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defrogWell, that was a productive month, wasn’t it? Admittedly, a few of these were pretty short reads. Still, I think the lack of Thomas Pynchon helped considerably.
Skywriting by Word of Mouth and Other Writings by John Lennon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lennon’s “lost” novel (published six years after his death), combined with a few other short works, notably “The Ballad Of John And Yoko”, an autobiographical account of his relationship with Yoko Ono, how badly the British press treated them, and the break-up of the Beatles. As for Skywriting … itself, I haven’t read either of Lennon’s other two books (both published in the mid-60s), so I don’t know how this one compares. On its own merits, I can safely say that it is essentially 150+ pages of puns, one-liners, non-sequiturs and general non-sense wordplay. Plus cartoons. But in a good way! It’s basically Lennon’s imagination having fun with a typewriter, with a few recurring characters but otherwise no narrative thread at all. If you’ve heard The Goons (of whom Lennon was a big fan) or read Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes, that should give you an idea. A lot of people may not have the patience for it, and it’s probably fair to say only someone like Lennon could get away with this kind of writing for that many pages (and it does start to wear thin near the end). But as someone who likes Lennon, the Goons and Cruel Shoes, I have to say I enjoyed this. For best results, I recommend taking it in the spirit in which it was written – good slightly-dirty fun not intended to be taken seriously by anyone, especially the author.
Freezer Burn by Joe R. Lansdale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was chuffed to have picked this up at a library book sale in the US, as I hadn’t come across any Joe R. Lansdale books for awhile. The story follows Bill Roberts, a luckless idiot on the run from the cops after a botched robbery who finds refuge in a traveling freak show carnival run by John Frost, the main attraction of which is the mysterious Ice Man. Enter Frost’s wife Gidget, an oversexed femme fatale who sees Bill as the answer to her problems. This is one grim affair on several levels, partly because of Lansdale’s over-the-top crude, puerile imagery (“… the day immediately became as hot and sticky as the crack of a fat man’s ass” pretty much sets the tone for the whole novel, while the sex scenes seem like they were written by a 15-year-old virgin), and the casual racism that comes from setting the story in East Texas. Also, the carny freaks – especially Conrad the dog-man – are actually fairly likeable compared to the non-freaks, particularly Bill and Gidget. It’s pretty depressing, and the ending isn’t very satisfying, especially regarding the mystery of the Ice Man. And yet … Lansdale still manages to weave a tale with believable characters that keeps you reading. It’s okay for what it is, but some of you may want to scrub yr brain with bleach after reading this.
Raising Hell by Norman Spinrad
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
PM Press seems to have hit on what sounds like a winning formula: a series of short books from “outspoken authors” (many from the SF/F genre) with mostly all-new stories, essays and interviews. I generally like Spinrad, so this was a logical starting place. Included is the novella “Raising Hell” – in which union leaders in Hell convince demons to go on strike – and a supplemental essay on the state of America after the 2008 crash, its unsustainability and what could (maybe) be done about it. First things first: if yr political views veer anywhere to the right of center and you have zero tolerance for any viewpoint to your left – or if you simply don’t like it when authors wear their politics on their sleeves – don’t even bother picking this up. You’ll just want to throw it against a wall. For everyone else … Well, I won’t say the novella is Spinrad’s best work – the idea has been done before, the satire is a little too obvious, and Spinrad’s theological underpinnings are a little muddled. But as a thought exercise on free will it’s pretty entertaining. The essay is a little simplistic but well argued, even if you don’t happen to agree with his views. The closing interview is also worth a read. Overall, the book may be flawed and polemical, but dull it ain’t.
The Five Fists Of Science by Matt Fraction
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Matt Fraction’s alt.history steampunk tale in which Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla hatch a plan to promote world peace by starting an arms technology race with giant automatons, while J.P. Morgan and Thomas Edison and hatch their own plan to release ancient horrors via dark magic and Guglielmo Marconi’s radio technology. It’s been unfairly compared to The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen – apart from the general time period and the technology, there’s not much resemblance (for one thing, LXG assembles fictional heroes, not real-life people). However, that’s also true in terms of quality. The Five Fists Of Science has some great ideas and some great scenes, especially between Twain and Tesla, but the overall idea is somewhat underdeveloped. That would be okay, except that the narrative is clunky at times, and not just because of Fraction’s script – Steven Sanders’ art looks great aesthetically, but doesn’t always make the action clear. This was conceived as a one-shot, but it may have worked better as a limited series with enough room to develop the story and characters. Great idea, shame about the execution.
Welcome to the Monkey House: The Special Edition: Stories by Kurt Vonnegut
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a classic collection of Vonnegut’s short stories, which cover a lot of the usual topical bases – dystopian sci-fi, war stories and general satire of contemporary life, to say nothing of the dictionary review. This edition also comes with an essay demonstrating how the title story evolved, draft by draft, to illustrate Vonnegut’s writing process (sort of the literary equivalent of a CD reissue of Led Zeppelin II that features 17 different takes of “Whole Lotta Love” – interesting if you like that sort of thing, maybe not so much if you care more about the finished product). Overall it’s a good anthology that illustrates Vonnegut’s ability to appeal across demographics – he could fit into Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan as well as Galaxy Science Fiction. The only other thing I’ll add (and I mean this in a good way) is this: if Vonnegut was still alive and had written the title story today, no reputable magazine would publish it. They wouldn't dare.
