Edward Lorn's Blog, page 49
September 26, 2015
Doctor Proclivity & Professor Propensity, by Gregor Xa...
Doctor Proclivity & Professor Propensity, by Gregor Xane. Part of Bad Apples 2: Six More Slices of Halloween Horror
A Halloween Puppet Show Event!
(Promotional image by Edward Lorn)
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1260444/post
Reading progress update: I’ve read 261 out of 644 pages.
This book is so hard to nail down. I love Salander’s character and look forward to her chapters, but everything else is rather boring and description heavy. I’m all for knowing the characters I’m reading about, but the info dumps are getting annoying. I have a theory as to why this book reads the way it does, but I’ll wait until my review to explain.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1260434/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-261-out-of-644-pages
September 25, 2015
Halloweekend, by Edward Lorn. Part of Bad Apples 2: ...
Halloweekend, by Edward Lorn. Part of Bad Apples 2: Five More Slices of Halloween Horror
What if the animatronics inside your favorite haunted house attraction came alive?
What if they got out?
This year… Halloween lasts a little longer.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1260169/post
September 23, 2015
Massive Book Haul (Week of 9/21/2015) #bookporn
Here’s everything from yesterday’s and today’s book buying excursions. The Sebold’s and the Clancy’s were bought for resale. All of those are first editions. Half of these were fifty cents apiece, and the other half (from today) were half off, only costing me a quarter each. The Michael Moorcock book pictured is a first edition, first printing I snagged for $0.25. All in all, I didn’t even spend ten bucks. :)
Have you guys read any of these? See any favorites, or ones you hate? Most of these are authors I’ve heard of but never read. Let me know how I did.
That’s all for now. Thanks for perusing my finds.
*hugs and high fives*
E.
Oh, and these two new non-book related additions to the family… Meet Franky and Bob. :)
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1259138/massive-book-haul-week-of-9-21-2015-bookporn
Full Dark, No Stars Review
Review: 
It’s safe to say that, by today’s standards, Stephen King’s novellas are actually novels. Especially his horror novellas. When you have publishers considering 35,000 words “novel length”, it makes you wonder what the actual difference is between a novel and a novella and whether or not the distinction will make a lot of difference in the coming years. Buddy of mine, Gregor Xane, thinks novellas suit horror just fine, that they are the perfect length to bring on the scares and then GTFO of Dodge. I tend to agree with him. But there’s something different about a King novella. They normally feel like novels twice their length. They feel packed to bursting with content. Think about Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, think The Langoliers or The Mist. So once again, I wonder… What really makes a novel a novel. Is it truly length? Or the breadth of story?
This collection is bleak. There’s not a bright moment to be found, hence the title. Let’s discuss what that entails, shall we?
1922: Sweet baby Tom Cruise this story is disturbing. It’s one of those tales that make you feel dirty after completing it. What Wilf and Hank do is irredeemable, but somehow, I feel bad for the both of them by story’s end. That’s damn good writing, if you ask me. That’s having humanity nailed down to where it’s likely never to move again.
Big Driver: Rape. Does that word make you uncomfortable? Probably. Even if you’re not a victim, or don’t know a victim, you’re liable to cringe just reading it. But what about ‘revenge’? Does that word make you smile? Well, even though the revenge in this tale is not easily won or pretty in nature, I still grin like a mad bastard reading about these fuckers getting their comeuppance. And speaking of the word ‘rape’, King uses it a lot in this story. He doesn’t pull any punches. There’s one page where it seems like every other word is that word. I feel he was trying to drive home the stark horror of the situation by pummeling us with repetition. “You will read this. You will know. You will see.”
Fair Extension: The shortest of the tales, this one is my favorite. In King’s short story, “The Man in the Black Suit”, which appears in Everything’s Eventual and won an O. Henry Award, King comes right out and tells us who the bad guy is. In this one, the story’s more sinister for its allusions. You know who this guy is bartering with, I know who he’s bartering with, even the character knows, but no one ever says it. Because that’s what gives monsters their true power – acknowledgement. The boogeyman isn’t scary until you believe he is.
A Good Marriage: I love this one for its simple truths. You never truly know another human being, no matter how long you might live with them. King used the serial killer known as BTK for inspiration, and the reader is left wishing that this had been the actual outcome.
In summation: In my opinion, King shines brightest when he’s working with novellas. I can name numerous bad novels and short stories of his, but I can’t think of a single novella from him that I’ve disliked. What do you think? Can you name one, and why didn’t you like it?
