Book review: The Lazarus War Book One: Artefact, by Jamie Sawyer

When I first came across this at the bookstore, it immediately interested me - I thought it would be space opera.  However, reading the description made me feel that this was military science fiction, which I typically don't enjoy as much.  So, I was on the fence, and did not make the purchase.

The next time I encountered this book, the comments on the back cover from Neal Asher and Gary Gibson were encouraging.  I've read Angel Stations by Gibson and Gridlinked by Asher, and I enjoyed both, so I decided to give this a chance.  In the "extras" section, which is pretty common to Orbit books these days, it was also encouraging that Sawyer is an avid fan of the Alien and Predator universes, which was an additional plus.  I was looking forward to "a gripping read" that was "action drenched".

The start of the story was familiar - something I've seen before in many books and movies, although the opening action ends somewhat unexpectedly.  Once the group learns of their mission, and head into the Maelstrom, there is some more action, and then the pace of the story changes - it becomes much slower.  This pace shift made the story more difficult to follow for me, and I found my interest waning.  For about half of the book the team is stranded on the planet Helios, with the mysterious Artefact which seems to have so much influence on the enemy Krell, and the pace does not pick up again until the final battle, which, for me, was somewhat reminiscent of the movie Aliens.  I don't mean that a "queen Krell" is encountered, but I'm referring to the general pace of the story - the tension gradually builds until the final showdown and escape.  But, for some reason, there was not enough interesting stuff to engage me during this slow period, and I found the flashbacks into Harris' past, which ultimately reveal much about him and his interest in what is found on Helios, to be disruptive to the pace of the story.

I was disappointed that the team did not use their "remote avatars" more often - I think this only happened three times in the story.  While I don't remember an explanation for how they can remotely control the avatars over vast distances, I did like the explanation of the mental and physical toll that it takes on their operators - after all, each body is effectively a disposable tool which is, more often than not, killed during an operation.  Also, when the avatar is killed the operators really experience it - being ripped apart by the enemy Krell, limb by limb, or dying in the vacuum of space.  When the operator transitions back to their real body, they even suffer physical effects to their body for a period, in addition to the mental anguish of the ordeal.  I also enjoyed the position that Captain Harris is put in near the end of the story - it is unique to his personal struggle in the story, and impacts him alone and not the rest of his team, and it ties in well with his background which is revealed in the flashbacks.  So, from the standpoint of the full story, the flashbacks work and deliver what is necessary to flesh out the story - but for some reason, this particular execution did not work for me.

The Krell are an interesting "hybrid" alien race, kind of a combination of things I've seen elsewhere.  They live in the vast, uncharted Maelstrom, which is largely inaccessible to humanity due to lack of star data which would allow identification of Q-points for them to jump to.  All of their technology is organic - even their ships are grown,  They have a hive-mind.  And, for me at least, they are somewhat similar to the creatures from the Alien movies - but not identical.  These are all concepts I've seen in other works of science fiction, and it was interesting to see them joined together.  I also found the Krell to be interesting due to their apparent duality.  They are savage creatures that operate as a hive-mind, with different forms like the creature from Alien, and yet they posses amazing technology.  It could be argued that the Klingon race from Star Trek is similar, but I wouldn't agree with that - the Krell seem to have more in common with the savagery of the world of insects than they do with sentient species.  But, they must be intelligent, if humanity was able to make a treaty with them.  I think it will be interesting to see further exploration of such a race in the next two books.

Regarding the mystery of the Artefact, I'm not sure we really know what it was, or why it was built - I view the ideas postulated by Kellerman to be theory - I don't recall any physical proof of the findings.  But it is made clear that a third-party is responsible for its construction, which probably speaks volumes to what may potentially be coming in the future.  I didn't think that the effect the Artefact has on the Krell was adequately explored, although there is potential that we may learn more in the last two books of the series.

This book was different enough from what I consider to be mainstream military science fiction that I enjoyed it, although the story stretched out in a few places where it almost wasn't holding my interest.  Overall, I feel that this is a successful debut novel, and it was well written, and it does deal with very human issues - addiction, loss, and most importantly that war is hell and its impact on soldiers.  I've got a long list of books to read, but I'll probably be checking out book 2 at some point.

Book Review: Area 51, by Bob Mayer

I believe I first came across this when it was originally published back in 1997.  The title immediately interested me, but then after reading the back cover it just didn't appeal to me for some reason - I can't remember why.  It could be that the text was different back then - I've seen this happen to republished books over the years - but it just didn't sound interesting.  It may also be that there was an abundance of books with this kind of subject matter around that time which just weren't very good.

Fast-forward to 2016.  I see a social media post (facebook/twitter - I can't remember which) about  'Area 51 Time Patrol:  D-Day' being published soon.  I thought:  isn't that the book I saw quite a long time ago?  So, I looked into it.  Not only is it the same Area 51 that I saw years ago, but the series has grown (and, it was originally published under the pseudonym Robert Doherty).  There are nine (nine!) books in the main Area 51 series (7 books in the main storyline, plus two that appear to be prequels to the entire series), there is a Nightstalker trilogy, and then the Time Patrol series, which appears to be an extension of the Nightstalker series.  The series has grown over the years, but I don't recall ever seeing any of these books past the first one at my local bookstore (and I'm usually there a few times every month).  I'm finding this happening quite a bit recently - various books are becoming increasingly difficult to find a bookstores.  A bunch of bestselling authors I've recently started reading appear to have almost no presence in bookstores - but, thankfully, you can find just about everything at Amazon.

I noticed that all of the books had very high ratings, so I read the blurb on Area 51 again.  This sounded very interesting, and since 2015/2016 are years where I have been taking a chance on many authors I have not heard of before (and have gotten quite a bit of enjoyment reading as a result), I decided to take a chance yet again.

I'm sorry I didn't pick this up years ago!  This story has several elements that I enjoy - ancient civilizations and their mysteries, aliens, conspiracies, etc.  This story covered all of the bases, and addressed many mysteries of the ancient world:  Atlantis, the Egyptian pyramids, Easter Island, etc.  The story involves a journalist, an archaeologist, a former Nazi, UFO conspiracy theorists, and powerful military groups. I was surprised by a few things which were really unexpected.  Events do get wrapped up at the end pretty quickly, but I am very interested in what is going to happen in the next book, and I'll definitely be checking it out at some point.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Series, by Bryan Lee O'Malley

I kind of missed this whole thing.

Yep, that's right.  The graphic novels.  The movie.  All of it.

I wasn't even aware it was a thing.  When the movie came out I my kids were ages 8 and 4.5.  I wasn't reading as much as I used to, and I wasn't seeing as many movies as I used to.  Life kind of got in the way - not that it was a bad thing, just different.

I just recently became interested in reading the series after seeing a review of Seconds (by the same author), which I also read recently and enjoyed very much.  For me, Seconds was at just about the same level as Scott McCloud's The Sculptor.  I was seeing that reviews for Scott Pilgrim were even higher, and many reviews for Seconds also claimed it wasn't as good as Scott Pilgrim.  Plus, Joss Whedon had good things to say about Scott Pilgrim.  So, I just had to read it, and I went through it pretty quickly - all six volumes in about a week while reading some other books.

