Lord Tophet & TV Wrap

This week’s review is of Gregory Frost’s Lord Tophet, the concluding volume in his Shadowbridge duology. On the whole, I think the two volumes form a strong single story and think they would have benefited from being published as such in one volume. While there’s a clear break between the two novels, it really is one story. I felt Shadowbridge was a stronger novel. Here's a cut from the review:

Much like its predecessor, Lord Tophet the novel concerns itself very much with the power, charm, and value of stories. Perhaps more so in this second volume in the sequence, the value of stories is emphasized. In order to get out of the dream-like higher reality, Leodora must tell more stories and mores stories, just one more story. The nebulous aura of the higher world has an affect on Loedora, making her and Diverus think they have only been there for a day.

On the genre TV end of things, Heroes was just sort of there for me this week. Again Sylar is the most interesting thing on the show, the Petrellis are still somewhat annoying, Hiro is just sort of floating around (though I like his “nemesis”) and Claire’s two mommies could be interesting. The show hasn’t annoyed me enough to completely abandon it. On the other hand, True Blood was solid once again. Now that Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are back, I’ll probably be skipping Sarah Connor for the foreseeable future. The Office returned in a bit way, showing more ways in which Michael Scott can be clueless. Ryan, the new/old temp, reminds me very much of an old friend so that little bit of poetic justice was spot on. Family Guy is still funny – specifically how they addressed the “who-can-understand-Stewie” debate. Much as I love the show, I don’t know how much more there is to it. Then again, the South Park guys still manage to really hit out of the park – I can’t wait to see what they do in terms of the whole election this year.

Weber Review, TV Recap & Yankee Stadium

I haven’t always been a big reader/fan of Military Science Fiction, nor have I been a detractor - I just haven't read all that much of it. What I’ve read (Heinlein, Scalzi, Buettner, Haldeman, OSC, etc) has been pretty good, but the subgenre is awash with a great many authors. Just take a look at Baen. That having been said, one of the top names in Military Science Fiction (and to a lesser extent Military Fantasy) over the past couple of decades has been David Weber. The books set in his Honorverse are considered by some to be top books in the subgenre. For people like me who may want to sample Weber’s copious output and get a slight feel for some of the milieus in which he writes, Worlds of Weber is a terrific collection to do just that. This all leads, to of course, the review of Worlds of Weber I posted last night.

TV viewing so far this fall has been hit or miss, as I’ve been saying here at the o’ Stuff. I didn’t even watch Fringe last night, but rather, I tuned in for the “mid-season finale” of Eureka on the SciFi Channel. I may watch Fringe on line to see if I missed anything, but I’m in no rush. I’ve been following Eureka since it started and think it has a really solid blend of humor, character, plot and science-fictiony stuff. In other words, one of the instances were the SciFi Channel did something right. As a result of the last game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday*, I didn’t catch up with True Blood until last night, but I’m still really intrigued by the story and Harris’s version of the Vampire. Although I thought the most recent episode was the series’s weakest, it was still good. Paquin is really settling into the Sookie role very well.

Heroes was OK, but then again, I think I’m one of the few people who didn’t really hate last season. I think too much was crammed into the first episode and I fear the writers are in danger of writing themselves into a corner. I thought the FX for the Speedster were pretty cool, grim-and-gritty Peter has the potential to be annoying, Hiro is becoming less relevant, Mohinder has the potential to fall into Mad Scientist category and Sylar’s character arc still remains the most interesting thing on the show.

The two sitcoms Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff and I catch every week, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory started off pretty strongly this week. Much as I love NPH and How I Met Your Mother, I fear that it may jump the shark this season. Everybody has guilty pleasure sitcoms (I think) and these two are ours, since I can’t even call The Office a guilty pleasure

*My last game at Yankee Stadium was in May (the photo on the left was taken with my camera phone that day) of this year with a bunch of friends, much beer was consumed so of course we had a really good time. I think my very first game at the Cathedral must have been when I was three or four. Whether or not the following is memory is of my first game, it is one of my earliest memories in general: I clearly remember being at the Stadium during a rain storm on Helmet Giveaway day. Growing up, my parents and I would trek out to the Boogie Down Bronx at least once a year. This was when they sucked in the 1980s and it wasn’t always a guaranteed win. However, I got to see my favorite player, Don Mattingly. I remember him patrolling right field wearing #46 before he was awarded the first base job and was battling it out with Steve Balboni** for the first base position. We went to a 4th of July game one year (no not when Rags had his no hit day) and a few bat days. When I got old enough to drive I went to a few games with my high-school crew. I even saw Pink Floyd play at the Stadium in 1994.

