DMZ Vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli

DMZ, Vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From Goodreads...
From indie comics icon Brian Wood (Demo, Channel Zero, GLOBAL FREQUENCY) and up-and-coming Italian artist Riccardo Burchielli (John Doe) comes the first volume of DMZ, collecting the first 5 issues of the series about the ultimate embedded war journalist trapped in a most unlikely war zone: the streets of New York City. 

In the near future, America's worst nightmare has come true. With military adventurism overseas bogging down the Army and National Guard, the U.S. government mistakenly neglects the very real threat of anti-establishment militias scattered across the 50 states. Like a sleeping giant, Middle America rises up and violently pushes its way to the shining seas, coming to a standstill at the line in the sand — Manhattan or, as the world now knows it, the DMZ. 

Matty Roth, a naïve young man and aspiring photojournalist, lands a dream gig following a veteran war journalist into the heart of the DMZ. Things soon go terribly wrong, and Matty finds himself lost and alone in a world he's only seen on television. There, he is faced with a choice: try to find a way off the island, or make his career with an assignment most journalists would kill for. But can he survive in a war zone long enough to report the truth? 

Collects issues 1-5.

This is the first time I have read any of Brian Wood's work. It won't be the last.

Wood has mastered how to set up a new series. The reader is introduced to the new status quote in short order. Wood is able to pull you into this new world and make it seem very realistic. In addition to establishing the environment, he does a very good job with the characterization. The various characters seem like people you know. They might act differently than the average person in our world but that is only because of the situation. Living in a war zone forces the inhabitants to make choices. Wood is a writer I will be looking out for in the future. First up for me will be picking up the rest of the collections in this series.

Burchielli's art is a perfect fit for this type of story. He is good at drawing the various equipment and backgrounds. His helicopters are especially good. The people in the story do not look like carbon copies of each other. He manages to give each person a distinctive look.

Highly recommended.

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Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow

Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James K. Morrow

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


In an alternate world, the Americans' work on a project to create biological weapons to end World War II. The creatures are living versions of Godzilla who will be released near enemy cities to invade and destroy without the loss of American troops. A Japanese delegation is coming for a demonstration and that is when things go wrong. An actor is approached about starring as one of the creatures in the demonstration. This is his story.

When I read about this book, it sounded like a fascinating short novel. Unfortunately I found the story to be lackluster. The best part of the book is the basic concept. The execution left something to be desired. While Morrow shows that he can write, it seems like he did not put much effort into the characters. Most of the characters are sterotypes who do nothing to change my opinion of them.

The worst part of the book, in my opinion, was the ending. Morrow uses most of the end of the book to get on his soapbox and preach about the evils of war. Based on the glimpses I saw in this book, and what I have heard from others, Morrow could has been more subtle with his approach. If he had made the same arguments appear as a natural part of the story, it would have made a better ending.

I will give Morrow another try at a later date.

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A Trip to the Bookstore

It's like Christmas morning when I get to visit a used bookstore with some old science fiction books.  Today was one of those days.

The first thing I look for is the old Ace Doubles.  I cannot resist these.  I love the length of the stories, you get two stories, and two covers.  What is not to like about these?

I liked both covers but prefer the Kelly Freas one for "Beyond Capella" over Jack Gaughan's "The Electric Sword-Swallowers".  "Beyond Capella" also has the edge based on the cover summary of the story.

From Goodreads...Planets are for leaving. 
That's an old saying in the Explorers. But for every Explorer there is somewhere a planet he will not leave. For some, the cause is love. For others, the desire to give up the strange roving life of the star wanderers who live outside of planet-time. Even for the ones who love the metal ships that are their only home there is still a planet waiting, a planet that will hold them forever - in the final clasp of death. But until then, life is adventure and wonders undreamed of by mere planet dwellers, an Endless Universe of the unknown.
A very interesting science fiction novel by the author of the Darkover series.

Cuckoo was coming.  No one knew what it was-but everyone knew it was trouble.
Designated Object Lambda when it first appeared on the fringes of the galaxy, 20,000 light-years away, it was traveling at one-sixth the speed of light.
The astrophysicists said it was vast...light...and had the potential for utter desctruction.  So an existing space probe was reoriented to intercept, it was staffed with replicates of both humans and aliens.  
Then the space probe began to leak radiation...


