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Long Hot Summoning (The Keeper Chronicles #3) - by Tanya Huff

The third and, to date, final book in The Keeper Chronicles series starts with Diana, Claire's younger and more powerful sister, graduating from High School.  Immediately thereafter she becomes a Keeper and receives her first summons; to a shopping mall where someone (something, actually) has created a segue that will allow all manner of nastiness to creep over from the Otherside.

Although she is the most powerful Keeper of them all, Diana is quick to realize that she will need help closing down the segue and enlists the aide of Claire to do so.  But doing so is a lot more complicated than it seems, at first, and Diana and Claire have to overcome various obstacles - most of them silly, some of them spooky - before they can shut down the segue.

Tanya Huff's Summon the Keeper remains one of my favorite contemporary/comedic fantasy novels.  I thought that the second book in the series, appropriately titled The Second Summoning, was a fun read, just not quite as much fun as Summon the Keeper; Long Hot Summoning falls somewhere between the two.  It is more fun than The Second Summoning, but not nearly as much fun as Summon the Keeper.

There are two reasons for this, I think.  The first being that Summon the Keeper had a serial feel to it.  Although there was a primary story, there were also several secondary stories to keep things fresh and interesting, as well as Claire and Dean distracted.  Both The Second Summoning and Long Hot Summoning focus almost entirely on one story arc.  Of the two, The Second Summoning suffered the most, for there were no humorous distractions for Claire and Dean as they struggled with their post-coital relationship issues.  Granted, one would be more than a little performance shy if the power of the, uh, coupling summoned an angel into being.

Huff wisely keeps the obstacles somewhat lighter in Long Hot Summoning.  Dean and Austin are distracted by a life force sucking mummy, while Claire is off assisting Diana and Sam in saving the world from the segue; something that brings me to the second reason why both follow-up novels lack the comedic zest of the first book.

Claire, Dean, and Austin are no longer the primary characters in the series.  Diana and Sam (Diana's cat companion) are.  Sad to say, but the latter are nowhere near as interesting as the former; although Sam does have his moments, because he is a cat.

Perhaps it is my being a parent of a teenager, but I just found Diana far too irritating, irresponsible, and immature to really care all that much about.  I just wanted her to grow up and take her responsibilities as Keeper seriously.  Even worse is her budding romance with a teen turned Elf named Kris.  It is a romance without heart, for Diana and Kris do no have much chemistry.

Saving the book are its supporting characters: Claire, Dean, and Austin, as well as the above mentioned soul sucking mummy and her enslaved lover.  Then there is this Steve Irwin style archaeologist desperate to come to the enslaved lover's rescue, and a teenaged King Arthur archetype.  I could have read about them for another hundred pages, just as long as Diana was moved into the background, where she belongs.

Just After Sunset: Stories - by Stephen King

As I nibbled away at Just After Sunset, I kept thinking about a comment that Stephen King made during an interview on the radio program Fresh Air.  He said, with his trademark candor, that he was very well aware that his creative hot streak was over, and that it would not be heating up again, ever.  The reason that I kept thinking about that comment was due to the fact so many of the stories collected in this book are tired rehashes of material King has done before, and far better.

The best two examples of just how cold that creative hot steak has become, came early in the anthology.  The Gingerbread Girl covers the exact same ground as Misery and the almost identical Lunch at the Gotham Cafe, while Rest Stop is just a bland and suspense free recycling of themes King explored to far greater effect in The Dark Half.  Other examples are the slight to the point of pointlessness Harvey's Dream and Graduation Afternoon.  Dream, with a little effort, could have been shaped into something more than the wasted opportunity that it is; but Graduation Afternoon, from start to finish, is the kind of tired narrative cliche one would expect from a High School student, not a seasoned professional of King's caliber.

Willa and Ayana are middle of the road disappointments.  The former is a ghost story that is far too heavy handed to achieve the emotional resonance it clearly is striving for, while the latter is a "miracle worker" fantasy that is far too light handed to satisfy.  The other middle of the road story is The Cat from Hell, a "Golden Oldie" from King's hot streak era that will be familiar to any that have seen Tales from the Darkside: The Movie.  It is an entertaining tale, both not a particularly memorable one.