Impression:  while I did enjoy Scott Pilgrim, I think I liked Seconds slightly better.  Of course, I wouldn't exactly say that these works are quite the same genre.  Seconds is more of a serious story, and Scott Pilgrim is more of a zany catch-all of many different things (video games, Kung Fu, twenty-something angst, relationship and self-identity issues, clubs, music, and too many other items to mention).  It kind of brought me back to the days when I used to read Rumiko Takahashi's two popular series Ranma 1/2 and Maisson Ikkoku.  Perhaps there is some influence there - in the afterword to one of the books I did see that Mr. O'Malley claimed to become obsessed with manga while writing the series, so its possible.

As with Seconds and The Sculptor, this series shows me yet again the importance of comics as literature (for a full definition of what this entails, you really need to read Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud).  Yes, you read that right - literature.  This word does not only encompass those works which are commonly referred to as "classics" - you know, Moby Dick, Ivanhoe, Oliver Twist.  Here's part of the definition from www.dictionary.com:  "writings in which expression and form...are characteristic or essential features".  The definition specifically calls out novels, biographies, and even poetry and essays - if essays can be considered literature, then comics can be as well!  Graphic works like this are important because they can convey aspects of a story in ways that words simply can't handle effectively.

Comics are also a great source material for movies and TV shows - someone first imagines a concept as a comic series or a graphic novel, and then Hollywood gives it the film treatment.  The graphic form is more accessible than wading through hundreds or thousands of novels ranging from 300 to 800+ pages each.  And I'm not referring to Batman and The Avengers, or even Spider-Man here, as those are all related to comic books (the kind that I grew up with).  I'm talking about other comics that dared to do something different.  Men in Black, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Priest, The Walking Dead - they all started as a comic series, and they are quite different in nature from the comic books that I grew up with.

The comic form is an important piece of literature, and I look forward to future efforts from Mr. O'Malley.

Book Review: Project Maigo, by Jeremy Robinson

This was an excellent continuation of the Nemesis series.  The stakes are raised, because there are now five additional monsters to deal with, and General Gordon is still around, and we find he has become a bit more than just his usual nasty self.

Poor John Hudson has way more to contend with than in the first book.  The story moves quickly, and is filled with power struggles, hidden agendas, further background on the main characters, and multiple conflicts with the other Kaiju.

Elements of the story connect back to Project Nemesis, and the different plot threads become more complicated, and we learn that there is much more going on than we were aware of in the first book.  We learn more about the original creature discovered at the beginning of Project Nemesis, including hints of where it may have originated, and who currently has the body.  This is now becoming like a mega-Kaiju movie, in the vein of Destroy All Monsters (the 1968 Godzilla movie) -  I would not be surprised if there was some influence there.

As is detailed on the back cover, Boston has already been destroyed, and Washington D.C. is next on the list!  Everything comes to a head, and I was not sure where things would be going, so I was very surprised with how things ended.  Some interesting technology is also used by some of the characters, and led the story in a direction I didn't expect.  For me, the book ended like a good horror movie with a twist ending - let's leave it at that.

Some characters from Island 731 also make an appearance in the story, and played a larger part than I was expecting, and it looks like they may be appearing again in the next book, Project 731.  If you started with Project Nemesis, and are moving on to this book, I would recommend reading Island 731 first.  I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Book Review: Seconds, by Bryan Lee O'Malley

This is the second serious, thick, hardcover graphic novel I've read in the last year (before you ask - no, graphic novels about superheroes like Batman don't count).  The first was The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud (just follow the link to see my review).  In short, that is a powerful story of a man who makes a deal with death to be able to sculpt anything with his bare hands, but at a price - he will only have 200 days to live.  Naturally, as deals with death (and the devil) typically go, things are made worse by discovering the love of his life immediately after he starts sculpting.

While Seconds is not precisely the same type of story, it is very similar in nature, but very different in implementation.  Both stories deal with difficulties in relationships, as well as personal goals that always seem to be out of reach, no matter how hard to try to make progress - even when you cheat or break the rules to try to get ahead and achieve that goal.  And not only do you still not achieve the goal, but things continue to get worse.

The meaning of the title was an unexpected surprise for me.  This was a great story.  Initially, I didn't find the artwork particularly attractive, but once I started to get twenty or so pages in, I found that it fit the story, and it fits the mood of the story as things become darker.  When bad things happen, Katie simply needs to write something down, eat a mushroom, and go to sleep and things change.

There were so many endearing things in this story, and I'm guessing there is influence from many sources - I'll name a few that came to my mind:

• The main character, Katie, has a hairstyle that reminds me of Lisa Simpson from The Simpsons TV show.
• The "multiple second chances" reminded me of the films Run Lola Run (German) and Sliding Doors (American).
• Katie lives *outside* of the changes she makes to past events, which reminded me of Ashton Kutcher's character 'Evan' in the film The Butterfly Effect.  Wereas 'Evan' suffers physical change as the result of his tampering, his memory is unaffected - he has no memory of how or why things changed.  Katie suffers *no* impact, as she is never physically affected, and she has no memory of the changes that have occurred, just as if she just stepped back into the picture after being gone for a while.
• The relationship of a gourmet chef reminded me of the movie Funny About Love with Gene Wilder and Christine Lahti - although, Katie's love interest is not a cartoonist, but a chef like herself.
• As the story gets darker, I was reminded of elements of films like Flatliners (Kevin Bacon) and Event Horizon (Sam Neil), or Fright Night (William Ragsdale) - characters are faced with the unshakable feeling that "they brought something back with them" or they have "invited something nasty into house".

Whether these influences are real or imagined by me makes no difference.  All of the different elements make for an entertaining and thoughtful story and makes us think about our own choices in life.

Bryan Lee O'Malley is also the author of the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels.  I kind of missed that boat.  I never saw the movie (which was released in 2010) - despite the fact that it stars Michael Cera, whom I have enjoyed in the films Juno and Superbad (still haven't seen Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - which I should have seen since "Nick and Norah" was the name of one of my wife's favorite stores).  I didn't even know that the movie was based on a set of graphic novels.  But, I'm attempting to remedy that by reading them now, and I do hope do see the movie at some point.

Anyway, if you have read and enjoyed The Sculptor, I would recommend Seconds.

Book Review: Project Nemesis, by Jeremy Robinson

This is the second book I've read by Jeremy Robinson, and it was another good read!  I had previously read Island 731, and it was a rapid read - it took around 50 pages or so for the story to really get moving.  So, I read Island 731 first, but it was published second.  It is kind of a prequel to Project Nemesis, includes a character who is mentioned in Project Nemesis, who I believe makes an appearance in a later Kaiju thriller - but Island 731 itself is not included as part of the Nemesis/Kaiju Saga, and can successfully stand on its own.  Whew!

All right, now that the prologue of this review is finished...Project Nemesis is a "Kaiju" novel.  "Kaiju" is Japanese for "strange beast", and is typically associated with Japanese movie monsters like Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, etc., and was more recently popularized by Guillermo del Toro's 2013 movie Pacific Rim, which I have not seen, but is now on my list of films to watch, even though it didn't get superb ratings.  The word "Kaiju" does appear in Island 731 (after all, there are some strange beasts in it), but giant Godzilla-like monsters are reserved for the Nemesis saga.

I will say, it was fun to revisit some fond memories of my youth.  Like Mr. Robinson, I spent many Saturday afternoons watching Creature Double Feature on WLVI Channel 56 in the Boston area, and I enjoyed many of the Godzilla movies back then.  I still remember the suspense of watching the evolving form of Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah (vs. The Smog Monster in the USA), and wondering what its final form would be.  I remember this so well because of the great disappointment I felt when our watching of the film was interrupted for us to go home and we missed the last 15 - 20 minutes of the movie, only to see Godzilla walking off into the distance when we returned home.  I think it was several years before I finally got to see the ending.

