Mount TBR 2014 Challenge discussion
Level 8: Mt. Olympus (150 +)
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Brian Blessed Goes Back To Mars! or, Up The Hill Backwards!
#45 - StoryLines America: StoryLines Southwest #12-Joy HarjoInterviews with poet Joy Harjo, interspersed with readings/performances. Originally broadcast on NPR.
#46 - Hunter's Run by George RR Martin, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel AbrahamA patchwork novel, written over a period of decades by the three authors. The seams don't show, and things barrel along, but, frankly, there's not much else to be said for it. The main ideas of the novel are never fleshed out, the society is never examined in any detail, and the core story -- man on the run in the wilderness -- is something that's gotten well worn by now.
#47 - Doctor Who: The Memory Cheats by Simon GuerrierOne of the better things about the Companion Chronicles series is that it tells stories that neither the main series nor the TV series can do -- close character dramas extending past the stories that wereshown. In this case it's Zoe Herriot, years after being memory-wiped by the Time Lords, and returned to the space station where she met the Doctor, faced with accusations that she knows about time travel, and even traveled with the Doctor. Things get very twisty from the outset...and what's the truth about the society Zoe was born into?
#48 - Doctor Who: Resistance by Steve LyonsA rare straight historical story, set in World War II in Vichy France. Well written and well performed, despite the odd obvious moment.
#49 - Doctor Who: Night's Black Agents by Marty Ross#50 - Doctor Who: Shadow of the Pastby Simon Guerrier
Both decent stories in their owns ways, though the second telegraphs its ending about five minutes in. The first, meanwhile, is about Highlander Jamie MacCrimmon, who, absent his memory of his travels with the Second Doctor, has landed up with the Sixth (unfortunately Frazier Hines doesn't achieve a good imitation, and Six sounds rather a lot like Eight) and in a fight with a demon.
#51 - Fables, Vol. 16: Super Team by Bill WillinghamAs has been pointed out, Willingham had something of an issue with how he represents women and gays, which gets to be a bit tiresome here with Mrs. Spratt. Also, it seems Willingham grew bored with trying to figure out how to handle Mr. Dark, so the solution is a literal deus ex machina, though perhaps not quite the way you would expect.
#52 - Men and Cartoons by Jonathan LethemA collection of short stories that cover much ground, most of it absurdist. Unfortunately, while some of the stories are quite captivating, they mostly tend to stop on a dime, inconclusive. A couple are almost conceits sadly missing an apparent point.
#53 - Runaways, Vol. 3: The Good Die Young by Brian K. VaughnThe first phase of the Runaways story comes to a close as the kids confront their parents and the mole is revealed, along with the true nature of the Pride itself.
#54 - Fables, Vol. 17: Inherit the Wind by Bill WillinghamA quieter volume, setting up new threats and resolving the issue of who's to replace Mr. North...at least for the moment.
#55 - Runaways, Vol. 9: Dead Wrong by Terry Moore and Humberto RamosThe second volume of the post-BKV series finds the crew back in present-day Los Angeles with Klara, from 1907 New York, along for the trip. Before they can get their footing, however, a group of Majesdanes turns up in search of Karolina, looking to try her for war crimes committed by her late parents. A bit boring and repetitive, and the art didn't do very much for me.
#56 - Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here! by Ed McBainPretty much a "day in the life" mosaic novel as various members of the 87th Precinct night and day shifts tackles a slew of cases that come through the doors.
#57 - Gallifrey: Warfare by Stewart Sheargold and Gallifrey: Appropriation by Paul SuttonAll hell has broken loose on Gallifrey as Pandora wreaks havoc and Time Lord society crumbles from within and comes under threat from without. As Doctor Who spin-offs go, this series has been a highlight, with some highly intense acting and writing.
#58 - Blood Follows by Steven EriksonA hardcover novella in the Malazan universe. I might be more impressed had the copyediting been better, but this leaves me cool on the idea of exploring the main series.
