Recently viewed: "Destry Rides Again"

Destry Rides Again



1939 is sometimes thought of as the greatest movie year (Gone With The Wind, Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, etc).  It also saw Destry Rides Again, a semi comic western, based upon a Max Brand novel.  We get 31 year old Jimmy Stewart (still early in his career) and 38 year old Marlene Dietrich (already looking somewhat hard to my eyes, and coming off a series of box office bombs).

Stewart is "Thomas Jefferson Destry", the son of a famous lawman, who has decided to forgo guns (they didn't prevent his father from being shot in the back).  He's asked to come to the lawless town of Bottleneck by the sheriff (and former town drunk, appointed by the corrupt mayor) to be a deputy.  Upon his arrival, he becomes somewhat of a laughing stock, but quickly understands the situation and begins to take charge. He has to match wits with the villain (Brian Donlevy, intent on controlling the valley and charging ranchers a toll when they drive their cattle to market).  Dietrich is "Frenchy", the saloon girl and mistress to Donlevy, helping in his crooked poker games.

There's humor (a big fight between Dietrich and Una Merkel, wife to Russain Mischa Auer, who provides much of the comic relief) and we get Dietrich singing "See What The Boys in The Backroom'll Have".  There's some romance between Stewart and Dietrich, though she doesn't get him in the end.

A fun western, and a worthy entry in the list of great movies in 1939.

Recently read: _Rise of Endymion_

Rise of Endymion




Several years after starting it, I finally got around to finishing Simmons' Hyperion saga (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and Rise of Endymion). The final book finds Raul Endymion, the android M. Bettik and the girl Aenea still hiding on the real Earth (moved to some location by the "lions, tigers and bears") from the agents of the Pax (the nearly all powerful Catholic Chruch) and the Technocore.  Aenea has grown, and is showing signs of being the "messiah" who may cause the end of the Pax, and the "resurrection" (though the cruciform) which is much of the source of the Church's power.  What is special about Aenea's blood? (as she starts sharing it with her followers in a ritual of communion).  Why does she send Raul off on his separate trip, while knowing that they will meet again?  What is the Technocore's real purpose?  Why does the Church hate the Ousters so much?

While we get answers to these questions, I suppose I wasn't that eager to know them, or else I would have finished the series earlier.  While Simmons' universe seems full of wonders (the jellyfish like lifeforms in the gas giant, the Chinese cities carved into mountain peaks, the Treeships, etc.) at some point you would like the universe he's bulit to make logical sense, and ultimately it doesn't. I end up with a feeling that he's thrown things in to trigger the reader's sense of wonder, without really thinking if it holds together.  There's no real explanation of why Aenea is so wonderful (she often seems to be holding information back from Raul, which sometimes seems cruel).  The back and forth time steps sort of makes sense, but seems an easy out (and there's really is no good explanation for the Shrike).

Recently read: "Prayers for Rain" by Dennis Lehane

Prayers for Rain



The first "Kenzie/Gennaro" novel I read was the fourth book (Gone, Baby, Gone) which ended with the longtime friends and partners (and relatively new lovers) splitting up.  I then went back and caught up on the characters back story with the first three books.  Prayers for Rain is the fifth book, and deals with some of the aftermath of Gone, Baby, Gone.  Ptraick Kenzie, missing Angie Gennaro desperately, has lost his enthusiasm for the PI game.  He begins to investigate the apparently suicide of former client Karen Nichols (who reached out once to him when he was "too busy" to return her call), though no one seems interested (including her mother and step father).  After finding a few oddities, he gets Gennaro (now working for a big security firm) to help out some on the side.

They find what appears to be a cold blooded, brilliant mastermind, who is manipulating those he meets by finding out their weak points.  Is this the missing step brother of Karen Nichols?  How does he know so much information about his victims?  Angie and Patrick, along with help from their fearsome friend Buba Rogowski, decide that they can't let the case go. 

As with all of their cases, there ends up being gunfire, with a final shootout at the villain's underground lair.  We do get a full Gennaro/Kenzie reunion, as they both realize that the other may have been right before.  There's a family reunion with some happiness, but also a coda when we find out that we might not have know who the real villain was.

Recently read: "Rising Tides: Destroyermen" by Taylor Anderson

Rising Tides: Destroyermen



The fifth novel in Anderson's series chronicling the exploits of the crew of the U.S.S. Walker in this alternate Pacific.  There's a lull in the ongoing conflict with the Grik, as the raptor like creatures regroup and begin to learn new fighting techniques.  Captain Reddy steams to this Earth's Hawaiian islands, home of a small quasi British Empire, which is dominated by the Honorable New Britain Company (who's agents kidnapped Lt. Sandra Tucker, whom Reddy is in love with).  The Empire is also at odds with the Holy Dominion, which are descended from displaced Spaniards, practicing some sort of bloody Catholicism.

