Lost Babies

Review of Kit Reed's The Baby Merchant and my interview with her are now posted at SFFWorld.

Well, that was two hours of intriguing television, especially the last five minutes. At first I thougt, "Convienent, they kill off a couple of characters, divide the camp, so naturally another plane will crash." However, the reveal that Pen (Desmond's girlfried) was funding the search for presumably Desmond throws another layer into the story. It also kill the theory I've seen that the rest of the world is gone. I also thought he guy on the phone with Pen looked a lot like Jack.

I didn't expect Pen to be on the other line, I thought it would have been one of the Others. I also thought the statue foot was an intriguing addition, too. Could the Others be the lost civilization of Atlantis? It would play on the word of Lost. At first, I thought Pen's was Hanso, it looked like the guy in the shadows of the Hanso commercial. (I keep wanting to call him S.R. Hadden from Sagan's Contact). However, I'd be willing to bet the two, or their respective companies, are connected.

I really hope Desmond isn't dead after just returning, although I think Echo and Locke are done.
Was Kelvin (Clancy Brown) sent to the hatch by the Others?

"Henry Gale" to Michael - "We are the good guys."

Un-Cataclysmic review

I posted my review for The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams yesterday. I thought Williams did a lot of cool things in this book and I'm looking forward to the next installment, The Blood Debt in October. I was reminded of works by Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, China Mieville, and Neil Gaiman throughout the novel.

I'll not even mentioned what happened to the NJ Devils after they swept the Rangers.

Lost ends its season next week. The season had its ups and downs, but I still have enjoyed it more than anything else on TV.

The summer movie season is officially open, although I have no desire to see Cruise's latest. The only films that really interest me are the comic-book related films: X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman Returns and Clerks II. This wonderful looking gem not withstanding.

Elemental Review

I posted my review for Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology edited by Steven Savile and Alethea Kontis. Call it coincidence, but a Web site for the book was launched yesterday by co-editor Alethea Kontis. There are some very strong stories in the book and I would recommend it to most readers of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The proceeds from the book go to the Save the Children Tsunami Fund.

Point being, go out and buy a book with good stories for a good cause.

I am VERY happy with Godsmack’s new album, IV.

A Meme from Andrew Wheeler:


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Boots Whiton

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your dad's side, your favorite candy)
Clyde Chili

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your last name)
R-Be

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, favorite color)
Wolf Black

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Harold Elizabeth
(Sounds more like a romance-writer, no?)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Bednce Pac

7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards) Dlorah Aicronid
(Like Andrew, I used her mom's maiden name, just to foil identity thieves with way too much time on their hands.)

8. PORN STAR NAME: (middle name, street you grew up on)
Harold Elm

9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you drive)
The Black Alero

Crooked Genre

Timing, serendipity, coincidence, call it what you want, but it is there. I've been plowing through Sean Williams newest book, The Crooked Letter published by Pyr and I go down my blogroll on the right and find that Jonathan Strahan posts about the book on his journal. A short time later I discover Sean Williams keeps a LiveJournal, specifically this post wherein he discusses genre. It is an interesting take and I can see in his book, how he is playing with a lot of conventions of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Mythic Fiction, and playing with world Religions, in general

The Crooked Letter is a very interesting book and I am taking my time with it, enjoying every dark step of the way Mr. Williams guides me. It isn't a pleasant journey for the characters, but for the reader, that's another story. I'll keep the remainder of my thoughts to myself until I finish the book and post my review. Let's put it this way, I like this book enough that I want to pick up more of his books. I've heard great things about his Space Operas with Shane Dix.

I finished Kit Reed's The Baby Merchant earlier in the week and was surprised by how much I liked it. I only say that because I didn't know what to expect from Ms. Reed, but I was satisfied when I finished it. Review and interview with Kit Reed to come soon.

Because I like free good fiction as much as the next guy, I figured I'd drop a note about the venerable The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Apparently, they are giving away one copy of the July issue, which has a Matt Hughes story in it, as well as a new Terry Bisson story. I've been enjoying Hughes Archonate stories in the magazine, and I've been meaning to get a subscription to the magazine again. I had one two addresses ago, but never renewed. Must change that soon.

Not much else to report right now, work at the new job is crazy-busy, which is a good thing. The days go by much faster.

Stars, War and Devils

The May Monthly book club discussions are up at SFFWorld:
A Telling of Stars by Caitlin Sweet
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Sweep! The Devils look very tough to beat right now, the first line is looking great.