Book #58

Frankenstein: City of the Dead, by Dean Koontz. Unabridged audio.

This picks up right where book #4 left off, with the town of Rainbow Falls, Montana under attack from Victor Frankenstein's monsters. This is the first part of his plan to (rub hands and laugh maniacally) take over the world.

I liked the way Koontz handled the small-town and religious elements of the story. Both of these aspects can easily fall into stereotypes, but Koontz avoids those writing temptations. The small-town folk, and the religious folk, both contribute strongly to the action in the book. From the days of Mary Shelley herself, the Frankenstein story is one that lends itself to making strong thematic points, and Koontz uses the legend to make points about the nature of humanity and God.

I thought that only a few of the characters were well-drawn and interesting, and the ball seemed to have been dropped on some of the key characters in book #4. Yes, they were here in book #5, but not the same extent that they were previously. Reading the books so closely after each other made this flaw stand out.

Based on the ending of the novel, I am assuming the series is finished up. Yes, we thought that after book #3, but this time I think the story is done.

Writing-casts

Creative people talking about being creative has always interested me, especially interviews with authors. As a writer who specializes in unpublished novels, creativity and writing are topics I enjoy listening about. There are 3 podcasts in particular about the business and craft of writing that I have found enjoyable:

I Should Be Writing. A show for "wannabe fiction writers," veteran podcaster Mur Lafferty talks about her own writing career, which offers great insights into the business life of the writer. Her shows include question-and-answer audience feedback, which is where her advice on technique is often given. Most of her episodes feature author interviews, as well.

Writing Excuses. Four accomplished authors as hosts (Mary Robinette Cowal, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler), fifteen minutes, once per week. This show focuses most often on writing technique, but covers aspects of the business of writing, as well, along with a few interviews thrown in along the way.

Nerdist Writers Panel. A new show, part of Chris Hardwick's growing Nerdist family of podcasts, this one is Ben Blacker hosting a round-table discussion with TV writers. The life of a TV writer is so different from that of novelist that I have found this new podcast very interesting. There is not a large focus on technique here, but instead on the TV industry itself, how to break into it, what the "writers' room" is like on a TV show, those sorts of topics.

Books 56 & 57

Left Behind: The Kids, books #19 & 20, by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye (and Chris Fabry). Paperback.

I picked up this series years ago, after knocking out the entire run of the "adult" version of the series, including the prequels. There were some low points in those books (any 3-book concept stretched to 12+ will have low points, lots of low points), but some of the characters intrigued me. And I'm a completist, so I just kept reading them.

Somewhere along the line, I picked up these, the J/YA versions of the Left behind series. I must have started before I realized there were 40 books in the kid series. At least they're pretty short, and they are certainly quick reads.

Christian fiction often falls short in terms of subtlety and nuance, and the theme is considered more important than literary value. When you add the J/YA vibe on top of that, what is left is pretty simplistic. And that's what these books are.

That being said, the books have some strengths. Chris Fabry (the actual writer of the series, not credited until book 8 or so) writes clear prose, and the action certainly moves along at a nice pace. The books are quick reads, pretty short and fast-paced. And there is some skill in weaving in the chronology/events of the adult series into this series.

I'll pick up the next couple in the series over the Winter, and continue on valianty until I finish.

Book #55

Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ultimate Collection, by Ed Brubaker, et. al. Graphic Novel.

If you liked the recent Captain America movie, this is the place to go next. Not a sequel, but this story takes place in the same universe as the movie, and is a great "jumping on" point into the world of Cap's comics.

We all know that Bucky and Captain America both died, but Cap was actually frozen and thawed out years later. But .... what if the same thing happened to Bucky, too? And what if he was found not by the Avengers, but by the Soviets?

That is the question that Ed Brubaker poses in this relaunch of the title from a number of years ago -- this collection features the entire story, all thirteen issues. Bucky becomes a super-agent for the Soviets, known as the Winter Soldier. His exploits are legend on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and as it becomes clear who the WS really is, Cap and the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives wrestle with the implications.

Most of the art is excellent here, with different artists doing the present-day and WW2 pages. This gives the flashbacks a true sense of being from another age. There are a few fill-in artists along the way whose work seems out of place when the entire story is read as one piece of work.

I have not read Cap in a long time, but found this is a very accessible and enjoyable read.

The guys at Geek Show covered this as their "book of the month" a few weeks ago, and put out a terrific podcast episode about it.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

MY TEASERS:

1."But at that very instant, the electronic evolutionizer breaks down, stranding Wonder Woman and her friends in the Golden Age."

2. "Infuriated by the defeat of their mighty leader, the Greeks attack Wonder Woman en masse."

From page 81 of The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 2: Wonder Woman, by Michael L. Fleisher.

Book #54

Blood Oath, by Christopher Farnsworth. Unabridged audio.

I read political thrillers. I read vampire novels. Why would I not read a novel that combines those two aspects?

Nathaniel Cade is a special assistant to the President, a position he has held for a century and a half -- because he is a vampire. He is forced by a blood oath to obey the current President and his specific designee. In this case, that designee is Zach Barrows, who has taken over those duties from former FBI agent William Griffin.

Throw in Dr. Frankenstein, Zombies, and the quest for eternal youth, and you have the outlines of the plot of Blood Oath. There are factions within the President's administration who don't want Cade & Zach to stop the zombies, and who may even be trying to kill the two of them. This worries Zach a lot more than it does Cade, as he is much more killable than the vampire.

Rarely do I read a book just because of the premise, but this one was so compelling -- a vampire on the President's staff -- that I did pick it up on a whim. And I'm glad I did; it moved along quickly, the main characters were developed well, the horror elements were unsettling.

The story here is completed in the main part of the narrative, although an epilogue makes it clear that a sequel is in the works. I worry a bit about that, as there seemed to be a lot thrown into this adventure, and I wonder what is left for Cade to face in further stories, but I will be there to find out.

Longest. Audiobooks. Ever.

In my review of George RR Martin's A Dance With Dragon, I commented that it was the longest audiobook I had ever listened to. I decided to go back and research that assertion, and it turns out that I have listened to a number of long books. Among them are:

1. Atlas Shrugged, 57 hours. I listened to this one in 3 parts from the library, so even though I knew it was long, it didn't stick in my memory as being that long. I actually preferred The Fountainhead more, but am glad I tackled this one.

2. A Dance wih Dragons, 49 hours. Well, it may not have been the longest one I've ever read, but to be fair, it did sort of feel like it was.

3. Gone with the Wind, 49 hours. Another one that was broken into two parts by the library, so it surprised me that this one was in fact this long.

4. The Bear and the Dragon, 46 hours. For a while, Tom Clancy's works had fallen into the pattern of each one being longer than the one before. This one represents the peak of his verbosity. To give him credit, his books do move right along, and I even enjoy the techno-babble description stuff.

5. Don Quixote, 41 hours. This one is here on a technicality, as it includes both Part I and Part II of Cervante's work, which are regularly packaged as a single book. But Part II was released about 5 years after Part I, and even includes references and commentary on the public reaction to Part I. So not only is this the world's first modern novel, it is also the world's first post-modern novel. Anyway, I think it's more appropriate to consider this two books, and book and a sequel. But it's treated as one, so for purposes of this list, I am counting it as one.

6. Anna Karenina, 39 hours. The only of the Russian classics that I've read. Tolstoy is on my long-term list, which would certainly push this one further down the long-book list.

7. Stone of Tears, 39 hours. I am a huge fan of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, so I had to make the list long enough to include his longest book. But it's fantasy, so (like Martin), it's supposed to be a long book.