Movies

Reading my way through a Warhammer 40K omnibus right now, and I'll be dropping my thoughts on that (3 novels) when I've finished 'em all as one big whole.

Meantime, I've managed to catch some movies. (and here are my thoughts, if you are interested.)

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Appaloosa

Good western. Gunfights are realistic - they happen and end in a flash. (Yes, the real gunfight at O.K. Corral only lasted something like 30~40 seconds, I remember Jack Palance telling me on Ripley's Believe It or Not, if I recall correctly.) I enjoyed the teaming of both the characters and actors (Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen.)

I am interested in reading the original series of novels by Robert B. Parker. The plot is simple enough - two hired lawman try to bring in a crooked rancher, and things get complicated when they both fall for the new widower in town, Allie French (played by Renee Zellweger.) I had a hard time buying that Allie's affections were worth the trouble the characters went through (frankly, she wasn't a likable character to me.)

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Planet Hulk

The Hulk is supposed to be marooned on a planet teaming with non-intelligent life. The Avengers have made the decision for the safety of Earth and the Hulk. But the Hulk smashes the spacecraft's controls, and lands on a planet in the finest sword-n-planet tradition - strange alien creatures, gladiatorial combat, and all the trappings.

Good adaptation of the graphic novel but a lot has been jettisoned for streamlining (and happy endings.) This was not unexpected. The "making of" documentary mentioned that they kept much of the story taking place in the arena as the plot's "spine". For me, that was a detriment. I wanted them out of the arena and exploring the planet more.

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It Might Get Loud

This documentary is about three rock icons and how the electric guitar and other musical forces shaped their musical development. Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White. Regardless of how you feel about their music, it is a very interesting look at three different guitar players. Being a "white boy bluesman" myself, I found Jack White's story of most interest (also, I already knew plenty about Page and the Edge.) I thought the stylistic choices of the three men was ironic when they all played slide together on "In My Time of Dying". Edge wore his slide on his middle finger, Page on the ring finger and White on the pinky. Perfect serendipitous dovetailing.

Fun and interesting; if you have even a single rock'n'roll bone in your body, check this one out.

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Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Another DC Universe direct-to-DVD feature. I think this is my favorite. Expectations are turned upside down as Lex Luthor, last survivor of his world's Justice League, arrives on Earth to seek assistance from the Justice League. On his world, the evil counterparts to the JL are a crime syndicate who answer to no one and now threaten to take absolute control. Good visuals, good story. So far with these movies, I've been enjoying the rotating voice casts, but I admit I am so used to Clancy Brown voicing Lex Luthor that Chris Noth's turn here left me a little cold. Still - that's more about me than his performance.

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All in all, a good batch of movies I'm glad to say.

Quick read post

tired and a bit busy lately, but figured it was March so I should put up something...

Slaine: The Exile by Steven Savile
I was unaware of the history of Slaine when I bought this novel. Slaine is a series and character of the 2000AD British comic company.

I was hoping for lots of Celtic bloody head-bashing. What I read was a very disjointed tale with not nearly enough action to make up for the faults. I have gathered from another review that this novel pulls in years worth of Slaine comic tidbits, characters and plots. I believe the aim was an episodic novel, but it just didn't seem to pull together. Subplots and side characters came and went. The entire second act left me scratching my head as Slaine went from bloodthirsty berserker to a rover, including time as a mercenary caravan guard (ok) to a farmer (say what?) completely dropping his desire for vengeance until well into the third act.

The third act perked up a bit, with the arrival of Ukko, the untrustworthy dwarf sidekick. The plot threads started to gel and the story found direction.. and then the novel just ended!

So, I am curious to read the sequel novel, because of the cliffhanger and growing potential, but I won't rush to read it.

Rambling on eReaders/eBooks

I am currently reading, Slaine: The Exile, which is a novel tie-in with a comic. (The comic comes from Britain’s 2000AD line.) The novel came out in 2006, and a sequel followed in 2007. The novel was published by Black Flame, who were a division of BL Publishing. (Their main arm is Black Library, who publish the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 novels.) Black Flame published media tie-in novels. In addition to 2000AD titles, they also novelized some movies into novel series.



I thought about buying the second Slaine novel, but then decided to wait until I read the first novel. Black Flame folded in 2007. As a result, the second Slaine novel, Slaine: The Defiler, is already rare. Now, the first novel isn’t sending me into the stratosphere (more on that in a review post later,) but I’d be curious to go on to the second novel, but not at the prices out there.

"What do you mean I'm out-of-print?!"

Another title they novelized was Fiends of the Eastern Front, a series about vampyrs in the Russian-German front of World War II. There was a trilogy, which in true BL Publishing fashion, wound up in an omnibus. I never did grab a copy, and those are gone too.



Foiled again by “out-of-print”!

Or am I?

I was poking around Wikipedia yesterday, and learned that BL Publishing sold off the 2000AD novels of Black Flame to another company, Rebellion Developments, in 2009. Rebellion have made the titles available as eBooks.

I hopped over to Amazon, and checked the Kindle Store.

Sure enough, the titles are there. They seem reasonably priced - $5.59 per novel.

