A Descent into Dullness

Started off last month by finishing the second half of the Dan Abnett's 3rd Gaunt's Ghosts omnibi, "The Lost" with Armour of Contempt on the 1st and Only in Death on the 2nd. The first is set during the reclamation of Gereon from Traitor General and is split in focus between a group led by Gaunt looking to hook-up with the remains of the resistance movement and a young Ghost recruit, the first next generation unit member. The latter book is another Outnumbered Defenders of the Castle type story...

On the 3rd was Neil Gaiman & Michael Reave's Interworld, a potential television pilot expanded into almost a novel. Not a terrible book, but I was annoyed I paid over 8 bucks for something so damn short and an e-book at that...

I got Cowl by Neal Asher thinking it was another of his Human Polity books. But instead its about warring groups of time travelers and a big nasty 5-dimensional monster thing. Finished on the 6th...

Then another of L.E. Modesitt, Jr's "Recluse" novels on the 8th, the Death of Chaos. This one brings back the lead characters from the first and fourth books, with more tiny, belaguered countries trying to hold off bigger, meaner, Chaos-aided countries...

On the 9th finally got to the one Christopher Moore book I was missing, The Stupidest Angel. Which returns to Pine Cove and adds Tucker Case from Island of the Sequined Love Nun for a story of murder, zombies and a Christmas miracle...

After that I tried a couple historicals by Simon Scarrow, the Eagle's Conquest and When the Ealge Hunts. Both are part of a series set the 1st century Roman invasion of Britain and follow several officers in the 2nd Legion. Ok books, but they didn't really grab hold of me so that I'll look for the rest of the series...

Also reread some Pratchett in February, mostly form getting an urge by reading his tvtropes pages during a slow work night. I Shall Wear Midnight on the 13th and Unseen Academicals on the 16th...

In between I read the Heroes the latest from Joe Abercrombie, another masterpiece from the mud & blood area of low-fantasy. Though still a happier ending then the original trilogy...

On the 20th finished Messiah, the finale to S. Andrew Swann's Moreau /Hostile Takeover/ Apotheosis series. And on the one hand its got a literal deus ex finish that I found annoying even as a deist. I can easily see it as being an Oh Fuck You moment for others reading. But on the other hand the book has a time-cloned lesbian twin-cest. Which might possibly make it one of the greatest things ever written...

After that was some urban fantasy with Tanya Huff's Enchantment Emporium on the 21st. And I've got to say I have a hard time thinking of a book I enjoyed like this one while really, really hating the majority of the "good" guys in it. And not because they were just less evil as much as many of them were such total assholes...

Finished a pair of anthologies on the 22nd. First the most recent Ring of Fire e-book anthology Grantville Gazette XXXIII. Still nothing new for Russia or the Sewing Circle/Barbie Constortium but a little bit for the Northwest colony story line. And more of a Swedish/American colony mission to keep the dodo from going extinct. And the latter collection was another supers anthology, Masked edited by Lou Anders. The main draw here is that the majority of the writers are full-time comic pros. Which may be why this collection is above par for the sub-genre...

Another e-book anthology on the 24th, with Tamora Pierce's Tortall & Other Lands. Several excellent pieces here, especially for fans of Pierce...

On the 26th I finished Joe Lansdale's Flaming Zeppellins which collects Zepellins West and Flaming London. A little bit of pulp, with a dash of steampunk and then mixed over some historical fiction. So you get a pair of stories that have an intelligent seal, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Martian invaders, the Island of Dr. Moreau and more. The main flaw I found was Lansdale's use of partial pseudonyms for some of the fictional characters...

On the 27th I finished up relative newcomer Peter Brett's the Warded Man fantasy. With a setting where humanity hides in the night behind magical wards from hordes of killer demons. I really only had two problems with this first book. One the false-Middle Eastern/pseudo-Moslem culture with its whole treating women like chattel that must be protected feels like an overused cliche at this point. And two there is an off panel gang rape of one character in the final third that feels completely and utterly pointless...