The book perked up when I finally reached the suspenseful fantasy thriller, Stationary Bike, an enthusiastic "Fuck You" to all those pieces of exercise equipment (and exercise junkies) that are clogging up those ubiquitous Fitness Centers out there.  The Things They Left Behind packs the emotional punch that is missing from the above mentioned stories and is a great meditation on survivor's guilt and the need for "closure."  The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates is a fine little story that sits somewhere between Willa and The Things They Left Behind.

But the crown jewel of the book is N., which is, flat out, the collection's best offering.  A spooky slow burn of a nightmare that is a gorgeous narrative homage to Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and the celebrated mythology created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Which leaves A Very Tight Place, the book's final yarn.  The less said about this nauseating story of a man forced to work is way out of the business end of one of those Port-O-Sans, the better.  It's disgusting, nasty, gross, and very well written.  Stephen King is every bit as sick in the head as he is talented, which is why I always look forward to reading him.  Make of that comment what you will.

Mistborn Volume I: The Final Empire - by Brandon Sanderson

For an epic fantasy that feels like it has been cobbled together from a variety of different sources (during one book club discussion one member described a pivotal moment as one character "going all Obi-Wan," and the Lord Ruler and his breeding program feel like something that was lifted out of God Emperor of Dune) Brandon Sanderson's The Final Empire reads fresh, thanks in large part to a likable cast of underdogs and several rousing actions sequences. The familiar yet tasty concoction moves fast and smooth, making this 643 page novel read as if it were 100 to 200 pages shorter.

Street urchin Vin has an unique gift for soothing the emotions of those around her.  A gift that is quite useful to the abusive con man that Vin's missing brother has left her a slave to.  But Vin's gift is so much more than what it appears to be.  She is actually an Allomancer, what some call a Mistborn.  Vin can, after ingesting them, "burn" various types of metals that gift her, depending on the metal being "burned," with increased strength, stamina, vision, hearing, and even some impressive telekinetic ability.

There is just one minor problem, Vin is a half breed.  The child of a coupling between a nobleman and slave.  That means certain death if she were ever to be discovered by those that wield the power of the Lord Ruler, a ruthless and apparently immortal dictator bestowed with the magical powers of a God.

The Lord Ruler has ruled for one thousand years and there are, among the slave laborers, those feel that has been one thousand years too many.  Vin becomes a key figure in one charismatic rebel's plan for overthrowing the Lord Ruler's "Final Empire" and bringing freedom to those that have forgotten it.

Okay, enough of the recap.  Sanderson, in addition to the aforementioned likable cast of characters and rousing action sequences, has also done a terrific job of world building.  The barren wasteland and ash cloaked city that are The Final Empire's settings read as if Sanderson were describing actual locations.  The cutthroat politicking that the nobility masquerades as a series of "frivolous" fancy dress balls, ones that Vin is required to infiltrate as a spy for the rebellion, has enough credible skulduggery to maintain a level of interest holding tension.

While I am on the subject of tension, Sanderson understands perfectly that a hero (or heroine) is only as good as the villain he or she must face.  The Lord Ruler is not the only evil in his Final Empire.  There are also the Inquisitors, a terrifying group of metal spike-eyed and torture loving sadists that seem to be every bit as indestructible as they are murderous.  Sanderson also understands that less is more and keeps the Inquisitors inexorable chasing down of the rebels to a potent minimum, so they never stop being utterly terrifying.  All of it makes for an exciting and suspenseful story that, despite being the first in a trilogy, builds to an exciting and emotionally satisfying conclusion.

A Princess of Mars - by Edgar Rice Burroughs

It has been awhile since I have read a book that has gone of its narrative rails as badly as Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars; the first story in the John Carter of Mars series and, according to the author bio at the back of the book, the very first novel that Burroughs ever wrote.

Boy, does it ever show.

A Princess of Mars is filled with all sorts of first time writer mistakes.  Telling instead of showing, needless info dump digressions that have nothing to do with what is currently going on in the story, and ham fisted deus ex machina contrivances that are presented as if they were startling plot twists.

I enjoyed the first two books in Buroughs' Tarzan series and was quite looking forward to reading this early space opera adventure.  But those Tarzan books were from a seasoned Burroughs at the top of his story telling game.  A Princess of Mars is Burroughs just getting started.

Despite the above listed narrative faults, there are some pulp delights to be found in the book.  Burroughs' imaginary Martian world is a vivid one, populated with all manner of delightful flora and vicious fauna, and his impressive skill at choreographing larger than life action scenes is easy to see, even at this, the earliest stage in his legendary writing career.

