Steven’s Comments (group member since Nov 30, 2019)

Steven’s comments from the Mount TBR 2020 group.

#40 - Hail to the Chief by Ed McBain

#28 in the 87th Precinct series. This is another of McBain’s experiments with style and format, with the procedural part in third person following the investigation after six bodies are found dumped into a road construction trench, and a lengthy confession from the gang leader behind the mayhem alternating in first person. On to of that, it’s also an allegory for the Nixon administration in Viet Nam and for Nixon himself in the White House. Unfortunately, at this distance in time, the allegory doesn’t work too well.

Quirkyreader wrote: "Wow,

You zoomed up to Mt. Vancouver."

I did, didn’t I? I wasn’t intending to go from utter somnolence to Ludicrous Speed, but here we are. That’s TBR completed to April, though, and not so far to go before I’m into the May pile.

Not the fastest I’ve ever gone, admittedly, but the pace seems relatively even right now.

#36 - Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla: History in the Making
#37 - Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla: Fingers to the Bone
#38 - Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla: Tying the Knot
#39 - Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla - Bundles of Joy #1 all by John Reilly, Tom Rogers & Dexter Weeks

A goofy alternate world SF/fantasy/horror story that mixes up the Current Wars, H. P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft’s mother, Harry Houdini (who may be connected to the Dunwich Horror), Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Aleister Crowley, Amelia Earhart, Adolf Hitler, and a whole host of eldritch horrors. It’s a bit of a slog early on, and their Lovecraft looks little like the real one (and while a bigot is not as vile a racist as he really was), but there’s some fun moments.

#35 - JSA by Geoff Johns Book Three by Geoff Johns, David Goyer, Darwyn Cooke, and others

There’s a surprising amount of non-Geoff Johns in the writing this time around, including half of the rather dull JSA All-Stars miniseries that occupies a good half of the page count. In fact, the JSA issues themselves only account for a quarter (if that) of the pages here, and the arrangement is thoroughly confusing.

#34 - JSA by Geoff Johns Book Two by Geoff Johns, David Goyer, etc

Geoff Johns’ work on the JSA books is considered a highlight of his career, though he shared the honors originally with co-writer David Goyer — this collection jumps ahead to include JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice, which was released during Johns’ solo tenure. The Justice Society was redefined and updated, and had a good run for a number of years.

This is an entertaining book, if not great.

#33 - Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 9 by Stan Lee, John Romita, John Buscema, etc

Big panels, purple prose, and massive amounts of soap opera as Peter Parker struggles on through life. Not the best part of the run, sadly, as Lee and Romita desperately try to keep momentum up by hook or by crook. The most notable thing here is the story arc that breaks the Kingpin.

#32 - Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers, Vol. 10 by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, John Buscema, Neal Adams, etc

Closing on the end of Roy Thomas’ run on the series, where he delivered the wrap-up to the canceled Captain Marvel series, doing it as a prologue to the Kree-Skrull War storyline. Following that, as Neal Adams quit the book, there was a three issue skirmish involving Earth, Olympus, and Asgard for a storyline that swelled the Avengers ranks again.

The point in the series is notable for vastly improved artwork as well as Thomas suddenly developing restraint in his writing (he literally improves between issues, and it’s faintly funny.)

The book benefits from the Masterworks restoration treatment, too.

#31 - Assignment: Earth by John Byrne

Using the Star Trek backdoor pilot as a starting point, Byrne delivers five “lost episodes” of the never-developed series, each one set in a successive year (though two have epilogues set later.) They’re light and breezy for the most part.

I’d love to see CBS All Access revisit the series, perhaps with Robert Taylor and Kate Micucci taking over the leads.

#30 - Professional Integrity by Michael J. Sullivan

Riryia are professional thieves for hire, but the latest job they’re being offered is odd to say the least — they’re to steal a person...and the person trying to hire them is the person they need to steal, a young noblewoman. It’s even odder when they get more details. By the time they’re done, they’ll have solved an old mystery and a more recent menace.... Pretty good fun overall.

#29 - Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey

Book 5 in the Expanse series steps back from the greater space opera story as the Rocinante crew returns from Ilus and nearly immediately gets involved in a system-wide war between the piratical Free Navy and everyone else. Earth is bombed with stealth-coated asteroids, Mars is under attack, and the Outer Planets Alliance finds itself in a very bad position. By the end the new power structures are in place, but there’s a new threat in the form of Martian Admiral Winston Duarte...and whatever murderous horror destroyed the ring builders and is killing human ships.

