Why should the word "brother-in-law" refer to three different relationships? It refers equally to brother's wife's brother or sister's husband, or sister's husband's brother. I'm re-reading Jane Austen's EMMA (okay, the Wikipedia entry) after a writer mentioned it. At the outset, I thought I remembered that EMMA was going to wind up with Mr. Knightly (do not laugh, I read all the Austens at once and have trouble keeping them straight,) but as he's introduced as her brother-in-law, I thought he was married to her sister. So then, when Harriet confesses that she admires Mr. Knightly I thought, wait, isn't he married? Austen's novels are never like this! Of course, he is John Knightly's brother, and John Knightly is married to Emma's sister Isabella. Got it.
Obviously, I must fit in Austen again between all the vamps and werewolves. Of course, I've already covered PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, the mashup novel "by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith" in my second blog entry.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
COMMENTARY ON TRANSFORMATIONS IN MOVIES AND TV, by CeeViews
About those vampires and werewolves--I've realized that I like them only as literary creations, with my own imagination. Vampire movie and TV depictions are amusing and unconvincing, starting with BUFFY and going on to TRUE BLOOD and Stephenie Meyer. Sparkling Edward, anyone? At least that's a creative, if absurd, change from bursting into flames. And fangs are silly. Who's scared of them anymore? Almost every werewolf transformation filmed is slow and ridiculous, including REMUS LUPIN in HARRY POTTER, and the new Benicio del Toro film, "THE WOLFMAN." The transformation of JACOB in the movie adaptation of NEW MOON, however, shocks with its originality. Taylor Lautner goes from pouty running teen to leaping wolf in fractions of a second. The wolf head and shoulders emerge complete, with the rest of the body coalescing behind from sharp fragments. I think there may be part of one tennis shoe left in the picture as the wolf charges, suggesting the boy left behind. It's the definitive version.
COMMENTARY: COME HERE OFTEN? by CeeViews
Recently rewarding myself with new books, I devoured KITTY IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (werewolf with her own radio show), by Carrie Vaughn, and KITTY TAKES A VACATION (same). Then I surged through UNKNOWN, by Rachel Caine, (DJINN, genies, but of the malevolent, immortal type). The main course was BITE ME, A LOVE STORY, by the wonderful Christopher Moore (San Francisco vampires, absurd slapstick comedy matching the horror aspect). I was about to end this spree with INHUMAN RESOURCES, by Jes Battis, an Occult Scene Investigation novel set in Vancouver, a nifty change from frequently used California. Then I realized what had happened.
Five books of the same type, all urban fantasy. They includes werewolves, vampires, wizards, and other mythical/magical themes, fine works which take place in the present and don't violate known physics. Conservation of mass applies: a small one hundred twenty pound woman changes into a huge 120 pound wolf. No dragons or elves need apply, although one of the KITTY stories has a fairy. He's human sized, a seductive and evil fae, not a cute little flappy wing type. I've had some lofty pretensions about this blog, wanting people to think my reading varies from genre into sophistication, but what I'm an expert on is what I like.
I do, however, sometimes pick new books in the library area conveniently labeled NEW BOOKS or by browsing books ready to be reshelved. I checked out one this time about a pair of adult daughters whose father moves to Jerusalem and converts to Orthodox Judaism. Interesting premise. Now, back to those vampires and werewolves--see next post.
Five books of the same type, all urban fantasy. They includes werewolves, vampires, wizards, and other mythical/magical themes, fine works which take place in the present and don't violate known physics. Conservation of mass applies: a small one hundred twenty pound woman changes into a huge 120 pound wolf. No dragons or elves need apply, although one of the KITTY stories has a fairy. He's human sized, a seductive and evil fae, not a cute little flappy wing type. I've had some lofty pretensions about this blog, wanting people to think my reading varies from genre into sophistication, but what I'm an expert on is what I like.
I do, however, sometimes pick new books in the library area conveniently labeled NEW BOOKS or by browsing books ready to be reshelved. I checked out one this time about a pair of adult daughters whose father moves to Jerusalem and converts to Orthodox Judaism. Interesting premise. Now, back to those vampires and werewolves--see next post.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
THE ART OF DETECTION, a Kate Martinelli story, by Laurie R. King, audiobook
I've discovered that I'm least as interested in an audiobook's narration as the plot. In this one the female narrator has reasonably created male voices, although distinctions are hard to hear. The book also has a secondary narrator, a male English voice, who's used for the Sherlock Holmes style novella which is the crux of the story.
