While a work of fiction, this novel is written in the first person with Bruce Campbell himself as the viewpoint character, and the narrative is packed with living Hollywood figures like Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger. The story involves veteran B-movie actor Bruce Campbell landing a supporting role in a big budget romantic comedy called “Lets Make Love.” Over the course of the book, Campbell finds himself a bit of a fish out of water as a down-to-earth working man surrounded by Hollywood elite. Hoping to make the most of his opportunity, he throws himself into the role. Most of the book is about his awkward attempts to prepare for the role, researching the lives of doormen, southern gentlemen, relationship experts, and so forth. Over the course of the story he also offers a variety of unsolicited tips and hints to his fellow cast and crew, with the result that the rom-com begins to chart a course in a very different direction than originally intended.
The tone of the story is everything Bruce Campbell fans could hope for. Both his cocky charm and self-deprecating sense of humor come through loud and clear in his writing voice. As a result, the book reads like Campbell himself is relating tales of his misadventures to a science fiction convention audience. While Campbell is great at spinning yarns, as a work of fiction the story doesn't completely gel. The motives behind the antagonist's—ostensibly a Campbell superfan—attempts to undermine Campbell's career remained murky throughout the book. While funny, the ending also felt rushed and even more cartoonishly over the top than the story preceding it.
Overall this is a fun read and enthusiastically recommended to Campbell fans, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I have his non-fiction showbiz anecdotes.
This volume collects a two volume series called “The Mark of Kane” and a later six issue miniseries called “The Sword of Solomon Kane.”
Despite scripts by Roy Thomas, the former is a little on the cheesy side, but I was pleasantly surprised by the “Sword of Solomon Kane” series. With only six issues to work with, I found it baffling that they spent time making a few original stories (one called The Prophet was particularly sleight and disappointing, despite excellent Mike Mignola artwork) rather than sticking with adaptations of the original Robert E. Howard short stories, but the comic versions of “Red Shadows,” “Hills of the Dead,” and “Wings in the Night” were well done.
The highlight of this volume was the characterization, however. While the authors of the current Dark Horse series seem to be struggling with how to present Kane, the staff of this old Marvel comic got him right. Dour, vengeful, and above all driven.
While I wouldn't recommend this volume as an introduction to the adventures of Solomon Kane, it's certainly worth a look for those already familiar with the character.
Like many people, I first encountered The Rocketeer through the 1991 movie. The character seemed so pitch-perfect that I took it for granted that he dated back to the golden age of pulp, so it was surprising to find out that his first appearance was as late as 1982.
This volume collects the entirety of the all-too-brief comic series, cut short by creator Dave Stevens's death from leukemia at 52. And it's great, my only complaint it that there isn't more of it. The pace is fast, the action exciting, and the whole tone of the series is exhilarating and fun. I especially appreciated the sly references to pulp heroes like The Shadow, distinctive horror actor Rondo Hatton, and pinup queen Bettie Page. The artwork, complete with remastered color, is stunning as well.
This anthology series resurrects the Rocketeer, a great character that had been largely out of action since creator Dave Stevens's fatal bout with cancer.
The talent tapped for this miniseries make a valiant effort to deliver adventure yarns in the spirit of the original. While the final product is well worth a read, living up to the creator's original work proves an impossible task. There's some great storytelling on display—particularly with one story hinting about the Rocketeer's Pacific War exploits—but the artwork is a bit weak for some stories. And while anthology stories are nice, I missed the longer plots from the first series.
What if technology could allow you to find your perfect soulmate? What if your genitalia fit perfectly together like a literal lock and key? What if your soulmate was a six foot tall mutant insect? And what if you all lived on the back of a colossal depressed dog? This novella answers these questions.
The Tick People belongs to a subgenre of weird fiction called “bizarro.” From what I've seen, bizarro is to weird tales what splatterpunk is to conventional horror fiction: it takes elements present in the parent genre and ramps them up to incredibly graphic heights.
This novella definitely isn't for everyone, it revels in grotesque, ooze-slathered descriptions of sex between the protagonist and his arthropod paramour, but it seemed to me there was more going on than just a juvenile attempt to shock the audience for shock's sake. The end result felt like it was influenced by both Kafka and Terry Gilliam's Brazil, with bits of Douglas Adams and punk mixed in.