Anyway, Project Nemesis has a start that is similar to Island 731 - we get a glimpse into the past to view two events that ultimately lead to the creation of Nemesis later in the story, and some time is spent setting the scene for this.  But, once things start going downhill, they keep heading in that direction, and as is typical for this type of story you are left wondering how they could possibly defeat this monster.

With regard to the Nemesis creature, I liked that it didn't have any traditional "Kaiju" attacks - nothing like Godzilla's Atomic Breath, or Monster Zero's lightning, or any other type of beam attacks, but eventually we learn that Nemesis does have something pretty devastating in the form of bright orange areas, though it wasn't what I would have expected.

The origin of the monster is fairly original.  Although, unless I'm mistaken, I believe I sense the influence of the film Frankenstein Conquers the World, as well as Godzilla vs. Hedorah (the evolving form of the monster).  There may well be other influences, but these are the two that really stood out for me.

I also really liked the fact that the main protagonist, Jon Hudson, feels that his job is ultimately a joke - after all, he spends his days investigating Sasquatch sightings that never really amount to anything.  Of course, once Nemesis arrives on the scene, he fights for his jurisdiction with pride.  The cast of supporting characters are also fun.

As I write this, I'm already halfway through the sequel, Project Maigo, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.  I've also added a few other of Mr. Robinson's books to my current reading list and I'm looking forward to them.

Michael Crichton Replacement Wanted

Every year I go through a phase where I miss seeing a new Michael Crichton novel on the shelf at the bookstore every 1 - 3 years. Nobody else was able to instantly pull me into the story from the first page and make me not want to put the book down and stay up way to late too finish it.  He had a way with words.  And dialogue.  And science.  And technology.  And current events.

Many authors cover one genre or theme in their writing:  horror, fantasy, science-fiction, adventure/thriller, mystery.  There are a few authors who change genres every few books - Dan Simmons leaps immediately to mind.  His works span horror, real crime, and science fiction on a regular basis, and he often includes some historical element (The Terror, The Abominable, and Drood are excellent examples).

Authors of fantasy, adventure, and thrillers may change the details in their books, but the essential stories are typically the same.  Sometimes this can be a bad thing if the stories are too formulaic.  For example, there is a great evil and good sets out to defeat it - too many stories in a row like this and it is like the author just changed the names in a previous story.  To some extent, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series is kind of formulaic (there is something bad and Harry needs to stop it), but in that series the devil is in the details, and the series is FANTASTIC!

But some author's work I see as being pretty much the same.  For example, I've seen James Patterson's 'Alex Cross' stories - I've seen the movie Along Came A Spider, I've read Cat and Mouse, and I've read the back covers of several more - seems like there's always a serial killer, and the story is typically similar enough that I won't be picking up any more of his books.  Given his popularity, many people apparently like this, but I'm not one of them.  I will say that both stories did contain a twist at the end, but this wasn't enough of a payoff for reading the story - at least, not for me.

However, Crichton's books are different.  While his stories are typically adventurous or dramatic, they had a wide range.  For example:

• The Great Train Robbery deals with the first theft from a moving train in the 1800's.
• Rising Sun involves a corporate murder and cutting edge technology
• Sphere involved the investigation of an alien ship that crashed at the bottom of the ocean.
• Jurassic Park involves a theme park where science has produced living dinosaurs
• Disclosure is about a reverse sexual harassment case, also in the corporate world with cutting edge technology
• Airframe is about a company that builds passenger jets, and an investigation into an accident
• Timeline is about time travel to medieval France
• Prey is about a cloud of nano-particles that has been programmed as a a predator
• State of Fear is about global warming and climate change and eco-terrorists
• Next is about genetic research
• Micro is kind of like the movie Fantastic Voyage, but instead of being shrunk to the microscopic level, people are shrunk to a half an inch in height and thrust into the Hawaiian jungle and must deal with the hazards of nature that that size

Some of these books, such as Disclosure, State of Fear, and Airframe, followed on the heels of similar world events (Disclosure was a few years after a famous sexual harassment case, State of Fear followed concerns about global warming and climate change, and Airframe included an accident similar to the China Eastern Airlines accident from a few years earlier).  Some other authors follow this pattern as well (James Rollins refers to genetically modified crops and colony collapse disorder in honey bees in his novel The Doomsday Key), but there aren't many of them - to my knowledge anyway.

Most of his works typically included something that was cutting edge.  Even in the Great Train Robbery, stealing from a moving train had never been done before.  Sounds pretty cutting edge for the year 1854.  To top if off, the story is partially based on fact (there was a real train robbery).

I remember reading Sphere when I was in college.  I didn't want to put it down, and I ended up staying up all night to finish it.  It was not only a science fiction story, but was also a fast paced psychological thriller.  It also includes some underwater action that rivals James Cameron's The Abyss, although Sphere was published first.

The stories of Michael Crichton always involved very realistic, human characters (not super heroes), facing realistic challenges (even when surrounded by seemingly impossible things, like nano-particles or dinosaurs).  He was an amazingly talented writer who had the ability to get you hooked on a story within a handful of pages, and there are very few authors who exhibit this talent these days, and his death in 2008 left a gaping hole in the world of storytelling.

Jodorowsky's Dune

Over the past year I have seen blurbs about this movie in various places.  The picture of the strange ship (above) in the advertisements certainly interested me.  It was unlike anything I'd seen before - it has a very psychedelic look.  After seeing this a few times, I definitely wanted to see this movie - not just the documentary, but the film itself.  This is a documentary about a movie that Alejandro Jodorowsky wanted to make back in 1975 - but it was never made.  This documentary aired on Starz recently and I had an opportunity to watch it, and I have to say it was very interesting.  Jodorowsky's vision was to make a film that was like an LSD trip - but without the drugs.

There were some pretty big names associated with this film.  Well, let's say that in 1975 some of them were big names, and others would *become* big names in the very near future.  Dan O'Bannon was personally selected by Jodorowsky to do the special effects for Dune after seeing his work on John Carpenter's Dark Star.  O'Bannon would be responsible for some big movies in the near future (Alien, Heavy Metal, and Blue Thunder among them).  During preproduction, the following people were also hand-picked by Jodorowsky:

• Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) for storyboard art and set design, who would work with Jodorowsky on comics for many years to come.
• Chris Foss, who was best known for science fiction book covers.
• H. R. Giger, for set and character design (yeah, the guy who worked on Alien)
• Salvador Dali (yeah, the melting clock artist!) to play the Emperor Shaddam IV
• Orson Welles (yeah, Citizen Kane)
• David Carradine (Kwai Chang Kane from Kung Fu!)
• Mick Jagger (lead singer for The Rolling Stones)

In addition to artists, he also specifically wanted rock music for some of the film, and he selected Pink Floyd and Magma to do the some of the music (after looking into Tangerine Dream, among others).

This project was described as extremely ambitious.  It was discussed that Jodorowsky had plans to do things that George Lucas didn't even attempt in the Star Wars prequel movies more than 20 years later.

The script and storyboard book

The script, pictured here with Jodorowsky in the documentary, was HUGE - larger than several phone books.  Frank Herbert himself, the author of the science fiction book Dune, felt the script would result in a 14-hour movie, but Jodorowsky didn't really care.  Ultimately, movie companies loved everything about the project - they just didn't want Jodorowsky as the director.