Burroughs did have me for most of the book, when Carter is a captive learning the ways of the brutal Thark, the Green Men of Mars.   That is when A Princess of Mars is basically a western set on another world.  But then Carter escapes, is recaptured by a different tribe of Green Men, escapes yet again and then sets off on a Wizard of Oz style road trip that leads to his becoming embroiled in a war between the two humanoid societies on Mars.  Burroughs piles far too many wild details upon wild details (atmosphere generators, aerial warplanes, etc) that the story becomes a jumble of stuff.  The reader does not experience the story, he or she is simply pelted with it.

By the end, though, I had learned what a tremendous debt the climax of Total Recall owes to A Princess of Mars.

The Runelords Volume One: The Sum of All Men - by David Farland

Prince Gaborn Val Orden of Castle Mystarria has come to Castle Sylvarresta to ask for the hand of Princess Iome in marriage, so that two powerful kingdoms can be joined by more than the friendship of their respective Kings.  Gaborn arrives too late, for Raj Ahten, a Wolf Lord from the Southern Kingdoms, has begun a war of conquest in the North, and Castle Sylvarresta has come under attack.

The first skirmish in what looks to be a long battle between the forces of Good (Earth & Water) and Evil (Fire & Air) is waged in The Sum of All Men, the first volume in David Farland's epic fantasy series.  (Volume eight will be released this fall.) 

As a first novel in a much larger series, Sum does an excellent job of introducing the primary characters and the magical world that they live in.  When I closed the book, both the characters and their kingdoms and battlefields felt real to me.  They felt so real, in fact, that certain sections were difficult to read.  The forces of Good seemed, at times, to be nothing more than punching bags for the forces of Evil to toy with.  Raj Ahten, the series heavy, is truly, and apparently irredeemably, Evil, and he comes to enjoy the suffering he brings upon the novel's numerous sympathetic characters.

Serving as Luke Skywalker to Ahten's Emperor Palpatine is Prince Gaborn, the young hero destined to become the new Earth King and who is tasked with waging war against the enemies of the Earth. Unfortunately Gaborn's crown does not come with an instruction manual, so the newly crowned Earth King only has his instincts to go by.  He makes far too many snap judgments that result in costly mistakes both on and off of the battlefield.  It's a good thing that his crown does come with a Yoda type Earth Wizard to help him with advice and some much needed moral support.

Gaborn is a quick study and a good and decent man with strong leadership abilities. When Volume One reaches its emotionally satisfying conclusion, one capped with the inevitable cliffhanger to wet the reader's appetite for Volume Two, Gaborn is fast becoming the King he is required to be.

As a stand alone story - for The Sum of All Men could, and will, be read as such by some - the cliffhanger comes only after Farland delivers a solid conclusion to his introductory story.  So you won't finish the book feeling as if you have wasted your time reading nothing more than a lengthy teaser for a novel you aren't interested in reading.  I think that you will be interested in reading it, though, and soon.

Get Off the Unicorn - by Anne McCaffrey

Fourteen stories of the future and the fantastic from the mind of McCaffrey.  Anne, that is.

Just a book or so down the Science Fiction Book Review thread I mentioned the nibble factor.  Anthologies are great nibble books, especially if the anthology is a themed one and the reader finds himself or herself reading story after story on the same subject matter.

While that is certainly not the case with Anne McCaffrey's Get Off the Unicorn - while some of the stories do have some very strong connective links, they all are meant to stand alone - I nonetheless found myself setting the book down and picking others up.  I do not think that this reflects on the quality of the book the way it did on Contagious, but just the fragmented nature of anthologies themselves.  Sometimes it is better to sip, than it is to gulp.

Like many a writer, McCaffrey will expand short stories into larger, novel length narratives.  Something that happened to the book's first two offerings, The Lady in the Tower and A Meeting of Minds.  Although that was not the case when this book was first published 32 years ago.  Has it really been that long?  While I enjoyed those two stories, and will get around to reading the novels they inspired "some day," I found the world of Daughter and Dull Drums and the characters that inhabit them far, far more interesting.  I can only hope that McCaffrey has also gotten around to finding a way of expanding those stories into a larger story that I can spend a few days snuggled inside of.

Changeling left me cold on the story front and depressed on the political front.  Gay rights still have a very long way to go to avoid the scenario described within the story's pages.

