Recently read: "The Barsoom Project" by Larry Niven and Steve Barnes

The Barsoom Project



After re reading Dream Park, I debated whether I should re read the sequel, since I didn't find it memorable when I first read it.  I finally decided to take a chance.  It's a mixed bag, I think.  The first book's game depended on the South Pacific, particularly Cargo Cults, which had just enough "science" to make it feel less like a fantasy game (slightly less, I admit).  With the focus here being on Inuit mythology, this felt much more like a fantasy D&D game, which made the game itself less interesting to me.

As with the first book, in general the characters aren't that memorable (I still don't have a feeling on who Gwen and Ollie are, and they appear in both games).  The mystery, again, isn't quite played fair, since I don't see how you could figure out who was responsible for the initial murders (though it's pretty clear from the beginning who the ultimate villain is).  I sort of like the Alex Griffin characters, though again, outside of his job have we really gotten to know him?

The beanstalk/Barsoom stuff feels like it's tacked on in a way.  I suppose that Niven was fascinated by the idea at the time (we saw it later in Rainbow Mars) but here it's not even a McGuffin, really.

I do like the cover art for this release better than the initial, though since I read it as a Kindle version maybe that's not important.

I'm going to wait a while (a few weeks probably) before I tackle The California Voodoo Game (with a terrible Kindle cover!) in preparation for The Moon Maze Game later this year.

Recently read: "The Leagcy of Heorot" by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steve Barnes

The Leagcy of Heorot



Niven and Pournelle, writing as a team, gave us one of the definitive "First Contact" novels (The Mote in God's Eye, one of my favorite novels of all time), an excellent disaster novel (Lucifer's Hammer) and what I think is possibly the best alien invasion novel (Footfall).  Here, writing with Steve Barnes in 1987, they gave us a very good colonization novel.

After a century of travel in hibernation, the crew of the National Geographic is beginning the settlement of Avalon, an Eath like planet orbiting Tau Ceti IV.  Picking an island for the first settlement, the location seems almost idea, with no major predators.  Cadman Weyland, the only military man among the colonists, feels almost useless, until cattle and dogs start disappearing.

The predator is a marvelous killing machine, with turbo charged blood that gives it incredible speed in bursts.  Ignoring Weyland's warnings, the first attack on the colony is devastating and Weyland retreats to a home on a bluff above the colony (where he is joined by one of the female colonist in love with him).

Roused to action after they are attacked by a second "Grendel", the colonist (lead by Weyland) take action to wipe out the entire population.  This results in the colony feeling like the problem is solved, but the colonist later realize that they have upset the ecology of the island.  There's a desparate battle, with human weapons (lasers, electric fences, rifles) against an army of Grendels, with a final stand at "Cadamn's Bluff".

This is primarily an action novel, with man against alien beast.  The Grendel, with a life cycle based somewhat on an odd African frog (the frog, like the Grendels, are female and feed upon they children during famine), is an interesting alien (possibly as smart as a gorilla).  There's the added issue of "hibernation instability" which results in many of the colonist having various levels of brain damage (and even the ones that don't are prone to wonder if they are missing things).  There's also a heavy dose of "being prepared" (Heinlein's "if you would have peace, prepare for war").

Recently read: "Butcher's Moon" by Richard Stark

Butcher's Moon



This is the sixteenth "Parker" novel that Westlake (using the Stark pseudonym) wrote, and it was the longest at the time (about twice as long as most of the earlier ones).  Parker, tired of his run of bad luck, goes back to the town where Slayground was set.  There, with the help of Alan Grofield, he is intent on recovering the heist money he was forced to leave behind, hidden in an amusement park.  Once in town, with the money missing, he gets involved in the local mob, and realizes that his money was used to help finance an upcoming coup.

Given the run around, and with Grofield wounded and captured by the mob (Parker is delivered one of Grofield's fingers), he calls in a group of fellow thieves (not friends, since Parker has none), and we see a reunion of sorts with many of the cast members from the previous books (including Handy Mckay, coming out of retirement after the interstate bypasses his diner).  Parker decides to hit most of the money making operations that the mob controls in one night, letting his fellow crooks spilt all the money in exchange for their help in hitting the new mob boss and rescue Grofield.

When read after it was first published (1974) it must have felt like the explosive climax to the series, and for a long time it was.  Westlake would not return to the character for almost 25 years.  I've not read the newer books (I'm reading them in order, as we get these new University of Chicago Press editions), but leaving the character here would have been fine with me.

Recently read: "Moonlight Mile" by Dennis Lehane

Moonlight Mile



The newest novel from Dennis Lehane, and a return to his detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie (Gennaro) Kenzie.  The two, after being reunited as partners (and lovers) in the previous book (Prayers for Rain), are now married with a four year old daughter.  Angie is in school, and Patrick is attempting to keep the family afloat with his detective work in a rotten economy, doing temp jobs for a big agency while they dangle the possibility of a permanent job.