We get a couple of climaxes here (one a naval battle, the other concerning a volcano) and while there's several major setbacks, there's also much forward progress (and good news for Reddy at the book's end)

Anderson has continued to open up his universe, and has so far juggled the multiplying plot threads well.  I do worry that we won't get an end to the major conflict in book six (he's already signed a contract for books 7-9)

Recently read: "Sacred" by Dennis Lehane

Sacred



The third novel with Boston PIs Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, this one is sort of an updating of Chandler's The Big Sleep, with a dying billionaire kidnapping the two and then convincing them to search for his daughter, missing after a series of emotional wounds.  Kenzie and Gennaro have not been working, after the events of the previous book, and take the job for a) greed (the money is good) b) Gennaro is convinced the man is grieving over his missing daughter, and wants to find out what happened to her before he dies of cancer and c) Kenzie's mentor Jay Becker is also missing, after being on the case first.

The trail, which involves a "grief" counseling center associated with what appears to be a cult, quickly leads the pair to Florida.  They quickly find out the case is more complicated, and there are car chases and gun battles before the scene switches back to Boston, and they find out that once again, there's evil in the world.  Lehane really runs his two PIs through emotional wringers in his books, and the violence level is high in each one.  The saving grace remains the bond between Kenzi and Gennaro, friends since youth, who are slowly discovering what they truly mean to each other.

E-book price annoyance

Another example of why the publishers don't seem to be getting the ebook  price point.

John Barnes' Directive 51, published last April, is now available in mass market paperback, and the sequel Daybreak Zero will be published in March.  The paperback version of Directive 51 is priced at $7.99.  The ebook price remains at $12.99, which is what it has been since the initial release.

I understand the publishers want to hold the line somewhat on prices, but they must realize that as the book ages, the ebook price is going to have to drop.

I'm a mild Barnes fan (not having read all of his output, but a good percentage), but this is a way to keep me from buying more of his books.

Recently read: "Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon




The first book Morgan published, I read it when the initial US edition came out.  Our book group picked it for this month, so I did a re-read.  In my first reading, I enjoyed it enough that I later bought the two sequels, and Morgan's two stand alone SF books.  Upon the second reading, I'm no longer such a big fan, though I can see it's appeal.  In Morgan's future, humans are issued a cortical stack, implanted after birth, into which their consciousness is download.  Death, as long as the stack is not destroyed, is therefore temporary, at least if you can afford a new body (the rich keep clones on tap, others have to get the means to buy a new "sleeve").  Takeshi Kovas is a former Envoy (a specially trained solider, taught to soak up information about new environments).  He's brought to earth ("needlecasted") and re sleeved by millionaire and centuries old Laurn Bancroft to investigate Bancroft death (Bancorft was backed up, and has been re sleeved into one of many clones).  There's a lot going on here: Bancroft's wife (equal old, in a young body), the Vatican pushing legislation that would be re sleeving of Catholics illegal, Kovacs enemines from his former Envoy days, the AI that projects itself as Jimi Hendrix (and running the hotel Kovacs stays at) and the distrust/possible emotion attachment of police lieutenant Kristin Ortega, the lover of the former owner of Kovacs' new body.

Morgan is clearly writing an update of the hard boiled detective story, trying to produce a 21st century Hammett or Chandler, but I don't think he quite pulls it off.  It's too over the top, with a lot of ultra violence, and to me a big problem is that the sex scenes are juvenile.  Ultimately, though Kovacs "wins", I think Morgan pulls his punch when he ends up letting a certain character go (compare the ending to that of "The Maltese Falcon").  He hints at the reason, but since the event that drives that reason happens off screen, it doesn't feel right.

Recently read: "Darkness, Take My Hand" by Dennis Lehane

Darkness, Take My Hand



The second novel following Boston PIs Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro.  The two help out psychiatrist Diandra Warren, who fears that her son's life is in danger after she sees a patient named Moira Kenzie, who claims she was abused by Kevin Hurlihy.  Hurlihy is a sociopath with mobster ties, who also grew up in the same Dorchester neighborhood as the two PIs.  After another neighborhood woman, Kara Rider, is found crucified, the mystery deepens when a bar owner (and former cop) tells Patrick of a similar murder in the neighborhood twenty years ago.  The murderer is in prison, but did he have a partner?  The number of bodies grow, and the FBI arrives on the scene, with interest in Patrick.  There's something that happened in Dorchester twenty years ago, and it's effects are still playing out.  Patrick faces losing the woman he loves as she is horrified by the violence that follows him, and must deal with the knowledge that he and Angie are now targets.

Lehane writes powerfully, and the characters in the novel, though many are broken and/or depraved, are finely drawn.  Highly recommended.