Weather on Welladay makes the short list for my favorite story in the book.  It's a fun little adventure mystery set on a water planet beset by violent storms and very bad weather.  Unfortunately The Thorns of Barevi, the story that follows Welladay, is my least favorite.  I have issues with rape themed stories and the heroine finding herself reluctantly enjoying her "coerced seduction" left a sour taste in my mouth.

The book rebounded nicely with the remaining stories in the book.  Horse from a Different Sea is a humorous story about a rather unique method of alien infiltration.  Great Canine Chorus is another on my favorite story in the book list.  It's a touching tale of a well meaning cop, and abused and neglected psychic girl going wrong, and dogs.  Lots and lots of dogs.  Finder's Keeper, A Proper Santa Claus, and The Smallest Dragon Boy are all variations on the coming of age story.  Each is good, but Santa Claus (with its original downbeat ending restored to powerful effect) is the best of the bunch.  

Closing out the book are Apple, which is flat out the best story in the book, and Honeymoon, which McCaffrey warns newcomers they will not fully understand without having read The Ship Who Sang. I agree with that comment wholeheartedly.

For those, like me, that have not read the novels of Anne McCaffrey, but are interested in doing so, but do not know where to begin.  Get Off the Unicorn is the perfect sampler to get directions to the best places to do so.

Dies the Fire - by S.M. Stirling

On Tuesday, March17th, 1998, the world Changed.  The power went out in everything.  Cars stopped running, airplanes fell from the sky, phones and radios were silent, and, as cities began to burn to the ground, law enforcement officers, private citizens, and ruthless thugs were shocked to find that gunpowder no longer worked.  In one horrifying instant, the 20th century was switched off...permanently.

But from the ashes of the Old World, a new kind of world begins to grow. 

Dies The Fire scratched my post-apocalyptic itch, but good.  The book is packed with plenty of pulse pounding action, heroes that manage to be both larger than life and true to it, and the narrative builds a world that I look forward to visiting again and again.  (But one I certainly would not want to live in full time.)

It's a good thing, then, that the book is the first part of a trilogy.  If it wasn't, then I would be far more disgruntled with the abrupt ending than simply eager to find out what happens in the next book. 

My biggest complaint is that the saga's primary villain, a murderous professor that seizes control of Portland, Oregon and begins forming a conquering army of former street gangs, is only introduced, not developed beyond being a menacing background figure.  Most of the book is focused on getting the primary heroes situated and their various communities developed.

Speaking of focus, I would have liked to have seen a bit more focus on the actual apocalypse.  Having a character or two actually experience the hell of the collapsing major cities would have fleshed out the disaster to a point where it feels truly epic.  Perhaps in the next book.

A Fate Worse Than Dragons - by John Moore

Terry, a knight of humble means in the Kingdom of Medula, has undertaken a dangerous challenge in order to win the hand of his beloved Princess Gloria.  He has hunted down and killed a Dragon.

But there is a problem...a border dispute with the neighboring Kingdom of Oblongata has been resolved to Terry's disadvantage.  Instead of winning the hand of his beloved Princess Gloria, Terry has won the hand of Crazy Princess Jane.  Rather than marry Jane, Terry boasts that his squire Huggins actually slew the Dragon.  Good thing that Huggins is too drunk to argue.

But there is yet another problem...Princess Gloria has been assigned to a marriage.  Rather than marry someone other than her beloved Terry, Gloria concocts a kidnapping from which Terry will rescue her.

But there is yet another problem...Gloria is kidnapped for real and Terry finds himself partnered with Gloria's chosen fiance.

It's going to be a long adventure for all involved.

The best - and only - descriptive word that came to my mind while reading John Moore's A Fate Worse Than Dragons was cute.  Other words that I could use would be light, frothy, and funny.  The book was so funny that it made me laugh out loud often enough to draw a "You sure are laughing a lot when you read that" comment from my girlfriend.

But does that make the book good, or at least good enough for me to recommend it?  Well, yes and no.  If Monty Python and the Holy Grail or The Princess Bride are your kind of funny (and my gut instinct tells me that most regular visitors to this blog are) then the novel will be the kind of weekend reading you'll want when you're in the mood for something light, frothy, and fun.  If it isn't, then just walk away.  There is nothing for you here.  Believe me.

