I think most people are familiar with the Day Watch series?
Day Watch, Night Watch, Twilight Watch and, just released, Last Watch!
Has anyone read Last Watch yet?
I just found out about and am broke as usual. so I want to know about it.

This series is special to me. I found out about it way, way back when it was a rumor still in Russia. I waited years for an English release. I even though about learning Russian just for these books!

So...anyone read Last Watch?

Amy of at FF may be your best bet Brett. If I recall, she has just finished one of them. I'll see what I can find over here in Seattle

I have only read the first two books yet and really liked both of them. Unfortunately, I have not yet managed to read the other books in the series, though they are already sitting on my shelf *sigh*. But I can only guess they will be as good as the previous titles.

Did you see the movies? There are two of them, both based on the first book. They are also great, but easier to understand if you have already read the book.

So are these any good? I've downloaded and seen two of the movies, they didn't seem to horrible. Not read or heard anything about the book series though. How much does the movie deviate from the books?

I haven't read any of the books yet, but I thought that Dnevnoy dozor (Day Watch) was based off Day Watch. Both movies are good and show that Hollywood doesn't have an exclusive on adrenaline movies.
Unfortunately it seems that Twilight/Dusk Watch may never happen. Timur Bekmambetov was hired by Fox to direct it in english, but apparently Wanted took it's place. Wanted the movie was visually impressive, but Hollywood can't seem to handle villains as protagonists, so the story was basically neutered. I highly recommend Mark Millar's graphic novel Wanted the movie is based on, though.

The movies are really good, they have a very individual fresh look which makes them stand out from the usual hollywood stuff. E.g. the actors are not some styled beauties but real characters (but not bad-looking either), and the setting is not too polished with a dirty realistic touch (hard to describe, but you will know what I mean). And the special effects are really good in this one.

The first movie is based on book one, part one (book one has three parts).

The second movie is based on the rest of book one, which was very confusing as the movie was titled after the second book. I wonder what the (hopefully coming soon) next movie based on book two will be titled...

I'll have to check out the Wanted graphic novel, I'm also going to give this 'watch' series a look. Just put in an order for some more books and it's on the list. Hopefully I find it as entertaining as everyone else has.

The Night Watch series is fantastic and yes, the next movie may never happen. I was shocked to see a 4th book!
I first heard of the series while in college and it took so very long to get out of Russia, much less to the US.

The films are pretty close to the books as the author has a strong influence on the films (as it should be). But by keeping that tight of control makes the big studios reluctant to fund them. The studios like nothing better than to take a great story and totally ruin it by rewriting it via the "Hollywood" way.

So I was also shocked to see the second film come out, but was ecstatic that it did! They had a bit more funding and were able to throw in some cool FX.

Day Watch has been nominated as the Best International Film by Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. (the Saturn Awards)

No matter what though, you really should read the books before watching the films. There is so much in the book that is impossible to portray in film.

Also, Day Watch did much better in the Box Office than Night Watch. Night Watch grossed about $32 million worldwide, while Day Watch made $32 million in the USA alone!

Not a record breaker by any means but it does speak well for a 3rd film if they can get it together.

Wanted as a film is passable. Wanted as a comic/graphic novel is fantastic and must be read. In the GN you'll see what Wanted is REALLY about and how poorly the film portrays that.

I'll secure a copy of Wanted to read, the movie wasn't bad, but I had no history until the movie with the story. One I would like to see as a movie is Grendel: War Child, I think that would be an excellent movie.

Oh yeah! But it would be a hard film to cast I think. Although, the War Child is a big ole bad ass and there are many who could pull that off1 -grin-
Grendel-Prime who saves the prince (and thereby the world) and then disappears off into the wastelands.

Primary cast. Who could play who in a film?

Jupiter - Orion 1 son, the prince heir
Grendel-Prime - The paladin. A solar-powered cyborg built to protect Jupiter
Laurel Kennedy - Orion's wife, the current Regent and mother to Jupiter and Crystal
Crystal - Daughter of Laurel Kennedy
Azif a-Barouk - Rebel leader
Pellon Cross - Ancient foe of Orion
Susan Veraghen - Grendel guard and Crystals lover
Abner Heath - Minister to Laurel Kennedy

Definitley wouldn't be easy as a live action, but a high quality animation [ie- Beowulf:] would do better justice to the story. It's kinda like Dredd in the fact that the characters would be difficult to cast and do appropriate justice.

That's a good idea. Filming it in a style like Beowulf would enable them to do quite a bit.
I've been a Grendel fanatic ever since it first came out and War Child is one of the better stories. the entire mythos is fascinating though.

I was putzing around and just discovered another author (from Seattle no less) that I want to read. He himself is pretty...um...interesting too. Check this out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Pugmi...

