Recent books acquired

(I'll explain where I've been in a follow up) For starters, let's look at some recent book purchases (or gifts).

World War Z of course, Max Brooks' "Oral History Approach" to the Great Zombie War, done in the literary style of BLOOD OF SPAIN (or perhaps more accurately that recent anthology dedicated to the H.G. Wells War of the World event done by various authors) It's not a central narrative, e.g., you won't see one gang of plucky survivors battle for survival as is the subject of MANY zombie films. Instead, Brooks tells the story of a global zombie holocaust through the eyes of many narrators in many places. I'm only just getting into it now but I'm impressed with Brooks writing style and sense of humor to accomodate the sense of dread. I loved his ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE .. and you can look at WORLD WAR Z as a companion piece set in the same milieu, pretty much.


An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories This is not a "trade back" of cartoons, rather a serious attempt to explain some of the modern and post-modern themes that are prevalent in "iconic" fiction such as Sunday Cartoons. The Anthology is edited by Ivan Bruneti of "Schizo" fame but many individual "edgy" comic artists and writers contribute. Ivan Bruneti writes the Introduction and I believe one or two of the "chapters" therein. Most of the material is page after page of post-modern comics illustrating a theme that Bruneti is working on in the chapter (it almost seems that the phrase "chapter" doesn't really fit, actually) Bruneti is a quirky fellow; but he takes the subject matter seriously enough -- I had no idea how cosmic some of these guys could get! One of my favorites is a series of interviews and commentary about PEANUTS written mostly by Art Spiegelman of MAUS fame. There's even a comic of Spiegelman's interview with Schulz with Spiegelman in his usual "Maus" guise and Schulz dressed up as a Charlie Brown character. Charles Schulz, who had been a cartoonist so long his work was part of the backdrop of American culture, had some very interesting points to make about the graphical art itself. You kind of expect the creator of PEANUTS to be conservative (or at least I did) but he was quite insightful. I'm about halfway done with it and I am glad I picked it up using some of my copious Book Store Gift Card boodle I usually get this time of year.




HIGH COTTON by Joe Landsdale. Haven't started it yet. Joe is my favorite East Texas Shitkickin' writer and a past master of the macabre short story art form. This is a short story anthology loaded with some of his more celebrated short stories, including one I've been tracking down for years.




THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS by Barry Straus. another Scholarly look at the great galley battle between the Greeks and Persians The Greek triumph at Salamis stopped the advancing Persians and saved the first democracy in history. It made Athens the dominant city in Greece, gave birth to the Athenian empire, and set the stage for the Age of Pericles. On the Persian side, the battle of Salamis also featured history's first female admiral and sailors from three continents. I've only just creacked it open-- Strauss' prose style is what I would call "spare" but it's still easy enough to follow and a good treatment of the subject.



Tuff Guide to Fantasyland By Diana Wynn-Jones. A very tongue-in-cheek, often hilarious, treatment of all the cliches in fantasy writing done by a very succesful fantasy writer. Who knew she had it in her? I bought this one on Otto's recommendation and don't regret it...

That's what's in my book bag at the moment, and I'm enjoying them tremendously.

HA! A major book searchin' coup

And there it was!

One of the only attractions of the Burke, VA Festival (for me) is the library book sale fund raiser, an event held every year to raise funds for the new library going into my neighborhood. Within walking distance, no less.

Woo Hoo!

For years, I've been searching for the book you see below. It's available through used book search services, but I've always twigged at the thought of paying $30 plus for a cheap paperback. Suddenly, there it was in one of the surprlus book sale boxes, right on top, staring me in the face.



Ya gotta love synergy sometimes.

Doc Savage: His Apocolyptic Life and Tarzan Alive are the two core volumes forming the foundation of the "Wold Newton Universe" a quirky "literary archeology" semi-hobby where Farmer attempts to tie the lives of every pulp hero (and many Victorion/Edwardian heroes) that ever lived to a cosmic event that happened in Wold Newton, in the English countryside. "The Wold Newton Universe" has far more active adherents than I, but I still love reading the material these people come up with; it's very detailed and engrossing to read fictional geneologies of the heroes of pulp.

If you can find either Tarzan Alive or Doc Savage, my advice is to snap them up, I doubt they will be reprinted soon.

For those who are interested in books, I have been trying to catch up my occassional book review BLOG, entitled AM I BETTER SERVED STARING AT MY FEET? You can see the link to it at the top of my "Other BLOG" list on the left.

Recent additions to this shamefully neglected site:

A Survey of the Flashman series, by George MacDonald Fraser, brought on by the news that FLASHMAN AT THE MARCH will be published this Spring.

A review of the new McDevitt novel, Polaris

A Look at my current book pile, which is repeated below (so don't bother with that one).

Have fun!

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