Writer: Michael Dignan
Artist: Kriss Sison
First Publication: 2012
Challenge: Graphic Novels Challenge (#18)
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Summary (from Amazon):
Out of the frying pan, into the line of fire!
On the run from Hiro's villainous uncle and a school full of psycho teachers, the gang escape to another dimension where, without so much as a breather, they get caught in the middle of an alien invasion! Their only defense? A giant armored mech that none of them knows how to operate!
Comments:
As much as I liked vol. 1, this one was even better. Since my favorite anime was the classic Robotech series, I was excited to see the mecha on the world the gang travels to this time. Once again I thought I could see the creators being inspired by "Vision of Escaflowne" (another favorite of mine).
When they escaped from the world of psycho teachers, I thought I heroes might catch a break. Instead they end up on a world that has suffered from an alien invasion. Sison and Dignan keep up the quality of the first collection and turn up the action.
It is an excellent short series (hopefully things work out so Vol. 3 can be published soon) that contains a good balance of action and characterization. Highly recommended.
Writer: Eric Brown
First Publication: 2007
Summary (from Amazon):
This is the story of David Conway and his new life on Chalcedony, a planet renowned for its Golden Column, an artifact that is mysterious and strange, no one knowing why it is present there. Conway meets some locals in the town of Magenta Bay and buys an old star ship from Hawksworth, who runs a scrap yard in the town full of old and disused star ships. Conway sets up the ship on his land and uses it as his home, but the presence of what can only be described as an alien ghost starts a string of events that lead to a revelation that will change everything for humanity.
Comments:
Eric Brown is another author who I have heard about and wanted to read for a long time. This short novel/novella seemed like the perfect place to start. The author has written one story for each season. All four are collected into one volume.
I liked the authors ideas and characterization. The one problem I had with this story was that it starts out at a very slow pace. It does convey the sense of what Conway's life is like now that he is retired. This pace continues until the alien ghost comes into the picture. Then the ending seems very rushed. I think the author could have written a better story if he paced it differently. It might not be as much of a problem when it is collected with the other stories.
Even though I was not thrilled with this story, Brown demonstrated enough to bring me back for more. I am not sure if my next foray into his writing will be the second story in this series or "Helix" (a book that looks very good and has been sitting on my shelf far too long).
Writer: Michael Dignan
Artist: Kriss Sison
First Publication: 2005
Challenge: Graphic Novels Challenge (#17)
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Summary (from Wikipedia):
Do you believe in alternate dimensions? Ikuko, her friend Colleen, and Alvin at Hawaii's Maunaloa Institute for International Studies become believers when the class hunk, Hiro, confesses to them that he's really a prince from another world on the run from the evil Lord Kumagai! Now that they've been dragged into it, Hiro, Ikuko, and their friends must traverse countless alternate dimensions and survive the terrors they find there or die trying; whether at the hands of the ruthless Lord Kumagai or the alternate dimensions' hostile inhabitants.
Comments:
The art by Kriss Sison is fantastic. Combined with Michael Dignan's scripting, it makes for a very good manga book. I enjoyed the interaction of the various characters at the school. One of my favorite parts was the group traveling to an alternate reality version of the school. It brought back memories of the television show "Sliders". At first it seemed like they were back home but it soon became evident that this was a different reality.
In some respects, "Last Hope" reminded me of one of my favorite anime shows "The Vision of Escaflowne". Both feature a journey to a drastically different world, a mysterious hero of royal descent, and a normal Earth girl. Sison and Dignan channel the spirit (either intentionally or not) of "Vision" without copying it. They make it their own story.
Recommended to fans of manga. I downloaded the second book on to my Kindle Fire. From the Wikipedia article, it lists that the third book was delayed. Hopefully it will be out soon.
Writer: Eric Trautmann
Artists: Walter Geovani, Patrick Berkenkotter
First Publication: 2011
Challenge: Graphic Novel Challenge (#16)
Collects issues 51-55 of ongoing series.
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Summary:
From Comixology: Red Sonja is sent on a last-ditch, desperate mission across the border into Shem. Her mission is more than it seems, as Sonja leads her mercenary allies into a quest for a deadly secret hidden within the walls of the city-state, Persemhia. But others seek this mysterious prize as well, as the armies of Koth and Argos mass to crush Red Sonja's ragtag band. It will take more than skill with a blade for any to survive this deadly season of war...
Comments:
One of my best friends, Terry Kissinger, told me that this is one of the best Robert E. Howard comics ever. According to Terry, it is up there with the original Conan work by Roy Thomas, J. M. DeMatteis, and Jim Owsley. After reading this collection, I can see why he liked it so much. Trautmann is either a big Robert E. Howard fan or a very good researcher. He takes the time to use the countries, etc. already established in this universe. It seems like, in recent times, that the creators just make up names for the countries instead of using the ones that already exist. Trautmann takes the time to flesh out places from other stories. The way he writes the series, a new reader does not need to worry. All you need to know is on these pages. But if you are a fan of Red Sonja or Conan, you get the added pleasure of visiting places you have heard about in the past.
As far as characterization goes, Trautmann nails it. He gives different personalities to each of the members of her group. And he wrote the best Red Sonja I have ever read. I have quite the number of collections to enjoy since Trautmann stays on the titles until issue 75.
My favorite part was the epilogue which was issue 55 in the ongoing series. Sonja reflects on the events of the four part story arc. In this brutal universe, it is a chore just to survive. Many people do not make it out alive.