Final Judgment: Five stars, but not a single one to brighten your mood.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1258923/full-dark-no-stars-review
After Dark Review
Review:
I always have such a difficult time reviewing translated books. I usually don’t know who to give credit to as far as the writing is concerned. This time around, not only is the writing fantastic, but the story is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Although the book has been translated into English by Jay Rubin, I don’t feel like anything was lost in translation. I’m completely comfortable giving my first Murakami novel five stars for this reason.
First, let’s discuss the style choice. Second-person omniscient present tense. Basically folks, this is the narrative style used mainly in scripts. The book breaks the fourth wall by making the reader part of the behind the scenes. It turns us in a camera, or as the book puts it “pure point of view”. This style choice would normally piss me off, as lesser authors would use such a thing as a crutch because they need a character involved to see what’s going on. There are several parts of this book wherein the reader is standing in a room or setting devoid of other people. Murakami gets away with this by giving the environment a life of its own, by personifying objects and locations. For example: the city in After Dark is just as much a character as Mari or Kaoru or Takahashi. That’s impressive. An astounding feat that other authors have stumbled over. The failure that is Dean Koontz’s terrible The City comes to mind.
My favorite characters out of the bunch were Takahashi and Kaoru. Takahashi’s musician’s attitude was spot-on, and his chatty loneliness felt as real if not more so than Mari’s introverted personality. These two characters are exquisite together, and I would have read five hundred pages of just them conversating. And Kaoru’s character is a character I’ve not often read about. All scenes with her were fun and/or engaging.
The entire plot revolves around a sleeping girl (Eri, Mari’s sister) who seemingly only wakes up to eat. Her chapters are eye candy. Murakami has an uncanny ability of explaining complex ideas and visuals with simple language. Eri’s “dreams” are seemingly uncomplicated prosaic masterpieces. Then we have the subplot with the Chinese mafia, which adds a bit of tension to the narrative. Not much, only a sprinkle, but enough that there’s something going on in the midst of all the fantastic dialogue and character drama.
In summation: After Dark isn’t a book you read as much as it’s a book you experience. This was my first Haruki Murakami novel, and it certainly will not be my last. In fact, I plan on reading 1Q84 after I have a palate cleanser, because this guy’s writing is like fine wine.
Final Judgment: Stunning in its accomplishments.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1258809/after-dark-review
September 22, 2015
Doctor Who: The Drosten’s Curse (Autumn’s Review)
Review: 
Review by Autumn (aka my daughter):
Doctor Who:The Drosten’s Curse
Recently my dad received a book that I thought looked very interesting, he and I love to watch Dr. Who and I thought it would be cool to read it. One of my favorite characters was Bryony Mailer, she is a strong woman and is very smart. Bryony is short, skinny, and works at a hotel, but she is a smart and independent woman. Next we have the twins, Xavier and Honor. They are very sympathetic and they care very much for their grandmother and the other characters. Now we have everybody’s favorite character, the Doctor. The Drosten’s Curse features the 4th doctor, who is played by Tom Baker on the TV episodes of Doctor Who. When I saw a picture of him I thought his afro was funny. He is very funny, kind, a little nuts, and is known for his line “Have a jelly baby.”. Lastly we have Patterson, I nicknamed him The Alien Guy. He is a kind alien and his species never means harm even though they always seem to cause it. Of course being in the Doctor Who world we’re in England. This book takes place in the town of Arbroath.
If you are like me and like books that cut to the chase in 2 or 3 chapters then I don’t think you would like this book. In the first 70 pages, the only exciting thing that happened was Patterson fell into a bunker and The Doctor and Bryony got him back just fine. I’d rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1258514/doctor-who-the-drosten-s-curse-autumn-s-review
September 21, 2015
Randomized Randomocity #176
I recently read #13 in Edward S. Aarons’s Sam Durell series of espionage novels, Assignment Lowlands. I have #15, too, Assignment Ankara, so I thought I would look up the rest of the series. Maybe see if I could find #1 and work my way up from there.
48.
48 novels.
48 novels in this shitting series.
DAYYYYYYYYUM!
My OCD can’t handle that. If I were to start at #1, I’d go broke trying to find the rest of them. Oh well. Moving on.
Is there any series out there you guys have decided not to read because there were too many books, or am I alone on this? Hit me up in the comment section.
Original post:
edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1257849/randomized-randomocity-176
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