Storyboards inside the script

The project was also deemed too expensive.  In preproduction alone, about two million dollars had been spent, out of a projected fifteen million dollars, which was quite a bit of money in 1976. So, the project died.  Oddly enough, just a few years later, O'Bannon, Foss, Giger, and Giraud would all work together on Ridley Scott's Alien, which was history in the making, given the revenue generated by the Alien franchise of books, comics, and movies.

When this project failed, Jodorowsky turned to comics, with Moebius as a partner, and elements of his Dune concept ended up in works like The Incal and The Metabarons.  The Incal apparently influenced the work of many others over the years - there was even a lawsuit filed that Luc Besson's The Fifth Element borrowed heavily from The Incal (the case was lost).  Many future films were influenced by Jodorowsky's Dune, including (among others):

• Blade Runner
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Masters of the Universe
• Prometheus

In my opinion, it even had influence on David Lynch's 1984 version of Dune - specifically the Emperor's ship which lands on a pyramid-like base on Arrakis.  Jodorowsky saw this version when it came out and thought it was terrible - he called it a failure.  I've seen both this version of Dune, and the mini-series that was created by SyFy.  I don't remember much of the SyFy series, but there were elements of David Lynch's Dune that I quite enjoyed, even though it was not 100% faithful to the book - in fact, some of the things I really liked weren't even in the book (the extended version is the only one to see - the original theatrical release leaves out too much detail).  Apparently, Jodorowsky took some liberties with the story as well, but from what I've seen that is fairly typical of Hollywood.

Jodorowsky's Dune

In my opinion, it even had influence on David Lynch's 1984 version of Dune - specifically the Emperor's ship which lands on a pyramid-like base on Arrakis.  Jodorowsky saw this version when it came out and thought it was terrible - he called it a failure.  I've seen both this version of Dune, and the mini-series that was created by SyFy.

Lynch's Dune

I don't remember much of the SyFy series, but there were elements of David Lynch's Dune that I quite enjoyed, even though it was not 100% faithful to the book - in fact, some of the things I really liked weren't even in the book (the extended version is the only one to see - the original theatrical release leaves out too much detail).  Apparently, Jodorowsky took some liberties with the story as well, but from what I've seen that is fairly typical of Hollywood.



I recently bought a copy of The Incal, knowing that it influenced The Fifth Element and other works of fiction.  I had also heard of Moebius in the past, so I thought it would be an interesting read, and it would be interesting to see what helped influence many works of science fiction that I have enjoyed.

The book came with the pictured sticker on it - the bold statement reminds me of a book I saw in a book store in the late 1980's that was something like "The Greatest Lines From the Worst Books That Were Never Written".  I have to say I really wonder what this movie would have been like had it been made.  I also wonder if anyone will ever attempt to make Jodorowskys Dune as a TV series or series of movies sometime in the future.  Certainly, aspects of his vision are 40 years out of date (the whole psychedelic LSD thing may not be so popular today), but I think it would be interesting.

Book Review: Quantum Night, by Robert J. Sawyer

Mr. Sawyer once again explores the human condition in Quantum Night.  Consciousness has been a central theme in several of his previous novels; e.g. artificial intelligence in The WWW Trilogy (Wake, Watch, Wonder), and uploading the human mind into an android in Mindscan.

Now the focus is on:  psychopaths.  I have tried to write this review to reveal some of the scientific elements of this novel in the hope of generating interest without revealing much of the core story itself, and I hope I have been successful.  Due to the content of this novel, I found writing this review somewhat difficult.  If you want to experience the novel without knowing any details beyond what is on the inside of the dust cover, I would stop reading now.

Building on data that suggests that the number of psychopaths in the world is actually much larger than expected, Mr. Sawyer weaves a disturbing tale where the members of humanity who are actually conscious with a conscience are in the minority.  The majority of people in the world are either psychopaths or philosophical zombies (can be likened to automatons who do as they're told and simulate everything perfectly but are not actually conscious), with the last group being the "normal" people.  The book contains a "Further Reading" section listing many non-fiction works that provide empirical evidence which is the basis for the ideas in this novel - even some evidence that philosophical zombies, previously used as a thought experiment, may actually be in our midst.

First, a few definitions from www.dictionary.com:

• psychopath:  a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.
• psychopathy:  a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.

And, from wikipedia.com, some information about philosophical zombies:  
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie

In this story, the world population of 7 billion people is made up of (read the book to get the actual numbers):

• philosophical zombies who are not conscious and have no conscience
• psychopaths who are conscious and have no conscience
• normal people who are conscious and have a conscience

The concept of a philosophical zombie seems to support the concept of mob (or herd) mentality, which seems pretty mindless.  Also, a significantly larger number of psychopaths who lie, feel no guilt, have no empathy or love for others, and are only interested in themselves, seems to match our "real" world which has so many problems with greed and antisocial behavior.  (Keep in mind that not all psychopaths are serial killers - it is a scale ranging from antisocial behavior to violence).  Such a world seems like a scary place for you and I, who are "normal".  You are normal, aren't you?  At least in the three choices that this book sets out, right? <grin>  In such a world, it would seem that we "normal" folks are the newly hatched sea turtles trying to scramble from their eggs to the ocean across a beach strewn with flocks of psychopathic seagulls and zombie followers just waiting to devour the majority of us as we try to sneak by.  Not good!

This novel also deals with the morality and outcome of scientific testing with human subjects.  It plays a large part in the story, which centers on Jim Marchuk, an experimental psychologist who has developed a way to detect psychopaths.  Jim attempts to live a utilitarian life, trying to achieve the most happiness for the most people, which leads to some controversial beliefs that come up from time to time.

Certainly, this book contains a large amount of scientific information, but despite this the story keeps the reader interested from the very beginning, and the science is not complicated or overwhelming - it is described in easy to understand terms.  The story contains many twists and turns, and for me there were several "Holy Crap!" moments that I did not see coming (a trademark for most of Mr. Sawyer's books).

Quantum Night ranks up there with some of Mr. Sawyer's most popular works, and I would not be surprised to see this book nominated for a major award.  His books are always crammed with references to many different scientific efforts (for example, CERN plays a part in many of his novels), world events (both past and present), and to some of his favorite works of science fiction (such as Planet of Apes).

I understand that this may be his last novel, which does sadden me - and I do hope he writes more in the future.  At present, I have not read his two previous novels, Red Planet Blues and Triggers, and I will need to stockpile these for when I need a guaranteed good read (typically after attempting to read a bunch of novels that don't hold my interest).  Although, I may need to move Triggers nearer the top of my list - I know that he's been working on a script for either a movie or TV-show based on this book, and I'll want to read it before that comes out.  I enjoyed both the book and TV-show for Flashforward, but they were both very different.  Despite the difference, I think reading the book after seeing the show would have made it less interesting - at least for me.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone to enjoys a rollicking scientific thriller that is easy to understand.  It is a fast, engaging read, just like many of Mr. Sawyer's other works.

I'm open to and welcome comments and discussion about this book.

Book Review: Island 731, by Jeremy Robinson

I came across this book completely by accident.  In fact, I was browsing on Amazon and in the "also bought" section of the page was a book titled Project Hyperion, which was proclaimed a "Kaiju" thriller.  The Godzilla-like monster on the cover immediately peaked my interest, but I thought, really?  It kind of seemed ridiculous.  Sure, I used to enjoy the Godzilla movies and similar fare when I was in middle/high school.  Anyone else remember the Creature Double Feature?  But, the modern versions of Godzilla have, in my opinion, fallen extremely short, and movies like Pacific Rim and Cloverfield weren't exactly smash hits.

