The Tale of Two Somnambulist reviews

It's not unusual for Peggy Hailey and I to both like the same book. Hell, we did start this group together out of our love for similar types of books. What is unusual is for us to both write reviews of the same book. That was exactly the case with Jonathan Barnes' first novel The Somnambulist. There are even similarities between our reviews.

We both quoted the same brilliant passage from the first chapter.

This book has no literary merit whatsoever. It is a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, peopled by unconvincing characters, written in drearily pedestrian prose, frequently ridiculous and wilfully bizarre. Needless to say, I doubt you'll believe a word of it.

And we both debunked the "pedestrian prose" pronouncement.

Peggy: The book delivers on everything that the opening paragraph promises (with the exception of "drearily pedestrian prose"): lurid, convoluted, implausible, frequently ridiculous, and willfully bizarre.

Me: The preamble is true but for the "pedestrian prose."

There are other similarities, like the weak ending and convoluted plot.

Peggy: Are the characters believable? No. Is the plot logical? No. Is the ending all wrapped up in a neat little package? Hell no. Does that matter? No. Can you stop reading it? No.

Me: Truly surprising plot twists and red herrings abound. Until the final act when the narrator cleverly reveals himself, the author presents one of the finest occult thrillers ever. After veering dangerously close to the absurd, the story ultimately concludes with a lyrically obtuse ending that creates confusion rather than clarity.

The bottom line is that we both loved the book.

Peggy: Somnambulist is a generous, sprawling, maddeningly convoluted story. It's also one that's not to be missed.

Me: Barnes crafts one of the finest first novels of the young century, creating an exciting, memorable book peopled with cultists, prostitutes, circus freaks, the undead, albinos, poets, time travelers, assassins, Lovecraftian creatures, and almost every Victorian-type nefarious nasty conceived.

In short, read it. Your only regret would be choosing not to.

Austin Starbucks now charges for wi-fi

Recently, Starbucks, the world-dominating coffee house chain, decided to have their Austin, TX shops join the rest of their national locations and charge for wi-fi access. For a mere $9.99, wireless access can be purchased for 24 hours through T-Mobile (it's free if you are already a T-Mobile user).

For y'all in other cities where there isn't a citywide free wi-fi initiative, it may seem like a good idea. But in Austin, where free wi-fi is available in almost every coffee shop (except Starbucks, of course), library branch, bar, Dairy Queen and over 300 other locations, it's a terrible idea. Hell, I often catch free wi-fi within my own house.

While Starbucks coffee is supposedly some of the best around, it's far more expensive and they don't offer free wi-fi. It will be interesting to see if this has any effect on their Austin business. Or how this might affect some of the local free wi-fi offering coffee shops. I hope Austin institutions such as Flight Path and Quack's see a jump in sales. Probably not, but a boy can hope.

The Torvalds-Simpsons Prize

The Torvalds-Simpsons Prize is an experiment to see if the Open-Source community can influence mainstream media to give our hero, the one and only Linus Torvalds, a cameo appearance on a regular episode of The Simpsons.

As an Open Source advocate, I'll be curious to see if this succeeds.

Popular Suspense Novelist Joe Hill Makes the Leap to Comics

IDW issued a press release announcing the new comic book series by Joe Hill.

Best-selling suspense writer Joe Hill is ready to unleash his all-new fantasy-horror comic series on readers in February 2008. A rising star in the horror genre, Hill's stories have ranged from serial killers and abducted children to supernatural novels, but his latest dark fantasy, Locke & Key, is being unleashed in comics form as an initial six-issue series from IDW Publishing

The release goes on:

"Hill is one of the most talented up-and-coming horror writers I've read in years," says Chris Ryall, publisher and editor-in-chief for IDW Publishing. "He has the unique ability to compress epic-like tales into a tightly developed series of brief episodes. This approach is nothing short of perfect for comics."

