Devil May Care about this post

Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care is the first James Bond not written by Ian Fleming that I have enjoyed reading. Faulks goes back to the Cold War era, the height of Bond action. We find Bond on sabbatical, forced by M to relax and evaluate whether he should come back to the service or not. We all know that final answer, but Faulks guides us down that path with new enemies, new loves, and plenty of fast paced action.

Gone is SMERSH, but the land of the hammer and sickle still factors into the story. As does a beautiful woman, double crossing allies, and an enemy worth hating. Nowhere are the fancy gadgets that would overtake the action of the movies and the Raymond Benson novels. Instead, Bond relies on ingenuity and his skills to defeat those who would do the world harm.

Bond travels to Paris, then Persia (yes, Persia) to investigate a man with a monkey hand who travels with a Viet Minh aid. Along the way, he meets Larissa Rossi, the beautiful banker whose sister works for Dr. Julius Gorner, person of interest. We get a quick glimpse of Matthis, well before the events of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace as Bond works through Paris en route to Persia. Once in Persia, Bond makes contact with the local agent works his way to Dr. Gorner’s warehouse on the docks of the Caspian Sea with Scarlett Papava and his local driver. From here, things go sideways and Commandre Bond is soon fighting for his life before saving the world. . . and Miss Papava.

I think Devil May Care will appeal to Bond fans of old, especially those who enjoyed the novels. However, I think new fans brought in by the films starring Daniel Craig can also enjoy this book. The pace of the book is quick and spurs its reader forward. There is no lengthy explanation of how this gadget or that gadget works. Each chapter fills one of two rolls – foreshadowing or bringing the action. From this viewpoint, Faulks appears to combine the best of the Fleming novels and the movies.

If you are looking for a Bond that woos multiple women, shoots bullets out of fountain pens, or would rather love than fight, this isn’t the Bond for you. However, if you have a few hours’ time and want a thriller that is a quick read, then you’re in luck.

Review: The New Death and Others by James Hutchings

The New Death and Others by James Hutchings is a collection of short stories and poetry. Published in 2011, this eBook can be found on both Amazon and Smashwords and contains 44 stories with 19 poems. The current retail price is $0.99.

The tales within this collection run the gamut of funny to horrific, long and short, and truthful l, yet not. Readers of such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Robert E. Howard, and perhaps Voltaire may enjoy reading this short tome. Mr. Hutchings appears to be influenced by those authors and many more.

For those of you looking for your own inspiration, I think you will find it in these pages. Mr. Hutchings relives tales from Robert E. Howard’s Kull in “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune,” giving us a new take of the same story. He also delves into the world of Lovecraft with “Under the Pyramid.” He provides gods, monsters, and men – complete with desires base and unseemly.

Mr. Hutchings modernizes old tales, such as Rumpelstiltskin. He brings them into the 21st century and introduces old concepts to new, with tales such as “A Date With Destiny” (internet dating), “The Jeweled City” (we are but the thoughts of an author in a Microsoft Word document), and “The Auto-Pope” gives us a story of robots.

Commentary on today’s world of love moves beyond internet dating with “Compatibility” while “The Uncharted Isle” gives way to “Weary Love” wherein Commerce takes over for Love at the call center. Yet, Mr. Hutchings does not stop there when it comes to love. He delves in to the realm of concept-gods, ala Neil Gaiman, and reveals that even the gods have trouble in the world of love.

Mr. Hutchings does not shy away from any topics. He dives into politics with “Monsters” and reminds us of our modern horrors. Rumpelstiltskin’s tale doubles as commentary upon what one can do for work, when one can do nothing else.

He even includes ninjas.

The medium-length tales in The New Death and Others do little for me. The voice of the story is oft times lost on me and the voices of the characters too often sound the same. I lost my place looking at the text of these stories for too long. Mr. Hutchings should work on establishing voice as quickly in these medium-length tales as he does in his short pieces.

The shortest works are better than their more medium sized brethren. They are quick blurbs about a topic and often meant to be funny. Taken in small doses, they help to break up the monotony of their larger cousins.

The best works in this book are those of more significant length. Mr. Hutchings does a fine job telling tales through prose or poetry, when he lets himself become long in the tooth. In these stories, he does a much better job of bringing forth the horror and mystery reminiscent of Lovecraft and Howard. In some of these tales, he also delves into the world of Teleleli, a world he has created and continues to develop in his blog. “The God of the City of Dust” is set in this setting, called Teleleli. It describes the actions of three priestesses, the followers of a rival deity, and what comes of converting from one deity to another.