What caught my attention is his book The Fungal Stain and Other Dreams.
With a title like that, I HAVE to see if the stories live up to it. He is supposedly a Lovecraft influenced writer and I am ALWAYS interested in those stories.

That is very interesting Brett, I'll see what I can find over here!


BTW- picked up Shadow Queen yesterday :D

Cool. Let us know how you like it. If it's as good as the previous books.

Oh yeah. I will be VERY interested in what you might find out about Pugmire. That guy looks to be quite interesting. I know I want to read his stories, but, as usual, can't find them over here in this overgrown farm town.

The Shadow Queen was great Brett, read it this afternoon. It follows the usual formula she seems to love so much.... the struggle to keep ones love alive, honor, the importance of structure and rules of conduct........

Witch has healed and is making it apparent she has lost nothing.

Sometimes a simple story is all one needs......

Cool. I need to get the series again. I loaned the books out and never got them back. I like to get people into books, but I sure wish they would return them once in a while! At $7 -$8 a book for paperback, it gets costly to replace them all the time. Ya know?

I was just talking to someone else about a fantasy series that the same thing happened to. Only it has at least 10 books in it. Thankfully, many older series are collected in omnibus' these days.

Of course, the Black Jewels is up to 7 books now isn't it? That would cost nearly $140 to replace both series in new books!

Anyone else think the price of books has gotten WAY out of hand?
They keep giving out the excuse that the cost of paper has gone up. BULL! It's gone up some yes, but not to the extent to justify raising the cost of books so much in the past few years. I'm a graphic designer and know a little about paper costs. I would rather some honesty for a change and have them tell us that they are simply greedy!
The sad thing is that much of the price increase doesn't make it to the authors either. Most of it is right to the publishers coffer.

Okay. I had better stop ranting. My blood pressure is getting up there! -grin-

Back to the subject. I appreciate a good, simple and clean story. I think it's harder to write a story like that in many ways. To trim the fat and keep the flow going with out ruining the story or losing the reader is WORK!

I could buy the price of books on paper if they actually used good paper, but they use the yellow/grey faded crap and charge me 7-14 $ for a paperback. And Brett, you are right, the authors; who deserve the extra cash, get shafted out of the deal. One reason my small publishing purchase binge has been worth it, good HC, good paper quality, and most of all, damn good stories.

There are 6 BJ books now Brett, and I have them all, let me know if you would like me to send any over.

I like to buy most of my books second hand, I know the authors don't get paid that second time around but hey, thats what I can afford. When your talking about a HB collection your talking about alot more than 7 bucks which I can't afford at they rate I'm going now.

I'm a little OCD with quality, one thing I cannot stand is MMPB that have heavy creases on the spine! And some authors I reserve for HB only [Barker, Williams:] if possible. Books are my primary entertainment, next to online activities, so instead of some 60-80$ a month for TV, I spend that, on average, on books. And don't forget VJ, Ebay is a great resource for good quality HB too. That is where I got all my Clive Barker 1st printings collection from.

Abebooks.com baby, thats the place for me, lays out about a gajillion used book stores from around the world right at my finger tips, I can search the options that are right for me.

Did you guys know that the only HB edition of the Melanie rawn Dragon Star books I've been able to find is Sun-Runners Fire for 1300 dollars! I just picked up the series again in PB, I have her Dragon Prince books in HB but I won't be getting any of the DS books at that price ......
Do you have any idea how many pair of shoes I can buy with that kind of money.....

not really, I only buy one pair of shoes every 3-5 years or so.

Abebooks is a great site, but sometimes the mainstream auction sites will surprise you. But in the end, I purchase from whoever, wherever will give me the best quality/price.

Larger than a 12?
those damn things never go on sell

yes, I top out at 13. If I buy name brand crap like Reebok [size 15:] or nike [size 14:], they just get bigger.

My son is a 13 1/2 or 14, god, just waite till your buying 12's for you 5th grader Jerrod, the term unjust will take on a whole new meaning.......

my son is one year last Sunday, he is already in a size 5 [don't know if that is large or not:]. I'm prepared for the expenses, would rather spend the money on books though.

My son was giving my father his outgrown shoes when he was in 2nd grade (mens six 6) (and at that point he never stayed in a size long enough to wear them out!)

I'm trying to remember..... I think Dylan started walking in a 4 when he was 10 months old so.... I'd say ya a 5 is a biggie

I believe that when they are 2 if you times thier height by three you'll be able to figure about how tall they will be as an adult boys girls doesn't matter

well, I'm 6'5" and my son is already in my two year old cloths that my mom kept for me. Oh well, at least he's not Bakanoff short [wifes maiden name:].

My son was in the exact same scenario, he is 6'3 my dad was 5'4" hell, I was the tallest person in my family cept for a few great uncles...

