Looking Ahead

I just came off a wonderful Christmas weekend. I hope that all of my readers enjoyed one as well. There's something magical about this time of year. Many believe that that's all a bunch of hocum, but it's true. If you want proof, just look at how much effort is spent trying to squash Christmas and yet despite it all Christmas continues to touch our hearts and make us think of our fellowman. Total score: Christmas-2010, Anti-Christmas forces-0.
Anyway, like I said, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I sure did. My kid is sooo spoiled, and it was fun to watch her. My wife went above and beyond, giving me several very awesome gifts. All said I cleaned up on books, which always makes me happy. I've been reading some of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series, and I wanted to get into some of his other works to see what they're like. My wife obliged. She gave me The Chase and The Wrecker, the first two books in the Isaac Bell series, a story about a detective in America around the first part of last century. The first book, The Chase, takes place in 1906, and jumps all over the western United States.
I couldn't help it, so over yesterday I knocked out the first hundred pages or so. First impressions: Good, the story is very entertaining, but I had to laugh at the main character, Isaac Bell. One of the big pet peeves I had with the Dirk Pitt series is Dirk. He's a crappy character with very little actual work put into his character. He's James Bond in a Speedo. He can get any woman to fall for him merely by being around her.
Isaac Bell on the other hand... is exactly the same way. They both even collect cars of sorts( though Isaac has a much smaller collection, perhaps because in 1906 there just aren't all that many cars)
No, don't get me wrong, I like the books. Just don't come for a major investment in the main character(or any of the characters for that matter). Just plan on a good mystery, laced in with a lot of history and wrapped up neatly in a big ol' adventure bow.
Anyhow, New Years is this week, and I'll be doing the traditional round of reformations. Some of them will concern this blog. Please, let me know in your comments what you like, what you don't, and what you'd like to see more of, after all you guys are what makes this blog worthwhile. So post a comment and let me know. Here's some ideas I'm going to be introducing:
Following a series. I want to start following a series, reviewing a book regularly every month. I have some ideas, but I'm open for suggestions. If there's a series you would like me to review, let me know and I'll consider it.
Classics. Every month, I'm going to review a pick from the Barnes and Noble Classics list, complete with synopsis. I'll cover the central themes and pick some quotes from the book that I find particularly memorable. If for no other reason, this will be a great way to find out what the some of those books you always meant to read but never quite get around to are all about.
Short Stories. I'll be putting up a little bit of my own short fiction, from time to time. I typically write in the horror/fantasy/mystery genres.
That's what I've got so far. Thanks for reading!

Book Review: Pacific Vortex

Who is Dirk Pitt?
Think Indiana Jones in a bathing suit. Maybe a bright Hawaii flower shirt just to complete the ensemble.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler, that's pretty much the gist of it. This was the second book I've read of the series, and I found them both to be very enjoyable.
Pacific Vortex is the first novel chronologically and probably the shortest. It weighs in at about 300 pages, so it's good if you are looking for a quick read. The genre is awesome adventure with a historical twist. The plot goes as follows:
There is an area of ocean north of Hawaii where over the past fifty years over thirty ships have just disappeared without a trace. A veritable Bermuda Triangle in its own right. But the latest victim is causing a stir in the US Navy. The USS Starbuck, the worlds most formidable nuclear submarine, has disappeared without a trace.
Dirk Pitt, a well-known and talented oceanographer has been sequestered by the Navy to help track it down. But he's fighting more than the vast depths of the largest ocean in the world, he's fighting a hidden secret, one that will threaten everything that is most important to him....
All things considered, I gave this one three stars. Definitely enjoyable, a good book to get lost in. Full of action and adventure, and plenty of cool twists to keep the history buffs happy and entertained.

The way the story flows it reminded me of Pirate Latitudes by Michael Chichton. If you read that book and liked it, I recommend this book to you. Don't look for it to be too deep, but it'll be fun.

