The Devil's Eye Reviewed, Gaiman-Batman, and Me

Jack McDevitt, through the fine publishing imprint Ace Books, just released a new book a couple of weeks ago. I read it, reviewed it, and posted said review to SFFWorld yesterday. I went through a spate of McDevitt’s novels a few years back and enjoyed them quite a bit, so was happy to tackle this latest one for SFFWorld. Reading The Devil's Eye reminded me how much I enjoy McDevitt's books and that I've got some catching up to do. As if I don't have enough to read.

Here’s a snapshot of my review:

The action starts when Vicki Greene, a popular horror writer of the era pleads for Benedict to help her, leaving only a cryptic message as his primary clue: “God help me, they are all dead.” Alex is intrigued, though he is relatively unfamiliar with Greene’s work, his partner Chase is and they take the job. With very few clues by which to guide them, Alex and Chase embark on a mystery that spans the galaxy and whose roots have dire ramifications for a planet with both humans and Ashyyur.

McDevitt unravels, or rather the fact that he deftly weaves a number of plot elements together keeps his skilled hand hidden, multiple plot strands throughout the novel rather seamlessly. As such, The Devil’s Eye works on many levels – mystery, conspiracy story, galactic travelogue, alien/human relations, adventure novel, horror novel, character study. Dramatic tension and sense of wonder played off each other quite well. In fact, each element serves the other in the novel very effectively, much like familiar people/characters effectively play off of each other’s personalities.

Speaking of British Comic Book writers, happy birthday to Alan Moore!

Lastly, I did something over the weekend I’d been bugging myself to do for a while. I joined the Online Writing Workshop for SF, Fantasy & Horror (formerly hosted/sponsored by Del Rey) and submitted the first couple chapters of the novel I’ve been working on for the past couple of years. Some respected and popular authors have come out of the workshop: Joshua Palmatier (The Skewed Throne); Sarah Prineas (The Magic Thief); Chris Evans (A Darkness Forged in Fire); Elizabeth Bear and a personal favorite of mine (R.) Scott Bakker so I fell like I’m on the right track by joining the workshop.

DC FarScape

As a blogger who occasionally blogs about comics, I would be somewhat remiss if I didn't mention that DC Comics recently let us know what they will be publishing in June.

Aside from what I'd normally pick up from the Bat-Books, the ongoing 7 Soldiers, Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, the other standouts, for me are probably: Albion by Alan Moore, and Astro City: The Dark Age by Kurt Busiek. I still need to pick up Astro City: Local Heroes, but I don't think it's been released in softcover yet, though I do have two of the other volumes in HC. I've also bee thinking of picking trying Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, with the first collection selling for a nice $9.95.

I may jump back into JSA with issue #73, which is being billed as a follow-up to last years fun Black Reign saga, now being released as a TPB. Right after Black Reign, though, it seems as if Johns lost some steam so I dropped the title.

I've been getting a chance to watch my DVDs of FarScape Season 1. I started watching in the middle of the first season, so I didn't realize how many 1st season episodes I missed, and a couple of really important ones. Each episode reinforces to me how great the writing was on this show and how much planning the creators did from the very beginning. A lot of stuff that happened and seemed somewhat tangential at the time, was followed up on in the later seasons and episodes. I also forgot what a dick D'Argo was that first season, up until the middle of the season, he was pretty harsh on John. The chemistry between John and Aeryn was there from the start, Rygel was ascerbic and cranky from the beginning, too. John has yet to meet Scorpius, though.