Hill's first short-fiction collection, 20th Century Ghosts, received the British Fantasy Award, The International Horror Guild Award, and the Bram Stoker Award for best collection. The Washington Post noted that "the collection should establish its author as a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction." Following the success of 20th Century Ghosts, Hill released Heart-Shaped Box, a New York Times bestseller that made the Publisher's Weekly 2007 Best Books of the Year list. The supernatural thriller about a merciless ghost is currently being adapted by Warner Brothers for a planned feature film release.

It ends with a description of the series and some info about IDW. What it doesn't mention is Hill's very famous literary father, Stephen King. Seeing how the relationship is matter of public record, why not mention it? Was IDW worried that it would somehow scare away potential readers? Did Hill ask them to not mention his father in the release? Or did King request that his name not be used? Damn odd...

Ray Harryhausen DVD reviews

In the current issue of The Austin Chronicle, I reviewed the two recent DVD re-releases of the classic Ray Harryhausen/Charles H. Schneer films It Came From Beneath Sea and Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers.

Handsomely packaged using the original movie posters, both reissues feature the remastered films in their original black and white and in newly crafted, Harryhausen-supervised, colorized versions. As Harryhausen mentions repeatedly throughout the extras, he and Schneer conceived the films in color but were limited financially. The colorization, far superior to the misguided Turner-sponsored attempts of the previous decade, sparkles and actually looks natural.
Continued...

Quantum of Solace.

... has been confirmed as the title of the next James Bond movie. According to the studio "QoS" (am I the first to give it an acronym ??) starts off about one hour after the conclusion of Casino Royale.

The title Quantum of Solace comes from a Fleming short story that was published as part of the original "For Your Eyes Only" collection, and is, in my opinion, perhaps one of the most boring James Bond stories that Fleming ever wrote.

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Back Issue Bondage

In stores now BACK ISSUE magazine #26, (the "Spies and Tough Guys" issue) from the fine folks at Twomorrows includes my 3,000 word article on the history of James Bond in Comics.

Priced at a reasonable $6.95 for 100 pages of informative articles and great art, it's well worth checking out.



If you can't find a copy in your local store you can order it online here, or even order the PDF version at the reduced price of just $2.95

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Suzanne Pleshette 1937-2008

Emily Hartley was one of my first TV loves. Even as a young boy, Emily, the wife of the sardonic Bob on The Bob Newhart Show, offered everything I wanted in a wife. Intelligent, patient, opinionated, and sexy. (Luckily as an adult, I achieved that one particular dream.)

Of course, it wasn't Emily but rather the woman who brilliantly portrayed her, Suzanne Pleshette. Pleshette's most dynamic and memorable feature was her distinctive raspy voice. Oddly, her only voice over work was in the completely forgettable Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

The Bob Newhart Show was far from her only acting. For my essay on steampunk in pop culture for the forthcoming anthology Steampunk, I re-watched the several hours of that greatest of all steampunk television shows, The Wild Wild West. Much to my pleasant surprise, Pleshette played the female guest star on the seminal show's first episode. This certainly wasn't her first acting experience. Pleshette was in The Birds and dozens of other TV shows including Have Gun Will Travel, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Dr. Kildare. But for most, she will always be remembered as Emily Hartley.

Suzanne Pleshette, 70, died of respiratory failure Saturday evening.

Draw, Iron Artist, Draw

Yesterday evening the Austin Museum of Art hosted an event they called Draw, Iron Artist, Draw. This is how the museum's website described it:

For this live drawing competition, Austin artists pay homage to two cultural phenomena: first to Roy Lichtenstein's comic-inspired prints, on view at AMOA, and second, to Iron Chef, the Food Network program with a cultish following. Artists have one hour to create comics based on audience suggestions, and the crowd determines the Iron Artist Champion. Coldtown Theater improvisation will emcee, referee, and provide live musical accompaniment.