Book Review: Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow

I love almost anything historical, but particularly when it has to do with Rome or Greece. I don't know why, but I've always been that way. So, upon finding a ten book series about the Roman Legions, you can imagine how excited I was. I mean, I always hope that when I find a series like this that it will be fantastic and I will have a new author to follow. Bernard Cornwell was one of those for me. I got into his Lords of the North series about the Vikings and from there I've gone to his Civil War series, The Starbuck Chronicles, and to his much more famous, Sharpe books about the Napoleonic wars. But here was a series about Roman Legions. I thought that I'd died and gone to heaven.
I wish I had.
The book started well enough, with a legion running for their lives from a group of savage Celts. The rearguard is dragging a very heavy wagon that is carrying something very valuable through the muddy swamp paths when the Celts break through. The centurion orders the wagon to be sunk into the bog, and marks the location. He then runs for the ships where his Legate, the commander of the legion, is holding the boat for him and his men. The Celts catch them, however, and only the centurion makes it back. He hands the wax tablet marking the location to his commander, and the commander vows to come back and get it, and to subdue the Britons in turn. The commander's name? Gaius Julius Caesar.
Sounds pretty good, right? At least that's what I thought. But as I read on I grew more and more disillusioned. The book cuts to two characters, Cato and Macro, and the Second Legion. Seriously, every character in this book from here on out is a trope and has been done to death. Macro is a hard-nosed centurion, capable of almost anything, except reading or writing. Cato is a palace slave given his freedom on condition he sign it away to a lifetime of service in the legions. He trains under the  traditional drill sergeant character, aptly named Bestia. He of course, decides to single out the soft palace slave for humiliation. Inevitably, Cato rises to every challenge and becomes a hero.
Perhaps the worst thing this book had to offer is the way it just jumps like a CD that skips. One moment, their in a forest village, about to be consumed by a horde of German warriors, that is if the fire that has caught the entire village on fire doesn't get them first. Then, poof! The next paragraph starts with something like: And they all got out because the Legion won the battle and now it's six weeks later and we're all healed up and ready for something else, oh, and by the way, the main character did something heroic, and now we get to see him get the award for it.... Ok, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but you get the idea. It does this several times and annoyed me to no end.
I will say this. Parts of this book were interesting. I will probably give him another shot, given that this was his first book. But unless he really manages to pick it up in the next book(and I hope so, sheesh, it's a ten book series. They can't all be like this, right?) I'll have to stick to Bernard Cornwell, who, while not having written anything Roman, at least has never let me down, either.

Je Suis Finit!

Just a quick update before I go to work. I"m done! This is my second year winning as a nanowrimo participant and I would just like to take a moment to say thanks to my wife, without whom it would never have been possible. Thanks honey!

I finished at 51,947 words this morning. The title of the work is called Dead in the Water. I still have some work to do, adding in some five or six scenes, but the bulk of the work is done and I crossed the finish line.

I'll be writing more later, but I'm going to be late for work as it is right now. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm done with nanowrimo for this year. Time to go snag some turkey leftovers and celebrate! 

Reading this Week

I'd like to be able to say that I haven't blogged in the past couple of weeks because I've been madly engaged in upping my word count for nanowrimo this year.
I suppose it would be partly true.
But, the truth is that while nano has taken some time, I've just been lazy. I pretty much took last week off from any kind of writing, as it was my birthday, and I'll be lazy if I want to. Go ahead. Try it on your birthday. I give you permission.
Nanowrimo, meanwhile, is going well. I just updated my word count(I'm kind of bad about doing that daily, so it makes it look like I write in bursts of 10 k or so) and I'm right on track for the goal of 50,000 words in the month of November. The book, Dead in the Water, is coming out much better than I thought it would and I'm having a lot of fun writing it.
Taking time off from writing never means taking time off from reading for me, however. I've mowed through several titles in the past couple of weeks. Here goes:
iDrakula by Bekka Black. Just when you thought it was no longer safe to delve into the waters of vampire books....
No, seriously. This was a fun book. If you haven't read the original Dracula by Bram Stoker the brilliance may be lost on you. The original is an interesting read. It isn't written in a traditional fashion, rather it is a series of letters and journal entries. It's as though you were attempting to understand what transpired by reading the correspondence of the people involved.
Similarly, Bekka Black has recreated the same story as though it had occurred in our day. The entire book is written in iPhone texting screens, iPad web browser histories, and emails. Here's an example:

Like I said, it was really a fun read. Clever, witty, and a good story. She didn't rely only upon the unique format, either. It's well written to boot, so it's worth checking out. I blew through it in a day, so give it a try. You won't regret it.