However, some of the best times at the Stadium I had were with Mrs. o’ Stuff – in the late 90s when the Bombers were the kings of the sports world. This was before we were married and had annoying things like a mortgage, house bills and all that nasty grown-up stuff. We saw the raising of the banner on opening day in 1997 from the bleachers with my (then 13-year old) brother-in-law which, unfortunately, ended in a loss to the As after McGwire smacked a homer into the black. Later in 1997, we went for my brother-in-law’s birthday, we unknowingly bought tickets for a random game against the Expos – it turned out to be Don Mattingly Day. Throughout 1998 to 2000 we went to about 3 or 4 regular season games per year and a nice handful of playoff games. For our wedding, we had a Yankee NY sculpture and we made our entrance to “Here Come the Yankees.” In trying to find the song, Mrs. o’ Stuff had to go all the way to Yankees Media relations in order to get a copy – he was so impressed by our dedication as fans (she told him of the ice sculpture) he said we could have a tour of the media and press box, which was pretty cool. He would probably be impressed with my pin-stripe Yankees basement. The stairs leading up from the basement are adorned with the retired numbers.

One year for my birthday (I think or was it our anniversary?), Mrs. o’ Stuff purchased a stadium tour for me, which allowed us to sit in the dugout and walk on the field. We also happened to go to a Mets-Yankee game with one my Fraternity Brothers and his now wife on one of their first dates.

In all, the place has a lot of good memories and helped to generate more memories. My favorite (not being there) memory is probably watching them win the 1996 World Series.

I thought Sunday's ceremony was nice. Bad: No Mattingly and Bob Sheppard couldn't make it in person, and the start time of the ceremony should have been 6 PM. The Good: Everything else including Bernie Williams return to the Stadium and the clear omission of Roger Clemens.

** As it turned out in a strange twist of fate (Not the Hardy Boyz kind), Balboni wound up coaching my brother in law in little league before Mrs. o’ Stuff became Mrs. o’ Stuff.

Mini-TV Wrap-up and New Poll

Fringe is pushing me away and True Blood continues to suck me into the show. The acting is not that believable on Fringe and Joshua Jackson’s character is downright annoying. I’ll give Fringe another week or two before jumping ship totally. I’m still enjoying Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and it seems British hottie Sonya Walger is going between this and Lost, but Heroes may dent my watching of Sarah.


Which major US genre imprint’s output do you enjoy the most / anticipate the most?

Ace
Baen
Bantam Spectra
Daw
Del Rey
Eos
Night Shade Books
Orbit
Pyr
Roc
Solaris
Tor

I tried to stick with the US publishers who are publishing original fiction. I realize Subterranean Press and Golden Gryphon are absent, but the majority of what they do is special edition reprints. This is a one-choice only poll. If I've neglected any of the major ones, do let me know.

Shit, I knew I'd forget one, sorry folks at Baen.

Vampire Stalking, Vampire Waitress, Fire on the Fringe

I was able to put up my review of Mike Resnick’s Stalking the Vampire, hopefully all the issues with SFFWorld have been resolved. I was a little disappointed in the second Mallory novel, it seem almost a rehash of the previous with too many asides which distracted from the plot and sense of flow in the story. However, I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not read it back-to-back with Stalking the Unicorn. However, I would read more of Mallory.

Speaking of vampires, I caught True Blood on Sunday night and thought it was a very good first episode in terms of establishing characters, tone, and the world of Sookie Stackhouse. I’m not a big fan of Anna Paquin*, but I think she was pretty good in the role and I can buy her carrying the series The show is graphic in both the depiction of sex and violence, so in that respect it is balanced. I was a bit surprised how graphic the sex was at first, but then remembered the guy behind the camera was also behind Six Feet Under. I haven’t read the books by Charlaine Harris, so I can’t compare the two, but I’ll be tuning in and TiVO-ing it.

HBO also ran a couple of specials (True Bloodlines: Vampire Legends & True Bloodlines: A New Type) about vampires to help promote the show and what was most surprising about both was the total lack of Buffy. I’m not a huge Buffy fan, but she only got a passing nod and I don’t recall that Laurell K. Hamilton was even mentioned. Again I’m no huge fan of Hamilton’s (I stopped reading the series around the 4th or 5th book), but Vampire Fiction likely wouldn’t be nearly as popular without those two.

In other HBO news, the network just exercised its option on George R. R. Martin's opus A Song of Ice and Fire. To quote George himself: "this is a very encouraging sign, and one that suggests a continued high level of enthusiasm and commitment for A Game of Thrones.

The other big debut this week was J.J. Abrams new show, Fringe. As a pilot episode, I don’t think it was all that successful, there were too many logic leaps and some things seem predictable – oooh…big industry has more sway than government…ooh estranged daddy/son issues….ooooh a twist at the end. Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff remarked (rightly so) whether “this guy only starts shows on airplanes.” Snarkiness aside, I find the premise of the show appealing, I like John Noble who plays bug-fuck crazy pretty well and thought there was enough good stuff to tune in next week plus Abrams is know for long-term payoff so I’m cautiously optimistic about the show as a whole.