The tale of “Todd” reminds me of something I would expect by John Shirley or Jack Ketchum. The story begins nice and neat and becomes a bloody mess by the end. Or, at least in my mind it becomes a bloody mess. We are not really told what happened to Todd and Kimberly, but I guarantee you it was not a nice thing to write home about.

Overall, the quality of material is a steal for less than one dollar. I think Mr. Hutchings should continue to work on his prose and poetry, continue to expand his ability to wax verbose, and continue to write. His writing in this novel comes across as very “common” and no yet refined into a style of his own. It is obvious that he loves his work and for a first outing, this collection of writing is not a bad one.

Fans of Vertigo comics, early fantasy authors, and role players looking for ideas should enjoy this book. However, if none of the topics I have mentioned throughout this review are of interest to you, I cannot recommend picking this work up.

I have attempted to provide you, the reader, with not only quick glimpses into the material contained within this volume, but also with my thoughts on the author’s abilities.

I would give this book a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. The topics at hand are good, but the writing itself needs more development.

Hard Boiled - men and women

I've been reading detective yarns as of late. I just finished the third volume of The Mike Hammer Collection.

I liked this one more than the second volume. The writing in the second volume's collection felt forced. Too much hard sex, too much brutal violence, as if it was there just to have it there. I know sex and violence belong in the genre, but it has to have meaning or it loses its place.

Like Robert E. Howard's work, not all of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer stories were published in the order he wrote them. Yet, this book series (the collections I've read) are set up as published in history. I think I would have rather read the stories in the order Spillane originally intended.

Whatever way you cut it, though, I've enjoyed reading all three volumes in this collection and wouldn't mind rereading the first two volumes, again.

I picked up The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps as something to read in order to tide me over for the time being. I've been shopping in book stores and that normally does nothing o depress me. Barnes and Noble may be good enough for the commoner, but for someone who wants more than what the current distributors are pushing hot and heavy, it ain't the place for me. I've just started the book, so no opinions on it, yet.

In the mean time, I'm thinking on new to me hard boiled fiction to read. While cruising the 'net, I came across a quick, nice article on Modesty Blaise, Ms. Tree, and Tara Chace. The article is by a feminist and actually spans three posts. I'm linking to the second post, which begins discussing the characters. The first post discusses the pedigree of the blogger and another that gave a presentation on (strong character) detective females. I've heard of all three of these characters before. I am probably the most familiar with Modesty, but not that much. I do know to skip the 1966 movie, unless I'm watching Our Man Flint and In Like Flint in the same sitting. I'm intrigued by the 2004 release My Name is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure that was produced overseas. There's also a TV series that I know nothing about.

The article gives me enough info to tease me into wanting to know more about these characters. I've been tempted to pick up something with Modesty in it. I think I will keep an eye out for novels or trades of the original comic series. I much prefer the source material than I do the continuation of the stories following the authors retiring the characters (often the authors' deaths). I am curious to see these depictions of women as hard boiled characters, ready to strike out with guns and quick with the dialogue. If they are half as fun as the characters of Spillane, Chander, or Hammett, the books will be worth the price of admission.

And if all of this has bored you, go check out Inspector Tequila in Hard Boiled

Review: Force Unleashed & The Dark Knight

Force Unleashed (somewhere else) the book

During the annual video game get together, Saturday after Thanksgiving, I watched some of this video game being played. The graphics are awesome and it looked like you could do a decent amount of stuff as the character. While at the library a few weeks ago, I picked up this book, plus Revenge of the Sith, to read. Force Unleashed takes place between RofT and A New Hope.

I read through Revenge first. Vey had suggested giving it a look, so when I saw it on the shelf, I picked it up. I honestly didn't expect it to be much. The "new" trilogy comes across as very stiff and plot point driven. I didn't feel compelled to like any of the characters, even though I enjoy watching several of the actors. What I discovered about Revenge is that if I tune out the stiff acting and horrible dialogue from the movie, it's a really good story. The author wove in more than the movie did and I actually began to pity Anakin. I felt sorry for Padme, being pregnant and married to a guy who can't seem to really grow up. By the end of the movie, I finally understood what the story should have been, a classic tragedy with Anakin at the heart of it.

With that, I picked up Force Unleashed and dove in head first. Sadly, this book is nowhere near as good as Revenge. Granted, it's based on a video game. I was willing to look beyond that and try to enjoy it, nonetheless. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this one fast enough. The action sequences from the video game read horribly. The character development is as shallow and stinted as it would be in a video game. There's no real big payoff feeling like there would be from beating a video game. And the video game's story and how it plays into the Star Wars metaplot? meh. Interesting idea, but meh. If you want to experience Force Unleashed, play the video game and skip this book.

Anyone wanting the plot elements that fit into the mythos, let me know and I'll post spoilers.