The characters are uniformly likable and easy to relate to, even the evil ones.  The jokes range from broad to subtle.  My personal preference leans towards to the subtle jokes and the almost Woody Allen style banter between the various heroes and heroines as they bungle and regroup after each humorous misadventure.

I don't know if John Moore routinely revisits these particular characters and the mythical land of the Twenty Kingdoms, but I will definitely be cracking open a few more of his books to find out.

Shock II - by Richard Matheson

Thirteen tales of the fantastic, the frightening, and the wondrous by one of science-fiction, fantasy and horror's true Grand Masters.

A Flourish of Strumpets: With everyone else selling things door-to-door, it was bound to happen that prostitutes would attempt to do the very same thing.

Brother to the Machine: A tormented soul attempts to escape from the seemingly inescapable nightmare that is our war torn and space faring future.

No Such Thing As A Vampire: Although vampires do not exist, one appears to be killing Dr. Petre Gheria's wife.

Descent: The bomb is going to be dropped, so America moves underground.

Deadline: A doctor visits a most unusual patient.  A man dying of old age who claims to be only one year old.

The Man Who Made the World: Doctor Janishefsky has a most interesting visitor, a man who claims to have made the world five days ago.

Graveyard Shift: A woman's brutal murder uncovers a monstrous secret.

The Likeness of Julie: Eddy Foster had never noticed the girl in his English class until...

Lazarus II: A domineering mother refuses to allow her son's suicide to keep her from him.

Big Surprise: Mr. Hawkins tells the neighborhood children, "Dig a hole and find a big surprise."

Crickets: Ever wonder what crickets are actually saying?  One man learns the terrifying answer to that question.

Mute: Paal was raised to speak with his mind, not his mouth.

From Shadowed Places: An anthropologist consents to perform a ritual that will lift a juju curse that is killing a young man.

Those inclined to read a blog such as this really do not need to have Richard Matheson introduced to them.  Anyone that grew up during the 50s, 60s, or 70s (and thanks to the miracle of UHF syndicated reruns during the latter, you could experience them all in a single decade) is already familiar with his impressive body of work, if not his name.  But just to give a roll call of his contributions to the above mentioned genres, his novels include The Incredible Shrinking Man (which Matheson also adapted for the big screen), I Am Legend (which has been adapted for the big screen three times, as The Last Man On Earth, with Vincent Price, The Omega Man, with Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend, with Will Smith, and that George A. Romero admitted ripping off for Night of the Living Dead), Hell House (which Matheson, again, adapted for the big screen, as The Legend of Hell House), Somewhere In Time, What Dreams May Come, and A Stir of Echoes.

If that were not enough, Matheson has also written numerous short stories that have been adapted (by himself and others) into classic episodes of The Twilight Zone, classic TV movies such as Trilogy of Terror and Duel, and the not so classic Masters of Horror episode Dance of the Dead (based on the short story of the same name).  He also wrote the screenplays for The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler.

The man is hardcore, and so is this anthology.  There isn't a clunker in the bunch.  All of them are terrific - albeit somewhat dated, times have certainly changed for the better since the 1950s - science-fiction, fantasy and horror stories.  Several of them will be easily recognizable as the source material for memorable, if not outright classic, episodes of genre television.  The Likeness of Julie, with a little narrative tweaking, became a segment in Trilogy of Terror, Big Surprise became a goose-flesh inducing "Gotcha!" vignette for Night Gallery, and Mute, again, with a little tweaking, became one of the better hour long episodes of The Twilight Zone.

While I enjoyed reading those classic stories in their original form, always a good thing to do, my picks for favorite stories are Brother to the Machine, Descent, and Graveyard Shift, which featured a nightmarish image that made my skin crawl.  The comedy opener, A Flourish of Strumpets, gets an honorable mention.

No genre fan should require encouraging to read Richard Matheson.  But if you haven't, then this anthology, or any of the books listed above, are an excellent place to start doing so.

The Halloween Tree - by Ray Bradbury

Eight friends share a magical trip through time, experiencing the history of Halloween while trying to save the life of their best and most cherished friend, Pipkin.

If you have any interest in Halloween whatsoever, then Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree is essential reading.  The book might even become an annual reading tradition, not unlike revisiting one of the countless adaptations of Dickens A Christmas Carol, if not the original text itself, come Christmastime.

