Promoting some good stuff…

Today, I���ve decided to do something a little different from my usual post. I was just thinking how I spend a lot of time talking about what I don���t like, but I rarely talk about stuff I like, or that I���d recommend to others. On Twitter, it���s not so uncommon for me to jump on a request for a new book to list some of my favorite authors or stories, and I thought, why not do that on the blog with a set of lists? So today, for y���all, here are some things I���d highly recommend you give a try. I���ve divided them into four categories: authors, musicians, movies, and games. I may have reviewed some of these in the past, but I���ll also include a brief summary for why I like this stuff.

Also note, these are not my top six selections. I could never make a top list because there���s so much good stuff that I love. These are just some folks and products I think you might like if you give them a chance.

Authors:

Maggie Stiefvater

At this point, I���ve read just about everything she���s published besides her middle grade books, and while I���m not always happy with the directions she goes with her characters, I really admire her writing. In particular, I���d suggest reading The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, starting with Shiver, and also the Raven Boys series. Her faerie books were also good, and whatever else she publishes in the next few years, I���ll be sure to get a copy on the first day of release.

John A. Lindqvist

I have many times said this before, but if you asked me, ���Do I read one of your books first or one from Lindqvist?” I���m going to tell you to check his stuff out first. There is nothing I���ve read from him that didn���t have a great emotional impact on me. He���s made me laugh out loud, and he���s made me so scared that I was jumping at the tiniest sounds in my home. He���s made me so angry I had to stop reading to calm down, and he���s made me cry with gasping sobs and big rolling tears. His talent blows me away, and I really wish everyone would try him, even if I know his stuff will push a lot of people way outside their comfort zone. I���d suggest starting with Let the Right One In, and after that, it���s a tie between Harbour and Little Star. Both were fantastic reads, but Little Star was more memorable. Handling the Undead is a great unique take on zombies, and after reading the longer works, go look up Let The Old Dreams Die, which includes some small stories providing better closure for Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead.

Brenna Yovanoff

Thus far, I���ve only read The Replacement and Fiendish, but I really love how well Yovanoff does creepy settings where people are aware of the supernatural creatures around them and just choose not to talk about it. In particular, The Replacement had shown this nasty dark side of a small town where people knew why their kids sometimes went missing, but said nothing because it led to prosperity for the town while others floundered. That���s something I can believe, and it makes the story both compelling and repugnant. I���m very much looking forward to reading Paper Valentines and The Space Between, and I think more people should give her stuff a shot.

Rachel Caine

I am absolutely addicted to The Morganville Vampires series, and I���d read the first six books back to back over the course of as many days. I had to stop myself because I got nothing else done during that time. I love the premise of a town where vampires rule over the humans living there, and the later books help expand on the premise, making the vampires both dark and human at the same time. I introduced hubby to the books, and he���s raced through the first 12 in less than two weeks. So this isn���t just me and my vampire fetish talking. They���re just that good.

Debra Dunbar

The imp series is fantastic, another series I���ve introduced hubby to that he went through every book in a week. It���s about a demon who lives in the human world disguised as a human she Owned, Samantha. She���s a wise ass and a troublemaker, but she���s also in love with a human, and later with an angel. I love that the story makes her a proper demon, often having thoughts that are downright evil. I also love the supporting cast, and if I have any complaints, its only that I often want to see more of the other cast members in every book. Definitely worth your time.

M.R. Carey

I have read only one book, The Girl With All the Gifts, but damn, it is a great book. I read it in two days, and would have read it in one if fatigue had not made me drop on the couch. This is a zombie book where the catalyst is a fungus, and where the initial outbreak is 20 years in the past. Humanity is still struggling to find a cure, but things are pretty hopeless at this point. But it���s not the setting that made this such a great read. It���s all the characters, even the bastardly dastardly ones. This is the book I handed to hubby on my Kindle, and when he made the ���I don���t like ereaders��� face, I told him, ���No, you HAVE to read this book.��� And a day later, he handed back the Kindle and said, ���You were right, that was a great book.��� So yeah, this is one you ought to pick up.

Musicians:

My Chemical Romance

I own every single album these guys have put out, and I cannot listen to them often enough. They���re my playlist for inspiration while writing, and my morning jams when I want to get hyped. Maybe it���s the guitars riffs that get me pumped up, or the fantastic voice of Gerard Way. I love the lyrics, and sometimes I catch myself trying to sing along even if I can���t sing nearly as well. My favorite albums are The Black Parade and Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, but they don���t have a single bad song in my opinion.

