The Virtually Certain Man Rocks Up Again

[Steven]

Having summited Crumpit, now for Munch.

[Steven]

#25 - Frozen Assets by P.G. Wodehouse

Regrettably enough, a rather tedious story of romance, money, and mishaps among the well-to-do. I never quite engaged with the thing, which might have to do with what seemed to be an unenthusiastic reading by Simon Vance.

Audible Plus

[Steven]

#26 - The Flash: The Death of Iris West by Cary Bates, Rich Buckler, Alex Saviuk, Don Heck etc

I’ll grant a little positivity for some decent artwork in the first half of the book, but overall it’s pretty bad. Iris is actually killed off-panel, and the eventual explanation is idiotic and requires expert forensic scientist Barry Allen to completely miss clues. Cary Bates churns through a continuing story, resolving plot points in offhand ways, and resorting to an asspull to reveal who *didn’t* kill Iris (something that should have been obvious — she didn’t die as a result of Clive Yorkin’s life-sucking powers.)

Overall, a story that did not age well at all….

Hoopla

[Steven]

#27 - Joe Golem: Occult Detective, Vol. 2: The Outer Dark by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, etc

In the Drowning City of New York, private investigator Joe deals with supernatural threats even as his struggles with troubling dreams that seem to be memories of a life as a Golem in the 15th Century. It’s solid work, with atmospheric art, but when the setting is the most interesting thing there might be a problem.

Hoopla.

[Steven]

#28 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: The Album, the Beatles, and the World in 1967 by Brian Southall

Loses a great deal as an audiobook (the photos in the coffee table print edition aren’t included.) The American narrator is terrible, frankly.

It’s essentially ephemeral, one of many books by Southall jotting down his memories and thoughts of the British music industry, particularly EMI, and often focused on the Beatles. This has nothing new to say.

Scribd.

[Steven]

#29 - Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson

When a Vietnamese woman is found dead in a field and a homeless Crow is discovered living in a culvert nearby, Walt Longmire’s life gets complicated fast — and he’s already dealing with issues from his daughter (recuperating from injuries in the previous book) and his undersheriff, Vic Moretti, a hot-headed former Philadelphia detective who’s set her cap for Walt in a confusing way.

The case plunges Walt into looking at his past as an investigator in Viet Nam, looking for connections to the present-day case. The two timelines alternate, and it’s no big surprise that a few things get buried, a situation with Walt near the end is really unclear, and occasional climactic moments stretch things a bit. Enjoyable enough, despite some rough moments, but it could have been better.

Hoopla.

[Steven]

#30 - The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson

Johnson experiments with storytelling again here, starting towards the end and then going back to eleven days earlier, then flipping back and forth as one timeline draws into the other until it settles into a straightforward third act.

The result is a book that’s nowhere near as good as the first four Longmire entries — but it’s not bad, really, just messy…a bit like Longmire’s relationship with his undersherrif, Vic Moretti.

Hoopla.

[Steven]

#31 - Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson

Taking a break from the murders in Absaroka County, this novella finds Walt Longmire at loose ends for Christmas when a young Japanese woman shows up at his office looking for the former sheriff, Lucian Connolly. She’s mysterious and uninformative, but Walt’s bored so he takes her to the nursing home where Lucian, wild and snappish as ever, lives. There, she says a single word that plunges Walt into his memories.

1988. Walt is the new sheriff, Connolly is retired, and a century storm is roaring in. An accident leaves three people dead and a Japanese child badly burned and in need of medevac…but the chopper can’t get in. If the kid can’t be gotten to major medical help soon, she’ll die.

That leaves Walt looking for a way…and then he comes across an old B25 variant being refurbished in the Durant airport…and a plan is born. There’s only one man who can possibly fly the crate, a pilot who flew B25 bombers and went on the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in 1942: Lucian Connolly, wild, one-legged ex-sheriff. A team is quickly assembled and Steamboat takes to the stormy skies….

It’s actually a great character piece, and it’s nice to see Walt in his prime, with Martha still alive and hale. The adventure is entertaining, too, though Lucian is a complete ass.

Scribd.

[Steven]

#32 - Joe Golem: Occult Detective, Vol. 4: The Conjurors by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola, others

The adaptation of the novel wraps up with Simon Church dying, Orlov meeting his destiny (and his Dad), Joe reverting to what he was, and Molly saving the world from the insane Cocteau — who also meets his destiny…halfway.

I’d hoped for better, but this really just plodded to an end filled with Mignola’s beloved space tentacles.

Hoopla

[Steven]

#33 - Baltimore Omnibus Volume 2 by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, others

Lord Henry Baltimore has learned what’s behind the plague that ravaged the world during the Great War, ending the war and plunging mankind into a hellish situation. Now he has to find and destroy the Red King before the world is plunged back into primordial chaos.

Taking place in a different alternate world to Mignola’s BPRD stories, this series still hit many of the same beats — it’s always petty, destructive Old Ones — only faster and with less complete apocalyptic destruction. The middle section of the omnibus drags a lot, and there’s a strong sense that’s Mignola and Golden wanted to wrap up the story quickly.

Hoopla

[Steven]

#34 - Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings by Jodi Taylor

Time travel shenanigans with the St. Mary’s crew as Max heads to Ancient Egypt to retrieve a pistol accidentally dropped by a previous crew.

Audible Plus

[Steven]

#35 - Lady Baltimore, Vol. 1: The Witch Queens by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, others

It’s twenty years after the death of Lord Henry Baltimore, and his second wife, Sofia, who he rescued as a teenager and married at the end of his life to pass on his estate, has taken up his war again as a new World War is beginning and the monsters of the Outer Dark are feeding the monsters of this alternate world. Allies old and new and enemies old and new abound, and some might be one and the same. And is it time for Josef The Golem to awaken again?

It’s fast paced, but very flat. Even Sofia, who was a fine character in the Baltimore series, is pretty dull here. Again, it seems like an attempt to replicate the original Hellboy universe. Mignola, of course, gets his Nazi villains in, but even they seem undeveloped here — even two decades dead Adolf Hitler.

Perhaps the Outerverse will grow more interesting as it expands, but right now…it’s not.

Hoopla.

[Steven]

#36 - Sunnyside Yard and Hell Gate Bridge by David D. Morrison

A book that belies its slender size with images of gigantic turn of the 20th Century engineering feats, many of which, alas, have been destroyed since — such as the magnificent Penn Station, designed to last 800 years and torn down in 50. The Hell Gate Bridge still stands, though, and is likely to last hundreds of years more.

Packed with historic images, including many of my beloved GG-1 locomotive, along with concise text, this is an excellent little book.

Kindle Unlimited.