David Mattingly's wrap around cover tells an interesting story.  I never tried any of the books in the Saga of Cuckoo series.

From Goodreads...All alone: an idiot boy, a runaway girl, a severely retarded baby, and twin girls with a vocabulary of two words between them. Yet once they are mysteriously drawn together this collection of misfits becomes something very, very different from the rest of humanity. This intensely written and moving novel is an extraordinary vision of humanity's next step. 

I have enjoyed many of Sturgeon's short stories but never tried this novel length work.

Contents include: The Velvet Glove by Harry Harrison / Road To Nightfall by Robert Silverberg / The Robot Who Wanted To Know by Felix Boyd / The Golden Pyramid by Sam Moscowitz / Title Fight by William Campbell Gault / My Father, The Cat by Henry Slesar / The Amazing Mrs. Mimms by David C. Knight / Mex by Larry M. Harris / Exile From Space by Judith Merril / A Thing of Custom by L. Sprague de Camp / Sit By The Fire by Myrle Benedict / Fall of Knight by A. Bertram Chandler / In Lonely Lands by Harlan Ellison / A Way Of Life by Robert Bloch / The Muted Horn by Dorothy Salisbury Davis / The Bounty Hunter byt Avram Davidson / The Pacifist by Arthur C. Clarke / She Only Goes Out at Nigtht by William Tenn / First Law by Isaac Asimov / The Day Will Come by Vithaldas O'Quinn.

In addition to Ace Doubles, I have trouble resisting old anthologies.  A glance at the table of contents shows many classic writers.

From Goodreads...The Morts were turning up all over Aeolis, the Eden-like planet named for the unexpectedwinds which sprang up from nowhere and swiftly faded away. But unlike the winds, the Morts didn't just fade away. These unidentifiable corpses - which on closer examination proved far from human - posed a bizarre threat to human control of Aeolis. So the Serviceship Halcyon XLV was dispatched to the planet to solve the secret of the Morts, a secret whispered by the winds every day - a secret older than mankind, which could spell the end of human life on the planet...


R. M. Meluch is an author I always thought of trying but never did.  This is the first book in the two book "Wind" series.

Summertide by Charles Sheffield

Charles Sheffield first appeared on the science fiction scene in 1977.  I read many of his short works in numerous magazines including Analog, Galaxy, Destinies, Amazing and others.  He produced quality traditional science fiction stories.  In spite of liking his short fiction, I never picked up any of his novels.  


Before we went to the beach this summer, I wanted to pick up a paperback book.  I did not want to take my e-reader to the ocean.  While looking over the books at a used book store, I spotted this one.  Seeing it brought back memories of reading his short fiction.  So I decided to pick it up and see if his novel length work was as good as I remember his short fiction.

Storm Front Group Read, Part 1

It's time for Carl's R.I.P. Challenge VI.  One of the novels he is doing a group read for is Jim Butcher's "Storm Front".  It is a novel I have read, and enjoyed, before.  I liked it enough that I wanted to participate so I am re-reading it.


Following the page break are my answers to the first set of questions.

Anatomy of Wonder by Neil Barron

 In addition to reading science fiction, I love reading non-fiction books about the field.  This includes various histories of the field (such as Mike Ashley's histories of the sf magazines), biographies (Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and others), interviews (Charles Platt's Dreammakers) and overview/reviews books like Neil Barron's seminal work-Anatomy of Wonder.


Is Barron's book worth tracking down?  Let's take a look and see.

The Patterns of Chaos by Colin Kapp

In the uncertain shadows against a broken wall the figure of a young man lay in foetal position, only partially aware of the devastation which raged around him. Such consciousness as he bore was almost entirely consumed by a battle of equally desperate proportions deep within his skull. 
From Goodreads.


Patterns of Chaos was originally published in three parts in Worlds of IF in 1972.  It was serialized in three parts.  One of my favorite stories in the classic science fiction magazine was another Kapp story.  It was called "Mephisto and the Ion Explorer" from one of the last issues of that magazine.  I can't tell you what the story was about anymore but it remains in my memories as one of my favorite stories of that time.  I plan on reading it again.


How does "The Patterns of Chaos" hold up over time?  Click on "Read More" to find out.