I was amused to discover that old mad-as-toast Brian Blessed actually participated in training for a putative Mars mission. When I grow up I want to be just like him...!#59 - Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
I think reading these in audio form is the beast way to go -- wonderful narration. Other than that, it's a Stephanie Plum novel, a little lighter than usual on the mystery element and much broader with the chaos of Stephanie's life.
#60 - Essential Iron Man, Vol. 1 by Stan Lee, larry Lieber, Don Heck, and assortedStan Lee does the Spy-Fi thing in true Marvel fashion...i.e., with great verve and mediocrity. This phone-book sized collection of black and white reprints covers the first few years of Iron Man's appearances, and veers wildly through bad SF, bad adventure, bad romance (so, so much bad romance)and regularly bad art, although Don Heck does reasonably well by the stories. watching the design of Pepper and Happy soften is amusing, although I rather preferred the earlier version of Pepper over the glamour girl she became. Happy, meanwhile, morphs from a cauliflower-eared pug to a tragically handsome suitor. Stark himself ends up being a bit of a whiny git.
Be prepared for of-the-times racism, sexism, and various other -isms. And be prepared to laugh if you manage to let the characters own their voices in your head -- some of the dialogue is beyond Bulwer-Llyton bad.
#61 - Sadie When She Died by Ed McBainA woman is brutally murdered, and while everything points to her husband being the most likely suspect, another man confesses to the crime -- and his confession does indeed seem iron-clad. So why is the husband connecting with Steve Carella and acting as though he's really the guilty party, and hinting to Steve that if he just follows all of the breadcrumbs, he'll realize...?
Very good entry in the series, unfortunately marred by an ending that suggests McBain had realized he was running out of road and needed to tie things up quickly.
Somebody needs to start bringing his A-game here!#62 - Seven Six-Gunners by Nelson Nye
As westerns go, this is a larupping shaggy dog of a tale told first-person in dense vernacular (which, due to the typesetting errors, sometimes gets quite confusing.) The ending is rather abrupt, but the groundwork for it is laid throughout the book. In some respects, this is very much not a run of the mill western, but it doe sometimes seem as though the author is trying a mite too hard.
#63 - Essential Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 3 by divers handsA black and white telephone book compilation of stories from Marvels 1970s rack-filler (and IP securing) team-up book. Spider-Man managed to get together and fight menaces with a staggering number of well known and obscure characters, usually in a done-in-one tale (though a loose continuity sometimes came into play.) Unfortunately the collection doesn't include the story where Spidey teams up with the then-Saturday Night Live cast.
#64 - Dead to the World by Chris Roberson and Mike AllredReady for some light and fluffy zombie action? Here you go. Gwen is a zombie gravedigger maintaining her consciousness by eating a brain a month (always from a deceased individual) and hanging out with her best friends -- a swinging sixties ghost and a wereterrier. Gwen's latest snack sends her on a quest to solve a murder (she absorbs memories from the dead person), and things spiral out from there. Let's not forget the sexy vampires running a paintball company, either.
I hope the coming TV series lives up to this silliness.
#65 - uVampire by Chris Roberson and Mike AllrediZombie is pretty much as light and fluffy as a good mousse, and about as enjoyable. In this book we get the origin of Scott the Were-Terrier, lots of lampshading of inspirations, and the return of the vampire paintball girls -- among other things. A fun read, though the silliness might be too much for some.
#66 - Quiller KGB by Adam HallI think the major problem with this particular entry in the Quiller series (Quiller must aid the KGB in preventing an attack on Gorbachev in East Germany) is that it's mainly a long series of very brutal chases in the middle of a bleak winter. It's something the Quiller series has done well from time to time, but here's it's bloody relentless.
Jessika wrote: "I love Fables! Are you enjoying it?"I have been, on and off, although I've paused for the moment.
#67 - The Cutie by Donald E. WestlakeMore in keeping with the Parker books, in that Westlake tells a serious story from the point of view of one of the criminal element -- in this case an enforcer for the mob who's tasked with finding a murderer. Fairly well done sixties potboiler.