The pieces are in place. The reader gets a great story that actually has consequences. And, according to Terry, this story will have repercussions in future story lines. I can't wait to read more.
Writer: Tim Powers
First Publication: 2013
Summary from Amazon:
Salvage and Demolition, the astonishing new 21,000 word novella by Tim Powers, begins when Richard Blanzac, a San Francisco-based rare book dealer, opens a box of consignment items and encounters the unexpected. There, among an assortment of literary rarities, he discovers a manuscript in verse, an Ace Double Novel, and a scattering of very old cigarette butts. These commonplace objects serve as catalysts for an extraordinary--and unpredictable--adventure.
Without warning, Blanzac finds himself traversing a 'circle of discontinuity' that leads from the present day to the San Francisco of 1957. Caught up in that circle are an ancient Sumerian deity, a forgotten Beat-era poet named Sophie Greenwald, and an apocalyptic cult in search of the key to absolute non-existence. With unobtrusive artistry, Powers weaves these elements into something strange and utterly compelling. The resulting story is at once a romance, a thriller, and the kind of intricately constructed time travel story that only the author of The Anubis Gates--that quintessential time travel classic--could have written. Ingenious, affecting, and endlessly inventive, Salvage and Demoliton is a compact gem from the pen of a modern master, a man whose singular creations never fail to dazzle and delight.
Comments:
Tim Powers is another one of the authors whose works I have wanted to try. In the early days of my science fiction reading, this would have been a normal length novel at 160 pages. Now it is considered a novella. Since it is a shorter work, I thought it would be a good place to start reading Powers.
The first thing that caught my eye was the inclusion of an Ace Double Novel. I was a big fan when these first appeared. Ace advertised that you were getting two novels in each book. When you reached the end of the first one, turn the book over and start reading the opposite way. Each story had it's own cover. Ace was done publishing them by the time I started collecting but I was able to occasionally find them in used book stores.
Powers came up with an interesting method of time travel. The traveler had to have some connection to a person from the past. To say more would give it away.
The story of the people who wanted to summon the god who killed himself was a different take on an elder gods tale.
Powers did an excellent job of combining an elder god, time travel, noir mystery, and books. I found it to be a good read.
Highly recommended. This is another author I hope to read more of in the near future.
Writer: Joanna Russ
First Publication: Galaxy SF Magazine, January and February 1976
In keeping with an unofficial theme for this month, I have been reading authors or stories I originally read in the seventies. I first read Joanna Russ’ “We Who Are About To…” when it was serialized in Galaxy when it was edited by Jim Baen. Baen's tenure produced one of my favorite science fiction magazines.
The first part of the story (January 1976) had a Rick Sternbach cover for an essay by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. They explained some of the process of “Building The Mote in God’s Eye”. The second half of the serial appeared in the February issue. Once again Larry Niven was featured on the cover for the novelette “Down and Out”. “Down and Out” was later incorporated into the novel “A World Out of Time”.
Russ’ novel stood out at the time. The main character was a woman. At that time it was still the exception to have a female lead character. I have not read it anywhere but I believe the story was inspired by Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations”. At the start of the story, we find out that she is on a small vessel that is damaged and has to land on a different planet. No other ships are close to them and none would be able to make it in time to pick them up. They are basically doomed to die on a planet without the resources to survive. The comparison to theme of “The Cold Equations” is only to the basic idea of there being no way to beat the odds. As you can tell by that short description, it is not a happy go lucky, feel good story.
This is truly an exploration of the Kobayashi Maru from Star Trek. It is the famous no win test that Kirk was able to beat (he cheated). Fortunately, as was common at the time it was written, “We Who Are About To…” is a short novel. If it appeared today as a 500+ page novel, I don’t know if I would have finished it. As it is, it makes a powerful story that has stuck with me since the first time I read it. It is not a book that I would say I enjoyed but it is a somewhat more realistic take on the classic science fiction story about explorers crash landing on an alien planet.
If you are interested in a different type of story, read it. But if you are looking for a light-hearted escapist book, avoid at all costs.
Writer: Sterling E. Lanier
First Publication: 1971
Back in my early days of reading the science fiction magazines, I stumbled on a copy of “The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction”. It was the July 1974 issue. The cover by Ron Walotsky caught my attention. It showed a jungle scene with an explorer hiding among the plants. A giant rat, holding a bloody knife, was standing upright in an intimidating pose. The cover story was called “A Father’s Tale” by Sterling Lanier. At the time I did not realize it was part of a series.
A few science fiction authors were using the framework of a bar or club where people told tall tales. Larry Niven had “Draco’s Tavern”. Spider Robinson wrote about “Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon”. Before that Isaac Asimov wrote a series of mysteries about the Black Widowers. Arthur C. Clarke penned “Tales from the White Heart”. In recent years Mike Resnick has published the adventures of Lucifer Jones. The framework goes back earlier than these stories.
Lanier’s main character, at least on the cover, appears very similar to Sherlock Holmes. “A Father’s Tale” was nominated for many awards but I never saw any other stories about the Brigadier. Last year I searched for Sterling Lanier on my Kindle and discovered that he had published two collections of stories about the Brigadier. “A Father’s Tale” is in the second collection but I wanted to try out the first. Lanier does an excellent job of pulling you into the world of the club. I could almost smell the smoke from their pipes. The chair I was sitting on transformed into an old leather chair. Lanier made me feel like part of the group.
If classic tall tales interest you, I would recommend searching for a copy of this collection (or the second one). Copies (digital for the Kindle or used print editions) are available through Amazon.