I was just about ready to move on when I noticed that this was the fourth book in a series, and it had a 4.8 rating out of 5 - the majority of them 5 star reviews.  Okaaay - worth another look.  I searched for the previous books and they all had good reviews as well.  So, I started browsing other books by the author, and came across Island 731.  While not listed as a "Kaiju" thriller, I noticed that the "Kaiju" series included a novel titled Project 731, so I figured there must be a connection, and thought it MUST be the first book in the series.

Anyway, I picked it up at my local bookstore and started reading it.  The inside cover contained a blurb that compared Island 731 to The Island of Dr. Moreau.  Another blurb referred to it as one of the best successors to Jurassic Park.  I also noticed that Steve Berry and James Rollins had some nice comments about Secondworld, another book by Mr. Robinson, so things are looking pretty decent.

While The Island of Dr. Moreau has some interesting elements, I found both the book and various TV movies to be on the boring side.  It wasn't sounding like the same kind of story as Project Hyperion or the other books in the series, and it did not seem like the "origin" of the series either, so I thought I was in for a major disappointment.  But, I kept reading.  It was a little on the slow side for the first four or five chapters, but once they reached the island I didn't want to put this book down.  For me, what this book has in common with Moreau is the scientific experimentation, but that's about it.

When I reached the halfway point, I was enjoying the book so much I researched the series some more.  On Wikipedia, Island 731 was definitely listed as book "0" in the series, but Project Nemesis was actually the first book published.  So, I had a confirmation that there was a connection between the books, and it did appear to be a prequel of sorts - but the story lines still seemed to be vastly different.  But, that really didn't matter at this point - I was hooked!

I have to say, this was an awesome read!  From chapter to chapter I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.  This was a fast, gripping read of the variety I typically only find with Dan Brown, Robert J. Sawyer, Jack McDevitt, and Michael Crichton.  The origins of the island are haunting, the science and biology are interesting, there's plenty of action, and I was surprised by many different elements of the story, which kept it fresh.  I really had no idea where things would end up.

The last few pages of the book contain a brief overview of the events of Project Nemesis, and also have an introduction to Project Maigo, the next book in the series.  After reading this, I am anxious to check out Project Nemesis and the additional books in the series.  Given the high ratings, I fully expect to enjoy them.  After browsing further on Amazon, I also have interest in handful of other standalone books by this author, which fall into my areas of interest (Beneath and Raising the Past currently look the most interesting).

This is another author that I was unaware of that I have taken a chance on, and it has paid off in a major way.  I can't wait to get started on checking out some of the other books.

Book Review: Gestapo Mars, by Victor Gischler

This was a fun read!

Once again, I took a chance on an author I've never heard of, and it has paid off.  This book just happened to catch my eye in the "new releases" section of the book store.

The title and outlandish cover (included here, in case there are other editions) caught my eye at the bookstore.  My first thought was "Nazis on Mars?" - what a bizarre concept!  Sure, there have been other novels about Germany/Japan winning World War II, but this is the first far-future treatment I've seen (almost 300+ years into the future).  Very interesting, but the subject matter wasn't immediately thrilling for me (yeah, yeah, don't judge a book by its cover - although sometimes this seems really appropriate).

That being said, the back-cover blurb of "...part Quentin Tarantino, Victor Gischler is a raving, badass genius" from James Rollins kept my interest.  I've only read The Doomsday Key by Rollins, but I really enjoyed it, so this was a good endorsement.  I was a bit concerned about the statement "A Carter Sloan Novel" on the front cover, which would normally lead me to believe that this was part of a series, but there was nothing else to indicate that there were previous books.  So, I bought it and added it to the book queue for a time when I needed a short book to read, and that time recently arrived.

The first chapter had me hooked.  I smiled on page two, and laughed out loud on page three.  That is an accomplishment - the opening pulled me into the story right away.  There is a ton of dialogue that is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino - Mr. Rollins nailed that for sure.

Carter Sloan is an assassin who is employed by the Third Reich, and he is kept in cryogenic sleep until he is needed.  When they wake him at the start of the story, he has been asleep for 258 years, so he's a little pissed off.  This whole story is just a fun read.  For me, I would compare this to the Bruce Willis movie The Fifth Element, with Quentin Tarantino providing some of the dialogue and violence.  It is just a really fun, violent, funny, sex-filled adventure story, poking fun at life and politics in the right places, showing how things can become quite ridiculous.

The story also contains several original ideas that really add to the story.  The element of satire reminded me of The Mission Earth saga by L. Ron Hubbard, which I read back when it was first published in the 1980's.  While there is satire throughout Gestapo Mars, I did feel that the final battle scene, which contains a nod to Star Wars, starts to enter the territory of Douglas Adams and Craig Shaw Gardner with some of its silliness, briefly changing the tone of the story.  This isn't a story just about silliness, there is a serious element to it as well - just like The Fifth Element - so this scene was just a touch over the top for me.  But that is my only real complaint, and it is a relatively minor one.

While I was reading this book, I pictured Manu Bennett as Carter Sloan, playing his Slade Wilson character from the TV show Arrow,  For some reason, his voice just fit the dialogue for me.

I understand a sequel is in the works, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.  If I can find Gun Monkeys (seems like a gangster version of Gestapo Mars?) or Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse (which seems more like a Craig Shaw Gardner title), I will try to check them out (although my queue of books to read it quite large).

Feel free to comment, whether or not you've read the book.

Minor spoilers below for those who are interested in some of my favorite moments from the book.

SPOILER SPACE

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Here are some of my favorite moments from the book:

1. The Kardashian Effect - a person who was important or popular or interesting but nobody knows why.
2. Garden Meadow Bowel Fragrance - this is a major product in the future.
3. The robot prostitute that sounds like a pay telephone - "Your current session ends in two minutes and nine seconds.  To extend for another thirty minutes please authorize payment."

Book Review: Departure, by A. G. Riddle

I have a serious problem.  Every year, it seems like the list of authors that I read increases - exponentially.  This is somewhat surprising, given the large group of authors that I have no interest in (literally shelves of books in the SF/Fantasy section).  I typically don't by a hardcover novel by an author I've never read, and especially not one by an author that I've never heard of before - unless I hear a rave review someone that I know (it also depends on the words used in that review).

However, my purchase of this book happened under the right conditions:

1. I recently took a chance on Saturn Run, by John Sandford and Ctein, in hardcover.  This was mostly due to a rave review by Stephen King on the back cover.  So, score one for an author I did not recognize (it was a great read).
2. The content of Departure sounded pretty interesting.
3. I happened to have a coupon that allowed me to get the book relatively cheap for a hardcover.

I am very glad that this chain of circumstances happened the way it did, because this was a great read!

The key plot points from the book description are:

1. Passengers struggling to survive a crash landing, and they don't know where they are.
2. A handful of passengers seem to have pieces of information about what is going on.
3. A far-reaching conspiracy that could end the world.
4. The past and the future both come into play.

Why wouldn't this be a good book?  Well, there are lots of potential reasons for that, but let's get on with my thoughts.

Of course, things start off with a plane crash and the rescue of the passengers, but very rapidly becomes so much more than that  As the story unfolds, things get more complicated, and the mystery deepens.  You gradually learn pieces of the puzzle, while also wondering which characters are being honest, and I was very surprised to learn what was really going on when it was revealed.  There are some really interesting scientific ideas, and there is a somewhat different treatment of some all too familiar science fiction staples - certainly original, and not something that I've seen before.