The artists competing were:

Dat Boi Drew- The Austin Chronicle Reader's Poll 2007 tie for Best Graphic Artist

Kristin Hogan- has created the comic Dead Squirrel Girl since 1997 with her sister Katie.

Rob Osborne--conquering the comic scene with 1000 Steps to World Domination.

Rivkah--artist, writer, creator of manga comic Steadybeat.

So what was it like?

I arrived at the venue just on the 7:00pm start time and was amazed to find that the room was already standing room only. In fact it was so packed I could only just squeeze in.

The four artists were seated in the middle of, Kristin and Rob on one long table with Rivkah and Drew on another facing them. Between the tables was a small walk way for the presenters and the video camera man to walk. Everyone else could roam around as they pleased, either watch the artists work in person by peering over their shoulders, or sit or watch the art unfold on a large screen set up on one side of the room.

Danger artists at work - Standing Room Only!

The events kicked off with a "quote" round where a member of the audience had to come up with a random quote, while the artists had just two minutes to come up with a sketch to illustrate the quote. The result of this round was decided by popular vote. Next up random polling of the audience resulted in a list of various household items, celebrities, fictional characters and animals. Once again the time limit was two minutes and the contestants had to fit as many things from the list into a single drawing. Each item from the list scored points.

Next up was my favorite round. The artists were each asked to start drawing a hat. While they were sketching the hosts polled the audience for other random suggestions to be incorporated as the sketching went on. Points were scored for each item you managed to include. Of course as the time limit got closer the suggestions came quicker and the sketching more frantic.

Rob Osborne's ocotopus legged Lincoln fights off hordes of ballet dancers parachuting from an airship,...
.... while he eats a waffle! (You had to be there!)

The penultimate round was a team event with each table outdoing each other to collaborate on a four panel story. Of course the artists had to swap after each panel withe the subject of the panels being chosen at random from the watching crowd.

The final round gave the artists the luxury of a full 15 minutes to interpret one of any of three movies selected by the audience.

Kristin Hogan decides to merge Willy Wonka, Dumbo and Blue Velvet into a single scene during the final "movie" round.

The result again was up for popular vote. It ended up being a tie between Rob Osborne and Rivkah with Rivkah taking the grand prize of a "quick draw holster" (a gun holster filled with pens) on a recount.

Winner Rivkah hard at work under the watchful eye of the video camera.

At one stage I did a quick head count and estimated that there was between 150 and 200 people at the event, and the great thing was - it wasn't the usual Austin comics scene crowd. This was full of families (kids to grandparents), and a wide range of folks of all ages. This was comics gone mainstream popular art event.

Hopefully it will become an annual thing.

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More to come in '07

USA Today lists what it considers to be the top nine "destination" bookstores in the US. I've visited four of these (the ones in bold), but the article has one major flaw - the absence of our own Book People from the list.

The stores mentioned are:

Books & Books (Coral Gables, FL.)
City Light Books (San Francisco, CA.)
Elliot Bay Book Co. (Seattle. WA.)
Politics & Prose (Washington DC)
Powell's City of Books (Portland, OR)
Prairie Lights (Iowa City)
Tattered Cover (Denver CO.)
That Bookstore in Blytheville (Blytheville, AR)
The Strand (New York, NY.)

The Sciborg That Won't Die

Last night while mindlessly flipping through channels, I discovered that Sciborg Sam has his own Austin cable access show. I first met Sam Alexander years ago while a buyer at Book People when he was hawking his self-published novel Sciborg Sam and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. He claimed the book was factual and actually happened to him. The Amazon book description presents a slightly different view.

The first chapter of this book is actually a term paper for an astronomy class that I took at the University of Texas at Austin. The book Contact by Carl Sagan was required additional reading for the class. Sinhis sitece that book was science fiction, I twisted my professor's arm into letting me write a science fiction term paper. He said that I would still have to do all the research that the other students were doing for their papers. It was a deal, so thus, the bibliography is in the back. I used the name of my alter ego, Sciborg Sam, for the hero.

