Peter Safeword; Collar Snowfall; Bring Me Out; Ring of Pawns

[maribou]

Y The Last Man Volume 4: Safeword, by Brian K. Vaughan
Hooboy, they are darkening this one up as they go along. Some very weird twists that turn out extremely well. Very interesting. The ending of the volume was kinda predictable, but the sort of predictable that makes me want to rush out and get v. 5.
(92/250)

Peter Jackson: A Film-maker's Journey, by Brian Sibley
This was nifty. The writing's a bit clumsy, like it may've been put together as a bit of a rush, but the research is fascinating and it is stuffed full full full of photos and all the photos have Peter-Jackson-written captions on. Plus it's full of nice juicy blockquotes. You can tell the writer is a Fan by the way he has to get every single last interesting detail in whether or not it's actually germane, but that's as much a plus as a minus, from my point of view.
(93/250)

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, by Bill Willingham et al
A lovely flashback one-shot, really a bunch of retold fairy tales in a framing Scherezade variant. Yum.
(94/250)

The Collar, by Jonathan Englert
Quite an interesting look at a seminary that specializes in seminarians who've already been out in the world for a long time - including widowers and men who've had marriages annulled. The story follows five men at different stages of the formation process, and it's put together well. Absorbing, and it feels balanced as well.
(95/250)

Bring It On, by Laura Gilman
A good ole romp, complete with sex appeal, and the overarching series arc is keeping me intrigued. The little touches are my favorite part of this series - Gilman can really write a 'hanging out in the noodle shop' scene like few others can.
(96/250)

Stay With Me, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Absolutely one of my 5 most favorite contemporary YA authors (and probably one of only two on that list that aren't writing genre), garretfw is remarkable for the precision and elegance of her voice. Things break your heart in her novels, but not the things you would expect to break your heart - and the protagonists are understated in the claims they make on you, which is an enormously refreshing change from the more common run of teen melodramas. This is a perfect lemon poppyseed cake served with hot tea, instead of Coke and Cheetos, if you'll pardon the metaphor - but you know, one can enjoy Coke and Cheetos immensely and still know that tea and cakes are both tastier and more refined. Anyway, I definitely recommend any of her works, and I really liked this one. Oddly, it had echoes of Madeleine L'Engle for me, though I can't seem to pin down the specifics of that resonance. It may be more to do with L'Engle's autobiographical writings than with her fiction.
(97/250)

Y The Last Man Volume 5: Ring of Truth, by Brian K Vaughan et al
I dunno if anyone else felt like this was a Preacher tribute, but I sure did. Anyway, it was grand and swashbuckling, much less twisted and more Kill Bill than the last one. Fun!
(98/250)

Out There, by Ted Kerasote
A little gem of a book about a canoe trip up North and the way that modern technology makes such ventures very different than they were even 15 or 20 years ago. If you haven't read any Kerasote, I would start with something more substantial - get a better feel for the guy before reading this one - but if you already like him, you'll like this.
(99/250)

Gods and Pawns, by Kage Baker
*swoon* - Kage Baker is just amazing and this was some of her best writing to date. I loved every one of these stories and I just ordered Rude Mechanicals and I have The Sons of Heaven on hold at the library once it comes in. She is funny and smart and historically knowledgeable and the writing is absolutely stunning.
(100/250)

Comments

[raisinbottom.livejournal.com]

Lady Junpier stood at the tavern window looking out at the chaos and carnage. Flames rose above the skyline from the crashed plane. "Oh wee folk!" She traced a pentagram in the air, "I hope ye find your way to the happy places of the Summerlands."
She then went back to snort some coke off the tits of a hooker and blow her neckbeard boyfriend.

[maribou]

OK, I totally called this comment upstairs. YOU ARE NOT MAKING ME MORE LIKELY TO READ THE DARN BOOK. But smooches anyway.

Peter Safeword; Collar Snowfall; Bring Me Out; Ring of Pawns

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the mention...

Sorry about the clumsy writing - will try to do better next time! ;-)

Brian Sibley

http://www.briansibley.com/
http://briansibleysblog.blogspot.com/

Re: Peter Safeword; Collar Snowfall; Bring Me Out; Ring of Pawns

[maribou]

Er wow! Brian Sibley read my review ...

Um, I just wanted to say that one thing I *didn't* mention in the review was that I've been going around telling all the Tolkien/Jackson/horror-fantasy-movie fans I know, "Dudes, I'm reading this *awesome* book, I bet you are so jealous," and telling them they would like it.

[garretfw.livejournal.com]

Having Leila and her family compared to cake and tea is just about the nicest thing that has happened to me work-wise in quite some time. I guess I need to be reading Madeleine L'Engle, since you're the second person to say that my work reminded you of her. Any suggestions? It's been a few decades but I don't remember loving "A Wrinkle In Time." Thanks awfully for spending time with SWM. Any chance you'll be at Book Expo?

[maribou]

You might try A Circle of Quiet, it's one of my favorites.

No chance I'll be at Book Expo, sad to say.

[garretfw.livejournal.com]

I will go and get it and let you know. Thanks.

[lagilman]

Gilman can really write a 'hanging out in the noodle shop' scene like few others can.

Awww, thanks! That was a fun scene to write. Hope you enjoy the new one, too.

(note: authors are, as a rule, Google-whores. If you mention us, we will randomly, eventually, show up. fair warning.... )

[maribou]

Looking forward to the new one, yes.

(And, yeah, I should be used to Google-whoring authors by now, and I'm certainly even *less* surprised when it's someone I know shares circles with me, but I think I drop into deliberate denial because I write these for people I know, and they're pretty blunt at times. And if I started thinking about what the authors would think of the reviews while I wrote them, I would get reviewer's block... That said, I still get excited by the connection when it's made.)