#68 - The Grimoire of the Lamb by Kevin HearnePrequel to the Iron Druid series, in which Atticus goes up against an Egyptian sorcerer who has a potentially destructive agenda/
#69 - Jewels of Gwahlur by Robert E. HowardThe untrammeled version of this, indeed. Conan makes an attempt to steal some priceless gems by way of a con job, and finds himself in over his head -- as quick-witted as he can be, there are others even more quick-witted in play. In some ways a page-filler more than anything as Conan spends a lot of time cromping around in the dark.
#70 - Sidekicks by Dan SantatCaptain Amazing's getting too old for the job of protecting his city...so he's going to need a sidekick to help out...but not a pet, not after... *dundundunnnn* Cue his entire menagerie launching into action...not to mention the mysterious Claw, and the even more mysterious Wonder Man. Cute, funny, with the odd moment of seeming grimness, just a light hearted read. You'll believe a hamster can fight crime!
#71 - Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1 by Stan Lee and Steve DitkoAt one point towards the end of this volume, the Parker family doctor refers to Aunt May as a hardy woman -- that's an understatement, given than in the course of 21 issues and an annual she manages to have at least three heart attacks, two major operations, sundry lesser attacks and ailments, is apparently at least eighty and extremely slight...but she strives to take care of Peter and spends a lot of convalescence time trying to be up and around to feed him pancakes and set him up on blind dates with Mary Jane Watson (who doesn't actually make an appearance for another two years!)
I suspect Aunt May is actually a Skrull. She couldn't have been a zombie as the Comics Code didn't permit those at the time.
Other than heralding the unkillable May Parker, the stories start out clumsily setting up and establishing Spider-Man before catching the groove that demonstrates why the book caught on. Peter himself turns into a hard luck case, always trying to do the right thing and ending up paying for it -- and, surprisingly, the bitterness he displays seems pretty on the mark for a seventeen year old who's been catching flak for years. Even his transition from unwanted wallflower brainiac to someone girls are interested in goes with amazing high-school awkwardness, not to mention that Spider-Man's biggest fan is his high school nemesis.
Then there's J. Jonah Jameson, editor and publisher of the Daily Bugle. A shallow, venal man that writer Stan Lee has a lot of fun lampooning, JJJ is a pretty nasty piece of work whose agenda is to destroy Spider-Man...because he's envious. He's an over-the-top caricature that I would probably punch in the face without thinking in real life, just because he's *that* monstrous.
In other words, what Lee and Ditko created in Spider-Man was a superhero soap opera, bad dialogue and all. And it caught on. The beginnings are rough, but it does get better, and if you stay with it there is some very funny and pointed stuff to be found.
#72 - Foreign Devils by Andrew CartmelA disappointing book by Andrew Cartmel in which the Second Doctor and Zoe (with Jamie missing for most of the book) team up with William Hope Hodgson's Thomas Carnacki to deal with a series of murders in a country house. Blad, off-character throughout, and relatively boring.
#73 - Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Vol. 2 by Walter SimonsonThe big story arc with Surtur reaches its resounding climax in the stories collected in this volume, which sees the return of Beta Ray Bill and the culmination of Lorelei's plan to seduce Thor by any means. Mad action is intercut with sometimes very goofy humour. Looking forward to the next volume!
#74 - IER "The Big Red Cars" by divers handsA 1966 outing that tells the surprisingly brief story of San Francisco's Interurban Electric Railroad, which took over Southern Pacific's Bay Area electric passenger service on 1939, and promptly abandoned it. Includes photographs and maps.
#75 - Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 2 by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John RomitaOne more telephone-book sized black and white compilation of early Spider-Man. Towards the end of the book we get the reveal of the Green Goblin's identity, as well as, finally, a face to face meeting with Mary-Jane Watson, a character who'd been teased for a good four years. The book also introduces Harry Osborne (who's a real jerk), Gwen Stacy (who's presented as a shallow beauty), and gives us one of Spidey's more harrowing battles.