Condfw

Enjoying CONDFW in Dallas. Got a couple of books autographed by Taylor Anderson, and saw a great interview with Guest of Honor Tim Powers

Apollocon room party tonight

Recently read: "World's Greatest Sleuth!: A Holmes on the Range Mystery" by Steve Hockensmith

"World's Greatest Sleuth!: A Holmes on the Range Mystery" by Steve Hockensmith



The fifth mystery featuring Gustav ("Old Red") and Otto ("Big Red") Amlingmeyer.  Here, Hockensmith takes his cowboy detectives to the 1893 Columbina Exposition in Chicago to take part in a mystery contest to determine the world's greatest detective, to find out what famous crime solver will take the mantle from Sherlock Holmes (Holmes is a real person in these books, though he's recently met his end at Reichenbach falls)

The contest appears to be mainly one of solving puzzles, in order to find a hidden golden egg.  The puzzles are written by Armstrong Curtis, a Holmes follower who is eager to show that the other detectives are frauds.  Judging the contest is William Pinkerton, who doesn't compete since he thinks the contest is below him.

The first round is won by French detective Eugen Valmont, and with the second one, Armstrong Curtis is found dead (in a large mound of cheddar cheese).  The Amlingmeyer boys quickly decide Curtis was murdered, though they get no support from their fellow detectives.

The Chicago World's Fair is a great setting, as it allows the Amlingmeyers to gawk a bit at the wonders (juciy fruit gum!).  There's competition between publishers, and the other detectives provide a nice counterbalance to our cowboys (there's a great scene with the Frenchman Valmont facing off the various suspects).  As with the previous books, there's also a hint of romance, as one of the detectives taking part is the lovely, tough Diana, who both the Amlingmeyers are sweet on.  And who is the mystery man who congradulates Otto on his detective skills near the end of the book?

Hockensmith has done a good job with the series, since each plot is different, with this one being almost a screwball comedy (a nice change of pace after the serial killer plot of "The Crack in the Lens").  It'll be nice to see if he can keep up the quality.

Cool definition of "technothriller"

A Chalie Stross comment on his blog...

"A technothriller is what you get when hard SF collapses into the moment of the present. "

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/02/high-and-low-thrillers.html#comments

Cover art

Clever cover for the new Jasper Fforde "Thursday Next" novel.



I'll probably end up reading this (though I really want the sequel to Shades of Grey, but I understand he's rotating universes) though I may wait and see if the Kindle price goes down (probably after the MMPK edition comes out?). 

Recently viewed: "Quantum of Solace"

"Quantum of Solace"



Is this the worst Bond movie ever?  I know that's saying a lot, but still...

Daniel Craig still makes a fine Bond, and Judi Dench has certainly handled the role of "M" well, but for a movie that depends on action...you have to be able to see the action!  The film and editing style is such that every single action scene is confusing. 

The plot is no worse than many a Bond film, though it still isn't that clear what the Quantum organization really wants.  It's really a revenge film masquerading as a Bond film.  I have a bit of a problem with that (one of my complaints with "Casino Royale" is that the filmmakers didn't have the courage to end the movie as Fleming did the book) but can understand it.  I just want to be able to understand the fight and chase scenes.

Recently read: "Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology" by Warren Ellis and John Cassady

Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology" by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday



The fourth and final volume graphic novel collection of Ellis' story about Elijah Snow (a "century" baby who is long lived and powerful) and his teammates, Jakita Wagner (powerful, but bored) and The Drummer (who can communicate with machines).  After three volumes of their adventures (the unknown paranormal secrets and histories of the 20th century) we get Elijah pulling back from his team, taking his "war" against Randall Dowling (mastermind of "the four") secret.  Will our heroes find a way to actually confront Dowling?  Has Elijah gone rogue?

I'm sure I don't get but a fraction of the pulp and comic references Ellis makes, and in fact I found this fourth volume to be confusing, probably because it's been so long since I read volume 3.  Cassady's art is very nice, and I probably should do a reread of the entire series.

Recently read: "Deep State" by Walter Jon Williams

"Deep State" by Walter Jon Williams



In Williams "This Is Not A Game", we saw game deisgner Dagmar get caught up in revoluttions, murders and financial manipulation that blended into her ARG, as she used the players to help find anwers.  In this sequel, she is pitched the idea for a game that becomes real life, where her team is using the tools they have developed to help create a revolution in a Turky that has been taken over by hard line generals.  They, using CIA money and an RAF base, are astroturfing the revolution.

Dagamr must deal with flashbacks to the terror she experienced in the past, along with an apparent leak in her group.  Events appear to spiral out of hand when the Turks then shut off the internet.  Williams does a great job handling the human element, giving us a realitic Dagmar dealing with real personal problems, along with a motely group of programmars/designers.  He also pretty much hit the jackpoint timing wise, as the situtation in Egypt heated up as the book was published.

