on the moon, intrepid and increasingly dissatisfied reporter Hildy Johnson shares her time between the hustle and bustle of Luna City and the untamed wilderness of the fake Texas inside of the maintained Disneylands, tracking down stories and dealing with the near-godlike Central Computer that keeps this idyllic life going. No one is hungry, almost every injury can be healed instantly, gender choice is purely optional and as easy to change as buying a new car, and Hildy has amazing luck when new stories break. So in a world with virtually no death and no want, why does he (and so many others) keep trying to commit suicide?

A huge, rambling book, Steel Beach lets us listen in on the wiseass thoughts of a world-class cynic as he (and later, she) investigates the underbelly of the perfect world. Lots of sex but no real sex scenes, lots of philosophical musing, plenty of action, some great characters, a fully-developed and utterly believable future world, and the best opening sentence of any Hugo- and Locus Award-nominated book, ever: "In five years the penis will become obsolete!" There's a strong Heinlein feel here — along with some obvious homages to the master — but with more laugh-out-loud humor and people you might actually imagine meeting.

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To celebrate the release of Terry Pratchett's 37th Discworld novel, "Unseen Academicals," Harper-Collins has placed the first Discworld book online for free.

The Colour of Magic introduces the Discworld as we know it, with Rincewind the "wizzard" shepherding about the Disc's first tourist and his homicidal luggage. It's much more obviously a parody of fantasy novels than the later, more satirical books became, but the style and hilarity are there in big lumps.

"Unseen Academicals" is out in hardback, as low as $14.95 at Amazon, although you can get the ebook version for just $9.99 at Barnes & Noble.

"Heat Wave," best-selling mystery author Richard Castle's eagerly awaited new book (the first about his new character, Nikki Heat) hit bookstores today!

If you have no idea who best-selling mystery author Richard Castle is, you haven't been watching ABC's "Castle" starring Nathan Fillion. And if you haven't, shame on you. Aside from the fact that Fillion is in it, "Castle" is a refreshing change from the endlessly intense police procedurals and CSI: Whatevers that load up the screen. "Castle" is attitude-TV, the latest progeny of the Rockford Files-Columbo-Murder She Wrote school of detective shows where the actual crime is secondary to watching the stars be wiseasses at each other as they solve it.

Castle is an internationally famous mystery writer who has killed off his main character and needs a new idea. Enter NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, working on a case in which the murder scenes resemble scenes from his books. Castle discovers his new muse — hard-as-nails, intelligent, beautiful Beckett — and uses his pull with the mayor to  hang around the department for "research." Just about everyone on the show shines, but if nothing else watch it for Fillion's charm and the novelty of finally seeing him on a show in its second season.

Through the first season we saw newly-inspired Castle write his new book, "Heat Wave." And then ABC and Hyperion Books actually published the thing, which presents a problem.

We've been told, over and over, that he's a world-class writer, right? So there's a certain level of expectation for the book. Can we, reading it, believe that a best-selling writer wrote it?

The answer is yes, but that writer is Dan Brown.

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It might not come as a terrible shock to discover that I'm a big Kevin Smith fan. Seen all his movies, from Clerks to Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Read all the comics. Read the books. Even read the scriptbooks of the movies. Bought his three live DVDs. Seen him in person several times, met him at MegaCon, watched him answer questions for 6 hours at a screenwriting seminar. Followed his blog and his Twitter feed.

And he'll talk about anything. No topic is too personal, every aspect of his life gets put out there for everyone to see.

So by now you'd think I'd have a pretty good handle on what he was like in person, right?

I came in late to the SModcast, the weekly podcast Smith records with his longtime friend and producer Scott Mosier, mostly because I never listened to podcasts of any kind until fairly recently and besides, I'd heard all his stories, right? But I got a better car stereo, and an iPod Touch, and I started working out and needed something to distract me from the unpleasant chore of making my body move around, and so when I did look for podcasts his was the first I grabbed. And I learned two valuable lessons.