This is another in the series of Kate Martinelli, a lesbian police detective in San Francisco. (a San Francisco free of vampire elements, but with other strange creatures.) Kate and her detective partner Al Hawkins are called out to a scene on the Marin headlands where a body is found in a remote park area, in an old gun emplacement. As they trace the victim's past, they find he is a Sherlock Holmes book dealer whose whole life revolves around Holmes. He even has the first floor of his house done up in Victorian splendor, with gaslights, tobacco in a Persian slipper, and "VR" in bullet marks on the wallpaper.
Kate's complete ignorance of the obsessions of literary collectors in general, and the whole Sherlock Holmes canon in particular, seems false, although it may well be true for real police officers. It seems odd that Kate has a hard time believing people would pay fabulous prices for what appears to be junk, and seems to discount this as a motive for murder.
Kate's lover Lee, a therapist, knows about Holmes and fills her in. I'm not sure why things ring false here, except for the fact that Kate is a much more complex detective than, say, Jill Smith, Sue Dunlap's Berkeley police officer. Jill, who fights for the last cherry-filled doughnut in the box, does seem the type to be short on literary criticism, even though Jill is very wise about her Berkeley environment. For the purposes of this book, I wish Martinelli had been more than a "just the facts, ma'am" type.
This is another in the series of Kate Martinelli, a lesbian police detective in San Francisco. (a San Francisco free of vampire elements, but with other strange creatures.) Kate and her detective partner Al Hawkins are called out to a scene on the Marin headlands where a body is found in a remote park area, in an old gun emplacement. As they trace the victim's past, they find he is a Sherlock Holmes book dealer whose whole life revolves around Holmes. He even has the first floor of his house done up in Victorian splendor, with gaslights, tobacco in a Persian slipper, and "VR" in bullet marks on the wallpaper.
Kate's complete ignorance of the obsessions of literary collectors in general, and the whole Sherlock Holmes canon in particular, seems false, although it may well be true for real police officers. It seems odd that Kate has a hard time believing people would pay fabulous prices for what appears to be junk, and seems to discount this as a motive for murder.
Kate's lover Lee, a therapist, knows about Holmes and fills her in. I'm not sure why things ring false here, except for the fact that Kate is a much more complex detective than, say, Jill Smith, Sue Dunlap's Berkeley police officer. Jill, who fights for the last cherry-filled doughnut in the box, does seem the type to be short on literary criticism, even though Jill is very wise about her Berkeley environment. For the purposes of this book, I wish Martinelli had been more than a "just the facts, ma'am" type.
BITE ME, Christopher Moore
Christopher Moore's unique blend of horror and insane humor is laugh-out-loud funny in this new book, the third in his series about the vampires of San Francisco. Abby Normal, a teen Goth and the self-styled Emergency Backup Mistress of the Greater Bay Area Night, narrates this book in breathless profanity-laced OMG and WTF style. Abby realizes pretty soon that her vampire Master and Mistress are not thrillingly ancient beings; Tommy Flood is only nineteen, and his sire, Jody, is only 26. Tommy worked the late-night shift at Safeway with his buddies The Animals, until he fell in love with Jody and was turned by her. Abby lives to serve them as their minion, taking care of their daytime business affairs and hoping to become a vampire herself. Unfortunately, she's failing Biology 102, and grounded by her mother.
Abby's boyfriend, Steve "Foo Dog" Wong, is a bio-nerd who's researching the reversal of vampirism. He's also the inventor of portable daylight-spectrum UV light mechanisms as novel vampire killing tools. Another vampire killing device is a vile ancient Chinese tea, concocted by the Animals from a grandmother's recipe, and propelled in Super-Soakers.
Now undead cats terrorize San Francisco, baffling all law enforcement except two goth-scene aware detectives. In Moore's talented hands, the creation of vampire cats seems wholly believable. Abby, Foo Dog, Tommy, the detectives, and the Animals combine strategies to defeat the hundreds of cats, and incidentally, the ancient vampires when they do appear.
Moore's plot succeeds in carrying humor and romance, of the mad monkey love-ninja type, through his horror plot. If you've never tried a Moore story before, dive in now.
Abby's boyfriend, Steve "Foo Dog" Wong, is a bio-nerd who's researching the reversal of vampirism. He's also the inventor of portable daylight-spectrum UV light mechanisms as novel vampire killing tools. Another vampire killing device is a vile ancient Chinese tea, concocted by the Animals from a grandmother's recipe, and propelled in Super-Soakers.