Recently read: "Dread Island" by Joe R. Lansdale

Dread Island by Joe R. Lansdale



One of the stories in "Classics Multiated", which is a collection of stories that mash together literary classics with supernatural elements.  I read the special signed edition of Lansdale's story from Subterranean Press.  The story uses Twain's characters (Huck and Jim mainly, though Tom Sawyer and Becky make appearances) and throws in Lovecraft and Uncle Remus, with a island that appears in the middle of the Mississippi river at certain times.

In many ways it's typical Lansdale, but he does capture Twain's voice fairly well I think.

Recently read: "Ghost Country" by Patrick Lee

"Ghost Country" by Patrick Lee



Second novel by Lee about "The Breach",  the tunnel (wormhole?) buried under ground that spits out fantastic artifact from the future (many of which are useless).  In this second book, Travis Chase, after walking away from Tanget (the secret organization overseeing the Breach) and his lover Paige Campbell, is living alone under a new identity when Bethany Stewart, Paige's colleague, arrives on his doorstep asking for help finding Campbell.  Campbell had just shown the President a new artifact, and after the meeting Cambell's motorcade was attacked, with everyone killed but her.

Stewart has the twin of the object, a cylinder that she and Chase discover will open a portal to approximately 70 years into the future.  The future they  find is one where apparently civilization has fallen, with humanity dead.  Thus begins a race to fist rescue Campbell, and then discover what happens in the next few month that kills off humanity.

Given that Lee had already introduced the Breach in his first novel, the big SF idea here is one involving ELF (extremely low frequency) radio waves, and their possible effect on human health and emotion.  This, along with the portal to the future, and the conspiracy that involves a lot of the movers and shakers in the US (along with the President) is a lot to juggle, but Lee handles it pretty well.  I think he's very adept at handling action scenes, and one of the highlight is a major action scene in abandoned Yuma, AZ, among a sea of parked cars that have been sitting for 70 years.

A nice read, and it certainly leaves the door open if he wants to continue writing in this universe.

Recently read: "All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder" by Frank Miller and Jim Lee

"All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol 1" by Frank Miller and Jim Lee

First complilation of issues of Miller and Lee's new Batman title.  Is it safe to save that Miller is borderline crazy now?  Or is he making an attempt to say something about superheroes? 

Here Batman, early in his career, is a borderline psychotic, who has been watching Dick Grayson, tageting the boy as a possible  Batman's sidekick.  When Grayson's parents are murdered during the circus show, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and grabs Grayson and escapes in the Batamobile.

We get over the top violence, and sex ,with the women (Vickie Vale, Black Canary) all drawn and protrayed as sex symbols.  This is a mean, nasty Batman, and the art work by Jim Lee is shallow, though at times pretty to look at.

Recently read: "Jack: Secret Vengeance" by F. Paul Wilson

"Jack: Secret Vengeance" by F. Paul Wilson


The third book about the boy hood of Wilson's "Repairman Jack" character.  Here, Jack's friend "Wheezy" tells him that Carson Toliver (football hero, high school heartthrob, loved by all) attacked her while on a date.  Dubbed "Easy Weezy" after Toliver spreads stories about her, she refuses to go to school, and Jack decides to teach Toliver a lesson. 

Here we see Jack developing the skills he'll need for his later career.  Picking locks, planning his mission out, and taking revenge for someone.  We get more weirdness from the Pin Barrens, and Jack gets help from a "Piney" who is interesting in how Jack does some of the things he does.

There's some nice fleshing in of Jack's history here, and seeing how Jack deals with Toliver is fun.  Certainly worth reading if you're a fan of the Repariman Jack books.

Recently read: "A Drink Before the War" by Dennis Lehane

"A Drink Before the War" by Dennis Lehane

First novel that Lehane wrote, and the first book about Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, who are two young Boston PI's.  They are hired by three local politicans to find documents that a cleaning woman is suspected of stealing.  They quickly track Jenna Angeline down, and find she has no documents but does have a husband and son who are head of rival gangs.  She also has a photo of one of the politican with her husband in a hotel room, with promise of more photos hidden somewhere.

Jenna is gunned down on the street, while delivering the first photo to Patrick, and his picture is on the front page as the hero who shot the killer.  A gang war breaks out, as the two detectives try to survive with both gangs after them.

We get a lot of gunfire, but we also get a lot of background on Patrick's abusive father, who was a hero fireman.  We also get Gennaro finally deciding she can't take her abusive husband any longer.  The crucial finale plays out under an overpass, as the two have to face the husband, and the decision they make will ripple into the future books.  There's also a final face off with the politicans that is somewhat satisfying.