recent reads; Skaar

SKAAR, SON OF HULK
HULK: PLANET SKAAR

I got both of these in collected trade paperback, on the cheap, at sales. I'm glad I didn't spend much. I guess I'm just not the target audience for this.

I was hoping for a sword-&-planet vibe. What I got was lots of planet heaving and lava flowing. Lots of people trying to kill Skaar. Lots of resurrected characters from PLANET HULK. Some mystic "old power" of the planet. Come to think of it, wasn't the planet destroyed at the end of PLANET HULK? Well, I might be misremembering, or they retconned the planetary destruction into local destruction.

Confusing facets of various players & races. Silver Surfer shows up, then we're on Earth with the Fantastic Four, Hulk and other crossovering. Not what I was looking for.

(There is a crossover with Ka-zar and the Savage Land but I don't think I'll bother - unless maybe if I get it cheap like the others.)

recent read; The Wolf Sea

The Wolf Sea by Robert Low

The Oathsworn are at it again.

Orm has inherited the mantle of jarl of the Oathsworn, and has promised them treasure. Unfortunately, the treasure is the silver hoard of Attila, which Orm touched and lost in the previous novel. He has also lost his runesword, etched with instructions how to re-find the treasure. Actually, the sword is not lost, it has been stolen.

Pursuit of the sword takes the Oathsworn from Constantinople to Jerusalem, with various intrigues and adventures as the Vikings ply their mercenary trade marching through the seas of grasslands and deserts.

It was more of the same in a good way. The story plot and subplots keep it fresh from its predecessor. The Viking world view stays strong, "young" Orm struggles with his wyrd of leading the Oathsworn. History drips from the page, illuminating what a tumultuous fractured world the old Middle East was prior to the Crusades.

Lots of goodness here for historical fiction fans, action fans, and Viking fans.

It turns out that my town library and the consortium it belongs to do not have the next volumes in the series. I see yet more book purchases in my future. I need to continue following the Oathsworn.

recent read; Tales From The Otherverse

Tales From The Otherverse edited by James Reasoner

Other times, other places, other stories than the ones we know...These are the Tales From the Otherverse, where anything is possible and things never work out quite the way you'd expect. Some of today's top talents in popular fiction turn their hands to tales of alternate history. Featuring new stories by bestselling, award-winning authors Bill Crider, Lou Antonelli, Scott A. Cupp, Robert E. Vardeman, James Reasoner, and more. Explore the Otherverse and see what might have been!=====

James Reasoner has assembled a set of alternate history tales not limited to any era or place. That gives this anthology a lot of variety. A few of these have unexpected twists, so I don't want to give away too much in the synopses. But here's what you get;

“The Battle of the Bands” by Scott A. Cupp

The heyday of 1960s rock...- or is it 1860s rock? Custer and his boys against a band of Native American musicians in a battle of the bands - with strange echoes of otherworlds and death.

“Port Radium” by Lou Antonelli

What if Douglas MacArthur had been a German general during WWII?

“Mrs. Lincoln’s Dinner Party” by Cheryl Pierson

Mary Todd Lincoln takes matters into her own hands, inviting Jefferson Davis's wife and other members of the Confederacy to a dinner party in Washington D.C., to broker peace. But different guests have different motivations.

“The Assassination of President Broussard” by Keith West

An alternate tale of the South, where Woodrow Wilson shunted to the vice presidency by the election of Robert F. Broussard. Bonus points for weaving in a reality where the American hippo meat market happened. In fact, the hippo meat issue is the inciting incident of the tale, as they start to rival the steer beef market. The feud between Duquesne and Burnham (enemies in the Boer War, now both working together) is also pivotal to this unique story.

“Books Burning Brightly in the Night” by Robert E. Vardeman
Air pirates and zeppelins populate this derring-do tale of an FBI agent going against his bosses and going with his hunches to foil a gang of air pirates.

“A Wisp of Memory” by John Hegenberger

A private detective is hired by Rod Serling and finds himself in his own Twilight Zone-esque situation.

“It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” by Bill Crider

Another music tale, in which Buddy Holly lived and Waylon Jennings died on that fateful plane crash. An anniversary concert ten years after gives Elvis a shot at a comeback.

“The Great Steamer Riot of 1936” by Scott Dennis Parker

Great story about a swing jazz band with a trumpeter who is a little too perfect. Steam androids and insular intolerance clash. The Depression is more an era for "diesel punk" than "steam punk," so this one was a poignant surprise.

“The Alexandria County Library Book Sale” by Richard Prosch

 A fun story of Greek culture and the library of Alexandria lasting into the modern age.

“The Hero of Deadwood” by James Reasoner

What if Bill Hickok road into the Presidency on the back of his fame? And is history as malleable as it might seem, or does it self-correct regardless of the players?

Tales From The Otherverse is an engaging read of alternate histories. The stories are short, so no need to bog down in large novels or novel series to get your alternate history fix.

recent read; Perchance To Dream

Perchance to Dream (Selected Stories) by Charles Beaumont

Beaumont wrote many episodes of The Twilight Zone, in some cases adapting his own earlier published short stories. Sadly, he died of a premature aging disease (Alzheimer's? - it's not really clear.) Like Bradbury - (who appears here via a recycled posthumous forward) - Beaumont was a machine who turned out story after story with original flare and sometimes wry twists.