Twelve years before (in Gone, Baby, Gone), the two had found missing four year old Amanda McCready, and the act of returning her to a neglectful mother drove a wedge between them.  Patrick still doesn't know if he made the right decision, and when Amanda's aunt asks him to find the girl (now a brilliant 16 year old) he finds himself forced to rethink his previous actions.

We get Russian mobsters, the usual violence, and some ruminations on nature vs nurture.  We also see how important family is to Patrick, and how much young Gabriella means to both of them.  The years, and particulary the violence, has worn down Kenzie, and the choices he makes gives the book it's emotional heft. 

We may not see another Kenzie/Gennaro book, and if so, that's ok.  I'd like to think that the two could finally live a live away from the violence and stupidity that they so often have had to deal with.

Recently viewed: "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex"

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Wow, another great movie from 1939!  Bette Davis plays Queen Elizabeth, who must deal with her love for the Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn) and his desire to rule England (either along side her, or alone).  Davis was only 31 here, and plays the much older Elizabeth through makeup (shaving her eyebrows and hairline) and actions.  Flynn plays the much younger Earl (though he was only a year younger than Davis) as hot tempered and eager to achieve military fame.

Like many movies around historical figures, this one plays loose with facts (painting the Earl much more favorably, and adding in a conspiracy preventing Elizabeth and Essex from receiving each other letters) but the acting is marvelous.  The interior scenes are great, with the color being very vivid, but the exterior battle scenes are clearly on a sound stage and suffer a bit.

This DVD version is one of the "Warner's Night at the Movies" designed to stimulate a typical movie night from the time.  We get a preview (Davis in Dark Victory), a Newsreel, a musical short ("The Royal Rodeo") and a Chuck Jones directed cartoon ("Old Glory" with Porky Pig).  It makes for a fun viewing experience.

Recently read: "The Fall" by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

The Fall



The second book in the vampire trilogy by del Toro and Hogan (following The Strain) .  Here, the vampire virus has basically taken over New York City, and is quickly spreading to other parts of the country and world.  CDC doctor Eph Goodweather, with his wife already a vampire, must protect his son and try to fight the spreading threat. He is aided by coworker Nora Martinez, exterminator Vasiliy Fet and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian, who has been fighting vampires since his time in a concentration camp.

The fight opens up here, and we see that it is a struggle between "the Master" and the other original ancients.  The ancients employ their own vampire hunters, including gang member Gus and former wrestler/actor Angel.  At the same time, Setrakian believes that the key to destroying the Master lies in a 17th century book, which is being put up for auction.

The authors take on vampires is a bit different, though they have some of the usual weakness (silver, and light--particularly ultraviolet).  There are no fangs (instead there is a "stinger" that comes out of their throat).  The virus is passed along through "blood worms".  There's a lot of fighting and destruction, with the book being in many ways a story of civilization crumbling.  It's definitely the middle book of a trilogy, with a "lull" in the story, but no ending. 

If you like del Toro's movies, there's a good chance you'll like this, since his vision seems to driving the book (though I'm not familiar with Hogan's other work).  With a collaboration like this, I would assume that Hogan did most of the actual writing, though I don't know that.

Recently viewed: "Shutter Island"

Shutter Island




This is the Martin Scorsese adaption of the Dennis Lehane novel, set in 1954, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the main character, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels.  I read the novel (and am rapidly catching up on Lehane's entire back list) and thought it was quite good as a psychological mystery, with a twist ending that I didn't see coming.  The plot has Daniels and his (new) partner taking the ferry (the book and movie opens with them on the ferry, with Daniels being sea sick) to Shutter Island, where there is a penal institution for the criminally insane.  There is an escaped patient (disappearing from a locked room, and trapped on an island with only a single way off), and the marshalls are called in to find her.  Daniels has an additional reason to be there, since he believes that one of the patients is the arsonist that was responsible for the fire that killed Daniels' wife.

The movie ends up being disappointing to me.  Scorsese makes it appear as Gothic horror, with Daniels seeing visions (his dead wife and a child, memories of his war experiences in liberating Dachau), and the institution appearing menacing (including an isolated lighthouse, where Daniels believes experimental surgeries are taking place).  It's quite clear early that Daniels has problems, where the book seemed to draw out the suspense a bit more (though I don't think you could figure out the final twist in either book or movie).

Both book and movie do address some of the issue with treatment of mentally ill patients (the head psychiatrist, played by Ben Kingsley, believes that with the right care he can possibly cure patients, instead of using lobotomies or drugs)

Recently read: "Devil Red" by Joe R. Lansdale

Devil Red



The newest (eighth) book about Hap and Leonard, we find Hap having what appears to be a crisis of conscience as he wonders if what he and Leonard do (they're now working as investigators for former policeman turned private detective Marvin Hanson, and the first job we see has them beating up two petty criminals for payback after the robbery of an elderly lady) is any better than they scum they do it too.  After investigating an older murder (with hints of a vampire cult), they start to realize that there may be a viscous assassin (who leaves a red devil head at the scene of the murders) operating around the country.  Finding one of their leads murdered (after he was questioned by the boys) leads to Hap having a nervous breakdown.