#28 - Wings of Anansi by Michael Avon Oeming and Greg Titus

Nihilistic, violent story of a black gangster who gets in way over his head and pays the price. The place of Anansi in African-American life sort of comes up, as a vague explanation as to why Dawg is so attached to his spider ring, but it’s mostly horrible people and bloody violence.

#27 - Sadie When She Died by Ed McBain

A lawyer returns home from a trip to find his wife dead in their apartment. To Carella’s shock, he seems to be rather happy she’s dead, though there’s no immediate evidence that he murdered her. Shortly after that a junkie turned burglar confesses to the crime...but why is the lawyer behaving so oddly, seemingly trying to sow doubt in Carella’s mind?

Meanwhile, Bert Kling is trying to get over Cindy Forrest but things really go off the rails with the next girl.

A slightly lesser 87th Precinct story, between Bert again having dangerously bad woman trouble and Carella solving the crime via bugging.

#26 - Auberon by James S. A. Corey

An interstitial novella that fits between the 7th and 8th books in the Expanse series, this skips all but the lightest connection with the ongoing cast of characters.

The planet Auberon has been assigned a new governor by the sprawling Laconian Empire, something that the local kingpin isn’t too happy about. As it turns out, though, there are narrative twists to come, and the new guy gets an unexpected lesson in governance and the nature of Empire....

Quirkyreader wrote: "Wow you prowled through this section of the climb. 🐸🦋🐝"

In a bit of a stop-and-start manner, though. If I’d kept my pace I’d be considerably further than I am. Oddly, my few days in the hospital saw me doing rather a lot less reading than I’d expected.

#25 - Twilight by Howard Chaykin and José Luis García-López

So, DC had all of these crusty old space and science fiction characters, such as Star Hawkins, Manhunter 2070, Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers, Knights of the Galaxy, Space Cabbie, and so on. At the end of the 80s, fresh off of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen and such successes, DC decided to give those old characters a makeover.

There’s not much resemblance between old and new, honestly. The artwork is excellent Moebius-inflected goodness, and the story follows the life of tinpot tyrant Tomorrow and his accidental creation of the goddess Karel and through her providing immortality to humanity...who, between holy wars, get pretty fed-up with it.

It’s all narrated by the elderly Homer Glint, former journalist and confidant to Karel (his ex-wife.) It’s an interesting story, though one I’d love to have seen told in more depth (at greater length.)

#24 - Scarlet Witch, Vol. 2: World of Witchcraft by James Robinson & divers hands

The story of Wanda’s redemption continues, and continues to be engaging and charming (though the story where she finally comes to terms with her brother’s awful behaviour is harsh) with surprisingly gentle moments. Robinson even imbues the ludicrous Ringmaster with a raffish personality as he poses as a psychologist — he actually helps Wanda, and is genuinely pleased that he did.

Ashley wrote: "I envy your readership! I wish I could read that many books in a year."

Thank you. My usual ambition is one a day, but I’m not great at keeping it up. It also depends on book length, of course.

#23 - Star Trek: Starfleet Academy by Mike Johnson, Ryan Parrott, Derek Charm

A fun YA entry in the Star Trek 2009 line. Set in two time periods (just before ST2009, and just before Star Trek Into Darkness), it sees Cadet Uhura coming across a mysterious signal. Finding herself barred from learning more, she involves James Kirk. What she finds ends up with her called onto the carpet in front of Admiral Marcus, and told to drop it. The truth is, the signal is from a hundred years ago, and it reveals that the son of an Admiral led a mutiny on the USS Slayton, a ship that got stuck in a temporal anomaly — 66 days in and everything was failing, unless he forced one last chance.

Three years later, a motley group of cadets is drafted into a Centennial contest....

I honestly liked the characters a lot, and I know they’ve been seen since, albeit briefly.

#22 - The President's Brain is Missing by John Scalzi

But how can you tell? This is a shaggy dog story, really — one inspired by Star Trek (“Spock’s Brain”) and Area 51 silliness alike. Someone has stolen the President’s brain, yet the President continues to function just fine. An investigation is launched and, of, course, therein lies the tale...

I liked it. I needed something that was deadpan goofy right now.

#21 - Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man by Ed McBain

The Deaf Man returns to plague the 87th Precinct, and there’s a cat burglar at work as well — well, more of a *kitten* burglar, as he breaks in, steals stuff, and leaves behind a kitten. That case lands with Kling, while Carella and Meyer cope with the riddle posed by the Deaf Man. It’s going to be a busy few days at the 87th Precinct....