Janelle Monae

Another artist who I own everything she���s done and feel she doesn���t have a single bad song. Janelle Monae is in a class by herself with her sci-fi flavored albums telling the story of Cindy Mayweather, a cyberdroid singer who broke the law falling in love with a human. You really have to get her first three albums and just listen to them back to back to appreciate how they���re all related. But Janelle isn���t just a great storyteller. She���s got an amazing voice that gives me goosebumps, and her vocal range is nothing short of inspirational.

Saul Williams

I���ve just recently discovered Saul Williams through his album Volcanic Sunlight, and that was so good, I had to look up an earlier album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation Of Niggy Tardust. His voice is fantastic, and his lyrics are deep and thought provoking. I only wish I���d heard of his stuff earlier, because it���s really good.

The Casket Girls

This is a lucky find for me, something I found using the related artists feature of Zune on Neko Case. This is kinda funny because The Casket Girls are NOTHING at all like Neko Case. They���re a vocal pair whose lyrics are often a bit creepy or spooky, and their backing music is mostly synth tunes. But I still owe Zune some thanks for finding these ladies for me, because I love them even if their alternative pop sound has nothing to do with Neko���s alt-country style.

Alice Smith

Oh, my god. Alice Smith���s voice is just…I could listen to her album She on repeat all day and never get tired of her. She kind of reminds me of old school lounge singers, having that same impressive variety of vocal range. Just get She, sit back with some headphones on, and let yourself melt into that voice.

Tom Petty

Most of the suggestions on this list are new artist I discovered in the last couple of years, but this one goes way back to my teens, and I have never gotten tired of Tom Petty. His voice is unique, as instantly recognizable as his many, many hit songs. I first heard him on Running Down a Dream, and I���ve been a fan ever since then. But in addition to having a great voice, he���s also a great guy who tells funny stories in between songs at concerts, and he’s got dreamy blue eyes…um, which has nothing to do with his musical telent, I realize. But damn, he is one fine man even as he gets older.

True story: Tom had a free concert in Dallas for a charity, and he got sick with the flu the night of the concert, he still went out and played for two hours, and then apologized to the crowd for not sounding so good. He���s a very classy guy.

Movies:

The City of Lost Children

This is in my list of favorite movies to watch over and over, a bizarre cross of sci-fi and fantasy about a genetically engineered genius stealing children and invading their dreams to find a cure for his rapid aging. There���s an army of cyborgs, a collection of clones played by the rubbery faced Dominique Pinon, a mad scientist also played by Pinon, mind controlling fleas, and an evil pair of Siamese twins running an orphanage and forcing the kids to steal for them. But the real highlight of the film is the protagonists, the tough orphan Miette, played by Judith Vittet, and former whaler and sideshow strong man One, played by Ron Perlman. It���s a wonderful quirky story, and I can come into this film at any time and end up trapped until the very end.

La Cura Del Gorilla (The Bodyguard���s Cure)

This is a mystery based on a book of the same name by Sandrone Dazieri about a private eye with a split personality. The main character Sandrone, also called Gorilla, is hired by a video game company to watch over an elderly American actor made famous for his western films. ���Buck��� is played by Ernest Borgnine, and he���s a crotchety old dude who frequently gets on Sandrone���s nerves. While escorting Buck around, Sandrone meets a social worker who is accused of murdering her boyfriend, and although he wants to stay out of trouble, he ends up taking her case to prove her innocence even if his ���socio��� (his bad personality) believes she���s guilty. The two personas pass notes back and forth, and I love the fact that Sandrone never actually sleeps. The moment he closes his eyes, his bad side takes over. This is another film I watch over and over, and I never get tired of it.

The Incredibles

Pixar made the perfect superhero movie, and I���ve seen this maybe twenty times over the last couple of years. I love Mr. Incredible and his desire to get back to his glory days before heroes were all forced to retire, and his family is all just as fun to watch as they fight against Syndrome, a super villain who is developing technology to make everyone ���super.��� Everyone in this film is great fun to watch, even the skeevy boss from the insurance agency that Mr. Incredible works for in his mundane life. But the show is several times stolen by Edna Mode, fashion designer to the superheroes. Just try to watch this and not laugh at her scenes.

Troll Hunter

There are two kinds of found footage films. Those that suck, and those that use the premise perfectly. Troll Hunter is very firmly in the second camp. A trio of students go on the hunt for a trapper who they believe is illegally hunting bears, only to discover he���s actually a government agent hunting rogue trolls and that his bear hunting cover story is made up because the government is working to hide the existence of trolls. This is a great film that shows several species of trolls, eventually leading up to a confrontation with a HUGE mountain-sized troll. This is another movie I watch over and over, and many of the lines make me laugh even after hearing them a dozen times.