Three Men In a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Possible alternate title: The Big Book Of Tangents. I’d thought about trying this ages ago, but it took some namedropping by two authors I respect (Robert Heinlein and Connie Willis) to convince me to pick this up. As the title suggests, it’s about three buffoons (and a dog) who decide to spend a fortnight traveling up the Thames by skiff. Things go wrong. But the trip itself only takes up a small percentage of the book, and serves as a vehicle for the narrator to go off on all kinds of tangents on anecdotes of related satirical buffoonery. It also serves as a whimsical travelogue of the Thames, with lots of local legends and anecdotes. It says a lot that although this was published in 1889, a lot of the humor still holds up, provided you find British humor funny – or at least the vein of British humor usually associated with PG Wodehouse.
The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve considered trying Borges in the past, and when I came across this book, I thought this was as good a place as any to start. As the title suggests, it’s a compendium of imaginary creatures that have appeared in works of literature and folk tales from all over the world. Most have some kind of mythological background, but Borges also includes a few from 20th century writers like Franz Kafka and CS Lewis. It’s not unlike reading the D&D Monster Manual, though actual D&D fans may be scandalized by its incompleteness, Borges’ cataloging system and a complete lack of information on how many hit points you need to kill them. It’s interesting if you like mythological creatures and folk legends about them, as well as getting an idea about their literary origins. I don’t know how representative it is of Borges’ other work, but I will try another of his books.
Brainquake by Samuel Fuller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Film fans may know Samuel Fuller via classic films like Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor and 40 Guns, but he also wrote crime novels, and this one – his last – was published only in French and Japanese. Leave it to Hard Case Crime to find it and publish it in English for the first time. The plot involves Mafia bagman Paul Page, who suffers from mysterious brain seizures but still gets the job done – until he falls for Michelle Troy, who ends up in trouble after her Mafia husband is killed and the people he owed money to expect her to cover his debts. The pace stutters at first, as Fuller tends to jam in each character’s backstory up front, which slows things down. But by the second half of the book the narrative kicks into high gear and more or less stays there. There are a few unnecessary distractions, and Fuller relies a little too much on coincidence in the third act, but otherwise it’s a decent character-driven story.
Papa’s got a brand new bagman,
This is dF
Skywriting by Word of Mouth and Other Writings by John LennonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lennon’s “lost” novel (published six years after his death), combined with a few other short works, notably “The Ballad Of John And Yoko”, an autobiographical account of his relationship with Yoko Ono, how badly the British press treated them, and the break-up of the Beatles. As for Skywriting … itself, I haven’t read either of Lennon’s other two books (both published in the mid-60s), so I don’t know how this one compares. On its own merits, I can safely say that it is essentially 150+ pages of puns, one-liners, non-sequiturs and general non-sense wordplay. Plus cartoons. But in a good way! It’s basically Lennon’s imagination having fun with a typewriter, with a few recurring characters but otherwise no narrative thread at all. If you’ve heard The Goons (of whom Lennon was a big fan) or read Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes, that should give you an idea. A lot of people may not have the patience for it, and it’s probably fair to say only someone like Lennon could get away with this kind of writing for that many pages (and it does start to wear thin near the end). But as someone who likes Lennon, the Goons and Cruel Shoes, I have to say I enjoyed this. For best results, I recommend taking it in the spirit in which it was written – good slightly-dirty fun not intended to be taken seriously by anyone, especially the author.
Freezer Burn by Joe R. LansdaleMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was chuffed to have picked this up at a library book sale in the US, as I hadn’t come across any Joe R. Lansdale books for awhile. The story follows Bill Roberts, a luckless idiot on the run from the cops after a botched robbery who finds refuge in a traveling freak show carnival run by John Frost, the main attraction of which is the mysterious Ice Man. Enter Frost’s wife Gidget, an oversexed femme fatale who sees Bill as the answer to her problems. This is one grim affair on several levels, partly because of Lansdale’s over-the-top crude, puerile imagery (“… the day immediately became as hot and sticky as the crack of a fat man’s ass” pretty much sets the tone for the whole novel, while the sex scenes seem like they were written by a 15-year-old virgin), and the casual racism that comes from setting the story in East Texas. Also, the carny freaks – especially Conrad the dog-man – are actually fairly likeable compared to the non-freaks, particularly Bill and Gidget. It’s pretty depressing, and the ending isn’t very satisfying, especially regarding the mystery of the Ice Man. And yet … Lansdale still manages to weave a tale with believable characters that keeps you reading. It’s okay for what it is, but some of you may want to scrub yr brain with bleach after reading this.