Ih, and frail old Aunt May gets sick a lot, Peter acts like a dick to Betty Brant, and there's just as much soap opera as ever. Good times!
#76 - Quantum of Tweed: The Man with the Nissan Micra by Conn IgguldenEssentially, a story of an accidental hit man. Lightly amusing.
#77 - Powers, Vol. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl? by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon OemingSuper-powered mystery with reams of dialogue fit for a stage play or a Robert Altman movie -- people talking over each other, at cross-purposes, half-formed thoughts, and so on. This volume serves to set up the world of Powers and introduces a couple of mysteries beyond the main case. Not a quick read by any means, despite the somewhat rushed resolution. The edition that I have includes a ton of bonus material.
#78 - Crisis on Multiple Earths, Vol. 1 by Gardner F. Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and variousIncludes the first eight Justice League/Justice Society crossover issues, and features the first appearance of the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3. Tons of hokey fun,and some surprisingly dense storytelling. You can also easily spot the periods these stories were made in -- there's obvious reactions to Marvels hipsterism, as well as a big influence from the Batman TV show. The fourth story, featuring the mysterious Anti-Matter Man, doesn't really have a villain -- there's an altercation with the character, but he's mainly just surreal, and reacting to the characters beating him up. As far as *he's* concerned, he's just out for a walk.
#79 - DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories: 11 Tales You Never Expected to See! by various and sundryI'm a sucker for alternate worlds stories, even if the alternates are riffs on goofy comic book worlds. There's lots of goofy stuff here, too, including a truly depressing three-part story that sees Superman getting married three times with fatal results to the loves of his life (he does Lois in by not completely testing a super-serum before giving it to her!) All in all, a fun, if generally quite silly collection.
#80 - Manhunter, Vol. 2: Trial by Fire by Marc Andreyko, et alOne of the disappointments for me in the CW's Arrow is that they introduced the character of Kate Spencer as a DA...and killed her off at the end of the second season, without taking her for a spin as Manhunter.
This is the second volume of Andreyko's acclaimed take on the character, and despite the tie-in distractions that pop up, it's an engaging, violent, and often funny superhero story that takes some decidedly unusual turns.
#81 - Powers, Vol. 3: Little Deaths by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon OemingUnfortunately a bit more disjointed than the earlier volume. While the Law And Order: Superpowers approach is continued, Bendis takes time to veer off into a lot of meta this time around, with author Warren Ellis turning up as character in one issue, and the middle of the "Groupies" story being made up of an issue of Powers magazine. Another story stops halfway and turns into a court transcript -- very Ed McBain, that; unfortunately many people find it annoying.
It'll be very interesting to see how closely the upcoming TV series sticks to the early run of the series.
#82 - Martin Misunderstood by Karin SlaughterWell, that was a rather vile tale full of damaged and vile people, though Wayne Knight throws himself into the reading with great gusto -- amazingly, it's his first go at doing an audio book. The story itself is about one of life's nerdy loser, perennially beset by the small minds around him, as well as his horrible, domineering mother. His life is in growing disarray at the start of the book, and proceeds to spiral downhill when his car is used to commit a gruesome murder....
#83 - Powers, Vol. 13: Z by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon OemingLaw & Order: Superpowers, as I keep saying, and that pretty much keeps up for the duration of the first part of this collection -- until Bendis starts to presage the big disaster movie arc that was Powers, Vol. 14: Gods. The book also suffers from some choppiness -- the story lurches from one event to another without touching anything between, which left me a bit confused more than once.
#84 - A Fine Dark Line by Joe R. LansdaleSet in the small town of Bowmont, Texas in the 1950s, this is a story with many antecedents...but I still enjoyed it quite a bit, mainly because Lansdale's characters have a vivid life to them, despite the story being from the point of view of a fairly innocent thirteen year old boy.