Some of the characters suffer from what appeared, at least to me, to be very common concerns for many people, whether they would admit to it or not.  I won't discuss this further, since I feel it plays a part in the story.

I initially thought that the book ended rather abruptly, appearing to leave things a tad unresolved and a bit too open to future catastrophe.  The epilogue on the authors website (which the book discloses) addresses that nicely, and also makes elements of the story appear to be a part of the real world.

As a result of reading this book, I am definitely interested in checking out the Origin Mystery trilogy at some point, and I'm looking forward to more efforts from the author.

Book Review: Saturn Run, by John Sandford & Ctein

When I first saw this book, I was interested.  It is a first contact story.  Other similar stories that I have enjoyed include the following:

   Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

   2001:  A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

   Childhoods End, by Arthur C. Clarke

   The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

   The Engines of God, by Jack McDevitt

   Infinity Beach, by Jack McDevitt

   The Heechee Saga, by Frederik Pohl

Many books of this type, particularly ones that take place in relatively modern times (that is, the 21st century or earlier), focus mostly on the trip there, and the dangers of the trip, finishing up with contact only near the very end of the story, perhaps in the last 50 pages or so.

I was initially concerned about this book for several reasons.

First, it was by an author I was unfamiliar with, and in addition it was an author who mostly writes detective thrillers, not science fiction (although, the detective thrillers are bestsellers, which was a good sign).

Second, I was concerned that the book would mostly be uninteresting details about the trip, and would end in the last few pages with the alien contact.

Third, there were several reviews stating that the book was terrible and boring and some of these reviews spoke highly of Mr. Sandford's Prey books (which I have not read, so I can't offer a comparison, but given his writing style I would have to assume that they are very good if you are into detective stories). While this could be construed as a a dislike of science fiction - well, I would not classify this story as hardcore science fiction, it is more like NASA 50 years from now.  The real story here is about people.

The main encouraging news was a rave review by Stephen King (who mentioned that Michael Crichton, one of my favorite authors, would have loved this book, but could never have written it). So I decided to take a chance on it, and I'm glad I did.

From the opening chapter, the story is very enjoyable.  The characters are interesting, the dialogue is wonderful, and the ideas concerning the spaceship are really interesting (being a software engineer, I can relate to solving complex problems under pressure).  The makeup of the crew even reminded me somewhat of Michael Crichton's Sphere, which had a crew of specialists created specifically for a first contact scenario - although to a lesser extent in Saturn Run.

The backstory of Saturn Run is somewhat similar to that of 2001:  A Space Odyssey (rivalry/tension between super powers - in this case, the United States and China), and situations arise which lead to mistrust and violence, and as in 2010:  Odyssey Two, there is plenty of political intrigue and danger, and I felt that the human factor was well explored in the scenarios played out during the story.  As far as the journey is concerned, let's just say it isn't boring - there is plenty going on to keep the reader interested.

While reading this book, each of my concerns was dispelled, and I was happily surprised that contact occurs much sooner than the last 50 pages, although  it was not necessarily the type of contact I was expecting.  I'll say it is sort of like the next step between Carl Sagan's Contact and Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and leave it at that.  I'll also say that I enjoyed this as much as, maybe even more than, several of the books I mention above, which is fairly high praise.

All in all, I felt that this was a tremendous read, and an unexpected story from an author who specializes in something completely different, and I do hope that Mr. Sandford and Ctein revisit this literary territory again in the future.

Book Review: Leviathan Wakes, by James S. A. Corey

For the last four years I've been watching this series grow book by book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.  They looked intimidating.  Ultimately, I broke down and bought the first one and it entered my queue of things to read.  Then, when Syfy announced that it would be a series in December of 2015, I had to move it up in the queue.

This was a good story.  I started reading it in November, and it took me a few hundred pages to really start getting into it.  The initial mystery at the end of the prologue was enough to hold my interest and have me wanting to read until it was resolved.  However, this wasn't exactly a fast read for me.  I can frequently read 500 - 600 page books in 7 - 12 days.  This took me 2 - 3 times as long.  The writing style and noir aspect were initially a little off-putting for me.  While I did get past it, this still took me longer to read than normal.  The story was engaging, but not gripping - I wasn't on the edge of my seat, anxiously turning the pages to find out what would happen next (the Dresden files is like this for me).

I enjoyed the deepening mystery that linked the two protagonists, who eventually meet, and the ending leaves much to build on in the sequels.  It reminded me of Babylon 5, which also had a deep mystery which was gradually revealed over 3.5 seasons before you had a clear picture of what was really going on.

The universe is gritty, dangerous, and very realistic where human behavior is involved.  Human society, which has expanded into the solar system, is filled with distrust and conflict between Earth, Mars, and the Belters,  While it would appear that Earth and Mars have the Belters at a major disadvantage technology wise, the Belters do have access to asteroids which could make excellent weapons when thrown into a "gravity well", as they put it, making it clear that escalation of violence past a certain point would ultimately spell out the doom of the human race.

The details of the story reminded me of several other works of science fiction.  Living conditions on Ceres, and asteroid in the belt, reminded me of Los Angeles in the movieBlade Runner.  Also, the way that the workers are treated unfairly with regard to living conditions, as well was paying for water and air, was similar to the colonists in the movie Total Recall.  Travelling at high-g requires special drugs to keep you from passing out, which is similar to travel at high speeds in the book The Forever War.

I've also been enjoying the Syfy TV series.  While reading this book, I was keeping ahead of the series by a few hundred pages.  At this point, I've seen 5 episodes of the 10-episode season, and it really seems that they are less than 50% of the way through the story.  It will be interesting to see if the first season completes the full story in the book.  From the name of the final episode, it seems it could go either way, depending on the event being referred to.  This would be a good thing - it means less will be cut out of the story.  The TV show also has some changes from the book, which make it somewhat fresh after reading the book.

I'm looking forward to eventually reading the rest of the books in the series, and I do recommend this to those who enjoy a technology filled story with a mystery that unfolds.

Comic Books Have Come a Long Way

I used to read comic books as a kid, starting as early as when I was 7 or 8 years old.  I was not an avid reader - I occasionally bought an issue, so I missed out on a large portion of the continuity.  Even so, I was still drawn into the partial stories in those small issues.

As an adult, I occasionally read graphic novels - I'm not a fanatic, but I do enjoy them.  Over the years I have amassed a collection of Manga as well.

One of the largest graphic novels
I've read...until now.

Recently I purchased and read The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud.  I enjoyed both Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics (his "comics about comics" book), but had never read any of his fiction before.  The Sculptor is kind of an intimidating tome for a graphic novel at a whopping 487 pages (this seems kind of small compared to some Manga collections that I've seen, but I've read this is normal in Japan).  But, the book is a tad smaller in height than a standard hardcover fiction book.

Over the years, I've read some collections of comics - that is, several issues of a comic book from years past collected into a single volume as a "graphic novel".  These come in a fairly standardized size for the genre - just like most mass market paperbacks have similar dimensions.

I'm addicted to science fiction, and I'm a big fan of the first two movies in the Alien franchise (Alien, Aliens).  I also really enjoyed the first Predator movie (the one with "Governor Arnold" - the Danny Glover one was passable), and I like the concept of the Alien vs. Predator franchise (the movies were so-so, but I've enjoyed a few of the graphic novels).  While Prometheus wasn't the greatest movie in the canon, I did enjoy aspects of it, and I'm looking forward to future movies eventually tying Alien/Prometheus together.

