While I ramp up for writing more original fiction in 2008, I’ve been making an effort to read more books and watch more movies. Here’s a brief look at some of the things I’ve come across recently that I think are worth your time and money.
Books
Hammered
This is Elizabeth Bear’s first novel, and it kicks off the Jenny Casey trilogy that’s continued in Scardown and concluded in Worldwired. It takes place in a dystopian world that was plausible enough to give me chills, and is the first book I’ve read that I’d admiringly call post-cyberpunk.
Jenny Casey is a cybernetically enhanced former soldier living in post-war Connecticut, dealing with the ghosts of her past. When those ghosts come back to life, they ensnare not only her, but some of her closest friends, as well.
It took me longer than usual to get into the narrative, because the story changes point of view a lot in the beginning, but once I got all the characters straight, I was on board and it was difficult to put down.
This was one of those books where the main character is compelling, but the supporting characters are magnificent. I just loved it, and as soon as I finish Atrocity Archives, I think I’m going to finish the trilogy.
Coraline
Coraline lives in a boring house with uninteresting parents surrounded by strange people. But when she goes through a forbidden door and finds herself trapped on the other side with her Other Mother, her life suddenly becomes very interesting. It’s not quite horror, it’s not quite fantasy . . . I guess I’d call it a "dark fantasy," sort of the way Neverwhere was a dark fantasy. It’s a quick and thoroughly enjoyable read.
I wish this had been written when my kids were still young enough for me to read to them. I have number 238 of the limited Subterranean printing.
After Halloween
I got this book from Daniel Davis when I spent the weekend next to his
Steam Crow booth at Phoenix Comicon. It’s a children’s alphabet book
about what the monsters do to make a living after Halloween. ("E is for Ealwatte, a mage
of the dead / Now he crafts hats to adorn your bald head.") It’s all
rhyming, it’s charming and funny, and the illustrations are ridiculously awesome. In a world
where everything — especially children’s books and stories — are so
mindnumbingly banal and similar, After Halloween is unique and
wonderful. It’s another one that made me wish my kids were little
enough to enjoy it.
Graphic Novels
WE3
Grant Morrison is with Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman, and Alan Moore on the list of authors I’ll buy anything from without even reading the back cover, so it’s weird that I just got around to reading WE3 now. (Actually, I started it when I was working on NUMB3RS, and just finished it on Friday. I got distracted, I guess.)
WE3 is about three domestic animals — a dog, a cat, and a rabbit — who are kidnapped by the military and turned into cyborgs to be used as weapons. When the project is going to be terminated and the animals destroyed, they’re set free by a well-meaning researcher. Much of the story is about them trying to survive outside of the lab, while they’re hunted by their former masters. I found it sad and touching. It’s also a story that, I think, only works as a graphic novel, making it pretty unique.
Batman: The Man Who Laughs
A new take on the introduction of The Joker into the Batman universe, this is set right after Batman: Year One, and could be a companion to The Killing Joke. I loved the writing, the shift in narrative between Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne, and the artwork was perfectly unsettling, without being disturbing. I’m a lifelong Batman geek, so it takes a lot to impress me with a Batman story. This impressed the hell out of me.
Fell Volume One: Feral City
Richard Fell is a detective sent over the bridge from a city that feels like New York to a totally fucked up place called Snowtown. In Snowtown, everyone has something to hide . . . including him. It’s classic detective stories, filtered through Warren’s sublimely twisted lens. I liked it so much, Fell could be the fourth comic to make it onto my single-issue list.
Movies
A Scanner, Darkly
My expectations were really low for this movie, after talking to some
friends about it, so I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the
acting, music, and animation combined very effectively, and I thought they did a better than usual job of
staying true to PKD’s story. Admittedly, this isn’t saying much, but it shouldn’t be misconstrued as a back-handed compliment. I genuinely enjoyed this film.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
One of the most engrossing documentaries I’ve seen in years. On the surface, it’s the story of two men trying to achieve the highest score on Donkey Kong, but the story ends up being about much, much more than the quest for a high score on a video game; it’s about a group of petty sycophants doing everything they can to protect a cowardly tyrant whose tiny fiefdom is threatened by an honorable man. I lost a lot of respect for Twin Galaxies by the time the film was over. I also wanted to go spend a hundred dollars in an arcade.
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_Fell_ is one of my top-three favorite comics, and thus my favorite of Ellis’. Even counting _Nextwave_. Seriously.
Amusing “King of Kong” story: at the screening I saw, we had the hero, the chief referee, and the nerdy mole all in attendance. Hero spent the movie in the lobby trying to beat the record (he “only” got up to 700,000). Referee watched. Nerdy mole was actually in the movie, and did NOT look happy when it was over. He also refused requests for autographs and didn’t answer any of the questions thrown his way during the Q&A. Loser.
A book I’d recommend is Vacation by Jeremy Shipp~eerie goodness and so much truth in his fiction!(amazon has it) and I’m sure you’ve seen it but worth a rewatch is John Sayles’ “Brother from Another Planet”. Just for fun.
WE3 is great.