First, the polished storyteller Kevin I saw on stage telling oft-told tales of Hollywood with the confident ease of long practice did not prepare me for the giggling Kev spinning wild and almost unspeakably deviant fantasies which he then hilariously acts out, with Mosier and other familiar View Askew faces like Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson and Malcolm Ingram. His remarkably tolerant wife Jen and daughter Harley even make appearances. Smith is more than a little like his character Randall in the way he pushes and pushes at a situation, making it worse and worse until you finally give in, whereupon he makes it worse.

Second, it's a really bad idea to be holding a lot of weight over your head at the Y when Kevin starts doing Harry Potter's voice, explaining to a panicky Ron that screaming "Forgeticus!" after fumbling with a half-awake Harry under the covers in the Hogwarts dorms really doesn't work. (Mosier: It's called "being on the down low, Ron") Nor will the average elderly Y-goer understand why you're trying desperately not to lose it as "Harry" tells Hermione to try gulping some gillyweed before oral sex to hold her breath longer.

This is Kevin Smith at his most raw, when he's coming up with ideas right there in the company of the people who make him laugh. And his new book, "Shootin' the Sh*t With Kevin Smith: The Best of SModcast," on sale tomorrow, is a transcript of some of the best segments. You do lose some of the impact without the sound effects, the fake voices and the background music, but it's still funny and utterly wrong as hell.

Did Helen Keller have a sex life? Did Smith recently have sex with his wife's leg? How long would Smith and Mosier last on the Lost island before they started looking good to each other? Would Scott Mosier perform a sexual act on a dying fan, at the fan's request? What if the Make-A-Wish Foundation forced him to do it? What's up with the Godzilla Jesus movie, or Stalin's monkey soldier army, or bukkake eggs, or why Kevin was willing to let Alanis Morrisette get mugged.

In his previous book, New York Times bestseller "My Boring Ass Life," Smith gave us a peek into his life. This time he lets us into his brain.You might want to wear waders, but don't miss the trip.

Get it from Amazon, or order a signed one from Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, or take a shot at winning a free copy in my "Which Kevin Smith Character Would You Nail?" contest.

NSFW excerpt after the jump:

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When it was time to bring Drusilla into the highly successful Angel comics by IDW, who better to write her than… herself?

Angel issues #24 and 25 were written by Juliet Landau and Brian Lynch with art by Franco Urru, and Drusilla's in rare form. She's also in an asylum, but they don't seem quite up to the task of containing her. Assuming that's the plan, anyway…

Reportedly Landau provided a great deal of input and reference material for the artwork, and it shows. Urru captured her graceful unearthy movements beautifully, which of course makes her all the more horrifying.

And now Juliet Landau is offering autographed versions of both comics, in any of the four variant covers done for each. $30 each, and you can even specify a personalized message (up to 200 characters). Click here to check 'em out.

(If you just want the comics, try TFAW.com)

Demented horror comedy may be one of the toughest genres to do convincingly, but Jeff Strand makes it happen, Author of How to Rescue a Dead Princess, Single White Psychopath Seeks Same, Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) , The Sinister Mr. Corpse, (and many others), he has stepped away from his frivolous roots to produce a serious psychological thriller, Pressure.

Good: it did really well and was a finalist for the 2007 Bram Stoker Award. Bad: this is a problem, because it might encourage him to wrote more serious stuff, and you know how I feel about that. Fortunately, judging from the helpful video above, that "serious" thing hasn't taken a firm hold yet…

Strand will be signing at the Books-A-Million in Cassleberry, FL, tomorrow from 1 to 3 pm. Can you and your homicidal impulses dare not to go?

Check out more of his ravings here.

10 years. 10 years to get out 27 issues of a comic. Taking your time, people?

OK, granted, Planetary creators Warren Ellis, John Cassaday and Laura Martin were interrupted several times by illness and other projects. And OK, out of 26 previous issues every one was a hit. And OK, they never promised a regular schedule and then went back on it, they were always upfront about delays and hiatuses. And OK, I can't exactly bitch since my own webcomic went on two hiatuses in a year…

The thing is, is it worth the wait? 3 years since the last one?