Following Vanilla Ride, I thought that this book might be falling back on the mass murderer/assassin plot too quickly, but the story really centers on the relationship between the boys (Leonard has taken to wearing a deerstalker hat, which drives Hap crazy).  They are getting older, and I wonder how long Lansdale can come up with plots where the two can handle the violence while staying semi realistic, but the book is as funny as ever.

Recently read: "Dream Park" by Larry Niven and Steve Barnes

Dream Park



This is a re-release of the original Dream Park novel (the fourth book is scheduled to be released this summer) so I grabbed a Kindle copy to see how well it holds up.  Set in "Dream Park", a California amusement park, where one of the major attraction is role playing games (what we now call a LARP--Live Action Role Playing Game).  There's holograms and tricks used to make the experience seem realistic, and "game masters" running the game behind the scene.  I'm assuming this was the first book mention of this sort of thing, though LARP are supposed to have started in the late '70's.

The book itself is a mystery, as a Dream Park security guard is found murdered while the "South Seas Treasure Game" is ongoing.  The Game is a major event, basically a duel between a Game Master and the player's "Lore Master".  Set in the South Pacific, its basis is Cargo Cult mythology, which makes a marvelous setting for the game.  After the guard is found murdered, the Park's security chief, Alex Griffin, is inserted into the game as a player, since it looks like one of the gamers might be the murderer.

As a mystery, I'm not sure it's that good (I suppose you could figure out one of the criminals before Griffin, though with this reread I had not remembered).  What I did remember was how much fun the game itself was, and how much joy Niven and Barnes provided (this harks back to the best of early Niven, which always seemed to me to be about the joy of ideas).  I do miss the original cover art (a marvelous scene with the gamers in boats, fighting a sea serpent)

There are two sequels, both of which I've read but don't remember that well, but I may go ahead and try them again.  The Moon Maze Game will be released in August.

Recently viewed: "Foreign Correspondent"

Foreign Correspondent




Though I consider my a Hitchcock fan, I've by no means seen all of his movies.  I have always considered this one a "minor" movie, and never gotten around to watching it.  We finally took the time and caught it on Netflix, and I am very happy with it.

Joel McCrea (later a major star in Westerns) is an American reporter sent by his paper to Europe as their foreign correspondent.  Things are heating up, with war on the very near horizon (the movie was filmed in 1940).  McCrea (playing Johnny Jones, but given the dom du plume of Hadely Haverstock by his publisher) witnesses an apparent assassination of a Dutch politician, and quickly finds himself with information about a spy ring.  He's also falls in love with Laraine Day, playing the daughter of peace activist.

In a lot of ways, it's very typically Hitchcock, but as with much of his work, it's the details that make it shine.  There's a handful of marvelous scenes (the escape of the assassin through a crowd of umbrellas, the cat and mouse in a Dutch windmill).  McCrea is winning enough, playing a very "American" character, and Day handles her part well.  There's also several standouts in the supporting cast.  The action climax (on a plane traveling to America, under fire from a German battleship) suffers from the special effects, but is still effective. 

The ending makes it a piece of war propaganda aimed squarely at Americans, but what the heck, we were about to fight the Nazis.

Recently read: "Directive 51" by John Barnes

Directive 51



A John Barnes novel which examines the collapse of civilization, and how the US government would attempt to maintain some sort of continuity.  Modern civilization falls under attack by "Daybreak" which is a collection of every group that hates modern civilization for any reason.  It's not really an organized group, but more of a threat that emerges on its own.  Under a combination of nanoware (which eats plastics and rubber), fusion bombs and EMPs, it doesn't take long for our intrasturcture to collapse.  When the sitting US president emotionally collaspes, Directive 51 (a presidential directive which specifies continuity of government--this is somewhat at odds with the constitutional succession) is enacted.  After Washington DC is destroyed by one of the fusion bombs, the National Constitutional Continuity Coordinator (NCCC) decides that he can't allow the constitutional secession to take place (there's debate over whether the US is under an attack by a governmental/terrorist enemy or whether it's just a system artifact).  We end up with two "legal" governments: one, under the NCCC, controls the southeastern US (with it's center of power in Athens and Fort Benning) while the other, under the President, controls the Northeast.

In ways, this is sort of disaster porn, though Barnes at times appears to be almost too dispassionate about the destruction (most of the focus is on various government employees, particularly the Department of Future Threats, so they have as much technology and food as is available).  We don't seem to be getting the resulting feudal knight setups that S. M. Stirling gave us in his "Change" series, though it's still early (and there are "Castles", at least on the West coast, which are setting up their own local governments, but no knights on horseback yet).  I'm assuming the sequel (Daybreak Zero) concerns determining who (or what) is responsible for the attacks, and we get the remaining Department of Future Threats set up in Boulder as a sort of "technology bootstrapping" center.

Barnes does do something a little odd here.  The book is written with scenes (specific locations and times prefaces each scene) and usually there's a change in location, but at times the location is the same, with the time only slightly after, so I'm not sure what necessitates the "scene" change.

I'll get the second book, since I'm interested enough in seeing how the story plays out.

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