My son got picked on a lot because of his size, its funny, kids are so vicious and parents are so ready to mark things off as 'kids will be kids' to bad you didn't have a big sister first Jerrod......
All men should have one of those ;D

I did, but she's abandoned the family so I haven't spoken with her in a few years [not for lack of trying though:]. Our family is a bunch of giants, only thing short is our wifes and for some reason we all have short women complexes!

not you silly your little one needs one

no, he needs a little brother.

hi everybody!! im new here. i just joined this group cuz i saw that Dracula was on its book list. im about half way through it now

Welcome, how are you enjoying Dracula?

very good. im where Lucy just "died" i havent got any farther.

Hello friends,

Sorry for being gone so long. I'm sure you all pined for my brilliant repartee. Yeah right. Never even noticed did ya! -grin-

I had an incident with icy stairs and was laid up for a few weeks. Literally. Then my computer AND internet provider both decided to be nasty. Suicide for the computer and general untrustworthyness for for the provider.

Finally fixed the computer but have random internet at best. Talk about ticking me off! I hate being told there is nothing wrong when it's quite obvious there is.

Anyway, I'll be trying to catch up by reading a months worth of posts for all the groups.
One good thing is that I have been reading a LOT.

Jake's Wake by Joe Skipp & Cody Goodfellow is excellent. I like it a lot.

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry. Read it twice in a row!

Infected & Contagious by Scott Sigler. Scary sci-fi/horror.

Castaways by Brian Keene. Keene is ALWAYS good.

The Tunnels & Boneyard by Michelle Gagnon. More of a thriller, but excellent nonetheless.

Fall of Cthulhu graphic novels #1, 2 & 3. Yum!

The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff. College horror.

Border Land by SK Epperson. Another cautionary tale proving that what goes around, comes around.

Plus several science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels.

How about everyone else? What have you read lately that left an impression, good or bad?

Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand

Heavily, did you know that there was a woman who had the same feelings as me about men, back in the 40's?

jeese and here I thought I was just a freak........

Welcome back, figured you were reading all those comics. I'm still slowly reading. My poor boy as been through the sick mill this last week or two. Hard to read when your boy is throwing up all the time. I'm a book lover but a clean freak before that, so reading has been slow.

Ewwww! Sorry to hear your son is ill. that is no fun at all. I hope he feels better soon.

I HAVE been reading the comics too. For a while it was all I could read using my laptop since I couldn't get up easily and could NOT sit in a chair in front of my desktop.
So you have been a life saver actually. I love my books, but I can't live without my comics either!

Brett you poor thing!

Good to hear your back up and going!!!!!!!!!

I just picked up The Mystery Grace by Charles DeLint, anyone read any of his stuff

labeled as urban Fantasy, Jakub?

Charles de Lint is a GREAT fantasy author! I think his Newford books are amoung his best work. They are a loose series of novels and stories about a town called Newford. It would be quite the interesting place to live.

His work isn't really dark or horror. Just very good fantasy. He also writes some young adult/juvenile stories.

The Mystery of Grace is more of a Fantasy Romance novel BTW.
He DID write 3 darker novels a while back under an alias. They are being re-released under his real name and are well worth reading. A little press release-

"In the early 1990s, Charles de Lint wrote and published three dark fantasy novels under the pen name "Samuel M. Key." Now, beginning with Angel of Darkness and From a Whisper to a Scream and concluding with I'll Be Watching You, Orb presents them for the first time under de Lint's own name."

Also, just for the sake of trivia, his full name is-

Charles Henri Diederick Hoefsmit de Lint.

How would you like having to write that back in school when they made you write your full name all the time!?

good lord I thought mine was bad enough
I'll look for those three, they sound right up my alley
so to speak.......

Started 'The Mystery of Grace'

Be still my heart, I'll finnish it tonite, then it'll be off to the book store in the AM to find more of his work.


Sometimes a girl just gets really lucky, I wasn't even looking for books for me today!

Pretty cool when you happen onto a book that just hits the perfect spot.

It was like that when I read Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis. The dark humor was just what I needed at the time.

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke for science fiction.

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings for fantasy.

Shadow Out of Time by HP Lovecraft for horror.

These books will always be special because they are not only very good, but they were perfect for me at the time.

I looked at B&N for his books as KEY, not a damn thing, I hate B&N......

You won't find them new under Key. That was a while back and is why they are being re-released under his real name.

Orb released them in 2002, 2003, 2004 as over-sized paperbacks. I "think" they may be releasing them again but am not sure. I'll let you know.

They are easy to find online at Amazon.

Ok Thats where I'll go, I need to pick up Alan's books too

Holy crap, there are TWO MORE?!? That's fantastic!