Haven't read it, beyond the preview pages at the Wildstorm blog. But I'll be buying it the day it comes out, and so should you. And if you haven't read the rest of them, go get them. I'll wait.

If you were living in a world full of superpowered people, how would you find out what they've been doing? Especially if they didn't want you to know? You build a group like Planetary; three archeologists uncovering 100 years of secret superhero activity.

The three have their own abilities — Jakita Wagner is strong, fast and tough, The Drummer can detect and manipulate information streams, new recruit Elijah Snow can extract heat from nearby substances at will — and there is a hidden Fourth Man running the show as they search for clues to what really happened in the last century. It's fast, subversive, thought-provoking, and often hilarious (the DC crossover special where they encounter every version of Batman that's been seen, from the original to the Dark Knight to the 70's hero to Adam West must not be missed) and features barely concealed and not-very-flattering references to almost every other iconic hero like Superman, Captain Marvel, Sherlock Holmes, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Nick Fury, Godzilla, the Justice League, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk.

The art by John Cassaday is breathtakingly believable, and Laura Martin's colors ground it even further into reality. Also, Warren Ellis is a sick, sick man.

With any luck the release of this will trigger a new edition of the whole series, but for now we'll make do with the collections. Planetary #27 will be an oversized issue, with a 3-piece wraparound gatefold cover drawn by Cassaday, coming out sometime in October.

Jeanne Robinson — dancer, choreographer, Soto Zen monk and wife of Spider Robinson, with whom she co-authored the multi-award-winning book Stardance and its sequels — has been diagnosed with a rare and virulent form of biliary cancer. She's beaten it back so far but now will require therapy, dietary changes, and a stress-free lifestyle, and none of those are cheap. So her friends are helping her out.

A benefit concert and silent auction is happening on Bowen Island, BC, at the Cates Hill Chapel at  7:30 pm, Friday, Sept 18  (see above). There's also  an eBay auction here (with more stuff coming). You can donate items to auction off or send money by check or PayPal, head to WeDreamForJeanne for more details.

Spider Robinson has been one of my favorite authors for many years now (only for about as long as he's been writing) and Stardance remains one of those books I have to pull out and reread every year or so. There's a different kind of depth and, in places, a tranquility in Stardance that isn't in his other works, and I have to assume that's Jeanne. They're one of science fiction's great and lasting love stories and it shows in their work.

You can see what Jeanne's done towards finally realizing zero-G dance in the Stardance Project, and you can hear Spider and Jeanne talk about their collaboration (and their courtship) here.

If you can, please do what you can to help out. Thanks.

New World War Hulks series, major Hulk character to die, yadda yadda. New Dethlok series, new Spider-Man webcomics, new Lizard series, maybe a new Alpha Flight series, yadda yadda.

Marvel bought the rights to "Miracleman."

Yadd.. wait, what?

Fans of the original "Marvelman" series by Alan Moore and its continuation by Neil Gaiman (known as "Miracleman" on this side of the pond) were stonkered by the announcement made at the San Diego Comic-Con's "Cup o' Joe" panel. This series,  a seminal work that takes the existence of superheroes to its extremes long before it became vogue (and frankly still stands head and shoulders above most subsequent attempts; it still has the most chilling images yet of what happens when someone with Superman-level powers goes on a rampage) has been in legal dispute for decades and fans assumed it would stay there. Apparently not:

(Marvel publisher Dan) Buckley stated that Marvel was talking with several creators who did Marvelman stories in the ’80s and ’90s. Both Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman are among those creators, but nothing has been announced beyond the acquisition.

So, no idea if the existing comics will be reprinted or remastered, or if previous characters will show up again, or if this means a movie deal is coming that Alan Moore will have to quickly distance himself from. But I'm excited to see what happens.