I started reading the Dresden Files over again. The new book is out in April, and in an interview Butcher said that it had to do with some of the enemies that Harry has dispatched over the years. I decided that I didn't remember everything as well as I wanted to, so I'm brushing up on it. Storm Front was good, and surprisingly, Fool Moon was better than I remember. I don't know why, but when I read it the first time I must not have been into it all that much, because I remember not enjoying as much as the other books in the series. Reading it again, however, has shown me that I was wrong. It may not be as good as the later books in the series, but it is still a very good book. I forgot a lot about the story, so I'm glad that I'm going back through the series.
If you haven't read this series, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! No, just kidding. But seriously, read these books. I'm going to officially say that this is the most enjoyable series of books I've ever gotten into.

I'm reading some non fiction, Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L. O'Connell. All about the biggest slaughter of Roman soldiers in history, at the hands of the military genius Hannibal. (No, not Lecter, don't make me slap you. Argh! I hate Silence of the Lambs. Curse you Mr. Hopkins.) It's well written, I'm about halfway through. Aside from a brief random explanation about how evolution fits into the history of the battle(it doesn't by the way) the book has held my attention and taught me a lot(just not about evolution).
Oh, and lest I forget, I picked up the new Rick Riordan book, The Lost Hero. It's a continuation of the Percy Jackson Camp Halfblood series. About 1/3 of the way in, I had some concerns. By the end, he took care of them. The book was great, and I'm excited to see where he goes with the story form here. It has an aspect that's new for fans of the original series, which is about the children of the Greek gods of myth, and their adventures today. Now we have a new group. Romans....

This book was well worth the time to read, even for adults. Seriously. The whole series is just fun, in a Harry Potter sort of way. It does for Greek Mythology what Harry Potter did for wizards and magic and northern folklore.
That should just about catch me up for the time being. I'll be blogging on Sunday, too, covering my take on the new Harry Potter movie that I'm going to go see as soon as I finish typing this entry.
As always, thanks for reading and write ruff!

Halloween with a Flare

Happy Halloween! I know, I'm a bit early, but I've gotta get this out now, because this weekend I'm going to be busy gearing up for nanowrimo(Hooray!). Oh, and I'd also like to say Happy Birthday to Mr. Jim Butcher, who gave me a great surprise today: the early release of Side Jobs! I was dying to get my hands on this anthology of short stories from the Dresden Files. It was set to come out on November 11th, but by chance I checked his web page and found out that it was coming out today. I raced down to Barnes and Noble and literally got the first copy as it was coming off the truck. If you are a fan of the series, and have read Changes, you may be interested to know that there is a hefty little novella called aftermath in there, one that takes place one to two hours after the end of Changes and is from Murphy's POV. Guess what I'll be staying up reading tonight?

Anyway, it's Halloween time, and, among other things, that means carving jack o' lanterns. For me, not just any old scary face will do. I like to try to push myself and carve really cool pumpkins. It's fun for the family, and my wife, ever the good sport, is good enough to help out. Here are the four jack o' lanterns we did this year. The first two were done by my wife, the last two by me:

Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, like I was saying, I went to Barnes and Noble today. I noticed that right near the front they have a table dedicated to their picks for Halloween reading. I wandered over, seeing what was what.

I was appalled.