When I saw that there was a crossover story that covered all 4 series (Prometheus, Aliens, Aliens vs. Predator, and Predator), I was very interested, so I ordered it:  Prometheus;  The Complete Fire and Stone.  It arrived this week and was an immense surprise when I opened the box.  Knowing that this was 16 collected issues (4 from each series), I expected it to be larger than normal - but, the picture on Amazon did not do it justice.

THIS BOOK IS HUGE!

A comparison.

Here it is pictured with Howard the Duck (a standard comic collection - 400+ pages), a standard mass market paperback (first in a new Predator series - around 300 pages), and Jim Butcher's new hardcover, The Aeronaut's Windlass (600+ pages - minus the dust jacket).  As you can see, Prometheus towers over the others.  And it isn't just tall - 480 oversize pages!

Here it is side by side with The Aeronaut's Windlass.  It is printed on quality paper, weighs in at 6.6 pounds, and retails for $50 (the price is significantly lower on Amazon).  This is an entirely different world from the days when all 16 issues constituting this story could be had for a whopping $4 or less (when I was 8, I think most comic books were $0.25).  This is easily the largest "comic", and potentially one of the largest books in general that I have ever purchased (that wasn't a hardcover dictionary or Calculus book).

The price for this volume is not all that surprising these days - there are many graphic novels and collections ranging from $35 - $50.  The market has transitioned the same way as the board game market.  When I was a teenager, a $25 game was considered almost ludicrous (and most games over $20 could not turn a profit).  These days, there are games priced between $75 and $100 and they sell well!

The comic book has definitely grown up!  In addition to comics continuing to grow, Hollywood has turned into a superhero movie making machine!

It is interesting to stop every so often and see how all aspects of our lives have changed
 in the last 25 - 30 years (not just technology).  Ferris Bueller would be so proud!

Book Review: Micro by Michael Crichton

I love Michael Crichton's books.  I have read almost everything he's written.  Since his death in 2008, I have kind of hoarded the books that I have not read, saving them or times when I have read a string of below average works and need something really satisfying.

I was excited when Micro was initially published, but when I heard that 35% to 50% of the book was finished by another writer, I was hesitant.  While I did enjoy Pirate Latitudes, I didn't think it was among Crichton's best work, and had the feeling that the last book also would not be as good.  Then I started seeing rather average reviews and lost interest for several years.

Recently, a friend gave the book a good recommendation - not one of Crichton's best books, but definitely a solid story.  I was also encouraged by the fact that the bibliography included three books by Thomas Eisner, who was an authority on insects and their defense mechanisms against predators, particularly those involving chemicals.  He is kind of famous for putting a bombardier beetle in his mouth to see what would happen.  Many years ago I had the chance to meet Dr. Eisner when my wife and I visited him in Ithaca, New York - he was my wife's adviser at Cornell Universy for several years.  My respect for him as a researcher gave me more interest in reading the book.

I have to say, it definitely reminded me of the movie Fantastic Voyage - but instead of being shrunken to the microscopic level and being injected into the circulatory system of a human being, they are shrunk to about an inch in height and then stranded in the Hawaiian rain forest.  The hexagonal design of the "shrinking machine" (which is use as the header for the title pages of the three parts of the story) definitely seems like a nod to Fantastic Voyage, which used a similar design.  There shouldn't really be any spoilers here - the cover of the book does show human footprints being followed by a spider.

The science is interesting - the micro world is very different, surprising, and dangerous.  I did enjoy this book, but I do agree that it is not one of Crichton's best books.  I felt that the story did not grip me as quicky as either Prey or Timeline, and then once it did get really interesting, it kind of slowed down in the middle, and then the ending started to feel a little rushed, which was unexpected for a 500+ page book, and is probably sign of Richard Preston's influence in the book.  While this wasn't a fantastic read, there were some really neat things to learn about the micro world, and what it might be like to live in it.

Now unfortunately, my list of Crichton fiction books to read has dwindled to only three - all of them published before Pirate Latitudes.

Book Review: The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud

Holy crap!  I don't know what hit me!

I couldn't put this graphic novel down.  I've read both Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics (both are non-fiction), and I enjoyed both.  The Sculptor is the first work of fiction I have read by McCloud (I know that he did a comic series called Zot!, but I had never seen it before and will definitely need to check it out now).

I have to admit that the subject matter of this graphic novel was not initially appealing to me, so I passed on getting this book when it first came out.  Later, I saw a 5-star review by Wil Wheaton on Goodreads.  After that, I read the description again on the inside of the dust jacket and decided to buy it - this is easily the largest graphic novel I've purchased, and is the only one I've purchased in hardcover outside of the Akira manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo.  Thank you to Mr. Wheaton for posting that review, since it definitely influenced my decision to read this story.  Granted, the review was only two sentences, but it was effective.

Once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop.  I was drawn into the story, and the interactions of different characters.  This is a an exploration of an all-encompassing desire that is very realistic.  Life is not fair.  Things are not always as they seem.  Things do not go as planned.  People act in irrational ways.  You make more mistakes trying to make things right before things finally improve - if they improve at all.  There are also many "Oh crap!" moments in this story, and it is like watching a train wreck - you just can't stop reading (I almost read this in a single evening).

For me, this story was somewhat reminiscent of the TV show Party of Five (a group of friends used to ask "how many bad things can happen to this poor family?") - you just couldn't NOT watch!   It also reminded me of a story formula that was written by Lester Dent (the original author of Doc Savage Pulp Magazines in the 1930's and 1940's).  In this formula, he described what should be done in each quarter of the story he was writing (and he used this for every pulp story he sold), and one of the items which was used in each quarter was something along the lines of "heap more misfortune on the shoulders of the hero".  This story kind of felt like that.  There were also several scenes in this story made me relive very powerful moments in TV shows I've watched over the years that an emotional effect on me (if you are familiar with Babylon 5 and St Elsewhere, you will know what I'm talking about).

The Sculptor is a major piece of storytelling, and I'm looking forward to Mr. McCloud's future efforts.

Book Review: The Fold, by Peter Clines

This book was great!

Mike Erikson is a wonderful central character.  I loved the mystery through the first half of the book, and his methods of unraveling the mystery were really amazing.  I was reminded of Nicolas Cage's character in the first National Treasure movie, where he made immense leaps in deduction.  However, unlike National Treasure, where the leaps and bounds were made entirely in Cage's head (based on information that the audience is not privy to in advance), in The Fold, it stems from the protagonists unique talent using apparently insignificant knowledge in the story itself - that is, the reader is aware of this information, but will not be able to make the connections. While I won't reveal his talent (so as not to spoil things for potential readers), I will say that the talent is incredibly well described and leveraged throughout the story.  Positives and negatives of his talent are also explored, which represents Erikson as a very believable, vulnerable, human being.

The story starts off as a science fiction mystery, and then has overtones of horror after the mid-point where you start learning what is really going on.  This slowed me down a bit as I wasn't expecting it, but through the whole story I really couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.  I will say that I had formed my own ideas of what was going on (I have loved science fiction books/movies for decades, so I've seen quite a bit), but when everything was revealed it was a nice surprise to me.

This book also has some good humor, starting from the first page.  That, combined with the limited horror aspect, makes this novel more accessible than Clines' previous novel, 14, which to me was more of a Lovecraftian-based horror mystery (I also enjoyed it immensely and have recommended it to others),  I think it will appeal to a larger audience than 14 .  The twist at the end of The Fold was also very satisfying, and I'm hoping it is something that is explored further in future novels.  I will say it will only be satisfying to readers who are familiar with 14 - that really doesn't give much away for either book.  All of these elements make this a solid story which is very well told.