Now undead cats terrorize San Francisco, baffling all law enforcement except two goth-scene aware detectives. In Moore's talented hands, the creation of vampire cats seems wholly believable. Abby, Foo Dog, Tommy, the detectives, and the Animals combine strategies to defeat the hundreds of cats, and incidentally, the ancient vampires when they do appear.
Moore's plot succeeds in carrying humor and romance, of the mad monkey love-ninja type, through his horror plot. If you've never tried a Moore story before, dive in now.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
ROYAL HEIR, by Alice Sharpe, BLACK SHEEP P.I., by Keran Whiddon
I investigated these romance novels to check on my prejudices to them. BLACK SHEEP P.I. has an annoying woman-in-peril plot where the female lead has little action and is very mopey about her marriage to an abuser. She was coerced into breaking off her engagement to the P.I. because her suitor had threatened to hurt her sister. The P.I. was disinherited by his family because he associated with the woman they considered a tramp. When they are thrown back together, they try to resist their passion, but are united again.
In ROYAL HEIR the female lead is much stronger, a pilot who survived a vicious foster care upbringing. The plot has something to do with a kidnapped baby who may be the heir to a fictional island country in the Mediterranean. What's really important to the readers are the sex scenes, in which the abused Julia finally breaks through her old conditioning.
That's not a bad plot point. But it's conveyed in sentences like "...(Her) molten desire, so hot and needy that grasping his head, she pulled his face back to hers and kissed him, wanting to engulf and be engulfed, needing to lose herself inside him." The next sentences describe their sex act, which isn't even as embarrassing as some of those in BLACK SHEEP P.I. “Molten desire” isn't too bad, but I really do not enjoy hearing about “wet centers” and “his tip." Eek!
The best thing about ROYAL HEIR is a gun battle where Will, the baby's father, is hurt and Julia summons the strength to pull him up and shove him up the stairs into a plane. Yeah! Not a superhuman Lara Croft but a regular woman with sudden berserker strength. No heaving loins required.
In ROYAL HEIR the female lead is much stronger, a pilot who survived a vicious foster care upbringing. The plot has something to do with a kidnapped baby who may be the heir to a fictional island country in the Mediterranean. What's really important to the readers are the sex scenes, in which the abused Julia finally breaks through her old conditioning.
That's not a bad plot point. But it's conveyed in sentences like "...(Her) molten desire, so hot and needy that grasping his head, she pulled his face back to hers and kissed him, wanting to engulf and be engulfed, needing to lose herself inside him." The next sentences describe their sex act, which isn't even as embarrassing as some of those in BLACK SHEEP P.I. “Molten desire” isn't too bad, but I really do not enjoy hearing about “wet centers” and “his tip." Eek!
The best thing about ROYAL HEIR is a gun battle where Will, the baby's father, is hurt and Julia summons the strength to pull him up and shove him up the stairs into a plane. Yeah! Not a superhuman Lara Croft but a regular woman with sudden berserker strength. No heaving loins required.
THE CAMEL CLUB Audiobook David Baldacci, action thriller
I'd seen Baldacci's name many times but never read him before.This thriller would perhaps be better appreciated in print rather than in audiobook format.
The murder of an intelligence agency employee kicks off the plot, after an overly long prologue. The multiple viewpoint characters are hard to follow. They include “Oliver Stone,”a conspiracy theorist who lives in a tent in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, Alex Ford, a Secret Service agent hanging on to his career by a thread, and Carter Gray, a sinister cabinet level Secretary of Security. Others are Tom Hemingway, an intelligence agent who has peculiar ideas about creating world peace, Adnaud, a Muslim terrorist, and several others, including a lovely DOJ lawyer who still bartends. The pace is very slow until about eight of 13 discs.
There is a trite nuclear showdown which of course is only aborted at one second til doomsday. The narrator is good, although he has difficulties creating female voices. I'm not inspired to try another book by this author.
The murder of an intelligence agency employee kicks off the plot, after an overly long prologue. The multiple viewpoint characters are hard to follow. They include “Oliver Stone,”a conspiracy theorist who lives in a tent in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, Alex Ford, a Secret Service agent hanging on to his career by a thread, and Carter Gray, a sinister cabinet level Secretary of Security. Others are Tom Hemingway, an intelligence agent who has peculiar ideas about creating world peace, Adnaud, a Muslim terrorist, and several others, including a lovely DOJ lawyer who still bartends. The pace is very slow until about eight of 13 discs.
There is a trite nuclear showdown which of course is only aborted at one second til doomsday. The narrator is good, although he has difficulties creating female voices. I'm not inspired to try another book by this author.
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