This perfectly illustrates one of the aspects of eReaders/eBooks that I am most excited about. They can make out-of-print books available. I love hunting used book stores, and if I really want something, I’ll try eBay or ABE Books. But, what if it’s just something I want to try, I’m not sure of the quality? What if the book is so rare, I just can’t get a hold of it?

Imagine all those yellow spine DAW books, Karl E. Wagner’s Kane stories, Robert Adams Horseclans, Sadler’s Casca or the Falcon series by “Mark Ramsay” (house author started by John Maddox Roberts) being available with a mere download.

I grant that Rebellion had an advantage with Black Flame. The Black Flame books, being so new, probably were already on a computer and just needed a formatting pass to make them eReader ready. Older books will require some upfront time and money to be transcribed to computer. I have no idea what it costs a publisher to bring an older book online, but I would hope it would be recovered with a minor amount of sales. (Need to keep the cost attractive.) But it doesn’t cost them printing or warehouse space, certainly.

Will more out-of-print (but not public domain) titles become more and more available via eReaders?

Time will tell. I, for one, certainly hope so!

miscellany

Today is the natal anniversary of Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), creator of Conan (the Barbarian), Kull, Solomon Kane, Cormac Mac Art, et al.

A toast to your shade, sir!

I spent last week dealing with a virus on our main home computer. They suck, and the people who create them (whether for 'fun' or 'profit') suck. Pox on them. I finally recovered the machine a few nights ago. I think my next desktop will be an iMac. I've had it with Windows clunkiness. (and if needed, you can run Windows right on the Intel Macs now, with the right software purchases.)

I finished my first Kindle read, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company. The story revolved around a young English man's entry into the Medieval world after being cloistered in a monastery. After various incidents, he ends up with a mercenary archery company fighting in France/Spain. I found the book to be .. well, of its time. Slow to start, lots of talk and people traveling from one place to the next. Frankly, I was bored. I guess it's really more of a Romance (not romance) novel. Some humorous stuff, but very little action on the whole. And when the action comes, it is over very quickly. Also some very poor "telling, not showing" where entire dialog passages describe off-page action, like watching a stage play.

On the plus side, lots of historical detail (maybe too much, like Doyle was showing off all his research.) Good source for Medieval clothing, armor, weaponry (though, most weapons are cited, and not described being used!)

On writing, I signed on for a(nother) slot in an anthology (where I have already contributed one tale.) I started working on that this week. It's sword-n-planet, and I have a rough outline. I will enjoy visiting the exotic vistas and running the characters through their paces.

Cheers!

Last reads of 2009

My last reads of 2009 were...



Brother Berserker by Fred Saberhagen.

Another entry in Saberhagen's long Berserker series. This story featured time travel, as the Berserkers attempt to change the history of a world. Nice touches, interesting time combat, and Saberhagen just has a knack for storytelling that I really enjoy. An enjoyable, if short, entry in the series.

(note: this novel is more commonly known as Brother Assassin - I think I read the British edition/title)

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The Sun Over Breda by Arturo Perez-Reverte

The third adventure in the Captain Alatriste series. I liked it but the constant asides and poetry quotations disrupted the narrative. It does have sharp characters that pop off the page and some memorable combats scenes.

I think without the asides, it might have been better served as a novella.

The World of Kindle

I received a very surprise gift at Christmas - a Kindle.

I have downloaded and I am now reading Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company.

I also ordered a cover/case right away. I already dropped it once (luckily with no damage) getting it out of the box (don't want to carry it around in a cardboard box, anyway.)

Nothing replaces the feel of a real book. I'll still get those, too. (just did a post-holiday Amazon order, in fact.) But having access to classics and out-of-print (hoping more and more out-of-print books get into the digital realm) make it appealing.

Some music for the New Year

Taking a break from our regular broadcast of reading (and occasional writing) commentary to plug some good music I found this year.

First up, from Chicago - The Steepwater Band.



The first thing I’ll say is, if you like the Black Crowes, you need to check out this band. I think they are even more rockin’ than the Crowes. Their latest album was produced by Marc Ford, former Black Crowes guitarist. I think Steepwater play closer to their blues roots, with original material with hints of Faces, Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and all that. Very good slide playing, some good jamming, and catchy songs.

On top of all that, they have a jukebox on their website that lets you hear 21 songs (complete, not 30sec samples), so you should absolutely give them a try before you buy. If you buy albums direct from the band’s website, you’ll save money and they get the best deal. The albums are cheap, $10 (Grace & Melody, their latest , is on sale for only $7 right now.)

I have no personal relation to these guys. I just think they are a good, new rock band who deserve some buzz.

Check ‘em out!

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On a related tangent, I really like the music of Alvin Youngblood Hart. He usually performs blues or rock, but he has an upcoming project of roots music called the South Memphis String Band. Also featured in this trio is Luther Dickinson, who is currently in (you guessed it) the Black Crowes! Rounding out the trio is Jimbo Mathus , from Squirrel Nut Zippers.

You can hear two of their songs at their MySpace page (or, Facebook page.)

They have announced that a full album will be out in January.

I really got into rootsy, bluesy, string tunes this year, and I am really glad these guys happen to be launching this project for the New Year.

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Happy Holidays!