Bradbury's novel is an ode to one of the most popular cultural observations there is; although it really isn't a true holiday, as no one gets the day off.  I think Christmas is the only one that is more popular than Halloween.  I'm sure that the more religiously conservative out there will smile and nod and say, "Just as it should be."

Yes, jingle bells, talking snowmen, mistletoe, and chestnuts roasting over an open fire are all well and fine.  But they do not hold a candle to black cats, ghosts, goblins, jack o' lanterns, and cackling witches.  It's all just too much fun and, as Bradbury so artfully reveals, it cannot be contained to one night or one country, and it never has been.  The lengthy and multi-cultural history of what we call Halloween is beautifully illustrated in the beloved author's trademarked poetic prose.  Also covered is Bradbury's now overly familiar examination of the bittersweet, melancholic reality of the seeming endless magic of childhood (to the child, that is) meeting its inevitable end.

I don't really want to get into more details, for that would ruin the experience of reading Bradbury's novel and discovering that dark and foreboding, yet also oddly comforting, undiscovered country for yourself.  There is still plenty of time to grab a copy of the book and tear into it like the child you once were (or perhaps still are) would tear into that bucket of trick or treat candy.  My suggestion is to get yourself two copies, because you are going to want to share The Halloween Tree with all of your own friends.

The Second Summoning: The Keeper's Chronicles #2 - by Tanya Huff

Having closed the portal to Hell in the basement of the Elysian Fields Guest House, Claire Hansen, her talking cat Austin, and Dean McIssac are now free to follow Claire's summons to other rifts that are in need of closing.  Well, sort of.  Claire and Dean have yet to consummate their romantic relationship and that is distracting Claire to no end.  She is also none too comfortable with the whole Keeper/Bystander romance thing.  Fearing that she will only put Dean at risk, she sends him away.  Things get worse for Claire, however, because she cannot stop thinking about Dean!  She calls him back, literally, and the two waste no time burning off their pent up sexual energy.

Unfortunately the afterglow, thanks in large part to some tampering with the possibilities by Claire's teen aged sister Diana, leads to an unneeded manifestation of the Light that, thanks to a misunderstanding with a young lady's irate father, becomes trapped on Earth as a very real teen aged boy.

Making matters worse is the powers of Darkness.  Sensing an imbalance, a demon is sent to manifest as a human being to counteract the angel's bodily manifestation.  Good and evil being as different as night and day, the demon is a teen aged girl.

Oh, the possibilities...

As much as I adored reading Summon the Keeper, I dreaded cracking open The Second Summoning.  It was not that I expected the second book to be bad, it was more that I feared it would not be as good, or simply as much fun to read, as the first one.  I have been burned by enough shoddy sequels to expect diminished returns whenever a writer or filmmaker offers a second helping of something I enjoyed the first time around; and I loved both the characters in Summon the Keeper and the world they inhabited enough to simply content myself with revisiting them in that particular story, and just leave the question of "What happened next?" unanswered.

Well, I changed my mind and decided to finally have author Tanya Huff answer the "What next?" question.  I am happy to report that what does happen next is, at times, just as much laugh out loud fun as it was the first time around, and when it is not quite as much laugh out loud fun as the first time, it is still fun in that comfy and cozy "slipping on my favorite sweater" kind of way.  It was a fun read that, when it ended, left me eager to find out what happens in what looks to be the final book in the series, Long Hot Summoning.  (Say it isn't so!)

Farewell Summer - by Ray Bradbury

The glorious, magical, and mystical summer that was chronicled in Dandelion Wine has finally come to its end. But young Douglas Spaulding, his younger brother Tom, and his friends refuse to say Farewell Summer.  They go as far as to declare war on time itself and vow to never grow up or old.  The youngsters declaration of hostilities draws the attention of the elderly Calvin C. Quartermain, who rallies together his friends to defy the defiant youngsters.

While Ray Bradbury's Farewell Summer is a short novel, a scant 200 pages in length, it is filled to overflowing with both the passion of living and of having lived.  It's about growing up, growing old, and preparing to pass from this mortal coil.  That Bradbury himself has reached an age wherein he could depart at any given moment (although, truth be told, so could anyone of us) only gives his bittersweet narrative more emotional heft.  Farewell Summer could only have been written by Bradbury, but it could also only have been written at this particular time in his life and career.  It could very well be his heartfelt farewell to his constant readers.