There were no less than two dozen crappy vampire romances and at least that many dumb zombie books. There were only a couple that I would even consider reading, and yet this was the best they had to offer? Well, in hopes of setting this travesty to rights, I have prepared my picks for Halloween. I hope you enjoy:

• Salem's Lot by Stephen King. This was just excellent fiction, and though it is somewhat dated, I think that it adds to the feel of the book all the more. The book is basically a re-imagining of Dracula, if he were to come to the U.S. in the 1970's. It is a creepy book, and there are two or three parts in there that make me jump no matter how many times I read it. Five stars for this book. Loved it. Beware, King loves his profanity.
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Not the movie. No, please, not the movie. The book was so good. Robinson Crusoe in a world of vampires. The last man on earth is not alone. This book was so eerie, and the ending was a kick in the gut that you don't see coming. (It also makes way more sense than the stupid movie ending) Read this book. Five stars, again, loved it, beware of some profanity, drinking, dreary feelings etc....
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Graham Smith and Jane Austen. A unique re-working of the original classic that actually allowed me to finish it. It was smartly done and funny, and worth reading if you are a fan of the book. Still, it was a little slow for me, but I attribute that to it having too much Pride and Prejudice and not enough Zombies. Three stars, a fun, quick read. I don't think there's anything too questionable that you have to be aware of.
• Feed by Mira Grant. The mainstream media was caught off-guard when the zombie apocalypse ravaged the world. But the bloggers knew. Oh yes, they knew, and they were prepared to step up when it fell to them to save the world. This was a fun book, though it is not terribly action oriented. It is 1/3 zombies, 2/3 political thriller, written from the POV of three bloggers who have stepped up into major roles in the new media of the survivors of a post-apocalyptic zombie-ravaged society. Three stars. Profanity and some questionable content.

Those should keep you busy this week if you're looking for something to read. And don't forget, nanowrimo is coming up, and it's a perfect chance to motivate yourself to get some extra work done. I did a whole novel last year; a YA novel called Ragnarok. It needed some cleaning up, but it's nice to get a whole work out in such a short period of time. Try it. Go ahead, take me up on it. I dare you.
Thanks for reading!

House vs Holmes

A few months ago my wife started recording and watching a new TV show.(New to our home anyway, we don't watch TV much). Anyway, she wanted me to sit down and watch it with her. The name of that show was House. I asked her what it was about.
"A doctor. It's really funny. You'll like it."
Hmm. Medical drama? Like E.R.? Ugh. My first inclination was to pass, but my wife, ever persistent, managed to get me to watch an episode.
I'm glad I did.
Since that time I've been on a marathon, watching the first five seasons. I love the snarky dialogue, the sarcasm, and hey, even the medical mystery stuff is pretty cool. I normally hate medical shows. But this was different. And after a while I realized why.
It wasn't just a medical drama.
It was Sherlock Holmes, re imagined.
You may have drawn the same conclusion, you may not have. But consider the following. First, let's start with House's name. House. Sherlock Holmes last name sounds like "homes". Another word for home is "house".
Next, of course, they are both extremely intelligent and can deduce much from just looking at a person. Both fight deadly villains, be they criminals in the night or diseases that hide in the body. Holmes was an opiate and cocaine user, if not an addict, and House of course loves his yummy yummy Vicodin. Both men are extremely arrogant, yet it is acceptable because they are also extremely competent.
Holmes always referred to Dr. John Watson(initials J.W) as Watson, and House calls Dr. James Wilson(initials also J.W.) by his last name as well. Both prefer to hold others at a distance, though they allow their best friend to come a little bit closer.
Holmes and House both are notoriously lazy when not involved with a case. Both escape through music, Holmes with the violin, House with his piano. Holmes read the agony columns in the paper. House watches his soaps. Both are loath to accept the authority they have over them. Holmes with Inspector Lestrade, House with Dr. Cuddy.
And, in case you're not yet convinced that I have too much time on my hands to have noticed all of these similarities, here's the kicker. Holmes lives at the fabled residence at 221 B Baker Street. And check out this picture of House's apartment as he talks to Wilson:

Anyway, both Holmes and House are great. I've read the Complete Sherlock Holmes, as well as seen the movies, and read short stories by other authors emulating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work, such as Stephen King. And House, through five seasons so far has held my attention and made me laugh in each episode.
So, here's the question.
Which of the two is the better character?
I'd honestly like to know what you think. I personally believe that House is a much more personable character, that we get inside his head more, and that makes him the character to whom I relate to more. Holmes is great, but it's House's shortcomings that really make him the better character for me. Oh, and his clinic hours. I can't forget those.
So let me know what you think. Let's see how many votes we get for each. Who will win? Holmes? Or has he met his match?