A friend of mine introduced me to it and then he ran a one-shot adventure based on it (using the rules from “Don’t Rest Your Head”) called “Run Far!”.
http://web.missouri.edu/~heivilinj/challenge.html
(2nd entry on the table)
King of Kong was the first movie in recent memory that my husband and I continued to talk about for weeks after. It was just so frustrating to see the way the system was being manipulated and disappointing to see the larger world problems be reflected in something (that should be) so simple as video game high scores. (and the High Score King was sporting an awesome mullet)
Another documentary of the arcade genre that I would recommend would be “Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball” (http://www.tilt-movie.com). It deals with the development of Pinball 2000 (best known for the Phantom Menace pin), which was going to revive the sagging pinball industry. It covers the history of pinball and drama surrounding the closing of Williams pinball branch. I saw a preview copy at a pinball/arcade party at a friend’s house xmas of 06. It was cool to watch it with a large group of people who live and breath pins and see their quite emotional reactions to the story.
A book a friend of mine just turned me onto is “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. I wasn’t as thrilled with the series as I was the first book. But the first book was just uber-awesome so its hard to always follow up as strong.
Side note, it would be AWESOME if you could add a section on your blog that links to these reviews, especially books? Heck, a list of recommended reading would be great too. Often times I’ll want to get into a really good sci-fi novel. But the problem there is there is also a whole lot of bad sci-fi out there too.
Fell #9 FINALLY came out this week. And you know? Its just as good as every other issue in the series.
What I really like about it is that you can read just one issue and not have to worry about what happened in the last one – which is more rare in comics these days than some might think. There ARE underlying plot points that run throughout, and they add to the overall value of the book, but if you missed the last issue you’ll probably be fine with the current one. (This is similar to what I like about ST:TNG)
Oh, and its really well written and drawn.
I meant to see Fistful of Quarters in the theaters here, but it was only on for a short time and I missed it. Based on your review, I went ahead and ordered the DVD. So if I think it sucks, you’ll be getting an angry email from me! (Just kidding.)
I loved King of Kong so much that I made my fiance watch it with me twice — once at the first showing we could go see and second at the screening that had the hero, referee, and nerdy mole. It was awesome. Mole did not look happy and it was kind of funny to watch him fume. (It’s still a joke to us to randomly say, “Donkey Kong death screen coming up. If you’re interested there’s a Donkey Kong death screen.”) And what makes me more happy is that theatre still has Donkey Kong in the lobby. I am still terrible at the game but I play a round (It’s set to free play – FTW!!) every time I go see a movie there.
I love WE3. I picked it up on a whim back when the single issues came out. So good.
Hammered sounds really interesting. I’m going to go trade shiny rocks for dead trees on your suggestions.
Looking forward to original fiction in 2008! Cheers!
angie: Brian Kuh (I looked up nerdy mole’s name) was sitting one row down from me and a few seats over. He winced every time we laughed at him in the movie, and scrunched way down when we booed him toward the end. But I have to give him respect for staying all the way through.
Andrew: Brian Kuh was one of the worst of the petty sycophants. He came off like a total passive/aggressive little toady in the film, especially when he kept saying that he wondered if Steve Wiebe would fold under the pressure of getting to the kill screen.
How fucking petty and childish can you be? I mean, it’s a massive achievement, and rather than supporting the guy who could make it happen, he sits there and tries to screw him up. What a dick.
Andrew I spotted him after the second showing that night when everyone was standing around the console watching the new record attempt by Steve. He looked sour the entire time. I did think he was a trooper to show up but I did wonder why he was there if he wasn’t going to grin and nod that he was a jerk during the filming.
D’oh! Kill screen — not death screen! Obviously I’ve never been anywhere near a real one and it’s been a while since I’ve seen the film so I forgot the quote. Still, that moment of uber pettiness stuck with us and we laugh at it whenever we meet people who remind us of him.
Wil: Absolutely no argument: he was a tool.
Ok, I’m definatly going to have to check out “Hammered” now, and I have to say, the review reminds me a lot of Tad Williams’ “Otherland” series – with the whole post-cyber world and all. That is one of my all time fav series and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to see what happens when the likes of “second-life” take over the world.
You guys should check out some of the official statements by Twin Galaxies on King of Kong: http://www.twingalaxies.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=86&sid=4109fff5a5871646b22ee85c2e541f6a
Apparently, according to Twin Galaxies, a lot of the movie is fiction.
Obviously it’s hard to know who to believe, but one should at least explore both sides before making a decision.
Here’s a link to another blog with a differing view on King of Kong:
http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/000574.html
May I just say how happy this comment makes me?
“While I ramp up for writing more original fiction in 2008.”
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Sharing your fondness for Bear’s writing as well…
I loved Bear’s Hammered trilogy, the chars were believable and her portrayal of Richard Feynman quite interesting for a dead physicist, the growth and development the chars go through will keep the book open in your hands, you up all night reading.
p.s. you will then have to go watch Matthews Broderick’s “Infinity”
Thank you for mentioning “King of Kong”. I missed it in theaters and I keep forgetting to Netflix it; it’s now at the top of my queue. I’d be interested in hearing your review/opinion of “Overnight”: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390336/
I think you’d have a lot to say about it. (*Don’t* watch it while you’re recovering — your blood pressure is bound to go up).
Get well soon!
~ Em