The Dark Knight
potential for spoilers ahead

I got this one as a Christmas gift. I've only watched it once, so I'm sure I've missed things. It's a very good follow up to Batman Begins. The development of Gordan and Batman's relationship is good. The inclusion of Dent was nice. I would have liked a full movie of him as Dent before the creation of Two Face. Ledger was good as the Joker.

I was surprised at the direction they went with the Joker's personality. He came across as the quiet guy, who finally snaps, instead of the cRAzY mAn I often expect him to be. You know, closer to the '60s tv show version. The portrayal as a quiet, more subdued personality, perhaps more unsecure?, was a great turn and for some reason, a little easier to relate to. This is not to say there was no over the top insanity from Joker, there was. However, there was not a lot of cackling "ha-ha-ha-ha"s. I could have used a few more. Joker definetly upped the ante on what he was willing to do for his cause. That was nice. It wasn't just some random kill people here, blow that building up there. The character was well thought out. There was still some comic book pastiche, but that's to be expected.

I didn't care for the ending with Batman and Gordan's interactions and Batman taking the heat. It felt very forced and just didn't jive with the rest of the movie. I felt it could have been left out. I understand the need to have him outside the law and on the run. After all, we can't have people rooting for a vigilante, now can we?

I wouldn't be surprised in the next movie if they include Gordan's wife moving back to Chicago as part of the plot. They set it up this time, with Two Face's actions.

If you liked Batman Begins, you'll like most of this movie.

Dnevnoy Dozor

Picked up 3 movies over the weekend. Nochnoi Dozor, which I've already watched and enjoyed aspects of; Dnevnoy Dozor which I watched today and liked; and License to Wed.

License to Wed is a chick flick, but mostly safe for males. Robin Williams and John Krasinski do an okay job. Mandy Moore is so out of her league, it's not funny. The movie is nothing to write home about and I've seen both Robin and John do much better. Still, if the SO wants you to watch it with her, the pain should be somewhat minimal.

Dneevnoy Dozor is the movie adaptation of the book of the same name, Day Watch. It's the follow up storyline to Nochnoi Dozor, or Night Watch. Night Watch gained fame for being a Russian film that made it to the outside world, with special effects equal to the BBC in the 1990s, and having some very cool visuals. The movie lacks the depth of the book in many ways, including the cut down storyline resulting in some Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments.

I haven't read Day Watch, yet. It's still sitting here waiting to be read. I hope to get to it by summertime. However, I found the movie to be far and away better made than Night Watch. The special effects were good and modern. The story made sense. They introduced the concept of the Inquisition, which is the third book/movie. The actors did a good job.

The focus was more on the Day Watch than the Night Watch. However, they stayed focused on Anton and Svetlana. The movie opened with another great battle scene, this time with horses riding through walls and oriental warriors shapeshifting from raven form in mid-flight.

It's a good follow up to the original movie and sets up a "what are they going to do in the third movie?" atmosphere.

On the down side, I picked up the nWoD books and I'm not sure I made good purchases.

Westerns!

Been in a Western mood lately. Read 3:10 to Yuma, then picked up Elmore Leonard's complete Westerns collection, Larry McMurtry's Dead Man's Walk (the first of the Lonesome Dove series), and Robert Parker's Apaloosa (yes, that's Robert Parker of Spenser: for Hire fame).

I read through Apaloosa first. I know Parker and his style. Knowing that, I knew I could kill it in a few days. Well, two to be exact. It's a good read. Nothing overly fancy. An ending I didn't expect, but did enjoy. About 1/3 of the way into the book, it started to feel a little close to Spenser as a Western. I was afraid of that, but I didn't mind. The characters were definately not Spenser characters, but some of the dialogue was close.

I'm about 90 pages into Dead Man's Walk. It's nothing special thus far. I've a feeling though, that it's about to get good. For those that have read it, I'm at the part of the story where the characters are leaving for to join the army.

Having already read 3:10 to Yuma, I'm saving Leonard for last. He was first, I'll get to him later.

And eventually, I do plan to read Louis Lamour, I'm just not in a hurry.

So, with that in mind, I went trolling through Youtube and found some interesting indie Western flicks. I'll stick them behind a cut to save on your load time.

In addition to that, my on again off again Western script idea is back on and I'm slowly plugging away at it. Expect nothing soon!

The Hayfield Movie


Six Reasons Why This is the one I'm most interested in.


The Spaghetti Western style trailer.


Six Bullets


Dodge City: A Spaghetto Western (with Isaac Hayes



And if you’ve never seen it, here’s the opening gunfight from Once Upon a Time in the West.


Sergio would follow this up with A Fistful o’ Dynamite (aka Duck, You Sucker!) and Once Upon a Time in America.