Oculus

Oculus is a horror story about a brother and sister who lost their parents to a cursed mirror. The brother was institutionalized after their deaths, and upon his release, his sister asks for his help in fighting and destroying the mirror. She has a plan to document this fight on film, and it���s a seemingly good plan sabotaged by the spirit possessing the mirror. The film flashes back to the past to show what happened when they were kids, but eventually what is a flashback and what is a hallucination begin to blur as the mirror becomes stronger. The ending is…it���s a real mind fuck. I wanted to watch this with hubby, but he flat out refused. He said the sounds I was making while watching it were scary enough.

Birdman

I have just seen this at the theater, and I still don���t quite know what to make of it. At times, I think it���s the story of an actor���s mental breakdown, and at others, I think it might be a fever dream. The film uses some interesting camera techniques that make it feel like it was done in only a few takes, and there���s some random scenes that help create a dreamlike quality. The ending makes me wonder if I really know what���s going on, and as soon as I can get this on blu-ray, I plan to watch it again with director commentary turned on so I can maybe get a hint of what���s really going on. It���s another great mind fuck, and definitely worth multiple viewings.

Games:

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Let me get out of the way that I think this game has quite a few flaws. But despite those flaws, I put in 300 hours playing two campaigns, and I plan to put in at least that many in the future playing through as other races and classes. There���s a lot to love about this game. It���s got a huge talented cast voicing a diverse lineup of characters, a ���party chat��� system that can still give you fresh dialogue even after a couple hundred hours of play time, and a large variety of quests and enemies to fight. In my opinion, it���s not quite as engaging as the first game in the series, but it���s still a great game and well worth your time no matter what system you play it on.

Spelunky

I���ve played this a long, LONG time, and I have yet to get tired of it because it���s a procedurally generated platformer following the adventures of a treasure hunter in an ancient…dungeon? Cave? I���m not sure. For a game that feels so simple on the surface, this is surprisingly deep, with secret levels to uncover and special items that can be unlocked in any playthrough using some devious methods. For all the times I���ve played it, I don���t think I���ve even scratched the surface on all the secrets in this game. And also? I���ve never beaten it. I can make it up to the last stage sometimes, but I���ve yet to defeat the final boss. This should frustrate me and make me toss the game. Instead it constantly inspires me to give it ���just one more try��� until I drain the battery on my Vita or my PS4 controller.

Project Diva f

Another game I���ve sunk close to 200 hours into, this is a music rhythm game set to J-pop music videos. I love all but one song on this game, and when I first reviewed it, I said I might never beat any song on Hard mode. Well now I���ve beaten about a third of the songs on Hard, and I continue to pick it up in the vain hope of beating another.

The Last of Us

This game…I normally give game writing a pass because it���s usually so cliche and uninspired, but aside from a few technical flaws here and there, The Last of Us is a masterpiece of game writing. By itself, having a compelling emotional story could make me gush, but this story is married up with some of the best graphics and character designs I���ve ever seen in a game. Certain scenes convey emotion in the eyes alone, and most games fail this test with their dead-eyed characters. The Last of Us ought to be studied by every other studio for how to animate characters and make them feel real. And then there���s the fact that it���s actually a fun, tense game to play, reviving my interest in zombie games even though I think the trope has been done to death, pun intended. I���ve played this through a few times, and plan to do it again real soon. It���s just so, so good.

Shovel Knight

I���ve got this on my PC, but as soon as it���s released for Vita and PS4, I���m buying it again. Shovel Knight is good enough to earn support with multiple purchases. It���s got a good story, good graphics, good music, and awesome game play that���s reminiscent of old NES platformers while never aping any one game too strongly. It���s doing its own thing, and I love it for everything it does right. It���s challenging without being insanely hard, and for those looking to make it harder, there���s the option to destroy save checkpoints for extra treasure. So you can go for a high score and buy extra stuff with your loot. But if you die, you go all the way back to the start of the level. I can only manage it on a few levels, and it���s on my to-do list to go back through and see if I can make a no-savepoint run. With game play borrowing from Mega Man and Duck Tales, this is something you have to try out. It���s good old-fashioned fun in a new, shiny armor package.

Portal 2

Yes, this is now an old game, but I���ve played it thought about a dozen times, and it never gets old. Some people complain that it���s too big, but I ignore those people because CAVE JOHNSON. I love all the levels with GlaDOS and Wheatley, too, but it���s the ���prototype levels��� narrated by Aperture Science���s founder that I keep coming back for. The dude is a glorious bastard, and his lemons speech makes me laugh every single time I hear it. Plus, it���s a great game with a unique gun that I love to find new ways to play with. I only wish I could do the co-op levels, but hubby and I don���t get along well in our divergent gaming styles.

So, there you have it, my list of stuff I love and think you should check out. Now you know, I don���t hate everything. Just mostly everything.