Lots
of New Books
There's been a huge burst of
new books come out, and I'm barely keeping
abreast of the wave. We really need some great,
thoughful entertainment at any time. I'm glad my
reading speed has apparently increased, as I'll
need to sail through the incoming stack to keep
you apprised as to how to spend your ever more
precious spare money.
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John Connolly's conclusion to the
Charlie Parker story?
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Lots of writers come as
highly recommended as John Connolly, but I get a
good vibe about this writer's books. The readers
who have suggested I read his stuff say that it
bears a resemblance to the supernaturally-tinged
crime novels of Phil Rickman. His forthcoming
novel is 'The White Road' will temporarily
conclude the quartet of Charlie Parker novels.
The following novel, 'Bad Men', is described as
a combintion of mystery novel and supernatural
thriller (nothing new here) but without Parker.
I may try to get a chance to talk to COnnolly
when he swings through Northern California later
this month.
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Can you use that knife to slice
cheese?
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Here's the reason it's so
hard to know what to buy. This here novel,
'Tropic of Night', has some pretense to being on
the literary side of thriller. But I must admit
I have my doubts. Well, also, I did the "flip to
a random page and read something" test, and my
brain wasn't knocked into literary mode. I did
start some salivation at the scent of cheese.
Four books ago, I might have said that about
Connolly's first novel.
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Yow! Did someone order the bleu
cheese special?
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Here's the latest Laurell K.
Hamilton. I may be ready to give Hamilton
another try. I did like the Anita Blake voice --
it was a great tough-girl PI rap. The question
is, is 'Cerulean Sins' a hard-edged clever
mystery, or a vampire sex romp? Nice picture of
the author on the back as well, though they
don't mention her pugs. I want to see the
doggies!
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It must be Nebula time again.
Nice companion book by Ace.
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This is the second Nebula
awards companion I've seen. It includes fiction
by Kelly Link and James Patrick Kelly. Kelly
spoke -- very well -- at Worldcon last year, so
I'm looking forward to giving his fiction a try.
There's also commentary by Terry Bisson, Ellen
Datlow, Andy Duncan, Scott Edelman and Machael
Cassut. I'm quite curious to read what these
folks -- who influence a lot of what we see and
hear in the speculative fiction world -- have to
say.
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Anne Ursu ventures into magic
unrealism with 'The Disapparition of
James'.
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Most of us are creeped out by
magic shows. Taking her cue from a scene in the
Stephen King novel 'Tommyknockers', Anne Ursu
tells the story of the family of a young boy who
disappears in front of their eyes at a local
magic show. I'm not certain I'll be able to read
this. As one with kids, the idea of reading
about families torn apart by kids kidnapped is
not as appealing as it might be to some. It
sounds intriguingly surreal, however, and not
heart-rending. I have a chance to talk to the
author about the novel as well. And finally
weighing in on the plus column is a blurb from
Lisa Lerner, whose 'Just
Like Beauty' was a
suprisingly well done bit of science fiction
from last year. If this book has that kind of
feel, I suspect it will be enjoyable.
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ANother delextable Phil RIckman
novel -- with big news.
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Phil Rickman's latest novel
is about to be released by Pan Macmillan. It's
another Merilly Watkins story, and it's based on
the crimes of Fred and Rose West. Rickman tells
me he thinks it's his best yet. This is the kind
of novel one really anticipates -- huge (552
pages) and even low-cost for a hardcover book --
£10.00.
But the big news is that
Rickman's Merrilly Watkins novels are about to
go into TV development with Rebecca Lacey
(Monarch of the Glen), a script by Russell Lewis
(who adapted Morse and Cavanaugh QC [all
hail Kohn Thaw!]) and direction by Paul
Harrison, director of the current series of
Frost. This is precisely the kind of material
that will benefit from this adapatation. Of
course these things move at a glacial speed, and
are subject to change without notice. But this
is potentially excellent movie news.
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This gorgeous graphic novel is
available from Shoto Press for only
$4.95.
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Shoto Press sent me two
graphic novels to look at. I'm typically
uninterested in graphic novels, but the
production values on these little books is
signifcantly better than most I've seen. The art
difrection is readable and clean, and the
printing is gorgeous, with a heavy silver sheen
that makes the books positively glow. The first,
pictured above is a vampire novel, but not your
typical love-sucker.
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To-die-for production values and
art enhance these graphic novels and
bring them into the potentially
readable zone.
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The second story is a ghost
story. Both are set in Malay. The first is 85
pages, and the second 93. This is wonderful
looking material. If I can manage to actually
get them read, I'll let you know what I think.