Recommended for people who like the weirder side of horror.
I wasn't familiar with this author or his Riyria Chronicles series, but this short story has motivated me to investigate further. The title story itself is a bit sleight and ends abruptly, but the characters (well-meaning soldier Hadrian and his cynical thief comrade Royce) and their interactions were appealing. Fans of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories may notice a similar vibe.
The sample Riyria Chronicles book chapters included in the e-book have also piqued my interest. I've added the first book to my shopping list, and I look forward to seeing if Sullivan's plots live up to his characters.
Initially, the original Vampirella comic was almost exactly like Warren Publishing's earlier horror comics, Creepy and Eerie, themselves both very similar to EC Comics' Tales from the Crypt. Each issue had a half dozen or so self-contained short stories, nearly always ending in some sort of ironic twist. While she apparently grew to have a more prominent role as the series progressed, in the issues collected here Vampirella herself acts in a Cryptkeeper role, setting the scene for the story and then wrapping it up with cheesy puns.
The artwork is hit-and-miss, with the exception of the occasional stunning Frank Frazetta cover. The stories are a bit dated and often corny, but the good ones are a lot of fun and the tedious ones end quickly. At least at this point in the series there's not much to separate Vampirella from Creepy except for the charm of the Vampirella character herself.
Still, this collection is a good bargain and an interesting look at the way horror comics used to be. I'd recommend it to horror fans, as long as they don't pick up this volume expecting to read many adventures of Vampi herself.
It's always a treat when a new Vor book arrives. This book focuses on one of the series' supporting characters rather than Miles Vorkosigan himself, but the book was no less satisfying because of it.
Like Cryoburn, plot took a bit of a back seat in this book, with the characters first and foremost. The story itself was interesting, but it progressed in a much quieter direction than the first quarter of the book suggested. There was also less action than I expected. I'm used to the diplomatic direction the recent Miles stories have taken, but cousin Ivan has always been a man of action. This series' books are gradually turning from science fiction novels into romance novels with science fiction trappings. And you know? Strangely enough, I'm OK with that. Bujold's well-rendered characters have always been her strong point, and they feel so real and familiar to me that listening to their conversations and spending time with them is enough. The mortal danger so common in previous volumes isn't necessary to keep my interest. Ivan and his family are like old friends, and new character Tej is a worthy addition to the cast of characters.
I look forward to the next installment in the series, and I hope it lasts forever.
This sword & sorcery story plays out almost like a spaghetti western, with the moody wizard-swordsman Morlock Ambrosius and his dwarfish companion happening on a tiny hamlet with a dark secret. Both the characters and story remind me a great deal of Michael Moorcock's Elric stories, sharing driven, melancholy characters, a tense atmosphere, and weird events. This free Kindle novella was released by James Enge's publisher Pyr to introduce readers to his Morlock Ambrosius series, and it certainly succeeded in capturing my interest.
This collection of short stories is mostly fluff. Highly engagingly written fluff, but fluff nonetheless.
While Chabon has a reputation of being a little more plot-oriented than most modern capital-L Literary authors, most of the stories here are primarily character studies and little “slice of life” stories, many with a minor epiphany towards the end. Almost without exception, the protagonist harbors some sort of deep-seated resentment towards another character (embittered husbands abound in particular), then something happens and they show some small sign of either moving on or hinting towards a reconciliation with others.
Only a few of the stories stood out for me. One involves a husband trying to cope with his wife's decision to bear her rapist's child—heavy and sensitively rendered—and another is one of Chabon's August Van Zorn series of Lovecraft pastiches. The latter stood out not only because it deviated from the formula used by the preceding stories, but because it was so much fun. Chabon gleefully borrows tropes and names from Lovecraft while still telling a legitimately good and spooky little story about a town with an ominous secret. This is the Chabon I like best, one that doesn't discriminate between high- and low-brow genres, instead mixing the best of both worlds.
Had it been written by any other author, this collection would probably warrant two stars. But even when the plots are so thin and meager, Chabon's voice and characterization are so consistently strong that even his more bare-bones, samey output is still undeniably a pleasure to read. While not recommended as an introduction to Chabon, existing fans should enjoy it.