This is the third book I've read by this author.  I had picked up and read a copy of Ex-Patriots a few years ago, not knowing that it was the second book in his zombie series (it was the only book available at the store, and wasn't described as part of a series).  I found it very satisfying once I started to get into it - about  halfway through, at which point I couldn't put it down.  I do plan on reading the others in the series, and I have heard that they get better the further you go.  The series is also continuing (I believe book 5 is due to be released in early 2016).

I am anxiously awaiting the future efforts from Mr. Clines.

Book Review: Armada, by Ernest Cline

I have to say, when I ordered this book from Amazon, I was concerned with the initial reviews from the first week of release.  They were were all over the place, and kind of reminded me of the publication of the last two books of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons) - there were almost as many negative reviews as there were positive (and I will admit, I am done with that fantasy series at this point - I was not enjoying these last two books, and will stick with the HBO Game of Thrones series going forward, because it is AWESOME) .

In general, Armada was not as highly rated as Ready Player One.  I also saw many comments that this book was essentially the same story as The Last Starfighter (LS) or Ender's Game (EG).  After reading the book, that seems like comparing Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica (the old or the new - take your pick) and calling them the same story.

While there are some similarities, for me this story was fundamentally different, and expanded on the basic idea from both LS and EG.  I read both books in the 1980's when they were released while I was in high school, and I saw the LS movie shortly after I finished the book, and I love all three of them (I'm currently avoiding the EG movie given the bad reviews).  Of course, there are also elements from many other works of fiction, which is pretty much evident in most movies and books these days.

All of these observations weren't enough to make me not want to read Armada.  After all, if I had assumed that The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant was essentially the same good vs. evil fantasy trilogy as The Lord of the Rings, I would have missed out on a fantastic series, which overall I felt was a superior story, which became even more interesting when the second trilogy came out.

As with Ready Player One, I enjoyed the pop-culture references from my childhood.  There is something very satisfying about having some of your passions from your formative years being a major part of a work of fiction.  Those who grew up in the 1980's who have read either book will know what I am talking about.  Many of them are explicitly referenced, identifying the movie or video game of origin, but there are also some that you are just expected to know, and I have to admit there was at least one that I didn't recognize.  There are also some nice cameo appearances by various non-fictional carbon-based life forms as well.

Overall, I found this to be an engaging story, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.  I enjoyed this just as much as Ready Player One, and it was a fast and interesting read.  While I did speculate about where things were going, I wasn't always sure, and I was frequently wrong.  There were also some surprises.

I'm looking forward to to his next effort.

Bookstore Nostalgia

Ok, giving this blog thing a try.  It has taken me long enough to get here.  These are some random thoughts that have been in my head for quite a while.

I miss small bookstores.

From my teens until my early twenties, I had the following choices in my home town:

• Lauriat's
• B. Dalton (eventually replaced by a Waldenbooks)
• Borders
• Caldor (at least 2 or 3 full book cases of science fiction and fantasy)
• At least 3 used book stores (the only one which wasn't an independent store was Annie's Book Stop, which closed a few years back).

I used to be able to visit all of these in a weekend afternoon and be able to find something unique at each one.  Sure, there were plenty of books in common across all of them, but I could always find a good handful at each store that weren't at any of the others.

What is available today in the same town:

• Barnes & Noble - a very big store, but I find them lacking in some of the basics, especially in the science fiction and fantasy department.
• Target & WalMart (I guess you could call these modern equivalents of Caldor) - they carry some, but not much.

These days, even a giant like Barnes & Noble can't carry everything.  For that, you really need to rely on Amazon.  It is great that they carry so much, and you can glimpse inside the book and read the first few pages.  But, sometimes that isn't enough.

I like looking through the shelves of books.

I like seeing them all next to each other, being able to see all the covers.

I like to be able to pick the books up and flip through them, and read the backs, and compare the stories before making a choice of what I'm going to buy.

You can't really browse like that online - you kind of need to know what you want, or you can trust their recommendations.  But, it's not exactly the same as physically being there.  Bookstores also make it very easy to see new releases in hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback forms.  If it wasn't for book stores, I'm sure I would have missed out on republications of many books that had been out of print for decades.  For example, Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton series of books (Time's Last Gift, Hadon of Ancient Opar, The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, and the Secrets of the Nine trilogy) - I would not have come across these as easily online.

Used book stores are also a diminishing breed, but they are a treasure trove of out of print books!  I frequently find books that have been out of print for decades, and they are dirt cheap (try walking out of Barnes & Noble with 6 novels and paying less than $10 total).  One of my favorite spots is Annie's Book Stop in Laconia, New Hampshire.  For years, I have walked out of there with at least 5 books per-visit that I have been seeking for years, and getting them for $1.50 each.  I will admit, as the years progress it becomes more and more difficult - many of the books they have in stock I have already read or have no interest in - but there is almost always a diamond in the rough.

Of course, I could always use Powell's (www.powells.com) to find these items, and I have in the past for very specific items (for example, to finish off my Doc Savage collection of Bantam reprints, many of which are extremely hard to come by).  But, you have to know exactly what you are looking for.  Plus, Powell's is like Amazon - you can't browse effectively, and you have to pay shipping.  At a physical store, I can see everything and just happen across something interesting that I didn't even remember I was looking for (I came across many old books by Jack Chalker in this way - his books have become extremely rare after his passing).

I kind of have the same feeling about video stores.  It used to be nice to just walk into Blockbuster (or any of several other chain or independent stores too numerous to name) to just see what was available and rent it.  Sure, I've used Netflix, Redbox, and Amazon Instant video, but it just isn't the same.  The selection at Redbox is pretty small.  Netflix has a huge offering, but browsing just isn't the same.  Amazon Instant Video has a large offering as well, but I find the search ability clunky, limited, and very slow.  Also, when you need to rewind, you can't see the picture so you really can't tell how far back you have gone.  I've also had the video just stop occasionally, which kind of detracts from the viewing experience.  Not to mention the cost - older films are expensive just to rent from Amazon (by expensive, I mean it costs more than a DVD from Blockbuster used to be).  But, there is the positive side that you don't have the hassle of leaving your house to pickup or return the movie, especially during a snowstorm or torrential downpour.

I've recently found the local library to be a nice alternative to these other services.  Everything is on DVD, you can rent it for a week, and it only costs a dollar.  Of course, the waiting lists can be kind of long for a certain show with dragons which is known for killing off major characters on a regular basis.  But, you can't have everything.

There are definitely benefits to living in the technological age that we do, but I do fondly remember a simpler time.  I guess, like everything these days, books and movies are both more accessible and less accessible at the same time.  Regardless of the purchasing options, my love for books and movies will continue for the rest of my life.

Update:  May, 2016

I have recently come to miss the large number of book stores even more recently.  Entire shelves or entire bookcases are devoted to a particular author or series (George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series dominates an entire bookcase on its own, filled with hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback editions; the Tolkien's Lord of the Rings once took up almost as much space, and still takes up about two full shelves to this day, and the last movie came out over 12 years ago, and the last Hobbit movie was two years ago - these volumes don't appear to be selling like hotcakes).  Entire shelves are devoted to some series that I've never heard of, and the number of volumes never seems to diminish, while books by well known authors, that appear to sell out when they are in stock, are becoming harder and harder to find.