His collections had gone out of print. Fortunately, in October, Penguin Classics released a new, solid collection of Beaumont's short stories. The book appears thin, yet it contains 23 stories. Beaumont was prolific. He knew how to strip and present a story at its bare essentials. Only a few of these stories are lengthy.

I won't analyze every story but they're all very enjoyable. Some of my favorites in this set were "Perchance To Dream," a tale of dreams within dreams that became a Twilight Zone episode, "You Can't Have Them All," a humorous story about a man determined to bed every woman who appeals to his personal taste in women, "The Howling Man," a story of the Devil (another tale later adapted to The Twilight Zone,) and "Place Of Meeting," which concerns certain survivors of nuclear war destruction.

Beaumont's talents outside of the weird and supernatural come through near the end of the collection with "A Death in The Country," about a desperate, washed-up race car driver and what he will do to stay in the game. And "The Music of the Yellow Brass" is a straight up story about a young, down-on-his-luck matador. It's a story that would seamlessly fit into Borderland Noir.

If you like the 1960s era golden age of genre-mixing-bending writers of weird like Bradbury, Matheson, et al, and you are not familiar with Beaumont, you definitely need to read this collection. I am very glad I did.

recent read; The Whale Road

The Whale Road by Robert Low

I took my son to the town library two weeks ago. He borrowed a DVD, and he suggested I should get a book. Despite having overflowing bookcases and Kindle at home, I agreed. I was pleasantly surprised to find The Whale Road sitting on the shelf. It had been on my reading list since it came out, and I haven't yet bought a copy in any medium, so I borrowed it.

Glad I did. Wish I hadn't waited. I want more.

Orm Ruriksson, young Bear Slayer, joins the Oathsworn mercenary band of Vikings, led by Einar the Black. They are on the hunt for the fabled silver hoard of Attila the Hun. Orm's wyrd is tied to Einar, and the Oathsworn, and Hild, a witchy woman who claims to know the treasure's hiding place. Others have also gotten word of the woman and the treasure. Chase and intrigue follow. Bloody combat, narrow escapes, untrustworthy men add up to rousing adventure.

Over the course of the novel, Orm grows from a young man to a seasoned veteran of the Oathsworn.

While the novel is historical fiction, not fantasy, there is enough magic and supernatural in the Norse worldview that you can say this tale involves magical realism. The consistency of the medieval Viking worldview is a strong point of the novel. It raises it above a mere treasure hunt with Vikings.

The Whale Road is in the vein of adventure historical fiction that rings with veracity of its characters. If you like Robert E. Howard's Cormac Mac Art, I'm sure you'd enjoy this, too.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

recent read; Borderland Noir

Borderland Noir, edited by Craig McDonald

Borderland Noir is an engaging anthology of short stories, novel excerpts, and essays pondering the harder edges of life on the border of Mexico. Coyotes (human traffickers,) wasted lives, murder, the drug war, banditos and echoes of the Mexican Revolution, and all sordid stops in between are examined.

The short stories are all engaging and take different directions. There are many, many stories to be told under the umbrella of borderland noir. DEA, ICE, prison guards, sheriffs, broken-down hookers, hit men, washed-up lawyers, life on the other side of the river and more.

McDonald's excerpts from his novel, El Gavilan, provide a poignant view of the illegal immigrant's journey through desert, coyotes, mad men with jugs of water and untold hardships - all for a chance - just a chance - of something better in the United States.

Jim Cornelius's essay on the the rise and fall of Pancho Villa, "Pancho Villa—Fourth Horseman of the Mexican Apocalypse," might appear out-of-place at first. But, in fact, it is a fascinating read when paired with the closing essay, "Where God And The Devil Wheel Like Vultures" by Tom Russell. The roots of bandito worship start with Villa and the Revolution (or perhaps, earlier.) The bad guys are the good guys because - for all their killing - they also help entire communities when it is to their benefit. It is chilling to see the same behavior and acceptance of drug lords and their wars. Also chilling - both items, separated in content by 100 years, give or take - mention Americans on the border watching warfare and gunfights across the river.

If you think the fictional body counts are unbelievable, just wait until you read the real statistics.

History repeats.

Borderland Noir is an engaging read. It drags you over the border and steeps you in sweat, beer, fear, revenge, smoke, jalapeños and blood. It is an eye-opening noir anthology about life in the shady world of the border.

On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month

I've posted before about my maternal grandfather and his service during World War I. As usual for me, on this day to honor all veterans I find myself gravitating toward the root in Armistice Day of World War I.

Another World War I veteran in the family tree was Joe St. George. I don't know much about him, though there are a few family anecdotes. He was nicknamed "the Count," for one, because he led a wild life.

Recently when cleaning out the house after my father's death, we found a picture of Joe & his wife, along with the certificate for his French Verdun medal.

Joe & Nellie St. George, year unknown (probably 1940s)

And last week, I finally found and visited their grave.

Amazing stuff to discover after all this time.