Quite a few sections in the novel's final 50 pages moved me to tears as Bradbury perfectly captured the emotional nuances of his characters, both young and old, coming to awareness of the harsh albeit beautiful truths of living.  Each page drips with Bradbury's trademarked melancholy, poetic use of language, and his phantasmagorical imagery.  No matter what time of the year you may read Farewell Summer (and you really, really should) it will make you feel as if the days are just beginning to grow shorter, the shadows longer, that the leaves are dying and falling to the ground, and that Halloween is lurking just around the corner, getting ready to say "Boo!"  A perfect time in which to say, Farewell Summer.

Spider-Man: Secret of the Sinister Six - by Adam-Troy Castro

Spider-Man and New York City have had barely enough time to recover from the Sinister Six's Day of Terror (the events of which unfold in the novel Revenge of the Sinister Six) when the Six unleash a deadly attack against a local conglomerate's research facility.  This assault is the final task in the Gentleman's terrifying plan to utterly destroy the city that never sleeps, as well as the web-slinger that tries so gallantly to protect it from harm.

Secret of the Sinister Six is an entertaining and action filled conclusion to the story that began with The Gathering of the Sinister Six (which I have yet to read) and continued through the aforementioned Revenge of the Sinister Six (which I have read).  As was the case with Revenge, Secret is just one long action sequence between Spidey and the various members of the Six (Dr. Octopus, The Vulture, The Chameleon, Mysterio, Electro, and Pity) in and above the continually trashed streets of New York City.  But the stakes are far higher this time around than they were during the mere distraction that was the Day of Terror.  The Gentleman has managed to get his hands on two items that, when used together, will effectively erase all of western civilization from New York City.  If that were not enough, Spidey is tormented by the mystery of the obviously troubled Pity.  Does she share a connection beyond that of the Gentleman's contemptible need to inflict painful revenge not only on those that have crossed (or merely annoyed) him, but their children as well?  Could Pity actually be Peter Parker's sister?  More importantly, can she be saved from the Gentleman's monstrous mind control?  Spidey's day long battle (in a fierce blizzard no less) has a bit more emotional punch to it than his usual super hero shenanigans.

Secret, like Revenge (and, I assume, The Gathering), is filled with references to other non-comic book related media. The novel's nods to Marathon Man, The Silence of the Lambs, and Scooby-Doo were the ones that stuck out for me, but I am sure that there were more than a few others.  This time around it didn't bother me quite as much, perhaps it was just my knowing what to expect from Castro's narrative when I cracked the book open.  As before the action packed story won me over and I think that Spider-Man's many fans will enjoy this finale to the Sinister Six trilogy.

Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre - Edited by Tim Lieder

Eleven tales of fear, obsession, and killer clowns.  (According to the title page, that is.)

On its web page Dybbuk Press states that its intended goal is to publish "strange and innovative" fiction, with emphasis placed on horror (that'd be the "strange" side, I'd wager) and experimental writing (being the "innovative" side, naturally).  Dybbuk's premiere effort is an anthology entitled Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre and while the stories collected within are certainly strange (and entertaining, for the most part), they are also far from innovative.

In a previous review I commented about my issue with reading theme anthologies.  How reading one short story after another about the same subject gets old to me, and fast.  Oddly enough, I had the opposite problem with Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre, because the anthology is a collection of short stories put together with no editorial comment whatsoever, not even contributors bios.  This made the book a somewhat uneven read at first, because I could not understand what kind of anthology it was I was reading.  Horror?  Humor?  Both?  Neither?  I wish editor Tim Lieder would have given me some sort of clue as to what to expect in an introduction, at least.

But what about the stories?  They are the usual mix of classics and clunkers.  On the classic side, there are Cameron Hill's Hermetic Crab (about a novice magician and his hermit crab familiar), Rob Steussi's Head Drippers (a sane man's intellectual exercise at an asylum leads to an insane discovery about the place), and Michael Stone's Clob (wherein a shy man's "imaginary friend" gives some much needed assist in the girl meeting department).  All three are more than worth the price of book.  The clunkers are C.C. Parker's Formaldehyde (a hodgepodge of slackers, murder and corpse play), Trina Shealy Orton's Brilliant Suspension (an anonymous character undergoes a magical, albeit torturous, transformation) and Rats, Wrong Alley by Tim Johnson (mutant guess whats).  These three stories, while not "bad," really needed to spend a little more time cooking in the idea oven.  The middle range stories are Paul Haines Doof Doof Doof (one of those post-modern twists on the Fairy Tale characters we grew up reading about), Roberta Rogow's Peppercorn Rent (a playful yarn about a strange rental agreement and a young woman's rather animalistic monthly visitor), Brian Rosenberger's Something Funny Is Going On (the killer you know what story), and William Brock's Berries Under Snow (a somber examination of frustrated and/or spurned love - and a perfect closer for the anthology).  Jenifer Jourdanne's modestly amusing non-fiction ramblings, Blue Elephants, is the only writing that does not have some sort of connection to horror, science-fiction or fantasy and, while reading it, I could only wonder what the hell it was doing in this anthology, because it doesn't belong.

Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre gets Dybbuk Press off to a somewhat promising start.  Each of the contributing writers shows promise and I'm pretty sure, if they stick to it, their work will start showing up in more widely distributed magazines and anthologies.  If they already have, then clearly I need to diversify my reading.  I'm missing some good stuff.

Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six - by Adam-Troy Castro

A mysterious figure known only as The Gentleman gathers together Doc Ock, The Vulture, Electro, Mysterio and The Chameleon to form a new Sinister Six collective with which to torment Spider-Man and the city he defends.  The sixth member is Pity, The Gentleman's murderous henchperson.  A woman that, in early childhood, had been ruthlessly programmed to follow every instruction given by The Gentleman, no matter how vile or how much her inner spirit wishes to rebel.

Spider-Man is in for the fight of his life, but that fight is just a ruse...

I did not know when I started it that Adam-Troy Castro's novel Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six was the middle part of a trilogy, proceeded by The Gathering of the Sinister Six and followed by Secret of the Sinister Six.  Despite that misunderstanding, the book was a fun and easy to follow read.

Most of my knowledge of Spider-Man comes from watching both the cartoon and live action TV series as a child in the seventies.  I think I read a total of one Spider-Man comic when I was a kid.  It featured the villain the Lizard, who remains my favorite Spidey villain to this day.  Sam Raimi's hit movie version and its even better sequel got my geekboy sense tingling and, on a whim, I snagged Revenge of the Sinister Six at the local used bookstore.  I had planned on reviewing Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 to launch a Spider-Man thread on the blog, but its being tied in with an additional two books I had little interest in getting roped into reading, I decided to pass until Spider-Man: The Other is collected as a trade.  So Revenge of the Sinister Six is my first review of all things Spidey.

I thought it could have been a lot better than it was.

While Revenge of the Sinister Six is not bad, it is far too long.  Does a novel based on a comic book really need to be four hundred and thirty-five pages?  There was definitely some excess narrative fat in need of a healthy trimming in many the novel's overly detailed sequences.  That criticism aside, when the Sinister Six's dastardly Day of Terror (an honoring of sorts of Spider-Man's fatality inducing failures) begins, it becomes an exhausting two hundred page marathon of no holds barred brawling, with each villain getting his (or her) moment to attempt to defeat and shame the webslinger.  It is to Castro's credit as a writer that I was seriously beginning to doubt whether Spidey would be able to survive the day.  He also makes Spidey credible as a human being, no small feat for an iconic comic book character that has been around longer than I have.

Less credible is the world the characters inhabit, which is overflowing with Marvel heroes and villains (almost comically so) as well as an over indulgence in unnecessary pop culture in-jokes.  When Mr. Glass (from M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable) popped up, I thought, "Okay, a nice nod to that movie, and it fits nicely."  But then Randolph and Mortimer, two characters played by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy in the Eddie Murphy movies Trading Places and Coming to America (which was more of an inspired cameo gag), showed up a page or two later, my brow furrowed.  (The Randolph and Mortimer gag gets so involved it has to imaginatively dance around the copyright infringement issue.)  But the book didn't stop there, because Detective frakkin' Sipowicz of You-Know-What is at one crime scene!  It's just so ridiculous and fanboyish that it hampers taking the story seriously as piece of immersive fiction.  (You know, the kind you can get lost inside while it unfolds.)  What was worse were the astounding amount of errors in the BP Book paperback edition I was reading.  Somebody in the printing process did not bother to proofread the book.

Final thoughts?  Fans will like the action and the way the characters are handled within the story, but the Spidey curious (such as myself) might come away thinking twice about plunking down cash for another Spider-Man novel.