I would dress up in my cyborg get up on Halloween and call myself Sciborg Sam. The journey starts off as Sciborg Sam enters into the cosmic wormhole destined for a star system called Seventy Virginis which actually has been discovered to have a planet in orbit that is four times the size of Jupiter (discovered in 1996). The planets that he goes to are farther out in the habitable zone (where water is in a liquid state).

Turns out Sam's "talents" go beyond writing. He fronts Sciborg & The Robopimps. They even released a cd, Space Junk Funk.

Six songs of the most Rocking music you will ever hear. It will make you slinky slide in the Podunk. Sliver around a bit more till you work your Jelly so good that its understood. Got to get the Groove on and Bang your Head ta get some.

On his site Sam also promotes his own artwork and offers (for a price) to make similar space costumes for others.

Similar to the original book, the whole site presents an amateur, half-ass affair. Misspellings and broken links abound. The graphical layout is a horrible, presenting a chaotic mess.

I thought the book would have been the final word on Sciborg Sam. I guess tenacity does count for something.

THE RIDER HAGGARD SOCIETY ANNUAL RIDER SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2008

Cool contest from the Rider Haggard Society.

Rider Haggard became famous for his adventure stories, often set in remote parts of the world and in historical settings. Often these included the themes of reincarnation, friendship in adversity and a very modern attitude to other races.

THEME: Entrants are invited to write a short story based on one element of Rider Haggard's story-telling skills. For not conversant with his style, it can be best described in brief as mainly in the oral tradition, as if he was seated at a camp-fire telling the story to friends.

REQUIREMENTS: You are not asked to write like Haggard but you are asked to meet the following two criteria:
a) a story that reads as if it is being narrated to a group of friends
b) one element from: reincarnation or a great discovery OR a first contact with a different culture.

Entry fee of £8 per entry. Payable to Roger Allen.

Send all entries to Roger Allen, 27 Deneholm. Whitley Bay NE25 9AU. All enquiries via rb27allen@blueyonder.co.uk

DEADLINE: 30th March 2008

JUDGING: the editor and two members of the society will judge independently following a short-listing by the editor. The panel's decision will be final.

PRIZE: Copies of the winning (and possibly other) entrants will be circulated in the Rider Haggard Society Journal which has members world-wide and made available to all members.
: A first prize of £200 and a year's free membership of the Society.
: 5 runners- up will receive a year's free membership .
All entrants will be given a special offer with regard to the Society and Haggard books.

Not a huge financial prize, but where else are you encouraged to write a Haggard-style story?

Check out the award site for all the particulars.

Forthcoming Titles

At our recent meeting we determined our titles through April.

• February 13 The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
• March 12 Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link
• April 9 Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard

Hope to see everyone at our next meeting. For more details visit the Dark Forces home page.

A great reason to have a passport

Another list from a British newspaper, this time the Guardian's list of 10 great bookstores around the world. 

That's El Ateneo in Buenos Aires on the top and the Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht in the Netherlands on bottom. 

I like my grimy small town used bookshops as much as the next person, but "Wow!" is all I can say to these places. 

The 50 greatest British writers since 1945

From The Times:

What better way to start the year than with an argument? The Times has decided to present you with a ranking of whom they consider the best postwar British writers, and are awaiting your responses.

They are many authors of particular interest to this group:

50. Michael Moorcock
Most of Moorcock’s 80-plus novels are unashamedly pulp. But he wins his place for a series of genre-crossing novels linked by a taste for metafictional devices — he often appears in them himself and characters occur and recur in “historical” and “fantasy” guises. Perhaps his best work, Mother London, is a history of the capital from the Blitz, and blazed a trail picked up by Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd.

43. Philip Pullman
Powerful, passionate and superbly plotted, [His Dark Materials] are modern classics, as appealing to adults as to children.