Finished up the month with Joe Haldeman's Starbound, the sequel to his Marsbound. Not much in the way of action, more in the way of exploration scifi and charater interaction...

Total books: 19

Swamp Thing: The Curse written by Alan Moore, art by Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, Alfredo Alcala or Ron Randall, colors by Tatjana Wood, letters by John Costanza


Sandman: A Game of You written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt, Stan Woch and Dick Giordano, letters by Todd Klein and colors by Danny Vozzo


Animal Man: Deus Ex Machina written by Grant Morrison, pencils by Chas Truog and Paris Cullins, inks by Doug Hazlewood, Mark Farmer, Steve Montano, colors by Tatjana Wood, letters by John Costanza

So the original intention here was to do a series of posts over January covering various aspects and noteworthy series of DC's Vertigo imprint. Then I got laid out by the plague for most of two weeks. And I realized I didn't want to do that much work. Oh well, que sera sera. But here is the post that was meant for last Sunday...

DC's Vertigo imprint is one meant to showcase their creative talent. Allowing writers to develop stories outside the super-hero box and targeted at more mature audiences. Helped into creation by three titles with their root's firmly in DC's main universe and all pre-dating the imprint. Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Alan Moore's legendary run on Swamp Thing and Grant Morrison's revival of Animal Man...

We'll start with Swampy. A simple enough tragic hero origin. Scientist is mutated by explosion and chemical exposure into plant monster. Ends up defending an area of Louisana swamp from various threats, many of them supernatural in origin. And then Alan Moore takes the title and makes it into one of the most respected horror titles in years. In The Curse Moore further distances the title character from it's human origins, creating an elemental creature that comes into existence throughout history. And he also introduces the English mystic and general all-around asshole John Constantine. A character whose own book is approaching its 300th issue...

One of Grant Morrison's earliest writing gigs for DC was on Animal Man. A z-list hero with vague "animal" powers. Over twenty-six issues Morrison would use the character to explore themes of religion, revenge, animal rights, time travel and the meta-story aspects of DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths". All culminating in volume 3. Where the titular hero goes after the conspiracy that murdered his family and then ends up meeting the person behind all the grief and angst in his life. Grant Morrison. A bit heavy-handed at points, but here you can see the early concepts that Morrison will become best known for...

And finally Neil Gaiman's epic run on Sandman. Close to a decade's worth of stories about stories, modern and ancient fables and explorations of the fantastic. And from that, one of my favorite arcs is collected in "A Game of You". Minor character Barbie from "A Doll's House" takes center stage. A recent divorcee after the culminating events of that storyline, Barbie is desperate to remake herself. Face painting, bohemian friends and single life in New York. Which comes to a halt when one of her childhood imaginary friends dies at her feet in the streets of New York. Soon Barbie is gone, a traveling into the fantasy kingdom from her childhood dreams. A realm taken over by the malevolent being known as The Cuckoo. Who has minions willing to attack Barbie's neighbors in the "real" world to keep them from helping her...

The BBC adaptation of the Gaiman book. As always with BBC productions the FX fall under the less is more rule. But it still captures the somewhat otherworldly feel for London Below. And the various actors do a fine job of capturing the feel of the characters. Especially Richard, Carabas, Mr. Croup and Vandemere, Hunter and Islington. Though for some reason they changed the Beast of London from a boar to a bull...

The end is a little deus ex, but is supposed to have a fairy tale feel to it so thats ok. And I do understand why the understated low-key final act from the book wouldn't have worked as well in a movie. Not that the more cliche ending in the movie is BAD, its not. And I did like the extended sequence on the boat with DeNiro. Quite a lovely movie...

Quote:

(Whenever I notice that my name isn't on the list of banned and challenged authors, I feel faintly like I'm letting the side down. Although I suspect all I'd have to do to get on the list is to write a book about naked, bisexual, hard-swearing wizards who drink a lot while disparaging the Second Amendment, and I'd be home and dry.)

 

I'd buy this book.