#85 - The Complete David Bowie by Nicholas PeggI finally got quit going piecemeal on this one, and just ploughed in (as it gave me an excuse to trot out the Bowie music collection for the first time in a while) and thoroughly enjoyed it. There's a couple of minor errors and a bunch of typos, but this brick of a book is about as thorough a look at David Bowie's overall life and career and output as you might ever want. If you need to go deeper you can, of course, supplement it with volumes focused on specific aspects or periods, but on the while it's hard to beat half a million words of reportage, assessment, and analysis from a fan who has the talent to write coherently and the intelligence to keep his personality confined to the occasional snarky aside.
#86 - Assignment: Earth by John ByrneCompiles a miniseries wherein Byrne tells stories from the Star Trek:TOS spin-off that never happened, despite a fun back door pilot. Set over a five year period, each tale is a one-shot, generally a lot of fun (and in one instance very moving) even if Seven takes the brunt of things a bit too often. Also, Byrne injects a little bit of Doctor Who from time to time (Seven's "servo" is pretty much a combination of phaser on stun and the sonic screwdriver.)
#87 - The Colorado Kid by Stephen KingA mystery story that deliberately includes no solution, this is really a three-hander wherein two small-time newspaper guys tell an intern the tale of a man fund dead on the beach of a small island off of the Maine coast. King has intimated that there is a connection to his Dark Tower series, and, in his afterword, states that he does have his own personal solution to the mystery...but the rest of us are left to contend with the messiness of life. Or to cobble up solutions to the mystery (and there are several interesting ones out there.) I enjoyed it, although it really is an oddity in terms of the Hard Case Crime imprint.
Mod
A mystery story that deliberately includes no solution, this is really a three-hander wherein two small-time newspaper guys tell an intern the t..."
Hmmmm....a mystery story with no solution? I'm not sure I'd enjoy that. I kind of like my mystery novels all tied up nice and tidy. It makes a nice change from real life. :-)
Bev wrote: "Hmmmm....a mystery story with no solution? I'm not sure I'd enjoy that. I kind of like my mystery novels all tied up nice and tidy. It makes a nice change from real life. :-) "What made it for me is the characterization of the two old duffers.
#88 - Powers, Vol. 4: Supergroup by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon OemingSupergroup FG-3 are sitting on top of the world when one of their members, the volatile Wazz, quits. Three months later, while Wazz is giving a contentious live interview, another member, Benmarley, is killed in a horrific explosion that seems to have come from inside his body. Walker and Pilgrim are called in to investigate, only for the case to go completely pear-shaped.... This one is a little less Law & Order: Superheroes than it's X-Files-ish, given that the Federal Government and the mysterious Special Agent Lange becoe involved, and Triphammer later hints meaningfully at more buried truths than get revealed in this volume.
#89 - Avengers, Vol. 1: Avengers World by Jonathan Hickman#90 - New Avengers, Vol. 1: Everything Dies by Jonathan Hickman
As always, Hickman likes to go big. With New Avengers he's going both big and bleak, as he presents an insurmountable problem that serves mainly to destroy the moral fiber of his characters -- Tony Stark is already one of Marvel's monsters, and Namor pretty much landed there during Avengers vs. X-Men, and there's some thought that Reed Richards is likewise monstrous; now Black Panther is heading that way, and Namor, by the end of this, is irredeemable.
#91 - Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 1: The Red Shadow by Rick Remender, et al#92 - Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 2: The Apocalypse Twins by Rick Remender, et al
I've grown to prefer collected editions over time, as thy give you a substantial chunk of story all at once. The down side of collected editions is that you don't get a chance to test-drive a series to see if it's got potential, or is carrying an anvil in its pants. Added to that is my habit of keeping books around for a year or two before cracking them...and the getting a tomato surprise.
Ah well.
Mount TBR 2014 Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 3 (other topics)Glass Empires (other topics)
Weird Tales: 101 Weird, Strange, and Supernatural Stories Vol. 6 (other topics)
Sayonara, streetcar (other topics)
Riding the Bullet (other topics)
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Rose Red is prompted to get out of bed with a look back at her life, and where things went horribly wrong. Moments of severe ugliness among the rest. The second half of the book is taken up with Bellflower's battle with Mr. Dark, and the consequences.