42. J. K. Rowling
With its satires on politics, education and the media, though, her world is far from simplistic. These are well-told stories that will enthral, amuse, scare and delight children for generations to come.

38. Iain Banks
An entertaining and outspoken writer, at 53 Banks still has something of the enfant terrible about him.

30. John Fowles
Those who prefer their prose without fancy textual tricks may blame John Fowles for the colourful mess that was postmodernism.

29. Alasdair Gray
A debut novelist might hope to be called promising, but to be heralded as “the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott” is more than most could hope for.

28. Alan Garner
Long before Philip Pullman and J. K. Rowling there was a children’s author who crossed the boundaries between real and imaginary worlds — and between a young and an adult readership. Alan Garner’s writing is firmly rooted in the Cheshire landscape that remains his home and draws freely on myths and legends.

27. J. G. Ballard
The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, enthused by more than just the likeness of their names, hailed Crash as the first great postmodern novel.

18. Mervyn Peake
The fantastical English Bildungsroman with crossover appeal is nothing new: long before Harry and Hogwarts, Peake gave us Titus Groan and Gormenghast. He also gave us paintings, illustrations (including of Alice in Wonderland) poems, plays and photographs.

16. Roald Dahl
Famous both as an adult short-story writer (whose Tales of the Unexpected were televised in the 1980s) and a screenwriter, Dahl’s children’s novels have long been family favourites.

14. Ian Fleming
In 1944, as the war reached its climax Ian Fleming, an officer in Navy Intelligence, told a friend: “I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories.” And that is exactly what he did.

11. C. S. Lewis
He once quipped that “any amount of theology can now be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance”. But although Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia are imbued with Christian allegory, the seven books are far more fantastical than the purely religious realms to which they are sometimes confined.

10. Angela Carter
[W]ho can resist The Bloody Chamber? These visceral excisions of the juiciest, darkest parts of favourite fairytales reveal a literary sorceress to be reckoned with.

6. J. R. R. Tolkien
Tolkien’s themes of fellowship, sacrifice and the importance of the natural world are traceable to his experiences in the First World War, as well as to a love of folklore and of myth.

5. Doris Lessing
She is a writer who can smell a storm brewing. The Golden Notebook, published in 1962, is one of the earliest and greatest texts of the modern feminist movement. Its heroine, Anna Wulf, is a writer in crisis, recording her life in a series of coloured notebooks. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lessing used science fiction as a medium for exploring moral and political ideas. She did not, however, abandon realism — Love, Again (1996) is a brilliantly disturbing dismemberment of romantic love.

2. George Orwell
A writer ceases to be iconoclastic and becomes iconic when he is subsumed into the fabric of the society that he criticises.

The complete list.

I Shall Anoint You the Awesomest of the Year

My contribution to The Austin Chronicle's best books of the year feature:

Not necessarily the best but definitely the most interesting and entertaining book of the year, I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! (Fantagraphics) introduced a new generation to largely forgotten artist Fletcher Hanks' strange work. Soon after the April 1938 premiere of Superman in Action Comics No. 1, new publishers sprang up and needed content for the suddenly popular comic book. Almost anyone who could draw landed a job in the burgeoning industry. During this mad scramble, Hanks, who obviously understood little about anatomy, began publishing often-crude but always-dynamic stories in a variety of obscure publications such as Fantastic, Jungle, Fight, and Big Three Comics. The outlandish stories usually featured intergalactic protectors who meted out justice and vengeance upon the guilty like some cosmically powered Shadows. Complete with Paul Karasik's insightful, illustrated afterword, the fascinating and somewhat freakish I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! successfully rescues Hanks from the purgatory of forgotten creators and restores his rightful place among the pantheon of the bizarre.

Sad News

Knopf has just announced that George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman series, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 82. If you're a fan of historical fiction, unrepentant rogues, and/or funny books, you should definitely give the Flashman series a try.