Raising Hell by Norman SpinradMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
PM Press seems to have hit on what sounds like a winning formula: a series of short books from “outspoken authors” (many from the SF/F genre) with mostly all-new stories, essays and interviews. I generally like Spinrad, so this was a logical starting place. Included is the novella “Raising Hell” – in which union leaders in Hell convince demons to go on strike – and a supplemental essay on the state of America after the 2008 crash, its unsustainability and what could (maybe) be done about it. First things first: if yr political views veer anywhere to the right of center and you have zero tolerance for any viewpoint to your left – or if you simply don’t like it when authors wear their politics on their sleeves – don’t even bother picking this up. You’ll just want to throw it against a wall. For everyone else … Well, I won’t say the novella is Spinrad’s best work – the idea has been done before, the satire is a little too obvious, and Spinrad’s theological underpinnings are a little muddled. But as a thought exercise on free will it’s pretty entertaining. The essay is a little simplistic but well argued, even if you don’t happen to agree with his views. The closing interview is also worth a read. Overall, the book may be flawed and polemical, but dull it ain’t.
The Five Fists Of Science by Matt FractionMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Matt Fraction’s alt.history steampunk tale in which Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla hatch a plan to promote world peace by starting an arms technology race with giant automatons, while J.P. Morgan and Thomas Edison and hatch their own plan to release ancient horrors via dark magic and Guglielmo Marconi’s radio technology. It’s been unfairly compared to The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen – apart from the general time period and the technology, there’s not much resemblance (for one thing, LXG assembles fictional heroes, not real-life people). However, that’s also true in terms of quality. The Five Fists Of Science has some great ideas and some great scenes, especially between Twain and Tesla, but the overall idea is somewhat underdeveloped. That would be okay, except that the narrative is clunky at times, and not just because of Fraction’s script – Steven Sanders’ art looks great aesthetically, but doesn’t always make the action clear. This was conceived as a one-shot, but it may have worked better as a limited series with enough room to develop the story and characters. Great idea, shame about the execution.
Welcome to the Monkey House: The Special Edition: Stories by Kurt VonnegutMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a classic collection of Vonnegut’s short stories, which cover a lot of the usual topical bases – dystopian sci-fi, war stories and general satire of contemporary life, to say nothing of the dictionary review. This edition also comes with an essay demonstrating how the title story evolved, draft by draft, to illustrate Vonnegut’s writing process (sort of the literary equivalent of a CD reissue of Led Zeppelin II that features 17 different takes of “Whole Lotta Love” – interesting if you like that sort of thing, maybe not so much if you care more about the finished product). Overall it’s a good anthology that illustrates Vonnegut’s ability to appeal across demographics – he could fit into Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan as well as Galaxy Science Fiction. The only other thing I’ll add (and I mean this in a good way) is this: if Vonnegut was still alive and had written the title story today, no reputable magazine would publish it. They wouldn't dare.
Three Men In a Boat by Jerome K. JeromeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Possible alternate title: The Big Book Of Tangents. I’d thought about trying this ages ago, but it took some namedropping by two authors I respect (Robert Heinlein and Connie Willis) to convince me to pick this up. As the title suggests, it’s about three buffoons (and a dog) who decide to spend a fortnight traveling up the Thames by skiff. Things go wrong. But the trip itself only takes up a small percentage of the book, and serves as a vehicle for the narrator to go off on all kinds of tangents on anecdotes of related satirical buffoonery. It also serves as a whimsical travelogue of the Thames, with lots of local legends and anecdotes. It says a lot that although this was published in 1889, a lot of the humor still holds up, provided you find British humor funny – or at least the vein of British humor usually associated with PG Wodehouse.
The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis BorgesMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve considered trying Borges in the past, and when I came across this book, I thought this was as good a place as any to start. As the title suggests, it’s a compendium of imaginary creatures that have appeared in works of literature and folk tales from all over the world. Most have some kind of mythological background, but Borges also includes a few from 20th century writers like Franz Kafka and CS Lewis. It’s not unlike reading the D&D Monster Manual, though actual D&D fans may be scandalized by its incompleteness, Borges’ cataloging system and a complete lack of information on how many hit points you need to kill them. It’s interesting if you like mythological creatures and folk legends about them, as well as getting an idea about their literary origins. I don’t know how representative it is of Borges’ other work, but I will try another of his books.
Brainquake by Samuel FullerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Film fans may know Samuel Fuller via classic films like Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor and 40 Guns, but he also wrote crime novels, and this one – his last – was published only in French and Japanese. Leave it to Hard Case Crime to find it and publish it in English for the first time. The plot involves Mafia bagman Paul Page, who suffers from mysterious brain seizures but still gets the job done – until he falls for Michelle Troy, who ends up in trouble after her Mafia husband is killed and the people he owed money to expect her to cover his debts. The pace stutters at first, as Fuller tends to jam in each character’s backstory up front, which slows things down. But by the second half of the book the narrative kicks into high gear and more or less stays there. There are a few unnecessary distractions, and Fuller relies a little too much on coincidence in the third act, but otherwise it’s a decent character-driven story.
Papa’s got a brand new bagman,
This is dF
